#sorry this turned into a mini essay

[luckydoeslanguage]

🎏Immersion, its quirks, and tips for language learning this way!

its the 5th of May, so happy children's day! 🎏 I got a question in one of my posts asking for some advice on immersion learning! i thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about immersion in general, my current study(?) routine and perhaps give some useful advice! As the name suggests, Immersion language learning is done primarily by consuming media in your target language. Immersion can seem super intimidating to us learners, mostly cause we can't understand most of the stuff available to us. But! its not impossible to start out using immersion right out of the gate. i think people tend to get scared or go "I'll immerse when i get better at my TL!" But the truth of the matter is, your not going to get used to, or better at your target language unless you consume actual content. (in my opinion.)

Honestly, a lot of immersion learning is being able to tolerate that i probably wont understand everything right away. I will someday, but for now i have to be comfortable with not understanding a lot. which is okay! So, what is my current study routine?

right now, my routine consists of:

doing vocabulary cards on Anki from a premade anki deck.

playing about an hour of Animal crossing everyday

watching 1 - 3 episodes of an anime

watching Youtube videos

weekly (ish) grammar done by reading Imabi, and watching Cure Dolly videos on Youtube.

The bread and butter of my routine is learning vocab, and occasional grammar studies. I'm using the core2k/6k deck. which as the name implies, is an optimized vocab deck that contains the most common 6k JP vocabulary. i currently take 5 new vocab cards a day, and try to get my reviews in everyday. my anki deck has contributed a lot to me being able to immerse so early in my language journey. learning and then reviewing new words everyday lets me recognize words in my immersion. As time has gone on, i can recognize more and more words, and even some words I haven't encountered yet in my deck. Immersion, while still uncomfortable, (especially with complex media) is the other side of the coin. i try to spend double the time i spend on anki, immersing. Mostly because i enjoy what I'm immersing in, but also because i get more out of it the more time i spend immersing.

"that's all well and good Lucky, but what advice would you give to someone who wants to learn this way?"

Well! first of all, and this is very important:

Be comfortable with ambiguity. you may not be able to understand some, or maybe most of the thing you are immersing in. that's okay! Your brain is already looking for patterns to see in your TL, and is growing more accustomed to it. I got a lot of headaches in the beginning, i still do actually. but i know that's my brain working hard! (take a break if you get a headache!!)

Second, and probably just as important:

Follow your interests. make immersion fun! whats the point of immersing if its torturous?! I'm a lot more likely to continue immersing in something if i actually enjoy it. there are a lot of easier anime to immerse in, but if I'm not having fun, I'm not going to learn anything. you should do the same! even if its too difficult to understand. I'm currently watching someone on YouTube play a dating sim, and even though its waaaay above my skill level, I'm really enjoying myself watching it! I've even recognized some words i know. whole sentences, even.

Third:

Be Consistent! This is probably advice you've already heard, but it bears repeating! even if you do something small like listening to a song in your TL, that's immersion babyy :) consistency is key, above all.

Lastly: Track your Immersion. a problem with immersion is it can feel like you are going nowhere. tracking how much time you spend doing an activity, (watching videos, reading, etc) is a great way to make immersion more tangible. lots of people reccomend toggl, but i personally use polylogger. its built with language learners in mind, and is stupidly easy to use. i also keep personal logs in an online diary, as well as here on my blog to measure my progress. it helps!

alright, i think thats everything i have to say for now! if you've made it to the end of this long post, hello! and thank you <3 hope you've had a good day so far! I will leave you with some links to more reading on the subject under the cut, they go into more detail than i have here.

take care for now! またね！

this article by Refold about tolerating ambiguity:

The Moe ways guide to immersion:

Making the leap to Immersion, Video by Cure Dolly:

[weltraum-vaquero]

do u think act 1 viktor is on some nosy hall monitor type shit or nah

Partially I think so, yes. He seems to be taking at least some kind of pleasure in being a form of authority over who he at first perceives to be a Piltovian meddling with things beyond his comprehension on money he was served on a silver platter when he partakes in Jayce’s arrest. However, I don’t think he particularly enjoys enforcing rules (as evidenced by how little he cares for them throughout the show), I think he just enjoys being on the controlling end of situations.

It’s something he probably experiences very little, especially considering the fact that his terminal disease is also stripping him of it. He had little control over anything growing up, and in that sweet spot of young adulthood where he seemed to still be in relatively good health while he had achieved a rank of certain authority within academia seems like the time where he’d be most inclined to exert his newfound control over others, especially “Pilties”.

[beatcroc]

How do you feel about Theodore Noisevelt? As someone with ADHD I can feel it oozinf out of him so bad I love him so much

noise is the one guy i've kept intentionally 1-dimensional/ comic relief because i simply enjoy tormenting him too much and if i gave him any real depth i'd start feeling bad about it shjsdjsdf. also i dont even TRY to reconcile the unmasked 'just some guy' Theodore J. with noise's regular look because theres just way too much mental dissonance there. hes not allowed to be normal like that theodore j. isnt real he cant hurt me

i started trying to come at this one like 3 different ways and it turns out i have a lot of trouble organizing my thoughts about noise too. he sucks and i hate him. by which i mean hes great and i love him. I think he's one of the best examples of how to make a character legitimately fun and enjoyable despite being a horrible little shitlord with zero redeeming qualities. You just gotta 1: keep it light, 2:CRUCIALLY: make him funny, and 3: as a potent extra bonus in noise's case specifically, make him a huge fucking loser who is only /almost/ able to fully convince you of the contrary.

Point 1 is like 90% just because this game is funny cartoons and leans hard into that, and noise is like, the MOST cartoons out of everyone. like when i say unmasked noise haunts me it's because he does not feel like he should be A Guy. he is a Cartoon Entity. but seeing as pizza tower can also pull a surprising amount of gravitas when it wants to, that last 10% is really just that like. Noise isn't really actively mean? He is an absolute hellion but he's not Mean. More than anything he just wants to get a rise out of people, and though this often entails being destructive, none of his bastardry really does much lasting or large-scale damage [compared to, perhaps, lets say, pizzahead]

2 wraps pack into both other points; he's funny both because it's cartoons, and because he's a huge loser. A tangential point to both of those that fits here though is that he's fucking like pathologically obsessed with peppino. Which is really par the course for like half the characters in this game, and i do think at least half the reason he targets peppino so much is just that peppino is Incredibly Easy to get a big reaction out of, but it also seems like there's more to it that just that? and for noise specifically there's like zero logical reason for it??? He is, in nearly all walks of life, far better off than peppino, and yet. Here he is. Seemingly quite jealous and insistent on tormenting [and perhaps even imitating?] this guy who is realistically quite far beneath him. And like. Why. Don't you have better things to be doing mr. TV star? You literally have better things to be doing but this is what you're dedicating yourself to you fucking little weirdo. And it's not even like a genuine hatred! It's a bit! They're still like lunch buddies off-camera or whatever! I forgot where I was going with this im moving on

Point 3 is just. He doesn't have any fucking friends? You can kinda get the vibe of this normally but getting his campaign REALLY drives home how much emptier all his shtick is than peppino's. And this would potentially be kinda sad if not for the fact that 1. He doesn't care at all and 2. It is his own damn fault. for being such a such a petty little gloryhound. like for the most part the cast of this game is pretty befriend-able but noise is only particularly interested in being the center of attention at all times; and he will lie, cheat, and kill to make sure it stays that way. and again hes allowed to do this because its funny cartoons. and also because no one cares. its just like yeah, that's noise, he's our local bastard, whatever. he puts on so much bravado and no one is phased by it they all know he is full of shit. he never drops the act because GOD FORBID he not be the coolest and best at everything forever and everybody else just kinda lets him believe it and/or let him believe he has them fooled. there's also the occasional peeks that he hates but then like BRO WHY ARE YOU DOING IT???? YOU CAN STOP. NOBODY WOULD MIND!! IVE SEEN YOU HAVING CASUAL LUNCH WITH PEPPINO!!!! anyway. i think thats pretty much everything i wanted to say.

tldr: thank you funny cartoons

[sagethegremlin]

For the sonic questions, number 16-favorite sonic soundtrack(s)?

IVE BEEN WANTING TO TALK ABOUT THE 06 SOUNDTRACK FOR TOO LONG NOW AND THIS IS THE PERFECT EXCUSE

SKY I NEED YOU TO LOOK ME IN THE EYES (hypothetically of course) AND SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE I AM ABOUT TO TURN INTO A MONSTER OVER THIS

Ok so I feel like in order to understand a lot about how I feel about the 06 soundtrack you need to watch the entire first cutscene in full. You boot it up, and we start off with orchestra. This is an orchestral soundtrack. And that's all well and good. We've got some festival music, we've got some intense stuff for the Iblis vision. But none of that is where this soundtrack shines.

Eggman shows up, and we hear his theme. Sonic shows up, and His World reflects in the music.

This game shines in leitmotifs. It isn't just and adventure situation where when the theme of a character plays when they show up, no, when a character has a moment, we hear their leitmotif in the music.

Easily my favorite leitmotif moment probably in any video game ever is in Event: Showdown with Mephiles.

I want everyone to watch the first two and a half minutes of this (the rest is just credits). This is it. This is why I love the 06 soundtrack so much. I don't think I could even explain this properly, it's just that good. We begin with Mephiles' theme, but when Shadow begins "If the world choses to become my enemy..." the horns in the orchestra go fucking NUTS and BAM! We have the leitmotif for All Hail Shadow. It's amazing. It's perfect.

Another thing that's so amazing about the 06 soundtrack is its treatment of His World. Like I previously mentioned, it plays the leitmotif in the opening cutscene, but it plays it in so many other heroic moments for Sonic. And not only that, but we also keep hearing it in other places, like the results screen. It all builds up to the second phase of Solaris' boss fight, which just feels so cool from a musical standpoint.

And that's not to say Silver doesn't have his own moments. Whenever Silver has a big moment of him pondering the morality of killing Sonic to save his future, you can hear Dreams of an Absolution very faintly in the background.

And you just know that it had to be doing something right to make Eggman's 06 theme, Dreams of an Absolution, and Crush 40's version of All Hail Shadow the themes for their respective characters c:

And if you're more interested in sonic leitmotifs, i'd totally recommend checking out this video! :D It doesn't have everything or a few of my favorite examples (like it doesnt matter in the first sonic movie), but it is certainly an absolutely amazing watch and I love it to death c:

[qprstobin]

Stobin Different First Meeting AU where they go to prom together. This was meant to be an au post and turned into a mini fic oops (written completely within a tumblr post so sorry for the poor quality)

(edit: realized I should link the fic I was inspired by for those who don't follow me and so didn't see me reblog it earlier)

Steve doesn't necessarily want to go to prom, right? Like yeah, he'd been imagining it for a while, but now that he was very, very single it just didn't have the same shine that it used to. And he really wasn't ready to start dating yet. However, he didn't want to just, not go to prom, and also knew it would seem really weird (and pretty fucking sad) if he didn't go.

Which leaves him in a conundrum.

He thought for a while that maybe he would go with one of the junior cheerleaders. While he didn't have any close friends anymore, he was still friendly with plenty of people. There were girls that wouldn't be going to prom unless they had a senior boyfriend - some he had even gone on dates with in the past who wouldn't think a single prom date meant that he wanted a new girlfriend.

However, he is pretty sure most of those girls would have... other expectations for the night. And honestly? He isn't quite sure that he was ready to get back on that horse either.

... Not that he thought women were horses.

He's pretty sure men are normally the ones called horses in riding metaphors.

Anyway.

That left him stuck. He couldn't just not go to prom, but also didn't want to wind up trapped on an actual date with someone. So who could he ask?

His solution ended up coming from an odd place.

Robin Buckley was... quite honestly, kind of a weirdo.

She was cute, in an alternative sort of way. She never took any of his shit (he wasn't completely sure she even liked him) but also reluctantly laughed at the snarky shit he said under his breath during their Film History class. And not in the fake giggly way girls did when they were flirting, but didn't actually care about what he was saying, just the way he said it. She actually seemed to think he was funny. Even if that revelation seemed to piss her off.

The only reason he was even in Film History that semester - and therefore, knew who she was - was for the easy A. He got to watch movies in class, and watch movies for homework. He was willing to plow through a couple of shitty essays in exchange for a class that he didn't feel like a complete idiot in.

(Well, he was pretty sure Robin thought he was an idiot about movies, but just because he had trouble remembering the names and shit of characters, didn't mean he couldn't analyze the themes, fuck you very much, Buckley.)

They had gotten assigned a project together early on, and it hadn't been completely terrible. She had quickly taken over doing most of the writing portions, but hadn't thought all of his ideas were terrible. By the end of the project he thought they were even sort of having fun together.

He'd always been one to try his luck, take a little more than he was given. So, after that assignment was over, he started sitting next to her in class, not wanting that easy, if sharp, camaraderie to end. Robin rolled her eyes at him and asked him what he thought he was doing the first time he did it, but she never sent him away.

They ended up chatting more and more during down times, passing notes to each other and sharing sly comments under their breaths during the movies. Steve often had trouble paying attention at school, his mind easily wandering away, and it was almost as bad during most movies, but Robin helped keep him on track.

The class turned into one that was done for the easy grade, a last ditch effort to improve his already hopeless GPA, and became one he actually enjoyed.

The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of going to prom with Robin. It made the night seem a little less unbearable.

He thought about making a big deal out of asking her, because he knows that's what girls (and even Nancy) had enjoyed for past dances. He quickly scrapped that idea, however, because not only did he not want to put pressure on her like that, but also she seemed to hate public spectacles like that.

Or at least when aimed at her, they both enjoyed watching drama unfold in the halls a bit too much to say she hated it completely.

So Steve waits until the end of the day, their film class being their last, to pull her into an empty classroom. She follows him without question in a show of trust he didn't realize she had in him. The notion warms him, and for some reason makes it more difficult to get the question out.

"Why do I feel like you're about to try to sell me drugs or something?" Robin asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He squints at her in offense.

"Why is that your first assumption?!"

"I don't know! Why else are you pulling me out of the hallway all secretive like, making sure no one followed us, into an abandoned classroom," she asks, throwing her arms into the air.

"The classroom isn't abandoned, it's the end of the day! Also, who does drug deals on campus, that's just stupid?" He asks rhetorically, before waving one hand through the air, as if trying to erase the current thread of conversation. "That doesn't matter, you're distracting me."

"Well then, get on with it! Some of us have practice we need to get to."

"It's like talking to the kids," he mutters to himself, "Whatever. I wanted to ask - will you go to prom with me?"

That stops Robin up short. There's panic in her eyes now, though Steve isn't sure what exactly put it there. Was his reputation that bad that even band geeks are terrified of getting asked out by him?

"You want to go on a date? With me?" she asks slowly, disbelief coloring her voice, though it doesn't hide her unease.

"No, I want to go to prom with you," he scoffs, "Not go on a date with you."

"That is a date, dingus! The person you go to prom with is literally called your date!"

"Okay, sure, maybe, but I don't actually want to date you," he said, rolling his eyes at her.

Like, okay, he understood his reputation for being... what did she call him last week? A 'huge effing rake'? But that didn't mean that he was trying to date any girl that looked in his direction. A lot of girls looked in his direction. That was too many women, even for him.

Robin relaxes a little at that.

"Then why are you asking me to prom instead of someone you actually want to date?"

"Because!" he says, resisting the urge to flail his hands back at her. "I don't want to date anyone right now. Most people I ask are going to expect all these things from me - they're going to want dinner, and at the very least a kiss at the end of the night if not more, or another date the very next day. Because Steve Harrington is supposed to want those things!" He takes a deep breath and runs a hand through his hair to calm himself. "But right now? I really don't."

"Well then, what does Steve the Hair Harrington actually want?" She had relaxed fully at this point, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

"I want to go to prom with someone I consider a friend, someone who makes me laugh," he says after a moment of silence. "I want to dance badly to really corny pop music and drink just enough spiked punch that I don't remember how much I hate wearing any sort of tie. Then I want to go get milkshakes or go see a really trashy midnight horror flick, just because I'm having so much fun I don't want the night to end."

That small smile has grown into a reluctant grin on Robin's face. It makes her eyes shine and her freckles pop. Steve thought that if he was in a better place, if they had met at a different time, he could have fallen in love with her.

But they had met now instead, in some shitty public school elective course, and she was the closest thing he had to a friend that wasn't a snotty middle schooler.

"That sounds... like a lot of fun, actually," she says, mischief sparking on her face. "Who would've known the hidden depths hidden behind all that hair."

"Hey!" he protests half-heartedly, unable to keep a grin of his own off his face. "So what do you say? Wanna go to prom with me?"

"I guess," she sighs, acting like it was such a trial to go to prom with him. Him! But her next words make up for it. "Since we're friends, and all. However, I still expect you to buy me dinner, though you can keep the kiss goodnight to yourself."

Steve can't help the giddy laugh from spilling out of him. For the first time in weeks, he is actually looking forward to prom.

[nowritingonthewall]

Hi! Can I ask for some random and domestic Poe HC? 🤧

Hello Nonnie, thank you so much for your request! I am sorry that my hcs always appear to escalate into mini-essays, I hope that you enjoy them anyway 🥰

!Content warning for allusions to past trauma (because it’s Poe) but it’s mostly fluffy!

Domestic headcanons with Poe (x gn!reader)

- If you were honest, you would never have expected Poe to actually settle down after the Battle of Exegol and the fall of the First Order. After all, he had been on the run since he had been 16 years old, his family a bunch of rebels, his home scattered across the stars. You had fully expected him to make his new job as a flying instructor his whole new life, filling every second with something exciting to do, always chasing the next thrill, never slowing down and let himself think for even a minute.

Instead, after helping the New Republic to get back on its feet, he had put most of his energy and devotion into making a home with you.

Even though he loves his job teaching students (and spending a lot of time in his x-wing while doing so), he always makes sure to finish on time so that he can spend as much of the remainder of the day with you as possible. It has become one of your daily little rituals for you to wait for him, sitting on your porch, two mugs of freshly brewed caf in your hands. It never stops warming your heart to see that gorgeous crinkly-eyed smile lighting up his face as soon as he sees you waiting for him. Giving you an adorable little wave, he always quickens his pace before pulling you into a long and heartfelt hug.

Watching the suns painting the sky with the most beautiful colours imaginable, you’ll sit snuggled up against each other, listening to each other's daily adventures.

It usually doesn’t take long before Poe’s head grows heavy against your shoulders. The first few times he tried to fight it and wouldn’t stop apologizing, no matter how often you tried to assure him that you didn’t mind at all. But soon these late afternoon or early evening naps become just another part of your daily routine.

Poe spent more than half his life making sure that everyone around him felt safe. Now, with the war becoming a more and more distant memory each day, it’s like his mind finally allows his body to catch up on all the rest that he has been denied during all those years – finally feeling safe in your arms.

And there really aren’t a lot of things that you enjoy more than holding your sleepy boy with his head resting in your lap, one hand intertwined with his, as the other one plays with his hair. You smile at every patch of grey that you find among his inky curls, more than grateful to be given the precious gift of being allowed to watch him grow old with you. It makes the warmest and fuzziest feelings bloom inside your heart to see his worry lines relax under the soft touch of your hand as you listen to his content mumbling and cutest little sighs.

- He still can’t sleep without you around, though. Whenever he is in dire need of a nap, and the weather has gone too cold to sit outside, even under a heap of cuddly blankets, he’ll sit down on the couch, look at you with the most irresistible baby ewok eyes and his softest smile and tap on his chest to ask for his favourite human blanket.

Sometimes he falls asleep within seconds as soon as you snuggle up to him. Sometimes he finds that it wasn’t sleep that he craved after all but simply the comforting presence of you right next to him, listening to the soothing rhythm of your breathing as you drift into peaceful slumber until his breath synchronizes with yours in perfect harmony. And sometimes your planned naps turn into Poe and you talking nonsense for hours, exchanging forehead kisses and nose rubs between giggles.

Poe used to think that the only way to escape the constantly reoccurring ringing in his ears was to drown it out with something even louder. Now he realizes that all he needs to find relief is the soft warmth of you lying on top of him, the shape of your bodies fitting together as perfectly as if they had been custom made for each other.

- And he allows himself to take his time with everything that he does. No more bone crushing hugs that aren’t allowed to last longer than a second and that he’d hoped would convey everything that he hadn’t time for to tell you in case he wouldn’t make it back from a mission. No more quick and chaste kisses to whatever body part they would land on before hurrying off into the next briefing or meeting.

Now he makes sure to pour all of his undying love for you into every single hug until you feel nothing but warm and safe and cared for. Every kiss of him shows you that you are the centre of his universe, from the very first kiss in the morning to the last kiss goodnight. They have become so much more tender and gentler, yet they never leave a single trace of doubt about his feelings for you.

Quick shared showers that used to be a practical necessity turn into long shared baths that last until the water turns cold. Sometimes when you aren’t ready to step out of your cocoon of warmth just yet, you wrap each other in fluffy towels and make yourself comfortable on the heating unit waiting until you’re dried off.

As you cuddle up to each other, enjoying the closeness, you find a new softness and gentleness to your relationship that you had never thought possible. You are no longer clinging to each other for dear life, always scared that you might lose each other the next minute, constantly feeling like loving on borrowed time.

And Poe takes his time rediscovering and getting to know you all over again. Gently scrubbing your back in the bath or giving you a long tension-relieving massage. Learning everything there is to know about how you take care of your hair, while committing every single detail about you to memory. Not because he fears that every time might be the very last chance to do so but because he decided to commit every single fibre of his heart and soul to loving you. Because he chooses you. Over and over again.

It takes a while for him to get comfortable letting you take care of him the same way that he takes care of you. Yet every time it is your turn to hold him in the bathtub, he finds it a little easier to relax against your chest, melting into your embrace a little deeper. With every soft kiss pressed to his temple, he manages to let go a little further. As he rests his cheek against yours, while your hands are slowly caressing over his arms, he has never felt more vulnerable and at the same time more safe and protected than during those moments.

That’s when the tears tend to flow.

Those are the days when you make sure to take extra good care of him. Letting him rest his head against your shoulder as you carefully pat his back with a towel, gently kissing his tears away before placing a soft kiss on every single one of his scars, putting pain relieving lotion on his arm and massaging his tense shoulder. Only a few months ago this kind of special treatment would have made him feel more than uncomfortable. Seeing his own needs through your loving eyes, he slowly begins to accept that it is okay to take them seriously. And as he curls up against your chest, he doesn’t only allow it but he knows that he can completely trust you to take care of him.

- Poe has always loved to dance. Nearly as much as he loves to cuddle with you. Sadly, the days of the Resistance hadn’t exactly given you a lot of opportunity to do so and reasons to break into celebratory dances had been all too rare. So now he takes any chance he gets to hug you from behind, snuggle up as close to you as possible, rest his head on your shoulder and his cheek against yours while swaying the both of you to some music coming from your holopad or to a secret rhythm that only the two of you seem to be able to feel.

You dance in the morning while waiting for the first few cups of caf to brew, while waiting for something yummy baking in the oven, when you’re trying to dust the shelves, or while doing the dishes.

Doing the dishes never becomes a boring task with Poe. If he doesn’t turn it into a dance, there are bound to be lather battles that more often than not turn into tickle fights. And they always end with him using the dish cloth to draw you in for a long and wobbly-knees-inducing kiss.

This is also where most of your more serious conversations take place. It’s always been easier for Poe to talk about difficult topics while his hands have something to do. So whenever you feel like there’s something on his mind that he has trouble talking about, you’ll ask him “dish discussion?”, to which he answers with a relieved smile.

And, of course, should the topic require some serious hugging action, you can always continue your discussion on the kitchen floor, which proves over and over again to be the best place to solve any problem imaginable. And in case one of you should be in need of an even more comforting atmosphere, your kitchen cabinet features an extra compartment containing all the components required to build a blanket fort. It’s a habit that goes back to the early days of you joining the Resistance. And afterwards your blanket fort of safety can easily be converted into a blanket fort of romantic dinners and cuddle sessions.

- The two of you share a little garden with Rey, who doesn’t live too far away from you (I am sorry, LEGO, I refuse to believe that the trio would ever split up!). At least it was a little garden in the beginning. It all started when Poe noticed how Rey’s eyes would start to sparkle whenever she came across anything lush and green. So he began to present her with a special plant from every place that he visited. Pretty soon even her house was too small to accommodate her (not so) little personal jungle, so you helped her turning her backyard into a little garden. Which just kept on expanding. Because it never stopped warming Poe’s heart to see the way Rey’s face shining brighter than the suns whenever he found a new exotic plant for her.

He helped her create her special place of happiness both in her mind and in the physical world and you two are the only ones apart from Finn she trusts to take care of it. Even if your and Poe’s gardening sessions sometimes turn into several rounds of mud wrestling or splashy water fights.

Poe’s first very own gardening project featured the planting of a row of koyo trees. They weren’t even supposed to be able to grow in this climate but Poe Dameron has never been one to let logic or reason stand in the way of matters close to his heart. After all, he had managed to nurse a force tree back to health without any jedi tricks. And maybe Rey’s and Finn’s way with the force helped a little, too. Though he will always tell everyone willing (or maybe not too willing) to listen that it was your loving care that made the trees grow and flourish and bloom in the end.

His proud little face when he was able to harvest the very first fruit is another one of your many precious and treasured memories. Of course he let you have the first bite, almost a little nervous about your reaction.

The original plan was to turn the fruits into juice and jelly and lots of cakes. Which was a good plan. And it probably would have worked if the koyo fruits hadn’t been so damn tasty that you ate most of them before they ever had a chance to land in a basket. And what better way to spend the last days of summer than sitting lazily in the cool shadow of a koyo tree, taking turns to lie in each others lap while feeding each other freshly picked koyo fruits?

- During the nights when neither of you is able to sleep, you’ll climb onto the roof of your house, which offers a snug little platform that provides the perfect secluded retreat to lie on your back and gaze at all the stars in the galaxy. A galaxy that’s finally at peace.

Poe’s gaze keeps wandering back to you, though, and every time it does, he can’t stop smiling. As soon as you notice, you’ll snuggle a little closer to cradle his head and place the softest little kiss on his forehead, making him smile even wider. Softly stroking your cheek, he returns the kiss. On your nose, on your temple, across your jaw line, all over both of your cheeks, and everywhere he can reach.

You finally dare to make plans for the future again. Talking about all the stars and systems and planets you would like to explore together. Without rush, without being constantly on your guard, actually being able to look forward to visiting them.

The important thing is that Poe is no longer driven by the uncontrollable need to chase every single one of them. Because he has his own little galaxy lying right here by his side.

[himegureisu]

Hello! So, l've read your mini mail series and I was wondering if you could write a oneshot where reader sends Snape a long black scarf with their initials on the first day of school as she was away when he left?

Scarves and Hearts

A/N: Yes, I'm here switching fandoms because I'm stuck on the other one. It's about time also that I did this. I hope you like it!

——————————— 🪄———————————

It was the first breakfast of the first day in Hogwarts.

Their students, sorted and seated, at their respective tables provided lively background noise in contrast to the polite conversations at the High Table. On his right, the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore has been talking but he didn’t register the words.

No, he’s been surly ever since your absence this morning.

Your side of the bed was cold, breakfast cooked, and a note on the pillow about why you were gone. There were times he hated your job more than his. This was one of those times.

“Oh,” the newest Weasley addition to Gryffindor, Ronald, or Ron, said, accompanied by the hoots of owls flying in, “The mail’s here,”

His mood quickly changes at the sight of your owls together, carrying a present in silver wrapper and silk green ribbon, a note attached, as they land in front of him, and read.

I’m sorry I missed the start of the term. I hope that this’ll keep you warm in my absence.

I love you always.

A smile tugs at the corners of his lips, Dumbledore and McGonagall’s attention caught by the sound of rustling paper to see their Potion’s Professor unraveling a very soft and thick crocheted scarf in green and silver.

On one end, instead of the Slytherin House Crest, there was the shape of your shared patronus. On the other end, at the front side were his initials, on the back, surprisingly, were yours.

“That’s a lovely scarf there, Severus,” Minerva commented, from the other side of the headmaster who said, “A work of love,”

“Yes, it is,” he paused, admiring your work, “Very lovely indeed,”

From a distance, at Gryffindor Table, the Weasleys, Granger, and Potter huddle closer as Ron briefly glances at the High Table, where Severus starts to pack the scarf, and asks.

“What do you reckon of that?” he observes, his head of house, the headmaster, and his hated professor amicably talking, “Do you think it’s a woman?”

“I can’t even imagine,” Harry frowns, at the sight of Professor McGonagall giving them a look, “Someone at the Professor’s side,”

“There could be,” Hermione carefully says, as the boys suddenly look her way, “You never know. What Professor Snape may be to us could be different to any other person,”

“We honestly don’t know,” George adds their two cents on the matter, as he observes the Potions’ Master leave, “But what we do know is that whenever like that comes he’s much more tolerable to be around with,”

“Truly?” Ron turns to his brothers, and Fred nods, “Yeah, you’ll know if he reduces homework by a page, or deducts fewer house points than usual,”

“I guess we’ll find out later then,” Hermione remarks, as the bell rings throughout the castle, and ushers Harry and Ron to stand. “Time to go,”

Their second class was Potions and, in this case, the Weasley twins were right. There was less a page of parchment on their essay and he didn’t insult Hermione when she interjected to answer the question no one wanted to.

In time, when the first snowfall arrives at one of the Hogsmeade weekends’, the Potion’s Master could be seen wearing the scarf he’d received in the mail months before adding a splash of color to his usual black robes, bearing an almost happy facade. His initials on the front, and yours on the back, hidden and kept near to his heart.

[hyperfixat]

AI LESS WHUMPTOBER 2023 DAY TWO OVERWORKED + EXHAUSTED

hai day two is here! support and engagement would really motivate me to help post and work on the rest of this stuff!

(@ailesswhumptober)

You don’t want to disappoint Lord Diavolo, you’ll make him look bad, make Lucifer look bad, make humans look bad, make the exchange students look bad, make everyone look bad. And you absolutely do not want that to happen, your sanity relies on keeping them pleased with you.

It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that RAD coursework is so illogical and unfamiliar. You manage to get consistent B’s in class work, but you have to work hard on essays to avoid D’s. And you aren’t lazy, you can work hard, but the brothers make it so hard sometimes.

You constantly have to dismiss whoever comes knocking on your bedroom door, and keep your DDD on DND. There’s a huge essay due in a few days for Potions and Seductive Speechcraft, on the usage of theoretical love potions. It’s frustrating, and because the grade is going to count for both classes, you can’t afford to have anything less than a C. And of course because you’re no longer on the easier courses from your first year, it’s so much harder and less grace will be given for mistakes. It also means you have to write the full five-thousand words, rather than a two and a half thousand word essay.

There’s a knocking on your door, but you’ve made sure to let all the brothers know you’re working, so you ignore it in favor of flipping through the textbook Satan lent you, saying it had some valuable information for this combined course.

Eventually whoever was at your door gives up, but you don’t notice, in fact by the time you regain awareness of your surroundings, your hand is covered in little paper cuts, and you’ve flipped through two whole books, skimming for anything that you could add to the ungodly long assignment. Your body pops and creaks when you stand and pad over to the door, unlocking the magic deadbolt you installed for nights like these and swinging the door open to a dark hallway.

It must be rather late if the brothers have (mostly) all gone to bed. Before you step outside, you look down at the eve of your door, and smile while your heart melts, because someone left you a plate with a wrapped sandwich and a tupperware with some (presumably,) human-safe poison apple slices. With a warm feeling bubbling in your chest, you pack it away in your private mini fridge.

Now that the halls are dark, you have to rely on a spell Solomon taught you long ago, just a small ball of light for when it’s dark. You bite back a yawn as you shuffle into the kitchen, the reminder that you still haven’t changed out of your school clothes is stark as your medals jingle when you flick the light on. You manage to keep quiet and discreet as you pour yourself some imported human world spring water, but when you turn around you jump out of your skin at the tall figure in the doorway.

“AH! Lucifer!” you place a hand over your chest where your heart is beating out of its cavity. “I didn’t see you there.” A heavy sigh leaves you as you set the water canister down onto the counter.

Lucifer hums, moving into the kitchen and lifting the already dewing water container and putting it back on its shelf in the fridge.

“Oh, I was going to put that back-!” a sinking feeling sets into your stomach. Speaking of your stomach, a clenching growl of hunger runs through your abdomen.

“My brothers are concerned with how much time you’re spending in your room. Alone.” Crimson eyes bore into your own. “It goes without saying I dislike it as well. You haven’t had the time to visit me, I have grown used to your frequent visits.”

Before you reply, you take a sip of the cool water. “Sorry, I’ve just been working on the essay for the theoretical love potions. I can’t afford to get a poor grade on it this time around.”

Lucifer’s eyes narrow, “is that so? Perhaps I can be of some assistance.”

His gaze makes you shift uncomfortably, and you take another sip of water to clear the sudden dryness in your mouth.

“Yes! But I’m working on it, don’t worry, at this rate, I’ll be finished in time to entertain your brothers, my schedule will be back on track eventually.”

“I’m not worried about you entertaining my brothers, they’re grown demons. I’m worried about you. You’re human. You can’t keep going like this.”

“I’m doing fine, Lucifer, really. Besides I can take time to relax once this semester is over.” You let out a weak laugh, leaning back on the counter.

“You’re…” Lucifers lips turn down in a frown, “what’s the human world expression? Running on empty?”

“Thank you for the concern, but I’m really fine, Lucifer.” You walk over to him and reach a hand to cup his cheek and pull his head to a level where you can press a sweet kiss on his cheek. Before he has time to argue with you again, you make your way back down the hall to your room.

When you’re back in your room, you debate between the inviting allure of your bed or the stack of papers and books that you really should finish if you want to have time to hang out with the brothers. With a whole body sigh, you sit back down at your desk.

The next morning at breakfast, you’re dead tired.

With zombie-like steps you shuffle into the dining area, where most of the brothers already are. You have deep eye bags and your complicated uniform is poorly put on. You sit down next to Asmo and Beel, on both sides of you respectively, and blink at the assortment of foods available.

“Darling,” Asmo chides lightly, “your uniform is all out of shape.” He sets his fork down and pulls your torso to face him more than it does the table so he can adjust the straps and buttons and ties.

“Sorry, just a bit tired this morning.” You muffle a yawn and Asmo’s brow creases.

“Your eye bags…” he pauses his fiddling with your uniform, lifting a hand to run his fingertips under your eyes. “I have some concealer in your shade if you’d like some, okay? I can put it on for you if you’d like.”

“That’s very kind, but I’m good,” you say, turning your head away. With a hum Asmo returns to fixing up your uniform.

“Let me know if you change your mind, alright?”

“I will,” you say with a smile. “Beel, could you save me some of the Devil Zebra Bacon and some of the sweet toast?”

Beelzebub nods, and sets himself to work, loading your plate with the bacon and bread, along with some Shadow Goose scrambled eggs.

“Thank you,” you say gratefully.

“You seem awfully tired, MC,” Mammon points out.

“Ohh, were you up for the release of today’s Another Ridiculously Long Anime Title that Reveals the Whole Plot? Awh, we could have waited together!” Levi says as he walks into the room.

“No, no, just working on some schoolwork.” You let out a bitter laugh. “Would someone mind brewing me some Hell Coffee? I need something to keep me awake today.”

“Are you really fit to attend RAD after pulling two all-nighters in a row?” Lucifer asks skeptically.

You gape, how did he know? You were careful to be courteous of all the HoL residents.

“Nothing about you eludes me, little star.”

“Wh…whatever, I’m fine.” You say with an embarrassed flush, trying to pretend that everyone wasn’t staring at you. “Mammon, you wouldn’t mind brewing me a cup, would you?”

Asking him to make you a cup of Hell Coffee never failed to make him flush. It made his fondness to you undeniable, the bitter taste a clear sign he loves you. (Hell Coffee’s strength gets more intense based on the feeling of the brewer to the drinker.)

You are fine and doing perfectly well and okay.

You are fine and doing perfectly well and okay.

You are fine and doing perfectly well and okay, until you aren’t.

By the time lunch rolls around you feel dead on your feet, tiredness having long settled deep in your bones. Beel offered to help you with your tray, and it’s lucky he did, because right before you scan your student ID to pay, your legs give out and you collapse into a weak mess on the cafeteria floor.

Your vision comically fades to black, blinking a few times before you slump forward, face first into the linoleum.

You come to the feeling of a cool and damp washcloth on your forehead. A hum rumbles through your chest and you peek through your lashes at who is tending to you.

Blood red eyes flicker to your own; Lucifer. Your groan turns into a grumble and you open your eyes properly.

“Good evening, sleeping beauty.”

You can’t be bothered to tell if the light warmth in your face is from embarrassment or at being called a beauty by Lucifer.

“Mhm, what happened?” You prop yourself up with an arm and look around. You’re not in your room, rather Lucifer’s private chambers. The last thing you remember was being at lunch… any time since then comes up blank. Did he… carry you here? To his room?

Why were you here rather than your own room? To calm your fluttering heart you logic out that you likely would have been swarmed by the brothers if he left you in your own room. That and he wouldn’t face his brother’s teasing remarks for taking care of you with tender touches and soft words.

“I should have been more vigilant in scolding you.”

Huh?! Your heart stops; stomach drops, and the arm propping you up falters. No, you don’t like being scolded by Lucifer, you don’t like being scolded at all.

His gaze softens, “what I mean is, I could have prevented your collapse if I insisted you stop overworking yourself. It’s on me for thinking you wouldn’t be such a stubborn thing.”

“Sorry.” Your gaze flickers downward in shame. Lucifer tsks, and the hand holding the cloth grabs your chin and lifts your face back up.

“Now, don’t go apologizing, you need to focus on relaxing. We can work out a better schedule for you at a later time. You won’t be disturbed by my brothers for as long as you’re in my room, and your school work has been dealt with.”

Gratitude surges in your heart and you offer a soft smile to Lucifer, laying back into his bed. “Thank you… will you lay with me? Just for a bit?”

“Naturally.”

[elleloquently]

hello!!!! can i request a mini fic fluff ellie helps the reader with her swamped homeworks

| a/n : wrote this in my free time instead of.... you guessed it, doing homework. thank u for requesting <3 this is kinda short n sweet but i hope it will be enjoyed <3 this is dedicated to you anon, and everyone else who is absolutely overwhelmed w class

| c/w : self deprecating talk? kinda but not super serious. established relationship, ellie being a cute gf ): fluff central. kinda elle-coded 'cause reader cries

too soft for all of it - ellie williams

it took you a few seconds longer than usual to notice your phone ringing. you blinked heavily, tearing your eyes away from your bright laptop screen.

“hello?” you finally answered, stifling a yawn.

“babe, the fourth ring? you’re seriously giving me fourth ring treatment?” ellie’s voice was a welcomed change in place of the lectures you had been listening to all day.

"sorry els," you muttered halfheartedly. you glanced at your planner, frowning. you had been working at this assignment for hours, at this rate you were behind schedule.

"what's wrong?" ellie asked, her voice softer.

"nothing," you sniffed. "just school. tired."

"are we still hanging out today?" ellie asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern. you hadn't texted her for a couple hours, ellie's first indication that something was wrong.

at her question, an irritating lump began to form at the back of your throat. you were supposed to hang out with your girlfriend today. you were also supposed to catch up on your assignments- it had been an extra busy week and you felt as though you were barely holding on. you had mapped out your week, organized which assignments you were going to complete on which day. however, some things were much harder than you had expected and your brain decided to feel blue this week instead of motivated.

not completing homework meant not seeing ellie, which was undoubtedly your final straw.

"i can't," you choked out, immediately drawing more concern from ellie. "i'm so busy ellie, and i've barely got anything done-"

"hey, it's okay," ellie soothed, automatically in girlfriend mode.

"it's NOT," you groaned, causing ellie to grimace. she felt bad listening to you on the phone, not being able to handle the sound of your voice breaking. "i haven't even started my essay yet, and i have three exams to study for, THREE ellie williams, three!"

ellie held back a laugh, clearing her throat before responding. "i know babe, i'm really sorry. is there anything i can do?"

you shook your head despite being on the phone. ellie heard rustling as you switched your phone to your opposite ear, turning your attention back to your laptop. "i can't do this anymore," you mumbled.

"yes you can, you're gonna get through it," ellie murmured, listening carefully to your uneven breathing.

"i have to drop out of school," you told ellie, rubbing your eye and trying to force the tears away.

"no," ellie disagreed. she felt bad, knowing how much you were struggling. the pain in your voice was enough to make ellie want to do anything and everything for you, but she couldn't help but smile at the dramatics.

"yes," you hiccuped. "i have to drop out of school, and m'gonna be a failure forever. my family will probably hate me and... and my eyes are gonna be fuzzy forever because i have too much homework and i can't, i can't look at my laptop anymore and my head always hurts," you cried, feeling pathetically small at how quickly your eyes welled up.

"whoa," ellie tried to keep her voice even, it was a horrible time to even let out a small chuckle. "i'm really sorry babe, it's gonna b-"

"and my stomach hurts because the dining hall food sucks, i just wanna take a hot bath so bad... everybody needs to leave me alone," you complained, trying to speak normally through the tears. "except for you," you added weakly.

"phew, glad i made the cut," ellie sighed in pretend relief, something that would normally be a quick way to make you giggle.

"ellie," you whined, pouting at your laptop screen.

"i know. how about you pack your stuff?" ellie suggested, already standing to retrieve her wallet and keys.

"weren't you listening? i can't hang out, i have to-"

"quit school and have fuzzy eyes? i hear you," ellie acknowledged. "but how about you come do those things at my apartment?"

your heartbeat quickened at ellie's offer, but you felt too defeated to take it seriously. "i can't," you cried, and ellie quickly turned up the volume on her phone. you were sniffing and your voice sounded muffled.

you rested your head on your desk, gently pushing your laptop away from you.

"you wanna stay at your dorm?" ellie questioned, already knowing the answer.

"no," you sobbed, and ellie winced.

"pack your stuff then, okay? you can come and have a nice bath, and i'll help you with everything, yeah? does that sound good?" ellie coaxed, already leaving from her front door.

"okay," you agreed meekly, standing up from your desk and looking helplessly around your room. "thank you ellie," you mumbled, wiping your tear stained cheeks roughly with your sleeve.

"don't thank me, just get ready, alright? i'll be there soon."

with promises to drive safe, you quickly began throwing everything you needed to bring into a bag. your eyes felt heavy with sleep as you packed and waited, but ellie kept her word and arrived for you as quickly as she could.

you met her at the front door of your building, bag slung carelessly over your shoulder.

with swollen lips and puffy eyes from crying, ellie’s heart lurched at the first sight of you.

"i'll trade you," ellie said in a greeting, automatically taking your bag from you and presenting you with your favorite order from a cafe down the street. you gasped in surprise, eyes welling up with tears.

"ellie," you uttered, looking to her in awe.

"what?" she asked nonchalantly, taking your free hand. "anything for my favorite girl," she told you. you trudged along to ellie's car, gasping when she opened the door for you to reveal a bundle of flowers waiting in the passenger seat.

at first you were silent, but ellie's proud smile quickly disappeared from her face when you finally choked out a sob.

"what?" she panicked, glancing wide eyed from the flowers to your face. "what's wrong?"

you stared at her, tears once again slipping down your checks. "this is so sweet." your chin wobbled as you spoke, and ellie squeezed your hand.

"it's not supposed to make you cry!" ellie rushed. "it's supposed to make you stop crying." she was partly concerned, partly amused as she watched your face contort with emotion.

"it's jus' sweet," you hiccuped, blinking slowly.

"you're sweet," ellie praised, coaxing you into the car. "c'mon, let's get you back so you can rest before you crash, we don't need you to be a crybaby and grumpy," she teased.

"hey," you frowned, sniffing the flowers that you held in your lap.

"hey," ellie repeated. "i'll help you, you're gonna be just fine."

“you’re gonna make me cry again,” you warned, sensitive but holding back a smile.

“uh oh,” ellie grimaced. “let’s get you outta here, waterworks.”

“ellie!” you exclaimed, finally breaking out into a grin.

ellie swelled with pride once you finally smiled, a feeling that carried her through the evening while she helped you get through everything you were stressed about.

by the end of the night, you were feeling much better, especially considering how the day had started.

[callme-aprilroseisha04]

I so badly wanna know what's going on with Sonic in your Voices AU!!! (This is an invitation for you to info dump if you so desire)

OK so originally I had this MONSTER essay on what this was about but im really really bad at explaining things and I don’t want to leave you hanging forever so instead I’ll just give you a basic rundown of the concept and all the plot points. Also, important thing to mention, I HAVEN’T FINISHED SEASON 2 YET. Y’know, where the majority of my AU takes place. Haven’t finished that. Haven’t even seen Chaos Metal Sonic. Sorry, sorry, I know, I’m a fake fan but in my defense every time I turn on the show I want to bang my head against a wall, tear all my skin of, and run in circles at the speed of light (in a good way) (but also in a bad way) (a good bad way). Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I need to quickly explain the concept behind this. In the first episode of Season 2, Avoid the Void, Sonic doesn’t realize that he can run out of the Ghost World. He’s stuck there. This also means that he can’t save shadow from falling into the void (this is why shadow doesn’t have his arm or his leg in my au illustrations, he wakes up before he can be fully disintegrated, but he did lose some limbs.) Back to Sonic, since he has nothing better to do, he tries to take a nap at the beach where his friends are at and starts “taking” to Tail’s projection. Then, the voice comes. I don’t really know how to describe this. There is a voice, like the name says, but it’s also a lot more complicated than that. When “it” comes, Sonic can’t hear anything; or, well actually he can hear things (sometimes the noise feels oppressively loud) but he doesn’t know what people are saying, so to him it just sounds like gibberish. Also, this isn’t always true, (it just depends) but his eyes won’t focus properly and they get really blurry, like can’t see what’s in-front of you blurry. Also, headaches! Because apparently we needed to make this even worse for him for some reason!!!!! It’s not at its worst here, but as you can expect, he is pretty disoriented after it’s done. Shadow comes back to the ghost world, Sonic is understandably surprised by HIS LACK OF TWO LIMBS, he gets the tech and bounces, yadayadayada, all the stuff. More importantly, now we get Nine back! Chapter two; Sonic goes to Boscage Maze, they’re ripping the place up, Sonic goes to help Thorn, mini “voice” episode (as an appetizer), he gets a tech upgrade from Nine, he goes to fight, gets the main course “voice” episode, Nine gets in trouble cause emo tween egg boy caught him talking to Sonic trying to figure out what’s wrong with him and why he’s talking to himself, Sonic gets the shard from Thorn, he runs of with it, emo eggboy sends a message that they’re gonna kill Nine unless Sonic gives them the shard, Nine tells him not to, he goes anyway and THROWS THE SHARD INTO THE OTHER SHARDS THE EGGMEN HAD COLLECTED SO HE CAN SAVE NINE, (he tries to get the shards back but they got swarmed by robots) and finally they get out and go to the ghost world. Shadow is really, REALLY mad at him for trading a SHARD just to save his little kit boy and ALSO mad because Sonic wants to keep Nine there, to keep him safe. Eventually, Shadow gives in after Nine mentions that he could build Shadow a prosthetic, but he adds the clause that the moment Nine finishes the prosthetic, he leaves. After that, Sonic goes to get the rest of the shards back while Nine makes Shadow’s prosthetic at Tail’s workshop. For the next few chapters, Sonic get into some sort of a routine; Try to get the shards, come back to the ghost world to rest, squabble with Shadow, chat with Nine for a little, and repeat. Some important things to mention from this period are: 

Nine is intentionally taking his time making Shadows prosthetic (Sonic’s idea) as well as making it break really easily & adding a secret “feature” that allows him to $&@!?ING electrocute him from afar using a remote implanted in his mechanical tails (both and especially the last one NOT Sonic’s idea); 

Sonic doesn’t actually sleep during this time, he just takes 3 hour naps so he can get back home quicker, which only worsens the voice thing; 

Shadow, (who doesn’t understand anything about what’s going on with Sonic other than the vague sense that something’s wrong with him, unlike Nine who got a basic lil explanation from Sonic after asking wtf happened at boscage maze) is getting increasingly frustrated with Sonic because of how long it’s taking for him to get all the shards, as well as his continual trusting of Nine.

This continues for a while, those “episodes” get worse and worse, Sonic grows closer to Nine and tension keeps building between Sonic & Shadow until <drumroll………>

THE EGG COUNCIL COMES!!!!! Again, since I still haven’t seen season two of Sonic Prime, I don’t really know how this is gonna happen, but I do know it’s gonna happen. (btw Nine finishes Shadow’s prosthetic & leaves like a day before the egg council comes.) This is a massive battle and I have like a whole thing on how it’s gonna play out but the important things to note for the story are: Shadow finally sees Sonic’s “episodes” play out in front of him and he is understandably confused and concerned, but their in a battle right now so he can’t really do anything about it and <another drum roll please…..>

SONIC TRIES TO CHOP OFF HIS F$!?KING ARM! Ok, I definitely need to explain this a little more. During the first occurrence of the “voice,” it mentions something about them and Sonic being the same person, & basically says “I am a part of you, Sonic. The only way to get rid of me is to get rid of you.”  Edgy stuff like that, y’know? Well, during this one, it repeats that phrase again and in true Sonic fashion, he decides to do something incredibly stupid, risky, and drastic based on even dumberreasoning. You see, the voice said it was a part of him, not all of him. It also said that in order to get the voice out, he’d have to “get rid” of himself too. So, using this logic, if he only gets rid of a part of him, then he gets to keep living without the voice constantly haunting his every move! This is admittedly pretty silly logic, but he was in the middle of what is essentially a scaled up panic attack, so cut him some slack, OK? He tried to use a piece of scrap metal that fell off the robot to remove it, which unsurprisingly doesn’t work very well. It only ends up cutting halfway, but Sonic can’t really tell that it’s still attached since he’s so tired, & “it” did shut up after he stabbed his arm open soooooooo¯\_(ツ)_/¯. He manages to drive the egg council off to their own dimension before passing out from blood loss, leaving Shadow to rush him to Tail’s workshop so he can get bandaged up, made harder with Shadz’s new leg getting absolutely trashed. When Sonic finally wakes up, Shadow is confused, deeply concerned, and angry with him for almost killing himself for seemingly no reason. Sonic, however, is incredibly calm about the whole thing and nonchalantly explains why he cut off his arm during the battle, until he realizes his arm is still attached to him 

Here’s a comic page of the next scene:

He leaves to go get more shards and get Nine back to fix Shadows leg, which Shadow predictively grumbles about. This is a pretty light chapter, besides the ending:

Nine and Sonic are hanging out, having fun, the usual. Nine points out how cheery Sonic is right now, and Sonic starts to explain why he’s in such a good mood while Nine passes a small knife for him to hold while he does other things. Sonic, in the middle of his explanation, is cut off by…… “it” and proceeds to frantically rip off his bandages and try to cut the remainder of his arm off with the knife Nine gave him. Nine, who has no idea what’s going on, tries to wrangle back the knife from Sonic. In the struggle, Sonic ends up permanently scaring Nine on one of his eyes. It was an accident of course, but Nine bolts out of the workshop and zaps the door so Sonic can’t chase after him all the same. Sonic breaks down. 

After a bit, (about 30 minutes or so,) and after seeing and briefly meeting with Nine to ask where Sonic has been since he should be with him at the workshop; Nine responded with a suggestion to check for himself, Shadow decides to take Nine’s advice and go. Here’s the scene I wrote for this, as well as the comic I made (they have some dialogue differences, but the general idea is the same.)

“Sonic,”

He didn’t even look up. He was completely unfazed, almost expecting it.

“Sonic!”

Finally realizing who it was, he made a soft gasp, which, however small, was enough for Shadow to know he was listening.

“Do you know how big of a mess you’ve just made?”

They both stayed silent.

“Let me get this straight: That, … thing came back,”

The blue hedgehog sitting on the floor appeared perfectly still in the darkness of Tail’s old workshop.

“So you decided that it would be a good idea to try to cut your arm off again, even though it clearly didn’t work the first time, and I explicitly said not to, because we didn’t have the medical supplies to patch you up after,”

This time, he made a slight nod downwards.

“And when the fox tried to stop you, you hit him in his FUCKING eye? Is that all? Does it get any worse than that?”

The hedgehog didn’t respond. He was focused on something else.

“Are you even listening?”

Complete. Silence.

“Of course not. Of course you’re not listening. You never have, so why start now, huh?”

Shadow broke into a grin.

“You can’t listen to anyone, can you? Not your friends, not your allies, not even your own family! You’re Sonic the Hedgehog. The arrogant, narcissistic, naive, idiot hero who destroyed his own world because he couldn’t slow down. That’s all you are.”

Still nothing. He got angrier.

“I’m TIRED of your NONSENSE! I’m TIRED of you just sitting around having a PITY PARTY over something YOU CAUSED YOURSELF!”

Shadow grew quiet.

“I’m tired of your games, Sonic.”

A cold, hard, stare crossed the black and red hedgehog’s face.

“SO GET UP ALREADY!”

He forcefully pulled him off the ground, and for the first time during this whole conversation, Sonic spoke. He… screamed, a scream so loud you could hear it from a mile away. 

Shadow let go. 

Then, he slowly lowered his hand to his face, and …. No. The hedgehog gazed into the person standing before him, looking for something, anything, any semblance of the hedgehog he knew, but all that met him was an empty husk that he could barely even recognize.

“I-”

Sonic ran past him. He was gone. And Shadow didn’t know if he would ever come back.

“I’m sorry.”

———————————————————————

Sonic runs into the New Yoke rebel base and patches himself up. He’s able to get two shards from the egg council, but the rebel base is found in the process. There’s only one left, besides the Grim shard. Before Sonic leaves, Shadow tries to talk to him for a moment, but once he got a hold of him, he doesn’t know what to say. Does he apologize? Would that make things worse? Is he just supposed to wait it out and hope Sonic’s friends will help him? Sonic is still able to collect the shards, so they’re still getting back home, but what will happen after that? As much as Shadow hated to admit it, Sonic and his friends were just about the only force that could stop The Doctor from completing whatever world ending scheme he cooked up that week, other than himself. If he …. If something bad happened to Sonic after this, and he couldn’t get back up from it, and if he couldn’t pick up the slack, then….

He didn’t know what would happen. 

Shadow is barely able to get a word in before Sonic leaves to get the last shard. There’s nothing left to do.

Before we move on to the next plot point in the story, i want to talk about Nine for a second, since we haven’t really gotten the chance to explore him at all yet. A quick little thing I want to note is that Nine knows what the plan is in the AU. Get the shards, put them together, and save this world. He is planningto betray Sonic in this. At the same time, he’s also a lot closer to him. They hang out more, they chat more, and both of them feel the other is the only one on their side right now. Nine reasons that he can just convince Sonic to come with him, since they’re friends after all. He doesn’t really pay Shadow any mind, just thinking of him as an antagonistic coworker, not a real threat. The zapper he put in his leg was just a backup plan, incase he couldn’t fight him himself for one reason or another. Sonic and Nine were a team. They wouldn’t hurt each other. Until they did. Until Sonic did. After the incident, all of the trust between the two is gone. Nine doesn’t blame Sonic per say, he knows that Sonic was just desperate for it to stop, but he’s still angry. He’s angry at himself for trusting him. For trusting that he wouldn’t get hurt. From this point onwards, neither of them try to talk to each other. Nines plan only changes slightly.  He won’t try to convince Sonic to come with him. He won’t make that mistake again. 

Sonic’s feelings are a bit more complicated than Nine’s. He wants to fix everything, but he can’t. He wants everything to go back to normal, but too much has happened for that to even be a possibility. He wants everything to just stop for a minute, to just let him rest, but no matter what, it won’t. He just has to keep going. He just has to keep moving forwards. 

Sonic gets the last shard (Sonic and Shadow have to fight off the egg council again; it’s pretty awkward), and Nine finally puts his plan into motion. Using a machine he built while Sonic wasn’t around, he creates a portal to the Grim, his new home. Sonic begs Nine not to do this, that they’re friends, but that only makes Nine angrier. If they were friends, then Sonic would want to help him, if they were friends, then Sonic would’ve listened to him, and if they were actually, really friends then Sonic WOULDN’TV’E DONE THIS TO HIM.

Shadow had been outside the whole time listening to this, and he has heard enough of Nine’s ramblings. He lunged straight at Nine, but just as he’s about to reach him…. ZAP.  They both stare down at Shadow’s limp, burned body. Sonic’s head started spinning rapidly. He couldn’t tell who was in front of him, he couldn’t tell what was going on, he couldn’t tell where he was or who he was or why he was doing any of this at all. All he knew was that Shadow. Was. Dead. Because of him. Because hedecided to trust him. He spin-dashed straight into the kit’s chest, pressing him deeper and deeper into the rough, ragged cavern floor. One of his mechanical tails snapped from the shear force the spin dash on his body. Sonic slowly picked the broken hunk of metal, held it above the little fox’s body, and …

He ran as far as he can go. He ran and ran until he just couldn’t anymore and broke down in the middle of f@!king boscage maze. They’re dead. Both of them are dead. And it’s his fault isn’t it? If he had listened to Shadow about Nine then he wouldn’t had gotten electrocuted. If he had listened to Nine then Nine wouldn’t have betrayed them. If he had listened to his friends then none of this would’ve happened in the first place. But he didn’t. And now they’re all dead. So why even try? Why even try to help people if you only end up hurting them? What’s the point? What’s the point of anything anymore? Sonic’s grip on sanity finally snaps, when someone finally finds him….

It’s Thorn. She’s been watching Sonic this whole time and is understandably disturbed by the whole, watching someone have a meltdown thing. Seeing that Sonic has seemingly calmed down, she reaches to ask what happened to him, why he was so scared, but it was too late. Sonic grabbed Thorn by the neck, just before Mangey, Prim, and Gnarly came looking for her. Meanwhile:

Shadow tackles Nine, shoving him into the portal and just barely managing to close it before he got back. But now, both Shadow and Nine are both stranded. Without the shards, Nine can’t create a portal to escape the Grim. Shadow can’t enter any of the shatter spaces, so even if he could leave the ghost world, he’d still be trapped. They’re both stuck. 

Back with Sonic, the boscage maze crew are still trying to snap him out of it as he attacks them and their home. Prim keeps arguing this is pointless, that they should just beat him up until he leaves, but Thorn won’t let that happen. Sonic’s still in there. He has to be. This gamble fails, the forest is mostly destroyed and Mangey is injured. (btw the boscage maze stuff I just talked about isn’t very plot relevant, just wanted to mention it cause I could.) When Sonic finally leaves boscage, he plans to go to the other realities as well, destroying them one by one. But, for some reason, he decides to go to the Grim instead. He’s not quite sure why, but goes anyway. Why not, after all? 

Nine has been on edge the entire time he’s been in the Grim. It made sense, after all. Sonic was still alive, and presumably, still looking for the last shard. His best bet was to try to find it before he found him. Nine had been searching for about a day and a half, getting increasingly desperate by the hour. He wished he had stolen the tech he gave to Sonic, or made another one that could help him track where the shard was. Suddenly, Sonic arrives. And Nine’s not exactly happy to see him again. Sonic immediately starts attacking, Nine trying as hard as he can to get a hit in. As they’re fighting, Nine has a realization. He can use this to his advantage. All he has to do is keep Sonic chasing him and his shoes will tell him where the last shard is. Then, try to trigger the “voice” so he can get the shard. Finally, finish. the. job. Unfortunately, the second step doesn’t go to plan. He’s able to get the shard but…….

Sonic gets to him before Nine could run off with it.

And when he watched him bleed out, when he watched the blood pour out of his chest, when he realized that he was dead, that there was no way he could come back from this, no way he could still miraculously be alive, no chance that he could ever fix what he had done, Sonic fully accepted what he had become. A mindless, murderous, monster.

Shadow has been waiting this whole time; waiting for Sonic, waiting for the last shard, and waiting for a chance to actually apologize for what happened at the workshop. But that chance had already passed, it seemed. Sonic slowly walked into the cave, where everything started, Grim shard and metal tail both in hand. The two hedgehogs met eyes. Sonic stood in shock for a minute, then smiled. One last person to kill.  He hopped down from the cave’s mouth, tossed the shard to the side, and gripped the bloody scrap metal harder. Then, he lunged. They start battling it out as Shadow tries to put the pieces together on what happened. Sonic keeps teasing and joking with Shadz while they’re battling it out. Eventually it just devolve into rants about how stupid everything is, and how stupid he was for ever thinking he was a good person. When Shadow finally gets a good look at how deteriorated Sonic’s mind has become, he can’t help but wonder what he could’ve done to stop this. But it’s too late for that now. He was too slow. Shadow eventually gets the upper hand and corners Sonic, toppling him over. Here’s the passage I wrote for the next scene: 

——————————————————————

Shadow grasped the jagged piece of metal and held it just above the blue hedgehog’s skull, shaking with what he couldn’t tell was rage or fear. Sonic’s eyes stared up at him, his maniacal grin completely wiped. Instead, a blank expression crossed his face. It wasn’t exactly fear, it wasn’t exactly shock, it wasn’t exactly sadness and it wasn’t exactly relief. It was…. everything, all mashed into one giant, unreadable expression. For once, Shadow felt he genuinely understood Sonic. For once, he knew exactly what he was feeling. Shadow dropped the blade. He hugged him.

“Wh-?”

“Because you need it.”

Sonic couldn’t hold back any longer. The tears that he had been repressing for so long now streamed down his cheeks like waterfalls as he leaned further and further into Shadow’s embrace. All the words he had wanted to say for so long spilled out of his mouth in a giant river, jumbled and broken and completely incoherent as he tried to explain it all, as he tried and tried and tried to apologize for everything he had done. 

“I-I didn’t-”

“Shhh”

“I j-just-”

“Shhh”

“I c-couldn’t”

“It’s OK. Sonic, look at me.”

He lifted up Sonic’s tear stricken face with his hand, staring into his eyes, tinted with pain.

“It’s all gonna be OK.”

the end.

———————————————————————

And that’s it! This took a while to write, so thanks for sticking around through it all, that was really cool of you. A few little notes about the epilogue & after story.

Epilogue:

I need to clear something up before I can start discussing what happens in the epilogue. You may have noticed some of the Sonic art I’ve posted (mostly the ones with Sonic using a prosthetic arm) mentioned something about an epilogue. This is a mistake. What past me was trying to say was that this was from the after story. I just forgot the word for it, sorry! With that out of the way, let’s begin. After Sonic’s finally cried it all out, they both get up and he thanks Shadow for the hug. Shadow accepts, and there’s a cute lil scene where the two of them are just… talking, while they go to grab the last shard from the top of the mountain to put it back in its place. After they’re done, Sonic hesitates for a moment. Should he go back to them? After everything, he doesn’t really believe that they would want to see him, not after what he’d done. But Shadow reassures him that if HE could forgive Sonic, then his friends probably would too. They both go their separate ways, and Sonic finally gets to see his friends again. He (tries) to explain what happened, why he’s missing an arm and covered in blood, all that stuff, and they are understandably horrified at…. EVERYTHING he’s saying but ultimately forgive him. They all leave to get chili dogs, and we end with the whole gang minus Shadow having a picnic and Sonic FINALLY taking a nap on Tail’s tails.

After Story: 

I don’t have much of this part planned out outside from a prosthetic design for Sonic and the BAREST of story outlines so I’m just gonna make a bullet point list.

Eggman steals the paradox prism

Everyone (including Shadow) gets together to make a plan to steal it back

Sonic messes up the plan somehow and starts freaking out

Shadow yells at him, making it worse

Sonic runs away and has a panic attack 

After he calms down a little, Shadow goes to apologize 

They go back and come up with a new plan

It works & they all go get some food (including Shadow, after a lot of convincing)

———————————————————————

Final, FINAL Notes: OH MY GOD THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE IN ONE WEEK OH MY GOD. thank you again so much for reading all of this this is so long oh my freaking god why’d I make this so long? uh, this mostly serves as a reference sheet so you know what scene im drawing so I can stop getting questions on what is going on. speaking of questions, if you have any, ask! im bad at explaining stuff, so im sure there’s PLENTY. just to make sure im not getting anyone’s hopes up btw, i dont know if I’ll actually end up making this a full fic, mostly cause ive never made one before & i dont know how to use ao3 yet :( feel free to use any and all ideas mentioned within this mega-essay with or without credit, i support you! with this last, last, LAST note, I think I will leave you be.

(also sorry that this took so long to write, it got deleted 3 separate times so I had to start over haha :))))))))))

[g1deonthefirst]

There's something so cruel in how Augustine and Mercymorn treat Ianthe and Harrow like children, yet refuse to give them any of the things children need (support, stability, safety), and I feel like that's connected back to Jod calling A&M his children, functionally being their parent, and (presumably) not giving them the tools they needed to adjust to the post-apocalypse world. So of course they only do the bare minimum to keep I&H alive; this is how they do things in this family, and the girls need to learn like they did (So sorry for this mini-essay, but I'm obsessed with this dynamic)

this is SUCH an interesting comparison and not at all something that i had considered. i think that's really accurate — i get the sense that all the lyctors that john brought back initially were pretty out of their depth. pyrrha describes herself and g1deon as "children playing with the reflections of stars in a pool of water." in john's defense (not really), i don't think he fully understood how necromancy worked at this point from a scientific standpoint in a way he could teach to others, so everybody was probably a little lost. but he did position himself as their god and their parent, and what's more, he wiped their memories of their pasts. i'm always struck by that scene where john makes a your mom joke to augustine in HTN, when as far as we know, augustine can't even remember his mother. all of which is to say that i think A&M probably were pretty dependent on john in the early days but that john probably wasn't all that functionally helpful and likely wanted things from his friends that they weren't able to give him (on account of him wiping their minds). and then i definitely think that that feeds into the way augustine and mercymorn treat ianthe and harrow in turn, compounded by a general displeasure at the fact that there are baby lyctors at all and a sense that there are bigger fish to fry re: varun.

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

Do you think you could do like a characterization of the Familers?

Everytime I try to think about their personalities and how they would interact with each other, or M6, or Mc I just feel like I don't get it right. Like I've got like the very basics but that's like it

Malak is a crazy

Chandra is spoiled

Faust is a wildcard

Ianna is protective

Pepi is energetic

Idk Lucio’s familars ( i cant spell one of their names) but they are kinda like wild dogs, they do whatever they want

EVEN THEN, I still feel like some of these are wrong or don't cover most of their character or I'm mischaracterizing them on accident.

Could you maybe do some more Familers mini headcannons?

Like what do the Familers do when M6 is sad?

What do they do when Mc is sad?

How do they interact with each other on a day to day bases?

( I think you might have done one of these actually )

But I have more

What do they do when M6 or/and MC gets hurt?

What do they typically do during the day and/or What do they do when they aren't with M6?

How would they respond if M6/Mc was in a dangerous situation/attacked | How are they when M6/Mc is ill?

Some of these are probably answers in their routes but it's hard to remember/recall. I do wish they were in their respective routes just a little bit more than they are so I could get a could grasp of their personalities.

What I really want is just like a written out basis of what they are like? I don't even need the Mini headcannons ( but I do like them) Their personalities is just what I have a hard time grasping because it not like right in front of me or I'm not constantly reminded of it like the Li’s that I just forget or mischaracterize them.

So if you ever have the time and or patience, I would love if you could just write about their personalities or just more about them in general. They are right hand to the Li’s and I love them so much and I tried using the wiki but I don't trust it because apparently some of the info is just flat-out wrong. I love reading you headcannons and mini headcannons because I feel like you do the Li’s justice and this account is keeping the Arcana fandom alive. I'm very sorry that this is a really long ask and my grammar my be wrong in some areas.

I'd like to thank you if you've read through everything. I hope you keep making Arcana content in the future as me and many others really do enjoy your content and takes on the characters.

-🃏

Hi friend!! I hope you're ready for the full scale essay under the cut XD

(also, you are more than welcome to request some mini-hcs with the M6's familiars - please feel free to submit them individually so I can sort and try to answer them ^.^)

The devs don't go hugely into detail about how familiars work, exactly, but here's what we know: First, how in-tune to magic you are does affect how involved your bond is, but people still have familiars whether or not they have a lot of magical ability. Second, the bond makes the most sense if you think of it as being similar to a "soulmates AU" setup. The person and animal involved have a natural connection with the potential for a full-fledged familiar bond, but how that manifests changes depending on the effort and type of bonding that happens.

There's also a consistent pattern when it comes to vibes and personality, with the familiars being very similar to their respective humans. I'll go familiar by familiar from here ^.^

Malak:

Julian and Malak are (unfortunately) not very in touch with each other. Julian doesn't speak of him much beyond referring to him as "the raven", and while it's clear that they're more in sync than the average human and animal would be, Julian tends to find it more uncanny than comforting. Malak, in turn, tends to get quickly annoyed by this when his genuine attempts to help and protect and connect get consistently thwarted. He shares Julian's values and habits, constantly keeping watch (anxiously or otherwise) over his person and the people important to him, and often flying beak-first into situations that seem out of control with little regard for his own well being. Malak and Julian have the capacity to cover each other's blind spots. Julian is quicker at analyzing and navigating social situations that sometimes send the bird into a frenzy, while Malak is aware of magical happenings that Julian is completely blind to.

The two of them share an anxiety about the world being a constantly dangerous place and noble mindset focused around doing the right thing and protecting the people they love. The big difference is that Malak doesn't doubt his own abilities - as generally anxious as he acts with all his ruffling feathers and screeches, the raven doesn't hold himself back because he thinks someone else could do better. If anything, he's often pushing Julian to get over the self-deprecation and join him already. Unfortunately, neither of them has figured out how to listen to each other yet, which means more often than not they just get on each other's nerves. Given MC's ability to help Julian navigate things of a magical nature, they could very easily become the communication bridge between the two.

Faust

It's pretty heavily implied (if not canon) that Faust is the child of Asra's parents' familiars, Chimes and Flamel. She was given to Asra as an egg and hatched on one of their birthdays, and the two have been inseparable ever since. They have an incredibly strong bond, enough for them to send memories to each other, have conversations, communicate across long distances, and even share emotions. Faust loves Asra, herself, and MC almost equally, and in Asra's route she happily becomes MC's companion when Asra isn't around to do so. She also appears to have her own capacity for magic, frequently blipping from one realm to another as she pleases.

The best way (in my head) of describing her vibes are that one honorary younger sibling who is also the instigator best friend. While she's borne witness to Asra's toughest moments, she's received such excellent care and attention that she doesn't seem to have nearly the same levels of trauma - or maturity. Reading about her feels a lot like what I imagine reading about a teenaged Asra with a much kinder life would feel like - whimsical, mischievous, creative, impulsive, unpredictable, and carefree to the point of recklessness. She's still learning what it means to have limits (re: going off on an unannounced adventure, only to be caught and held hostage by the Devil) but when push comes to shove she's suprisingly dependable (re: sabotaging the ritual, right under the Devil's nose).

Due to her being so accessible to MC's character, she has a level of plot influence and general content that comes closer to a main character than the other familiars. It gives fan work more content to work with, but also less space to take its own creative liberty.

Chandra

Chandra is always hovering, and yet rarely directly involved. We know that Nadia used to be able to speak with her similarly to how Asra speaks with Faust, but she doesn't remember how. There's a wall between the two of them that they both seem to want to breach, but given the circumstances, they just haven't found the time and resources to do it yet. However, it's clear that they know how important they are to each other - Chandra seems to live at Nadia's beck and call, despite seeming so distant, and Nadia dedicates much of her personal time and interests to caring for her. They rely heavily on each other as allies in uncertain times (re: Nadia trusting Chandra in multiple routes to be her eyes and ears and carry her most important messages).

Chandra certainly has Nadia's independence, initiative, and desire for companionship. She's often seen on alert on the fringes and ready to step in and help take control of chaotic situations. However, where Nadia responds to a desire for companionship by initiating connection, Chandra is more reserved. She's present, she's paying attention, but she's not actively connecting until she's invited. She, like Nadia, has become accustomed to living in a Palace filled with with intrigue and uncertain loyalties, and it plays out in her reticence. She's much more likely to communicate interest by watching intently from a distance than by approaching and interacting. Over time, if MC is able to help Nadia find the way to communicate with Chandra again, they'll likely become her confidante in her efforts to be a good familiar.

Inanna

The best way to describe her and Muriel is trauma bonded. (Which, given Muriel's past, is arguably the bond that lets him receive the support he needs from her best.) They're both loners, both uninterested in connection until it's proven to be worthwhile, and both deeply distrusting of other people's motives. Inanna is Muriel's breaking point twice. First, when he's expected to kill her in the Coliseum (how they met), and second, when she's horribly injured trying to protect the heart of the forest. Both of those moments with her push Muriel to recognize his priorities and actually act on them. As a result, they have a deep mutual respect for each other - and a stubborn emphasis on still being their own people (or wolf). Muriel refers to her as his friend more easily than as his familiar.

Inanna as a character, however, seems to hold onto some of the traits that Muriel has buried under his trauma. She's more adaptable than he is, quicker to accept change, and considerably more hopeful and optimistic. She's faster to act (often the one prompting Muriel to follow through, when he'd rather continue thinking), and she's nosier. Where Muriel analyzes and then quietly judges while respecting someone's decision, Inanna analyzes and then does her best to assist any kind of good change. Whether that's leading MC to Muriel when he's injured and would rather be left alone, or expressing the affection towards them that he's still trying to hide, she acts like a big sister. Independent, a bit of a bully, fiercely protective, and loyal beyond measurement. She doesn't need to bond with MC through Muriel, she can do that herself.

Pepi

Portia met Pepi on Mazelinka's ship, as she was on her way to hunt down her older brother and beat some sense into him. The two of them bonded instantly, and when the time came for Portia and Mazelinka to part ways, Pepi gave up the life of a ship cat to stay by Portia's side. Portia doesn't seem to be fully aware of Pepi being her familiar and sees her as more of an uncannily well-bonded pet. At least, until her own route, where Pepi learns how to speak. Up until that point Portia just seems to see Pepi more as an unusually intelligent cat that she likes to talk to. The two of them are each other's family, Pepi always ready to lend a helping paw with unruly birds, and Portia always happy to spoil her with snuggles and treats.

Pepi has Portia's optimism, love of mischief, and dauntless attitude. However, they differ somewhat in how they view themselves. While Portia struggles to see herself as the main character of her own story, often fading into the background in order to support someone else, Pepi is more than happy to take center stage. This cat can and will prioritize her own needs and preferences if she thinks nobody else is going to do it, and it often lands her in trouble (re: stealing your heartsong festival gift, seeking out nap places that give her access to forbidden fishies, etc). She's quick to make her own friendships, and when you and Portia start your new life together, she'll consider you one of her family as well. Thanks to her retained ability to speak (upright ending) you'll never have to go without a conversation partner again.

Mercedes & Melchior

Lucio, unfortunately, didn't realize these two were his familiars until after he'd met you. While a large part of his menagerie building was his search for a familiar, he failed to notice how those two in particular were so attached to them. Thankfully, they're never on their own given how closely they stick to each other. Their lack of a strongly developed magical connection with Lucio doesn't really stop them from being able to communicate. They vibe with him on a similar act-first-think-later wavelength, having such little interest in impulse control that it's impossible not to know what they want. All you know is that they're hellbent on accomplishing it and on getting out of whatever consequences they invite with a pair of large, shining puppy eyes.

Besides their impulsiveness and chaotic nature, Mercedes and Melchior share Lucio's tendency to live in the moment and focus on life's pleasures. However, they also have the emotional intelligence and undying loyalty all good dogs do. When Lucio was "dead" they spent three years guarding his wing and trying to find help for him, and when you join him in his search for answers, they'll remain with you and empathize with you regardless of the dangers involved (re: one of them going with Lucio to get help, the other staying next to you and whining when Valdemar has you strapped to a gurney). They instinctively track your emotional state and are often the reason Lucio notices how you're doing as quickly as he does. For all their bratty behavior, their doggy bodies are overflowing with love for the people they care about and nothing makes them happier than being with them. Don't mistake love for respect, though - they take orders from nobody.

[logan-lieutenant]

i didn't win the wheel: episode 3 (pt. 2)

[competition ends, time to spin the wheel; Logan starts listing the prizes]

Logan: "...and a Logan mini helmet.."

Alex (who has made NO COMMENT yet and has seen all these prizes before: "Ah, that's not bad!"

oh alex what's wrong? you went most of a video without talking to each other? are you having WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS... merch is merch yeah :/ but it's my teammate's merch :) logan mini helment :D how cool is that :)

Alex (because he can't think before he speaks for the life of him): "I think the prize I wouldn't want.... *visible moment of regret* I– I shouldn't say, but–"

Logan (OH MY GOD THE SUN IS COMING OUT): "I know what it is, I know what you're thinking of!"

oh. oh OKAY. i see how it is now i already said they were in sync but APPARENTLY I DIDN'T SAY IT LOUD ENOUGH cause we had to double back and canonically confirm that out loud OKAY. can i just point out that knowing what someone likes and knowing what someone *dislikes* requires a whole different level of observation? like, think about it? and the dialogue ALONE is enough to write an essay on but the whole thing together?? alex leaning way in shoulder to shoulder we all know he can see the ipad logan chiming in as soon as alex starts fumbling the smile starting to spread on his face even as he's still looking down and then he and alex turn their heads in at the exact same time and logan gives him that smile as he says that line and at first alex is laughing but as soon as he gets those eyes he has to like giggle and blush and look down and curl in on himself WHAT? and then and then. both turning back to the ipad and alex is clearly trying to get ahold of himself and logan just sort of repeats in this half-gentle half-laughing but also like low voice, "I know what you're thinking..." like OOF that took it out of me. somebody on ao3 probably knows a specific term for sweet/teasing/sexy/provocative/taunting/gentle but for now i'm not settling on an adjective!! "I know what you're thinking" both gravelly and endeared after you've made someone literally do the blushing eyes-cast-down thing like 10 cm from their face... that is not from real life!! that is fanfiction!

[prize wheel spins, lands on Logan mini helmet]

Alex: "WHOA!"

Logan: "Oh, it's me..."

Alex *round of actual applause*: "That's a good prize!"

Logan (talking to the camera and ignoring the sparkles and rainbows next to him): "It's a Logan mini helmet... I won the challenge, so it makes sense–"

Alex (completely talking over him): "Is it gonna be signed? Are you gonna sign it? Are you gonna sign it?"

"that's a good prize" YOU SAID THAT ALREADY ALEX! he looks so excited!!! he looks like he got to win a prize– which is his TEAMMATE'S MERCH like, alex is a williams driver as a side hustle. his main career is actually logan sargeant fanboy, sorry to break the news like this.

at this point logan is kind of retreating into his own world again– not kind of, you can tell. the activity is officially over. the spinning the wheel part– the stupid thing all the hype is about– has concluded it. it's like he's got switches in his head that are flipped on and off for him. he did the fun part, he played the game. he had a little fun getting in close proximity to alex towards the end as has become tradition and then it sort of fades away for him.

not for alex, though. for alex, logan's still the brightest in the solar system. no matter how much or how little logan opens the blinds to anyone else alex feels the sunlight like it's never stopped shining. like the light in logan's eyes doesn't go out.

and so alex is excited. he thinks winning and then getting rewarded with the privilege of using essentially a random number generator to give a prize for somebody else who didn't even play is just ridiculous... and it is. but now he's loving it, and we know why

[estiebestieban]

omg your tags were ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! you understood exactly what i was trying to say in my post and i truly appreciate that.

of course no one HAS to like esteban but whenever i see someone hate on him i just want to ask "why?". because pretty much 99% of the time their reasoning for hating on esteban is based off one of the narratives that has been thoroughly disproved, not just in my post (i don't think that highly of myself lmao) but in many testimonies over the years. i've even seen people say they don't really know anything about him and then just write paragraphs of lies to justify their dislike of someone they OPENLY ADMIT they could be wrong about! and if their whole basis for hating on a driver is based on a bunch of lies, then what's left once the falsehoods are deconstructed you know? (and if you're one of the 1% then go ahead - i can't stop you lmao!)

also i actually had written a line about how esteban's teammates, who have all been VERY TALENTED when it comes to getting the media on their side, have absolutely used this negative perception of esteban to boost themselves (i even had interview quotes from fernando and pierre at the ready and was trying to find some from checo) but i ended up removing it because i didn't want to be accused of using my post to hate on the aforementioned drivers. because of course my extensively researched and cited 1000+ word essay that i spent hours on and collaborated with multiple blogs was all written for a single line in which i "hate" on two drivers...

there are definitely times where i wish that esteban would play the media game and speak his truth (and i think he's actually testing the waters a bit with very reasonable statements). but that's not how he wants to approach things and i have so much respect for that. and considering all the team principals (including his very likely future team principal ayao komatsu) and other paddock members have vouched for him over the years, i think it was the right decision.

anyways sorry for another mini-essay in your ask box but i just wanted to say thanks again for your tags <3

You're so right for your post and you're always invited into my askbox for mini (or full length tbh) essays because you get it!!! (As do all other esteban stans I've seen on here cheers to like all five of us.

As a Dutch fan, the one question I get asked most is "Oh you must be a Max fan, right?" and when my answer is no, people go down the list of possible drivers I could be a fan of, but somehow they never say Esteban. When I say I'm an Alpine fan, the gut punch response is always "Oh, Fernando/Pierre, I get it."

While there is nothing wrong inherently wrong with assuming favourites, it's wild to me that even when I narrow it down to three possible drivers, Esteban still isn't even considered.

Even when I'm surrounded by major fans of the sport, the concept of Esteban having a genuine fan is foreign to people. I understand that most people around me view the sport through the lens of the Viaplay vision (and previously ZiggoSport) which favours Max to the extreme, and who couldn't give less fucks about other drivers. Esteban is hardly mentioned during broadcast, and when he is, it is always in a negative way (that's what happens when you take out the golden boy once I guess)

I've had this discussion time and time again, where I point out that Esteban drives in a similar style like Fernando - but where Fernando is praised for his balls and his attitude, Esteban is shoved aside as reckless and a danger. Where Max is hailed as the second coming of Christ, Esteban is deemed as a liability on track.

Why? Because he isn't considered charismatic enough? Even when he has countless fun and endearing interviews?

The media continues to cut Esteban out of the narrative wherever they can. An example would be people pushing the Pierre/Charles friendship for a dramatic tale of childhood friends turned competitors, but they leave out Esteban time and time again - like we don't have various images showing their closeness during their karting days.

Also, we forget way too often that Esteban and Max were rookies together in f3 in 2014 who both skipped f2 to go straight to f1. Only one of them won f3 that year, and it wasn't Max

[ihopesocomic]

Sorry for the mini-essay but I think people massively underestimate how much hard work and dedication goes into a Passion Project. People think that creators who make free content, who do their work as a hobby and not as a job, must only get enjoyment out of it.

That’s not how it works. Doing it purely because you want to doesn’t automatically make the more challenging, frustrating, or (gasps) TIME CONSUMING parts of the project any less burdensome. If anything, it makes it worse because you aren’t being paid for all of that labor. You’re just doing it for the sake of doing it, and as rewarding as it can be, it can also be demanding.

Im finally publishing a fanfic for the first time and don’t get me wrong, it’s been great to get feedback on my work and interact with a community. I love that there are usernames and profile pictures I can actually identify because they’re regulars on my work.

But does that mean I don’t have to constantly redo work because I don’t like how it turned out? No. Does that mean I always update on time? No. Never get burnout? No. I still very much go through all of the things paid writers do, because the Creative Process is difficult and demanding no matter what they paycheck is or isn’t.

And all of that is just if you guys WERE missing updates, which you’re NOT. So like… these complaints are not only very entitled and ignorant, but also just confusing. People really just be mad for the sake of being mad, I guess?

Anyways yeah, free content creators are still content creators, and passion-driven hard work is still hard work. You two are cranking out absolutely STUNNING visuals, compelling characters and engaging worldbuilding every single week and that’s amazing. Thank you for your hard work and I’m sorry about the twerps that don’t appreciate it enough!

Ah the price we pay for being human and having a brain, amirite haha

It's to be expected, to a certain point, that people simply don't understand that things like comics and cartoons take time. General impatience is something that can be ignored. If people asking for updates bothered us, we wouldn't post anywhere ever haha You gotta have at least SOME backbone if you want to do a comic. Or anything really.

Comics are a TON of work, and I knew this going in cuz I've done shorter comics before. It is not to be treated as if its easy. (Well, its easier than animating a whole series by yourself LOL) There's a lot of pre-comic planning that people don't tell you about. And that's just the stuff you have to do before you even start drawing. Of course this only applies to long-form storytelling, there's different rules for different kinds of comics.

And I won't even get into what it takes to making the comic itself, there's a lot of parts that need to be considered like formatting, time-management, what shortcuts you have to take to save on labor, and getting across as much information as you can in a short amount of time, while using mostly visuals. It's a skill, so it can be learned haha

A lot of doing comics is on-the-job training. Which I know can be frustrating for perfectionists, but from a reader's perspective, part of the joy of webcomics is seeing how far the art has come. And you can't exactly get out a webcomic if you keep redoing things over and over. You'll burn yourself out even faster. This is why it's important to have a plan lol it just makes it easier to adjust if you have to change things, than if you have no plan at all.

Even if RJ and I for whatever reason no longer felt passionate about this story, and wanted to move on to something else entirely, we wouldn't leave everyone hanging. We'd tell everyone what happens one way or another. Because too many people just abandon a story just to tell another one, and that's not fair to people who were here to read a story that appealed to them.

But the entitlement of people sucks, the constant heckling, the fact we can't moderate our own comment section, and more importantly Webtoons just sucks as a site anyway. - Cat

[nhlclover]

christian bale is great sparks fly au

✭ — summary: at a halloween party, rutger does his best to avoid sofia

✭ — warnings: couple instances of cursing, a guy being a creep, mentions of drinking, awkward behaviour from rutger, miscommunication

✭ — a/n: thank you to the anon that requested this i hope you enjoy! also she is a long one soz

✭ — word count: 1.56k

Rutger had now cancelled three of his and Sofia’s regular study dates. He was coming up with a variety of excuses; “Sorry, Sof, it’s boys’ night” to “Sorry, Sof, late night workout with the boys”. He felt bad but this felt like the only option to get rid of this crush he had on Sofia.

And now, tonight, he was cancelling his study date once again, however with a valid excuse this time. One of his buddies' fraternity was hosting a Halloween party that the entire team was going to. Rutger hoped this would be a good time to get over Sofia.

Sofia, on the other hand, was a little confused over Rutger’s behaviour. He was cancelling on her left and right, and when they saw each other in class, he was weirdly quiet. Part of her wondered if he had caught onto her small crush that had been developing or if he was now weirded out that he was becoming friends with his friend's younger sister.

“Hey girly, you’re coming to Noah’s Halloween party tonight, right?” Brynn asked, coming back from her afternoon biology lecture.

Sofia spun around in her desk chair, looking at her roommate. “Mmm, I don’t know. I’ve got an English essay I’m trying to wrap up.” Sofia sighs.

Brynn simply looks at her, an unimpressed look painting her face. “C’mon girly. You know you could finish that even if you get back and you’re piss drunk.”

Sofia chuckles, spinning back to look at her laptop screen. Her nearly completed essay on their newest book, Fahrenheit 451, sat open on her screen. Brynn was right, she could finish this essay in her sleep or if she was piss drunk. Plus she had already gotten her Halloween costume and it’d be a waste to not wear it.

“Okay, fine I’ll go.” Sofia agrees.

Brynn squeals, coming over to press a kiss to the top of her roommate's head.

Later that evening, Sofia and Brynn got ready together, a melody of their musical tastes playing from Brynn’s speaker. They arrived late, as Brynn said it would be embarrassing to arrive even slightly on time. The house was packed when they got there, making it hard to navigate the house. However, since it was Brynn’s boyfriend's frat, she already knew the layout.

Rutger’s eyes were immediately drawn to the girl who walked into the room. It was hard not to stare at her. She walked in, hand in hand with a brunette girl. She was smiling brightly, dodging drunk bodies that threatened to hit her.

Sofia and her friend approached one of the frat brothers, her friend laying a sloppy kiss on his lips. He scanned her, putting together her costume in his head. She was dressed as Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, albeit a feminized version. She had on a black vest and a black mini skirt, the red tie hanging loosely from her neck. She adorned the see-through raincoat, as well as an axe.

God, she looked good. The combination of her mini skirt and knee-high boots was driving Rutger wild, her legs seemingly sculpted like a goddess's own.

Rutger caught himself, forcing his eyes to avert. He knew he couldn’t think like that about Sofia.

“Sof, there is a super cute guy staring at you. Straight ahead.” Brynn said.

Sofia furrowed her brows, looking straight, but seeing no one staring at her. “Wait no, straight for me.” Brynn said.

Sofia turned around, now seeing a familiar pair of eyes staring back at her. “That’s Rutger.” Sofia tells Brynn.

“You did not tell me Rutger was this cute.” Brynn comments.

“Babe.” Noah says, disappointment lacing his tone.

“I mean in like a metaphorical sense. Like he’s cute but-”

“I’m going to go say hi.” Sofia says, excusing herself from the argument brewing.

She walked to Rutger, eyeing his costume. “Hi.” She says, stopping in front of him.

“Hey.” He says. “I like your costume.”

Sofia does a twirl, showing off the full extent. “Thank you very much. I like your wolf onesie.”

Sofia motions to his grey wolf onesie, Rutger’s cheeks flashing pink as he pulls the hood off. “It’s a group costume with Seamus, Gavin, and Luca. They’re the three little pigs and I’m the wolf.”

Sofia bites back a smile. “Very creative.”

“Hey, at least I’m not wearing a pig onesie.” Rutger said.

“Oh cause the wolf onesie is better somehow?” Sofia asked, letting out a suppressed laugh.

Her bright smile and her hearty laugh cause a sudden wave of butterflies to take flight in Rutger’s stomach. He was in deep and didn’t know how to dig himself out. He was so far failing at his plan of simply ignoring Sofia. She was too nice to ignore. Realizing this, Rutger feigns an excuse.

“Hey, I gotta go, I see one of my buddies from stats, I’m gonna go say hi.” Rutger says quickly, leaving before Sofia can even reply.

He feels his heart squeeze as he turns the corner, getting out of sight of Sofia. It physically hurt him to act this way towards Sofia. But he knew if he truly developed feelings, it would hurt him even more to not have her in his life.

The rest of the night, Rutger did his best to avoid Sofia. Whenever she entered the same room, he would slip out. He would talk to other girls, despite none of them being able to make him laugh as Sofia could.

Rutger entered the dining room, spotting Sofia. He nearly walked straight past her, a sight that he was sure to use to dispel his crush. She stood, back against the wall, a guy opposite her with a hand placed on the wall above Sofia’s head. But when he saw the look on Sofia’s face he halted. Her face showed a look of discomfort, her eyes glancing around for a familiar face or rather anyone to come and save her from this scenario.

Rutger watched as the guy's free hand went down to Sofia’s face, tucking a stray lock behind her ear. Before Rutger could even register it, his feet had brought him over to them, stopping right next to Sofia.

“Hey Sof, what’s up?” He asks, looking into her blue eyes that switched from panicked to relieved. “God, great costume! American Psycho is a great movie, I mean Christian Bale is great. Probably the best BatMan in my opinion.”

Rutger doesn’t even know the words coming out of his mouth, as they just flow, hoping to rid Sofia of the guy.

“Hey man, what the fuck?” He asks.

Rutger turns and looks at the guy dressed in a lackluster cowboy costume. “Wassup, dude?” Rutger asks.

“What the fuck is this? I was talking to her.” He says.

“Yeah? Now I’m talking to her.” Rutger says, stepping between Sofia and the guy.

“Hey, what’s you’re problem?” The guy practically sneers, placing a hand on Rutger's shoulder, pulling him to face him.

“You’re my fucking problem, creep. You’re making her uncomfortable and she doesn’t want to talk to you so back off.” Rutger tells him.

There are now eyes on them, eyes on Sofia. “You think you know everything, huh?” The guy says, stepping into Rutger, their chests bumping one another.

“Back the fuck up.” Rutger says. Rutger could feel his anger spiking, ready to swing if this guy so much as touched him one more time.

Suddenly Brendan and Mark are there, pulling the two boys back from each other. Brendan is pushing Rutger back, trying to get him to calm down, while Mark is in the other guy's face, telling him to just walk away. Mark spots Sofia, her back still pressed to the wall as she looks at Rutger.

“You okay?” Mark asks.

Sofia nods slowly, eyes still glued to Rutger who is being chastised by Brendan for nearly getting in a fight, something that surely would’ve gotten him suspended.

Luca is suddenly there, eyes going between Sofia and Rutger. “What happened?” He asks.

Mark fills him in, Sofia going to her brother, her arms finding his torso. Luca pulls her close, attempting to soothe her ragged breaths. “I’m gonna take you home.” Luca says.

He bids a quick goodbye to his friends, walking Sofia out of the living room. “Wait.” Sofia squeaks out.

The pair of them stop, Sofia turning back to Rutger. She walks up to him, still being cooled down by Brendan. He stops talking when he notices the blonde presence beside him. Sofia, not finding adequate words, wraps her arms around his torso, squeezing him tightly. She didn’t know another way to thank him for having intervened and rescued her from the guy who wasn’t taking her hints.

Sofia unlatched, looking up at Rutger's face. His eyes shone with despondency, his chest still slightly heaving with anger. She couldn’t exactly read his expression but it almost seemed like he didn’t like her. The pieces began to add up for Sofia; the canceling of their study sessions, his being quiet in class. He might have grown to dislike Sofia.

But then she remembered what Paisley had pointed out to her. All the times Rutger had gone out of his way to do something for Sofia, the little details he would remember about her, the insanely thoughtful birthday gift.

Sofia just couldn’t figure out Rutger.