#okay in this one they like each other! never mind i don’t like the characterization’

[embv]

damn i always forget how absolutely brutal it is trying to find cprimeboy fanfiction when im a /pos cprimer

[pwinkprincess]

hiii i absolutely adore ur works and the way u characterize your readers !!! if ur okay w it, would u mind writing anyting 4 choso?? no pressure ofc, it’s all up 2 u ( ˘ ³˘) <3

𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི secrets

࣪𓏲ּ. ᥫ᭡ ₊ ⊹ ˑ ִ ֶ 𓂃

in which your older brothers best friend takes a liking to you.

you remember the day choso moved onto the block. him and his brother were the only asian children in a predominantly black neighborhood. most people left him and his family alone, besides from the occasional curious glances and whispers of wonder. they questioned how the family found your neighborhood and what gave them the right to just settle in and replace the previous family that lived there two years ago. the older people were upset that the landlord just forgot about the previous renters just like that.

their house was right beside yours, you sat down on the concrete stairs that connected to your front porch with a caprisun and a babydoll with matted hair in your hands. you watched with curious eyes as their family brought a multitude of things inside their home. with every piece of furniture you imagined where and how they would place. you don’t know how long you watched them, but it was long enough for one of the boys to look up from the heavy looking boxes they were carrying and spare a glance at you.

he had pink hair and freckles placed all over his face. he also seemed to be the same age as you. the two of you stared at each other for a few seconds. your heart thumped in your chest. you were interested, truthfully. you had never seen someone that looked like them. you grew up around melaninated people who resembled you. there was also a good population of mexican kids at your school as well. most of them shared a tan though, there weren’t any that were as pale as the two new kids.

he dropped the box and raised his hand to wave ay you. you gripped your now empty pouch, your eyes are wide. there was a newfound emotion swelling in your chest, it was a feeling you couldn’t vocally describe. it felt like millions of butterflies were flapping their wings inside your stomach, and a superb feeling of happiness exploded through your body, going as far as to reach your toes. with hesitance, you lifted your hand and waved at him as well.

the boy grinned and you’d be lying if you said his grin wasn’t contagious. you felt your lips mimicking the same movements that rested on his face.

your little moment was quickly interrupted when your brother stepped outside. his footsteps echoed on porch like bricks falling down. he sported only a pair of basketball shorts and dirtied nike slides that he generally refused to wear socks with. a red durag wrapped around his head, covering most of his forehead. he scratches the side of his neck while he observes the pink haired boy as well, a scowl rested on your brother’s face as he looked at the little boy. the little boy is freed from your brother’s nonvocal interrogation when his brother calls him to hurry with the boxes.

“mama said come wash up. food’s gonna be done soon.” your brother tells you before going back inside the house.

you look back over at the spot where the boy was but there’s no one there anymore. you frown to yourself as you stand up and walk back inside the house.

it was a random thursday. that day, choso and his brother finally began coming to school. it was their first time riding the bus. even before they came, you and your brother’s bus stop was in front of their house. as you and your brother stood there silently waiting for the bus, your mind drifts back to the boy. and maybe you were thinking about the boy too much because out of the corner of your eye, you seen a flash of pink. you turned your head slightly, and to your surprised he was right there beside you.

you couldn’t help but to flinch and jump back. you shuffle closer to your brother, who only kissed his teeth and rolled his eyes at your antics. in your defense, he snuck up on you! the boy smiled shyly at you, you took notice of the slight red that rested on his cheeks. just as shyly as a few days ago, you wave back to him. he was a little bit shorter than you so he had to look up slightly to look at you. as you looked up, this time you realized his brother is standing beside him. your eyes move away from the pink haired one to the black haired one.

you felt your throat dry as suddenly you became weirdly self conscious of what you were wearing. did you look too childish? you wondered. most girls in sixth grade were wearing this style, and you thought you were pretty caught up in middle school fashion; especially sixth grade fashion. you glanced down at your jordans, light blue jeans, and your favorite pink unicorn shirt. twinges of doubt filled your mind, maybe you did look too childish. you look back up at the black haired boy who was looking around impatiently.

he was very handsome, his face carried a boyish look that his little brother didn’t exactly have. the same feeling from yesterday came back but this one was more intense. so intense that you almost felt sick. you briefly wondered if you should go back inside the house and change into something that screamed big girl, but to your dismay the bus was already coming.

the two older boys were already bolting for the doors the second the door opened. with shakiness you looked at the pink haired boy.

“sit beside me on the bus.” you told him simply. as the two of you climbed onto the bus you counted in your head. you unassigned-assigned seat was five seats away from the bus driver. you’ve been sitting in the same spot since the school year, everyone had already picked their seats so you had slightly saved him from getting yelled at.

as the bus picked up acceleration, the two of you sat in silence for a few minutes until he decided to break the silence.

“hey, uhm what’s your name?” he asked cautiously. and when you gave it to him he repeated it a few times to himself. “my name’s yuji itadori.” he introduced himself.

“hi, yuji.” you smile.

conversation took over the two of you easily. the two of you talked about everything and nothing at all. yuji would occasionally slip jokes throughout the conversation and you’d laugh hard. you had never talked to any boys for this long, all of your friends were girls. usually when a girl and boy became friends in your school they soon became a couple. but as you talked more with yuji, you could tell that wouldn’t be the outcome with the two of you.

when the bus finally approaches your middle school, yuji stopped talking as much and a worried look had graced his features.

you tap itadori on his shoulder, gaining his attention. “i’ll help you around the school today, ‘kay? but pay attention ‘cus i might not be so nice tomorrow.”

as months went by, while your relationship with yuji grew closer, so did choso’s and your brother’s. the two older boys did just about everything together; played basketball, went to the mall, played on the football team together, went to their first high school party together, and much more. all four of you grew closer, it had gotten to the point both your mother and their mother had to buy more food because they now technically had four kids.

months morphed into years and before you knew it, you and yuji were in 10th grade. it was bittersweet because during the summer before the new school year started, you were sitting beside yuji watching your brothers graduate high school together. at their graduation dinner you cried and cried until you couldn’t cry anymore. everyone else thought it was because you were an emotional little sister and while that might’ve been true, you were also crying because you wouldn’t see choso as much.

you had grown an enormous crush for him over the last few years. you had kept your crush a secret but you had a feeling itadori was aware of your crush on his older brother. you couldn’t help it. while yuji was also just as handsome, it was something about choso.

his face had matured, sculpted by time, shedding the soft contours of youth for more defined features. several piercings adorned strategic spots, adding a hint of edge to his appearance. not to mention how taller he had gotten, he had to be 6’ something and every time he stood beside you, you felt like passing out. you would miss seeing him in the halls.

your two years of high school passed just as quickly. and before you knew it, your diploma was in your hands and you and yuji were screaming and hugging each other. proud tears slipped from your face as you watched yuji take pictures with his family. he was no longer short and stubby. no, he was a man now. both him and choso towered over their parents as they conjoined arms to posed. just like choso, his face shedded all of its fat and morphed into something more chiseled. you felt yourself tearing up even more as you realized the two of you were no longer children.

“i’m not a kid anymore.” you mumble against choso’s lips. he hums at your words as his hands rubs up and down on your ass.

it had been a year since you graduated high school and began venturing out into doing new things. your brother was gone to his girlfriend’s house, yuji has began hanging out with this megumi guy, and your parents were gone at a wedding a few cities over. you had gotten the bright idea to invite choso over to watch a movie. you think he got your intentions fairly quickly when you mentioned the house being empty.

“you’re m’best friends lil’ sister, though. he’d kill me if—“ he’s cut off by you pressing another kiss against his swollen lips.

“i’m not gonna tell him anything. ‘nd ‘m sure you’re not gonna say anything, right?” you retort back.

choso bites down on his lip, he’s obviously conflicted. you sigh to yourself as your hands go for his zipper. you look up at him the whole time while you undo his jeans. once his zipper is down, you could see the obvious bulge that rested against his briefs. you could feel your pussy growing wet just from the fact that he had gotten so hard just from kissing you.

you slowly lower yourself onto your knees on the wooden floor. you bring your lips to his tip and begin pressing kisses against it, choso flinches every time you come in contact with another spot. as a final message, you dart your tongue out and lap at the precum that’s beading from his tip.

“you wanna do this?” you ask once you pull away. choso’s looking down at you with his pale skin flushed. there’s a fiery look in his eyes as he stares at you in your eyes.

“remember, you’re not a kid anymore. so take everything ‘mma give you.” he tells you as he guides his dick inside your mouth.

𓍼݀֯८݂𓈒𓏼ིྀ. .𓏼ིྀ ̥১♡

“fuck!” you gasp as choso’s hand strikes your ass cheek. you’re gripping your covers inhumanely tight. you can’t find it in you to close your mouth, you’re usually not as vocal with guys but choso feels like he’s scratching this itch that’s been there for years.

choso huffs out a breath as he slowly pulls his cock out of your creaming pussy, you’re so messy leaving a white base around his cock as well as dripping down your thighs. he slaps his cock against your clit a few times, watching as you shudder with every smack.

he wraps his hand around the back of your neck as he slowly pushes his cock back inside of you.

“this what you wanted, right? hm?” he coos at you. he watches as his cock sinks deeper into your wetness inch by inch.

you can’t stop the loud gasp from leaving your throat as your eyes roll back. who knew someone as skinny as him could be carrying something so long in pants. “chooo.” you whine, it feels like he’s stretching you out all over again.

“i know, baby.” he moans with you. he watches as the fat of your ass bounces against his pelvis. “you feel so good, mama.” he whines.

“only for you, daddy.” you giggle.

“yeah? this pussy mine, baby?” he asks with amusement. he removes his hand from your neck and uses both hands to spread your ass cheeks so that he could watch both holes. seeing your pussy wrapped around his cock like some sort of elastic has him twitching while still inside.

“mhmm. your pussy.” you don’t even know if your own words are truthful or if it’s just the sex that has you talking crazy.

“rub that pussy for daddy, then. cum all over this dick, baby.” he’s picking back up speed, at some point he goes from thrusting to pounding your pussy.

your back is arching even deeper, if possible. everything feels intensified as you rub at your clit. you feel tempted to try to crawl away from his never ending thrusting, but you told him you were a big girl now and you were trying to stand on that.

“shit so wet f’me.” he curses to himself.

he fucks you so well that your breathing gets caught in your chest a few times. you wish he would’ve fucked you earlier, everything about him is perfect. after a few minutes of straight drilling your pussy, he slows down so that it doesn’t hurt too much. you fingers are still slowly rubbing on your clit, some of your sticky arousal leaked from your pussy down to your fingers and palm.

“gonna cum, cho.” you’re gasping as you feel your orgasm approaching. “fuckfuckfuck— ‘m cummin’ cho!” you moan as you begin cumming around his cock, making an even bigger mess. you press your face deeper into the mattress as you begin babbling random words. nothing makes sense right now, all you can think about is his dick sliding in and out of you.

“there we go. goooood girl.” his moans turn into whimpers as his own orgasm approaches. he fucks your faster and harder as his peak builds up. “daddy’s turn now. mhmm, stay still f’me, mama. ‘m ‘bout t’cum too.”

instead of staying still, you begin throwing your ass back against him. choso lets out a breath as he watches your wetness leave little strands every time you pull away from him. “fuck, take it baby.” he groans. instead of rhythmically pulling out, he only shifts his hips a little as his orgasm pours from his cock. strands of white cum escape from his dick, filling your pussy.

the two of you stay still for a few seconds until choso finally pulls out.

“we’re not doin’ this shit nomore, forreal.” you can’t tell if he’s telling you or trying to convince himself.

“we’ll see.” you reply sarcastically.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Taiwan has one show, but that's all they need

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

April 2024 Wk 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

Two Worlds (Thurs IQIYI) ep 4 of 10 - I don’t say this often but I LOVE this love triangle. The longing gazes = chef's kiss. I like that we are finally getting flashbacks to Tai’s side of the love affaire. This show remains highly engaging. So pleased for MaxNat.  

Deep Night (Thurs iQiyi) ep 5 of 8 - More lesbians! Yay! Meanwhile, when our leads make up they make out! (Yes I’m proud of myself.) I think this might be BLs first rooftop sex scene. We’ve reached new heights, BLabies. (Yes I’m proud of that too.) Anygay, basically a soap opera at this point, I'm not thrilled but I don’t mind.

"Do you apologize for being straight?"

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 10 of 12 - It was lovely. Very well done celebrity leaving the closet ep. Nice ensemble work too. Next week is doom! As expected. 

Only Boo! (Sun YouTube) ep 1 of 12 - New main couple for GMMTV in an idol romance about a boy who dances good and a food stand vendor. It’s fine but overly very pulp feeling for something from GMMTV. I'm a little concerned.

1000 Years Old (Thurs iQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - meh.

To Be Continued (Sat C3 Thailand grey) ep 7 of 8 - Never turned up on my usual sites. So will have to wait until next week. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Unknown (Taiwan Tues YouTube & Viki) ep 7 of 11 - Qian was, indeed, the one who couldn’t let go. This show is fucking fantastic. It's the best thing I'm watching right now by a mile.

Jazz for Two (Korea Gaga/grey) eps 3-8fin - The bully and the blue-haired drummer side pairing were great. I hated the father. Hated him so much. Our main tsundere seme was a bit too tsundere for me. I was v annoyed by the time he finally softened. I'm amused by all the ways they finagled boys kissin-but-not-kissing in the first half of this show. 2024's "pan around the back of the head" has now become a "dipping of the brolly." We did, however, eventually get an okay kiss.

Honestly?

This was basically what I wanted from Given and didn’t get. So I’m pleased. The music still wasn't great, but you can skip those bits. A solid enemies to lovers BL, where the sins of brothers' past haunts the present. Great optics, decent chemistry, and a tidy script even if tsundere characterization went a bit extreme in some cases. 8/10 RECOMMENDED trigger for suicide

Love is Better the Second Time Around AKA Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto (Japan Weds Gaga) ep 5 of 6 - We got the past betrayal in detail and it was decently bad. Bitterness understood. Too soon to live together! The BL U-Haul strikes again. I do like their weird curry passive aggressive argument. This is an interesting show. Do I LOVE it? No. But I think I like it.

On a not-really-related note: adoption, including adult adoption, is actually pretty common in Japan (comparatively). It's often tied to business scionism.

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 8fin - It all turned out to be a tragic GL in the end. Not BL = not my problem. No rating. I will forget its existence right about… now. 

Love is like a Cat (Korea Mon Viki) eps 1-2 of 12 - Okay, weirdly kinky with the head scratching. Not much has happened and I’m not wild about what has. 

It's done, ready to binge, but I suck

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps

It's airing but...

We Are (Weds GMMTV iQIYI) ep 1 of 16 - University ensemble BL featuring PondPhuwin, WinnySatang, AouBoom, MarcPawinPoon - basically the good kind of messy gay friendship group (so more My Engineer and less Only Friends). Looks a bit like the Kiss series but everyone is queer. I'm IN but I need my other computer and I'm traveling as usual. So I'll get caught up next week and probably won't regularly be able to watch this one.

Graduation Countdown (Taiwan YouTube) - It's too much for me to keep up with 2 minute verticals, I don't have that kind of TikTok endurance training.

A Secretly Love (Thai Sat WeTV grey) 10 eps - Completed. Worth watching?

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school. Not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing.

Kiseki Chapter 2 (Sun iQIYI) 6 eps - It’s so boring DNFed at 2.

Close Friend Season 3: Soju Bomb! (Weds iQIYI) 6 - The problem with situational comedy BL is it must be situational, comedic and a BL. This show gets 1 of 3 claims correct. 33% is not a passing grade. Dropped at 3.

In the news

Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari is getting the undeserved honor of Furritsubs. Follow them for details. Tip 'em if you like 'em. (Will I watch it? Oh, probably. Damn it.)

Then Next Prince turned out to be a trailer only. Word on the webs is we will be lucky if we get it this year. It’s BL Princess Diaries. Jimmy has a new pairing (that boy from Night Dream) which is... interesting. All in all, this show does not look good. Pretty but not good.

Next Week Looks Like This:

4/11 Gray Shelter AKA Gray Currents (Korea ????) 4 eps - SooHyuk is only just surviving and reunites with YoonDae, an old friend. They end up living together. One of the leads is played by Choco of Choco Milk Shake.

4/12 Living With Him AKA Kare no Iru Seikatsu (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - Kindly Ryota goes off to uni only to find his new roommate is his childhood bestie, Kazuhito. Kazuhito doesn’t have a girlfriend and Ryota tries to help him figure out why, they fall in love along the way. Same director as Old Fashion Cupcake.

Still to Come in April

4/18 At 25:00, in Alaska AKA 25 Ji, Akasaka de (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - Yuki lands his first starring role in a BL drama alongside superstar Asami (previously his senior at uni). Said superstar suggests they form a sham relationship until filming concludes. As they actually begin to fall in love, the spotlight begins to burn. I think I've seen this before (joke) and also the trailer doesn't inspire confidence.

4/26 My Stand-In (Thai iQIYI) 12 eps - adaptation of Chinese novel "Professional Body Double" by Shui Qiang Cheng. Stars Up (Lovely Writer) and Poom (Bake Me Please) directed by the same team as KP (not a recommendation IMHO - my biggest criticism of that show was the clashing directing styles). This one looks well complicated, lemme try: Joe is a stuntman for famous actor Tong. Joe falls in love with Ming but Ming sees Joe as nothing more than a Tong-replacement. After learning this horrible truth, Joe dies. Joe then wakes up in the body of another man also named Joe. He manages to rebuild the same life as before—with the same people eventually re-meeting Ming. Ming wants Joe back but Joe doesn't understand why. But Ming seems to know what's going on and wants to give him some kind of explanation.

I'm exhausted just trying to describe the plot.

Knock-Knock Boys (Thai WeTV) - 4 college friends conspire to help their friend lose his virginity. Familiar faces like Seng (yes, Billy's previous partner) and Best, news here.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

NOTE: It looks like one of my personal favorites of last year Unintentional Love Story is getting a spin off!

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

See City of Stars & Unknown.

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are too much work.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

[bantaro-bird]

Stuck Here A Little While

That’s right, I’ve finally done it. After teasing for months, I hecking wrote the fic. In this AU, Grian and Mumbo Jumbo are borrowers. If you don’t know what that is, go watch The Secret World of Arrietty or something.

I am more familiar with some of these people than others, so I am hoping my characterization for each is at least decent. [] Lastly, I want to mention the drawings I’ve included were doodled over the past few months as I’ve been thinking about the story. I hope you enjoy~

EDIT: I finally named the story.

Grian had just escaped being tormented by a stray cat, making it out alive, but bleeding profusely from a deep bite wound. He hobbled into an alley and sat against the wall. Blood was trailing into the street. He was unable to move much, so he was basically waiting to die. Just then, Lizzie was arriving home with some groceries and stopped at the sight of the blood. She followed it into the alley and found Grian. She pushed the shock of the sight to the back of her mind, as his wellbeing was clearly more urgent. She set her bags down and gently went to pick him up. As this developed, Grian was thinking to himself. He knows what humans are like, generally. That they’re just people. Some are dangerous, some are kind, some are manipulative. Borrowers are taught from a young age not to mingle with humans, because even if one seems friendly, it’s not worth the risk of being tricked. But in this case, he had no choice. So he was desperately hoping this was a nice one. She carried him inside and set him on the kitchen counter by the sink. She told him to stay calm and assured him she was going to take care of him.

She said, “I’m going to lift your shirt up to see the wound, okay?” As she worked, she kept communicating with him, so as not to scare him. 

“This is really nasty. How did this happen?” She asked. Grian explained that he had been caught by a cat and barely got away. Lizzie cleaned and disinfected the bite, then had him keep pressure on it while she got bandages. After he was wrapped up, she grabbed a bottle of paracetamol and laid a pill on the counter. To Grian’s horror, she brought out a big chopping knife. She used it to cut the pill, and half of it crumbled into a lump of powder. She asked him to take a pinch of it. She then filled a shot glass with water and stuck a coffee stirrer in it. She apologized that it was still awkwardly large, but it was the best she could do. She gave him the water and instructed him to use it to take the pain medicine. She then asked for his jumper so she could try and get the blood out of it. This was a task she didn’t need to speak to him about, and it was going to take a few minutes, so they finally had a moment of quiet to take the situation in. After a pause, Grian spoke up, “Thank you for helping me. I don’t think I would have made it.” 

“Of course!” She replied, a bit anxiously, “I mean, you looked like you really needed help. I wasn’t gonna just leave you there. I’m Lizzie, by the way.” 

“Oh, right. Uh, my name’s Grian.” 

There was another pause before Lizzie asked him, “I’m sorry. This- I don’t know if this is a rude thing to ask, but… What are you?” Grian was taken aback.

“I- I’m a borrower. I don’t- do I look like something else?”

“No, but, well… What’s a borrower? That sounds more like an occupation than a species.” He couldn’t believe his ears. Lizzie had never even heard of borrowers. She didn’t know what they were. I mean, he supposed it made sense, but it had never even occurred to him. All borrowers are taught not to talk to humans and to stay out of sight. How in the world were humans supposed to know they were around? She really didn’t know anything. He was going to have to start from scratch.

“It’s sort of both.” He informed her. “We’re called that because we borrow things. Small things that humans wouldn’t miss. Like tissues, a bit of sugar, some string, that sort of thing. We use those things to feed ourselves and build our lives. We live in small, isolated communities. We have to. If too many of us are in one place, we get too noisy, and they find us.” He stopped, realizing what he was beginning to say. He wasn’t sure how to talk to a human about how much of a threat humans are to his kind. 

Lizzie pressed the shirt between her fingers under the stream of tap water, and the stream turned red briefly. “So… you’re saying there are more of you. And that you’re all over the place, but no one has ever noticed you?”

“That’s been the goal.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. For all the scientists and record keepers over all of human history, I can’t be the first human to have ever spoken to a borrower. Do you have some sort of camouflage magic or something?”

Grian raised his eyebrows. “Oh, no, you misunderstand! You’re not the first. In the grand scheme of things, we get found relatively often. Besides families becoming too large, being found is probably the number one reason borrowers move house. Growing up, we hear our parents repeat all kinds of horror stories about borrowers who-” He stumbled over his sentence, but pressed through, “Who- well, who encountered a human… and didn't… come back.”

“WHAT!?” Lizzie startled Grian with her volume. He flinched and then winced. The sudden motion disturbed his wound. “You’re telling me that humans have found tiny little men and then decided to HURT THEM!? WHY?” After getting her whole thought out, she saw how scared Grian looked and shrunk backward. “S-sorry. I didn’t mean to shout. I just- I just can’t imagine why someone would want to hurt you. You’re just… You’re just a little guy.” She had started to drift into a bit of a baby voice at the end there. Grian chuckled, and then winced.

Grumbling he said, “Aw, you’ve got to be kidding me! It even hurts to laugh.”

“Listen,” Lizzie began, “I know we’ve only just met, but you’re clearly in no state to go back outside. I can try to help you get back home or, if you want, you’re completely welcome to stay here for as long as you need. It won’t be any trouble, really!” Grian paused to think on this. Lizzie couldn’t help him get home, even if she tried. He couldn’t think of any way for her to access his home without tearing some things apart, and there was no way he was going to be able to drag himself to his house by himself. Even if he could, once he was there, there wouldn’t be anyone to take care of him. He wished he could just stay with his neighbor, Mumbo, but he knew that was just as unlikely. He found himself in essentially the same position as when she found him outside, in that he really didn’t have any choice.

He looked back up at her. “Yeah, I don’t imagine I can get anywhere else with or without help. I really appreciate it.” Lizzie was now patting the little yellow jumper dry between some paper towels. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to get all of the blood out. It covered the lower right half of the jumper and had already dried at the edges. While the stain was much more faded from being washed, it was still clearly present; Although if you didn’t know any better, it almost looked like an intentional design. She set it down next to him.

“Sorry. I wasn’t able to get all the blood out. But at least it looks a lot better than when I found you outs- - Outside! The groceries!” Without another word, she sprinted out the front door to retrieve the bags she had left in the alley. Now that he was alone, Grian turned his head gently to look behind him. Behind the sugar jar he could barely see it. A little inconspicuous crack around the rim of a backsplash tile. He turned back to the jumper sitting next to him. This was his favourite jumper. There was no way, even able bodied, that he would have been able to do this good a job with the stain. As he put it back on, Lizzie came back in. She set the bags down and began to unpack them. Once everything was put in the fridge, she sighed in relief. As she folded the bags to put away, she asked him if he had eaten lunch. He said he was fine, so she told him she was going to retire to the living room and to give her a shout if he needed anything. It felt a bit impolite to leave him alone, but she was a little scared to move him. And she didn’t know him very well yet. She thought it best to give him his space. She didn’t shut the kitchen door behind her. From where Grian was, he could barely see Lizzie take a seat on a recliner, open a bag of pretzels, and turn the TV on. She kept it on low volume. Grian examined his wound again. He tried to stand, but couldn’t. At least, not without bearing severe pain. He winced as he tried to at least find a way to rest that was comfortable. The cold countertop did not make for a very good bed. Giving up, he called out.

“Lizzie!” She popped up from her chair and poked her head back into the kitchen.

“Yeah?”

“I hate to be a bother, I know you just sat down, but is there anything more comfortable I could rest on?” Lizzie looked around and thought to herself. She went to the linen closet and grabbed a couple of hand towels. She came back and arranged them on the counter like a bed with a pillow and blanket, with plenty of back support. She offered him a finger to hold for stability as he climbed onto it.

“This is much more comfortable, thank you.”

“It’s no problem. Again, don’t hesitate to shout if you need anything at all. You don’t need to be exerting yourself while that heals.” She returned to the living room to watch her show. Grian laid back and pulled the blanket up. He figured, as bad as he felt, the best thing to do was probably to try and get some rest. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. 

He had never been less tired in his life. A couple minutes passed. He opened his eyes. He knew there was no way he was going to get any sleep. He could faintly hear the TV in the next room, but couldn’t understand enough of the dialogue to follow the story. There was nothing else to keep his interest in this room. He bit his lip. He knew exactly what he wanted, but he felt terrible asking for it.

“Lizzie…” He called as timidly as he could while retaining enough volume to be heard. Lizzie got up and poked her head back through the doorway.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want to be a bother. I- I mean I hate to intrude. I was just wondering… if you wouldn’t mind letting me come watch TV with you?”

“Ah.” She looked down and to the side, with what appeared to be a frustrated expression. Grian felt awful. He was being the imposition he feared to become. 

“I-it’s okay. I’m sorry I even asked. You just go ahead and watch by your-”

Lizzie cut him off “What? No no no. Of course you can come! I’d love the company. I’m just trying to figure out how to transport you without disturbing your wound. I think I’ve got an idea.” She stepped into the living room and picked up a wooden lap tray off the ottoman. She brought it into the kitchen and aligned the surface with the countertop in front of Grian. Ensuring the surfaces were adequately flush, she leaned forward to hold it in place with her knee and hip. She held the near corners of the towel between her fingers and gently slid the whole make-shift bed onto the tray. She moved his water to the tray as well, then took the tray back in her hands and slowly carried it back into the living room, taking care not to spill the water or jostle the Grian. She set it down on the end table between the two recliners. She took a seat herself and turned the volume up a little. She unrolled her bag of pretzels and popped one in her mouth, then offered one to Grian. He held it in both hands and took a tiny little bite out of it. Lizzie had to remind herself that this was a grown man and just a regular old person. She had to fight the urge to absolutely melt because no matter what it was, everything he did was adorable.

An episode or two of TV later, the two heard a door open across the house. Lizzie recognized it as the sound of her husband, Joel, coming home from work. Grian also recognized that a new human had entered the house and tensed up. His instinct was to run and hide. But with that option eliminated, what was he meant to do? He stared at the doorway, frozen in fear. Joel entered the living room and Lizzie greeted him.

“Joel! The craziest thing happened today and you wouldn’t believe it if you couldn’t see it with your own eyes!” Joel hadn’t noticed Grian yet. He was a bit sarcastically indignant.

“Oh, I see. We just go straight to talking about you. No ‘How was your day?’ No, it’s fine!”

“Joel! Look!” Lizzie gestured to Grian, who was shrinking behind his towel-blanket, eyes darting between Lizzie and Joel. Joel stared in awed silence. He slowly climbed into the empty recliner to get a better look, gaze fixed on Grian the whole time.

Lizzie continued, “I went to the shop today and when I came home I found him bleeding out in the alley, so I brought him in and cleaned him up. His name is Grian. Grian, this is my husband, Joel.” Grian felt as if Lizzie was encouraging him to feel comfortable, but it was hard with such big eyes fixed so securely on him. He wasn’t able to formulate a reply.

Joel spoke slowly, in a quiet voice, “Hey there little guy… What are you?” Grian began to stutter the words out, but before he could make much noise Lizzie blurted it out.

“He says he’s a borrower! They’re just like humans except small, of course, and they-”

Joel cut her off, “Yeah, I know what a borrower is. I just thought they were make-believe, you know?” His gaze had now relaxed. He had looked at Lizzie to speak to her.

Grian finally piped up, “Y-you’ve heard of borrowers?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve heard of lots of mythical creatures from books and stuff as a kid. I used to have a book about borrowers. Is that surprising?”

“Only because Lizzie hadn’t heard of us. But to be fair you’re the second human I’ve ever spoken to, so I don’t really have anything else to go on.” Grian was intrigued by the idea of human literature about borrowers. He wondered what they knew. 

Grian ended up spending the rest of the evening picking Joel’s brain about that book, learning what humans know about and correcting what it got wrong. When it got to be late, Lizzie and Joel got ready to head off to bed. Lizzie tried to make sure Grian would have everything he could need for the night. She left the remote next to him in case he wanted to watch some TV. She told him if he needed anything to turn the volume up real high, rather than straining his voice calling for them.

“Is there anything else? Another towel, something to drink? Anything at all?” Lizzie flustered herself trying to exhaust possible problems.

“There is one thing I’m worried about.” Grian hesitated. “It’s just… I had someone coming over tonight.”

Grian invited a guest over on his first day staying here? Lizzie was puzzled. “How did you- oh no of course you mean where you live.”

“Well, you see, that’s the thing. I wasn’t really sure how to bring this up… I kinda… live… here.”

Lizzie paused. “YOU LIVE IN OUR WALLS!?” Grian winced from the volume, and the embarrassment. 

“No, not technically. I live… well, I think it’s under the living room somewhere. I-I do have passageways in some of the walls though, yes.”

Lizzie couldn’t tell how she should feel about this, other than being surprised. Angry, perhaps? “So this whole time! This whole time you already knew this place, huh! I thought I was bringing you into a big strange mysterious place but this is just home-sweet-home!”

“I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve only explored the areas I can borrow from. A lot of this place is really unfamiliar to me, especially lit up like this. I uh, I did already know your names, though.” Grian watched her expression get more flustered and became more embarrassed. “I probably should have said something right away, but I mean, this entire situation has been so bizarre. It’s not like I knew the best thing to do… Does this… change anything? Should I leave?”

That final comment brought Lizzie into clarity, and she calmed down quickly. “No, no, of course not! I still want you to stay here as long as you need to heal. You’re completely welcome here. It’s just- I mean you know that changes everything, right?”

“Does it?” Grian asked. Lizzie paused to think.

“I guess I don’t know.” 

After a chunk of silence, Grian repeated himself. “So, I uh.. I was worried, because I had someone coming over tonight. If I’m not where he expects to find me, he’s gonna get worried, and he’s not gonna know where else to look.” Lizzie agreed that was not ideal and asked how she could help. Grian asked if she had a scrap of paper and something small to write with. She said she didn’t have any small writing utensils. He asked if she had any pencils she could break the tip off of. She brought him a pencil tip and a sticky note. He wrote a message down and folded it up. He instructed her to check behind the TV and down a bit for a hole. She turned the screen so she could squeeze her head through the gap, and spotted the hole in the wall about halfway between the TV stand and the floor. She slipped the note through for Grian’s friend to find. After confirming that Grian wouldn’t need anything else, she turned the lights out and went to bed.

Later that night, Grian was awoken by a rustling noise. He looked over towards the TV stand to see just what he was hoping to find. Mumbo Jumbo was crouched under the screen, scanning the room for Grian. Grian sat up a little, waved his hand in the air, and called out for Mumbo at a normal speaking volume. Mumbo was alarmed, and looked angry. He stepped to the edge of the TV stand and pulled a lever on the contraption he had strapped to his back. Two thin wire and leather wings sprung up and he glided over to where Grian was. 

Mumbo whispered harshly, “Grian! Have you lost your mind!? What are you thinking, setting up camp in the middle of the living room like this? And if you don’t keep your voice down one of the humans might hear you!!”

“Mumbo! Mumbo, calm down! I need to catch you up on what happened to me today.” Grian explained to Mumbo that he was attacked by a cat and Lizzie saved his life. He’s too weak to try and go back home and Lizzie offered to take care of him. He knows they aren’t supposed to trust humans, because they could be deceived, but he doesn’t feel he has enough of a choice to doubt. Besides, Lizzie and Joel seem nice. Mumbo objects as much as he can, but Grian kind of has a point. Mumbo could try to help Grian get out of there, but it wouldn’t be a smooth process. Grian would risk getting even more hurt.

Mumbo asked if there was anything he could do to help. Grian explained to Mumbo about the pain medicine Lizzie gave him, and that it had worn off. Mumbo asked how she could possibly have given him medicine. Even the smallest human pills are too big to swallow and would be a sure overdose for a borrower. Grian looked at him with a puzzled expression. He had no idea how human medicine worked. He explained that she cut a pill and just had him take a pinch. Mumbo told him he’s lucky nothing bad happened and asked him where the medicine was. Grian told him it’s probably still a pile of dust by the kitchen sink. Mumbo glided into the kitchen. It was too far a distance to maintain the altitude needed to land on the counter, so he landed on the floor and pulled a device off his pack. He set the metal rectangular object on the ground and stood on top of it. He positioned himself a certain way to make sure his aim was good and then pressed a button on his pack. The device expanded quickly like a piston, sending Mumbo into the air with a trail of string following behind him. He stuck the landing on the counter and then pulled his device up by the string and reattached it to his pack. 

Once on the counter he pondered the pile of pill dust for a moment before deciding it was useless to him. He climbed into the cabinets and found the paracetamol bottle. He was able to use the instructions and measurements on the label to determine, roughly, what would be an appropriate equivalent dose for a borrower. Looking around he spotted a chocolate bar, too. Little portioned piles of powder are difficult to keep track of, so that’d be useful for sure. Being a resourceful borrower, he was able to find the tools to cut and portion the pills, melt the chocolate, mix the pill powder into it, and cool his home-made borrower-sized paracetamol chocolates. He found a sticky note and wrote down dosage instructions for Grian. He dug a plastic bottle cap out of the trash and cleaned it off so he’d have something to carry the chocolates in. He cleaned everything up and glided back on over to Grian, again using his piston device to reach the end table. Grian was elated to have more medicine, and very impressed at all the effort Mumbo went through to make sure he didn’t overdose. Grian, knowing he’d be here a while and the humans attempts at borrower accommodations were sub optimal, also asked Mumbo to go to his house and retrieve some of his plates and cups. When Mumbo got back, they hung out and chatted for a while longer over a pretzel. They talked into the late hours of the night and ended up dozing off without realizing. 

The next morning, Mumbo awoke suddenly at the sound of footsteps. He looked around in a panic, realizing he had failed to go home last night, and he was now exposed in the sun-lit human living room. He didn’t see any humans around. Hoping they must have just woken up, and not come out yet, he made a dash for the nearest exit. He slipped out without being seen, but as Joel came into the living room he did notice a bit of a rustling noise coming from the TV area. Joel looked down at a still sleeping Grian and noticed a few more items there than there were last night. He picked up the bottle cap to get a closer look at its contents. The text on the attached sticky note was difficult to read because it was so small. He set it down, looked at Grian for another moment, and then took one of Grian’s plates and continued on into the kitchen.

A bit later, Lizzie came into the living room as well. She leaned over Grian to check on him. She gently tried to pull at the towel to get a better look at his bandages. They were very dirty by now and needed to be changed. The tugging at the towel woke Grian up, and the looming figure set his heart racing. He flinched and let out a little scream. 

“It’s just me! It’s just me!” Lizzie reassured him.

“You scared the life out of me!!” He scolded.

She apologized. Joel poked his head in from the kitchen to ask Lizzie if she wanted some breakfast. She did.

“Oh, Grian, you’re up! Wait one second.” Joel went back into the kitchen for a moment and then returned with Grian’s plate. It had two tiny strips of bacon cut from a full strip, a corner of a piece of toast, and a singular baked bean on it. He set it down next to Grian “I made you a plate.”

“Oh my goodness, thank you!” Exclaimed Grian. “Wow, this smells amazing!” This breakfast wasn’t much like anything he had had before. Grian was used to cooking with much smaller ingredients. Baked beans came in a can larger than him. It was hard to borrow meat because you can usually tell when some of it has been taken. So the meat he ate usually came from smaller animals or bugs that he had hunted. The only thing familiar was the toast, although he had only ever had home-made bread. He was trying store-bought bread for the first time. He didn’t think it was as good. After eating, Lizzie put her coat on and waved goodbye to the boys. She was off to work for the day. Joel cleaned up the kitchen and then brought some bandages over to Grian and asked him to lift his shirt.

“Yeah, I figured.” Joel said, “It’s gotten pretty nasty. Let’s get some clean bandages on you, alright?” Joel slowly removed the bandage, cleaned the wound, and wrapped Grian up in fresh cloth. After putting the first aid away, he got his coat on as well. He asked Grian if he’d need anything else while he was gone. Grian said he’d be fine. Joel let him know he worked close by and would try to pop in occasionally to check on him. Joel said goodbye and headed out. His place of work was very close by. Right next door, in fact. He worked as a part-time caretaker for his disabled neighbor. Joel let himself in with his key and called out into the house.

“Good morning, Scar! I’m here!” Scar rolled backwards from his office to poke his head out into the hall and wave.

“Mornin’ Joel!” They continued with small talk as Joel hung up his coat. Scar followed him into the kitchen to chat with him while he started on his tasks. Scar did need the help, but his favorite thing about Joel coming around was just having someone to talk to. He lived alone and it was hard for him to get out of the house. Joel got to a stopping point and excused himself to use the restroom. After doing so, while washing his hands, the medicine cabinet mirror mysteriously swung open and knocked him in the noggin. As he turned the faucet off and reached for the hand towel, he looked up at the open cabinet. To his surprise, standing on the top shelf and leaning against a bottle was a tiny little mustachioed man.

“So, you’re the one watching after Grian.”

“Oh, you must be Mumbo, right? Grian mentioned you, but I didn’t realize you lived here!” Mumbo fumbled his composure. He didn’t expect to be recognized.

“W-well listen up, bud! You better not hurt him, alright? Don’t underestimate me. I can make life very hard for you.” Joel leaned in and spoke a little more quietly.

“Does Scar know about you?” Once again, Mumbo was sweating. 

“No.”

“Wow… You’re being very brave right now.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t even know me and you’ve come to confront me like this? AND you’re trusting me with your secret? I mean, I could just walk out and tell Scar about you right now. And if I don’t, I’m here all the time. I could reveal your secret at any time. It’s respectable, I think. You must really care about Grian.” It was at this time that Mumbo accepted to himself he never really had the high ground at all. He almost felt as if he was getting smaller with every word. None of this was going the way he had planned it in his head. He reached behind a bottle and flipped a lever that activated a contraption that pulled the cabinet door shut. Joel flinched. He reopened the cabinet, but Mumbo was nowhere to be seen. Joel couldn’t figure out how he’d left, either. Mumbo retreated to his house and stayed there for the rest of the day. Joel decided not to mention this encounter to Scar, but he did tell Grian about it. Grian laughed at Mumbo’s expense.

Joel visited Scar several days a week to help with various things around the house. Besides this, Scar didn’t really have all that much social interaction. It was hard for him to leave the house because of all the accessibility accommodations that had to be considered for any trip. There were a few routine places he went. Joel accompanied him on grocery trips, for example. He was the type of person to delay the checkout line because he was chatting with the cashier. At home, he found various activities to keep himself busy. He was a big fan of movies and he liked to play video games. Mumbo, when he first decided to move in below Scar, thought the wheelchair situation would prove to be very convenient for him. It meant there was a lot more of the house that wouldn’t be touched by humans, and therefore more space to play with. This turned out to not so much be the case, because of Joel. 

Mumbo was an engineer. He liked to design various machines to make his life easier. While other borrowers might make do with a human item that was close enough to what they needed, Mumbo preferred to melt down metal and plastic and make exactly what he wanted. He had built a glider he used to get between higher surfaces without having to climb from the ground. And he built a piston device to help him get up to counter tops quickly. This device was a real pain. It was so finicky. Some nights it worked perfectly. Others, it was totally useless. Today, Mumbo was sitting on top of the kitchen cabinets behind a couple of decorative plants. He had several spots like this where he liked to tinker and watch Scar. Often, Scar wouldn’t even be doing anything interesting. He just found it easier to focus with him in the room. Scar was organizing his medicine at the time. Mumbo was trying to disassemble the device, planning to start from scratch with a new blueprint. His grip slipped and the device burst open with explosive force. The platform launched right into Mumbo’s gut and sent him backwards forcefully. He was flung off the cabinet top and right into the center of the kitchen, but unexpectedly stopped short of the floor. He sat stiff, frozen, staring wide eyed back at what stopped him. He has been caught on Scar’s extended hand. Had Scar not reacted so quickly, Mumbo would probably have been injured by the fall onto the tile floor. Scar was panting a little bit and had a very earnest worried expression on his face. 

“Are you okay?” Mumbo didn’t say anything. Scar waited for a bit. He could see how scared Mumbo was, and he knew this wasn’t supposed to happen, so he gave him a minute to answer. But after a long pause, he still hadn’t said anything.

“Hello?? D-did you break something? Are you okay?? Say something!”

“Y-yeah….” Mumbo could only slowly squeeze out the one word. Scar sighed with relief. He set Mumbo down on the table in front of him. The two of them were locked in eye contact. Mumbo’s brain was racing. He was trying to think if there was any reasonable escape. He was a bit stranded on the table. He didn’t figure he could get away fast enough from here. He wasn’t even wearing any of his borrowing equipment.

“W-w-what are you going to do with me?”

“What? I’m not gonna do anything to you! What would I even do??”

“B-but… you found me. In your house. Borrowers aren’t supposed to be found. I- I can’t just go back like nothing happened…” Scar looked down and let out a heavy sigh. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.

“Listen,” He couldn’t make eye contact. “I kinda… already knew about you?”

Dumbfounded, Mumbo spat back, “...what?”

“I’ve known for a long time. Probably the whole time.”

Mumbo could not believe his ears, “And you never said anything!?”

Scar was becoming flustered, “W-well you seemed like you were trying really hard to be sneaky and I didn’t wanna ruin it for you!” Mumbo was mortified. This whole time. This whole time he had been a complete failure of a borrower and somehow managed to end up with a human who didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He wondered how many times he had been seen. When he thought he was completely out of view atop shelves, was he actually exposed? Could Scar hear him running through the walls? Could Scar hear him working on his machines?

“I’m really sorry,” Scar continued, “You clearly didn’t want to be seen so I did my best not to bother you. A-and that doesn’t have to change now. You’ve never been a bother or anything. You’re totally free to keep doing your thing. I promise I’ll leave you totally alone.”

Mumbo was looking down at his shoes, still trying to process the lie of the last several years of his life. Without looking up, he said, “I can’t leave from here.”

Scar looked at the height of the table. “Oh, right. Uhm. I can’t reach the spot you were in, but I can put you over by the toaster. There’s a hole there, right? Will that work?” Mumbo clenched his fists. Scar even knew about one of his entrances.

“That’s fine.” Scar offered his hand, and Mumbo reluctantly climbed onto it. Scar carefully rolled over to the toaster and placed his hand down next to it. Mumbo leapt off and left without another word. 

The following weeks in that house were very awkward for the both of them. Anytime Scar saw Mumbo, he wasn’t sure if he still needed to uphold the habit of pretending he hadn’t seen anything. This caused a delay in his reactions, which made it more clear to Mumbo when he was seen, and just how often it happened. One day, Scar was pawing at a cabinet shelf for some formula. He had forgotten to ask Joel to move them forward while he was there. The rest were all closer to the back of the cabinet and he couldn’t quite reach them, or even see them from his chair. Mumbo happened to be working on something on top of the cabinets at the time. He was sitting right up against the wall, further back than normal, to better avoid being seen. He could hear Scar struggling. He sighed, set his device down, got up, and made his way to the cabinet entrance. Sure enough, the entrance was almost totally blocked by formula cartons almost as tall as him. He leaned against one and pushed it forward until Scar could reach. 

“Oh, thank you!” Scar was surprised to see Mumbo intentionally interacting with him, even if in a hidden capacity. Mumbo didn’t reply. He was walking back toward the back of the cabinet to move another carton when Scar, still feeling blindly around, accidentally grabbed him. They both flinched and Scar yanked his hand back out of the cabinet.

“Sorry!” Scar shouted. Mumbo didn’t reply. Scar still needed a few more cartons of formula, but he went ahead and started pouring the first one into the bag before getting more. He tried to pour slowly. When he was sure he didn’t hear any more rustling in the cabinet, he reached back up and got the rest of what he needed.

Another week went by with the two trying to avoid acknowledging each other, tension growing. Mumbo was on a credenza in the hall, standing behind a vase. He tripped and stumbled backwards into it, knocking it over. He and the vase both tumbled onto the floor. The vase had landed upside-down on top of him. He tried to lift it, but it was too heavy. He tried to tip it, but the shape made it impossible to get any leverage. If he had some tools on him he could think of a few ways to get out of this. But he didn’t. Stumped, he tried to sit down to think. He couldn’t even do that, because the narrow neck of the vase prevented him from bending his knees very far. It crossed his mind that, as unfavorable as it was, he did have one option. And it was probably his best bet at the moment.

“Scaaar…” Mumbo called out weakly. Scar rolled into the hall.

“Mumbo? Was that you? Am I hearing things? Where are you?” Mumbo was apprehensive to answer. Scar began to roll down the hall when he noticed the vase and its contents, some plastic reeds, scattered on the floor. “Ah,” He said to himself. He rolled beside the vase and gently tipped it up. As soon as there was a gap big enough to squeeze out, Mumbo made a break for it. He ran away desperately, looking behind him to make sure he wasn’t being pursued. In his haste and carelessness he ran right into the reeds and got tangled in their leaves. After several seconds of struggling while Scar watched patiently, Mumbo freed himself and kept running, this time watching where he was going.

The next day Scar was sitting at his computer, reading, when he heard Mumbo’s voice come from behind him.

“Scar?” Scar turned and looked around the room until he spotted Mumbo sitting atop a floating shelf. Specifically one that was too high for Scar to reach.

“Yesterday, when you helped me, you said my name, didn’t you?” Mumbo asked.

Scar was confused. “Did I? I can’t remember exactly what I said, why?”

Mumbo pressed, “When we first spoke, we didn’t tell each other our names, did we?”

Scar was starting to catch on. “That doesn’t sound right. I’m sure you introduced yourself!”

“I already knew your name because I hear you and Joel speaking all the time. But I’m sure I never told you my name.”

“I think you’re misremembering…” The both of them were starting to get flustered.

“Scar, I was just curious. It’s worse that you’re obviously trying to hide something. How did you know my name?”

“W-what was your name again anyway? I can’t seem to recall…”

“Come on, I’ve broken my rule to come out and ask you this.” Mumbo insisted. Scar sighed. Mumbo was right. As much as he hated disappointing Mumbo, he deserved a straight answer.

“Sometimes… when Grian comes over, I can hear you two talking. Not entire conversations or anything! It’s muffled. But enough to pick up your name.”

Mumbo dropped his face into his hand. “And Grian’s.”

“Yeah.”

Mumbo let out a heavy sigh. “Okay. Thanks.” He turned around and slipped back out of sight. Scar felt bad about revealing another harsh truth to Mumbo, but he was also a little excited. This was the second conversation he had ever had with Mumbo, and Mumbo was the one who initiated it! As much as he didn’t want to bother Mumbo, he had always wished they would become friends one day.

A few days later, Scar was at his computer again when Mumbo made his boldest move yet. He glided down towards Scar and landed on a push handle behind his head. Scar jumped when he sensed the presence. He was only able to turn his head far enough to see Mumbo out the side of one eye.

“Well, hello there!” Scar said, bewildered. “You’re awfully close all of a sudden!”

“It’s fine.” Mumbo said, “I know exactly what I’m doing. I know my reflexes are faster than your reach. I can get away from here faster than you can try anything.” He had planned it out in his head. If Scar tried to reach for him, he would hop off the back and glide straight for a mouse hole across the room. He was confident he was in no danger at all. Scar raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, really?” He found Mumbo’s overconfidence cute, and was instinctively motivated to undermine it. “Well, what if someone came from BEHIND YOU!!” Scar shouted quickly, gesturing to behind Mumbo, who flinched and looked where Scar gestured. With his guard down, Scar reached up and grabbed Mumbo off the handle. He yelped. Scar only held him for a second and set him right back down, laughing all the while.

“I’m sorry, I had to!” He chuckled. Mumbo stumbled to regain his balance, then pushed off the handle towards the mouse hole. Scar’s expression dropped. Mumbo’s glider failed to catch air properly and he hit the ground, landing very short of his goal. Scar’s expression changed to fear and he started to turn his chair around.

“Are you okay!?” He called out. Mumbo didn’t reply. He was desperately skittering across the floor, trying to scrape his way out of sight as soon as possible. Scar tried to stop him, but couldn’t catch up before he disappeared behind the drywall. Scar sank. He laid a longing hand against the wall and pounded his forehead against it a couple of times.

“Stupid.”

He should have known better. Mumbo was finally gaining enough confidence to try getting close to him and the first thing he did was take advantage of him. Stupid.

Scar didn’t hear anything from Mumbo for a few days. Whenever Joel wasn’t around, he’d announce to the air how sorry he was. He’d write little apology notes and leave them by Mumbo’s access holes. He wrote about how bad he felt and why what he did was wrong. How he promised not to let it happen again. And about how much he’d like to see Mumbo again. Any time he went to check, the notes were untouched. And any time he called out, there was no response. After several days of no trace, Scar called out saying that he was starting to get really worried that something had happened to Mumbo. He asked that Mumbo would please just give him a sign that he was okay. The truth was Mumbo had heard every plea and read every message. Unfortunately, no matter what Scar said, what happened reinforced what Mumbo had always been taught. No matter how nice they seem, humans are dangerous, and they’re not to be trusted. Mumbo was inside the office wall. He still found it easier to work near Scar, but he couldn’t risk being close enough to be heard or seen. Mumbo sighed. He stepped toward the entrance to a shelf, carefully looking out to make sure he wouldn’t be seen. If anything, this whole situation had done a lot to improve his borrowing skills. He reached his arm out toward a thin book on the shelf and nudged it until it fell off. Scar whipped his head around to see the source of the noise. He had hoped to find Mumbo, but just a sign that he wasn’t dead was still a whole lot better than nothing.

That night, Mumbo went to visit Grian. Grian’s condition had improved a lot over the past few weeks. He was slow, but he could walk now. He still spent most of his time on that living room end table. Mumbo waited until Scar, Lizzie, and Joel had all gone to sleep and made his way over. After some hellos and small talk, Mumbo explained to Grian what had happened. He told Grian about how it reinforced what they had always been taught.

“I had to learn it first hand. No matter how nice they seem, humans are dangerous, and they’re not to be trusted.”

“Well, that’s a load of rubbish.” Grian scoffed. Mumbo was taken aback.

“How can you say that after what I just told you?” Mumbo sputtered.

“Oh, come on. You say that like something terrible happened. You got grabbed. For a second. As a joke. Are you even hurt or anything?”

“W-well, n-no.” Mumbo was indignant, but he wondered if Grian had a point.

“Then I don’t see what the big deal is. Take it from someone who’s been at the mercy of humans for weeks against his will. Yeah, they’re big and scary, but they mean really well. If Joel or Lizzie actually hurt me I’m pretty sure they’d implode. One time Lizzie accidentally poked my rib while redoing my bandages and it made me wince and she apologized like a HUNDRED times! I kept telling her I was fine! … My point being, I didn’t want to come here, but when I’m all better, I don’t plan on leaving.”

Mumbo was having a hard time trying to keep that nice idea from breaking through the hard shell he’d put up. It could be a fluke. Just because Grian trusted Joel and Lizzie didn’t automatically mean Mumbo should trust Scar. But looking at everything, it was getting harder to justify not trusting him.

The next day, Scar was at his computer again, playing a game. Mumbo was standing at the edge of the shelf entrance. This shelf was the last safe place he had spoken to Scar. The last place he had been where nothing went wrong. He took a deep breath and stepped out onto the shelf. He looked down at Scar’s monitor, trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at. He took a deep breath, and looked at Scar.

“Hey, Scar.” Mumbo practically mumbled. Scar quickly tapped the escape key and his eyes darted around the room until he found him.

“Mumbo! You’re back!” Scar tried to contain his excitement. He was elated and relieved, but he couldn’t scare Mumbo off again.

“Yeah. I just… needed some time to think. Uh.. whatcha doin there?” Scar turned to look at his game. It had been only moments, but he was so caught up in Mumbo’s return he had already forgotten.

“Oh, I was just playing Minecraft. Do you… know what computer games are?”

“Sort of. I mean, I’ve seen you do this from a distance, but I don’t really get what it is.” Scar explained to him the gist of how video games work and told him about how Minecraft is a sandbox game where you can do all sorts of different things depending on your play style. Building stunning buildings, farming hours away, fighting enemies, or even building complex machines. The machines part really piqued Mumbo’s interest. They set off into a more relaxed, naturally flowing conversation. They both felt like they were finally, for the first time, having a good interaction. Until Scar started to struggle to get his words out. Within minutes, he started to cough and choke so frequently he couldn’t finish a sentence.

“Mate, are you alright?” Mumbo worried. Scar couldn’t answer, and his face was turning pale. Mumbo was panicking. “Scar!? What’s happening? What should I do??”” Scar tried to pick up his phone, but his hands were shaking. Without stopping to think if it was safe, Mumbo jumped off the shelf and glided to Scar’s desk. He pressed the button on the side of the phone and saw it needed to be unlocked. He had seen Scar do this before with his thumb print. He looked back at Scar. Scar was fading. Mumbo reached for his hand, which was still on the desk, and pulled his thumb over to unlock the phone. He opened the phone app and tapped the first name he recognized: Joel. When he heard Joel pick up he didn’t even wait for him to get out a hello.

“JOEL SCAR’S NOT BREATHING I THINK HE PASSED OUT WHAT DO I DO I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO PLEASE”

“I’m on my way.” Joel hung up the phone and showed up within the minute. When he came inside he was already on the phone with the emergency services operator. Mumbo stood back and watched him as he explained the situation and checked on Scar’s condition, seeing if there was anything he could do before the ambulance arrived. Mumbo’s own heart was pounding so loud it practically drowned out the hasty noise of the room.

“Yes. Yes I’ll stay on the line. One second.” Joel turned to Mumbo. “You did the right thing calling me. The paramedics are on their way, you should go hide.”

“B-but, i-is Scar g-going to-”

“Seriously, they’ll be here any minute! Go!” Mumbo hurried off behind the desk and found a nearby hole to scurry off into. He positioned himself at an opening near the ground where he was sure he wouldn’t be spotted. He was terrified to the core, and he had to see what was going to happen. The paramedics came pouring in. Faster than Mumbo could even process, they had Scar loaded into the back of the ambulance and were on their way. Joel followed directly behind with Scar’s wheelchair and some essentials. Before Mumbo could even get a grip on the situation, he was sitting alone in a vast empty house, and it had never felt so soul crushingly lonely.

A while later, Lizzie came home from work. She asked Grian where Joel was and he told her he had stepped out a few hours ago because of a phone call and never came back. Lizzie called Joel and, after apologizing for not calling sooner, he explained what happened and that he was at the hospital with Scar. Scar was stable, but he wasn’t going to be ready to be discharged for a good while. Lizzie asked him to come home but he insisted on staying in case anything changed with Scar.

“It’s getting late. If it’s this serious his family should come stay with him.” Lizzie reasoned.

“He hasn’t got any family close by and he doesn’t deserve to be alone. I think I’m gonna end up spending the night here.”

“Joel, no! Then you’ll just be leaving me alone!”

Joel smirked. “Don’t you think you can share me for just one night?” Lizzie rubbed her brow.

Lizzie realized something, “Wait, you said Grian’s friend Mumbo was the one who called you? Where’s he now?”

“He’s still at the house. Where else would he be?” Joel said.

“He’s not with you?” Lizzie asked.

“What? No! Why would I have taken him with me?”

“Because he’s obviously worried about Scar? Tell me you at least have a way to contact him and he hasn’t just been in the dark since you left!” Lizzie pleaded.

“That was not the most pressing thing on my mind at the time, Lizzie.”

Lizzie sighed. “Fine, then. It’s decided. You watch after Scar, and we’ll watch after Mumbo. I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.”

“Love you.”

Lizzie sat down next to Grian and asked him how much of that he caught. He said he caught the gist of it and asked what she had in mind for Mumbo. She said she wasn’t sure yet. She was going to play it by ear. She said she’d probably need some help, if he was up for it. She offered her hand and he climbed on. She hadn’t taken her coat or shoes off yet, so she headed right out the door. She held Grian close to her as she walked, keeping him inconspicuously tucked partially behind her coat in case there were any passersby. She walked up to Scar’s door and tried the knob. She shook her head. Joel had carelessly left it unlocked. She gingerly stepped inside and shut the door behind her. She softly called out for Mumbo. No response. Grian pointed out the credenza and asked her to bring him there. She set him down and he swung open the door there made to look like an outlet cover and stepped inside. Grian hadn’t traversed a wall corridor in a while and he forgot how treacherous some of them can be. They’re spaces for passage only, not meant to be stayed in. They can be a bit difficult to traverse. Grian thought he’d at least check Mumbo’s house. This was the closest entrance to it. He carefully climbed down the staircase and looked around the rooms. No Mumbo to be found. He climbed back up and reported back to Lizzie. He suggested they try checking out some of Mumbo’s other favorite spots. He admitted he didn’t know all of Mumbo’s entrances, but hopefully he knew enough of the important ones. Lizzie tip-toed down the hall while Grian called out for Mumbo. After a couple of calls they heard a weak reply coming from the office.

“Grian?”

Lizzie stepped up to the edge of the doorway and knelt down to let Grian go in on his own. Grian limped over to Mumbo, who saw Grian and stepped out of his hole to meet him halfway.

“How in the world did you get here all by yourself? And what are you doing out in the open, those doctors could be back at any minute!” Mumbo asked.

“It’s okay, Mumbo, no one is coming!” Grian reassured him.

“Don’t say that! You don’t know that!” Mumbo snapped back. Grian realized how what he said sounded.

“Mumbo, Lizzie brought me here to tell you that Scar is going to be okay. He’s in the hospital. He’s breathing.” Mumbo stepped back and let out the biggest sigh he had ever sighed.

Grian continued, “Joel told Lizzie more about his condition. I just kind of overheard the gist. Joel is gonna stay with him until he’s well enough to come home.”

“He’s not coming home yet? Why?”

“Like I said, Lizzie knows more than I do.”

“Well then go ask Lizzie already!” Mumbo pleaded.

“Why don’t you go ask her yourself? She’s just waiting out in the hall.” Grian offered.

“Grian. So far, every time I’ve spoken to a human something terribly wrong has happened.” Mumbo moped. Grian put his hand on Mumbo’s back, pressing him in the direction of the door.

“No, every time you’ve spoken to Scar! You’ve never spoken to Lizzie before! I’ve spoken to her lots of times and nothing bad has ever happened. You should give it a whirl!” Grian was admittedly growing impatient about Mumbo’s apprehension towards humans. He strained his injured muscles a little giving Mumbo a shove that sent him a few more steps towards the door. Lizzie piped up from the hall. 

“You don’t actually have to come out here right now, if that makes it easier.” Grian was a little annoyed. She was kind of undermining him. Mumbo was slightly alarmed. He hadn’t realized how close she was. But, if anything, knowing how far he had come without realizing only gave him the confidence to close the gap. He started forward. The moment she came into view and he perceived her stature he did an instant 180 back into the office.

“What was that?” Complained Grian. It was the realization that for the handful of times Mumbo had spoken to humans in the past, it had been at eye level or higher. He was not prepared to address a human from the ground.

“Just. Wait here. I’ll be right back.” Mumbo said before heading back into the wall. A minute later he reappeared on his floating shelf. It was far out of reach for Scar, but just noticeably above eye level for Lizzie. He invited her into the room.

“Oh, there you are! It’s nice to finally meet you!” Lizzie beamed.

“Why isn’t Scar coming home?” Mumbo asked.

“Right. That. So I didn’t get a lot of details from Joel, and I don’t understand a lot of this medical mumbo jumbo anyw- haha hey, Mumbo Jumbo!”

Grian glared, “Lizzie, come on.”

“Right right yeah, sorry. From what I understand, Scar’s condition is stable. Meaning he’s not completely better, he’s still relying on a lot of medical equipment, but he’s not getting any worse or dying or anything like that. I forget what Joel said the thing was called, but I think it boiled down to him getting over excited at the same time that his heart was doing something funky. That sounds even less informative now that I say it all out loud, but that’s about everything I was able to gather. Sorry.”

“Thank you.” Mumbo said. He tried to think of something more to say, but all he mustered was a second, “Thank you.” Lizzie knelt down and picked Grian up off the floor.

“Mumbo, come stay with us tonight.” Grian offered. “You shouldn’t be alone on a night like this. I insist.” Mumbo tried to think of a reason to say no, but couldn’t come up with one. He couldn’t come up with much at all. He was distracted still thinking about what he did to Scar.

“Okay.”

“Oh, really? I expected that to take some convincing. Okay, great! Uh, would you prefer to come over yourself the usual way, or I’m sure Lizzie wouldn’t mind carrying you. It’d be much faster. You probably don’t want to do that though, huh?”

“I don’t mind at all!” Lizzie added. Mumbo closed his eyes. 

“Yeah, I probably ought to go with you.” Mumbo admitted.

“Wait, really?” Grian said.

“You clearly want me to get more comfortable with humans. And I trust you. So yeah. I’ll do it.” Mumbo was pretty certain that if there wasn’t an active crisis taking up all his brainspace, he’d have the wherewithal to deny Grian. Lizzie held her hand up against the edge of the shelf. Mumbo first looked at Grian, as if to take note of how to do it, and then carefully climbed onto her hand. Lizzie made her way slowly and carefully to the front door and then stopped.

“I didn’t think this through. I don’t have a free hand to open this door or a key to lock it.” Lizzie admitted. Grian looked at Mumbo, who was usually the problem solver, but he just looked defeated. 

“Mumbo,” Grian asked, “are you able to lock this door yourself from the inside?” Mumbo looked up at the mechanism to evaluate it and compared its height to the ground.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“I really appreciate your efforts, Mumbo. But I think the best solution here is for you to lock the door behind us and just meet us there.” Mumbo accepted and Lizzie set him on the doorknob before stepping out and shutting the door behind her. Mumbo turned the lock and glided down to find a way into the wall and make his way next door. A few minutes later he squirmed out from behind the TV and glided over to Grian, who was already settled into his usual spot. Lizzie came into the room and greeted Mumbo with some accommodations for him. She got some extra hand towels so he could set up a little bed as well. Grian and Lizzie made it their goal to get Mumbo’s mind off Scar for the night, since worrying about him wasn’t helping anyone. They chatted about all sorts of things, getting to know each other. Grian was relieved that Mumbo got on pretty well with Lizzie. He was visibly nervous the whole time and flinched every time she moved very much, but he was trying his best. Grian figured it was just a matter of time before Mumbo adjusted and got as comfortable as he had. After a bit, Grian said he needed to use the toilet. Lizzie scooped him up and brought him to the bathroom floor. He ducked under the sink cabinet and disappeared into it. He had a restroom in the wall back there piggybacking off the plumbing of the humans’ one. While waiting, Lizzie walked back near the end table to keep chatting with Mumbo. He cowered as she towered over him. She chuckled, which made Mumbo feel worse. She thought about how different he was to Grian. She figured when she first met Grian, he must have been scared for his life, but he didn’t express it so pathetically. 

“What are you so afraid of?” She asked. Mumbo wasn’t sure how to answer. She scooped him up in her palm and brought him to eye level. Mumbo hated the feeling of her hand supporting him. He felt incredibly awkward and terrified.

“I’m not going to hurt you, little guy.” She failed to hide a smirk. She thought she’d tease him, just a little, and maybe the rapport would ease tensions. “It’s fair enough, you know. I could totally do anything I wanted, and Grian’s not even here to help. I wonder, what exactly is it  you’re scared I’m going to do?”

“LIZZIE!” Grian’s voice shattered the growing suspense in the room. “What are you doing!?” Lizzie whipped around to see Grian standing in the bathroom doorway with a stern expression on his face. 

“Grian! You missed the context! It was just a joke!” Lizzie explained in a panic. Grian wasn’t having it. He could see the look on Mumbo’s face.

“Not funny. Put him down. Now.” Lizzie hastily set Mumbo back down and then helped Grian back onto the table before taking a seat herself.

Grian worriedly asked Mumbo, “I’m so sorry about that. Are you alright?” Mumbo was very not alright. A lot had happened today and he was having a hard enough time as it was without Lizzie intentionally messing with him. Even so, he could recognize that Lizzie’s joke, despite being in poor taste, was just meant to be a joke. And he could clearly see from her expression that she was embarrassed.

“I-it’s fine. I’m fine.” Mumbo lied. He brushed Grian aside and stepped closer to Lizzie. “The truth is, I really do want to get more comfortable with this. I want to be able to talk to Scar without it sending my heart racing. But it’s still new to me and every time I look up at you or see a hand coming at me, my reflexes kick in and I go into panic mode. If anything, this is like, exposure therapy, or something. I think it’s good for me.”

“Yeah, gonna expose you to a heart attack.” quipped Grian.

“Hey, you didn’t stutter at all during that.” Lizzie pointed out.

“I-I didn’t?” Mumbo hadn’t even noticed. “Ha ha! I guess the exposure therapy really is working!”

Grian interjected, “That’s great and all, but I am genuinely worried about you getting overwhelmed, Mumbo. Lizzie, hanging out like this is fine, but you have to remember the rules.”

“The rules?” Mumbo asked.

“When I started to get well enough to walk again, Lizzie started letting herself get a little… grabby. We had to set up some boundaries. Mainly she’s not allowed to pick me up without asking.” Grian turned to Lizzie, “Those same rules apply to Mumbo, too, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s reasonable. I’m sorry, Mumbo. We’re still good, right?” Lizzie held out a finger toward Mumbo. He stepped back and just looked at it, holding his hands up defensively.

“It’s supposed to be a handshake.” Lizzie clarified. Mumbo took a deep breath and slowly reached forward to shake her finger.

“Yeah.” He said, “We’re good.”

Shortly afterward Lizzie retired to bed. Grian told Mumbo that if he was willing to help him through the corridors, they could stay in his house that night. There were a couple of actual beds there, where it would be more comfortable. Mumbo agreed. Grian was excited, because it had been weeks since he had been able to sleep in a real bed. The two carefully navigated to Grian’s house. Grian almost seemed to have magically healed faster, the way he was moving about the place. He was just so excited to be back in the comfort of his own home again. He got out clean linens and prepared the guest room for Mumbo without much trouble. Soon, the two were off to sleep. This was the best sleep Grian had gotten in weeks. It was not so much the case for Mumbo.

Mumbo dreamt that he was back in Scar’s house, standing in the middle of the hallway. Scar rolled into the hallway and turned to face Mumbo.

“There you are.” said dream Scar in a haunting distorted voice. He started towards Mumbo, who made a beeline for the nearest hole in the wall. No matter how fast he ran, he didn’t seem to be getting any closer, and Scar was steadily gaining. Mumbo was stopped in his tracks by Scar’s fingers closing tightly around him and raising him up off the ground. Mumbo writhed and wriggled until he could get his arms free. He tried to rip the massive fingers off himself, but they wouldn’t budge. Dream Scar reached for Mumbo’s face with his other hand, grabbing him by the cheeks and positioning his head forcefully. Dream Scar’s grip on Mumbo's face tightened and tightened until, suddenly, Mumbo woke up. 

Panting and sweating, he bolted upright. He looked over at the watch mounted to the wall. A quarter after three. Still catching his breath, he laid back down. He held his hand out in front of himself and looked at it. There was something about hands. He tilted his hand away and remembered shaking Lizzie’s hand. Well, shaking her finger. The whole night had a theme of ignoring how scared he was. He had hoped if he kept pushing past it, eventually, it wouldn’t be scary anymore. He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

A few hours later, a loud crash woke Mumbo suddenly. He jumped out of bed and ran out of the room to investigate. He ran into the kitchen and saw Grian standing there clutching a couple of pans, with about five more still settling on the floor.

“Are you alright?” Mumbo asked.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to wake you. I was trying to be quiet but I dropped some pans.” Grian explained.

Mumbo sighed and went to help Grian clean up. Grian was scrounging around for something to make for breakfast. It had been a while since he had cooked and he was still excited about being back in the comfort and amenities of his own home. Mumbo insisted Grian sit and let him do the work. They chatted as Mumbo started picking through Grian’s pantry, tossing out things that had gone bad while he was away. Then, they heard a muffled voice shout from above.

“Grian! Where are you? Can you hear me?” Lizzie called from the living room. Mumbo and Grian looked at each other.

“Yeah?” Grian called back. It felt a bit wrong to be so loud in his house. They heard a shuffling. The ceiling creaked and a little dust spilled down. Lizzie’s voice was closer now.

“I’m headed out for groceries. Did you want me to get you anything?” She asked. Grian thought for a moment.

“A pretzel?” He asked.

“Pretzels. Got it. I’ll be back in a bit!” She headed off. Grian and Mumbo chuckled about the strangeness of the interaction and got back to chatting. Mumbo managed to scrape together enough food to have a bit of a disappointing breakfast. Grian was still pleased at the familiarity of the taste. He liked human food, but it was a pretty different flavor palate from what he was used to. They cleaned up and got dressed, then ventured back upstairs to meet Lizzie when she came back home. They slowly made their way through the corridors. As they neared the kitchen, they heard Lizzie come inside. Good timing. Mumbo pulled back the kitchen tile and crawled through, then helped Grian through behind him. As they walked out from behind the sugar jar, Lizzie had just finished putting the food away and was going to stow her shopping bags. She turned around and jumped at the unexpected sight of Grian and Mumbo standing there to greet her. She popped open the bag of pretzels she had just bought and handed one to Grian. He snapped it in half and offered the other half to Mumbo. Lizzie put the bag away and told Mumbo that Joel called her while she was at the shop. She told him that Joel said Scar would be coming home sometime today. She clarified that he didn’t have to go right away, and if he wanted to he was welcome to stay with them until Scar arrived so he wouldn’t have to be alone.

“No,” Mumbo said with haste, “I want to be there when he gets back. Thank you so much for everything, really. I have to go.” He set his pretzel half down and scurried back into the wall without paying much attention to Grian and Lizzie bidding him goodbye. He had been kept in suspense for so long. He couldn’t bear it. He had to see Scar as soon as he possibly could. He got back home and climbed onto that credenza in the hall by the front door. Time passed painfully slowly. And yet Mumbo spent two more hours sitting still as a rock, eyes locked on that door. Mind spinning.

Finally, he heard the sound of car doors on the street outside, and familiar voices. Sure enough, the door opened and Joel pushed Scar inside. Scar looked the way he usually did after longer hospital visits. He still had the hospital wristband on. He looked noticeably tired from the stress, but, most importantly, healthier. As the door shut, Mumbo stood up and shouted.

“Scar!” 

Scar and Joel both looked at Mumbo and froze. Neither of them knew what to do. Scar wondered if Mumbo had somehow not seen Joel standing behind him. He awkwardly tried to discreetly point Joel out. Joel wondered if Mumbo had finally gotten up the confidence to introduce himself to Scar, or if he had just gone insane.

Joel tried to play along, “OH MY DAYS, IT’S A TINY MAN!”

“He knows. You both know.” Mumbo clarified. Scar and Joel looked at each other. This only raised more questions for the two of them. The most present one for both being ‘since when?’

Mumbo continued, “Scar, I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t mean for this to happen. I didn’t know-”

Scar cut him off, “What are you talking about? What did you do?” Mumbo looked at him with the biggest, saddest eyes.

“They told me your heart got sick because you were over excited. I-It happened when I came to speak to you…” Mumbo explained. Scar finally put it together.

“You think this was your fault?”

“Isn’t it?” Mumbo sniffled. Scar rolled a little closer, being careful to maintain a certain distance.

“No, Mumbo. You’re not the reason I got sick. I promise. In fact, if you weren’t there to call for help, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. You saved my life.” Scar reassured him. Mumbo stared at his shoes, processing. He looked back up at Scar.

“Really?”

“Definitely.” There was another pause before Mumbo accepted this truth.

“Can I see your hand?” Mumbo asked without making eye contact. Scar held up his right hand.

“This hand?” He asked.

“Doesn’t matter.” Scar rolled closer to the table. Mumbo stepped back to make room and Scar laid his hand down in front of him. Mumbo put his hands around the tip of Scar’s index finger. He had been overwhelmed by emotion since yesterday. He realized that he wasn’t fully sure what he was doing. Maybe this was like a hug? Whatever it was, he just knew he needed it.

“I’m really glad you’re okay.” Mumbo said. Scar smiled.

[mores0]

Okay, so, buckle in because I have so much to say about the first episode of Psych, and I already know that this post is going to be extremely long, haha.

So first of all, season one is one of Psych’s best seasons in my opinion, and the first episode is one of my favorites. It’s just so good. And it’s crazy how even though it’s James Roday and Dulé Hill’s first episode, they act like they’ve already known each other and been friends for years- their chemistry is amazing right off the bat.

And Shawn and Gus’ characterizations in this episode are amazing, because as the show goes on they really got watered down, but in this episode- it was amazing. Shawn in this episode was so- I don’t know if this is the right word- but angsty, I guess. And I kind of like it honestly. Lassiter’s ex partner was like “You never know when to give up, don’t you?” And he said something like “Oh, I give up all the time, but only when the moment’s right,” or something like that, and as a “gifted” kid, I felt that. Lmao. And- there’s more that I want to talk about- but I’ll come back around to it later- hang in there.

And Gus is the best. I am Gus on a spiritual level. He has anxiety, (which is actually confirmed because he takes anxiety medication apparently, I didn’t know that). He says that he doesn’t want any part of what Shawn was doing, but he secretly wanted to so bad and Shawn knows that, and said all the right things to give Gus the push he needed to just go for it. And he was having the time of his life, even if he said that he wasn’t. Even when he was running away from the dead bodies screaming, which definitely would’ve been me in that situation, lmao. And then when Shawn solved the case and they were both let go, he had the smuggest little smile on his face, because he knew that Shawn could do it. “Just one more day.” Yeah right, he knew fully well that he was going to do it with Shawn for as long as possible lmao, you’re not fooling anybody.

And then there was Henry and Shawn’s dysfunctional father-son relationship- which even in the first episode is very prominent. And that’s literally how the show started- first scene ever, and it was Shawn doing the hat thing and Henry saying “yeah, that’s adequate.” That pisses me off haha, sorry to everyone who likes Henry. I respect that and can definitely see why people would feel that way- but I just don’t like him very much, haha. Additionally, Shawn didn’t even know that his dad had already been back for a year or so, and they didn’t seem too happy to see each other again which was rough. And later on when Shawn did the hat thing again and even like, noticed things that Henry didn’t, he smiled for a second, which Shawn seemed to be happy about and they could’ve had a moment before Henry ruined it by saying something like “Whatever, you got lucky,” and how he was a disappointment, etc, and then they went back to being angry at each other, which is their main issue I think. Shawn wants Henry’s, I don’t know, approval. He wants that “good job,” but Henry doesn’t want to give it.

And then there’s Lassiter and Shawn’s talk about his arrest, and Shawn brought up that his dad did that so that he could teach him a lesson, so Lassiter was like “Well did you learn it?” And Shawn replied, “I learned that I hated my father.” Which fucking hit me so hard lmao. But then- there’s another scene later on which nobody talks about where Shawn is talking to Mr.McCallum about how he was familiar with disappointing his dad, and how McCallum killed his son, and Shawn spoke about how it was because his son kept letting him down time and time again, before saying that he’d change and he’ll be different, but then just let him down again and how it was the needle that broke the camel’s back- and he was so obviously talking about himself, and that scene was just so raw. I’m losing my mind over it.

Also, I loved officer Allan so much even though she only got, like, two scenes, haha. I wish that she got more than one episode. And it was weird not to see Juliet in this one, haha.

Anyways, there’s so many other scenes that I love, like the shooting range scene, the scene with the guy sneezing on the chicken, Shawn showing Gus the office, Shawn telling the guy to get rid of the shards on his sleeves only for him to brush them onto his leg and boot. Shawn pretending to be Psychic for the first time and working through it. Basically, the entire episode, lmao.

And, yeah, that’s everything I have to say I think. And if you could leave your own thoughts in like, the comments/ a reblog, that would be really cool. Have a nice day. (And sorry that this is so long, lmao).

[rweoutofthewoods]

I hope this doesn’t sound rude, I’m just curious about it. how come you don’t read jegulus fics when you write them so much? Is it because you write about it or is there another reason

Hi! Dw it’s not rude at all!

I think I’ve talked about this before but it was a long time ago so I don’t mind explaining again. Sorry in advance if this is longer than it needs to be but there’s a few correct answers here.

Firstly, it’s not like I never ever read it or hard stop refuse to, I still read my friend’s and mutual’s work or little fics I come across that really interest me. It’s just, I don’t go through the tag or actively search out jegulus content. But I pretty much read the entire tag before I even started writing jegulus anyway. so like I originally stopped because I’d see fic recs after fic recs and I was like… I read every single fic on these lists 🥲… even “underrated ones” I was like okay I read that too what now 😭

and around 2023 I started investing all of my time into writing every single day and I stopped reading anything at all, like no fics, no published books, nothing, all I was doing was writing. But I found as I did that and stopped being influenced by other people’s versions of these characters and other headcanons, I felt a lot more free to write whatever and however I wanted and my own characterizations felt clearer and stronger. And don’t get me wrong, I love so many of the different versions of jeggy I’ve read and there’s a lot of fics that will always stay close to my heart, I just also wanted to figure out what my OWN version of them was without feeling influenced. Bc ofc a beautiful thing about a mainly fanon fandom is a lot of fics influence each other and headcanons and things that we then almost accept as being canon. And I just like being able to figure out like which of those pieces of fanon I genuinely really liked and wanted to use and which pieces I just felt like I should use because everyone else did.

So I hope that helps explain why! It’s improved my art, but also like I’ve been on this ride a good chunk of time my guys. before I even started writing myself in 2022, I’d already consumed a majority of the tag. And i genuinely just started reading at all again. So I may go back to my jegulus reading era at some point, but at the moment I’m trying to consume the entire aftg tag, so we shall see! Xx

[kaeyapilled]

I’m pretty new to kaeya ships and I want to know how Kaebedo appeals to you!! /This isn't a sarcastic question I promise 😭

So far, the only ship I get is Rosakae because haha bi couple/girl that says bruhh x guy that says hiii

Do you have any recommended kaebedo fanfics? Thank you <33

i think the biggest appeal of kaebedo to me is the parallels between them. both are from khaenri'ah and were abandoned by a parent figure with an unclear mission on their shoulders and ended up finding a home in a place they fear they will have to betray one day. even without a romantic lens there is SO much potential here!!! they must know of each other's secret to some degree, there's no way they don't. they could form such a deep connection based on these shared origins. let them bond hoyoverse!!!!

its insane to me that kaeya and albedo have never exchanged more than five words in game when theres so much material to work with here.. especially because they DO know each other! the game tells us that! kaeya has an "about albedo" voiceline (Albedo, eh? Calm, collected, and incredibly talented. He's the type everybody likes, some even more so than others. What, you into him as well?), albedo doesnt have an "about kaeya" voiceline but he does mention him in one of his "more about albedo" ones (The time required to sketch portraits closely correlates with one's mood. I could spend half a day sketching Huffman, while I might only need three strokes of the pencil to sketch Kaeya — one for the face, one for the eyepatch string... and one for the eyepatch.) and, actually, pairing that with this

from a past event i think we can say it's implied that albedo draws kaeya fairly often. kaeya seems to babysit klee frequently, which is all the more chance for them to get to know each other more..... they live in the same region and have so many themes in common LET THEM TALK! LET THEM TALK!! kaebedo as a ship is kind of built from the ground up with just minimal canon content and our wild imaginations but hey. the potential is right there. also i think they look cute together. anyway, fanfic recs, you say? i have some<3

Calcium, Carbonate, and Other Things That Run Bone-Deep by Princeliest

Albedo comes knocking at Kaeya's office door, and asks Kaeya to kill him. All in all, it's the worst falling-in-love experience that Kaeya has ever had. (Albedo fears a lot of things. He's never reached out for help with any of them, but he's also never had anyone see him and reach out first.)

this is genuinely one of the best fics ive ever read in my life it's SO good. i kept rotating it inside my mind for days afterwards. and the kaebedo dynamic here is one of my favorite renditions of it too!!!!! like they cannot live through a normal love story it has to be weird when they are both involved. and this fic executes the brand of weirdness i expect from kaebedo perfectly. the characterization for both of them was really good. warning for some body horror but if you're okay with that it's part of the charm in this fic i really enjoyed reading those parts

this wordless dance, in the night by untunedviola

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Kaeya mutters into Albedo’s chest. Albedo pulls him closer. Gentle fingers thread through his hair. “You don’t have to.” He sighs. “I know.” Kaeya’s relationship with his mother tongue, his family, and Albedo develops in fits in starts.

i just reread this while searching through recs on my bookmarks and!!!!!!!!! this is THE kaebedo relationship study EVER. it's so good. its more focused on kaeya since it's from his point of view but albedo is a central crucial part of it. it explores their connection to khaenri'ah and the connection they could have with each other because of it SO well it's really amazing! the angst is delightful i love this one.

and you should check out this author's other works!! seriously the way they write kaebedo is like the best ever. i havent read all of them but the ones i have read were immediate favorites. untunedviola if youre out there

The Curious Investigation on the Investigation Captain by evesbeve

“This is not an invitation to spoil me,” Albedo says through a bite, a hand over his mouth. “As you have with Klee.” “I have no idea what you are talking about," Kaeya laughs. “Although… would it really be that bad, if I wanted to take care of you?” (Or: When Sucrose mentions that she's been worried about Albedo and his constant cases of zoning out, Kaeya takes it upon himself to investigate the situation.)

a lighter, fluffier work to make up for the angst of the previous recs. so sweet youll get cavities honestly. works to read while giggling about how much you love these silly little characters. bonus ragbros and other mond characters. really nice read!!!!

i wish i had more recs but i really dont. i need to read more about them honestly.

im deeply sorry for taking like three months to answer!! many such cases im afraid. i hope my kaebedo propaganda has worked on you or anyone else reading this

[stardustdiiving]

I have a lot of really small headcanons about the concept of “elemental resonance” I keep incorporating into my genshin fics whenever I write them bc I love using the concept that the characters can pick up on other people who wield elemental power’s energy, and the fact elements can react or resonate with each other as a really small way to give insight into how a character feels about things or people around them

I enjoy imagining and using that as almost like another kind of “body language” or mode of communication. I like using it to give characters more defined presences and personalities especially with how they’re viewed through an external POV

Things of this nature I’ve kind of thought about/written before include:

Wanderer will describe the unusually strong elemental power radiating off of Archon characters he’s around as “unpleasant” and tell the reader he doesn’t like being around gods because they all radiate this oppressive and uncomfortable energy that makes him feel very defensive…but he noticeably doesn’t seem to mind Nahida’s elemental energy despite being very aware of it and describes it in a much more pleasant way because He Likes Her

In contrast a lot of people find Wanderer’s Anemo “jarringly sharp like storm gales” or just really odd/confusing and potential sinister(????) but then Nahida just describes it as like, gentle and very nice even if it’s a bit wild sometimes :) (this would confuse everyone if she told them this)

Lynette and Freminet can tell when Lyney gets upset/anxious, especially over them, because his Vision that gives him elemental power came from his ambition to protect his loved ones, and they would describe him being worried as like, a flickering and more fast paced sort of Pyro energy radiating from him that feels very directed towards them specifically

Venti tends to passively reach out and “resonate” with a lot of elements around him, especially with people he likes or shares his element with, as sort of a way of going hello! I see you! Jean and Xiao describe his Anemo energy as very like, reassuring/comforting/makes them feel more centered (he usually does this when they seem stressed out), while a lot of the Mondstadt characters don’t recognize it’s coming from him and just feel more relaxed/comfortable/“at home” (or nostalgic for Mondstadt if they aren’t there at the moment)

Kaeya describes a lot of the pyro characters he’s friends with (Klee, Amber, etc) as very warm and nostalgic—he doesn’t say it directly but the implication is it reminds him of Diluc when they were younger. In present day he describes Diluc’s energy as “subdued heat” towards everyone else but “smolderingly cold for a fire” when Diluc’s attention is on him because their relationship is in great condition ❤️

Characters tend to find being able to resonate with the energy of people they’re close with very comforting (it’s like a hug or leaning on someone for support basically). They usually note it’s especially reassuring if it’s done with someone of the same element. They usually do this pretty deliberately but u can also have characters sort of reaching out to their loved ones more quietly if they don’t like being very emotionally open (lol)

^^ so Tighnari usually reaches out with his Dendro passively for Collei to “lean on” if he can tell she isn’t doing well and wants to like, very intuitively reassure her. Kaveh and Al Haitham both pretend they never do this but they are regularly both “checking in on each other” whenever they’re in proximity as sort of a like “are you there? Oh hi you’re here. Okay nice”

I could go on about this for a while with like every character but I find it so fun. I really love subtle characterization or adding more personalized descriptions to characters beyond just like purely physical appearance jducjfjd

[theoceanswaves0]

Time to be abnormal about Jewel Joker, thoughts below, spoilers for chapters 1 and 2

—> I can’t believe we’re back in the year of our Lord 2024 with a sequel, I never would have imagined

—> Like in my opinion, Encore wrapped up enough conclusively that I wasn’t really sure what they could do for a sequel. It’s the same reason I wasn’t sold on them doing a movie back in the day (and thankfully we didn’t get one)

—> But I’m actually pretty interested in the premise and the characters they’ve introduced so far. Erito is a nice evolution of the mean girl adversary Amu has faced in both Utau and Rima - both of them were pretty upfront about not liking Amu at first, which is honestly pretty indicative of the elementary school experience. But middle school? Totally different ball game. People laughing at you behind your back, spreading rumors, pretending to be nice while secretly hating you… oh how I don’t miss those days.

—> And the best part is that AMU KNOWS! I like that she isn’t oblivious here! Like they could have so easily written her not picking up on it and they didn’t! That’s going to make this conflict and dynamic much more interesting!

—> Something I don’t like though is Amy’s fan girly behavior around Tadase. I was pretty sure she was past this later in the OG manga? I don’t mind her getting flustered every now and then and I know it’s been almost a decade and a half since we left off, but I was hoping this part of her characterization would be more consistent (especially compared to the anime)

—> Also did I just not pick up on how sus Tsukasa was before, or is he just worse here? Like he sends these 2 to Arcana DAYS before they’re supposed to start middle school, and doesn’t say that they’ll be boarding there? He must have rolled a nat 20 for charisma with Amu’s parents bc IDK how her father would have okayed that (since he’s Tadase’s uncle, I don’t think his parents would have many objections). But then later after getting there, they find out THEY CAN’T KEEP THEIR PHONES?? THEY CAN MAKE 1 OFF-CAMPUS CALL ON SUNDAYS FOR 10 MINUTES?? I know this is functionally to force Amu and Tadase to get to know the other students, and possibly for Rima to try and make friends on her own (which would nicely parallel Amu attempting to befriend Rima in the Día arc) but like??? Did Tsukasa know this??? If he did, why didn’t he warn them???

—> The Arcana uniforms are DOPE. I love how, unaltered, they kind of look like detectives. Kind of fits the mission they’re here for!

—> And of course, the style game is still on point! I was enjoying the fashion and styling montage with Amu and Niya, since I always headcannoned Amu becoming a fashion designer in the future (her mad style game, and it easily blending elements from each of her charas).

—> I say enjoyed because then Niya got a little too forward with asking Amu out… only for her to firmly turn him down and set boundaries! I know the “cool and spicy” persona has been limiting to her at times (mostly people not being able to see past it to see the entirety of who she is), but I think it’s completely warranted here and not inauthentic. I def remember boys being pushy in middle school, and Amu already has enough on her plate.

—> The tech gap doesn’t bother as much as it could have. My understanding was that the OG story started in 2006 (when the first chapter was published), and it ended in 2008 (I have a theory to explain this but I’ll share in a separate post). So even if I continue to believe that Jewel Joker is still set in 2008, I can still buy it a little (since smart phones were around, even if they weren’t commonplace, though streaming is stretching it a bit). Compare this to the whiplash of Cardcaptor Sakura, which would have been set in the 90s, and seeing smartphones in Clear Card…

—> Now I know logically, they’re keeping the story contemporary with modern tech and fashion, but I refuse to believe that Shugo Chara isn’t still set in 2008. I’m particular about time being consistent, so I realize it’s a me issue.

—> We’re left on a cliffhanger regarding the Arcana games. My guess is that chapter 3 will explain the rules and set up, and possibly tease any rivalries that’ll crop up as a result.

—> In the scenario that they decide to make more anime, I hope they’ll decide to start off by doing a more faithful adaptation of the manga and then cover Jewel Joker. (mostly so they avoid having to pad out the seasons like they did in the OG days). Since we never got the ending of the manga or Encore adapted, this gives them the perfect chance to do that.

—> Which leads me to ask the following question…

[astrobei]

Do u have any byler fic recs? I’ve read all ur work and it’s wonderful!

hii omg thank u :’)) i’m going to try my hardest not to only list every single of my friends’ fics on here or ones that have been recc’d a million times even though they are all deserving of a million reads!!

you are sick (and you’re married) by @wiseatom: OK i said i wouldn’t list every one of my friends’ fics on here but thea’s modern coffee shop au immediately came to mind. everything she’s written has been so incredible but she characterizes will and max especially so well in this! delivering to us the cringefail will content we need for reallll <3 i am so in love with her writing and something about her style just makes so much sense. i tell her this every single day but it will never be enough, because her will is so precious to me and i need thea to quit her job and only write loser4loser byler for the rest of her life. read this! or else! (coffee shop au, modern setting, cringefail will byers tm)

king of my heart by @bookinit02: i had to restrict myself in choosing just one of haven’s fics for this list because i love her and i would put every one of her fics on every list ever if i could, but this fic. THIS FIC. listen. i don’t cry easily when reading fics but this one. i was reading it in the living room and my roommate came down and she said, “suni, are you okay?” and i said “yeah, why?” and she said, “oh, i thought you just got dumped or something :(“ and i didn’t know how to tell her that the reason i was eating ice cream out of the tub on the couch at midnight while crying quietly in my comfort hoodie and fuzzy socks was because of this fic. that’s all i have to say <3 (soulmate au, angst, fics that tear my heart out of my chest)

in from the snow by @parkitaco: every one of parker’s fics is near and dear to my heart, and i’ve gushed at them about it in their comments and inbox and asks but this was my most recent completed read and it has literally everything i could’ve asked for ! ice skating date! established byler! jewish byers!!! her characterization is incredible and her established byler is my favorite i’ve ever read EVER in my entire life ohhh my god. she has so many wonderful fics and i literally cannot choose a favorite because they’re all 10000/10s so do urself a favor and binge her entire collection of works if, for some reason, you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t done so yet :^) (winter fic, hannukah, established byler, mike wheeler’s pathetic inability to ice skate)

want for anything (and everything): the writing in this fic is so beautiful. like. i am a sucker for fluff yes but also i’m a sucker for fics that just rip my heart right out of my body with how well written they are. i was looking through my bookmarks for this list and i haven’t read this in a while but my bookmark notes said, and i quote, “EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS SOOOOOOO!!!!!! IM AHSJDJDJDJSKSKKSKSKSKDKDJ” which sums it up perfectly in my opinion. post s3 mike and will figuring out their relationship and this author has such vice grip on me because i immediately binged the entire series too!! (six unrelated fics but each one of them are so. SO. GOOD!!) (this series has a whole bunch of premises so i’m just going to let u all figure that out for urself by making u read every single one of them. lol)

selfless; self destruct: i find myself coming back to this fic a lot because i have such a soft spot for will and mike finding each other again and repairing their relationship. the writing in this fic is so heartbreaking and the will pov in this was so spot on! they have a whole phone conversation about toast that just. it was so small and so simply and so raw and so THEM that i literally had to put my phone down. i’m sure i recommended this already but i can’t rec this fic enough !! (angst, post s4, reconnection)

hanging on the telephone by @elmaxed: lumi’s writing is just so. i don’t know how to explain it but the way they write is so soothing and easy and it conveys so much emotion with such simple dialogue and prose. everything lumi writes is s tier and this fic was no exception !! i Need more will and mike talking on the phone during the 6 months will was gone and it was really incredible reading this from mike pov. the characterization, the dialogue, mike’s struggle with his feelings for will vs what he should be feeling for will,, literally just the whole package. read it immediately if you haven’t !! (post s3, phone calls, mike wheeler’s ongoing homosexual crisis)

who you gonna call? (mike wheeler!) by @andiwriteordie: OK everyone and their mom has read andi’s fics because she’s famous and a legend and also one of my best friends (!) so it would be redundant for me to shake you by the shoulders and demand you read her fics but. this one is just so so special to me! like this one specifically. every one of her fics is incredible masterful beautiful but THIS ONE IS JUST SO!! i can’t explain why i come back to this fic so many times (other than the fact that it’s perfect). college byler where mike is an ra and will visits him, except they keep getting interrupted by the students on mike’s floor. ugh. perfect. holding it so close to my heart forever and ever <3 (college au, established byler, interruption trope x100)

bonus!! these fics aren’t byler but they are some of my all time favorites and i would shout their praise from the rooftops for all eternity if i could :^)

in the morning i’ll be better: jancy jancy jancy jancy jancy !!! stoprobbers on ao3 has some of the best, if not THE best jancy fics i’ve ever read! the characterization, the plot, the tenderness ☹️ jancy usually gets sidelined in byler fics so i eat up every single fic where they’re the main couple and this is everything i need from season 5. nancy’s talk with steve, reconnecting with jonathan, UGH. just. everything about this. (reconnection, jancy talking their issues through, nancy whooping steve’s ass for the six little nuggets monologue)

a life in your shape: if any of you are stoncy readers, this fic is the gift that keeps on giving. nancy and steve get engaged, and jonathan, their best friend, is,,, he’s dealing! i don’t read a lot of stoncy just because i feel like fics that are my style are few and far between, but for writing like this, i’d read any pairing the author wrote for. i have a sweet spot for this relationship and the way that the chemistry between all three of them is so palpable and balanced is so rare and beautiful to read! 36k of some of the best writing i’ve ever read i swear even if you’re not a big stoncy fan this fic might just convert u :^) (2/3 of an established relationship, 3 way pining, weddings)

november and july by @lookslikefireflies: this is such a wonderful max and will fic and probably the best max character study i’ve ever read. GOD the writing had me clutching at my heart in beautiful, glorious pain. just so many lines in this fic that i think about so much. takes place between s2 and s4 and just. i literally have no words. the way this author writes max is so so special to me, i want to put this prose in a mug and sip it on a cold day. the relationships between will and max and also max and mike and even though byler isn’t a focus of this fic, you can really see will’s struggle with his relationship with mike post s3 even though it’s not through his pov. i just come back to this fic a lot when i’m sad it’s so warm and gorgeous and just. ☹️☹️☹️ (max character study, angst, fics that make me curl up into a ball and weep)

i’m honestly not the best at fic recs because i keep forgetting to bookmark ones i like before i close the tab but i hope you enjoy these :^)

[caretaker-au]

you’re probably offline again, and I don’t know if anyone is gonna see this. but your au is genuinely one of my most favorite Undertale AUs ever. I have been in the Undertale fandom for a LONG time, but I don’t think there will ever be something as well written as the Caretaker AU again. the amount of research and love put into it is so cool. it truly does feel like something that could possibly happen in the actual canon and I LOVE it.

your version of Chara is also one of the most best portrayals of them I’ve EVER seen in the entire history of the fandom. when you began releasing the final chapters for the AU, I remember just sitting at my computer and rereading Chara’s lines over and over again. because their character was just so interesting to see in action. even when it was still a comic, their goddamn expressions and words are just so memorable to me. I still and always will have that little sadistic smile ingrained in my brain. (that also includes literally every character in comic even the background ones.) I love how you handle Chara as well, how you made them a horrible person but not totally unrealistic. like that one asker said, you feel bad for them, but just a LITTLE TINY bit. because they always screw up everything for themself and then go blame a 12 year old for it.

speaking of Frisk, your portrayal of them is definitely so very canon to me. I love their design and personality so much. they are so just relatable too, possibly one of the most realistic 12 year olds I’ve seen in a comic. they remind me a lot of me in a way, especially when I was 12 lol. I’m beyond happy they got a happy ending, they deserve it after, y’know, everything.

I wish you all luck on any other projects you may be working on. and I hope you are proud of what you have accomplished. :) you crafted a truly beautiful story. now if you don’t mind me, I’m just going to go reread everything again.

(take a shot every time I say ever lol, sorry for any spelling mistakes, thank you for reading it all)

Thank you so much for your kind words. Caretaker truly was a huge labor of love. I remember back when Ellipsis came up with the concept how it just gripped me like a bear trap. I couldn't stop thinking about it! Eruto felt the same way and was saying we should make a comic, and I was like, "no no, I don't want to do all that line art" but then she was like, you won't be alone we can draw it TOGETHER and then to demonstrate she took one of my super rough sketches and lined and colored it. And I was like, wow okay maybe this is feasible.

The resulting 3-ish years it felt like we were spending every waking hour working on Caretaker. I carried my sketchbook everywhere and would draw out thumbnails during my breaks at work, I'd be thinking about it on the drive home, and then we'd get on a discord call together to draw, line, and color for hours at a time. I could go on but the bottom line is that I LOVED IT. Each finished page (drawn or written!) fills me with pride and I look back fondly on the time spent creating and maintaining this blog together. It was exciting, compelling, and at many times exhausting, but worth it.

As far as the characterization goes, glad that you appreciate it! We reminded ourselves to never lose sight of the fact that Chara was still a human being--full of contradictions and ego and multiple-facets--but we didn't want to justify their behavior either. We all know people who are selfish, manipulative, and arrogant, but what happens when a person like that gets naïve enablement and never has to face any repercussions for their behavior? Without the correcting force that is LIFE, a cynical, angry, cruel child like Chara didn't have any reason to second-guess their worldview. Of course anything that goes wrong must be the fault of someone else!

This has already gotten kinda long, so all I'll say on Frisk is thank you and glad you agree! Personally, I knew some friends of the family who had kids about that age so I tried to reference their behavior in my mind when it came to writing Frisk. (Though most of Frisk's behaviors boil down to "RUN!!") Through the many discussions and occasional rewrites of this story, we always planned on ensuring Frisk had a happy ending. ♥

Thanks once again for the ask, and I hope you enjoy the reread!

[cannibalthoughts]

Hi. Um. I am very curious about the Alma/Pedro underground revolutionary romance you mentioned in the notes of one of your posts....

This one is long, because I can never give a brief answer, haha

For context, I reblogged this post with the tags: #...Okay: next time a fic requires the Encanto to have a bunch of books it will be because they have One Guy #who ran an illicit printing press publishing politically contentious materials #and sets up a new one in the Encanto #almost all the classics are awful knockoffs though and this results in Debate when the Encanto opens and someone gets in a conversation #about their beloved favorite scene that exists only in the Encanto's fanfictionalized canon

Which got me thinking about That One Guy and how they connect to Alma’s and Pedro’s life prior to the miracle.

Starting with what we see of Alma as a political figure:

The Encanto has free universal healthcare. I doubt anyone goes hungry, either. If the magic healing food is freely available to anyone who needs it, I can’t imagine the regular food being hoarded, and with The Family Madrigal demonstrating Pepa watering fields of crops, I don’t think the Encanto struggles with famine, after the rocky first years.

The same song shows 75 year old Alma helping with the construction of a new house. Is everyone else a dedicated construction worker working on a contact, and she just drops in on job sites sometimes? Or (the interpretation I go with) is this a collective community effort along the lines of a barn raising? The chain of people standing still and passing materials to each other doesn’t behave like I would expect from a construction crew, which would usually have too few people to make that effective. But a large group of friends and neighbors? The Encanto has a very strong sense of connection. If you watch the background during the scenes in town, there’s people constantly meeting up and chatting. I think the standard practice in the Encanto is community-built housing.

(This also foreshadows and establishes the rebuilding in All of You. The Madrigals have long provided support to the town without receiving it in turn. But when they’re in need, the welfare structures they’ve created and contributed to are there to help them, too. It’s a bookend, and the symbol of the Madrigals truly becoming part of the community, instead of living on pedestals.)

Which would mean that Alma founded and leads a town with universal healthcare, food, and housing. The latter two aren’t explicitly canon, but I do think they make more sense than alternate explanations.

Going more into inferences: the refugees arrived in the Encanto with almost nothing in the way of material possessions. The only person with any sort of landed property was Alma herself. Upon founding, the Madrigals were essentially the only family with any form of inherited wealth. Do you think that a community of desperate refugees living in the near-wilderness and dependent on each other’s collective skills and knowledge to eke out their survival would re-form a stratified socio-economic class structure? Especially with the knowledge of the strong social welfare structures they form in the future?

TL;DR Alma believes strongly in mutual aid and community support and uses her position of power to found a communist paradise.

(Where the world’s most hyperfixated accordian enthusiast is able to ply their trade)

With that in mind, the fic idea, inherently a tragedy Because Canon:

Alma has ideas about things like land ownership and the sorts of support a society should guarantee its members. Fanon characterizes Pedro as a writer. I think this came from a canon-adjacent source? I’ve also seen the idea floated in the fandom that he specifically wrote political essays.

So: Pedro is also politically invested, and writes some contentious material. Alma is a networker, the one who introduces Pedro to the someone running an amateur printing press out of their home and builds connections with allies (building the role of community organizer and leader she will eventually take on). She thinks of herself as supporting the people who do the real work.

Their romance is also the story of rallying a community in order to create a better system. In the end, Alma manages it, in a way neither of them ever imagined. She always thinks of it as Pedro’s gift to them and largely discounts her own efforts.

(Which is the real lure of this idea to me. Thematically, I think it works really well for the Alma we see in canon, and for the struggles I imagine she went through in the aftermath of Pedro's death, left suddenly as the leader of a valley of similarly traumatized people relying on her for survival.)

Unfortunately, this would require A Lot of research about the political climate of late 19th century Colombia, including things like majority/minority political stances, what the most common forms of activism were, and the ways that political dissent was treated. I can say that Alma probably disagreed with the privatization of formerly communal farmland, based on the operation of the Encanto. But I’d need to put considerable time into figuring out:

what the cohesive political groups at the time supported and disagreed on, and where Alma and Pedro could fit amid/around those groups

what sort of activist actions she and Pedro might have taken that could have led to local policy changes (since local policy is where a lot of change happens, please vote in your local elections, folks)

who would have been likely to react to their attempts to organize (who stands to lose, who stands to gain, who is just going about their day)

how those people and organizations might have reacted to activism and how that would shape Alma’s and Pedro’s decision making, and how this would shape the views I would write them as having, in order to make the narrative more compelling

And tons of other things. Just looking at those, I’d need... several books and a ton of articles as source material so I could do the real world setting justice, as well as better Spanish reading skills since I imagine many relevant primary sources and a good deal of secondary sources would not be available in translation. And I might even discover that the base premise is unfeasible! Nature of research.

The setting deserves that level of care and delicacy, but I am just not doing all that. I have a research limit of like... two books. Probably. So it remains as nebulous backstory for me.

Anyway, the reason this idea lives in my head at all: the person who owns a wooden handpress. It would have been too heavy for someone to reasonably evacuate with over the mountains, but Casita totally has a hand press in one of her rooms.

No set ideas, but I think it would be fun if it had a similar functional design to the Columbian press, with very different aesthetics. Picked this style of printing press because it can be hand operated by a single person, was still being produced when the Encanto formed, has incredible longevity (some are still used today), and it seems reasonable that the printer may have encountered a similar press in a city and wished for one, making its presence in Casita a very targeted miracle. Something taken as evidence that it was a gift from Pedro. They didn’t spread much outside of major population centers because they were (mostly) metal and weighed a metric fuckton.

This would also mean that there is an immovably heavy printing press inside of Casita and Alma’s old friend the printer just goes to work in their house for several decades before anyone realizes that, hang on, Luisa’s out there tossing bridges around like pizzas, she can move this.

I might end up writing that fic idea about post-canon classic lit debates, though

[cosmos-coma]

Hey!! I really love your writing! All witcher characters are very much on point, it’s amazing😍 i would have an idea for a Lambert fic if you don’t mind! How about reader is very much interested in learning from the witchers and hunting down monsters herself but Lambert is just very overprotective of her and thinks she’s insane for risking her life but in the end reader actually saves Lambert’s ass?? And they get together after that and it’s all fluff?? You can add anything to it, i love your Lambert!💜

Beasts and Books

A/N: Aww, thank you so much! I've been worried about my characterization- especially of Lambert, but I'm so glad you like him! and Okay, so fair warning this isn't edited like my other ones usually are and that's because I got carried away and wrote the longest one shot of my fucking life lol. I hope you enjoy it!!

Pairing: Lambert X Reader

Words: ~4k

________________________

Years ago- back when you were growing up in Velen, you actually started out as a farmer's daughter. Your mothers worked hard, taking care of the sheep, shearing them, and weaving the wool into yarn or bolts of fabric. You had been placed in charge of raising the lambs, rounding them up, and generally keeping them out of trouble. It was a lot harder than it sounded. 

They often fought with each other or knocked over their milk buckets and seemed to do everything in their power to get you just that close to selling them and being done with them. But you knew your mothers would never allow it and so you grumbled and just kept on.

But it was the lambs actually that happened to change your life too. It had been raining all morning and you had almost finished feeding the lambs when “Hold on- One, two, three, four, five- Where is number six?” you questioned, looking to the rest of their little faces as if they’d even have the manners to answer you, let alone the vocal cords. 

You scowled, hiking up your skirt as you stepped around in the muck, trying to find a sign of the tiny little lamb that got loose- the youngest of the batch this year. “Ah-hah!” you exclaimed when you spotted the trail of little hoofprints that slipped past the gate. He must’ve slipped through the fenceposts- he always was good at using his size to his advantage.

“Come on, lamb! I’m not gonna do this all day!” You followed the hoofprints into the forest nearby, prints few and far between as he must’ve been having the time of his life evading you. “Baaaa!” he let out a little bleat from just beyond the shrubs before you.

“Gotcha!” you grinned and popped your head over the shrubs, finding the lost lamb chewing on a rather damp book. “Well now, what have you gotten into?” You asked as you scooped him up, another bleat escaping him as the book fell away from his mouth. It looked like he’d found his way into an abandoned camp. There was a cold abandoned campfire and evidence of a bed roll flattening down the lengthy grass; you found bits of broken leather here and there- probably from someone doing repairs. 

“Looks like whoever it was left in a hurry…” You commented, ignoring the lamb who was now more interested in chewing on the ends of your hair than anything else. You flipped open the worn cover and read the title of the book aloud, “Brother Adalbert’s Bestiary… huh” 

“Y/N!” You heard one of your mothers call from the house; she must’ve come to check on how you were doing in the rain and not seen you in the lamb’s pen. “Coming, Mother!” You shouted in her direction and quickly scooped up the book before trudging back towards the house. 

Once you got back home and finished up with the lambs you parked yourself right in front of the crackling fireplace, drying both yourself and the book as you carefully flipped through it again and again, reading as you dried out its pages. 

‘Ghouls, nekkers, wyverns, barghest, the list goes on and on’  you thought to yourself as you skimmed through the pages, despite having been out in the rain it wasn’t as damaged as you thought it might be, even the notes lining the margins of each entry were still legible. You flipped to the beginning again to make sure the pages were dry when you came upon a little mark on the inside of the cover. It was a little sketchy and messy, but it looked like a little drawing of a wolf head next to the Letter ‘L’.

That was then- now you were a little older- still a farmer’s daughter, but now you were responsible for hunting monsters. You were no witcher, that was obvious- but you still made do. You had studied that bestiary until you knew it like the back of your hand, you saved up all your money to buy yourself a rinky-dinky set of armor and an old sword. You started small- fighting only what you knew you could take on; barghests and ghouls mostly- occasionally you attempted to help rid the swamp towns of bloedziuger, but you had yet to get down the speed you needed when they exploded into acid. 

You ran your fingers over the dappled scaring on your arm, a testament to when you had started out on this path you had chosen. You had used your smarts to set traps for your monsters to make it easier for you as a regular human, earned some good coin, and invested that into better equipment. Now you had a good custom-made silver sword, a sturdy but light set of armor, and were beginning to save up for a good horse too. 

“Alright Miss, this is as far as I’m taking you.” the cart driver had said, pulling his mule to a stop  in the middle of a small village. “You can walk the rest if you really need.” he kept watching you expectantly as you hopped off the back of his cart, making sure he didn't see the few apples you had swiped into your bag. 

“Yeah, thank you…” You murmured and handed him a few orens from your satchel to which he grinned and nodded his head. 

“Much obliged, Miss…” He tipped the edge of his worn-out hat and continued off down the road. 

“Yeah, sure you are…” You let out a sigh and stretched your legs, before heading over to the notice board. “Let’s see what we’ve got here…” 

You glanced it over, seeing mostly trade notices, but it seemed that there were a few notices you could actually fulfill too; wolves had attacked the livestock of one house, while wyvern seemed to be picking up the sheep of another one nearby. Probably were getting bothered by the same monster, but you figured you'd check them both out to be safe. 

You glanced around the town as you stood- it smelled overwhelmingly of animals and stove fires, but your nose had become so used to those over the years that it hardly struck you anymore. A few old women sat out in front of a house, idling and chatting in the late afternoon while chickens clucked and scurried around the streets openly. You guessed there would be a few more hours of sunlight left, so you probably had time to start your investigation before it became too dark for you to see. 

You set out to the other side of town to investigate the wolf contract first, figuring yours get the easy things out of the way first. 

And Thankfully it really was only wolves that were bothering this farmer and you were able to finish up the contract just before the night began to really fall. So you headed back to the local Inn, coin enough for a room now in hand, and maybe even enough for dinner too if you negotiated right. You were fortunate, you knew, that you were completely human- After all, it meant that people almost always treated you better. You didn’t have any problem with nonhumans, in fact, in this line of work you had even met several pleasant ones you'd like to see again- but you also couldn't ignore that you benefited from the way others treated them. 

It had just become fully dark when you came up outside the inn, torches along the road lighting your way back. When you came to the town square you heard a man trying to talk to one of the older ladies you had seen before. 

“Hey, you. Yes, you Miss. Where the hell are all the notices for witchers? I thought this was Velen- you guys always have some sort of shit going on for us to solve.” he said, sounding rather obnoxious as even his horse seemed to huff in protest. 

After grumbling something about ‘kids these days’, she motioned towards you, “apparently you’ve been beaten to it, Mutant. And I thought you witchers were supposed to be faster than us humans…” She snapped back at him with a smug look on her face. 

The man quickly turned to you and now you could see his yellow cat-like eyes and the scar running down beside his right eye. He had worn but rather unique armor and twin blades strapped to his back. 

‘Nope. I’m not dealing with this right now’,  you thought to yourself and quickly slipped inside the Inn. You went up to the innkeeper first thing, getting a room for the night and what little food and drink you could afford with the rest of your coin. Thankfully the witcher still had yet to come inside yet so you tucked yourself in a corner to eat and read by yourself. 

You opened up the bestiary as you ate, looking over the entry on wyverns. You had read this entry over dozens of times, but you didn’t want to risk missing anything that could help you later. 

“One room for the night if you will.” The man from earlier asked, now at the innkeeper's table. 

“Afraid we’re all out of rooms. She got the last one.” The keeper said as he threw a thumb in your direction. 

The turned to look and you were sure he swore under his breath at the exact moment you did before his face twisted into a frown. His footsteps were quiet as he came over to your table, setting his swords down. “So first you take all my contracts, then you take my room. Who the hell are you anyway? You don’t even look like a witcher, you look more like a wannabe knight.” He said callously. 

“Wow, quite the introduction. Are all witchers as charming as you Or do you have them all beat?” you retorted flatly, not even sparing another glance up at him. “It’s just my luck I  guess. My luck and your getting fucked.” you added, chucking a bit at your own rhyme. 

A wicked grin crossed his face and he leaned in closer, chin resting in his hand. “Oh..? You’ve got a bit of a bite in you, huh? I’m Lambert…” He introduced himself.

You looked at him, giving him a quick once-over with your eyes before you cracked a small smile his way and nodded. “I’m Y/n.” 

“Y/n? Well, now I have a name for all my problems. So what’s got you so enwrapped that you can barely look up at me? It’s gotta be pretty good because I’m- Hey, I know that book.” He reached over and took it from right in front of you. 

“Hey!” you yelled and went to snatch it back, but his witcher instincts made him far faster. “That's mine-”

“Where the hell did you get this?” he seemed a lot more serious now as he held up the book and looked back at you, suspicious eyes looking over your face to see any indication of lying. 

“I found it in the woods years ago, its Mine-” you went to emphasize again, but he interrupted you once again.

“No. No, this is mine.” He stated and opened up the inside cover, pointing to the little wolf drawing and the ‘L’. “This is me. Lambert of the school of the wolf. I lost this thing ages ago. I didn’t think I’d ever find it again.” 

You sighed as you watched him look over it with a level of care that was reserved for that of something like a childhood friend. This was the book that had shaped your life up to this point, but…. If it belonged to someone else, isn’t it only right that they have it again? You’d read that thing forwards and backward anyways, what more will it be able to tell you? 

You let out a small sigh but kept quiet as he flipped through the pages when he paused for a moment. “Wait- this note isn’t mine… Neither is this. ‘Afraid of bees and will actively avoid established hives’ , ‘bad climbers. Easy to trap in pits and kill, but will become feral in their attacks. Keep out of reach.’ “ Lambert read aloud, looking from entry to entry at the notes you had written in as you learned. 

“These are… yours? Did you… use this book to become a monster hunter?” He asked, looking at you in a mix of wonder and confusion. “You’ve got to be fuckin' insane- why would a human ever want to become a monster hunter?” after a half second of thought he handed the book back to you, which you brought to your chest possessively. 

“You said it yourself, Velen always has shit going on for you guys to solve. I grew up here and it's turning into something that’s almost too dangerous to live in. I wanna change that.” you shrugged it off as if it was nothing, but what you did held great importance to you.

Lambert was quiet for a moment, something that you gathered was probably unusual for him, as he seemed to take in your words. 

“But-” you started, trying to shift the topic and lighten the mood a bit. “How about to make up for stealing your book and all your jobs I let you stay in my room with me. You set up a bedroll in front of the fireplace or something.” you grinned a bit as you offered, watching his face turn from something serious into a charming smirk that you could feel draw you in a little more than you'd like to admit. 

You two spent the rest of the night chatting and throwing quips back and forth at each other, and before your drinks were done it felt like you had known each other for decades. There was a layer of sarcasm over much of the vulnerability there, but you could see past it easily. 

When you two made it up yo your room for the first time that night you discovered that the one bed the room had was actually a lot bigger than you had thought it would be. There was easily room for 2 people to sleep and still keep a bit of distance if they wanted. 

“Hey, Lambert?” you looked back at him as he came to the door, “not to be too forward, but would you like to just share the bed? I can keep to my own side if you can.” you posed to him and set your stuff down on one side. 

“Sure as hell beats the hell out of a bedroll.” He smiled and dropped his stuff on the other side and began pulling off his armor.

Your brain became like fuzzy static as you watched his tunic ride up through the motions he went through. The thin strip of skin and the distinct line of the ‘V’ his pelvis made was all you saw, but it was all you needed too. 

“Don’t tell me our little monster hunter is getting distracted…” he said smoothly with a little chuckle to his voice. 

Your blush glowed like a radiant lamp and you quickly turned away to snuff out that burning flame. “I just- well. You don’t want your armor on for sleeping? Isn’t it safer that way?” 

“What- are you gonna stab me?” he moved to lounge out on the bed, putting his arms behind his head and exposing his midsection to you again. 

“Well- I. No, of course not.” 

“Well, then I should be fine. Are you just gonna stand there all night?” He said with a huge grin, patting the bed beside him. That bastard knew exactly what he was doing.

“Shut up” you looked away and quickly and quietly got down to your tunic and underclothes. You climbed under the warm covers and pulled the blanket high around your shoulders. “Are you gonna sleep above the covers tonight?” You asked, rolling over to face him and pushing your hair out of your face. 

A smile came over him when he looked over at you, it was softer than the others he had offered you tonight and a little more sincere as well. “I’m gonna be up for a little while. You know us Witchers, we don't really sleep much.” He shrugged and ran a hand through his already pushed-back hair. “Don’t you worry about me, you get some sleep…” 

You struggled to hold back a yawn as you nodded in agreement. “Goodnight, Lamb.” you mumbled before drifting off into a sound sleep.

“Goodnight, little monster hunter…” the witcher mumbled quietly as he watched your sleeping face. He hadn’t felt this… soft sort of feeling before. Something that felt so deep and so real it almost scared him to admit he was feeling it, but as he looked down at your sleeping face he felt ease wash over him. How could you throw yourself into such a profession? Didn’t you know the risks? You even had the choice of it, unlike him…

“Mmph…” you mumbled out as you shifted in your sleep, reaching out for something that wasn’t there. 

Without a second thought, Lambert put his arm in the way of your reaching hands, smiling a bit as your hand naturally found his and you held his arm close to you in comfort. 

“What am I gonna do with you..?” he mumbled into the quiet night once more.

When morning came you woke up to an empty and cold bed, but you weren't sure why that seemed to hurt for some reason…. But within minutes your witcher had returned with breakfast in hand.

“So, we’re hunting a wyvern?” Lambert asked as he handed you a plate. 

“Good morning to you too.” you remarked with a smile, “looks like. We can prepare after breakfast?” 

And so you two did, when breakfast was finished you two gathered up your things and made for the stables. 

“Here, you can ride on the horse. I’ll walk- I hate trying to follow a creature's trail on horseback…” he justified as he helped you up, hands on your waist as he boosted you up. 

“Thanks, Lamb… lead the way?” you smiled down at him, grabbing the reins. 

You two made your way to towards the last house on the way out of town, looking around for evidence of this wyvern and following the blood trail towards what you could only guess would be a nest. 

“So, look-” Lambert started. “Why don’t I just take this one? You know how tricky these draconids can be.” He offered, looking up at you to see your reaction, but it wasn’t exactly what he was hoping for. 

Your brow furrowed and you shook your head. “What? No. I’ve taken monsters on my own before so why should this be any different?” you argued. “No, If you want we can fight it together, but I'm gonna be there either way.”

“Look- I get that you’re supposed to be a monster hunter and all, but why would you want to go ruin a pretty face like that? Why don’t you just keep yourself out of trouble?” he sounded a bit less hypothetical now and a little more like an argument.

“So you think I’m pretty?” you asked with a smirk, trying to turn the topic of conversation. You really didn’t want to have this conversation right now. You’re a monster hunter! And even though you’re still figuring things out you didn’t want it to stop you.

The witcher only sighed at your response. “Yeah, I do…” his words drifted off a bit as he slowed to a stop, his horse automatically stopping beside him. “Hey, I’ll be right back, okay? I’m gonna go take a leak before the fight. First rule of being a witcher you know”, He said and headed off into the thicker brush, his somber tone resonating in your mind. 

“That cannot possibly be true.” you laughed a touch and watched him go, sighing a bit, but taking the moment to get your things ready, bombs and potions from the recipes scribbled in the back of the book. 

But it was taking quite a while for Lambert to come back…

“Come on, Lamb! I’m not gonna do this all day!” You shouted, feeling a sense of Deja vu as you called those words. You waited around a few minutes more until you heard an exasperated and pained cry coming from far off past the brush. 

“Damn it, Lambert!” you yelled as you processed what he had done and stirred his horse into motion, tugging its reins towards said noise. You were angry, to be honest. I mean, did he just think you couldn’t do it by yourself? Did he think that because you were human you couldn't fight like he did?  The thoughts alone made your blood boil and your skin grow hot and itchy as it was whipped by the wind. 

When you finally came onto the scene you saw Lambert rushing around on the cliff's edge, battling the aged draconid all by himself. You practically threw yourself off the horse and into the fight as you came in close. “Damn it, Lambert! You lying bastard!” you yelled and drew the Wyvern's attention to you now as you stabbed your sword into its tail. 

“Don’t yell at me, it was for your own good!” He yelled back as he cast Igni, vying for its attention to come back to him. 

“My own good? You sound like my bloody mothers!”  

“Sweet Melitele, I did it to protect you!” Lambert shouted, looking to you instead of the wyvern now and dropping his guard. 

“Lambert…” you sighed, breath coming out in heavy huffs as you fought off the creature. But you didn’t get the chance to say anything more before the annoyed creature whipped its tail at the witcher and flew off with the last of its strength. 

He had jumped back in just the nick of time but unfortunately didn’t realize how close he was to the edge. With one foot on stable ground and the other about to step off the cliff’s edge, his body's momentum had him off kilter and about to topple over….

“Lambert!’ you yelled and ran towards him, grabbing him by his sword’s sheath strap just in time and yanking him forcefully back onto safe ground. You stumbled backward to safety and landed on the ground right beside your annoying witcher. 

“How’s that for ‘I did it to protect you’?” you huffed in an attempt to catch your breath, nudging Lambert with your elbow as he processed that he had almost died. 

“Holy shit….” he muttered, reaching unconsciously for your hand- much like you had done just the night before. 

You set your sword down and put your hand out to find his. “Lamb… while I admire you trying to protect me I don't want you to become overprotective. I love doing what I do- after all, I chose this path. And I know I'd love it more if I could work side-by-side with you” You looked to him as you talked, watching his expression turn sincere, but not uncomfortable. “I’d love to learn more about monster hunting from you, but don’t count me out just yet, okay?”

Lambert nodded, a smile forming over his features as he squeezed your hand. “I suppose it’s the least I can do since you saved my life… How about we finish off this wyvern together?”

You nodded, a grin spread across your face once again. “Together.”

_________________________

Taglist: @open--till--midnight @writingmysanity @dark-academia-slut @madamemelancholysstuff

If you wanna get added/taken off the taglist or if I've made a mistake just DM me and let me know!

[frownyalfred]

Hey, I’ve always loved your works, and I’m delighted to have found your tumblr!

(TL;DR: I really like the way you write relationships and I’m sorry you’re dealing with some shitty comments) Can I just say, I absolutely love the actions and characterizations of your latest mind-link fic? It’s just so raw and so real, and honestly, I absolutely love these types of fics where good people mess up and behave like assholes. Because we’re all human, we’re all people, and life and love and relationships are messy, messy things.

I don’t want cookie cutter perfect relationships, I want these 3D ones that shows that it’s okay that people fuck up. So many fanfics have a perfect protagonist (and I mean, more power to them, it’s their fanfic), but I personally *love* when the main character messes up and just- snaps at someone or is a little selfish. It just makes it so much more human and relatable. And it makes the fluff that comes after 10000% better because you know how much they care for each other, to make up and to work past issues because they think the other person is worth it.

Anyways, sorry for rambling at ya- I just wanted to express exactly how much I love your recent fic and my utter bafflement at the asshole comments. People are going to fuck up! It happens! And if you don’t want to read about that, that’s 100% fine! But stop yelling at the author, it’s not your fic! It’s theirs!

Thank you so much! I think you encapsulated the issue really well.

Don't get me wrong, I love reading fics where my blorbo is overpowered and can do no wrong and everyone else is in the wrong -- it's really fun and there's some awesome stories like that! It's fiction, and if that's how the author writes that character, I'm down.

I also like reading stories where it's grittier and complicated and closer to real life. I like both! The latter is hard to read constantly, because it's too much like real life to be an escape sometimes.

For borderline, I really wanted to dive into the complicated and awkward feelings that don't always make it into fics (for good reasons). Things like people in the bond feeling someone's else's arousal/other bodily functions, personal thoughts that are never shared out loud, instinctive reactions to things people can't control or even verbalize to themselves. Etc...

The reality is, even the best blorbo comes off poorly when we see their every thought, action, and memory in technicolor. People are complicated, and even genuinely good people rarely fall into that easy, good/not good binary every second of every day.

I think a lot of conflict in my comment section comes from discord over Tim and Damian (and to a lesser extent, Bruce) not being "perfect" or equally bad/good.

I've said it before, and I will reiterate it here: I appreciate the stories where Tim/Damian/etc are written as the victim, the wronged party, the protagonist, etc. I'm not knocking them here. But this isn't that kind of fic -- no one is right, here, or the sole protagonist/wronged party.

Tim isn't a bad guy any more than Damian is. Nor is Damian a better person or victim more so than Tim. Their situations are wildly different and so are their motivations/experiences. Hence why it's interesting (or at least, I think so) to see them involuntarily connected and at odds.

It's okay to disagree with my characterization! You don't have to read my fic. But I think taking a breath and Xing out is better than arguing with me/other readers in the comments about how your favorite character is being mis-written or treated.

[gravity-what]

the unexplained aura color swap feels like one of the many weird things in season 3, like Jack and Wuya's characterization or Clay's complete lack of focus and voice or Master Fung turning the monks against each other to pick out the best literallya few episodes after a season finale about why that was a bad idea and he was only pretending to before to help them learn to work as one and not try to outdo each other.

So I just ignore it personally, Omi was established as blue and raimundo was established as white and those match their actual elements so that's how it is in my mind.

Season 3 really did make some really weird choices. Narrative wise some of them make sense (like I understand the whole ‘okay but really now it is time to get a leader for this group’ choice if the plan for the next season was to explore the characters dynamics with that new relationship set-up in mind but…then we never got that) and others just don’t. (How Clay and Kimiko were side-lined. The weird color-swap. How a lot of characters just…didn’t feel like themselves. The loss of some really interesting side characters….)

Season 2 really was peek. I can’t complain too much about season 3 though because the final giving us Chase’s backstory with Dashi and Guan is one of my favorite things about the show but…so much also just did not work.

[fabbyf1]

Hello renowned writer, first let me express my appreciation for your writing. The characterization, the dialogue, the smut which is world-class and never ceases to amaze me. You made me smile and you made me cry, and my world is better for having your fics in it 💛 🤗

If you don't mind, could you please shed some light onto your writing and planning process? It is totally okey if not of course.

How do you plot out your ideas and fics? Especially the long ones? Do you have everything planned out before sitting down to the first chapter? Do you have just general milestones? Or do you have detailed notes for all the scenes? 😅

Is there anything from the notes you would be willing to share? 🙏

Right now I struggle with the level of details I hit in my outlines. I tend to have a general idea about the big building blocks but the concrete shapes of it get to me when I'm close enough to writing them. This means I can't post as I go because everything needs so many revisions to be consistent and paced right.

hi bestie!!

i don't have one consistent answer across the board. it definitely depends on the kind of fic i’m writing, and how long i’ve been thinking about it. 

i’ve found that over planning fics really fucks me up. i get too caught up in trying to follow my plans to a T, that i stunt my own creativity and my scenes don’t have a natural flow. i ran into this problem a lot with my dando fic that was supposed to be 100k+ and only ended up being 30k lmfao. the plan and headcanons are fucking incredible (still even reading them back now im like wow this is the best thing i never actually wrote) but because they were so good and so thought out, it was impossible to write them. because i felt like i had already written them, but in discord conversations with bailee lmfao. in my head, that fic was already complete. even though there was only 30k actual words in a google doc. 

so i’ve found it much easier for me (personally) to just... sit down and write. 

sometimes when i don’t overthink things and just go into a fic blind, i come up with really amazing things on the fly. 

my fic Vapor, for instance, had a vague “ideas” document that was MUCH different than what i actually produced. it was going to be a slow burn enemies to lovers fic. but when i started writing it, and i got to the first club scene (which was only supposed to be them running into each other) i thought “lmfao what if i had them hook up here?” and suddenly the fic went a completely different route. and i’m glad i listened to myself and not my Ideas doc, or i don’t think it would have been as good as it ended up being. 

but that’s not always the case. 

for fics like Long Live that required a complex timeline, i had a separate doc that i put all my research and ideas in. it was a google doc with bullet points, pictures, and ages. sometimes the bullet points were simple, like “charles wins in monza, he gets drunk in a club and they fuck” (lmfao) and sometimes they were line after line after line of conversational dialogue that i would think about while walking my dog and the whole conversation ended up in the actual finished work, word for word. 

so, really, it depends on what i’m writing. 

i’ve found that when i write a long fic, i’ll usually have 1 or 2 scenes that i KNOW i want to write that happen later on in the fic, and everything else before that is like “okay how do i get to that scene????” and the fic kinda builds itself that way. 

when i write a short fic, it’s more like... “okay, what’s the plot? lets go.” and the story writes itself. 

i’m not sure how helpful this was, but i’d be glad to keep rambling about my writing process if you’d like!