#thanks bestie :D

[sgt-farron]

hey bestie can i request 5 and 29 for the ao3 asks ☺️

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

All of them?? lmao No but a real answer would probably be Avarus as it is vexleth I didn't expect as many people to find it (and continue to do so). It has been a pleasant surprise!! Thanks to anyone who has left comments and kudos you are much appreciated.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

oo probably: Later that evening, as Imogen slept in her arms, Laudna lied awake, staring into the dark. She whispered equal parts a promise and a prayer to whatever gods may be listening, “Imogen Temult, I would break the world for you.” -- from Amor Omni Vincit

or

“Hey, hey…” her voice is soft as she tries to catch your focus, “Keyleth, you’re alright, I need you to try to follow my breathing, okay? Deep breath in, hold… and out,”

You do your best to listen and follow. After several repetitions, your focus narrows and for a brief time your world is just Vex’s hands, Vex’s voice.

Vex, Vex, Vex.

What you mean to say, once you find your voice, is thank you, but what comes out is, “I’m sorry.”

For a long moment you start to start to doubt you managed to say anything at all, but then you hear her give a slight hum.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks, and you shake your head because that is the last thing you want to do. --from Avarus

[loverboybrightsideghost]

1 and 9 for artist asks!! (and 12 if you feel like it)

1 .what is your favorite color to work with?

hmmmmmm. i honestly can't be sure. i have thought long and hard and i keep going "oh i like pink! but pink with darker pink and red and purple and yellow" until whatever color i start with i just end up going around the color wheel hdvfbgndjcbd. so all of them i guess? but i do particularly like adding shading/lighting to skin tones, it's a fun challenge for me! that's my favorite part of coloring if i ever get that far w a drawing.

9. what drawing program do you use? (if the artist does digital art)

i use this app called autodesk on ipad. it's free and it's actually pretty good but i have my issues with it [dramatically stares into the distance]. no but fr it's good. sharp glaze + glaze brush my beloved <3 i also use csp sometimes :)

12. draw one of your favorite characters in 15 seconds.

gsfxgsxvsxhsx this is the best i could do

[nezhanetwork]

last life bdubs and tango together cuz i'm delusional

[dafry-shenanigans]

Randy: IS HE DEAD?!?

Jake: ...No, he's just tired

Not being able to tell if your half ghost friend is dead or just dead tired is kinda hard sometimes-

[narsh-poptarts]

rivals to enemies to friends speedrun 100% NMG

[thedeadthree]

⚖️ 𝐇𝐄𝐃𝐘 -`. fo(tv) • 🥂 𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐀 “𝐃𝐎𝐓” fo(tv)

🩺 𝐘𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐀 -`. fo3 • 💄 𝐀𝐍𝐀 -`. fo4

🌞 𝐂𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀 -`. the witcher • 🌌 𝐃𝐀𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀 -`. asoiaf

🐇 𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐀 -`. bg3 • 🐦‍⬛ 𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐀 -`. vtm

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 @marivenah, @rhettsabbott, @kyber-infinitygems, @crownrots, @loriane-elmuerto, @risingsh0t and @a-treides to use this 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰!! ty sm!!

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆:

@girliefailure, @bloodofvalyria, @shadowsofrose, @hartsvale, @jendoe

@queennymeria, @faerune, @rosenfey, @grapecaseschoices, @griffin-wood

@carlosoliveiraa, @aezyrraeshh, @avallachs, @florbelles, @unholymilf

@katsigian, @hookhearted, @theelderhazelnut, @rolangf, @shellibisshe

@loriane-elmuerto, @jennystahl, @roberthouse69, @lavampira, @celticwoman

@aceghosts, @imogenkol, @zevlor, @vanoefucks, @shadowglens

@confidentandgood, @adelaidedrubman, @socially-awkward-skeleton, @full---ofstarlight and you!!

[napstawantstosleep]

A guide about Eret fan artists made by an Eret fan artist for both Eret and their fan artists

[mandiemegatron]

ミ💖 𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐘𝐨𝐮 💖彡

𝐀 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐠𝐚𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐰 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭

𝐋𝐚𝐰 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐭)

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 : 𝐆

𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵. 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶!

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

A/N : HELLO MY LIL TANGERINES!!! Here it is! Finally, my birthday piece for my husband, I love him so much and I had so many feels writing this 😭😭😭 I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did writing it, I love you all so much !!! (If u see any errors.... no u don't 💖)

𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒚 ; @baka-tsuki // @baka-tsuki-2 ♡

Law was not a fan of his birthday.

The Heart Pirates knew to keep to themselves for the day, even though deep down they wished for nothing more than to celebrate their amazing Captain. Years flew by in the blink of an eye, his birthday passing over and over without so much as a cake or gift, except for the ones given by Bepo, Penguin and Shachi.

Then Y/N came along.

Waking to a good handful blown up balloons wandering around his office, his brows furrowed with a deep frown across his face in confusion. Glancing at the clock, he realized he'd only slept about three hours, and by the amount of balloons that were floating around-

His thoughts stopped as his door creaked open slightly and a gift bag was shuffled in, a familiar hand quickly pulling back and closing the door. Law narrowed his eyes at the gift with a low sigh, hearing the rapid footsteps leaving his door.

Laws hands clenched into fists as he stared at the gift bag, forcing himself to take a deep breath before he finally walked towards it. He bent down slightly and picked it up, giving a soft hum in surprise at the weight.

Slowly making his way back to his desk, he flopped down in his chair tiredly, a tattooed hand running through messy hair with a loud yawn leaving him at the same time. He simply stared at the gift until the door opened and in came Bepo, a fresh cup of tea in his paws.

"Good morning, Captain!"

Law gave his best friend a withering look, accepting the mug with a nod of thanks as he sighed down at the gift once again.

"...I don't think anyone told her."

Laws eyes flickered back to Bepo at his meek voice, an almost anxious look on the Minks face as he took in his Captains state.

"... it's fine."

Bepo quickly gave his report before giving a salute, murmuring quickly, "Happy birthday!" before running out the door before Law could retort with a snap. The Heart Pirate Captain grunted in irritation and huffed as he threw his face into his palms, rubbing at his aching eyes roughly before pulling away with another huff.

Glaring at the card taped to the simple paper bag, little Heart Pirate crests hand drawn all over it, he ripped it off the bag and opened it, wanting to get it done and over with.

His motions slowed as he took in the hand-made card, his fingers gently running over the front with another deep-set frown. He could tell the love and effort Y/N had put into it.

Opening it, his heart slumped through the floor as he took in all the loving words and signatures from everyone on the ship, the thought touching Law, though he gave a low "Tsk," a hand covering the lower half of his face as he read everything over.

His eyebrows furrowed again as he realized Y/N hadn't signed it, giving the card a flip over and he felt tears prickle his eyes as he took in the words she'd written on the back.

Law,

I'm so proud of you for doing your best to be okay.

I'm proud of you for waking up and trying.

I'm so proud of you for being here today because I know some of your yesterday's were really hard.

You are going to get through whatever you go through, because you're not alone anymore.

I hope you fight for yourself when no one else does and I hope you know you are worthy of your wildest dreams.

You are someone worth fighting for.

Keep going.

Love always,

Y/N. ♡

Throwing the card down on his desk a little more aggressively than he meant to, he sat back in his chair with his arms crossed tight across his chest, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall.

He absolutely loathed how hard her words hit, his heart both racing and sinking in his chest, his hands gripping his arms as he chewed the inside of his bottom lip.

He stewed for a good hour, his eyes never leaving the card. It was like it was made of poison and he would get sick if he touched it again, but it felt like his hands burned to touch it once more. He fought with himself over and over until he finally went for the gift, pulling out four individually wrapped items.

Ripping the first one open, he let out an almost inaudible gasp, his hands brushing over the cover of a First Edition of Sora : Warrior of the Seas. Opening it to the first page, he noted with pure excitement that it was not only number 4 out of millions of copies, but it was signed.

Child like excitement ran over him as he held the book to his chest, an overwhelming feeling of gratitude encompassing him. His hands shook slightly as he put the book down, his fingers almost not wanting to leave it in case it burst into dust under his touch.

He finally went for the next gift, opening the smaller package and giving a shaky, soft laugh as he looked over the Commemorative Collectors Coins, four of them in total.

Alabasta, Logue Town, Fishman Island...

Flevance.

Wide, teary eyes took in the coin, slightly dented and marred from its years of being traded; he noted it looked recently polished and he immediately broke down, his free hand covering his face as he silently wept into his palm.

He didn't know how long he cried for, the coin tight in his fist and indenting his skin to the point of almost bruising it. When his eyes finally stopped shedding tears, he looked back up and gave a watery sigh, picking up the next gift, the coin still in his other hand.

He smiled softly at the new pen, turning it over and chuckling to himself as he noted his name etched into the side of it, along with a new, lined journal. He flipped the book open and hummed softly, taking in the small words Y/N wrote on the first inner page.

For when things just don't make sense... write it out! ♡

He opened the last gift and immediately threw it on, the handmade scarf black and yellow striped with his ensignia embroidered on both ends soft against his neck. His hands ran over the high quality yarn with an amazed look, surprised by how well it was made.

A knock on his door caused him to jump, quickly throwing everything back into the bag and gently placing it under his desk, though his hometown coin remained on his desk, just off to the side.

"Come in."

Y/N poked her head in and his heart leapt into his throat at her expression, sadness and worry written across her face as she stepped in. She closed the door behind her and walked the three steps to his desk, sitting down at the chair in front of it and immediately opened her mouth to speak, only to stop at Law raised his hand.

"I have something to say, first. If you don't mind."

His words grew quiet by the end, almost nervous as he took a breath and slowly continued,

"I... had a very... wild childhood, as you would put it. How you knew about my hometown..."

He shook his head as she went to reply, anxiety clear in her eyes.

"I don't know who told you, but I am incredibly grateful to you for what you gave me. This is an irreplaceable gift, Y/N."

His eyes softened as he continued a little quieter,

"A very thoughtful gift. I am incredibly thankful."

Reaching down, he pulled out the book and pursed his lips into a thin line, unable to contain his excitement as he then asked,

"How did you find this? Do you know how rare these are?"

Y/N gave a relieved sigh before laugh lightly,

"Incredibly rare. It's uh," She scratched her cheek as she looked of to the side, her cheeks tinted pink. "It was mine. I have number 4 and 5, and who better to give the signed edition to but Sora's biggest fan?"

Law clutched the book to his chest again, his inner child literally screaming and running around in his head at her words.

"... What did I do to deserve such kindness?"

Turning her eyes back to him, she gave him a wide, genuine grin as she cheekily replied,

"You may not like your birthday, but I like your birthday... and I think that's reason enough to celebrate."

Smiling back at her, he placed the book down on his desk and rose from his chair, moving around his desk and gently grasping her hands, pulling her from her own chair and into his arms tightly.

The two were silent for a while, her head on his chest and arms around his waist as his arms cradled her to him, his cheek resting on the top of her head comfortably. After a few moments, Laws voice suddenly rumbled out softly,

"... I think I can deal with that."

Y/N chuckled into his chest, the sound and feeling causing his heart to dance in his ribs like a wild drum.

"For the rest of your life?"

Law laughed slightly, grinning into his hair as he replied,

"I, at the very least, think I could handle another year with you."

Y/N was silent for a moment, simply squeezing him lovingly before she finally murmured out,

"... Happy birthday, Law."

[stick-by-me]

Bundles of joy!

New follower sticker for: @paigrsblog!

(Alas I'm missing one of the set! You can see the full collection here.)

[princessg3rard]

hi yes guys how does one recover from screaming the entire mcr discography with beautiful strangers all night ??

asking for a friend

[shokupanko]

HI UM... your art is eye-catching but i just saw that ur requests are open SO. (about to request deepweb UTAUs) could you doodle a dr. dareka and nurse robot type_t pls?? i dont see much about them especially dareka and im obsessed w him cries. my sis is obsessed with the nurse instead SO IT COMES UP PRETTY HANDY THANK YOU

I can’t believe someone else knows them! 〜(^∇^〜）

[iristhedeadflower]

did somebody say pride month a week away?

DCLA aficionados, i've got you covered for the month of June! say hello to the first ever edition of DCLA PRIDE MONTH!

i had the idea to dedicate this special month to the queer couples we love from our favourite shows. a while back i asked my friends (couldn't have done it without their help as we all know i haven't watched 2/3rds of these shows lol) and thanks to their help and support, the dcla pride month 2023 is now officially happening!

please feel free to join in the fun by writing, drawing, editing, pretty much doing anything you want to celebrate the pairings that you love the most! tag me in your content and ill make sure to reblog and share anything you come up with. let your imagination run free, and most importantly, have fun! i want this to be as an exciting and enjoyable month as possible, don't feel forced to join in or to do every day at all!

as you can see every day is dedicated to a ship with june 27th being d+la day (choose a queer ship for any d+la show you enjoy) and the last three days are wild cards for any couples i might have missed or that are already in the calendar, but you just wanna make content for them again!

but that's all from me...start your engines, june's a little more than a week away! <3

[wexhappyxfew]

Hi Shannon! For the prompts “We’re a package deal” with Bessie? - @lostloveletters

hey battie ( @lostloveletters )!!!! thanks so much for the prompt - i absolutely LOVED the idea of this prompt with my girl bessie!! :) let's just say, the ideas started flowing immediately and i loved where this prompt ended up taking me, so please enjoy bessie carlisle and carrie achterberg, the two peas in a pod! enjoy!

______________________________________________________________

"Oh god, I look horrific," Carrie muttered, shifting in the bed, face slick with sweat, her eyes half-open, "don't let Dougie come in here, I can't deal with that today." Bessie chuckled quietly and leaned back in her chair arms crossed.

"You really didn't miss much, he didn't mind subbing in today on the run," Bessie said with a grin her way, "I swear to ya. And he was a real sweetheart about it, too. Made sure not to be too finicky with your stuff you've set up and such."

"Well, I appreciate you keeping an eye on things," Carrie said with a small smile, "how'd things go?" Bessie shrugged.

"Business as usual," Bessie said quietly, "loss two forts."

"Who?"

"Glassmacher and Thompson." Bessie offered and Carrie nodded.

"Any chutes?" Bessie shook her head.

"Annie chewed Douglass out a bit," Bessie offered and she watched Carrie, cuddled against the pillow, raise a brow, "he started telling some, arguably, pretty bad jokes over comms, she kinda lost it on him, told him he oughta shut his trap if they're going to fly this metal box and back." Carrie smirked from behind the pillow.

"Annie Bradshaw, the woman you are. That's karma for him," she said with a wet laugh that turned into a cough, before she cleared up. Bessie reached over and grabbed the cup of stagnant water that had been persistent at her bedside and offered it to her.

"Thanks, Bes," Carrie murmured, taking down the water and then letting out a disgruntled sigh and falling back onto the bed, "God, I'm the worst patient." Bessie let out a light laugh and leaned forward.

"Just try and get yourself better before the next mission, was missing you today, and even though Dougie and you are carbon copies of each other, there was no replacing you up there," Bessie said, "Annie called him Bergie too many times to count." Carrie chuckled.

"When do you think this shit will go away?" sighed Carrie, staring at the ceiling, "I just have lied here and stared at the roof like a French painting."

"What type of French paintings do you look at?" a new voice chimed in and the duo looked up to find James Douglass there, a smile on his face, a cup of soup in his hands and a small smile on his face, "Probably pretty fucked up ones, huh?" Bessie looked from Douglass' face to Carries and watched as Carrie slowly smiled up at him, her sickness playing a bigger role than their usual bickering and sat up a bit.

"You could say that," she offered. Douglass grinned and then came forward and sat on the edge of the bed and held out the soup.

"Figured you'd want something warm," he said, and then reached into a pocket and pulled out a spoon and napkin, "maybe it'll stay down, too."

"Thanks, Dougie," she said quietly, moving to sit up a bit more, "kept down some crackers and water. Bes tried with some juice…didn't go too well." Douglass glanced towards Bessie, where Bessie offered a sad shrug of the shoulders.

"Well," Douglass said, pulling the top off the soup, "my Ma always made sure to try out soup if anything, even just the broth. Some protein, some liquid that's more than just water. Usually always does the trick."

"Your Ma must be a tough woman," Carrie said quietly and Bessie watched as Carrie gazed at him lazily, "dealing with you and your stubbornness." Douglass grinned.

"When she brought out the fucking soup, I knew she was serious," Douglass said softly with a chuckle. They fell quiet for a minute as Douglass stirred the soup and Carrie watched.

"Alright, c'mon, open up," Douglass said, "no way in hell am I playing the choo-choo train game with you." Carrie admonished and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not 5, Dougie," she murmured, before seeming to give up and sighing, the fact she was feeling less than good, taking over.

"C'mon," Douglass said quietly, raising a brow. Slowly, he brought broth to Carrie's lips and she took it and kept it down - at least half the cup of soup - and then she curled on her side and fell promptly asleep.

Bessie sat there for a while, Douglass there on the edge of the bed, the two of them in silence as some of the nurses bustled around, some of the other patients being taken care of or moved about the place. Bessie watched Douglass reach forward and brush some of the sweat-laden hair from Carrie's cheeks and away from her eyes, before slowly standing to his feet, leaving the soup at her bedside and then shoving his hands in his pockets. He looked to Bessie with a small smile and nodded at her.

"If you need to go and get some food, Bes, I'll stay with her," Douglass said, "I don't mind. You were working overtime up there." Bessie looked up at him quickly, crossing her arms and leaned back against the chair, a wide grin spreading on her face as she watched him.

"It's alright," Bessie said, looking towards Carrie curled up in the bed, "we're a package deal. One of us goes down, the other does what they can. And staying with her is what I can do now, so."

"Two peas in a pod," Douglass said with a grin, before tilting his head and nodding, "seriously, go get yourself something. I'll stay." Bessie smirked.

"She really didn't want you in here," Bessie said, slowly standing to her feet and watching as Douglass' eyes darted towards Carrie before looking back at Bessie, "being sick and all. She's a tough nut to crack so, she just doesn't want people having to worry for her." Douglass let out a soft chuckle.

"She's part of the crew, the 100th, I don't mind bunking out with her here," Douglass said with a soft smile that he only ever used around Carrie and about Carrie," plus….it's Carrie." Bessie tilted her head with a smirk and nodded.

"Alright, Mr. Chivalrous," Bessie said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "do you need me to grab you something? Coffee?"

"Just a coffee would be great, thanks," he said, before looking back at Carrie, "maybe grab a piece of toast with butter. Solid food and all, ya know?" Bessie smiled softly, her heart warming at how attentive he was being about Carrie.

"I'll make sure to butter it up real nice," Bessie said, "if she gets up, let her know where I am." Douglass smiled and gave a two-finger salute.

"Yes, ma'am," he said and she smiled, before giving a lasting look towards Carrie and heading out, a grin on her face.

"Oh James Douglass, the romantic," she whispered with a soft chuckle.

[ricky-mortis]

I feel like every ship with Ted is a crackship bc this man simply should not be in a relationship (until he’s had extensive therapy at least)

Oh- I mean yeah, for sure. However! I do think that one of the great parts of some of these ships with Ted is his opportunity for growth. Just me personally y’know?

I think that while yes, he is in fact in desperate need of therapy, it’s hard for him to actually get to the point of actually seeking it. I imagine he gets there after a lot of talking things out with his partner, and a lot of getting over his pride. He is very self-aware, he absolutely knows that he is messed up, but he sees his way of dealing with it as reasonable, it’s how he’s learned to pretend he’s content. In reality, he knows he’s not, but- is he going to do anything about it? Hell no. At least that’s his perspective until he enters a relationship that isn’t one-sided or strictly sexual. 

I see him learning how to be loved in a way he’s only expressed outwardly. He hadn’t received these kind of feelings since the whole Jenny incident, and it’s scary. But through this he can get over that fear of being left again, of falling for someone who would just leave him at the drop of a hat before he can really get out how he feels. And then he can see that therapy can actually help him. (Now it has been a good two months since I’ve watched Time bastard so this is all entirely based off of my memory and HCs for him).

But yeah, I just like to think about him and that sometimes, ESPECIALLy within the context of Holy Bastard. I don’t see them as a long term thing, but I definitely see it as a relationship that they both grow from. I have a whole note on my phone about it that’s filled with what is essentially the plot of a fic I do not have the skill nor dedication to write.

All that being said, yeah, Ted definitely needs therapy, but I don’t neccessarily think it has to come before a relationship.

Idk, I don’t think I’m very well-spoken but I think I’m getting my meaning across. I adore Ted and think his character has so much terrific potential. 

[moonlit-orchid]

Sasuke: Who is the toughest person you know?

Naruto: Sakura.

Sasuke:... Who is the toughest man person you know?

Sasuke is just fishing for validation here. Naruto isn't gonna give him that-mostly because he doesn't even realise what Sasuke's doing.

Kakashi's watching with pity.

[e-adlirez]

Treasure Seekers 2 go brrrrr

So this sequel... exists :D

Welcome to the second entry in the Treasure Seekers trilogy that I'm gonna ramble about for the next six hours (in me time, in you time it's probably gonna be like thirty minutes or less), if you wanna read it yourself before reading this ramble, here's an Archive copy. Otherwise, enjoy the ride :D

So our story begins with the Thea Sisters locked in a basement in the dark, with Russia's penchant for matches (and the basement's lack of a smoke alarm) coming in clutch. Seems like another vacation's gone awry for them :3 How could it have possibly turned out this way?

Flashback: so the girls are vibing in Moscow, visiting all the cool sights and all that, Pam is wanting to try some Russian cuisine, when they spot this girl that's wearing what appears to be a barrette that used to belong to Aurora's sister Hannah Lane. They follow her a bit, find a THUG JUMPSCARE, follow the girl, Cassidy and co into the building they're heading into, and oh dear door with passcode is in the way. They find this dood Sergei, explain to him the situation, deal with him being like "who is u, and wth are you on about mate" until they hear a scream and oh dear turns out that girl with the barrette is Sergei's sister Irina and she's in trouble.

Sergei opens the door, they go in, walk in on Cassidy, Stan and Max (who I will from now call SM for simplicity) doing their whole thug jumpscare thing and kidnapping Irina in 4K. SM somehow rolls a high enough strength roll (or the girls roll a low enough initiative) that two roughly intimidating guys successfully trap six people into a basement without breaking a sweat get yourself some self-defense classes girls oml, and that's the end of that.

Luke's up to his shenanigans again, and it seems that he's targeted Irina Lenenko for the same reason the girls double-taked at the sight of her barrette: Irina (and Sergei in conjunction) is a descendant of Hannah Lane, and Hannah Lane may or may not have known a thing or two about one of the seven treasures. It's such a shame tho that Irina doesn't wanna spill any of the tea. What's this about a "queen's jewel"?

Oh also Luke has Aurora's third diary. I would like you to pay attention to this detail in particular. Oh and he's keeping Irina ratgrabbed until she tells them what he wants to know from her. Oh naur

Meanwhile the girls infodump all of the TS 1 LANE LOORRREEEE to Sergei in one whole sitting and finally manage to get around to "what the hell does this have to do with my sister". Sergei thinks it's not really possible for Irina to know anything about great-grandma Hannah's involvement with Aurora, but Irina's still in trouble soooo time to solve this nerdy-ass science trivia keypad puzzle to get outa the basement. Irina's nowhere to be found in the lab itself, so they regroup at Sergei's place to use his phone tracker app on his computer.

Bad news, SM dumped Irina's phone somewhere in the lab so the tracker app is useless; good news, while looking for some Lane Lore™ to get some context about the situation, the girls find some Lane Lore™ :D

-

Turns out Aurora was looking for one of the seven treasures again, y'know just updating her sister on that, who'd moved to Saint Petersburg with her husband Ivan.

Seems like Aurora's quest at the time involved "the queen's jewel", which Aurora said she was 1000% down to ramble about to Hannah, maybe when she's done finding all seven treasures and hiding them from Jan.

I would like to take this moment to remind you that Aurora is a British Amelia Earhart, and if you dunno what that means, look up what Earhart was famous for and then look at this with that given context :']

-

With that lead, the girls plus Sergei take a ride on presumably the Krasnaya Strela night train to Saint Petersburg, read some Lane Lore on the way, Peter-Griffin upon realizing that they spent the whole night reading AO3 fanfics Aurora's diaries and it's like 2AM now, land in Saint Petersburg, stop by Nevsky Prospekt Street to have some breakfast (I think they went to Venezia?), and discussion.

(For the rest of this review, please assume when I say "the girls", I'm including Sergei because Sergei tags along with them and helps them out in their entire journey. It's okay, Sergei may be biologically male but he is an honorary female in our hearts /j)

Aurora mentioned the queen's jewel in her diary, and when you're in Russia, the first queen that comes to mind is Catherine II, so maybe something relating to her? Some Lane Lore of Aurora taking interest in Catherine II's Amber Room in her palace specifically confirms their theories, sooooooooo it's time to go to the Amber Room to see if Aurora left any clu--

The girls are about to walk out of the Catherine Palace to Peter Griffin in private when SM JUMPSCARE--

So SM is stalkin' around the Catherine Palace looking for something, so the girls stalk them back and follow them out of the palace, into a car (the girls called a separate taxi to follow them), and to a little gray building in the outskirts of the city. They don't follow SM into the building because it might be dangerous, but Irina's scarf lying around near the premises confirms that Irina was in fact there and possibly being held hostage in the building.

The girls do a little tactic I like to call "the Ding Dong Ditch": Pam and Nicky knock on the door, SM answers it, do a little Metal Gear exclamation point "HOW DID YOU GET HERE", Nicky and Pam book it so SM chases them, and that's literally how the other girls plus Sergei sneak into the building to get Irina out. (You dunno how badly I wanted to make a videogame reference for this but I couldn't find anything so here we are--)

With that, the girls plus the Lenenko siblings book it outa there without SM being none the wiser (seriously it doesn't even cross their mind that there are more than two Thea Sisters, that's how dum they are). Irina books a hotel room at a friend's place and gives them some extra Lane Lore that she never told Klawitz despite the interrogations:

Hannah Lane was once visited by Aurora unexpectedly, a little after Hannah and her husband moved to a house near the Ob River, in Siberia. Possible lead :3c? The girls think maybe, so they decide to head on over to the exact address in Novosibirsk, Siberia.

In Siberia, the girls cross the frozen Ob River in Novosibirsk to this abandoned little house, where they find this little note with a riddle that talks about Cleopatra and an emerald she had at one point, and CASSIDY JUMPSCARE--

Cassidy busts in, snatches the note and books it away on her snowmobile before the girls can even react. You may be wondering, how the hell did Cassidy get there and know where they were? The answer is the same as the reason behind the SM jumpscares in Russia and in book 1, and that is Luke.

Luke Von Klawitz is doing a little segment that I like to call: Luke Touch Grass, where it becomes increasingly clear that Luke's spent way too much time on 4Chan (/j but you'll see what I mean). Luke hears about SM's failure and facepalms. Then he calls his friend Petrovski, who has access to the database of all of Russia's airports, for help tracking down "six mice leaving Saint Petersburg". Petrovski gives him results in minutes: the girls and Sergei are leaving Saint Petersburg and heading for Novosibirsk, Siberia (most likely Tolmachevo Airport). With that intel, Klawitz looks into his own database of Aurora Beatrix Lane, finds a picture of Hannah and Aurora together, and uses his own version of Google Lens to figure out the exact coordinates where the picture was taken, which happens to be in Novosibirsk, Siberia.

No this man does not in fact canonically touch grass on the regular, who's asking

Anyway so he sent Cassidy the coords, instructions and Aurora's diary to go, and that's how Cassidy walked in on the girls in that little abandoned hut next to Ob River. Only thing is uh, she dropped her purse on the way out. A purse that just so happened to contain Aurora's diary that Luke gave her.

So the girls scoop that puppy up and assume that the treasure is Cleopatra's emerald, thus they think it's in Egypt.

So the girls go to Egypt :D (29 and a half hour flight there good god no wonder they conked out in the plane--)

The girls read some Lane Lore, something about Aurora finding the treasure and hiding it somewhere in a desert, in an "expanse pure and white" that a star compass will lead to. First thing the girls think of at the desert bit is the White Desert (Sahara el Beyda), specifically a spot near Cleopatra's pool, so they leave the airport (not realizing Cassidy is following them now) and head over to a market to buy some supplies because might I remind you, they initially went to Moscow, Russia for vacation.

While in the market, Pam meets a guy named Omar. Pam tells him a little bit about them going to Cleopatra's pool in Sahara el Beyda, and she finds out that Omar just so happens to be an Archaeology major in Oxford University who's here on his summer vacation and works as a guide for Sahara el Beyda, and is more than down to give the girls a tour. Talk about lucky :D

The next day the girls take the scenic route and after a while make it to Siwa, where Omar books a room in a hotel for them, and the girls find this interesting myth there about Cleopatra that I will summarize here:

Cleopatra was once given a jewel that maxes out the owner's rizz and the effect is supposedly indefinite. Cleopatra liked the jewel so much that she wore it on her crown at all times... until she grew a bit self-conscious about the gem's maxxed rizz effect and how everyone kept eyeing the emerald a second too long for comfort, so she decided to hide away said rizz in a spot where none of her rivals could get to it. Oh and uh Cleopatra wrote up a dedication to Ra that's hella cryptic too.

One long rest later, the girls go to Cleopatra's pool on a donkey cart. Yes, a donkey cart. It was Omar's idea. Speaking of Omar, prepare yourself buddy because the girls have dubiously decided to give you some Lane Lore to chew on. O-oh you like it a lot. A lot a lot. Well okay cool, maybe you can help out, cool.

The girls manage to figure out the riddle in Cleopatra's dedication, find a little stone coffer that has the queen's treasure and-- SM JUMPSCARE

With a donkey as the girls' only escape method and Omar having suddenly disappeared, a scuffle ensues where the girls play hot potato with the box until SM gets their hands on it and opens it, and here we get a very accurate depiction of what SM and the girls found in the box once it was actually opened.

Description: a hand made of salt shaped in an upside-down "ok" symbol, circa 1920s-30s.

The sheer whiplash of this leaves both sides of the conflict losing enough HP that they're all on red-- SM is blaming the girls for this (how dare >:[) and dip. Omar is gone, and all the girls get as compensation is the empty box and a letter from Aurora telling them that they'll know to read the hidden clues. The girls head back feeling very hollow and dead inside, and this is the one time one of the girls questions how the hell did SM know they were at Siwa. I mean they never get any answer to this (kinda), but it is a milestone! They're aware of it now!

Once they get back to Cairo, they ask around and find that Omar's completely up and vanished, and they decide they'll just head back to Moscow since their investigation has come to a dead end. On the way, Pam comments about the falafel she bought being hella salty, which leads Violet to an epiphany that hey, the Sahara isn't the only desert that exists, let alone the only desert known for how white it is (like how Boracay Beach is known for how white and fine its sand is, but it's not the only white sand beach that exists). A quick Google search (and a long flight (35 HOURS CAIRO TO SUCRE???)) leads them to the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.

Nicky reserves a room for them at Hotel Luna Salada (a real place you can book a stay at actually :D), and they make a friend by the name of Adriana, a local waitress in the hotel restaurant. Adriana helps them pick out a dessert, fills them in on some stuff about the Salar since the girls came here 100% out of impulse, and talks about possible itinerary locations to go to, like the Isla de Pescado, Tiwanaku (the "Gate of the Sun"), Lake Titiaca, and Laguna Colorada. Y'know, typical tourist stuff, and Adriana was so kind to show them pictures she took when she visited said places herself! :D

Anyway so while the girls long rest, Luke is mulling about in his base waiting for updates. Someone calls him about the whole Egypt thing, and Luke calls the girls incompetent? Rude, oh and something about the caller being Luke's "secret weapon". Cassidy calls him on a theory she has about the gemstone being in Cleopatra's palace, and since the girls are currently long-resting (which means they aren't doing anything), Luke figures that a little diving trip in Alexandria to search for the gem with Cassidy won't hurt. Besides, he still has his secret weapon.

Oh yeah and he knows the girls are long resting because he has a drone in Bolivia spying on them and showing him their every move. Touch grass, Luke. No, going on a diving trip in Alexandria doesn't count, there's barely any grass there /j

Morning comes in Bolivia, and the girls head out early to search the Salar as much as they can. They look around the flat white desert, eat some late breakfast, toy around with forced perspective camera shenanigans for a bit, and read up on some LANE LOOORREEEEE

So Aurora's been to Pumapunku and Tiwanaku which is cool, she paid a visit to the archaeological site probably and that's really cool. She says something about hiding the queen's treasure in a fish's stomach covered in very fine thorns. Sergei ends up having an epiphany, and that leads the girls to Isla de Pescado, which just so happens to be "Fish Island" in Spanish, and has cacti on it, it's all coming together :D

Oh and the fish drawing Aurora made is coords to the treasure seemingly so that's cool-- OMAR JUMPSCARE

The girls are very surprised to find Omar joining them, and Omar explains that he booked it when SM came over and lost his cellphone as a result. However, he managed to figure out that Aurora's riddle was about salt and not sand, and decided to head on over to Bolivia since he assumed that's where the girls are going. How did he find them? It was just out of pure coincidence, and also the fact that the girls are extremely recognizable. Hm.

Anyway, Paulina plugs the coordinates into her GPS and leads the girls plus Omar to a little cave at the bottom of a little embankment. The girls find that, lo and behold, there's an old tin box containing a bright green emerald!

Meanwhile Luke is not finding anything in Alexandria haha L, LVK L get dunked on Luke, Cassidy girlie that's not a man to simp for find someone else gurl-- oh dear Luke is alerted that the treasure has been found and now he's planning on heading over to Bolivia? Now how could he possibly know that?

In the meantime, I dunno what's up in the air or if it's the Archaeology major speaking in him but Omar's really invested in this treasure, even more so than the girls to the degree that the girls are a little freaked out by it-- RHEA JUMPSCARE-- Paulina calms the big bord down and gets it to not trample Omar please, he's still a friend of theirs. Colette picks up this blue notebook Omar seems to have dropped.

The girls plus Omar head back to the SUVs, and Omar is really trying to persuade the girls that he should bring it back to Cairo. The girls are not jazzed at the idea because Omar bringing it back alone will be too unsafe, y'know with Luke and Cassidy and SM and all. They gotta think about this rationally-- WHOA OKAY OMAR calm your man tits buddy why are you demanding they trust you like you automatically deserve your trust-- ohh that's how Klawitz has known about the girls' whereabouts, Omar was working as a double agent.

So yeah Omar snatches the box from Colette and drives off in his SUV, leaving the girls in the dust. The girls freak out and are feeling that EMOTIONAL DAMAGE, but Colette for some reason is very calm about Omar booking it with the emerald. And that's because SHE HAS IT :D she did a lil' switcheroo so now the emerald's with her while the box is with Omar.

For context about how Colette knew about this, remember the blue notebook Omar dropped? Yeah that notebook was a company LVK notebook, straight from Luke himself. Then after Colette saw it, everything about Omar became incredibly sus, so she performed this precautionary measure.

So now the girls talk to the local authorities about how the whole thing with the emerald is gonna go down, and soon the girls are waiting for a plane back to Moscow.

As for Omar, well, he goes over to Luke's super-fancy hotel in La Paz, Bolivia, and he hands the box to Luke, explicitly stating that he decided he'd let Luke open it before he himself can appreciate it.

Luke opens the box, and here we see an accurate depiction of what Luke sees.

Description: an upside-down "ok" symbol drawn in strawberry pink lip balm, signed Colette [insert last name], circa 2018.

Luke punts the box (prolly with the lip balm still inside it) into the swimming pool, tells Omar to get out, and that's the end of that. Haha Omar L Luke L

The girls head back to Moscow to drop Sergei off when SURPRISE PARTY BY IRINA'S SQUAD :DDD

Then the girls are about to return to Whale Island to presumably Peter Griffin in their dorms, when Colette suggests they make a journal a la Aurora Beatrix Lane, and they do. In a pink notebook because it was Colette's idea so we might as well give her that

And they take a black-and-white group picture of them wearing adventurer clothes like Aurora would've done. The brainrot is real, these girls are mentally ill /j

And that's the book :D

... Honestly it's the most meh out of the trilogy besides the big-brain bits in the middle and the end imo

The writing was so much more stilted in this one, even for Scholastic standards, and everything feels pretty..... kid's book. Even more so than the usual in the book's English translations. I do readings for the books in some of my Discords, and this book did not read well at aaallll. And I haven't even mentioned the typos in the book (they're not a lot, but they exist, and they're kinda egregious :D) and some grammar errors if I'm remembering things correctly. It might just be a translation thing-- I worry a bit for the translator who had to put this together.

Luke's character here is also kinda wonk? For one we see him directly contradict his anti-friendship spiel in TS 1 since he literally greets Petrovski like a friend (maybe it's a "friendship doesn't exist except in 4Chan" thing, I dunno). Then in the middle of the book, he gets... very Disney villain-y. The most egregious example here is the chapter "Lurking in the Shadows", where as you can see

I am confusion?? Luke has been described as a to-the-point brat who hardly cares for the means to his end (unless it will impact his ability to achieve the end) and is so fixated on his goal that he doesn't touch grass. Is this not-touching-grass behavior? Yeah, definitely, but this??? This is too Disney villain???? Why does the man break into an evil cackle in front of Cassidy???? I understood it in book 1 because man thinks he's doing a "You may think you have outsmarted me but I have OUTSMARTED YOUR OUTSMARTING", but this one?? Maybe it's my personal taste, but it's too cartoonish and too... deviated from what we know of him up to this point.

ALSO TWIRLING HIS MUSTACHE? WHAT MUSTACHE IS HE TWIRLING THAT THING IS NOT TWIRL-ABLE

Also time to address the one big plot hole in this book: Aurora's diary.

So in this book there's only one diary, which is infinitely simpler than the two we got in the first book. This diary supposedly contains Aurora's records of her mission in hiding Cleopatra's Rizzmerald, and the details are supposedly vague enough that Luke felt the need to kidnap and interrogate Irina, a Hannah Lane descendant, to fill in the blanks. However, when you look at the contents of the diary itself (which lord knows how many times Luke himself has looked through it), there's hardly any blanks that need to be filled, at least if you're Luke.

The diary itself is mostly in the background-- like I said, not as much Lane Lore here as the previous book, the girls mostly rely on Aurora's letters to Hannah here-- but there's one specific entry the girls read in the latter half of the book that explicitly mentions Pumapunku and Tiwanaku, and how Aurora is there for her mission to hide the emerald. Complete with coordinates hidden in a little drawing! My one question I have for Luke is, why didn't he go straight to Bolivia and started searching there? Why did he go through all the effort of kidnapping Irina, tailing the girls around Sahara el Beyda, letting SM fall for the salt replica gambit, left his base to touch grass and go on a dive with Cassidy in Egypt; all if he could've just gone straight to Bolivia to look for the treasure there? Sure, Aurora did a good job hiding the coordinates in the fish doodle, but someone as observant and as obsessed about the outcome instead of the journey like Luke would rather have sidestepped all the Aurora shenanigans and beelined straight to the goal if he was able to.

Luke hardly has an excuse here because he owned the diary at the start of the book, and most definitely read through it many times (and we know he's the type to do this, see TS 1). The plot hole is plot hole-ing, it seems :/

Maybe it was just an excuse for the girls to get a giant glowing arrow pointing in the direction of the treasure? It certainly feels like it.

Anyway, the things that carry this book and made it memorable when I first read it (and allowed me to ignore the iffy bits) are the gottems and Omar as a character. Aurora setting up a salt replica of the Rizzmerald as a gottem in a time capsule, only to be opened almost a hundred years later to still be as potent as intended when it was made so long ago? That is amazing, like c'mon, pure comedy material.

Even funnier is Colette doing the exact same thing, only with her lip balm. Luke is quaking in his bougie-ass leather boots.

Now for Omar. This may be a hot take of mine here, but Omar's sus-ness is actually at a decent level compared to the girls and what they usually deal with. On one hand, Omar is incredibly suspicious with how incredibly lucky the girls are to find an Archaeology Oxford major working as a Sahara el Beyda tour guide; but on the other hand, the girls had almost the exact same situation with Diego in Mexico (I didn't mention him in the first review, but he came in clutch in TS 1).

The girls met Diego in Merida, Mexico, and he helped them with their research into "the invisible place", which happened to be Uxmal, along the Puuc Route. Diego also just so happened to be a tour-guide-in-training for the Puuc Route, which was the place the girls just so happened to need to go to find Aurora's second journal.

In comparison, the girls meet Omar in Khan El-Khalili while they were looking for supplies for their trip to the Siwa Oasis. It comes up in conversation that the girls are headed to Siwa, and Omar just so happened to be a tour guide for Sahara el Beyda, which was where the Siwa Oasis is, and it just so happened to be where the girls needed to go. When you stack them up together, it made perfect sense that the girls thought they could trust him-- Diego didn't know much about their trip and helped them the best he could (which was a lot), so why wouldn't Omar do the same? He's an Oxford Archaeology major, too, for crying out loud, the girls struck gold in the end!

Gold that was too shiny and too good to be true. Gold that was, in the end, nothing more than pyrite, fool's gold.

Omar is a good case for why you should be careful with who you trust, and when you should start thinking a little bit when you're getting a little too lucky with the people you meet. When the girls got to know him a little more and decided to trust him and tell him the deal with their trip, he got way invested in the gem-- too invested to not be a little bit suspicious. Maybe the girls mistook it for his passion for his archaeology major, maybe they mistook it for something else-- but whatever the case, Omar pulled the cheesecloth over the girls' eyes and really only fell apart near the end, when his alibis and behavior started becoming more and more suspicious; and by then, Omar didn't need to be as inconspicuous, and the girls had gotten to know him too much to readily say to him "okay buddy can you kindly f%ck off, your vibes are not vibing here".

The girls probably should've been suspicious when Omar reappeared in Bolivia out of nowhere, but I guess his alibi was just good enough (and the girls at this point were probably running on adrenaline, caffeine and a brain on 70% capacity at most) to pass the Deception check.

Fr tho there were some bits where the girls should've found him sus but they didn't (him accidentally saying "I did it" when they uncovered the emerald, and also him handling the emerald the way he did), so shrugs. It could be a translation thing, but it could also be something else.

Anyway, kinda meh for a sequel, but it does have its standouts that allow it to somewhat stand on the same level as the first and third books. Kinda.

Hey, at least it's not as bad as Crystal Fairies-- that's the bar of bad-ness I'm setting. It's not as bad as Crystal Fairies and that's what matters--

Also special thanks to @ishmeowwow (it won't let me ping you for some reason bestie <:[) for making the lil' artworks haha