#so expect another art lull after this ;-;

[disdudedraws]

Fanart of @bumblesteak 's demon lawyer OC, Cassiel, doing that funny bit from Better Call Saul.

it just, feels like something she'd say

[0oolookitsme]

Piece of His Heart

Hii everyone, I'm back from my long hiatus!! Hope you missed me because boy did I miss YOU! <3 This one is a little emotional, a little sweet, and VERY Harry focused. Also, I was inspired to write this piece while listening to 'London's Song' by Matt Hartke, and trust me, it's a lovely song. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Verse - Artist!Harry x Photographer!Y/n

Word Count - 1.0k

Warnings - Mentions of unplanned pregnancy, financial stress.

Harry and Y/n were students, and now, parents to a newborn babygirl as well. With all of the newfound emotions rushing through them, one thing he knew was that they were going to build this new little family slowly, and lovingly.

Harry looked up at the ceiling, at the overused fan moving slowly and creakily, with one of his arms under his head while the other one remained draped over his little baby's back. 

She was curled up on top of him, breathing softly, her little hands fisting his shirt. 

Daylight was pouring into the room through the gap between the two curtains, and Harry still couldn't believe that the little one sleeping away on his chest was finally here, after a worthwhile wait of a full nine months.

He still remembers the nickname he'd given her while she was still inside her mum's belly – 'Pumpkin' he had called her, and her little frame couldn't have agreed more with him. 

Full and round cheeks hung a little low on her face, her small mouth in a pout and eyes as circular as pearls, nothing if not the true meaning of grace.

Which is why he'd settled with the name 'Opal', grinning widely while Y/n had nodded furiously with tears in her eyes, saying how it was the perfect name ever.

His mornings suddenly became impossibly sweeter, something he hadn't expected since he had moved back in this childhood home with Y/n.

A few days ago, when he had laid his eyes on the bundle of sunshine for the very first time ever, a huge piece of his heart, if not his entire heart, had been taken right then and there. 

Sighing, Harry got up very carefully, wary of waking up the newborn and then, when he successfully hadn't, laid her on the two person size sofa – all that he could fit in the name of a seat inside his small art studio. 

He had just turned to get back to his awaiting Canvas, when Opal began mumbling. She was talking in her sleep, he realised with a smile growing on his face, making his dimples show up. 

Another piece of his heart was taken then. 

He wondered, each time that she slept, about just what she was dreaming up. On nights, he worried if she wasn't warm enough, wanted her to know that there was a blanket of stars above her – but he knew he could wait until she began talking to do that. 

Even though he couldn't afford the best, he was going to make this work. He was going to be the best father out there, give Opal all of his love, all with Y/n by his side.

Putting back down the paintbrush he had picked up because he couldn't stop thinking of her, Harry walked back over with his stool to sit and watch her. He crossed over the chair, his front against the chair's backrest as he rested his face on his arms, gazing down with a soft smile on his mouth. 

"I can't wait for you to grow up so that we can talk, you know? So, hopefully, you can tell me if this is where you'll always wanna be," he spoke, brushing away the unruly mop curls on her head. 

"And we can go to a place where you look at the light and it splinters," he sighed, moving to cover her up with a blanket. "Where there's plenty of gas in our car to last us the cold, cold winter," tears glazed over his sight, sniffling as he looked at her small figure lull to side as she slept – he almost let slip a chuckle. 

Right then, she took whatever pieces were left of his heart. 

Winter this year wasn't easy, but that wasn't to say that it wasn't the best one aside from the ones he had spent with Y/n. So much financial stress had come with the unplanned pregnancy, and now a baby. But he knew that the both of them could pull through the loans and make it out as a happy and healthy family, if they stuck together. 

Y/n’s dad, a single father, was a little bit bitter about the whole situation but had begrudgingly stepped forward to help out the two with handling the house, seeing as the both of them had to attend college as well as take care of the baby. He dropped off the groceries last weekend, along with the last minute new-born-baby stuff that Y/n had told him they needed. 

Even Anne stepped forward, letting the two of them borrow a room in her house for as long as they needed – likely until they could get back up on their own feet financially.

Currently, as Harry sat feeling overwhelmed with all of the love and other emotions rushing through him, he could hear Anne talking to Y/n down the hall. The walls weren’t the thickest and he could tell that Anne was sharing her own stories with Y/n, telling her about how she’d had Harry at a young age, and more. 

He’d heard it before, had even seen the two of them having this chat. So he knew that Anne, very likely, had Y/n’s head in her lap and brushing her hands through her hair, trying to console the woman high on hormones and the insurmountable number of emotions she must be feeling. 

Wiping away at his nose with the sleeve of his flannel, Harry blinked away the tears and pulled up a smile on his face again, trying to be courageous, for Y/n and their daughter. Because he knew that Y/n was doing the same for them. For the little family they were both going to build slowly and lovingly now.

"But I also want you to be this little forever, so that I can cherish you enough, yes?" He asked her, nodding his head when she mumbled something incoherent, something similar to ‘we’ll be fine, dada', Harry wanted to believe. 

And unable to help himself, he picked her up again, holding her flush against his exposed torso because he didn’t have the energy to button up his shirt and the skin to skin contact made breathing a little easier. 

"I'll love you tenderly," he whispered, pressing a kiss on her forehead. "I'll love you forever, and more, little pumpkin." 

[harmonysanreads]

SUMERU LOVE HEXAGON THOUGHT: what If the boys found the reader singing? How would they react when they hear readers angelic voice??

As you might've already predicted, Wanderer has had that privilege more than anyone due to proximity. In the early days of you taking him under your care, you hummed and lulled him back to sleep after another night of nightmares. Your approach surprised him significantly, as his own creator had been perplexed by a puppet displaying emotions. But not that he minded, in fact, it'd only made him cling harder. He knows you have a habit of singing while cooking or any time you daydream. His favorite are the Inazuman tunes you learned through your travels, the sentiments they bring him now are admittedly angst ; but when through your voice, it's somewhat peaceful... nostalgic he daresay.

You'd thought Alhaitham wasn't listening because of his headphones and the accompanying book, the tavern was empty for once and the day had been nice. You'd almost pranced around singing to your heart's content that night and the Scribe had never listened more attentively in his life. Under the pretense of your own assumption, Alhaitham has heard you sing more than once. He thought about mentioning it one time as well, but refrained when he noticed why you sang. Alhaitham knows how to appreciate good music and he has no problem doing so silently. Yes, it's just well-natured appreciation even if he keeps a recorded version as supplement for the live.

There was once a time where Collei fell ill and you offered to take care of her while Tighnari attended to an emergency in the Avidya Forest. When he returned, he found Collei peacefully asleep with you by her side, humming a foreign tune. His original intention was to watch from the corner, but his sensitive ears and tail quickly gave him away. It seemed that he was more embarrassed at the prospect of getting caught eavesdropping, after all, he wouldn't want you to think of him as some sort of a weirdo. But thankfully, you didn't linger on the topic. He almost wanted to thank Collei for creating that opportunity but for that instance, he'd settled for complimenting your voice. One day, maybe one day, he'll gather the courage to ask you to sing for him.

The times a warrior truly feels at peace are few and far between, especially for one as uncompromising as Cyno. There are only a handful of things the General Mahamatra indulges in, your presence settling itself on that list day by day. While Cyno is relatively nonchalant towards the arts, even he can tell when something is truly remarkable. And when such an occurrence presents itself, he finds no reason to not let his appreciation be known. His blunt ‘you should sing more’ appeared to have flustered you to a degree he hadn't expected though. He remains firm in his stance, not understanding why you quickly fled the scene. As much as he doesn't get the reasoning behind your behavior, this chain of events only make him vow to himself that you'd never stop singing.

With each passing day, Kaveh wonders if you could be any less perfect. Just when he thinks he's seen it all or has gotten a grasp of the enigma that is you, you just throw the most delightful surprises his way. Kaveh knows of and appreciates your appreciation of the arts. But even the simplest practices seem to be amplified in their charm when done by you, cliché, but he couldn't care less. When intoxication occurs to the Architect, he usually feels more confident. But before you, even wine loses its lustre. With each new discovery, half of Kaveh falls even further and the other half curls in itself from insecurity. He doesn't deserve you, the Architect tells himself. Yet he cannot bring himself to let go, or stay away as your voice rings through his ears. You're perfect, to Kaveh at the very least but he couldn't help but dream how much more perfect it'd be if you sang only for him.

[ au masterlist ]

[writingsbychlo]

lazy sundays | azriel

summary; you and azriel spend a lazy sunday together.

word count; 3507

notes; just a cute little thing. like, sickeningly fluffy, you will absolutely need a dentist appointment after reading this. based on this little dash conversation between me and @acourtofwhatthefuck last sunday

Stretching your arm out to the other side of the bed as you woke, your sleep-muddled brain could still process the coolness of your mate's side of the sheets. Long abandoned, not surprising. He was always such an early riser, even on the days that he called a lie-in. By the warmth of the sunlight and the placement of the rays across the room leaking in from the crack in the blinds, you’d guess it was early afternoon. 

Just how you liked your Sundays.

There were tendrils of smoky shadows twisting around your body, skittering upwards toward your face as they realised you were awake. One coiled happily around your wrist, swirling up your forearm, another brushing lightly over your cheek before moving away, and you stared up at the ceiling. Children were playing outside in the streets, soaking up the cold winter sun, trudging through snow and relishing in the freedom of childhood. Maybe one day, your own children would do the same. 

Rolling from the sheets without bothering to straighten them, the air in the house was warm, no doubt Azriel’s doing, the cracking of the fireplace from the living room evident as you padded out of the hallway, tugging one of Azriel’s baggy, wing-accommodating hoodies over your head to cover your nightgown. 

You found Azriel in the living room, exactly where you expected him to be, sprawled out on the deep couch, wings drooping behind him, brushing the cold tiles of the floor as he focused on his book. Your favourite pair of his sweatpants sat low on his hips, pale grey and practically threadbare after all these years, leaving every lean muscle and taut line of his chest on display for you. You bit your lower lip, and he chuckled, never looking up from his book.

“Are you going to just stand there, staring, all day?”

Finally, shining hazel eyes left the pages of the book and moved up to meet your gaze, filled with love behind those thick frames, and the amusement in them was evident when you shrugged. “You look like a piece of art, how can I not?”

“Well, luckily for you, my love, you get to touch the art on display,” He raised his brows, just a fraction, something halfway between a smirk and a smile on his lips. He parted his arms, moving one hand with his book, the other patting his chest softly. “Come here, lay with me.”

Your feet were moving before you even needed to command them to do so, the shadows swirling around you both growing closer and closer, until the small swarm he’d sent to watch over you once he’d left the bed was finally reunited with the pack as your knees bumped the edge of the couch. Settling down between his parted legs, his arms closed around you as your cheek met his bare skin, heart thudding slow and steady beneath it, lulling you into a tranquil relaxation the way it always did, the way he knew it did.

“Do you want me to read to you?” He mumbled, lips brushing the crown of your head as his free hand wove into your hair, letting you twist and turn until you were truly comfortable.

“What are you reading?”

“A book that Nesta gave to me.” That sent a spike of amusement through you, an equal one coming surging down the bond to meet it, lighting your chest up from the inside out. 

“You’re reading a smutty novel?” You chuckled, feeling the rumble of his laughter meet it underneath your cheek, and the hand that wasn’t holding the book continued to rub at your scalp, fingertips pressing and kneading in a way that made you sigh. 

“Not quite. This is a spy book, something she said she’d once read in the human realms, before any of this, and when she saw it again, she said it reminded her of me. I figured the least I could do was actually read it.” He huffed a little, using the thumb holding the book open to try and turn the page single-handedly, and after watching him struggle for a moment, you took one side of it, holding it and turning the page, before letting him take it again. 

“Is it any good?”

“It’s… something.” His avoidance of the question made you grin, silently waiting for him to finish his chapter, a finger tracing over the hard and defined lines on his chest, making him twitch and shudder every so often when your nail would scrape. Goosebumps were sometimes left in your wake, and when he finally untangled his hand from your hair and marked the book to put it down, his hands returned only a moment later, skating up your sides lightly. “You make it extremely hard to concentrate, do you know that?”

“I wasn’t doing anything!” He raised a single brow, smirk forming on his lips as his hands hovered over your sides. 

“Oh, really? So, you weren't tickling me, on purpose?” His fingers game down, skittering along your flesh in ways that made you squirm and giggle against him, twisting in his grasp as he mercilessly teased you the way you had him, until you breathless, cheeks warm, curling back into him, now with your back to his chest instead. “Are you hungry?”

“For what?” You muse, twisting your head up to kiss at the underside of his jaw, his cheek, anywhere you could reach. Azriel merely hums, arms tightening a little around you in a warning to behave. “I’m craving something sweet. Maybe some cookies?”

“With dark chocolate chips?” There was a note of excitement to his voice as he spoke, and you realised that it wasn’t you who was craving something sweet, but in fact, merely a feeling being blasted down the bond to you since you’d woken up. “And those little caramel chunks mixed in?”

“Of course, would I ever make them any other way?”

You received a kiss to your temple in agreement, before the arms were unwrapping from around you, Azriel shifting below you, prompting you to stand as he followed. He was barely a step behind you on the way to the kitchen, falling into a quick and simple routine as he began pulling familiar ingredients from the cabinets as you sourced equipment, laying them all out in the order he knew you’d need them. 

As you began to cook, he leaned back against the counter behind you, watching you work while slowly humming a song, one you’d only recently heard, played by a band along the Sidra when you’d been walking home from dinner only a few nights ago. 

Cool fingers swept gently over your skin, brushing hair back from each side of your neck until it fell down your back, one finger twirling around it all to keep it out of your face, a loose ponytail held together only by his touch. Warmth pressed up along your back, soft lips skimming your neck, and you titled your head to grant him further access. 

Those featherlight brushes became delicate kisses, placed along your neck and shoulder, chaste affection in the quiet of the kitchen; only occasionally interrupted by the rustle of ingredient bags, the clinking of the mixing spoon on the bowl, or the slightly louder screams of in joy of the children playing in the streets below your apartment. Wrapping his other arm around your waist, you were held securely to his front, that humming reverberating through your entire body as you slowly scooped out the mixture, placing dollops of it onto a baking tray, trying to ensure all portions were equal.

“I love you.” The words came as a whisper, and you smiled, continuing your work, using the edge of your finger to wipe clumps of batter off of the spoon and onto the tray. 

“You’re just saying that because I’m making you your favourite cookies.”

“Maybe..” He teased, but he gave a light tug to the hair he was holding back out of your face, a bite left on your covered shoulder, just enough pressure to make you shudder, laughing against him at the act. “Do you remember why these are my favourites, though?”

“Of course, how could I possibly forget that moment?” You finished scraping the batter out, using as much as you could, before using your hips to nudge Azriel back and away from you, a groan falling from him at the press of your ass against him through those sinfully thin sweatpants, and you chuckled, leaving his embrace. “Don’t you start that, you’re the one who wanted cookies.”

“Hush.” He scowled, taking the tray that you pressed into his hands, and wandering away to the oven he’d already pre-heated, setting the tray inside carefully. You hopped up onto the counter, licking the excess batter from your finger, and watching the shift of his back muscles, the twitches of his wings, as he moved, dreamy sigh unstoppable as it left you. “Are you staring at my ass again?”

“Oh, because you're so innocent of that one.” 

When the oven gloves were stacked neatly back on the counter, bowls and dishes cleared away to the sink, he finally turned to face you, a wicked glint in his eye. “We have twenty minutes to kill.”

“We do indeed, what could we ever get done in that time?” He rolled his eyes at you, stepping forwards, hips sitting snugly between your parted legs as your arms looped around his neck, playing lightly with the grown-out curls at the base. “You need a haircut.”

“I thought you liked my hair when it was longer?” Warm, calloused hands were smoothing up along your thighs, before finding a resting home on your hips, his forehead coming down to rest on your own as your noses bumped together. 

“I do, but this is getting a little bit too long. I feel like I'm kissing Cassian.” He bit your lower lip, a soft growl coming out when you gasped, and you squeezed him in a little tighter to you. 

You leaned forward, trying to catch his lips, but he pulled back, making sure he was barely a centimetre from you, but not close enough. “Point taken, hair cut tomorrow, then.” His hands squeezed at your waist, smirk on his lips, before he was finally closing the space. “Kissing Cassian, don’t even think it.” He mumbled, before his lips were pressing against your own feverishly. Your body sparked alight, the intensity of his kiss sent you reeling. 

Love and passion and tension, all pouring through his lips, through his heart into your chest, enough of a feeling to make your head spin and you grasped onto him. Fingers pressing into his skin, his hands bunching into the material of his own hoodie as it lay over your body, beginning to make you feel overwhelmingly hot underneath. 

He sensed it, as he always did, cooling his kisses just a fraction, pulling back and using his nose to nudge your chin up, pressing sweet kisses along your jaw, until he was nuzzling into your neck, tickling you once again, until giggles were spewing from your lips in a way only he’d ever been able to make you do. 

“I wish all of our days could be like this.” It was a deeper confession than you’d expected, the fingers tangled in his hair loosening to free one hand, slipping it to his cheek, pulling him back from your neck to catch your eye. 

“Az..”

“I just miss you so much when I’m away, I want nothing more than to be here with you every day, like this, living in this little bubble with you.” His head twisted, fleeting kiss left on your palm, and your fingers twitched against his face in response. 

“Not every day can be a Sunday, Az.” His brows furrowed a little, and you pulled him closer, dipping pecks to his lips which he reciprocated happily, sinking into your affections once again. “Some days, are Mondays. The days when I know you’re going away, that feeling of a brand new week beginning, knowing how long until the weekend comes, when I have to pack you up and send you off with a kiss on the balcony.”

“I don’t get weekends like that.”

“It’s a metaphor, Azriel.” You tutted at him, your lips barely brushing as you spoke now, whispered words to only ever be shared between the two of you. “There’s Tuesdays and Thursdays, the middle days, where everything just feels numb, you get on with your jobs but nothing feels special. That’s what it's like when you’re away from me. The days where I get up and go to work, everything is quiet, and it kind of feels like the end is never in sight.”

His hands flexed, an apology echoing down the bond.

“There are Wednesdays, halfway through the week, when you know you’ve made it this far, you’re over the peak and on the descent. Those are the days when you send word to me, that everything is going well, when you tell me you’re okay, you’re coming home soon. The days when you’re away on missions for Rhys, when you finally get that breakthrough, and you know you’ll be home to me soon.”

“And Fridays?”

“Fridays are the days you come home. The days when I can feel you getting closer to me through the bond, when I know you’ve arrived, when I finally see you land on the balcony and step back into my arms.” He hummed, lips puckering in a request you indulged, meeting him in the middle as your mouths fused together once again. 

Sun-rays cascaded through the room, warming you from the outside as his love warmed you front he inside, tingling all the way down to your fingertips like it was the first time he’d kissed you, a sensation that had yet to fade, and you hoped it never would. “What does that make Saturdays, then?”

“Saturdays are the busy but fun days, the days when we go for dinner with your family, when we go out for dates and walks around the Sidra, when we babysit Nyx, when we paint with Feyre, when we visit other courts for fun, not work. Saturdays are the days when we go out to Rita’s with more, we dress up and get tipsy and come stumbling home together laughing.” Affection and nostalgia filled you, whether it was from you or him it didn’t matter, it was simply there, shared. “Sundays, are for us. Days for just me and you, just me and you, here, with nothing to do, nobody to see. No responsibilities. But we can’t have Sunday, without all the other days.”

“When did you become so wise, my lovely mate?” Azriel pushed back tendrils of hair to sit behind your ears, gazing at you fondly, and his shadows copied the touch, tracing toward you along his fingertips, swirling lazily between and around you both.

“I’m probably just stealing all my wisdom from you.” Your hands rubbed over his heart, bare skin warmed under your fingertips, he was always so warm. “So, do you want to tell me about your book?”

His eyes rolled at that, shoulders sagging a little in disappointment, and you felt him release the tension, the slight bud of guilt he’d been building, as he got distracted. “It’s.. irritating me.”

“Why, my love?” You gave his own petname back to him, and felt the ripple of a skipped heartbeat from him. 

“Because, they’re not good spies!” The words burst from him, bringing a grin to your lips as he frowned., brows dipping together in frustration only a true bookworm could understand. “They’re so obvious! It’s all public fights and big fires and making a scene. That’s not how you spy, these aren’t spies. I should know! It’s terrible, not at all a true representation of the job.” He followed his outburst with a rough exhale.

“Oh, no, my precious spymaster, your reputation will be ruined.” You giggled at the teasing, and he produced a noise somewhere between a scoff and a growl, only making you laugh more at his displeasure. He leaned in, tongue flicking in a lick over your lips before he was silencing you with another fiery kiss. His tongue slipped into your mouth, tangling with your own, and laughter died down into a panted moan instead, swallowed by him as he insistently pressed on. 

“Much better, I like you moaning for me than laughing at me.” His words made you shudder, and he pulled you closer to him, ass hanging off the edge of the counter and legs tightening around him, chests pressing together, heaving with desperate breaths sucked in through needy kisses, heart beating frantically against one another’s chests. 

The thread in your chest was thrumming, glowing golden behind your closed eyes as his lashes fluttered against your cheeks, your fingers tightening in his hair. Your free hand ran down his arm, slowly, squeezing at the thick and solid muscles as he flexed them, until your fingers were wrapping around his wrist, ready to tug his hand up a little higher than your waist. His fingers loosened in the material of your stolen jumper, ready to follow your lead, before the timer on the over let out a sharp beep. 

You jumped apart, his back stiffening slightly at the sudden intrusion, before relaxing, threat gone, shadows darting out in jagged lines to flip the switch off and silence the beeping. He was panting, gasping breaths sucked into his lungs, pink splotched across his tanned cheeks, eyes wide and dark, hair messy. One of your favourite looks on him, truly. His hand did slide up, your fingers slipping from his wrist as it bypassed where you’d intended for it to go, rising to cup your jaw instead. 

Running his thumb over your lips, he wiped away the residual slickness there, likely swollen and red still, like his own, and he licked over his lower lip, letting it drag through his teeth for a second. “Always so distracting, my love,” He mumbled, and you pressed a kiss to the pad of his finger before it slipped away to rest on your chin, a gentle smile on his face. “How do you still do this to me, after all these years?”

“You still have quite the effect over me too, shadowsinger.” He smiled, and you pressed in, close enough to feel his heartbeat on your chest once again, pressing a kiss to the corner of his eyes, the wrinkles for his smile deepening when you moved to the other. His hands locked onto your waist, lifting you down so your toes could touch the tiles once again, and you hissed at the cool feeling, surging up your body and clearing your mind of the fog. 

He left a final kiss brushed on your head, before retrieving a plate from the cupboards, and you slipped the oven mitts over your hands, securing them before opening the door. Warm air rushed out, coating your front as you pulled the cookies from the oven, resting the tray on top. 

Together, you plated them up, letting Azriel carry it, leading you back through to the couch the two of you had abandoned to bake, placing them cookies within reach on the small table, beside his evident failure of a book. Flopping back down happily, his wings rustled behind him for a second, adjusting to a comfortable position, before he was opening his arms for you, letting you settle once again against his chest. 

You let out a happy sigh as his arms sealed around you, one hand holding a cookie, taking a bite, and groaning happily at the taste. 

“You’re always so warm.” You pressed in as close as you could, revelling in the Illyrian heat running through his veins, designed to keep him warm up in those mountains, and to keep to you warm always. 

“You’re cold?” You only hummed, eyes fluttering shut, surrounded by his smell, his heat, his touch, never having felt more at home. He shifted beneath you, arms leaving you and reaching behind for the blanket sitting along the back cushions, flapping it out and securing it around your bodies. “Better?”

“Better.” He seemed happy with that, pride radiating from in him waves at having provided, and you settled in comfortably. “Will you read to me now?”

“Of course, but I warn you, this book is wholly underwhelming.”

“Then we can laugh about it, together.” He picked up the book, opening it to the marked page and cleared his throat a little. Only moments later, the timbre of his voice was echoing around the room, deep and lulling as he read the words, tone painting a perfect picture in your mind. So many times you had also wished you could spend more days like this than you got, but your lives didn’t allow it. However, when lazy Sundays like this came along, it made them feel all the more precious.

[hazyletter]

It's late, but can be considered to be early by one Tsukishima Kei in some way. He sighs to the winds and puffs of air are visible in front of his mouth because of how cold he was, comforting his cold hands inside of his thick sweater. 

The playground swing is low, making him stretch out his legs into straight lines, shoes colliding with the sandbox underneath it. Kei tries swinging a little, cicadas of the night this close to lulling him to sleep but he contained himself. 

Until he hears footsteps.

Kei turns on reflex and there he was, the person he'd been waiting for.

"What took you so long?" Kei tiredly says, close to a whisper because of how he was holding himself back to fall asleep right there and then, in the middle of the neighborhood playground at 1 in the morning.

"Sorry." Tobio genuinely looks apologetic as he walks closer to Kei, caressing his cold cheeks and kissing him on the side of his head. 

Kei hums at the attention, pulling out a hand and clutching Tobio's with it. On reflex, Tobio separates them for a beat and interlocks them completely, rubbing his fingertips to Kei's freezing hands using that warmth of his. He sits down on the swing beside Kei's, hands still not separating, and looks up at the stars.

Meanwhile Kei studies him. Tobio looked not as sleepy, as if he had just woken up four hours ago. Still, he didn't expect for himself to willingly go outside at this hour because Tobio asked him to meet up. 

In the middle of his contemplation while watching the stars reflected in the own skies of Tobio's eyes, they turn to him and Kei blinks. 

Tobio's expression turns into recognition and he grabs something on his seat beside his hip, Kei only noticing it now after he had arrived, and pulls out a dino-themed bouquet-filled with yellow and blue flowers. 

Kei pauses and his mouth slightly parts, sight stilling at the looks-to-be fiddling Tobio on where he was. 

"Happy Valentine's." Tobio whispers.

The street lights put them in the spotlight at this very swingset, and Kei couldn't believe how warm he suddenly felt despite February's cold demeanor. But the figure in front of him is the opposite.

It's not instant, like paint slowly being guided through the surface of a canvas until it perfects all up in one clean stroke. Here, Tobio's blushing portrait as he looks away is not a painting but is art itself, Kei thinks to himself as he sucks in a sharp breath. A second parts. Then, without waiting, Kei laughs.

Laughs until the chains of his swing crinkles with a dog's bark echoing from the distance. Laughs as Tobio watches him confused but also intrigued. Laughs as Kei suddenly has the urge to kiss Tobio. 

And so he does.

It only lasts for a pair of heartbeats as Kei could feel, embody this unexplainable euphoria inside of him that makes him feel ridiculous, but the dazed look on Tobio's face after their lips part is worth it. 

Kei's nose crinkles as he contains another laugh bubbling in his throat, and he settles on a smile which can only be described as fond and gaze full of endearment, "Happy Valentine's to you as well, hm?" 

Tobio releases a small breath, Kei following the slight pout on his lips, before he raises a brow at the setter. Tobio interrupts his teasing demeanor by leaning and kissing him again.

Kei makes a sound of surprise before relaxing on reflex, getting a hold of Tobio's nape and squeezing the hand still holding his as Tobio leans into his space and fills it with colorful thousands of galaxies.

Right before they part, Kei lets out a forgotten chuckle and they breathe besides each other's lips as his eyes are closed. When he opens them, he is greeted by Tobio kissing his nose, making Kei snap his eyes shut at the feeling again, until he is pulled standing.

Tobio looks up at him as if asking for permission and Kei curiously looks back. There, Kei is embraced and is filled with life as Tobio holds his waist, free head resting on his chest that makes Kei curious if Tobio can hear how fast his heartbeat was.

Kei tucks his chin on top of Tobio's head and starts playing with his locks. With the sudden gesture, Kei's curiosity is brought back quickly, "You're clingier that usual." He really couldn't help but tease.

Tobio mumbles something muffled into his sweater. Kei snorts, "Hm?" 

Tobio looks up, crimson once again spreading throughout his face and ears and Kei contains himself from cooing. 

"I've been thinking about a gift since Hinata had been annoying about me giving you one 2 weeks ago." Tobio frowns deeply. "Saying that I'm not giving you one because I can't do it." He scoffs. 

Kei raises a brow. "Oh, so you gave me this cute little thing because you felt threatened by him?" 

"N-NO!" Tobio jumps, denying it, but quickly deflates with a click of his tongue at Kei's knowing look. The setter looks somewhere for a moment, avoiding Kei's eyes before he pulls it back, but still unfocusing from time to time as he says, "I w-wanted to give you something. Even if I knew you wouldn't mind with nothing." He lowly says at the end.

Kei slyly smiles, "And that you are right about." Sighing, he leans down to Tobio's shoulder, holding his back and caressing it with his thumb. The movement makes Tobio shiver for a moment and thrill seeps inside Kei. "I like it, though. Don't worry about it."

Tobio huffs, "I dare you not to." He raises a mocking brow and glares at him, taunting. 

Kei grins, not taking him seriously because of the blush on his nose. "If you say so." 

They start walking, not before Kei grabs the bouquet from his past seat and cunningly waves in front of Tobio who morphs into an even intense scarlet and turns away from Kei's annoying cackles until they exit the playground, still side by side and their hands inseparable.

"Why couldn't you have given this to me at school? Missed me that much?"

"I would have if it weren't for the risk of Hinata being an annoying dumbass. Don't get so full of yourself."

"Hm."

"..."

"..."

"...Yes. Whatever. Shut up."

A chuckle.

"SHUT. UP."

A full-blown laugh. "I didn't say anything."

"I can hear what you're thinking...!"

"That's just the clinginess speaking."

"Your clinginess, huh?"

"..."

"...Pfft."

"Come here."

"Nope. Can't hear you over the sound of your clinginess. Sorry."

please try and support this on ao3 as well ! ! ^-^

[annaliessse]

Kind of want to write something short and sweet for my first love, Prince Chevalier. I miss him so much these days.

Also, this is me convincing myself that Chev is still my number one prince when a whole-ass Keith Howell is right there. I honestly did not expect to like our Jadean prince's route that much.

𝕹𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝕼𝖚𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝖀𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖔𝖉

word count: 483

There is nothing in the world that Chevalier cannot understand. He was a genius after all, the type to be found once in a million years. So, when Clavis gifted him a romance book, his curiosity was aroused. For once, there is something he cannot understand.

Love. The books described it as an emotion, a fluttering and exciting feeling in one’s chest. It was inspiration, the muse of songs, and the subject of art. It was power, the kind that made manipulation easy. It was destruction, the fall of kings, and the end of empires. It was complicated, and despite the countless books he had read to try and make sense of it, Chevalier never really understood what love was.

Perhaps it is because he is the brutal beast that he can never know the true meaning of the word. He had no heart, and thus he had no instrument to feel this love he had wanted to comprehend. As such, he gave up, for there is no point working for something you know is impossible to have. Nevertheless, Chevalier’s interest in romance books never stopped, partly because he wanted to know how he could use it as a weapon; and partly out of his secret fascination with an emotion he can never feel.

And then, there came you. Smart. Persistent. Brave. You were the first to meet his gaze directly. He had seen your fear, and yet, you did not falter. You shared his love for reading, and there was a quiet fire in your eyes when you disagreed with an opinion of his. You were everything he expected, and yet you were nothing like he expected. He knew you were made of purity and kindness. You were Belle, after all. But what he did not see coming was the way your heart worked. Even now, he still does not understand. How you were able to hold his gaze, firmly. Defiantly. And with those sincere eyes, you spoke the words he never thought he would ever hear from anyone.

“I love you, Prince Chevalier.”

He chuckled as you muttered the same words in your sleep. At present, you were in his arms, tired after another ball you organized. You were a natural at it now, and Chevalier knew that it was because of the love you felt for him.

He pulled you closer, affectionately pressing a kiss on your forehead. His hands awkwardly brushed through your curls, and Chevalier felt a small smile gracing your lips. He understood now, what love truly is. It is indescribable. It is both peace and excitement. Greed and selflessness. Destruction and salvation.

Love is what he found in you.

Chevalier closed his eyes, lulled by the gentle warmth of your breath against his skin. And in the darkness of the night, he found himself whispering the same three words.

“I love you as well, my simpleton.”

[fizzingwizard]

Last: gameplay

I knew this game would only last a few hours or so. Still I was surprised it went on as long as it did. You do a lot and it doesn't feel empty to me at all. I'm at best a light gamer... I mean, I play the Sims... uhh... Yeah I have absolutely nothing to compare with, just saying I found this game quick but fun. And I will probably play it at least one more time to try to figure out what side quests I missed and just to enjoy the ambience. The art is really lovely and the stellar music from Sigur Ros totally makes the atmosphere.

Preeeettyyy!

This one I'll put under a cut

I played on Mac. It was so easy.Just space bar, A, S, D, and shift. Despite being so simple, there were lots of reminders and hints, so very friendly to kids. Sometimes though that simplicity was a con in the sense that, when the game didn't try to hold my hand through everything, it made me suspicious that I wasn't doing the right thing. The game does get more difficult as you go farther and the guidance eventually stops more or less. However these instances happened earlier and felt random.

I really loved the whimsical, highly Moomin-ish solutions to various problems. In the first problem with the spider, I remember being surprised that I was clearly meant to lob a bird at the spider instead of asking it nicely to leave. Then, lo and behold:

Heh. "I got your number, game," I thought. But then the spider was a jerk! A sweet jerk tbh. Who enjoys bullying and being bullied haha. So I had to lob the bird at it anyway.

I do find it VERY funny that this game, with its strong theme of needing each other and not only relying on your own wits, solves a lot of its puzzles by stepping on creatures or lulling them to sleep or hitting them with well-aimed birds.... It's 100% therapeutic but it's also so mean bahahahahaha. Like at first it seems like you'll solve every problem by hypnotizing people with the lovely melody of your musical instruments... But by the end even the drum is used to scare them off, and even flatten ferns! omg snufkin such violence

Trashing the Fillyjonk's house to make her come outside is a great example. This game just says "Chaos is the answer" and goes for it xP Imagine uprooting someone's flowers, breaking her statues, and dirtying her laundry, only for her to say "Oh, an invite to a play, how nice" lol. BUT! I do very much appreciate the reference to the Fillyjonk's need for a bit of chaos in her life. I wish they had stuck with that rather than fabricate a crush on the Park Keeper... anyway.

Loved playing with the band, wish that part had been longer/more involved. It was so much fun to have different instruments - I would have liked the drum to do more than just thud, but maybe the designer didn't really know much about hand drums.

Didn't understand the point of the Painter Hemulen, but possibly although I completed his side quest I may have missed another that came after. I really expected Stinky to be connected to the main story through Ninny. I thought he would be hiding Ninny's clothes with the theater costumes, but nope. Unrelated side quest.

I also really enjoyed the witty descriptors for items and quests, they made me giggle.

Ran into a handful of bugs/glitches as well. It could be because I'm on Mac, or because I'm on wifi. Idk if everyone experienced these. The biggest was jumping glitch. Several times I would just get stuck and be unable to jump no matter what I did. I'd try waiting for the indicator to appear, using different key combos, choosing the direction carefully, leaving and returning... Nothing worked, especially at Moominhouse (which I was sad we don't get to go inside) and these parts of the Hattifatteners Island:

Got stuck a couple other places too. It did eventually work, but with no rhyme or reason I could find. Path-finding also sometimes lead to getting stuck and I just had to wiggle around for a while before I could get out.

This above too about streamer mode. I literally can't read it on my screen. I had to cap it and zoom in in order to make out the type against the light color background.

However the worst glitch seems to have ruined the entire Hemulen's Butterflies side quest. I caught all three butterflies and was returning to the Hemulen when I guess I took a wrong turn and the butterflies left. Other times, when someone is following you and you go somewhere they can't follow, they will reunite with you when you come back to a good spot. But the butterflies flew away and didn't come back. I returned to catch new butterflies, but they appeared VERY rarely, and once caught glitched and disappeared. On top of that, the sound of my harmonica then vanished completely. I had to close the game and reopen, at which point I accidentally went too close to a loading screen and lost the chance to finish the quest. (I could have, if I hadn't continued onto the dam scene, but at that point I was too annoyed and kinda felt like the Hemulen will just have to get his own butterflies haha).

ETA: Realized I forgot some stuff!! So there are another couple quirks I ran into that I'm not sure if they're bugs or inevitable or what.

The first is that I completed many of the quests/side quests without meaning to. I gathered all the ingredients for all three of the Muskrat's stews before I even knew he wanted them. The game sent a message that I could increase my stamina by visiting the Muskrat's campfire, so I tried to go back to where you first meet the Muskrat and couldn't. Then it wasn't until much much later that I found him, and had to eat all three stews in one go. More importantly, that means I beat the game with the same stamina, never getting the increase until the very end (you don't even need it for the last park outside the dam because Moomintroll doesn't run).

I also found many other things just through playing naturally, which isn't itself a problem - but when I figured out what went with which quest, the game had trouble registering the quests as complete. It did eventually. But each time, I'd visit the character concerned, and they'd give an intro or a mid speech, then pause for a while and I'd start to leave before they'd finally give the complete speech. It was rather confusing. I do like the open world kind of feel and I def don't mind being able to do quest before they're introduced. But it was... nearly every single quest. I just gathered everything I saw that I was allowed to pick up. Some items DID seem as though they were hidden until you unlocked the quest. But most just appeared.

There were also several times I helped a bee or found an egg for a nest etc and nothing seemed to come of it? I'm guessing maybe there's a hidden "you rescued all the critters!" sidequest or something I didn't quite complete...

I really enjoyed the quests tho and my secret fav was "flattening the ferns with the drum" haha. I also think inspiration should go till level 10 only because maxing at 8 was too easy. Then again you def don't need it, musical prowess is irrelevant after you free Moomintroll, which is kinda sad since you spend so much time working on that skill alone.

I think that's about everything. Really loved the game (don't take my little critiques too hard!). A wonderful game for Moomin lovers and I hope many kids enjoy it too and become Moomin fans. Last here are some assorted bits and scraps I had nowhere else to put

The art is seriously sooo gorgeous. Also look how grumpy Little My looks in that bee costume

This close up of DLC for Snufkin. Loved it. It doesn't appear in the cut scenes but whatever.

Also... Snuf what is that plant you're eyeing??? HMM??? (Nettles lol)

And I seriously loved the chime-like music flowers and ferns would make when you run through them, and especially these gorgeous glowy mushrooms.

That's all folks!

[coeurdastronaute]

Polo 8

Previously on Polo

Slowly, Lexa moved around the gallery, perusing the art on display. It was busier than she’d expected. So busy, in fact, that she hadn’t been able to find the curator who liked it when she played with her hair while she read. 

But with how busy it was, Lexa found this inane burst of pride emanating from her chest, this warm little squeeze as she observed the people as much as the art, eavesdropping on conversations to hear how well it was going. There were a few people she knew and recognized, now well versed in Clarke’s world and friends and colleagues. It made it interesting to exist in Clarke Griffin’s orbit, who so casually found artists and put on something like this. It meant schlepping around the city and occasionally world, as a tagalong, scoping out art that often wasn’t in her wheelhouse. But it didn’t matter. Clarke liked it. And if she didn’t like it, she understood and appreciated it. 

Absently, Lexa sipped from her glass after snagging it from a roving tray. It took her twenty minutes and half a glass of wine to spot her girlfriend. The thing that she couldn’t tell Clarke, that she would always be afraid to admit, was that sometimes, when she saw her, she felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest, like her rib cage was insufficient, like an underfunded zoo and an eager and opportunistic tiger looking to escape. It wasn’t because she was beautiful. Of course Lexa thought that. It was because, for the first time in her life, Lexa looked at another person and saw certainty. She saw the woman she’d hold hands with when she was sixty. She watched as the woman she fell in love with after one conversation, listen and answer questions to some buyer across the gallery. 

People mingled between them, and Lexa didn’t move to get any closer. Sometimes she couldn’t. Sometimes she was just… struck, but how in love she was. She’d studied extensively on the topic. Consulted all the greats, many times. Browning, Neruda, Paz, Shakespeare, Dunne, Cummings, Dickinson, Villarreal, and more than she could remember. They’d all warned her about this, and yet, here she was, engulfed and feeling as if she was the only person who had ever felt it, almost certain in that fact, actually, that it would be impossible for anyone to love anything as much as she loved Clarke. 

The greats were all liars. 

Lexa watched her girlfriend smile and she finished her drink before finally approaching in a lull in her attention. 

“There you are,” Clarke cocked her head and smiled. “I was afraid you were ditching me for something more fun.” 

“More fun than this?” Lexa disagreed, wrapping her arms around Clarke’s waist. “You know I live for opening nights.” 

She received the disbelief and shrugged, earning a smile anyway as arms moved around her neck and she earned a kiss. It was polite. Too polite for her liking, but she understood it. 

“How long have you been here?” 

“About an hour. I couldn’t find you, but thought that was a good sign.” 

“It’s been busy.” 

“I’ve noticed. Do you know how proud of you I am?” 

“Me? Why’s that?” Clarke shook her head, smoothing the lapel of Lexa’s jacket despite its unrumpled appearance. 

“You did this. It’s really, really good, princesa.” 

“It wasn’t that much work.” 

“Don’t do that,” Lexa gave her a stern look and kissed her cheek again. “You did this. And I’ve fallen in love with you at least six times over the past twenty minutes watching you work, in awe of you. So just–”

She didn’t finish. Clarke kissed her quiet and Lexa smiled enough to break it. 

“Can I show you around?” 

“You know I’ll follow you anywhere, Clarke.” 

“I know,” she nodded. 

For some reason, Lexa felt safe knowing the truth, and that Clarke knew the truth, that she literally would follow her anywhere. It took her many months to admit it. Maybe even more months to believe it. But she’d gotten there, and there was no going back. 

Some of the pieces were familiar, from Clarke’s work that would be left in folders all over their different spaces. Some of them were new or just referenced in conversation, but Lexa still understood, and she listened as Clarke explained. And when Clarke got pulled away with an apologetic smile, Lexa returned it and gave her a wink for good measure before approaching the bar and finding another drink. 

As the crowd filtered in and out, late into the evening, Lexa found herself in conversation with strangers, and enjoyed herself as best she could. She’d had training in such things. She’d dated Clarke long enough to go to the occasionally stuffy soiree. She dragged her to enough stupid events. This was relatively easy. 

“Wait, so you won the gold?” a woman furrowed and tilted her head to the side. “Like an Olympic gold?” 

“Yeah, well, my second was last summer.”

“I thought you were just a model?” 

“Oh, no, that's mostly just for fun. I play polo for Marcus Kane. Train some horses. Things like that. My newest venture is simply being in love with Clarke Griffin though, and that’s a full time job, if you can imagine.” 

“I have no doubt. A wonderful girl. I’ve served on the board of the Children’s Museum with her father.”

“I believe we’re being auctioned this holiday season for charity for the Children’s Museum.” 

“Are you participating?” 

“I was politely volunteered. Clarke is helping to plan some of it, as her father’s liaison and so she’s pulling out all the stops. She put this together,” Lexa motioned to the gallery. 

“Talented. You’ve got yourself a talented girlfriend, Ms. Woods.” 

“Yeah,” she smiled and sipped her drink. Pride didn’t even cover the half of it. 

“A talented couple indeed. How long have you two been dating?” 

“Just over two years. I guess closer to three, actually.” 

Clarke was across the room, having a meeting with a few of the other gallery workers. She looked good, all business, focused. Lexa kind of understood why Clarke got turned on at her games, all of a sudden. 

This was the same girl who would refuse to get out of bed every morning. Who could sleep through anything, and for hours and hours. Who never found a reason not to get ice cream in the park. It made Lexa grin. It was very easy to be in love with the person you were meant to be in love with. Even when it wasn’t. 

“That’s a decent amount of time,” the woman looked at her knowingly and Lexa cleared her throat. 

“It’s been great. I should go– check on her,” Lexa decided, afraid of having a conversation this personal with a complete stranger. “It was lovely chatting with you.” 

“I’m sure we’ll talk again soon, darling.” 

“Great,” she grinned. 

By the time she made it to Clarke, her girlfriend was jotting something down at the desk of reception, or at least what was reception on a normal, non-show night. Lexa leaned there and let her finish. 

“Getting chummy with Mrs. Whitefield?” 

“She thought I was just a model.” 

“Did you tell her about the medals?” 

“You know I did.” 

“Good,” Clarke decided, closing a folder and shoving it behind the desk. “I can’t have people thinking I’m just with you for your looks.” 

“Of course not.” 

“How did you like it? Are you ready to head out soon? Steph is going to close for me.” 

“I loved it. Best one yet,” Lexa promised. “I only fell in love with you like twelve times tonight.” 

“I’m losing my touch then.” 

“Yeah,” she smiled and followed behind eagerly. “Are you hungry?” 

“Starving. I didn’t get any snacks. How were they?” 

“Really good.”

Clarke sighed and shook her head. 

“Seb already has our order waiting. We’ll pick it up on the way home.” 

“Okay, I fell in love with you right now.” 

“Shut up,” Lexa rolled her eyes, but let Clarke guide her toward the exit anyway. 

XXXXXXXXXX

“Oh, querida, how are you feeling?” Lexa cooed at the pony, rubbing her hands over her nose and under her chin. 

From her spot at the end of the stables, Clarke watched despite pretending to be interested in her book whenever Lexa looked her way. She became someone who carried a book and snacks in her bag because she became someone who liked spending time in the stables. She liked learning things, she liked watching her girlfriend, she liked being close while doing different, individual things. So she carried a book and she said she liked walking over when Lexa decided she wanted to check on the ponies some evenings. 

‘Checking’ always meant working. It meant mucking or cleaning or some form of keeping busy. Lexa was notoriously bad at being still when it came to downtime. She blamed it on her parents, not allowing her to do much else than work in the stables. She blamed it on herself, for being obsessed. 

The heat was still burning itself off, the sun still above the treeline in the distance. Tails swished and swatted at flies and the weather, hoping to find some relief. Clarke sat with her feet up, lounging in an old office chair in the stable. Most were gone for the day, the remaining evening hands wrapping up as best they could. 

But Clarke watched as Lexa ran her hands along her ponies neck, cooing to her gently, earning nudges and hums. Rio was her favorite. Clarke thought that even the other horses had to have known it. She watched Lexa’s shoulders, tanned and freckled, as she stretched and ran her hands along the horse's chest, checking her over, soothing her quietly. Rio didn’t particularly like Clarke, and the woman swore that the horse looked her dead in the eyes as Lexa tutted over her, as if reminding Clarke where she stood in the grand scheme of things. 

The more time Clarke spent in the stables, the more she learned things like that– that the horses had personalities. She was fond of Rainforest, despite the silly name, because he  was a funny horse. He played pranks like biting Lexa’s thighs and stealing whatever was in her pockets. He liked Clarke. Maybe that was her only bar. 

But she looked over the book as Lexa bent over and lifted Rio’s leg, careful to check the wrap from the cut that happened after their last practice. Clarke liked to watch Lexa move. She fell in love with her right there, among the piles of hay and horse shit. It seemed to happen fairly often, these moments where she was reminded of the affection she had. There was lust, definitely. Always. But Lexa had been right, with how mingled love and lust could be, if you were lucky enough. They existed independently, but often swirled and dipped, dancing around her head before one would take over. 

Clarke felt breath on her shoulder as Rain stuck his head out of his stall toward her, nibbling her shoulder before smelling her book. She kissed his nose and earned a snort. But her attention was still on Lexa, and her hands and the tiny way she hummed. If Clarke had known that she’d be perpetually falling in love, she might not have ever signed up for it, because it was so much to do, to just be constantly and without warning, struck by her feelings for this person that existed. It didn’t seem efficient or fair, and she needed to speak to someone about it. It came at the worst times, too, just randomly in quiet moments. The way Lexa looked first thing in the morning, when she was a mess and unable to open more than one eye. The sound of her voice before bed. The anxious kind of pacing she did before asking if Clarke wanted to take a walk, knowing full well it was to do exactly this– check on her favorite horse that had been very well taken care of by others. 

“I love her, you know?” she told Rain who seemed to not care at all, digging his nose deeper between her and the arm of the chair, looking for treats in pockets. “I didn’t mean to love her, but I did. And she was right. The whole fucking time. It’s very frustrating.” 

Another snort as she rubbed the thin whilte sliver of a streak that went up his face. 

“You’re easy to talk to. You should consider becoming a therapist when you’re done with polo.” 

That seemed to be it for him, as he lifted his large head and shook out his mane, shifting his gaze to Lexa at the end of the stable. 

“Yeah, I feel the same way, bud,” Clarke sighed. 

She watched a little longer before closing her book and moving her bag out of reach of a certain nosy pony, and making her way to her girlfriend. 

Lexa pampered Rio. She always did, but now, with her injury, more than ever. Clarke held out a sugar cube in the flat of her palm, earning a sniff and, in her own opinion, rather delayed and cold acceptance of the treat. 

“How’s it going?” 

“Good. I’m sorry– I’m almost done,” Lexa promised quickly. 

“I’m in no rush.” 

“You have an early morning, and the commute–”

“I’m fine,” Clarke promised, leaning her head on her arm on the door. “This is nice.” 

“Do you want to go for a ride this weekend?” 

Lexa didn’t look up when she asked, just kept moving and soothing and humming and Clarke watched for a few more seconds. 

“Are you going to let me do all the saddle and rein things myself?” 

She watched the amusement on Lea’s face as she swallowed down any attempt to correct Clarke’s words. 

“If you want.” 

“I do. I only have a few months until we go see your parents. I need to show them I’m capable.” 

“That’s silly. I’ve told you that.” 

“It’s not silly. It’s important.”

“You’re ridiculous.” 

“And yet you fell in love with me after one conversation,” Clarke shrugged. 

“I… I did not know what I was getting into.” 

Lexa smiled to herself and patted Rio’s shoulder before kissing her cheek, telling her a few more things, to behave for the night, to be gentle and not bite at her wrapping, to have sweet dreams. 

“I tried to warn you, you know,” Clarke reminded her. 

“Who am I to fight fate? Fate gives me you, and I have to just accept my lot in life.” 

“Quite the burden.” 

Lexa closed the latch, making sure the door was fastened tightly before standing in front of her girlfriend. Clarke waited until hands wrapped around her waist. She waited for her own soothing and for those hands to heal her as well. 

“So have you finally agreed to let me be in love with you?” Lexa teased, already having her answer. 

“Maybe.”

“I’m getting closer.” 

“Let’s go home,” Clarke murmured against her lips. “I could use a shower.” 

“Me too.” 

“What a coincidence.” 

[corellianhounds]

Bar Talk

Media: Star Wars (Original Trilogy)

Rating: Gen

Word Count: 2,742

Warnings: None

Art Credit: Johannes Holm on ArtStation

Summary: Set sometime after the Battle of Endor, Luke and Lando talk shop and discuss the difficulties it takes to rebuild after the war.

Base XIV had few amenities but the makeshift cantina was a popular one. It was just out of the way enough to have the illusion of a hole-in-the-wall dive, and it provided several much-needed distractions after days spent training, conducting briefings and debriefings, managing inventory, and performing routine maintenance. The uprisings against Imperial outposts and institutions across the galaxy demanded the remaining rebels’ support and there was little time to celebrate before yet another sector needed their help.

Too often many of the leaders forgot the second half of the sentiment “Work hard, play hard,” though, so the cantina had to work a foot in the door before it became a semi-permanent fixture by virtue of the fact volunteers kept it up and running in what valuable free time they had to spare. By the time the fussier lieutenants’ complaints made it up the chain of command, the infantry folks had reallocated improvised construction materials for the outer shell, and by the time it got to the commander’s desk, Leia was seen leaving with Wes Janson and Lieutenant Verlaine, so deconstruction was deemed a moot point and the lieutenants’ complaints were dismissed.

Lando had made time to meet up with Luke on a rare night off to catch up and chew the fat. Consuls had no end of paperwork and planning to attend to between missions, but they’d each somehow found themselves in a lull where most projects were waiting on the decisions of others, so the cantina now hosted the two war generals in a corner of the bar, overlooked in the hustle and bustle of a busy night and granted the rare-found indulgence of anonymity.

Lando was having a Takadian Sunrise, a flavorful and aromatic cocktail made with tihaar. The salt-and-pepper captain from Mon Cala, Toren Qavis, brewed the tihaar himself as a hobby on the side, and since it appeared his background in chemistry translated well to distillation, he occasionally supplied Jhon the bartender with it. Due to the limited nature of housing and storage space, Lando had had to ignore his more naturally inquisitive nature regarding how Qavis was able to create such a steady flow of tihaar. There were rumored suspicions cast on the ugly little C2-R4 droid that trundled about doing odd jobs near Qavis’s rooms: the man was a notorious pack rat and the droid— advertised by its Skor II creators as having limitless functions— was always picking up organic and inorganic material equally. The less Lando thought about the C2-R4, the better he was able to enjoy the home-brewed spirits. Ignorance was indeed bliss.

Captain Qavis’s tihaar never tasted exactly the same. Each batch was brewed in small quantities which meant those who enjoyed quality control had to gamble on whether they’d be getting a flavor profile they liked, and those more adventurous were never for want of a new experience. The monotony and tedium of what it took to build bureaucratic infrastructure could wear people down just as quickly as the constant fighting did, so Lando didn’t mind a bit of mundane unpredictability amongst his new delegations, and he enjoyed visiting with his friend over a hand of pazaak and good humor. Those days were coming fewer and farther in between, though.

Luke was barely into his twenties but the enormity of his responsibilities and the expectations placed on him were starting to show on his youthful face. As he sat next to Lando at the bar, Lando could see the far away contemplative thoughts sitting behind his eyes— Luke had been carving a divot into the wooden bar top with his thumbnail as he and Lando breezed through the daily trough patter they both knew by rote.

Baron Calrissian was more accustomed to bureaucracy than the farm boy was. Despite his efforts spent scouring databases and archives for information and history on the Jedi, Luke’s time was demanded of in a number of areas as they established the New Republic, and the divided focus was frustrating him. Point the boy in one direction and give him a clear objective and he’d accomplish it with aplomb. Split his focus and tell him to figure out how to manage both his time and his people in a number of unfamiliar settings and you get a fledgling Jedi and consul member forgetting important meetings and snapping at dignitaries they needed support of. He and Han were similar in those respects, and between their own harried schedules Lando and Leia had had to make time to smooth over diplomatic relations Luke had inadvertently ruffled the feathers of.

When it came down to it, Luke was a hands-on guy more accustomed to solving physical problems than he was performing administration. Gifted pilot? Yes. Ingenious mechanic? Yes. Unparalleled martial artist and strategist? Of course.

Diplomat? Not so much.

“Plan on digging a trench all the way across?” Lando asked. “A router would take you less time.”

Luke shook his head, resting his knuckles on the bar top. He was three black ales in and didn’t seem fazed by them at all. Lando wondered if there was much else to do on a backwoods planet like the one Luke had come from besides shoot vermin, drift speeders, and knock back ‘shine with the old-timers when you weren’t doing manual labor. Lando had met several hicks whose hold on liquor rivaled Coruscanti ironworkers— Union men were a sturdy breed, and still they’d stagger from going shot-for-shot against a scrawny hayseed with a competitive streak. Luke wasn’t a big man and still he’d shown no signs of flagging under the stout black ale that must have made up a quantifiable percentage of his body weight by now.

“Sorry, Lando, my focus is shot today. Meditation only gets me so far on the weeks we’re moving bases.”

“I don’t blame you. I’m surprised it's in your schedule at all; haven’t you been taking ten-twelves?”

“Something like that,” Luke said wryly. “I get it in during airtime.”

“Seems to me like that’s still work.”

“Eh, flying’s methodical,” Luke shrugged. “That’s the work I like.”

“What’s the old man have to say about your multitasking?”

“Haven’t asked him.”

The two of them chuckled. Lando slid the untouched tray of Zuǒ chicken over next to Luke’s forearm.

“Those bags under your eyes may match your wardrobe, but they aren’t a good look on you,” Lando observed. “Tell Leia you need to take a retreat, go to Dagobah for a bit and get your head straight. You’ll feel better after.”

Luke shook his head. “No need. I’ve got some downtime during the refinery recon and the meetings later this week.”

“Recon isn’t downtime. What’s eating at you, kid?”

Luke studied the wood some more while the fried food settled to room temp beside him. The general din of the cantina stayed at a low hum, sentients squeezing past each other but somehow still skirting the alcove they’d commandeered.

“… You ever been expected to give a speech on something you’re told you’re supposed to be an expert in but you’ve only heard of by word-of-mouth? Like somebody’s asked you to play a song nobody knows or has recordings of?

Lando frowned. “Is this about the Jedi business?”

Luke continued like Lando hadn’t spoken. “I can’t find any original codices for the Order. The representatives from other systems in the charter keep asking questions I can’t explain. “Why does the Force protect some people but not others? If the Force connects every living thing, how can so much evil go undetected for so long? The Empire wouldn’t have had the reach it did if the emperor had been stopped long before he took over. Are the Jedi really meant to live cut off from everyone else, or is that why they failed on Coruscant in the first place?”

“… Heavy stuff.”

“You’re telling me,” Luke said. “I’m just one guy and I’m expected to have all the answers.”

“Kenobi not been much help?” Lando asked curiously.

Luke shrugged and dragged a hand down his face with a sigh. “He’s irritated with me for arguing the logistics every time we talk. I think there’s a point to people’s questions but he’s still teaching from the old rule book.” Here he turned to Lando. “I know he’s only teaching me what he knows, but if the Jedi believed in accepting change, why can’t he see that the way we study and live by the Force now has to change? How can you reconcile a life of non-attachment with the very thing that binds us together?”

“A rope and a net will both keep you from falling but one’s going to do it better than the other.”

Luke couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. “See? You get it. Maybe you should be the Jedi.”

“Pass.”

“Smart choice.”

Lando tapped his fingers on the bar in thought. As far as he was aware the rebuilding of the physical Order wasn’t expected to be underway so soon anyway. Luke was one of the most wanted men across the galaxies; they were all keeping low profiles for a reason. The sheer enormity and reach of the Empire’s stranglehold meant there were still millions of Imperials and Imperial sympathizers stationed across every sector. There was no shortage of people who wanted him dead. If he revealed too much or didn’t remain off the grid, diligently toiling away at finding resources and forming covert connections, he could put so much they had worked for— to say nothing of millions of lives depending on them— in jeopardy. To not even have council members believe the Jedi were necessary or worthy of rebuilding in the first place meant Luke was fighting against the tide every time he didn’t gain a delegate’s trust, let alone support.

But to hear Luke struggle with how he viewed the original tenets of the code reminded Lando of just how new all this was to him, too.

“What is it Kenobi and Yoda do all day if they’re not giving you immediate resources?”

Luke drained the rest of his glass and tapped the bar twice for Jhon to refill it. “I won’t say they haven’t been helpful, but they ask more questions than they answer mine.”

“To what end?”

Luke put his hands up in a gesture of “Your guess is as good as mine,” baffled and frustrated. “To stretch my critical thinking skills, I guess— But I don’t have time for that. I need actionable directions. Contemplation and self-reflection are selfish right now when what people need is immediate help. How can I find others if they won’t give me the tools?”

Lando mulled it over. He could see where Luke was coming from and sensed he had a point. Han had told him a fortnight back that he’d found Luke working out his frustrations in bay 4-9 stripping down an X-wing from canopy to keel, muttering something about philosophy and accountability. By the time he emerged he was sweaty and covered in grease, but no closer to whatever conclusion he’d been using the ship’s maintenance as a stand-in for because his stormy expression remained in place and he immediately started in on another ship.

Grains of sand could beget pearls over time, but if you flooded a shell with sand without jetting out the buildup all you’d get was a dead mollusk.

So Lando changed the subject.

“How do vaporators work?”

Luke snorted and gave him a sidelong look that implied Lando was asking a stupid question (which, in all fairness, was part of the point). He held up his glass, water running in rivulets down the sides.

“Same way this does,” he said. “Why? Plan to invest in stocks before the dry season?”

“Naw, nothing like that.” Lando didn’t take offense to Luke’s sarcasm. “I was born on Socorro but my family lived so far removed from farm life I didn’t know how most essentials got from farm to table. I didn’t stay there long enough to learn anyway. Didn’t interest me.”

“And now suddenly it does?”

“The base camp up in the mountains put in a request for on-site equipment to help sustain them so they don’t have to rely solely on supply lines,” Lando explained. It was a true enough statement, though Luke needn’t know that the issue hadn’t necessarily crossed Lando’s desk. “There’s budget and time constraints they don’t have time to quibble over, and the railways are in poor condition because of the rockslides.”

Luke’s barstool swiveled a little more loosely to his left as he tapped his gloved, mechanical hand on the bar. “Vaporator cores run refrigerant through the main shafts to keep them chilled; they collect condensation and funnel it down to a tank beneath the ground,” he said, picking up a bit of chicken and chewing around his words. “Tatooine gets up to forty-two degrees on average and the mists rise at suns-up— Most of the water is collected in that window of time, and the rest of the day your work is spent on repairs and withdrawal rotations. The base camp is already up on the leeward side of the mountains though— Fog nets would be more efficient and easier to maintain. Higher elevation, less even terrain, and the fog’s already there. It would cost more money and effort to bore out the rock to install vaporators than they’d be worth in the long run.”

Lando stroked his chin thoughtfully. “What would the number of man-hours for maintenance be, assuming they have the space to dedicate to them?”

“For the whole compound? Maybe thirty hours across a standard week. The nets take up less space and there’s nothing mechanical or electrical to maintain. You could get the bigger cisterns and spend half the time across two shifts doing all the work at once, but the more often they’re maintained the less likely they are to build up mold. It’s not worth putting it off if it means running the risk of the whole supply making everybody sick.”

“What about groundwater?”

“Larger cost upfront to install the equipment, more work to purify it,” Luke said, shaking his head. Lando waved the barkeep down for another basket of Zuǒ as he talked, making a point to take some himself so Luke could continue uninterrupted. He had a bit more color to his skin than before, and the haze of stress and alcohol was a little clearer with a problem in front of him he had enough experience to solve in his sleep.

“Everyone can be cross-trained on nets, that way you can sub people in when needed. A specialized crew may sound more appealing but if they’re all waylaid or too many people are taken out you won’t have anyone to harvest a supply at all. You’ll need a foreman to track down screw-ups if you rotate schedules, though. Or you can give that job to a droid.”

“Any downsides to having droids do all of it?” Lando asked.

“… Droids just can’t get the taste right,” Luke said. “They’re good at filtering and testing for problems, and the water would technically be fine, but at the end of the day you need someone who’s going to care about more than just utility.”

The conversation reached a natural lull, and Lando didn’t feel the need to add anything else. He had what he needed.

Luke scrubbed at his face, sitting back in the stool and contemplating the condensation building up on the glass. “Seems all I’m good for some days is everything except restoring a creed. At least there’ll always be farming.”

Lando thought back to Qavis and the C2-R4, the cantina bartender and the makeshift pub carved into a quarry. He stood from his chair and dropped some credits on the bar before he put a hand on Luke’s shoulder and hoped it conveyed the reassurance he didn’t know how else to give.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Luke. There’s a lot you’ve got to contend with on your own, but you’ve got us to help with everything else.”

“… Ben thinks I can rebuild an entire order single-handedly,” Luke muttered sardonically. “But it feels like all I’ve gotten from him are criticisms and pushback.”

Lando shrugged. “If Kenobi didn’t want you in charge, he shouldn’t have left.”

Luke finally cracked a grin, the first Lando had seen in a long time.

“Besides,” Lando reasoned, “Seems to me like you’re already used to making something out of nothing.”

—

Notes:

Tihaar is a strong, clear spirit distilled from fruit. The inspiration for this specific home brew is taken from San Miguel beer in the Philippines circa 1980. Brewed in small batches, no two beers ever tasted the same. An older friend of mine said that during his stint overseas he was never happier than when he had a San Miguel beer in one hand and roasted monkey on a stick in the other.

Here is a link to a post I made about the C2-RV droids.

What Lando says to Luke about Kenobi is something my dad once said at a funeral. He was talking to his aunt (my great-aunt) at the last of her brother’s funerals, and she said in her normal matter-of-fact tone “Welp, I’m the last one. Guess I can raise all sorts of hell now.” To which my dad said “Well if they didn’t want you in charge, they shouldn’t have left!”

[chierafied]

December Drabbles Day 23 - Enchanted

Read on AO3.

Banner fan art by the amazing @sayuri-liu

For Akane. For your enthusiasm and support and friendship. 💖I appreciate you and wish you all the best for 2024!

An independent sequel for A Generous Offer

Day 23 - Enchanted

The anger, already simmering after his confrontation with the head waiter, spikes when Sesshoumaru finally sees the message from Kagura. Though their affair has never been one of a serious nature, it is Christmas. He’s saved the evening for her well in advance. If their plans now have changed, he’d have liked to have ampler prior warning. Or at the very least a proper phone call instead of a curt message calling things over. Finding out from a head waiter that the dinner reservation had been cancelled was the most humiliating way to receive the news. 

“Excuse me?” 

He looks up from his phone. A young woman stands hesitantly in front of him, her hair in black tumbling curls, her lips red to match the dress hugging her curves. The anger stills as his interest piques. “Yes?” 

“If you don’t have any plans for tonight, you could join me. The dinner’s on me.”  

His eyebrow arches. He has the whole evening free now and he’s tempted —by more than just her offer. 

“That’s a very generous offer,” he replies, flattered. “But I do not wish to impose.”  

She bites her lip, and his gaze gets caught by those small white teeth. “Please. It’s Christmas. It would be good to have some company.”    

His waning resolve shatters at the look in her eyes. Her breath catches when he inclines his head.  

“Very well. I'd be honoured.” 

The head waiter gives them a stare but guides them to a table. They’re seated and settle in their places, casting side-long glances across the table at one another. 

She picks up the menu, fiddles with it for a moment, and then sets it down again. “Thank you for agreeing to this. It was good of you.” 

Sesshoumaru makes an attempt at levity. “I had a sudden opening in my schedule.” 

Her smile flashes at him. And to his fascination, dimples. He picks up his own menu, to keep himself from staring. 

Silence settles over them as they study the menus. It's a themed couple’s menu, but there are a few options. Sesshoumaru lingers over the drinks section. Maybe some alcohol would help cut through the tension. 

His companion seems to agree. When the waiter arrives, her first order from the menu is a bottle of wine. She slants a glance his way. 

“I hope that’s all right?” 

“I’m here for the company,” he replied. “It’s the lady’s prerogative.” 

Another smile follows, a softer one. Such a simple expression, yet he’s charmed. The anger is fully gone by now, replaced by curiosity and captivation. He doesn’t even know this woman, but something about her tugs at his heartstrings. It’s a feeling he’s never experienced before, and it leaves him eager for more. 

The waiter comes with the wine and pours each of them a glass. Once it’s just the two of them again, Sesshoumaru picks up his glass and meets her eyes. Their stares connect and hold. 

“I’m Nishimura Sesshoumaru, by the way.”  

“Higurashi Kagome,” she introduces herself. She holds out her glass in an invitation. 

Sesshoumaru smiles and clinks his glass against hers. “Nice to meet you, Kagome.” 

The exchange of names finally breaks through the nerves that have been fluttering in the air between them. The conversation begins to flow between them, natural and easy. He’s usually not the most outgoing person out there so he’s surprised how much he’s enjoying himself. How readily he’s chatting with Kagome.  

Their food arrives. It’s as delicious as one might expect from such a high-class restaurant. But even that pales in comparison to his companion. 

They talk and laugh and eat and joke and share so many smiles that Sesshoumaru’s cheeks are threatening to ache. Which was not a problem he suffered from too often. 

By the time dessert arrives, he’s almost wistful. Their conversation finally hits a lull as they carve out spoonfuls of the shared chocolate mousse. When he looks up, she’s looking at him from under her lashes. Her teeth catch her lip again and Sesshoumaru’s eyes snag, his throat drying a little.  

“I love Christmas,” she says at last. “I had the whole evening planned. And decided to stick to the plan, even after my boyfriend broke up with me last week.” 

“I’m glad you did,” he says in a low voice. 

Her dimples flicker at him and he’s mesmerised. Higurashi Kagome is an enchantress, he’s fairly sure of that. 

“I’m glad I did, too,” she admits and brushes a curl behind her ear. “Though my plans didn’t stop with the dinner.” 

A slow smile spreads on Sesshoumaru’s lips. “Oh? And what would come after dinner?” 

“A walk to go see the Christmas lights.” A smile flirts in the corners of her mouth as she licks her spoon. “Maybe you’d like to join me?” 

“I would be delighted,” he says.  

They settle the bill — it takes some arguing but Kagome does finally agree to let him pay for his half — and leave their table. He helps her coat on and as they head out the door, the back of her hand brushes against his. Silent and soft snowflakes greet them as they step out onto the street. Their hands brush together a second time and intertwine. 

[peony-pearl]

Heyho, Id like to know more about Haruka, do you have something like a masterpost that has details on her ? 👉👈

Ohhh thank you! Unfortunately I don't have a masterpost, but you can find her tag here and here is the start of the first draft of her story. the story has changed, but this first draft still has important elements like her choosing Iroh and the Fire Nation over her home of the Earth Kingdom and becoming more free on the battlefield and being passionate about the arts; also each chapter has a link to the next and to the previous chapter so there's no searching X3

But I can give a lowdown of her current story if you're interested ^^ I may actually make the following it's own post XD

Haruka was born in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se and had a natural talent for singing; she is also an earthbender but she has not given that ability much practice, other than to possibly find gemstones that weren't of much value, but enough to afford a few days of meals. Her parents noticed Haruka's interest in singing (which was better than her earthbending) and they were able to get her some lessons, and through nurturing that talent blossomed her love of the arts, and she also became proficient in playing the koto, the shamisen and the erhu. She is active in theater and dance as well, and with this knowledge her parents would set her up to perform for nobles, which is how they made their fortune.

Haruka's talents allowed them to live in luxury; she even became part of traveling troupes and has been requested specifically by nobility across the Earth Kingdom. However, her parents have been keeping a secret from her: They've engaged her off to a wealthy man in Ba Sing Se without her knowledge. When Iroh arrives at Ba Sing Se for the siege, Haruka and her parents have been off so she can make more money with her performances and (unknowingly to her) to procure her wedding ensemble.

When Haruka and her family are unable to return to Ba Sing Se, at first she has the guts to go and confront Iroh, who is merely entertained by the woman's ire. But soon Haruka learns the truth of her future, and she's horrified. She confronts her parents, and they tell her they know what's best for her. They leave her alone at the home they're staying at (which belongs to her fiance; it's a vacation manor close to Ba Sing Se) so she won't intercept any more of the letters or money they're sent from her fiance.

Haruka, desperate to escape her fate, wanders the area and comes across a Fire Nation village, where she sees a posting for wanted performers to entertain Iroh's army. The pay is good; if she performs a few times she could save up to escape her fate; so she packs up one night, and after the maids are asleep, she sneaks off, disguises herself, and walks into Iroh's camp. They get the idea eventually that she's the 'entertainment'; and they let her perform, and she's a smash hit.

Iroh is absent for her first several performances, but by the time he sees her, she's already got several fans in the army. Iroh is intrigued, and several more performances later he himself offers to dance with her. She's a little hesitant, knowing if he finds out who she is, she'll be embarrassed; he may humiliate her - but money is money. She dances with the general and he meets her every move. Her dances eventually become more and more emotional; she's often joined by other soldiers in war dances; which she is honored to learn. But other nights she's there to lull them and calm them - each performance she wears another mask. It might be that of a beautiful woman - it might be a demon, or a ghoul, or an old woman for a lighthearted opera to cheer them up.

But during one of her performances they're caught off guard and attacked by an Earthbending battalion. Haruka is no warrior, and Iroh is quick to intervene and give her cover. Yet even with her lack of fighting knowledge, she can't just sit by and watch, as she's grown fond of her crowd - something she wasn't expecting. She watches a soldier go down, one who was always excited to see her perform, and she's struck in a rage. While still disguised, she finds her heart in her earthbending for the first time, and she helps defend the Fire Nation troops while helping to fend off the Earthbenders.

After the attack, Haruka reveals herself to Iroh, and she tells him her predicament. He knows that if she's found in their camp again, she could be killed, but she doesn't care. She tells him that if the siege ends and she sets foot in Ba Sing Se again, she will die anyway; and she'd rather die performing for people who enjoy seeing her than being locked up in preparation for a man she does not know or love. She swears her loyalty to Iroh, and she is accepted in full, so she becomes part entertainer for the troops, but also a part-time soldier for them when needed, and she gets some knowledge on how to fight. Haruka's earthbending techniques have roots in firebending; a lot of her strength is also very rooted in her emotions, for even though she can come off as cold and disinterested, she is also very driven and full of energy. She isn't all that nurturing or maternal, but she is genuine and will support people she cares about.

She and Iroh eventually begin a romance, but it's cut short when Lu Ten dies. Eventually, Haruka goes to the campsite only to find it's abandoned. At the very least, she still has enough of the earnings from performing to leave and begin a new life away from what her parents have set up for her.

But she does reunite with Iroh four years later during Zuko's banishment; and despite the rocky reunion, they end up back where they started and she's still very much faithful to her general.

[kharonion]

This is your free pass to gush about something you want from any ship you'd like - gimme the sweet lore! <3

Oh gosh, thank you, Halk. I've definitely needed an excuse to talk about blorbos. 🥺💚

I haven't gone on about these two in a hot minute, so have some ramblings about Gail, Charon, and the DLC content (because that's something I've never really touched on, now that I think of it).

[Wonderful art by Sam (@adarlingmess) 💚]

(These are in chronological order and are more-so brief overviews. I'm always open to questions about specifics!)

Broken Steel. This is, obviously, a big one, between the final battle against the Enclave and Gail's recuperation from the purifier's activation. The former is relatively self-explanatory (insert "war never changes" monologue here). Post-purifier is a bit more... involved. The two-week wait during Gail's recovery leads Charon to ruminate quite a bit, and in turn, their relationship grows upon Gail coming to. Eventually, the effects of the massive radiation show themselves; Gail becomes chronically ill for, seemingly, no discernible reason. In time, though, they learn that they're essentially internally ghoulifing. No longer seen as human, Gail is stripped of their BoS status by Maxson and cast out entirely.

Point Lookout. Without the binds of duty anymore, Gail and Charon decide to take a 'vacation'—which, of course, doesn't go as they expect. Their sequence of events is quite different from the 'canon' one. They do meet Desmond, but they don't proceed with the main quest line after that; most of the time in Maryland is spent exploring. It serves as a relative lull, aside from a few moments (i.e. Blackhall, Turtlelove Detention Camp, and helping Desmond with the initial attack on the mansion).

The Pitt. As opposed to the 'canon', for them, this starts with Ashur actually calling for the "recruitment" of Gail (who by this point has developed a reputation for their medical prowess). Of course, the raiders took that as "capture and enslave". Charon refuses to sit idly by, not while his life partner is in danger, so he infiltrates The Pitt, masquerading as a man-of-few-words raider. He plays the role for as long as he needs to, formulating an escape plan while also keeping tabs on Gail, ensuring their safety as much as possible. Even with such a harrowing experience, the two find that it brings them emotionally closer, knowing they truly can place the deepest trust into one another.

Operation: Anchorage. Quite a few liberties are taken with this one. The most integral is that it isn't Gail who does the simulation; it's Charon. (This is because of my headcanon backstory for him, which I will make a post about... at some point soon. In short, he was stationed at Anchorage as a human.) Completing it causes some rather vivid memories to be unlocked, which Gail helps him to process and address.

Mothership Zeta. Okay, so, they don't actually do this one... because I really can't imagine why in the world they would. 😂

[neonscandal]

Manga with Me: Dark Trio Anime Adaptation Edition

Mappa Animators Are Troll Gods and You Can't Change My Mind

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: covers major plot points through JJK chapter 120 and CSM chapter 79. If you want to hear out the essence of this argument, I put spoilers under this ‼️ symbol below the jump so feel free to read along even if you don't intend to read the manga.

I'm going to immediately address what you're already thinking. Hell yea, this is a little bit of Mappa dickriding. Have you seen the cult classic nods in the CSM OP? HAVE YOU SEEN THE UNIQUE CSM EP'S WITH CLASSIC ART ALLEGORIES PERTAINING TO EACH EPISODIC STORYLINE!? 😘👌🏾 Chef's kiss, we are not worthy and so, we ride!🧎🏾‍♀️

To be fair, this initially started as a lil snippet of an observation, a figurative comment under my breath on the internet but the more I think about it, the more I'm like... I need to say this with my whole chest. Mappa has the reigns on adapting the Dark Trio of shonen manga and they are embracing and taking this responsibility with every intention of inflicting as much emotional damage as possible.

If you're unfamiliar with the Dark Trio, it includes Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuji Kaku's Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku and Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man. Known for their gritty (sometimes teetering on vile) artwork, macabre rich storylines and overlap with the occult, these works make for an unholy trinity. They are similarly unified by the fact that they tend to subvert typical shonen tropes where the power of friendship ✨ can overpower any foe which generally leads to a happy ending for readers.

In a typical shonen, we kick things off with a weak or underpowered MC (parents, where?). They go through a rigorous training montage, sometimes capped by a tournament of sorts as they always want to be the very best hero, fighter, trainer, athlete, what have you. All while cultivating a found family, typically balanced in a trio that finds strength in rivalry and in one another.

While we may see some similarities to the generic shonen formula, expecting either of these series to stay true to the genre is sure to lead to heartbreak as these series are marked by shocking losses. This is where the Mappa supremacy comes in. Captivating animation aside, they are really and truly digging into what makes these series great and unexpected which is sure to sink the hearts of anime only's (or CSM manga readers because we have all collectively blocked out everything we've read thus far).

My first example of this is not a spoiler, provided you've completed the first season of JJK.

JUNPEI CAMEOS DURING OP

I was an anime only before I voraciously inhaled the JJK manga (because how many rewatches would be enough?). With countless scenes illustrated of Junpei interacting with the main trio, when Yuji was finally introduced to him, it felt like another piece of the shonen puzzle falling into place. Sure, he'd gotten mixed up with Mahito, but a sunshine MC typically helps those who lose their way find redemption. So, imagine my surprise, after the two loners find a natural camaraderie, Mahito actually kills Junpei!? BRUHHHH. Now, having read the manga, that's true to the source material. But Mappa really incorporated him into several "romanticizing high school life" scenes to lull viewers into a false sense of security!

This, this could be overlooked. This could be a coincidence. But as anyone who has read and seen JJK 0, it is not. It is a set up and it's one they use over and over. Anime only's beware, spoilers below (beyond JJK 0). You can assume the heartache now or later, your choice ‼️‼️

NANAMI KENTO IS NOT IN JJK 0

Listen. At this point, we all know Mappa blew their animation budget on glossing Gojo's lips and the ungodly care to lengthen his white eyelashes. Mappa knows what side of their bread is buttered. So one might overlook the fact that Nanami Kento's inclusion in JJK 0 was strictly for the gworls. They literally killed off a bunch of nameless children just so Nanami could stride in like a man with medical insurance and a 401k and be the daddy he is father figure mentor who saves the day. Look, that was fan service and no one can change my mind. His butt even got a cameo, come on and the way he tied that tie!? Perverse. I loved it. I guess it also provided context for the four black flashes he's said to have produced in one fight which isn't covered in the manga... 🙄 but this is no accident. This is, once again, setting us up to believe Nanami is a much bigger character in the rest of the series than he is. In actuality, Nanami is more like a burning star, bright but for a short period of time. 💣

THERE'S NOTHING ROMANTIC ABOUT DECEMBER IN JJK

IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW. But aside from the obvious JJK 0 reference, this incredibly beautiful EP (including the translated lyrics) is a standalone masterpiece. The way they capture perspective and movement and lend to the overall observation of how the characters innocently relate to one another? This? THIS? Is peak romanticizing high school life. It even encompasses the quintessential beach episode vibe while still being true to Akutami largely not sexualizing their female characters (at least not the students). The only thing about this is that the math truly ain't mathing on this little adventure. If you've made it through the Shibuya arc which takes place the Halloween that Yuji starts at JJT, you know that some of the characters in this sweet vignette don't necessarily survive to frolic on the beach that winter.

SINISTER AKI FAN SERVICE

If there's one thing fans love, it's a single daddy who works (questionable) two jobs, who loves his (non-biological) kids and never stops, with overly detailed hands and the heart of a fighter. It's just too bad that, for all this focus on the Hayakawa family home life and gratuitous focus on Top Knot himself, Aki is very much not a survivor. But he is voted most likely to steal your girl so why not twist the knife until the moment when that final blow lands because his death is particularly heart shattering and sentimental. Special care seems to be given in highlighting features Aki loses along the way which is actually quite sadistic. So I look forward to whatever Mappa has in store, considering.

At the time of this post, I'm caught up on CSM and JJK, though Hell's Paradise is still in my TBR. Given what I've asserted, I think I might complete the first season before I even touch the manga to test my theory. What do you think?

[aspl1tl1fe]

The sun had set sometime during Conquer's nap, and the sky was colored crimson save to one small blue patch still clinging to daylight. Conquer, perhaps having been permanently altered by art lessons, was so caught up in the display that he didn't notice Neji quietly slip onto the deck behind him to nibble at the food in his bowl.

Up on the balcony, Conquer tore into the punching bag, jabbing and kicking himself into a sweaty frenzy. He was unsure how long he'd been going before Neji came to him with his brush in hand, the canine finally deciding he needed some social activity with his sim. Conquer toweled himself off and saw to the pooch's coat. Then both he and Neji went inside, the dog to sleep, and the sim to wash.

Conquer soaked for a good hour sliding muscles into hot water to stave off the worst of the stiffness he expected to feel in the morning. It had been awhile since he'd done more than light cardio, and he wasn't fool enough to think he could get away with throwing himself into a work out like he'd done at his age.

After toweling off he kind of lingered around in his robe. He knew he should sleep, and that maybe he could if he just sat still, but his old friend insomnia was hanging out behind his eyes. Another hour of him just kind of walking back and forth probably passed before he finally got in the bed. To his surprise, he started to nod off pretty quickly, and could only assume it was the exercise that lulled him.

[yrndrgn]

Unpersoning: An Interlude

When you were little, you believed that, anytime it rained there was a fantail nearby. All throughout elementary school, when it rained, you locked eyes with the little bird pumping its tail to show off that yes, it was indeed another fantail which meant that it would rain.

Of course, that isn’t true. Fantails don’t just disappear when the rain does, nor does the rain follow the bird. Droughts wouldn’t be as much of a problem if they did. There would just be perpetual rain following after little birds. You knew this back then.

But that didn’t stop you from believing.

It doesn’t stop you now either.

You met her when you were in high school at the community center in a writing class. You didn’t know you went to the same school at the time, only that you both went to the same community art center. You bonded over painting and acting and all the other stuff you don’t do anymore. You didn’t start close. You were closer with her than most, but that’s not saying a lot. You didn’t get close until you helped her when she got into a fight. That’s when you got close. She started talking to you more, hanging out with you. She even started coming over almost every day. That was something you heard about in tv shows and books, so you never expected to have it happen in real life.

She called you her best friend.

You went to different colleges on opposite sides of the country, but you kept in contact. It was nice to know someone who was also going through a major move. Things would lull sometimes. You both got busy while in school, and your schedules rarely overlapped, especially with the time difference, but you both still kept contact. You did your best to make time for her while dealing with your own fires. She was your best friend.

She only calls when she needs you.

She called you her best friend.

You don’t hear from her for a while.

Then things go to shit.

A bad partner.

You heard from her constantly then. Every day. You keep your phone on hand during work just in case she needs you. It’s a little distracting at first, but you learn to multitask doing your job and helping her stay calm. You’re trying to help her not get too burned, but it’s hard. You only know how to handle the fires because you’ve been burned.

It’s chaotic. You struggle to sleep because you’re worried that something will happen when you do. Your partner agrees to keep an eye while you do, but that never stops the gnaw of worry wearing at your bones. She calls you crying frequently. You don’t know how to handle it. It almost interferes with work a few times, but you manage to get it under control, even if it means needing to have your phone on speaker just so that she knows you’re there if she needs you.

She called you her best friend.

You encourage her to make an exit plan, give her the push to remind her of the others that love her. When she finally does, you count down the days until she’s finally safe. She has a plane ticket. She texts you when she gets to the airport. It’s time to board. She’ll call you when she lands.

You look at your phone and the unanswered messages.

You reached out a few times.

She’s never responded. She’s probably busy settling in, just give her some time. There’s a lot to do when you move, and she’s been through a lot. She started posting on social media about how she’s doing. She’s started a new school and is settling in. There’s new people to meet, new friends to make. It can be overwhelming, just be patient and understanding. She’s your best friend.

So you wait.

And wait.

It’s been five years, and you still haven’t gotten that phone call. You keep waiting, though.

[ajentmm]

Goddess’s Servants Weapon Refine Theorycraft

There was one regular hero banner after the “Three Houses CYL” banner, and we got another three houses banner. I couldn’t complain at the time cuz I love Three Houses cast, but I’m always respectful to the old hats. Coincidentally, we had two 3H banners each year since 3H was released until last year, where we only got one (Rearmed Ingrid). This was because Engage got two banners, as it was released last year. So I expect one 3H banner this year and a second Engage banner, with the royals of Solms. Back to today’s topic. This banner has the theme of all of Rhea’s close companies, the knights of Seiros and the two green hair faculty members. Does Flaynn count as a staff member if she’s locked in the castle by Seteth?  

Catherine: Thunder Knight

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  43/39/41/30/23                      Max Invest: 52/48/50/38/31

Thunderbrand: Grants Spd+3. At start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 50%, grants Atk/Spd+5 during combat, neutralizes effects that prevent unit's follow-up attacks during combat, and also, if unit initiates combat, unit can make a follow-up attack before foe can counterattack.

Draconic Aura - Swift Sparrow 3 - Lull Spd/Def 3

The pre-promote swordmaster from the Knights of Serios, is here. She introduced the concept of relic weapons in the 3rd chapter, Thunderbrand. While this is a brave sword in 3H, but in FEH, it gives Nfu Desperation. This gives her a unique way to bypass the new “Reduces damage from 1st and 2nd hit if foe has Brave attack”, but it does mean she can’t quad-attack. If we give her an affect that lets her brave attack, that’s 4 attacks in a row, and that sounds to good for a refine. Instead, we can increase the damage she deals with those two attacks. We can also give her more defenses, so she isn’t a sitting duck on enemy phase.

Thunderbrand: Grants Spd+3. At start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5 during combat, neutralizes effects that grant foe a guaranteed follow-up attack or prevent unit's follow-up attacks during combat, and also, if unit initiates combat, unit can make a follow-up attack before foe can counterattack.

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). If unit initiates combat or is within 2 tile radius of an ally, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 during combat, deal damage = X% of unit Atk (if foe is a Dragon, Beast, or Armored, X = 20, otherwise, 10) and reduce damage from foe’s first attack by 40% (*Brave hit exception).

There. She’s going to get AS, full NFU, Dive-Bomb, +9 to all stats, 40% DR, and true damage. The AS and true damage is there imitating the combat art, Foudroyant Strike, which grant +6 Mt, +30 Hit, +30 Crit, and effective against Armored and Dragon foes. I could have used her higher Spd stat, but I figure this emulates the effectiveness bonus.

Flayn: Playing Innocent

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  40/39/27/21/35      Max Invest: 49/48/35/29/44

Caduceus Staff: Calculates damage from staff like other weapons. Reduces damage from foes' attacks during combat to allies within 2 spaces by 30%.

Rescue+ - Deluge Balm+ - Dazzling Staff 3 - Ground Orders 3

Flayn was a unique staff flyer, and a 5 star, meaning she can actually get a refine! Flayn was also unique to provide damage reduction to allies in an area of effect. This was when we learned that DR was multiplicative rather than additive, and we all had to relearn 6th grade math. Some people made Aether raid teams that stacked caduceus effect with Dodge units or Brave Dimitri. Surprisingly, the staff meta has changed drastically, and Flayn got a Fall alt that adds much more to her staff and her kit. With Halloween Flayn providing Special Charage +1 in addition to 30%, this flayn can provide just defensive effects.

Caduceus Staff: Calculates damage from staff like other weapons. Grant allies within 3 spaces the following effect: Grant Def/Res+4 to unit, inflict Special cooldown charge –1 on foe, and reduces damage from foes' attacks by 30% during combat. If unit is within 3 spaces of an ally, grant Atk/Res+6 to unit during combat, inflict Special cooldown charge –1 on foe, and reduce damage from foe’s first attack by 30%.

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). At the start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, grant Atk/Res+6, a guaranteed follow-up attack to unit, and damage +7 to unit during combat.

So the base effect has change to a 3 tile radius, gave Flayn the same effects (with some different stats and a 30% on first hit only), and added Guard and Def/Res+4 to the effect list. Then, the special effect is just Special Acceleration, along with Atk/Res+6, guaranteed follow-up, and a fixed 7 damage.

Seteth: Seiros Adherent

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  44/36/36/32/24      Max Invest: 53/45/45/40/32

Spear of Assal: Grants Spd+3. If unit is within 2 spaces of an ally, grants Atk/Spd+4 to unit during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses to Atk/Spd (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat. Grants Atk/Spd+4 to allies within 2 spaces during combat.

Swap – Brazen Atk/Spd 3 – Drive Atk 2

WOW! A Lance Flier! That rides a wyvern! And is a man! And he’s NOT a GHB unit, he’s a 3-4 star!? AND he has a perf!? AND it has Lull Atk/Spd built in, which restricted from fliers?! It’s a miricale.

Spear of Assal: Grants Spd+3. If unit is within 3 spaces of an ally, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 to unit during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat. Grants Atk/Spd+4 and “neutralizes foe’s bonus” to allies within 3 spaces during combat.

Effective against Cavalry. At the start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 to unit during combat, grant addition Atk/Spd = penalties active on unit’s Atk/Spd x 2. Calculate stats independently. At the start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, restore 7 HP to unit after combat.

So, why isn’t this weapon effective against Cavalry? It’s effective in Three Houses. Along with that, Seteth grant “Lull” to all allies, now in 3 tile radius, similarly to Flayn. He’s also getting +8 all stats, Unity Atk/Spd, and healing 7 HP. The restoring HP is a reference the healing at the start of turn that Spear of Assal has in 3H. Why we haven't gotten another weapon with this effect, or even a Renewal 4 is likely because it promotes stalling and makes Reciprocal Aid more useful. 

Shamir: Archer Apart

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  41/40/40/25/24      Max Invest: 50/49/49/33/32

Survivalist Bow: Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). Effective against flying foes. If unit is not adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+6 during combat, and also, if foe's HP ≥ 80% at start of combat, foe cannot counterattack.

Moonbow – Atk/Spd Solo 3 - Null Follow-Up 3 - Rouse Atk/Spd 3

Ah, Shamir. A prototype Rita from Pokémon, if you will. We don’t get many colored bows, unless it’s for a tomboy 5 star archest. Her personal skill in 3H is Survivalist, inspiring the name of the bow, and it granted more Str/Spd for one turn after defeating a foe. FEH doesn’t have any “defeat foe” skills, not even Galeforce had that. So FEH was like, “we can give her the solo condition”, and throw in “cannot counterattack”. But Feh already has Elenora’s Mirage Long Bow for “no counterattack”. This bow has the advantage of Accelerates Special trigger, so it can be more powerful, but the HP condition can still be there. I will lower it to 50%.

Survivalist Bow: Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). Effective against flying foes. If unit is initiate combat or if the number of allies adjacent to unit ≤ 1, grants Atk/Spd+6 during combat, neutralize penalties on unit’s Atk/Spd, and also, if foe's HP ≥ 50% at start of combat, foe cannot counterattack.

At start of turn, if Special cooldown count is at its maximum value, grants Special cooldown count-1. At the start of combat, if foe's HP ≥ 25%, grant Atk/Spd+5, neutralize skills that inflict “Special Cooldown –X" during combat, deals damage = X% of unit's Spd when Special triggers (X = unit's max Special cooldown count value × 10, + 20; excludes area-of-effect Specials), and after combat, if Special cooldown count is at its maximum value, grants Special cooldown count-1.

So if Elenora is going to deal two hits of high damage, Shamir is going to nuke with Moonbow (or Deadeye if you have inherited it). She also gets half – tempo so she can charge Deadeye for the second hit, if you wanted to by pass DR Specials. Then there is Spd based true damage on Specials for more nuking.

Nemesis: King of Liberation

Lvl. 40 5 ☆  43/39/23/37/34      Max Invest: 52/48/31/46/42

Dark Creator S: Grants Def+3. During combat, boosts unit's Atk/Def by number of allies with HP ≥ 90% × 2 (max 6). During unit's first combat in player phase or enemy phase, reduces damage from attacks during combat and from area-of-effect Specials (excluding Røkkr area-of-effect Specials) by percentage = number of allies with HP ≥ 90% × 15 (max 45%).

Dragon Fang – Chill Atk 3 – Savage Blow 3

Why can’t this guy stay dead? Nemesis is back to be the bane in everyone’s . . . what’s that? His weapon sucks? Well, he’s back to be the bane for the first time ever. With a weapon condition that requires his team members to not take any damage to get only Atk/Def +6 and 45% DR. This was novel at the time, but now everyone has at least 40% DR on first hit. If one of his three allies gets hurt, it’s only Atk/Def+4 and 30% DR. This makes him better in Aether Raids where there’s 5-6 allies, but that’s where the Lightning Towers are, making his weapon useless. Oh, and it’s only the first combat encounter that the DR is available, meaning you won’t be tanking the whole team. So, how do we change it.

Dark Creator S: Grants Def+3. During combat, boost unit's Atk/Def by number of allies with HP ≥ 50% × 2 (max 6). At the start of combat, if it’s the unit's first combat in player phase or enemy phase, or if unit's HP ≥ 25%, grant Atk/Def/Res+5 to unit and reduces damage from attacks during combat and from area-of-effect Specials (excluding Røkkr area-of-effect Specials) by percentage = 30 + number of allies with HP ≥ 50% × 10 (max 60%).

For starters, I made the Atk/Def boost it’s own separate thing, from basic stat increases. Instead of being ≥ 90%, I when with allies with HP ≥ 50%, making it like EarthFire Boost, but without the proximity to those allies. I added the unit’s HP ≥ 25% condition, so he can tank more foes on enemy phase. Plus, if he is at 1 HP from an AOE or Lightning Tower, he will still get stat and DR at least once per phase. I gave him the usual +5 to Atk/Def/Res, cuz he will need the Res. Then I just added 30% DR as the minimum amount of DR, making the maximum 60%.  

Foes with Range = 1 cannot move through spaces adjacent to unit, and foes with Range = 2 cannot move through spaces within 2 spaces of unit (does not affect foes with Pass skills). At the start of combat, if foe initiates combat or foe’s HP ≥ 75%, grant Atk/Def/Res+5, a guaranteed follow-up attack, restores 7 HP to unit after combat.

And to make it so you need to use AOE, Lightning Towers, etc., I made his secondary effect Bulwark, so he can be the frontline defender and keep his allies safe, instead of being the final foe. You got to protect your allies, even if they function like your Horcruxes. On top of that, with the enemy phase standard condition, he gets another +5 to all stats and a guaranteed follow-up, which he desperately needs. Best skill to give him now is afore mentioned EarthFire Boost or Atk/Def Finish, and Gambit, for more damage and DR.