#or maybe third since they are all so squishy

[mysummerchoi]

✨ Yeet Impact 3rd ✨

Fight for all that is beautiful in this world one yeet at a time 🕺

[wynnyfryd]

hey, quick question but what if Eddie hadn’t just said “make him pay” at the end? what if he’d actually done it, screwed up his face and his single scrap of courage and kissed Steve hard, one desperate press of lips before he stepped back out of Steve’s space? Only…

Only Steve’s not gay. He’s not. Not that there’s anything wrong with it if Eddie is, but he isn’t. Steve likes girls, is kind of hung up on one girl in particular, actually, and she’s standing right behind him watching this go down, and oh, God is this awkward now.

He squares his shoulders, gives Eddie a nod that he hopes conveys something like “sorry” and “it’s okay” and “I’m not gonna punch you when this is over, man, I’m really not,” but Eddie’s eyes cut away and he clears his throat and then Nancy’s saying, “Steve? Steve, we need to go.”

So Steve goes.

Steve goes, trudges through the woods with Nancy radiating uncomfortable energy all down his side, and Steve’s got a pit in his stomach and a scorch mark on his mouth where Eddie’s lips left a fucking brand, the kiss repeating on a loop in his mind. He starts thinking about how he’s probably about to die, how he’s gonna die feeling all upside down in the Upside Down and it’s a really stupid joke but it gets him mulling over the fucked up weird life he has now versus the one he always kinda thought he wanted. He tells Nancy about it: the crawling backwards, the thump on the head, how she’s always his co-captain in his Winnebago dreams.

She looks at him with soft, sad eyes — God, her eyes are always so sad, have been ever since the day Barb disappeared — and she rests a delicate hand on his forearm and asks, “Do you think… do you think maybe it’s always me in your dream because I’m the only person your mind thinks it’s allowed to put there?”

“What do you mean?”

“Steve.” Her eyes aren’t so soft now. They’re shining with that hard glint they get when she’s lost patience with Steve’s bullshit. It’s a look Steve knows well, and his hand comes up to touch his lips.

“But I- I’m not…”

“Just go,” she says, her jaw set, all that unbreakable resolve on display. “Robin and I can handle this. Go.”

Robin turns back to look at him over her shoulder, gives him an encouraging nod, and Steve takes off running, sprinting through the trees, following the sound of screeching bats.

When he bursts through the treeline, panting and sweating and clutching at his torn-up sides, Eddie’s in the middle of a maelstrom, his makeshift shield held in a shaking grip as an army of bats encircle him.

“Eddie!” Steve shouts, lungs burning as he begs his feet to move faster, to run fucking run because one of the bats dives at Eddie’s head and another takes a bite out of his leather sleeve; a third one whips a tail around Eddie’s ankle and then Eddie’s going down, pulled to the cracked, filthy earth by gnashing teeth and bloodied claws, and they’re eating him, getting at all those squishy vital bits around his middle when Steve finally hacks his way through the horde to get to Eddie’s side. Armed with an ax and Eddie’s spear, Steve strikes and slashes blindly at the wall of shrieking monsters as they start circling tighter, caging them in, and he’s dead they’re both dead they’re so fucking screwed—

The bats drop. All at once and with no reason Steve can discern, their screams fall silent and their bodies squelch all around them as they slap the hard ground like dead fish on a dock.

Steve drops to his knees beside Eddie, and Jesus Christ, there’s- there’s so much blood oh God oh fuck.

“Bad, huh?” Eddie asks, and how is he still smirking when there’s blood spilling out of his mouth? When there’s a chunk missing out of his jaw?

“Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,” Steve mumbles frantically, not sure if he’s praying or panicking or both. He gets his shirt off, rips at the remaining scraps of Eddie’s, too; starts using them to make bandages. “Shit, Eddie, just- just hold on, okay? Stay with me.”

He wriggles a scrap of fabric under Eddie’s brutalized torso, and Eddie screams when Steve pulls it tight around his sides, ties it off and presses down, trying to slow the bleeding. There’s so much fucking blood. His knees slip in it as he ties a tourniquet just above Eddie’s elbow, hoping it’ll save Eddie’s mangled arm, and he bunches the last of the fabric up and presses it to the shredded edges of the wound on Eddie’s face.

Eddie smiles up at him with tears in his eyes, with blood on his lips. “Pretty- pretty grand gesture for a guy you don’t want to kiss.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Steve says, and he’s crying, too. “I don’t- I just…”

“Steve,” Eddie chokes, his breath whistling out with a sickening wheeze, and Steve doesn’t know how the fuck he’s going to get him through the gate and back to safety without making him bleed out. “Steve, it’s… s’okay. M’sorry I kissed you, man.” His eyes are glazing over, and no, please, please, don’t—

Eddie looks up at him, brow furrowed, like it’s taking a lot of effort. His eyes are still so pretty, even now, as Steve hovers helplessly and watches the light slowly leave them. “Actually, I- I guess m’not,” Eddie slurs. “Had to do it at least once b-before I- before I—”

“EDDIE!!!!” a furious, cracking voice echoes through the empty park. Eddie’s trailer door bangs open, falling off its hinges, and a limping Dustin Henderson comes storming across the lot.

“Dustin!!” Steve hollers back, relief flooding his veins like maple syrup straight from the tap, and incredibly (hysterically, he’s probably in shock), he’s laughing when he looks back down at Eddie. Eddie, who’s half dead in his lap, whose blood is all over Steve’s pants. Who Steve might be able to save now.

He shakes Eddie’s shoulders and says, “You can kiss me all you want when we make it out of here, man,” his voice all high-pitched and full of phlegm and trapped somewhere between a laugh and a sob, and Eddie’s eyes go wide at the promise in Steve’s words.

“Dustin!” Steve yells again, pleading, “Dustin, come on, come help me move him!”

It’s slow going, but they get Eddie through the gate, get him taped up so he’s more bandage than boy by the time the ambulance arrives. A medic claps Steve on the shoulder and says ‘You did good, kid,’ and Steve cries at that and then spends an annoying amount of time crying over the next few days, curled up in a rickety chair at Eddie’s bedside in the hospital.

More tears when Eddie finally wakes up. Happy ones this time, and there’s a parade of people coming in to hug Eddie and give him flowers and even Hopper gives him a grudging hair ruffle and an attaboy, and then Steve’s driving Eddie home in the Beemer; gets all the way to the driveway before Eddie brings it up.

“Did you mean it?” he asks, his voice timid and barely audible over the hum of the car.

Steve cuts the engine. “Hmm?”

“Did you, um- the thing, that you…” Eddie spins a ring around on his finger, lets out a frustrated huff. “I mean, I didn’t die, right? I made it out of there, so…?”

You can kiss me all you want when we make it out of here.

Steve’s ears burn at the memory, his mouth going dry, and he must take too long to answer because Eddie starts trying to backpedal. “Sorry. Sorry, you said you’re not— I just thought, maybe— shit, uh, f-forget I said-”

“No! No, um.” Steve scratches the back of his neck. “Turns out I kind of am. Or, like. Well, I mean, Robin said liking both is its own thing, it’s not a mix of the two, but…”

“…But both?” Eddie finishes, and his eyes are sparkling.

“Yeah. Both,” Steve shrugs. It’s getting easier to say. “…Mostly just you, though.”

“Oh, just mostly, huh?” Eddie teases, unbuckling his seatbelt so he can lean into Steve’s space.

Steve’s face feels too warm. His neck is probably all splotchy. “Whatever. Are you gonna shut up and kiss me already or what?”

“Uh huh,” Eddie grins and runs his tongue over his teeth. “Many times as I want, right?” He brushes Steve’s hair behind his ear, his calloused fingers so gentle against Steve’s jaw as he lines their faces up.

“How many times is that?” Steve whispers.

“Mm….” Eddie’s mouth brushes against his. “Start counting and let’s find out.”

[beatcroc]

a year!!! as of today i have now been drawing these funny little pizza freaks, to the exclusion of almost everything else, for!!! an entire year!!! i wanted to do a nice group shot/lineup of everybody to compare to when i first started trying to draw them because oh boy were they bad. i never even posted most of them anywhere because they were so bad. but im posting them here, now, to see how everything's changed/evolved.

this is probably the hardest time i've ever had trying to figure out how to work with a style, but we got there eventually; i'm pretty happy with the handle i've got on everybody now...dont let ur memes be dreams. lots of unimportant journaling and idle thoughts abt it below.

older pics

the first one is the VERY first time i drew them, before i thought i was going to actually have any interest in drawing them [lmao]; it was just the one isolated image, for my friendserver, to illustrate the funney message, so there was no attempt to make it Good or actually understand anything going on w/ the designs or style.

second is the original run of practices sketches to start trying to figure them out for real; done after i started having ideas for the comics and such and realized oh god maybe i am actually gonna draw fanart for this. [again, lol, and lmao.]

third one is the first pt art thing i posted on here. there were a couple weeks of sprite studies between this one and the previous image. the one on the top right wasn't part of that post i just threw it on as space filler; i'd intended to shift to doing Sprite Redraws But Stylized to explore tings more, but that was the only one i did. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

individual characters

peppino: by far the hardest dear god. bro what ARE your shapes how DOES your face work. jesus christ. everything i have trouble with this style for, peppino has it in excess. i draw in polygons! i need consistency! and that is the last thing this kind of style is concerned with. they are made of squarshy clay and i do not understand how to mold them. i was really hoping trying to learn this game's style would GIVE me that kind of flexibility for fun exaggerated facial expression but i don't think much came of it in the end 😔. anyway on the bright side all this means once i got peppino figured out a little bit everybody else clicked way easier.

fake peppino: honestly i never did anything with him on purpose except for how his eyes work + the perma-smile thing. i figured ok hes supposed to look weird and off model so whatever happens with him happens. and it did. and it kept happening. it is still, in fact, happening.

noise/ette: somehow, for every bit that peppino was the least natural thing i've ever tried, these two worked pretty much right off the bat. i still don't understand it, seeing as pretty much all the things at play for peppino are also at work for them. i think the new sketches are actually a little worse than older ones but not enough that i care.

gustavo: really funny bc i drew him on model twice and just went 'okay, cool nice, easy, um. he doesn't have any fucking legs?' fortunately he was the only one i had a strong idea for how to stylize him [square] and it worked exactly as i was hoping so wahoo.

brick: is an animal and therefore 5000x easier and more natural for me to draw/stylize than anything else in the cast. that is Just a rat bro. i can draw a rat.

gerome: i think the funniest one here. the most drastic and least necessary change imo. i was gonna have him be really small at first, like smaller than the noises, but then i just... didn't. he's just peppino-sized now. also i gave him like. actual human facial structure, which is funny bc in most cases i'd do anything to avoid, but it works well for his being A Rock to give him some angles and definition like that+ to differentiate his vibe from the rest of the cast who are all very squishy. also since he is essentially Just A Head it's good to emphasize that too ig.

john: i only drew john a couple times but he gets to be here because i like him. and because most of the stuff i applied to gerome was readily applicable to john, though i did try to keep him a little more uncanny because he is a Huge And Lanky Freak. i hate that he is barefoot btw but idk how to make his color balance look right with shoes.

pizzahead: i did not want to put him on here honestly but i Have drawn him a handful of times and more importantly i didn't know what i was gonna do with john's pose if i didn't have him there to be glared at. the only thing that's different with him is giving him wider-bottomed pants, which i got from when i tried to draw these guys in clone high style [i never posted that one either][i will eventually]

snick: he gets to be here because 1. he's like 6 lines 2. i like him and 3. ive scribbled him a few times offhand and it went pretty well

misc

there are some guys missing because those are guys i didn't draw enough [or at all] to have gotten comfortable with them. sorry

i would have Liked to shade these but for the time being i have accepted that my grasp of light/shadow has decayed to the point im not going to be happy with anything i try there, so For Now i am working on my presentation with flats i guess. gerome has a shadow only because he's shaded like that ingame and looks naked without it

anyway if you are still reading [hi?] i get to shamelessly plug now. i'm over the hill of my pizza run now, and while i still have plenty of things i want to make here, most of the bigger more in-depth ones have passed. pizza tower was the first thing in THREE YEARS to get me out of my oc groove to doing fanart, and once i am done with my ideas here i will be going right back to it. if you like my art or how i write characters/interactions you should check out my oc/webcomic blog @jamverse . i can't promise people who like pizza stuff will be terribly into my designs, but i can guarantee i treat my guys with the exact same sort of tone i handle the pt guys with. and hell, i've mentioned it a few times before, but like 70% of my characterization for fake pep is just copied off one of my characters, so if u are going to miss him... he will still be there in spirit >;p

and if you dont care about any of that and are still reading thank you anyway. actually making these comics + seeing how shockingly well-received they've been has done a lot for my confidence, and for seeing that my kind of stuff IS something people enjoy :')

[marauderverse]

Maybe it was then//J.P x Reader

Word count: 1.7k

Summary: He wasn’t sure when it had started. But sometime between then and now, he had fallen for y/n.

A/n: I am posting this from my phone so sorry if the formatting is weird.

He wasn't sure when it had started.

Probably somewhere between the charms classes he had shared with her since first year and the Gryffindor party, she had somehow snuck into.

Somewhere between then and now, James Potter fell for y/n.

She stood on the other side of the common room, dancing with Lily Evans to Dancing Queen, which Mary had all but threatened Sirius’ life to let her play.

An odd warmth crept up Jame’s neck as he watched her.

The long sleeves of her shirt flowed like water down her arms as she spun lily around; he felt like a creep looking at the knot in the centre of her chest where the two halves of the shirt met. The pattern of her skirt matched that of her top; a belt with a daisy belt buckle sat at her waist. The outfit was finished with white boots that sat just below her knees.

She looked hot.

Her hair was out, something he had only seen her with probably three times in the seven years he had known her.

“What are you staring at?”

James jumped, prying his eyes away from the girls grinning face to look at Sirius.

Sirius moved forward slightly to put his face beside James, looking over in the same direction.

“Evans?” The boy questioned, downing the rest of the drink he had in his hand, “I thought you got over her?”

James sighed slightly, sipping his lukewarm drink.

“I wasn’t staring at Evans; I am over her,”

Sirius looked at his friend, a look of annoyance and confusion set of his angular features. His grey eyes flittered back to the group of girls.

It took him a few seconds of staring before he realised.

“Y/N!” he yelled.

James scrambled to turn his attention away from the girls to his friend, slapping a hand up to his mouth to shush him.

“Shut up,” He whispered-yelled.

“Y/n?” Sirius whispered back this time.

James rolled his eyes; it was obvious his friend was drunk, and perhaps spilling his secrets to him at a Gryffindor Quidditch party wasn’t his brightest idea.

“When did this happen?” Sirius asked.

That was a great question.

When did it start?

It could be in the third year when she had made reserve beater of the Ravenclaw team.

The sun was high in the sky as the captains shook hands in the middle of the pitch.

With a shrill blow of her whistle, the teams mounted their brooms and kicked off.

The game was in full swing within minutes; the crowd cheered and booed as the Gryffindor team scored three goals in the first ten minutes.

Things got better from there.

The Ravenclaw team was wholly unprepared for this match.

An hour in, Gryffindor was ahead by sixty points and the beater had fallen from his broom and they had to use their reserve player.

Y/n.

As soon as she entered the pitch, so did an entirely new team.

Gryffindor couldn’t seem to keep the quaffle; as soon as it so much as grazed the fingertips of a Gryffindor team member, a bludger was already on its way.

And it seemed the Ravenclaw players repelled the bludgers; as soon as one was sent toward a Ravenclaw, it was immediately redirected.

She was fantastic.

Even though Gryffindor caught the snitch, Ravenclaw won the match by a landslide.

Needless to say, she was a permanent part of the team from that point on.

Maybe it was then.

Or maybe he had fallen for her last year when she and Lily became best friends.

It seemed she had made a home in the Gryffindor tower.

Anytime he would enter, she would be lounging on one of the squishy sofas, toasting something over the fire or sitting in the corner pouring over some essay that hurt James' head to look at.

Perhaps it was the proximity that sparked it, the way she would smile shyly when he accidentally caught her eye, or how she seemed to get along with all his friends so easily.

Maybe it was then.

Or maybe it was earlier today when Ravenclaw lost the Quidditch cup to Gryffindor.

He knew how hard she pushed her team for this game. He had seen the Ravenclaw’s schedule for the quidditch pitch and caught a glimpse of the plays she spent hours on in the library.

She had been devastated, throwing her broom down in defeat as the Gryffindor seeker was hoisted up on the team's shoulders after the game.

He watched as she returned to the changing room, far ahead of her team.

If it hadn’t been Gryffindor they were playing, maybe James would have felt bad for her. Maybe he would feel bad tomorrow morning after the euphoria of the win and the excitement from the Gryffindors died down, maybe he would feel bad.

She caught him on his way up to the castle, now changed out of her quidditch robes and impeccably polished broom over her shoulder.

“Hey, James,” He stopped, turning around to look at her.

He saw Lily, Mary and Marlene a few steps behind her, Marlene still in her quidditch robes. There were amused looks on the girl's faces, an almost mischievous look.

“Uh, you guys did well out there today,”

The girls were giggling that high-pitched giggle they do.

“Uh, thanks, you did great as well,”

She smiled, turning on her heel quickly and running back to her friends.

They were giggling like maniacs and whispering to one another.

“Sometime between third year and now,” James admitted.

“Wow, so this is like. Super serious,” Sirius said before pausing, “Super Sirius,” He said, laughing at his stupid joke.

There was a pause between them.

“You should ask her out,” Sirius said as if this was some kind of life-changing advice he had just offered his best friend.

James rolled his eyes, finishing the last little bit of his drink.

“I would, but I just don't think she’s into me,” He confessed.

“C’mon Jamie, you’re a total catch; what naked do you think she's not into you?”

James Cringed at the nickname that seemed only to come out when his friends wanted to get on his nerves or when they were drunk.

James thought back on the last few years.

The time he had attempted to be charms partners with her, only for Y/n to barely contribute to the conversation and simply write her thoughts down instead of talking to him.

Or the time she had traded seats with Mary so they wouldn’t be beside each other in transfiguration.

Or the time he had attempted to talk to her after one of Ravenclaws quidditch practice sessions, and she had slipped out the back of the changing rooms to avoid him.

James shook his head.

He didn’t know why, what he had done, or what she had heard.

But James Potter knew that Y/n L/n didn’t like him.

“She just doesn’t like me the way I like her,” He brushed Sirius off, tuning to the refreshments table to pour himself another cup of mystery liquid.

Sirius scoffed.

“That’s not what I’ve heard,”

James paused, turning to look at his friend.

“What does that mean?” James prodded.

Sirius shook his head, his long black hair bouncing around as he did so.

“No can do; I’ve been sworn to secrecy by Evans,”

“You heard something from Lily?”

Sirius took a shot of fire whiskey from the table, his face screwing up slightly as the liquid burned all the way down.

“Yeah we were talking the other day about her massive crush on you,” He stated.

“Lily has a crush on me?” James asked.

Sirius shook his head again.

“No, Y/N's massive crush on you. But I promised Evans I wouldn’t tell you,” He explained, taking yet another shot of alcohol “Apparently, she’s super shy and awkward about this stuff and doesn’t want us making fun of her or something.”

James was gobsmacked.

This whole time.

This whole time she’s liked him back, and it took a drunk Sirius to tell him.

“So if I go ask her out now, she’s not gonna yell at me?”

Sirius laughed loudly.

“Mate, from what Evans told me,” Sirius began, lowering his voice slightly, “all you would have to do is say please, and she’d be under you in a second.”

James felt a flush at the comment.

“Shouldn’t you be annoying moony or something?” James asked, attempting to turn his friend's attention away.

Sirius lit up, a grin forming on his face.

“Oh yeah, I haven’t seen him in fifteen minutes; he's probably worried,”

James watched as his friend bounced away.

He downed the liquor in his cup before going over to the group of girls.

Mary was the first to see him coming and nudged Lily, who whispered to Marlene, who then told Dorcas, who told Y/n.

She turned, a wide grin on her face.

“Hey ladies,” he said, using all hos will power to keep his confident persona on, “Mind if i steal Y/n for a moment?’

The girls giggled, sending /n knowing looks. Marlene, before she left, stopped to whisper something in Y/ns ear.

James couldn’t hear what it was, but by the scandalised expression on her face, the way she hit her arm, and Marlenes grin, he could guess what it was about.

James turned to Y/n, her face was already red and she was avoiding eye contact.

“So, Sirius said he was talking to Lily the other day,”

Y/n blushed deeper, if that was even possible.

“Oh god,” She moaned, covering her reddened face with her hands and giggling awkwardly, “What did he tell you?”

“Nothing bad,” He hurried to say, “Well, I guess it depends on your definition of bad,” he was losing his grip.

She hadn’t moved her hands away from her face yet.

“Do you want to go on a date?” He asked quickly.

She finally dropped her hands and looked at him.

“Right now?” she asked, confusion evident on her features.

“Yeah, why not?”

James reached forward and pulled her hand into his own, leading her out of the common room.

The girls whooped and cheered as they walked past.

“Where are we going?” She asked, coming to walk in stride with him, their hands still connected.

“Just trust me,”

[strangersteddierthings]

Porcelain Steve - Part 3

Part One🦇Part Two🦇Part Three🦇Part Four🦇Part Five🦇Part Six🦇Part Seven🦇Part Eight🦇Part Nine

Eddie hasn't moved from his spot on the Harrington's living room floor since El placed Steve back in his hands two hours ago except to switch his weight from side to side, depending on which buttcheek is currently numb. The mass exodus from the Byers-Hopper house to the Harringtons had taken less than 15 minutes and there has not been peace since, hence the remaining-on-the-floorness of it all for Eddie.

People stop by his stop in the living room to talk to Steve, looming over Eddie in their uncertainty. He stopped offering for people to take Steve after the third rejection because Eddie gets it; he's still the most chill about this (except Argyle, but Argyle is currently high, and Eddie is exceptionally sober and perhaps resenting that fact a bit) but he gets it. The situation is fucking freaky and maybe the thought of holding their transformed babysitter slash older brother figure slash hero might be a bit harrowing.

Of course, there's always an exception, so when Max lowers herself to the living room floor next to him, cane set down between them, and says, "Give him here." Eddie obeys, instructing her to hold her hands out so he can place Steve in them upright and facing her. Max's bones had healed alright, but she'd never get her vision back.

"Am I looking at his face?" She asks, gripping him around the waist with two hands like he's a messy hamburger.

Eddie can't actually tell from this angle if she's looking at his face but it's got to be close enough, so he says, "Yeah."

"Hey Steve," Max starts. "Everyone else is too much of a wuss to hold you but don't worry. They'll get over it. Not going to lie to you, though, this is pretty weird, but, like, mostly because I expected your body to be squishy, like a stuffed toy or those babydolls Holly drags around and forces us to take care of when we all hang out at the Wheeler's house. You know, the ones that are like soft with the plastic head, hands, and feet? That's what I expected." She runs one thumb up and down on his torso before tacking on, "ugh, this feels like a polo. Eddie, is he wearing a polo?"

"Yeah. I think he's in the outfit he was wearing when whatever happened happened. The polo was tucked into his jeans but Robin untucked it to check if there were scars on his lil' porcelain tummy."

"Are there?"

"Yeah. Painted on, Robin says. It's pretty accurate."

"Like, chest hair and all?"

"I... don't know? You'll have to ask Robin. She was the one holding him like two inches from her face."

Max's attention goes back to Steve. "I bet your tiny polo looks cute, simply because it's tiny. Only way a polo could be cute, Steve. I still can't believe you dress this way because you like it. And worse, I can't believe you actually pull off the look."

Eddie looks on, amused, as Max rambles from there. Which is an experience. Max isn't quiet by any means, but she's not a talk to fill the silence type, which is what this seems like. The topics are mundane, like how summer school is going, and about her plans to try and teach El how to skateboard using only verbal directions, and debating the pros and cons of trying to convince her mom to let her get a seeing-eye dog. Then, they make a turn Eddie didn't expect.

"I think I'm going to be mostly on babysitting duty instead of active research and rescue. You know, on account of the blindness and all. So, like, I hope you're going be okay just hanging out with me and listening to Kate Bush for hours."

He should not be feeling a twist in his gut of jealousy at the fact Max wants to take Porcelain Steve from him, and yet. "You gonna look after him, Max?"

She shrugs, turns her face towards Eddie, "I figured we'd all take turns babysitting. Might get boring for him otherwise. He'd drop everything to watch us, if this had happened to us. He has done that. We have to do the same for him. Plus, Steve likes to check in on us, don't you Steve? What better way than to give you, like, a day with everyone in rotation."

"Always the savior, never the saved, huh?" Eddie is trying to joke but Max's face twists into a frown and her arms lower for the first time, lower so Steve's little porcelain face stares up at the ceiling.

"No. Not always."

"Oh?"

"I saved him, once. From Billy. It was my fault he was even in danger," Max says, voice sad.

"I doubt it was your fault-"

"It was my brother trying to beat him to death," Max snaps and it shuts Eddie up quick. "And the only reason he was in the house, beating Steve to death, was because I couldn't follow the simple instruction of 'stay away from the window'. Steve could probably have gotten Billy to leave if I had. But I didn't listen, and Billy got in, and then he was threatening Lucas. He'd said 'you're dead, Sinclair' and then Steve had to be super lame but super cool at the same time by saying 'no, you are' and decking Billy in the face with, like, the full force of his body."

"That is a very lame thing to say."

"Right? Anyway, he was winning that fight until Billy cracked him over the head with a plate. Then it just went downhill so fast for Steve, and I was so sure I was about to watch my stepbrother murder someone. I-I don't even know what came over me, really. I'd never stood up to Billy before. I just knew I had to do something. There were these syringes filled with something that put you to sleep and I grabbed it and then I stabbed Billy with one and then threatening him with Steve's nailbat to never touch any of my friends again."

"Holy shit, Red. Metal as hell!"

She gives a small smile at that. "Well, the boys were basically useless so." She gives a shrug that suggests that sentence should have ended with what can you do?

"True. I've seen you girls in action. Scary and deadly."

Max looks down, then, back to Steve. "Alright, Steve. This is enough floor time for me. I'll yack your ears off later."

She holds Steve back out to Eddie, and he returns Steve to the place in his lap. She gathers her cane and pulls herself from the floor, calling out to see where El is, then presumably going off to find her.

"You really do have a tit-for-tat thing going on with these kids, don't ya?" Eddie chuckles, falling back into the quiet.

His mind does go back to Max and her story. Saving Steve from Billy. He's heard that story but never that part. Steve had given him a watered-down version that left out the fact Billy had threatened Lucas, and that Max had come to his rescue. He wonders if Steve even knows that part.

Had they told him? In Steve's version he's getting his ass beat, and then he's coming to in the back of Billy's car with Max at the wheel. It seems out of character for Steve to not take the time to brag about the kids.

Given the events of spring break of last year, and Max's complicated feelings towards Billy, maybe Steve does know the full story and it was left out intentionally. A thing left up to Max to tell or not, to have to relive. She's been better, doesn't bottle up the hard things anymore, even though it's not Eddie she talks to.

It's Steve.

Eddie feels a bit worse about his jealousy earlier. Of course, Max wants to spend time with Steve even if he can't talk back. He's been the stable male figure in her life for years, just like he's been for Dustin.

He looks up, really taking in the people around him. All the people that have gathered because they care about Steve. All the kids, their peers, Joyce, and Hopper, and some guy Eddie's never even heard of before named Murray.

Does Steve even know how much he means to everyone here?

He's going to ask Steve just that but Robin shouts from the dining area at the same time he opens his mouth, so he snaps his jaw shut and focuses in on that.

"Absolutely not! Those assholes dealt with StarCourt by burning it to the ground and that's it! What do you think they'll try and do to Steve!?" Robin's back is to Eddie, so he can't see her face, but he can see Nancy's, who she seems to be yelling at. Nancy looks determined.

"I'm not saying we go asking the shady government for help immediately! I just brought it up as an option for if we hit a dead end, or can't figure this out, or-" Nancy argues back, and Robin cuts her off.

"Shut up! We'll figure it out! We have before."

Nancy's face softens, looks sadder. "I know, Robin. I do. But how long do we try ourselves? How many days, weeks, months, do we just keep trying ourselves while Steve is stuck? We don't even have a starting point for fixing this, the least we can do is plan a time to ask for help."

"Nancy's right," Hopper says, even if he sounds upsetting about admitting it out loud. "We can trust Owens at least. He helped us."

"No, I'm with Freckles there. You cannot trust anyone in the government, Jim. How many times do you need to learn that lesson?" Murray says in a condescending tone (though Eddie hasn't heard any other tone from him, so maybe that's just his voice?).

Eddie finally stands from the floor. This feels like an argument he should join.

[cherry-pop-elf]

Weasley Siblings Helping You Lose Weight

AN: I suffer a binge eating disorder, inflected from my mother. I also suffer with medical issues and medication that genuinely have made things so difficult. My mom refuses to help, so sometimes you just gotta be your own cheerleader. Call me crazy, but imagining George Weasley supporting me is what keeps me going sometimes. Maybe this can helps others in my shoes to. It’s scary, and isolating, but hey. I’m your cheerleader to!

Warnings: Binge eating disorder, weight loss, sensitive topic matter with food, diet culture, it’s just a trigger warning of weight topics in general

William ‘Bill’

As the eldest sibling he’s had to try and be the best influence. He’s had to try and make sure his younger siblings ate and stayed health. Third parent syndrome. So he knows that this will be a journey, but one he’s happy to help with. Given his curse breaking job he often needs to keep himself in a very healthy mental space. So he would be more than happy to drag you in with yoga, tai chi, and simple mental work outs like that. It’s simple, but easy on the joints. A important part of weight loss is doing things that are enjoyable. Makes you want to do them more. His focus on mental health is very important, and often ignored when weight loss is involved. So this important step is going to make the journey so much easier. Slower? Maybe. But slower means it’ll STAY off easier. His focus on mental health is going to be a god send

Charlie

Since he works with dragons he knows how important it is to keep healthy. He’s constantly doing Manuel labor, and eats a pretty heavy diet of protein. This also means he’s going to be a great cheerleader to help you. Knowing all kinds of great work outs to help you, and finding useful tasks for you to do at the sanctuary. Not to mention he knows how to cook, and is more than happy to show you how as well. He is also a nice reminder that you can still be healthy will looking chubby. He’s made of heavy muscle. Muscle isn’t tense twenty four seven. That squishy is deadly. It’ll make losing weight a bit scary though. You’ll be developing muscle as you lose weight, so the number on the scale won’t really move. Don’t worry. Muscle burns a lot since you need a lot of calories to keep it. You are in safe hands. You need to trust the process. It takes time. You’ll do it! Charlie knows it!

Percy

He’s not a jock. He doesn’t work out like crazy. Especially not like his siblings. But he does know how to cook. Every Weasley does. Eating healthier and cleaner is exteremly important. Most of weight loss relies on being under a calorie number. That’s, unfortunately, the harder parts to. So Percy will be more than happy to do a bunch of reading on the topic. To do his best to figure out the best meals for the day. To help trade out snacks for healthier alternatives. It’ll also give him a good excuse to try and repair the bond with his family. Practicing and learning family recipes. That’s so nice

Fred & George

They run a joke shop full of candy, sweets, and pastries. Needless to say it’s a binge eaters worst nightmare. That’s going to cause so many trials and tribulation. The smells and scents, the new recipes, it’s just hell. They want to help so much, but they are shop owners. Not like they just take it all off the shelves. It’s truly going to be a test that you will fail, many times, but they will be there to pick up the pieces. They’ll be there for every crying session you have after you finish off so much that you feel inhuman. They’ll even use this as an excuse to try and invent new sweets that can be healthier. Children deserve to eat healthier too. Some kids are victims of obesity and need help. Diet culture makes them think they are bigger than they actually are. So to have healthier sweet alternatives helps everyone. Your struggles will be what help kids feel better. They’ll be more than happy to find alternatives to help. You won’t be treated as ‘different’ for needing to diet. You won’t feel like a burden because you need to eat different. Being a kid is being happy and whimsical. And by god they will help you make eating fun again! And help you through that toxic relationship with it!

Ron

He can be the one person that understands the relationship dynamic of food. Sure he has a high metabolism, and is constantly working out, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how eating can just make everything feel better. Food can feel good, but it can also feel so damn bad. He knows that feeling. He knows that pain. He knows that horrible dance. He gets it, and knows it’s not as easy as just ‘eating less’ as everyone says. It’s not that easy. He knows. He knows you are trying your damn best, and he’s going to remind you that you have made successful steps. That because you relapse doesn’t make you any less of a person. Everyone falls down. The fact you get up again is what matters. He gets it, and will help you. You two can do it. TOGETHER

Ginny

As the youngest she’s seen her siblings trial and tribulations. As the saying goes ‘the oldest does everything the youngest shouldn’t’ and learns not to do that. She also over all has more life experience than people give her credit for. She understands that you are struggling, and is more than happy to help. Have you train with her before her quidditch seasons, and just try and make things fun. Just like her siblings ya gotta make it fun. She’s got that high energy spirit that will help you stay active. Morning runs, yoga, dancing, she has an energetic lifestyle that will help you be more active. Even if you both stay home all day. Her energy is infectious, and it’ll help motivate you to move more. She’s got your back, and has so many health programs to let you use. She’s a professional quidditch player. Everyone needs a specific diet plan for their needs. Especially since everyone works a different part. A seeker needs a different diet compared to a beater. She’s gonna help you, and her quidditch team has your back all the same. You won’t face this alone

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: giant tube worms

You voted that I would talk about a worm and so I shall discuss the mighty giant tube worms. But first, we need to define what a tube worm is. This is another "no such thing as a fish" situation because there are actually a lot of different things we call tube worms. Turns out the "noodle in a tube" body plan is a pretty successful one. The worms I'm discussing today are members of Siboglinidae, a family of annelids (segmented worms) that was formerly classified as two different phyla until genetic evidence came in. I will primarily be talking about two species: Riftia pachyptila and Lamellibrachia luymesi, who have both adapted to distinct extreme environments in similar ways.

(Image ID: multiple patches of Riftia pachyptila growing from rock at a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. The worms are housed in long, white tubes, some stained yellow. Emerging from the tubes are respiratory organs covered in what appears to be red fur. End ID)

All members of Siboglinidae share a basic body plan consisting of a worm body inside of a mineral tube (side not, I think I will be including an orc or ogre named Sibog in my D&D campaign). The tube is composed of chitin and minerals and is secreted through glands along the body of the worm as it grows from larva to adult. The tube provides the worm within with protection from predators and environmental hazards while also providing support, allowing the worm to lift itself up into the water rather than remain on the substrate. The tube either connects to a solid object or is rooted in the sediment with extensions called roots. The roots are composed of the same material as the tube and can be considerably longer than the rest of the worm, though they are so fragile it is hard to study them. Since the worms often live in large congregations, their roots can twist together is massive mats called ropes. The inside of the tube is where you get into the squishy worm parts. The body of the worm is divided into four regions. The first of these regions I found many alternate names for while researching including cephalic lobe and branchial plume. I'm going to simplify and call it the plume because this segment is composed of one to 200 tentacles that are covered with feathery filaments that can make it look like the plume of a quill pen. The feathery portions of the plume are usually red because they are highly vascularized and filled with blood, similar to a fish's gils. The plume is used for respiration, taking in dissolved oxygen and (depending on the species) other dissolved gasses from the water. In most species, the plume is the only part of the body that extends from the tube. When in the presence of threats, the plume can withdraw into the tube, which can then be close with a structure called the obtraculum, similarly to the operculum found in many other invertebrates like snails. The second body region is the vestimentum. It has a winged shape and is composed of multiple bands of muscle. The vestimentum also contains the heart, a simple brain, and genital pores that release gametes. The third body region, which makes up most of the body, is the trunk. The trunk is the wormiest part of the worm and contains the gonads, the coelom (main body cavity), and the trophosome, which I will come back to later. The last body region is the opistosome, which connects the animal to the tube and is used to store and (maybe) excrete waste.

(Image ID: the tubeworm Lamellicrachia satsuma removed from its tube to show its anatomy. It has a plume made up of multiple feathery white tentacles, the vestimentum is a thick white section with flared tips, the trunk is long, brown, and wormlike, and ends with the yellowish opistosome. The body regions are labeled as "op" for opistosome, "tr" for trunk, "ves" for vestimentum, and "ten" for the plume. End ID. Source)

You'll notice that I didn't mention a digestive tract above. That's because these worms don't have one. Instead of a digestive tract, they have a trophosome, an organ composed of highly spongy tissue vascularized by two main blood vessels. Housed within the trophosome is a colony of bacteria that exists in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with the worm. The worm provides the bacteria with a place to live and protection from predators while the bacteria provide the worm with all of its nutrition. The bacteria are all chemoautotrophs, gaining all their nutrition from chemical reactions using chemicals in their environment without needing to intake nutrients. In particular, they use oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide provided to them by the worm. The worm also provides other elements including nitrogen and phosphorus that the bacteria need. I'm going to be honest with you, I tried to comprehend the chemical reactions involved but it's been a long time since I took chemistry and I was never that good anyway so it's over my head. The short version is that the bacteria produces nutrients and chemicals (primarily carbohydrates and ATP) that it shares with the worm. Waste products are also sent into the worm's bloodstream and are sequestered at the opistosome.

(Image ID: a scientific diagram of the internal anatomy of Riftia pachyptila. Of note is the section showing the trophosome, illustrating it as several yellow, spongy cells filled with bacteria and fed by a capillary. End ID. Source)

The most famous of the tube worms is Riftia pachyptila, which you will recognize if you have ever seen a documentary about the deep sea. They're the ones that look like giant tubes of lipstick. These are the most studied of the Siboglinids and live around hydrothermal vents in the deep pacific ocean. Hydrothermal vents are places on the seafloor where water underground is heated by geothermal activity in the Earth's mantle and then released into the water column, often carrying with it chemicals from deeper in the planet. These vents are hotspots of biodiversity in the deep sea and are hypothesized to play a major role in the origin of life. These ecosystems are among the only ones on the planet where the primary source of energy is not sunlight via photosynthesizing organisms. Instead, chemosynthetic bacteria forms the base of the trophic web, generating energy from the heat and chemicals released by the vents. Riftia requires vents which release sulfur into the water and blanket vents with the right conditions all throughout the Pacific. The lifestyle clearly works for them as they have the fastest grown rate of any marine animal. They can go from a larva to a sexually mature adult of 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) long in 2 years. These worms can reach 3 meters in length (9.75 ft) long, but only get to about 4 cm (1.5 in) in diameter within the tube. When reproducing, males will release blobs of stuck-together sperm called spermatozeugmata that collectively swim towards female worms, entering the tube and seeking out the female's oviduct. The female then releases fertilized larvae into the water. These larvae usually spend a few days in the water column before settling down on the substrate and beginning growth into an adult. However, the larvae have been known to reach newly-formed hot vents up to 200 kilometers away from their parent's vents. We don't know how the larvae find new sites to colonize or how long they can remain in the initial, motile state before succumbing to starvation as the larvae do not have digestive tracts and do not develop their internal bacterial colony until they settle down on the substrate. Once the larva does settle down, it develops its internal colony by intaking bacteria from the water using the plume. Riftia are some of the first organisms to colonize a new vent and play a major role in building that vent's ecosystem. Genetic tests show low genetic diversity amongst and between all colonies, which may be a result of how fast they colonize new vents and the fact that if a vent goes dormant or dies, all of the local worms will die with it.

(Image ID: a cluster of Rifita tubeworms, most of whom have their red, feathery plumes exposed. Some tubes do not have exposed plumes, indicating that either the worm has retracted into the tube or the worm has died. Several crabs are crawling on the tubes. End ID)

The other giant tube worm species I'm spotlighting is Lamellibrachia luymesi. These aren't as flamboyant as Riftia, but can get nearly as large (up to 3 meters) and also play a very important role in their ecosystems, though they are less studied. While Riftia likes it hot, Lamellibrachia is more chill. They live at cold seeps, places in the ocean where hydrogen sulfide and hydrocarbons like methane and oil seep out of the sea floor. Like Riftia, these worms depend entirely on an internal bacterial colony for their nutrition. Oxygen is intaken through the plume, but these worms can't get hydrogen sulfide the same way due to the different conditions. Instead, they absorb the sulfide through their roots. While the hot and cold worms absorb their hydrogen sulfide differently, they both have an adaptation to deal with it: specialized hemoglobin. Most forms of hemoglobin can't carry oxygen in the presence of hydrogen sulfide, which is a problem because that's the whole point of hemoglobin. The tube worms, who need to transport hydrogen sulfide, have specialized hemoglobin that seems to use zinc ions to allow for oxygen to bind to it anyway. The cold seep tube worms also excrete their waste products through the roots, returning it to the sediment. The intake of hydrogen sulfide and sequestering of the wast product in the roots and sediment lets the tube worms play an important role in the cold seep ecosystem. Them intaking the sulfide protects organisms who can't handle it as well and sequestering waste products also keeps it away from organisms who could be harmed by the chemicals in it. Hot vents are inherently unstable places. They are formed primarily in places where two tectonic plates are moving away from each other, exposing the planet's mantle. This exposed spot will eventually cool down and the hot vent will die off. Because of this, hot vent ecosystems grow fast and die young. Cold seeps by contrast are extremely stable and long-lasting. Lamellibrachia luymesi grow very slowly and can live for over 250 years. There's no need to hurry when your food comes out of the ground and won't be going anywhere for a very, very long time.

(Image ID: a colony of Lamellibrachia luymesi. Their tubes are more visibly segmented than those of Rifita, with the top of each segment being noticably wider than the base of the next. The tubes are a pale blue, but switch to white at 2 - 9 segments below the top. Many tubes have brown algae growing on them. The exposed plumes are short, red, and feathery. End ID)

[loveharlow]

LOVE SICK: THE AFTERMATH

PAIRING‧₊˚ JJ Maybank x Fem!Reader

SYNOPSIS‧₊˚ [1.5k] Two love sick puppies reunited and all over one another but Y/N has a small surprise for JJ...

WARNING(S)‧₊˚ swearing, fluff (and I mean sickening), allusions to smut, Y/N IS NOT PREGNANT THAT IS NOT THE SURPRISE,

A/N‧₊˚ Take the Ex! out of Ex!Fem!Reader just warms my little old heart but this is the second part to the request and technically the third part to Love Sick. I guess this could also be read as a standalone.

˗ˏˋ jj masterlist ˎˊ˗

IT WAS LOVELY OUTSIDE TODAY. The sun was out but an occasional breeze swept by to keep my boyfriend and I cool as we sat on the rooftop just outside of my window. My knees were tucked up to my chest as I leaned my head on his broad shoulder, his feet outstretched in front of him as he fiddled on his phone.

We were simply enjoying each others company and maybe, just maybe, avoiding the topic that was floating around us — graduation. It was quite literally right around the corner, next week to be exact.

I could tell JJ had closed in on himself at the thought of it, more specifically what might happen after. What might happen to us. No matter how much I assured him that I was confident we’d make it, he always had his doubts.

I couldn’t blame him. JJ’s life had a certain track record of people leaving him. I knew he wasn't doubting our relationship, just merely stuck in his own head.

I had already been accepted into my college of choice, which so happened to be Pope’s top choice and we already know he got in. Kie had plans to take a gap-year and figure herself out and John B? Well, John B was too focused on Sarah to think about himself, waiting to see what decision she'd make.

They were my friends and I loved them, sure. But putting off your own future for someone else, even if they are you significant other never made much sense to me. As for JJ? He, himself, hadn’t applied for any school — too convinced he had already failed at life and would stay in the Outer Banks.

That would be fine had it been his dream, his honest choice. However, I could see the sadness swimming in his eyes anytime he joked about staying here. He was disappointed in himself. But he had no reason to be.

So, even though the evening was calm and peaceful, his thoughts were louder than he may have thought. 

“Hey, J?”

“Hm?”

“What do you think about moving with me? When I go off to school?” I immediately felt his shoulders tense underneath my head, him clicking off his phone and shoving it in his pocket.

“To Rhode Island? Y/n, that’s a long way from the Outer Banks…”

“That’s the best part, baby.” I proclaimed, lifting my head from his shoulders and turning to face him, pulling my sleeves into my palms — a nervous habit I’d had since I was a kid. He noticed this and pulled both of my palms into his own, a mindless gesture he’d picked up since dating me. “We can go beyond our own little island. I love the Outer Banks, you know I do. But you know we can’t stay here forever. Even if we move, it’ll always be here.”

He groaned and threw his head back,

“JJ…” I whined.

“What would I even do out there, sweetheart? Sit around in a studio apartment while you and Pope trapeze around campus? I’d be a burden.” He mumbled, looking down at the tile of the roof.

Removing one of my own hands from between his, I grabbed his jaw and lifted his gaze back up to mine gently, looking into his eyes. “Would you stop that? You’re not a burden and you never will be. Plus, you don’t really have a choice…”

His thick eyebrows furrowed in pure confusion, a slight ‘hm’ of puzzlement vibrating from his throat. A mischievous smile broke out on onto my face and his expression went from confusion to skepticism. Letting go of his defined and sexy, yet squishy and adorable, face — I climbed back through my bedroom window and bolted for my desk and opened the drawer beneath it, searching for the surprise I’d hidden weeks prior as he called out to me.

“What did you do?” His voice boomed curiously from outside. A girlish giggle escaped my lips as I found the envelope and folded list and snatched them, slamming the drawer shut and skipping back out through my bedroom window.

Sitting down in front of him, I was quickly pulled onto his lap — our faces inches apart with his hands tight on my waist. I couldn’t help but grin, the retrieved items hidden behind my back. “What is it? You’re kind of scaring me. Are you pregnant? ‘Cause I love you and what not but I don’t think-”

“I’m not pregnant, you dork.” I snorted, pulling the papers from behind my back and fanning them in between our faces, blocking our view of one another.

“Uh, random...papers?” He inquired in mock-excitement, raising a brow and quirking a side-smile.

Rolling my eyes, I dropped the folded piece of paper into our joined laps and flipped the envelope so he could see the college logo imprinted on the front of it. Wiggling my eyebrows, I lifted the damaged flap of the envelope that was already open and pulled out the letter that I had read over and over as if it was my own. Placing the letter in front of the envelope and unfolding it, I cleared my throat and put on a fake-sophisticated tone.

“Dear, JJ. Congratulations. It it with great pleasure that I offer you admission to-” Suddenly the paper was torn from beneath my fingers swiftly, a wide-eyed JJ staring back at me.

“Don’t fuck around like that.” Was all he muttered as his wide and frantic eyes wandered the letter mindlessly as if he couldn’t believe it was real. Then he was looking up at me. “I never applied there-” Then his blue eyes were zeroing in on me and the smile that hadn’t left my face, causing an ache in my cheeks. “Did you apply to college for me?” 

Then I was avoiding his eyes, swaying back and forth nervously and I shrugged my shoulders, biting my lip. “Maybe?”

Suddenly he was flashing a full-fledged smile and pulling me completely into him, muttering ‘I love you’ over and over into my neck as I giggled and tried to push away from him as he was tickling my neck with his mumbled praises. 

“JJ! J, please! I’m not-” My words got caught in my throat as his praises turned into kisses, my hands threading into his hair. “I have one more surprise.” I croaked out as the blonde pulled away from me, cheeks flushed and hair messed.

Winking at him, I pulled the folded paper from my lap and opened it — revealing a small list. I turned the paper in his direction, speaking as his eyes scanned over it. “I didn’t want to force you to go to college so one of my moms friends that works out there composed a list of jobs that are hiring that you may be interested in. Some Garages, Surf Shops, Clothing Stores, y’know.”

When his eyes never left the page and he remained silent, I grew fearful that I had gone overboard. My cheeks grew hot and my throat was starting to squeeze in on itself and the hand in his hair started to lower itself. “Or you can do neither. I mean, I’m not trying to dictate your life or anything-”

I was abruptly cut off when his lips quite literally crashed onto mine. The papers long forgotten as they went God knows where and his hands moved from my waist to cup my cheeks and my own hands resumed their position in his hair, tugging and caressing. The kiss was rough and passionate, his tongue swiping my bottom lip as I gladly parted mine for him. A groan reverberated through his chest and no matter how hard I fought, a small moan escaped my lips as one of his hands found the time to trail back down my waist and under my top — his hot palm creating a stark contrast that made goosebumps raise all over my body.

Then it hit me that we were on the fucking roof in The Cut where literally anyone could see us. Using all of my will power, I pulled away — JJ letting out a dissatisfactory whine as he chased after my lips, only to be met with my cheek instead.

“We’re outside, J.”

He continued to kiss my cheek and neck as he muttered through his kisses. “..’s never stopped us before.” A laugh erupted from my lips as I pushed his head away from me to be able to meet his eyes. I pecked his nose before I whispered in his ear.

“We don’t have to stop if we climb back inside.” 

Pulling back, I was greeted with his lovestruck grin and lust-filled gaze. Then he was gently pushing me through my own window and into my bedroom before he climbed in himself, his hands somehow, miraculously, never leaving me.

Then he was shutting the window by kicking the wall below it, since houses on the Cut weren’t of the best structure. He was pushing me into the mattress, working on getting my shorts off.

“I’m gonna spend the rest of my life with you.” He made out through kisses.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

General taglist; @livlaughquinn

JJ Maybank Taglist; @ronnieissupermegafoxyawesomehot

feedback is appreciated! thanks for reading.

©loveharlow

[mako-neexu]

"Senpai?" Mash calls out.

"Yeah?" And Ritsuka responds without looking up from her tablet. The report is due in a couple of hours. She'd really like to pass it on time and have time to kill before lunch starts.

Before her kouhai could respond, she already has an inkling as to what Mash was worried right now.

"Senpai, those... creatures hovering around you like a bee swarm... What are they?" There's great confusion in her tone. Totally understandable.

-Considering there's a bunch of flying bean plushies hovering around her and even making her hair and shoulders a place to rest on.

"They seem to resemble... Oberon-san?" Mash was genuinely confused and if Ritsuka could, she'd give her a reassuring pat on the back.

Unfortunately, these Obe-beans would immediately be the first to claim her hand for those 'pats'. As if the original wasn't already possessive.

She sighed. "Sorry, it's kind of a weird encounter. They basically were already on me when I woke up. Don't worry though. I'll find Oberon and give him a good beating."

As she says that, several of the flying beans started assaulting her face by bumping their soft bodies against her. "What the- Hey, quit it. I know you guys were the ones to eat the leftover chocolate I got from the other Servants!"

Mash left shoftly after that, presumably to call for help or find where a certain Pretender was to help her get rid of the creatures crawling around her body.

She really has never known peace. Still, since they were soft and cute (not that she'd admit that out loud and luckily, these didn't have Oberon's Fairy Eyes) she didn't mind their presence at all.

Her hand even started petting one while she was still focused on her report. There were three kinds of Obe-beans hovering around her, each representing his different outfits in all three ascensions.

The first one, the 'Fairy King Obe-beans' seemed content on resting on whatever available surface she had on her body. The same went to the second version and third version..

(And same as the original, some of them really attempted to wriggle inside her clothes, especially trying to get under her bra and underwear. Naturally, Ritsuka forced them out and sternly scolded them. It only worked just for a little bit before doing their attempts again, this time unsuccessful as she made sure they can't sneak in.)

There is one bean plush that had that permanent smirk though. It's part of the third ascension group, just creepily staring at her while it rested beside her laptop.

...The urge to flick this fly away was really strong.

Still, it was the only one that wasn't actively hogging for space on her lap or on her body for that matter.

The other beans were distracted.. so she decides to gently pick it up under her hand before bringing it to her cheek to nuzzle it quietly.

...No matter the version, it really was soft and squishy. She had this urge to bite him from cuteness and maybe... kiss it...

Now that the thought entered her mind, she kind of wanted to try it.

So, with both hands, Ritsuka cups the now-eager dark Obe plush, slowly bringing it to her lips-

She hears something drop from the floor at the entrance of her door.

Time freezes everything in place.

Oberon Vortigern stands dumbstruck with a mix of confusion, jealousy and anger, a bag of chips now scattered on the ground as soon as he saw her and his......creations(??).

"...What the fuck?" was the only thing the bastard could say.

Ritsuka felt a vein pop in her head. Wasn't he the one who summoned these things?

As revenge, she ordered the swarm crowding around her to attack Oberon, which wasn't really an attack but mostly annoying him to death.

Heh, serves him right.

--

In the end, in addition to the creatures that fought for space on her body, one extremely clingy and giant bug was the one to hog her personal space, but the beans and Oberon himself seemingly growled at each other over it.

Are they really one and the same? This is really going to get annoying...

And where was the insect repellant when she needs it?

[cadaverousdecay]

d and c are very cool :oo theyre like the sound of those brush-like drumsticks. i like those drumsticks

anyways! þ! aka thorn! i love it in a very abnormal way :DD

basically, both þ and another neat letter, ð (eth), were used interchangeably to write "th" as in "the" in old english. ð fell out of fashion relatively quickly (like... two centuries maybe) and we have very few if any texts with ð (sad). but that was in the 9th century and since then to basically the 14th century, þ was the only way to write the sound. so all english manuscripts from that time would use it. (one of my pet peeves around þ is people making faux manuscripts but not using any letters/abbreviations that they would use in them. and þ is not the only one of those letters. ſ (long s) is also insanely cool, and it is literally impossible to see an english text from before the beginning of 18th century without it, but i digress)

during the 14th century, people for the first time started to actually write "the" like "the" it was kinda rare, but it started appearing. but that wouldn't be enough to completely forget a whole letter, probably. it started kinda fading out in favour of scribal abbreviations (see below) and "th" but the final blow were the printing presses. first printing presses in england were actually from netherlands!! and dutch never used þ. so it became just easier to leave þ behind. (fun fact, this didn't kill ſ, which i believe faded a bit later with people being like "aight whats this then" about having two different s's being pronounced the complete same way)

but before it faded, in the 17th century, it progressively stopped looking perfectly like ­­this -- > þ. Instead when you would look at most manuscripts from that time, it would look kinda like "y". Here i found a chart explaining how that happened:

and so over time, þe (the) started to look more and more like ye. and you can see my actual biggest pet peeve with people not knowing all of this. cuz i cant expect everyone to know about an obscure letter but its still frustrating. cuz people of that time still knew that "ye" meant "þe" and would pronounce it like "the". so whenever i see any "ye olde" whatever, it just pisses me off so much, because that's stripped of its historical context and doesnt actually make much sense. "ye" was only ever pronounced "yee" when it meant modern "you", never when it meant "the".

anyways, pet peeves aside, what is insanely interesting to me, are scribal abbreviations with thorn cuz like... theres something so humanizing in seeing people just getting lazy of writing every single letter when it is such a common word. so the ones i know :DD :

þe. not really an abbreviation but it being still used for a while as "ye" basically is and is interesting to me

þu. thou!! not really useful anymore, but like. look at it!!

þt. that :DD i have so much love for this one. itd be still useful if people just knew þ and jusy looks so professional and squishy !!! yeah

anyways thats what i know from head about þ. i love it. also writing this forced me to adjust to a third keyboard, cuz the only keyboard with þ is icelandic one! (icelandic still uses þ but rather rarely. ð on the other hand is used plenty of times). also also english is not my first language. i learnt all of this about a nonexisting languafe from my not-first language. fun!!

WHATTTT WHATTTT WHATTTT THIS IS SO COOL!!!!!!! that’s so so awesome thanks for sharing!!!!

[zaynesbeloved]

Hey there!

I read your this fic and it was amazing!! If you ever feel up to it then please please please make one with kazuha.. Have a good day/night!

BIG BRAIN (idk why I didn't think of that😭)

also been rewriting this 2 times and delete it by accident so this is my third attempt..

warning¡: NSFW CONTENT AHEAD!

basically how kazuha came to love your boobies so much with a little more spice since this is my first drabble of him here;)

!MDNI! read at your own risk!

kazuha wasn't exactly a boobies kind of person(he would worship your whole body though)

but that was until he meet you, the love of his life<3

the first time he touched your boobies was accident

it was when he accidentally slip on a banana peel (it was definitely scara's)

and his first instinct was to grab nearest thing so his face won't have to meet the floor. and that nearest thing happened to be your boobies..

you yelp when it happened, and it was enough to make kazuha realize what just happened,

"my apology, I didn't mean to do that i-" kazuha hand was waving around as he apologizes frantically, but you stop him by grabbing both of his hand and giggle,

"it's okay kazuha. I know you didn't mean to do it, it was accident. in fact, I have actually been wanting you to touch my breast for awhile.." you mumble the last part quietly, hoping kazuha wouldn't hear it,

but you forgot one thing, kazuha has a hearing of an owl..

for the entire week, kazuha could only think about your boobies.

how soft your boobies was, or how your boobies fit way too perfect in his palm. it was only few seconds but kazuha still couldn't forget how soft and squishy your breast was. especially with the fact that you actually been wanting for him to touch your breast? he could only sigh when he feel his pants getting a little tighter.

oh how he pray to archon so he could hold his desire back on your date tomorrow.

but it seems like archon wasn't on his side the next day.

kazuha was waiting for you in front of a cafe while scrolling through his phone. suddenly he could hear people around him whisper stuff about a beautiful girl. he couldn't careless, to him you were the most beautiful girl in the world. but when he feel a tap on his shoulder, he look up and his eyes widened immediately, how he wish he didn't look up.

it was you, you were wearing a blue sundress that reveal some of your cleavages. you also did your hair and put some make up on. archon, you were beyond beautiful. kazuha himself could feel his mouth agape a bit at your figure.

"kazuha...?" when you said his name while waving a hand in front of his face, kazuha snap out of his daydream

"a-ah, I apologize, you just look so beautiful right now beloved." he fake coughing as he let out a compliment that has your stomach flutter and heart beat faster.

thankfully the rest of the day went well and you both had fun as well.

but when he drop you off, he didn't expect you to tug on the back of his shirt when he was about to leave.

"w-wait! I have something i wanna say to you.." you said nervously as you grip on his shirt got tighter. kazuha took your hand and hold it before smiling softly at you,

"what is it? is there anything you want me to do love?" the tone of his voice was so soft and gentle that you could feel your heart melt because of it. you nodded as response before looking down. you then proceed to guide his hand towards your breast before letting it wrapped around your mound,

"I actually want you to touch and play with my breast.. is that okay..?" your tone was unsure. but kazuha definitely wasn't expecting any of this, his eyes widened and his mouth open slightly as he tried to process or make sure he didn't mistake what he hear.

when kazuha kept silent for an entire minutes, you could feel yourself panic, maybe it wasn't a good idea after all,

"nevermind-!" before you could continue your sentence, kazuha hug you. you were surprised by this but you were even more surprise when he wrap his hand on your thighs before picking you up, earning a yelp from you.

kazuha brought both of you into your living room before setting you down on the couch. kazuha took your dress off revealing a strapless white bra with a matching panties. kazuha put his knees beside your thighs, caging it in process. you look away when he stare at you for few second.

you let out a squeak when kazuha push your head to meet his chest before he let his hand unclip your bra and throw it somewhere else in the room.

kazuha stare at your naked breast in awe. there it was, your breast looking round, soft and plump with a perky nipple that begging to be lick and bite.

"are you sure you want me to do this? it may lead to something even bigger.." kazuha ask as confirmation, after all to him what you desire is the most important thing to him. and if he ended up making you uncomfortable or even worst, you hating him, he would never forgive himself after

"yes, I'm sure kazu. I trust my entire body to you. and if lead somewhere else, I wouldn't mind if it's you.." you look at kazuha with determination. you know how much kazuha love and adore you, and you know that no matter what, kazuha wouldn't hurt you.

after getting the confirmation, kazuha place both of his hand on your breast, earning a soft gasp from you. he was right, you feel so much softer without bra.

he begin to knead both of your breast slowly at first, trying to grasp the entire feeling of your breast in his palm. and it fits so perfectly that kazuha was sure, your entire body was made for him alone.

you pant and occasionally leg out a quiet moan. after awhile kazuha begin to knead your a little rougher, wanting to hear more of your voices, the prove of how good he's making you feel,

"does it feel good love?" kazuha ask as he stare at you with eyes full of adoration as he continues to knead your soft mounds

"mhn-! y-yeah, it feels good kazu-haa" you answer in between your pant and moan. kazuha smile at this, not only he get to play with your soft boobies that he grew to love now, he also get to please you. kills two bird with one stone, am I right?

after awhile, kazuha let one hand go, he lean towards the unattended breast before letting his mouth wrapped around your nipple. kazuha begin to suck on your nipple, rolling his tongue around it as he continues to massage the other with his hand while also rolling the nipple around with his finger.

your moan gradually getting louder as he kept playing with your chest with his hand and mouth. and he have to say, your breast and nipple taste so good that he might won't be able to stop at all. he tried to bite your nipple softly, earning a pretty loud moan from you that has him smile against your breast.

he switched breast, giving the other same treatment, licking and sucking along with biting. and it would be a lie to say you weren't a mess just from kazuha playing with your boobies.

"k-kazuhaa mhaanh-" you whine to him. it feels way too good, his hand and his mouth feel too good on your breast that you might just cum from kazuha playing with your breast alone.

noticing your needy gaze, kazuha chuckle softly against your nipple, vibration sending shiver down to your spine. kazuha let his unused hand slide across your tummy, caressing gently before moving down to your clothed cunt. kazuha could feel how wet your panties was already and when begin to rub your clothed cunt with his fingers, circling your clit with his thumb before pressing it gently, you moan loudly in response as your hand went to his head, griping his hair softly.

"a-ah! kazu-haa, i-i" before you could try to finish your sentence, you could feel yourself cum, you arch your back pushing his finger into your clothed cunt even more.

kazuha finally pull away from your breast, eyes full of lust, love and adoration. he was proud that he managed to make you cum just from playing with your breast. kazuha look down towards your cunt, and he could see how drenched your panties was. your cum was leaking from your panties, wetting your couch and thighs. kazuha stare for awhile before deciding to take your panties off. he saw string of cum connected from your cunt to your panties when he pull your panties away.

and of course, your cunt was a mess, covered in your own cum. but to kazuha it looked like a meal that ready to be devour.

and after that day, kazuha would often(I mean everyday) ask you if he can play with your boobies and just suck and knead your soft mounds for you and his pleasure<3

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hello steeeeephhhh :D

yet another rant incoming - hold on! (or ignore your choice lmao)

but like-

OKAY.

idk why it took me so long to watch the rdj sherlock holmes movies but like... HAHAAHAHAHAH HOW CAN A MOVIE TRY SO DESPERATELY TO BE STRAIGHT AND END UP SO BEAUTIFULLY GAYYYYY

lmaoooo literally can't. it's just too funny!!!

i watched them both (are there really only two?) (nvm i just looked it up myself - yes there are only two)

thaha. holmes constantly trying to sabotage watson's relationship with mary and watson actually giving in to holmes' attempts to keep him company... it is hilarious!

OH aaalso... the first one was made before the bbc show right? it's funny to see the parallels between those!

(bbc did better but honestly nothing will ever be better than bbc sherlock to me...)

(jude law is an amazing watson!!! not entirely convinced of rdj as sherlock holmes. maybe i didn't buy his british accent xD (or maybe i am just too big of a sucker for benny boi xD) (who am i kidding ofc i am too big of a sucker for benefit cumbernoodle))

ANYGAYS!!! i hope youre okay and i am sending you hugs!!!

btw i am sorry for my random rants in your inbox but... i don't know i just love the way you interact with your asks... ask-people? what is that called??? idk but i hope you know what i mean!)

whoop!! reminded me of how much i love sherlock haha (not that i could ever forget i am just in desperate need of a rewatch)

(am i making too many brackets?) (i totally am) (shut up turtely it's getting awkward) OKAYYYY BYYEEE

love you take care youre wonderful and loved and beautiful and perfect just the way you are and I NEED TO STOP AND BRING THIS TO AN END NOW!!!

-🐢

Hey Turtely!!!

OMG I LOVE RDJ Holmes, and it's so BEAUTIFUL. The first one came out in 2009, and Sherlock came out in 2010, so yes, RDJ Holmes was first, and I fell in love with that one first (I got into Sherlock in 20...13? Just before season 3). The two RDJ films are still a couple of my faves, and there's been talks for YEARS for a third one (I know both RDJ and Law want to do it, but I think the problem is all the issues plaguing WB...)

AND OMG the BEST PART?? Law literally shamed a reporter for calling their relationship a bromance; I think they BOTH want the third one to be an explicit queer relationship, but I think the big hurdle is the studio interference and (BEFORE 2023) was the remaining copyrights not having expired. NOW that all the ACD canon is public domain, the big hurdle is the WB.

Anyway, I love them, SO MUCH. I ship them SO hard, and now I think I'm gonna go rewatch the movies because they're SO beautiful. I love them to bits.

Since it's been over a decade since the last one, I would LOVE SH3 to explore them older and together. I think that would be lovely.

I have a lot of fun stuff in my rdj holmes , ritchie holmes , and sherlock holmes 2009 tags you can check out!

And thank you for your kind words. I will try my best to take care of myself <3 My heart is a squishy at the praise LOL

[maxphilippa]

ahem

What are your OC's traumas?

thank you for asking *grabs em like a squishy toy*

it's not all of 'em but it is the ones i thought about the most!

Amulet.

"An ornament or small piece of jewelry thought to give protection against evil, danger, or disease."

Her story is fairly uncertain and unknown, even by her closests of friends, but most objects consider her to be cursed in ways that others fear, though it isn't intentional. She has been around for a very long time, and has been through many experiences already. Being an Amulet Of Protection, she's meant to protect others from any type of harm, and that's her duty as a whole. However, this ability tends to be sharp on the both ends, but she doesn't realize this. It acts upon her wishes, and her wishes were always to protect those who cannot protect themselves. She had a pretty decent life nonetheless with a group of friends that she loved deeply, but things took an 360° turn one day. Someone came back for her, and the reckless, brave Amulet, disappeared. Instead of wishing the protection of others, she wished for her own, she decided to be "selfish" for once in her life,

And ended up losing everyone she loved. She was safe, but everyone else she loved was now gone. The guilt she felt was so awful that she ran away and was never seen again, never tried to get friends, a family, or peace again. Because in her own words, that's the dream of a coward that won't confront her faults. Many years have pased, and she's not up for the "third time's the charm" phrase, but perhaps, she can finally get some courage to stand up and fight for herself.

Or maybe not.

After all, why even bother? It's all pointless.

Cursed with her own being, it is now up to her, will she give in, or will she fight to protect the new people in her life?

Ribbon:

"Darkness conceals all the sentiments. All the blames. In the depths of the crimson sea, hopes rest. Don't surrender."

Ribbon came from a very wonderful place, despite the thoughts that she has of it. Was surrounded by loving people, and ultimately had a pretty great life. Despite this, she was pretty important to this place due to her connection with the stars and strange properties. At one point, someone who she had trusted, a very close friend of hers, ended up betraying her. Which sure it hurted, but she can't bring herself to be mad at him. She doesn't know the reasons, since her memory doesn't want to cooperate. Thanks to this, it escalated to a whole fight in the place in which she was living with another one, and at one point, they got her and... everything she loved was now gone.

They broke her enough to the point in which she... was no longer herself. Prepared to spill blood and cause havoc, she was feared by those who adored her. But at one point, thanks to someone she loved, she came back to her senses, and escaped from there, not without taking care of the one that caused such pain. Years passed, her whole appearance changed to a softer one, and she seems to be rather cheerful and lovely. Like nothing happened.

But truth is... that she doesn't want to remember anything. She was weak. She wasn't able to save them. She was so young when it all happened. She can't remember. Her story is incomplete.

Light:

"Hold tight to this time, to this place cause, everything you know will be erased."

Light's story is unknown, just like Amulet's. However, it seems to be the main reasons as to why it's so... hollow, in a way. Their crystal is always radiant and full of colors, but their aspect is dull and dark. They seem to be scared of meeting new objects or interacting with anyone of that nature. After you lost something you worked so hard for, there's no point in trying anymore. He...

He can't tell what's real or what is fake. He feels too out of place. He doesn't seem to be able to talk about it.

But think of it as in, the sea taking away what was dear to you. A sand castle is usually the first thought. But it wasn't that for him.

Rose:

"So I dance with brown bears, and my soul is torn apart."

Two siblings who once wanted to host a show, they fought against eachother because one of them had darker intentions, contestants could not be brought back to life. Rose tried to stand up for the remaining contestants when he found out the truth, and helped them escape... and everyone was happy...

That's not how it happened.

he is a traitor.

[linagram]

[meet the guard!] guard 003: kuroki hinode

(this was supposed to be posted yesterday but.. i forgor...)

HE'S FINALLY HERE!!! THE THIRD GUARD!!! AND ALSO RIKU'S BIG BROTHER!! LET'S GO!!!

he gets not one but two drawings bc he's a very special little boy (and also bc i feel bad for him since he got introduced late for obvious story purposes but like.. i really need to make more content for him..)

(also fun fact: the first drawing actually was done in july and the second one just a few days ago.. i can actually see some differences in my art style hehe..)

another note is that when i started to work on hinode's character, my first thought was that i kinda wanted to create another physically disabled guard character (since i think eiji can count as the first one because kei's treatment of him had not the best impact on his body), it just sounded like a neat concept! but i also didn't want to make him.. how do i explain.. too sympathetic, maybe? too squishy? what really annoys me as someone who is physically disabled is that characters like that are often used to make people feel bad for them and don't really have any personality OR they turn out to be the bad guys who only pretended to be disabled for pity points. so instead i've tried to make hinode's problems realistic and a lot of it comes from my own experiences, but i still wanted to make him morally gray and kinda.. you know.. kinda suspicious. (you're more than allowed to joke about punching him or putting him in a blender and all that)

General info.

Name: Kuroki Hinode (黒木日出) (his last name means "black" and "tree" and his first name means "sun, day" and "exit, leave". yes, hinode's name has kanji for "day" and riku's name has kanji for "evening".. the parallels <3...)

Age: 22 y/o

Gender: Male

Status: Guard 003

Birthday: January 28 (Aquarius)

Blood type: AB

Height: 179 cm

Occupation: Unemployed

Personality: Hinode isn't as outgoing as his brother, but he still enjoys talking to others, learning more about them and just spending time with other people. However, he's used to being alone, so he won't complain if it's not possible for him to talk to anyone at the moment. It actually might be better for him, since he gets tired quite easily because of his poor health and can't be active for too long. He feels sleepy most of the time, so please don't judge him for suddenly dozing off in the middle of the conversation, even if it's very important. He's not as passionate about justice as the other guards and mostly just wants to do his own thing, not caring about morals too much, but still having enough common sense to punish those who deserve it (in his opinion). He dislikes the physical kind of punishments because he believes that they're too "basic", since pain can easily scare anyone and there's nothing special about it. It's also possible that he doesn't like them because of his own experience with chronic pain, but to be honest, Hinode is lying when he says that he doesn't like to see people in pain. Yes, he believes that pain is the worst thing that could happen to anyone, even worse than death. But also, as someone who has no choice but to spend most of his days in pain.. Maybe he does want to see the prisoners feel the same way as he does. Maybe just a little bit. He still prefers the psychological punishments, finding them more "effective" and "suitable".. mostly because he's too weak to punish anyone physically.

MV info.

His Milgram cover: Him and T1 Naomi are twinning and he'd cover Weakness! The lyrics remind me a lot of him and I think with an instrumental like that it'd be appropriate for Riku's brother to cover it.

His DECO*27 cover: Harinezumi. The lyrics remind me a lot of him in general, him trying to keep up with everyone even though his condition doesn't allow him and him feeling like a burden to others, especially his family, but also being jealous of Riku for being so popular, talented and living his best life (at least it seems so on the outside) ("I can still keep going! Jealousy, what a trifling thing", "Don't you sometimes feel a little dizzy? I'm sighing because I'm tired of my heart pounding", "People know their true forms after being broken and crushed") and also the song describes his dysfunctional relationship with Riku really well as two brothers who are both jealous of each other and who both want something the other has (Riku has friends, popularity, the time and energy to make music, meanwhile Hinode has the family's attention, others helping him and people not judging him for spending the whole day in bed) but who also still love each other and genuinely wish their life could go differently ("I'll embrace you, we won't be parted", "Don't be prickly with me, each time we touch, I throb. If I prick you, you might hate me, well, there's no way that will happen!.. At least, I think", "I'm an attention seeker! I want to be spoiled! I want to melt even more for you!") And also considering that one of them is extremely suicidal and the other one is afraid that his life won't be that long.. ("In the blink of an eye, which of us will die?")

His Non-DECO*27 cover: Waltz by Nashimoto-P. I imagine Hinode having this very soft and quiet voice that almost sounds like a whisper and I feel like it would fit the way Miku is tuned very well! Also the lyrics sound so much like him trying to cope with his condition, his relationship with Riku, other problems and slowly going insane in the process. ("Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I ask what day is it today, regrettably thinking today will be a good time", "I don't know what's fun, but as I run out of things to do, I will accompany you", "My EKG is a straight line, I wonder how many decades ago") Some lyrics, especially the chorus remind me of the way he acts as a guard too. ("Stop trying to give up, the world is connected. Dance, smile, while you're being controlled. In the beginning, in the end, the details are non-existent. Don't resist, accept it, everything is connected") Also, Riku's T3 song is supposed to be by Nashimoto-P too, so :} They're matching!

His T3 Voice Trailer Voicelines:

"Ah, greetings, prisoners. Um, I apologize for such a late introduction, haha.. My name is Kuroki Hinode and I am the third guard of this prison. Nice to meet you. Starting from today, I'll be replacing Sanada Eiji-san as he's recovering. I hope we all get along. I'm really not the best person for this job, so I apologize if I end up falling asleep in the middle of the interrogation, haha.."

".. What was I supposed to do? I can't even get out of bed right now. If he wants to be saved, then I'm not the one who he should ask for help."

Trivia:

His eyes may not look like it because of the lighting on the first picture, but his eye color is supposed to be gray, meanwhile Riku's eye color is more of a mix of light green and gray.

Hinode's natural hair color is light brown, but a few days before Riku committed his crime, Riku suggested that he dyes Hinode's hair, hoping to make him feel at least a little better. They went with the brightest colors Riku had just for fun and it really did make Hinode smile and he was happy to spend time with his brother like that. In season 2, Riku dyed his hair the same way and noticed the colors only when it was too late, so it's possible that he missed his brother and did that subconsciously. It should be noted, however, that Riku's T2 hair is light green on the left and red on the right, meanwhile Hinode's hair is light green on the right and his hair is more pink rather than red on the left. Hinode also has a double ahoge just like his little brother and same goes for their little sisters. It's something they all share :)

He started putting his hair in a bun since he arrived because he found working with his hair down uncomfortable. Miki helps him with it now.

Hinode's illnesses aren't deadly, but a lot of them are chronic and dealing with them made Hinode a little bit paranoid and he has a lot of health-related anxiety. His condition is supposed to be mostly up to interpretation, but I can say for sure that he has anemia, narcolepsy and fibromyalgia.

He's the tallest out of all the guards (and that also makes Eiji the shortest). He's also the oldest one.

It's hard for him to walk because of how tired he feels most of the time, so he asked Miki if it's okay to hold her hand when they walk together. After a lot of internal screaming because of Hinode being so cute, Miki agreed. 

His room has everything he needs and he can see the whole prison on multiple screens, watch the interrogation recordings, adjust the brightness of the screens and the room temperature and whoever kidnapped him also somehow learned about all the medications he has to take. He was creeped out by first, but then went "Oh, it's kinda nice actually :)"

Speaking of him arriving to Milgram, he was kidnapped while he was asleep. So before Jackalope brought him his guard uniform, Hinode spent all his time wearing pajamas. He still thinks they're more comfortable than his uniform. (another fun fact is that the first "concept art" of him had him in his pajamas sjskkssl)

He's probably the best character to ask for medical help at the moment, since he does know a lot about things like that, but whether he's able to actually help someone depends on how he's feeling at the moment and what his relationship with that person is like. 

Hinode actually used to play the guitar before his health started to get worse and after he realized he doesn't have the energy to play anymore, he gave it to Riku. Riku still uses his brother's guitar and not counting the ones he got in Milgram, he refuses to get a new one. It also has a bunch of silly drawings on it made by Riku himself, Hinode and their little sisters. 

[joefool]

Reviewing Snoopy Merch, Part 1

I decided I would start showing some of the Snoopy stuff I own, since it’s a growing collection. Above are my plush Snoops from Aurora gifts: five “palm pals” and a pretty standard foot long plush. The palm pals are delightful, they sit in your hand really well, they’re baggy and not quite fully filled, which gives them a floppy and squishy feel. At first I bought the Joe Cool one, but I loved it so much I needed the full set. Now it lives with regular Snoopy, Festive Hat Snoopy, Flying Ace Snoopy, and Woodstock. They’re all 8/10s, the only thing holding them back is that plushes that small are fun to hold or use as decor but can’t really be used for hugging. My favorite of the bunch is probably Woodstock actually, which came as a big shock! I only bought him because it felt like he complimented the set, but Woodstock’s body is made of a slightly different, softer material, and he’s filled just a bit more. Maybe it’s simply the fact that his feel in my hand is distinct from the others, but I really like it. Aurora also sells Palm Palms of Lucy and Charlie, but I probably won’t buy those any time soon.

As for the foot long laying Snoopy (pictured on the right, above), it’s decent. I expected it to be floppier and softer, but it’s got a stiff construction to it. It should hold up really well overtime, and could probably be thrown around well. It’s just not super nice to touch. I do like the size: it’s the perfect length to tuck under your arm like a football. So it’s a reliable mid-size snoopy, and would probably be good for kids who will take Snoopy on an adventure. For me though, it was a solid-but-kinda-disappointing addition to the collection. 5/10.

Finally, I wanted to show my “Snoopy Jug”, a hulking 64 oz Hydroflask water bottle (color is “agave”) with a variety of stickers I bought on Etsy from the following shops: Peanutspetsalsshop, Littlevintagetale, Giftandstickershop, Pinbinday, Rainbootstudios. Rainbootstudios provided what is probably my favorite sticker of the bunch, the “Stay Hydrated” Snoopy in the third pic. But these are all pretty great. I got a large variety pack and ended up discarding some that I didn’t like the design of, so I ended up needing to buy more stickers to round out the whole bottle. I’m really happy with the final result, it’s a bit sloppy but in a Peanuts-y way, and it covers a lot of my staples: Great Pumpkin, Joe Cool, Lucy Van Pelt, it even has a trans rights Snoopy. There probably exists a world where I planned the layout more, but I’m content in the world I’m in. 9/10.

[ashkav]

Rock a bye baby (where am i?)

I was re-watching the trailer again after getting pretty far into a new playthrough of DS1 when something clicked. we've heard the lullaby at the very end of the trailer before, in DS1:

(starts at 9:25 in the trailer, and a couple seconds in in the second video)

when we meet Mama and her BT baby the exact same section of the exact same song is playing as the trailer, but a little extended and with more melodies going. and the song is pretty significant even in DS1 without connecting it to DS2: this is the only other lullaby we hear in the game that isn't BB's theme. and it plays directly before we meet the third most important child character in the game, after Lou and Sam. and the order we hear BBs theme and rock a bye is even the same! the first trailer, Higgs sings a warped version of BB's theme, which we hear in DS1 near the very beginning after hooking up to Lou for the first time and seeing Cliff sing a section. the second trailer, a warped version of rock a bye, heard for the first time about a third of the way through the game when first meeting Mama.

the song is slower and simpler in the trailer compared to in DS1, with a very old almost broken down sound. the octopuses on the mobile seem really relevant considering just how many references to tentacles we've seen in the trailers so far: Elle Fanning's sucker arm, the tar-cat's tongue, the DHV Magellan's logo. and we know some time has passed since the end of the first game. could the song be coming from the same mobile?

thematically, it would be a fitting gift, if it was given as a gift to Sam - if the theories are right and Lou is haunting the BB pod then it'll be an object shared between two impossible BT babies. LockneMama would be the literal best person for Sam to get in contact with again, being the only person (people?) to actually have gone through something similar with a dead not dead daughter. (and it's a completely impractical gift for a living baby with squishy skin, being metal and likely to cut or injure a grabby infant.)

I don't know. i think it would be a really neat narrative parallel if Mama played a role in DS2, but since Margaret Qualley has not been mentioned in any promotional material I doubt she'll be in the game in any major way. that doesn't necessarily mean the theory is wrong; the character could still interact with Sam through emails but the reduced presence doesn't seem

ok wait had a brain wave does Shioli connect to this somehow? complete hunch based on nothing but the first song was obviously the song that connected Lou and Sam, as they're both BBs and the theme is used for both of them. we've seen absolutely nothing of who Shioli is despite knowing she must be a major character based on her poster and her name on the credit list. is rock a bye the song that connects Lou and Shioli's character?

her character poster:

rock a bye baby is about a baby being 'lost' - "when the bough breaks the cradle will fall/ down will come baby, cradle and all."

euphemistically, it can be about child death due to negligence or instability, but going 'down' in the case of death stranding also immediately brings to mind tar, the sinking and the rising. is she 'down' at the beach?

'cradle and all' seems to me to imply there's other things related to cradles that are all going down with the baby, blankets, toys, etc. lots of mobiles attach to cradles.

maybe i'm grasping at straws with the Shioli connection, but the lullaby is the only part of the trailer that doesn't seem to obviously link back to or directly relate to the known characters. and since Mama isn't going to be a major player, maybe Shioli will fill the same thematic presence in this game as Mama did in the last - Mama, too, was lost in a sense, her Ha and Ka split when her baby died and untethered when her psychic link to Lockne broke. Mama was an inversion of the stillmother - maybe Shioli is an inversion of Lou?