#the story behind why this one is in color for once is hilarious and an accident

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

so recently i decided to roll the 'what will my human!pericles look like This Time' roulette again, only this time in color for once! it's always itched at me how his design looks like a totally different person before and after the timeskip, having been through the wringer aside, so i thought i'd take a shot at combining my interpretation of the two. (the creators pretty obviously took cues from his voice actor for his present-day design, and it's been fun to draw on that too while still keeping the design my own.)

i mostly like how it's turned out, as far into it as i managed to get before i had to take a break and my executive function stalled out; i kept putting off posting it, meaning to come back and finish it later, but i finally decided to go ah fuck it i'd rather it be out there unfinished than disappear into my sketch folder forever. or get fucked up by my trying to continue it while Not in the Groove, especially given how difficult the painting tools i've got available are to wrangle with. Sometimes You Just Gotta Call It

there's a lot of things i'm eyeing to hammer out more next time--i can never seem to figure out what the hell to do with his hair, for one; for another they did a great job at getting across 'babyface that has become aged/haggard' with his designs, and that balance can be difficult to nail when the art app i use really brings out the Everyone is Soft and Babyface in my artstyle. it's a real bastard, but i liked drawing him with this brush a lot and i'm looking forward to working it out more if i can.

the upshot of this is Lo, Cunty Grandpa Be Upon Ye

bonus flats, including an early-to-mid-twenties edit, as well as a couple speed doodles from the same page:

[sp0o0kylights]

You know what I want to see, I want to see more of Steve, Eddie, and Robin being 1980s small town kids from Indiana, by which I mean;

Robin is The Source of Gay Knowledge purely because her parents host Hippie Christmas and she managed to sneak away to find a neat bookstore in Indiana once. 

Her knowledge is not in depth. It's patchy, woven together through rumors, stories she heard or things she picked up from her parents' old pictures. She's got a handful of zines, one book, and some movies she managed to order for Family Video behind Keith's back.

She acts like she's Queen of the Queers because in Hawkins she pretty much is.

(Max and El ask her what a lavender marriage is once, something they overheard snooping around. 

Robin confidentially answers that it's code for when one woman dresses up as a man, fooling officials into wedding two woman.

She does not live this down two years later when they find out what it actually means.) 

Eddie doesn't spend every weekend in Indianapolis. 

Gas is expensive, his busiest days of his "job" is Friday and Saturday, and he has no fucking clue what the hanky code is. 

He's wearing that bandana because Metallica front singer James Hetfield has one on all their tour posters. 

Eddie does make it down to a gay bar though, by accident. Rick needed some back up for a shady deal. Promised Eddie a boatload of free drugs to sell if he agreed to just stand there and look mean. 

He was warned the bar they were meeting in was 'weird' and to not 'freak out' --which Eddie thought was hilarious given his nickname and general appearance, but whatever.

He doesn't understand when they get there, because it's just a bunch of hot men with hanky's in their back pockets everywhere.

Then he sees two women kissing and it clicks. 

He can't out himself in front of Rick, but one of the bartenders playfully dresses him down for his own hanky, letting him know all about the code and teasing him through his embarrassment. 

He's got an offer to come back and learn what color and which pocket his hanky should actually be in, a prospect Eddie was salivating at until Chrissy Cunningham up and died on his ceiling.

(He still wore the hanky, because the feeling of that bartender tugging it out and stuffing it back in might be the closest thing he's ever had to sex and he absolutely wants a repeat. 

He's young and horny, sue him.) 

Steve Harrington may not be academically smart but he's not dumb. 

He figured out a while back that the basketball team as a unit probably crossed the queer line more than once--or at least it did before Hargrove came in. 

( Brad Handly for example, went around slamming kids into lockers and screaming slurs like a fucking movie villain one Monday because the varsity team got dead drunk at Laura's party on Sunday and hey, look, there weren't that many girls there, okay?

They all had fucking hands and mouths. Everybody but Tommy was single and hot to trot. Nothing gay about it.

Its not even like they were kissing or treating each other like chicks. It was just Brad's first time and they got to tease him later for overthinking it. 

Dude graduated soon enough after and given Steve was on the team as a sophomore, he hadn't thought about the guy and why he might be freaking out so bad in years.) 

Robin's entire panic attack at Starcourt, and a few more after had Steve replaying that whole incident. Reframed it a bit, and, yeah.

In retrospect that had been extremely gay, actually. 

It sat with him a lot easier than he'd thought it would. Partially because of Robin, but mostly because that's just who he was.

Stranger things had happened to Steve and this one didn't want to kill, maim or otherwise eat him, so it got filed under 'interesting facts he should never tell his parents if he wanted to keep his trust fund' and then he went about his day. 

(Or he tried too, anyways.

It caught up to him when Eddie and Robin somehow figured out the other was queer and dragged him along to some bar Eddie had a standing invitation at, with demands for Steve to do what he did best.

Babysit.

Their magical trip was utterly destroyed when Brad Handly happened to be the very same bartender who had given Eddie the invite.

 Considering Brad's immediate bark of laughter followed by a hug and introducing himself as "Steve's gay awakening", Steve ended up having to speedrun through Eddie and Robin both having a crisis for him.

It didn't help that Steve had politely, and laughingly, corrected Brad with a casual; 

"Pretty sure that was Tommy man, but if it helps I think that tongue of yours gave Matt Burdon a crisis."

--which ended up with him answering a lot more gay sex questions with Brad than he cared too. 

At least he, through Brad, was able to help Robin connect to some local lesbians and--after a second crisis from Eddie regarding how Steve managed to have more sex than "the resident town freak and guy who actually knew he was gay, Steve!"-- even helped Eddie out by catching the metalheads tongue with his mouth later that evening.

The last one landed him a boyfriend, trust fund be damned.) 

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook:

𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Intro

Every year, he joins the old tradition of traveling, where his ancestors have once ruled the skies. Every year, he meets familiar faces and new ones he's never seen before. Every year, he watches how his brothers find their mates, build their families, and introduce new generations to stories as old as time. But this year, something might be different. This year, there's you - a treasure worth more than he could ever offer.

Tags/Warnings: Dragon!Jungkook, strangers to lovers/mates, mentions of folklore and traditions, modern fantasy, romance, human?Reader, Fluff, Courting, MC kinda wary of kook at first, but he's cute give him a chance pls

Length: ~2k

-> Masterlist

"Look at you! All the new color suits you well!" Seokjin laughs, commenting on Jungkook's tattoos which had been changing over the course of the year since he's seen his friends last festival. The younger dragon simply shrugs, though he can't help but stand a bit more proudly at the comment, considering that his body ink is a visual representation of his identity within the Clan up to this point.

It's all part of the tradition after all; as soon as a dragonkin turns 21 years old, they're considered an adult, officially on their own and ready to build their own families and futures, and while not all do it, he likes to wear his identity openly like this.

Even though in the modern world, his dragon blood isn't seen as something to be proud of anymore. In fact, it's treated as nothing more than a simple remnant of lost times, outdated and no longer of any importance.

It's why most members of the dragon bloodlines tend to stay amongst each other, most of their social circles consisting of other dragons, just like he himself tends to do. A lot of his friends have been finding their mates recently, and while Jungkook is happy about that, he himself isn't really interested in that- at least not right now. He's doing good all by himself at the moment, so he doesn't really see the need to settle down right now. He's also not yet found anybody he'd really honestly see himself wanting to settle down with- so for now, he just attends the traditional festivals every year to reconnect with his friends and family, let himself go for a little while and leave all those expectations of the modern world behind for at least a small amount of time.

"Are the rest here too?" Jungkook asks Jin as they both walk into the Hotel close to the festival spaces, many already setting up their tents and booths for tonight.

"Taehyung is coming a bit later, he said the whole trip is taking a bit longer now that his mate's pregnant." He says, making Jungkook nod next to him, greeting some elders along the way. "she's not even properly showing, yet he's already all scrambled up in the head." He jokes.

"I've heard about that! Yoongi owes me a hundred bucks now." He laughs, remembering the bet he'd made with the older dragon last year when Taehyung had announced his engagement to his mate. He'd always dreamed of a big family- so it wasn't surprising to Jungkook that his friend already had the first child on the way.

Maybe one day he'll have his own, too.

"I remember when Yoongi of all people attended the hunt and actually caught his mate too!" Seokjin laughs. "Remember that? It was honestly hilarious to see him so desperate. The old slow guy all out on the fields." He teases, as the man in question walks into view.

"At least I've caught something. Not like mister forever virgin over here." He teases, laughing when Jungkook growls offended, mumbling something about that 'not being true at all hyung.!' Under his breath as the older one walks alongside them.

It's when a giggle catches him off guard, the sound accompanied by what he can only describe as a small bell faintly in the background.

When he looks for the source of the sound, he finds your eyes pretty quickly- gaze hauntingly beautiful as he doesn't even realize he'd just stopped walking for no reason, one of his friends bumping into him the only cause of distraction for him. And for a second, he looks away, only a small but of time - and suddenly you're no longer there, disappearing as quickly as you've appeared in the first place. "Who was that?" He asks no one in particular, Yoongi shrugging as he tries to find what his friend seems to be looking for.

"Who was who?" He asks, before everyone walks away with him to greet Taehyung and his partner who'd just arrived.

⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅

He spots you again as you tie your hair up, elastic in between your lips where you hold it while your hands collect all your hair. It's a normal thing he's seen a lot of people do- himself included, considering the length of his hair these days- and yet when you do it, it looks like Aphrodite captured in marble, details enchanting and intricate.

He almost feels like he shouldn't watch.

And yet he does, even continues to look your way with his hand around his glass of water, small leftovers of his meal completely uninteresting compared to the sight of you walking closer to the older women to help with washing clothes and other things in the riverbed. He can spot Jimin and other male dragons between them as well, and he wonders if you enjoy those tasks.

During this time of the year, everyone is pulled back to the old ways of living. From using almost no electricity to trading things instead of buying it with money, things work simply differently during these next few days, and he personally enjoys this more simpler way of living to the fullest. There's no space for boredom or anything like that- always something to do for him, never an empty second.

Even now, as he watches you.

For a while, you seem to not notice him until one of the women taps your shoulder, talking to you for a few words before you turn your head to meet his eyes. Surprise is written over your features, especially when he boldly pats the spot next to him at the table, silently inviting you to sit with him, maybe even share a meal.

You wonder a little. Does he know that offering a meal is one part of courting a fellow dragon?

He probably does, considering his appearance. He does look like you'd expect a modern dragon to carry himself; from the wyvern tooth necklace around his neck, the colored tattoos under his skin, even the challenging fire behind his eyes. He surely knows his heritage, which makes it even more odd to you.

Though you wouldn't ever pass the chance of getting to know someone like him.

He's well known in the community of female dragons- mostly for his lack of interest in anybody when it comes to actually finding a mate. For a long time, there's been a rumor going around that he wasn't simply interested in females in general- but that was quickly debunked after it got known that he does, in fact, seek out pleasure without any long-term relationship in mind. It makes you wary of his intentions right now though-

Because that's not what you're seeking here, or at all.

You sit down across from him at the table, having dried your hands before joining him, his eyes friendly as they watch you, someone already next to you asking what you'd like to eat. As soon as that person leaves, it's Jungkook's turn to talk to you. "I've never seen you around here before." He tells you, arms now on the table as he's got them crossed in front of him. "I'm Jungkook."

"I know." You nod. "Both of those things." You shrug, looking around for a moment before you spare him another look. "I'm not interested."

"I haven't even proposed anything." He counters, head tilted a bit as he's internally confused as to what you might've heard about him that could make you so wary of his intentions. In his world, he's not done anything questionable, ever- he doesn't fuck around, never broke somebody's heart, is always pretty clear and honest with whomever he crosses paths.

"But I know what guys like you want." You simply say, thanking the young dragon who puts your plate down in front of you. "And I'm not offering that." You tell him without looking, simply starting to eat instead.

"What do I want then?" He asks, moving one of his arms so his chin can rest on his palm. "You got me curious."

"Sex." You bluntly tell him, reaching for the large water pitcher standing somewhat closer to Jungkook than to you- something he instantly notices, lifting it for you instead to fill your cup. "Thanks." You offer quietly, and he nods at that, putting it back down.

"Interesting." He just shrugs after he sits back down in front of you. "That's not what I want though. I mean- you're attractive, don't get me wrong- but I'd like to get to know you first, if anything." He proposes, and you narrow your eyes at him.

"That sounds like you're aiming for my heart." You accuse, pointing your steak-knife at him. "And that's even worse." You say, making him laugh.

"No, I promise. I really just.. think you're really pretty, and from what I can tell, you're also exactly my type- but if you want me to leave you alone, I can totally do that too." He offers politely, and you chew on your food in thought before you rest your cheek on your palm, poking at some vegetables.

"How am I your type?" You ask him, curious to know what makes you stand out to him. It must be something at least- because if he's never wanted a relationship with anybody before why pursue someone as boring as you for that role of all things? You know you're a good friend, but a girlfriend? No, you're lame, and you've come to accept that after all those failed relationships.

Your question makes him light up visually, as he sits up straighter with a bit of a smile on his lips. "It's hard to explain. You're cute, but I like people who have their own mind." He shrugs, explaining his view on you while you don't look at him. "Visually, you check all my boxes. If your character does the same thing, I guess we just have to find out." He tells you, and you look at him now.

"What if you don't check any of my boxes?" You ask him, looking for how he's going to react. "You're too tall for me, for example. And your muscles scare me a little." You jab at him, cutting your food as if you're talking about the weather. "You seem like someone obsessed with working out. I'm not. In fact, I don't ever really work out. I don't really look at what I eat in general, to be honest."

"That's fine by me." He simply answers when you stop talking. "I don't really watch it that much either- only if I have a shooting or something alike." He explains, making you nod quietly. "But if I don't check any of your boxes, like you say, why come over and sit with me then?" He teases, leaning in over the table a little bit.

You shrug. "Your tattoos." You simply tell him. "They're pretty good. Who made these?" You ask, and he looks at them for a second, before he moves his gaze back to you.

"Min Yoongi back in Seoul did most of them. He specializes in dragon tattoos." He explains, and you nod at that.

"I thought I remembered the artstyle." You say. "He's always been very neat with his work." You mumble more or less, before you sigh, putting your cutlery onto your empty plate, pulling your glass of water closer. "Alright- do you want my number now, or.?" You ask, suspecting that he would maybe ask you on a date or something after the whole festival is over. But he genuinely surprises you, when his eyes narrow in a challenging manner, the dragon peeking through in a way as he leans forward over the table, standing up.

You're wary- and he assumes it might be because you've never truly experienced anything good when it comes to finding partners. He can relate to this; and he can also gain power from that simple fact, simply because now more than ever, he wants to prove himself to you. He wants to show you that he truly is different from what you might believe.

"I'll just win you over, easy." He tells you, promises almost, as he pulls the wyvern tooth from around his neck, and leaves it close to your hand- an offering of sorts, a first step at trying to impress you, even if small. "The traditional way." He finishes up, leaving you alone at the table, simply watching as he walks away and merges with the crowd.

Maybe you've underestimated him.

Maybe he's not who you think he is.

Maybe you've finally found your match.

[sepublic]

OWL HOUSE ANIMATED TEST LEAKED?!!?!

ALL RIGHT SO THE ORIGINAL ANIMATED TEST GOT LEAKED?! This is an animated test btw, a proof-of-concept of what TOH could look like, according to the person who posted this; The actual pilot still eludes us!

What we get and hear are more or less what we've already glimpsed and could guess at, just expanded a bit more; Luz wants to learn magic, Eda is skeptical, that sort of thing. What's interesting is that Luz claims King told HER he once knew magic, but based on how the final story went, this was probably one of his made-up delusions. He also has a lot more repressed, built-up anger from being coddled and patronized, which would've been interesting to see...

I wonder if that trait ended up transferring over to Proto Willow; Or rather, Paulina! I heard someone suggest the spelling is Polina since it's Slavic and TOH is based on Slavic myth, but for now, let's keep it simple. Paulina would def start off the same way as our Willow; Not doing well in magic, and messing up (this time on Luz herself, hilariously), but I presume the idea for her to shift to plant magic as her true calling was still there. Not only do we see this in earlier concept art, but a later bit with one of Paulina's plants harassing Luz. And she still has the issue of glowing green magic that she can't quite control...

We get Prince William, who shows up when Luz mentions the most 'powerful wizards', more on him later. It's generally speculated and agreed that William is a prototypical version of Hunter, so I find it neat that Paulina's name changed to Willow, as William became Hunter...

There's a glimpse of the Owl House's original design, as seen in the first proof-of-concept poster released back when the show was announced in 2018, with Eda's shop built into the front of the building! The tower doesn't have a roof, and the giant eye window blinks, which was carried over to the first episode's ending. We have some Spencer Wan concept animations he released a while back, but fully colored and animated... A Luz Doppelgänger seems to have always been an idea, so I guess the creepy puppet is Proto Vee?

THIS! We have what I suspect to be a prototype version of Emperor Belos, possibly when he was advisor to Emperor Pupa? I'm not sure, but the context, the blue eyes in darkness, the mask... Their location in what seems to be a cathedral, plus the resemblance to this concept art for Belos?

This is Proto-Belos. Him taking Eda away in what resembles a cathedral seems to indicate that his Christian extremist-leanings were a thing as early as this animated pitch, and what's more...

In the stained-glass window behind Luz, we see a portrait of Sir William, complete with that wavy-styled sword that resembles the knife Philip killed Caleb with! This raises so many questions... Is the Sir William we see here the real deal? Was he deposed and put into a slumber by Belos, the way Pupa would've been? And William is the true ruler of the isles?

Would William have been Belos' brother, his Caleb, hence the round human ears? Why does he look so young, was he de-aged, or is he a clone, a Grimwalker that was abandoned for not being sufficient, and/or discovered in an 'incubation' stage when Luz slapped him awake? I presume this concept of Hunter, who is actually referred to by this name, came later down the line;

Overall, very fascinating stuff! A better glimpse into the development of Willow, Belos, and Hunter(?) as well as an older idea for King's personality, and of course a better look at the original Owl House design shown in 2018! Brief yet wonderful and to the point, we've seen most of the stuff from this pitch as silent clips or images, but I'm glad to have it as part of a cohesive narrative this time! May we one day find the actual pilot itself...!

[drinkingbitterboy]

alright. i have emotionally recovered from miles posting on instagram this morning, which truly threw off my plan to do a little concert recap bc i was busy yelling at my phone/on tumblr. as you do.

a couple notes:

i don't really do concert photos; literally took a grand total of 4 during the actual show. so sorry, don't have much there!

i did not get a poster :( turns out they ran out before AM even went on stage?? i'm sad, but not too pressed bc really i'd much rather have a good view than wait in the merch line.

here we go!!

so getting into the arena was kind of a shit show lmao. we rolled up around door open and the line stretched 5 city blocks and doubled back on itself; it was mostly organized but asshats loved to pop in when the line got broken up by the streets. took us almost an hour to make it our five blocks and the line behind us was still just as long by then. at least folks waiting by us in line were nice! beyond nice conversation the true highlight was outfit spotting. shoutout to the absolutely dedicated guy who showed up in the full on fwn clown outfit complete with face paint by himself. in this weather! found a couple folks dressed exactly like the car alex (again, why are you wearing a blazer in this weather) and you know. felt real old about it seeing some of the other concert outfits. i'm sorry, not to be judgemental of the tiktok girlies, but holy shit. i managed to out myself once as a weird fan about it bc i had "inside knowledge" aka i saw the ig stories james and davey posted lmao. i'm so sorry i'm incapable of holding it in when i want to correct someone. had a grand time talking to some people in line next to me around my age; one of them even had an old sias shirt from seeing them live back then! good bonding about "hey what have you done since they announced this album?" one guy switched jobs twice, we got married, and the other couple had a baby. jfc.

further highlights include the person who wrote the batphone and cheeseburger notes, a couple other car truck bits i didn't take pics of saying things like "who the fuck are the arctic monkeys", and the true comedy of whoever designed the tickets. big mike wazowski energy

fontaines dc sounded great! a lot of folks around me had no clue who they were, though. so the crowd wasn't too excited overall. also i have no idea who put together the playlist in between sets bc it was nuts.

and then: the big reveal (that i then updated tumblr on)

i'm really surprised the whole set made it! the anticipation before they took the curtain down was absolutely palpable. also, didn't get a picture of it but at one point someone had a giant pole and was trying to poke something right at at the top of the frame of the screen. no idea what that was about but it was hilarious. not pictured: the bonus screens on either side of the stage.

an aside: my partner is fucking hilarious. every time a roadie came on state with an instrument he'd go "i don't think that one is a monkey." he also generally calls them the "monkfys" anyway bc he really latched onto that clip aksdjfs

so this was interesting! they didn't show the body paint symbols at all on any of the screens; instead, they showed this colorful wheel thing.

and then the actual show. oh my word. opening with sculptures was absolutely my dream and honestly i don't have words for what it's like to see alex in person. he's absolutely captivating. hypnotizing. one of the most amazing things is watching how he proceeds through the show--how he goes from suave and put together with his choreographed arm movements for emphasis and his little things like the little bubble pop in that song. and then he starts to loosen up (along with his hair), we get the silly dramatic theatre kid during cornerstone and do me a favour, and by the time we hit body paint he's just completely letting loose. even when they played much of the usual setlist and i obviously know the music super well--better than anyone else around me--it was still absolutely thrilling to just be there and listen to the music and sing loudly and jump around until we felt the floorboards creak. they felt really high energy last night! turns out coming off of a break is good for them!

related, getting to watch the transformation into the poofy lion hair in real life is incredible.

i must admit, i am not immune to things like alex waving in our general direction to the crowd and walking over to our side of the stage and all of the charming bits. just can't help it.

otherwise, the only other person i could consistently see was nick - we were standing stage right, maybe 15 yards back? so you know. gorgeous as always. i'm sure jamie was wonderful also in his insane leather jacket -- didn't see him at all lol. i managed to get a very convenient window to center stage so i actually saw alex a decent amount. worked out well because i couldn't actually see the screens super well. i'm short. here's the only two pictures i actually took of the band, right at the beginning:

and now for the rest of the setlist -- we all know they played a lot of the usual suspects. as expected, much of the crowd was pretty young and very invested in only AM and the hype songs. i didn't mind; at least i wasn't the only person screaming for perfect sense (weren't a lot of us, i was the only one in my general area, but that's alright. i don't care.) my spouse was entertained by the person next to us who looked up the spotify set playlist in between every song; he was like "why look it up? if you don't know the songs well enough to identify by intro then how is the list supposed to help?" anyway, holy shit when is snap getting out of the playlist? and yet even though i was not thrilled by it it was still so fun to sing along.

4 out of 5 had a really funny bit at the end while he was just kinda ad libbing lines. "four stars out of five, not quite there yet, but almosttttt." teddy picker and view from the afternoon were absolutely fantastic, too. and then we get the basic AM bits again, though turns out the crowd was also really hype for fluorescent adolescent. 10/10

i was so goddamn loud for perfect sense. shoutout to the spouse again for only knowing that song bc i learned to play it and then played it constantly bc i wanted to manifest it aksjdflaskdj

he was constantly saying "very nice. very nice. very good" in between songs, which was adorable. "hope you're having a lovely evening, folks." as my partner put it: "very good. that's him like yes, i've met my crowd interaction quota for the night"

and then of course we brought out the drama for do me a favour and cornerstone. i cracked up that there were already gifs of the "forcing a smile" bit by the time i got home.

mirrorball started with alex conducting the stings again. i love it so much. also makes my musician ass miss performing lmao. but really, i can't get over how good mirrorball is. it's so dramatic, so emotional, then the actual mirrorball reveal??? i cried. it's insane. it's beautiful. it's honestly indescribable. i generally don't like people filming a lot or taking tons of pictures but you know what? mirrorball is an exception. holy mother of god.

and then 505!! i know i mentioned this earlier but really??? the mirrorball is only lit up like this for 505 and then they pull it back up?? there better be a mirrorball for me, he says, then we pull it down for the very miles song, and then they get rid of it???????? i had some thoughts.

our end of the stage got a bit distracted during do i wanna know bc we had someone go down in the crowd and had to call someone over to help. good news is that they were pretty close to the wall/barrier so it was easy to make space. even so, i realy can't get over how good that guitar sounds.

and then body paint. we've all seen videos of the extended outro and really, truly, it's just a life-altering experience to watch it life. it sounded incredible, it looked incredible with the rainbow lights, everyone looked like they were having a blast. i am a little biased bc i'm so attached to that song i'm getting tattoos about it on monday lmao. but man. not over it.

and finally the encore. ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE?????? i was NOT expecting it and absolutely lost my shit. unfortunately at this point bc we did some shifting around i no longer had a good view of anything. so it goes.

dancefloor, as always, was an absolute jam. bonus points bc now it's forever associated with our wedding. and r u mine had the place going nuts bc you know, the AM only folks, but really, i am also not immune to how hard that song goes.

all in all, that concert was absolutely incredible. i had an absolute BLAST and it was such a joy. i loved getting to be loud and truly did not care that there were bits where i was the only one who knew all the words. even my partner who is only really a tangential am fan had a really good time. they sounded amazing. i'm absolutely still on a high from it. hopefully the transition to a smaller venue again after the huge stadium tour was nice for the band, too!

and now time for some more coffee.

[purpureumwrites]

Azriel x Witch!Reader | Electric Blue Ch. 4 [Finale?]

Pairing: Azriel x Reader Chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 Word count: 1.2k Warnings: Just one nsfw mention, Azriel is toxic Summary: Reader is half-breed witch, insecure but powerful, is finally moving on? Tagged: @fussel9913, @unknownspecies A/N: I'm a mess, that's why it has taken me a month to write this quite mediocre thing. Longer explanation after this, I'm probably just venting, you can totally skip it, thanks for reading <3 [So... I get kind of depressed in december every year. Something about the weather, the short days, christmas... Then I had a health scare, and now I'm spending New Year's Eve alone and the weird thing is, that even with people around I always get so sad every year, but this time, I don't know, I'm at peace or kind of, getting there , so I finished this the first day of 2023. I'm sorry I'm such a mess, I'm getting better little by little]

Between the constant trips to the Windhaven camp and the regular visits to the House of Wind, you had barely any time to dwell on anything. You grew used to Azriel's presence, having given up on the idea of something ever happening between you. There was a certain peace of mind that came with that resolution. Inspired by the exercise the girls did, you had started following Nesta whenever she went down the million stairs down. Even if you didn't get too far, it would get your heart pumping, which felt good. Once you had enough, you would sit down and wait for Nesta to come back up.

Your frienship with the valkyries had grown. You kept your distance with Gwyn but you had spent a lot of time with Emerie now, and you really liked her.

***

Azriel looked at the group of girls from the darkness of an alley. The four of them looked happy and tipsy. His eyes locked on the colourful dress that hugged every curve of your body. There was a glow to you that he had never seen before, not humans, not fae, something about your skin, the strange color of your eyes, the smell of magic on you... he could have spotted you in the middle of a crowd.

But he hadn't see you show off like that before, he wasn't sure you were even aware of how beautiful you looked that night. You pulled your dress down from time to time and tugged the fabric, not used to that kind of clothing, he assumed.

Nesta suddenly pointed to her right and the group followed inside the place. Through the windows, Azriel could see it was cramped. Some people danced, others just drank. He lost sight of you once the door closed behind you.

He should leave now. Actually, he should have never followed you there. He had developed an ever-growing obsession with you ever since that day in your bedroom. He had found you attractive since he first saw you, but he thought you had paid him no mind. Until that sudden outburst you had. Since then, he had been using the lotion you gave him on his hands before masturbating to the thought of you. And after weeks, when he had finally decided he had to find a way to approach you, he found you and the other girls leaving the House of Wind and laughing about having a crazy night.

He had no right to be there and yet, there he was, he couldn’t stop himself. And he couldn’t go into the place and drag you away either. So he waited. For two hours. Until the group left again. You followed a few steps behind the other three women and, he frowned as he clenched his fists, you had company.

A blonde, fit fae walked next to you, apparently sharing some hilarious story with you. He watched his hand touching casually your shoulder. Too flirty, too smiley, too arrogant. He could feel his blood boil. Still, nothing he could do about it, or he risked looking like a psychopath that had spent the whole night following you secretly.

After Cassian appeared and took Nesta and Gwyn back to the House of Wind, you, Emerie and the male fae went into the house Feyre and Rhysand had left for the rest of the Inner Circle. He cursed under his breath.

***

You hadn’t had such a fun night in… maybe ever? The girls had insisted on going out, having a few drinks and doing some dancing. You didn’t even look like you, or that’s hwo you felt. You were wearing a beautiful, tight dress, your hair and makeup were all done, and the shots you had drank before leaving were making you feel some kind of way.

You had even met a guy at the bar, a handsome, charismatic fae, that seemed enticed with you. By the time you got to the house, you were feeling a bit more than tipsy. Emerie walked up to sleep in one of the empty rooms while you two went into the kitchen to have your last drink together.

As soon as your lips left the glass, another pair of lips pressed onto them. You found yourself lost in the motion, the heat growing inside you, the feeling of his fingers between your hair. When one of his hands travelled down to your ass, you pushed his chest away.

It was going so fast, maybe too fast. You weren’t a virgin, but you were still quite inexperienced and had never even contemplated the idea of a one-night stand. You needed a second to take a breath, so you excused yourself to the bathroom.

You were moving on and you had been presented a chance to let loose. You could give it a try this one time and see how you like it.

You went back to the kitchen. Empty. Both glasses on the table and no one to be seen. Confused, you called out for him, wondering if maybe he was wandering around the house. Nothing. He had just left. He had just left? Confused, you stomped your way up to your room.

You stopped on your feet when you reached the last step. A dark figure rested against your bedroom door.

Please, not now.

You held his gaze for a few moments before gathering the strength to make your way to him.

“You’re drunk”, Azriel stated in a low, velvety tone.

“Did you do something?”

Silence.

“Of course you did… Get away from my door”

“I wanted to see you”, he confessed.

“You can see me tomorrow”

“You don't need him”

“Who are you to decide that? And since when do you even fucking care?"

The combination of the alcohol and the sudden confusion was overwhelming enough to not let you process what was happening.

“Get inside”, he demanded, turning the knob and opening the door.

But it felt like your feet were stuck to the floor. Until a hand firmly, but gently, pushed you through the threshold. The door closed behind you and he turned on a small lamp in the corner.

"I like you"

"What are you talking about?", you answered exasperated.

"Don't play stupid. You're not as subtle as you think you are"

"That's... " Your cheeks would have gone rosey if they hadn’t been since you left the bar. "That was weeks ago! I'm sure you have noticed the man I came with and that you probably haunted out of this house? You don't get to do this, you know? To wait until I have finally started to move on to decide I'm worth of your attention", you took a pause. "What is it? Decided to change your current fixation?"

“Stop being a brat”

“No, you st-”

His lips suddenly pressed yours. He quickly held your wrists, anticipating that you would struggle the moment he made his move. You gave up quickly, distracted by the heat that was surging through your body and the experienced movement of his tongue against yours. Just a few seconds later, he slid his hands down your forearms into your waist.

When your mouths finally separated, you held onto his shirt, knees weak and heart pounding on your chest.

He smiled proudly.

“We will be having a long talk about this”, you frowned.

“As you wish, love. We will have all the talks you want”

[mirror-to-the-past]

More (Apparently) KH3:Remind and Melody of Memory Stuff

Spiritually pounding on the windows of the Square Enix building- what do you MEAN I find out via YouTube that there's story cutscenes locked behind those egregious Data fights?? (That I'll personally beat... someday...)

(I also just went ahead and watched all the cutscenes for Melody of Memory, because I didn't want to play through a $60 rhythm game, sorryyy)

But first, Re:Mind and its sneaky, sneaky cutscenes...

Everything with Yozora has me Bonkers. I can't believe they've done this. Echoing Sora's first line in the series "I've been having these weird thoughts lately" through his own side of the story, him saying that he doesn't look like how he appears, the 'why do you know that name,' the "save Sora" while immediately drawing a gun on the man in question?? I'm just... *screaming noises* They're bringing everything together with the fiction versus reality stuff they have going on, and guys, I get SO excited when some games go meta. I'm squealing like a little girl; I'm ecstatic. Despite Sora being in (what I now know as Quadratum) and the background of the Yozora fight reflecting that, I can't help but wonder if it was another internal fight due to the arena switching to Sora's Heart Station for a second, akin to Roxas' fight in KH2.

And the music was so pretty... Yozora has a gorgeous theme. The prettier the battle theme, the more insane the KH fight, I say.

Also Riku was dreaming of Sora for a year. Lmao. He just... didn't say anything about it, while everyone was busting their asses. I'll be honest, literally the only way I could take that is that he dismissed his dreams as irrelevant- ah yes, dreaming of Sora? Nothing crazy to see here. Oh, Riku.

Also more importantly than Riku's angst deal- KAIRI WAS LAUNCHED INTO SPACE WHEN SHE WAS A PRESCHOOLER TO ACT AS A KEYBLADE WIELDER HOMING DEVICE, JESUS CHRIST. Kairi 🤝 Megamind 🤝 potentially Superman (I'm not a comics guy):

Getting launched out of their home planets into space in order to escape the destruction of their worlds, given vague and confusing scenarios and instructions to adapt to once they find a new planet, but they really just wanna chill and be loved and keep people safe.

And she's gonna train with Aqua! :D Another professional at getting launched into other worlds (realms). I hope she bonds with Ventus, as I've recently been made aware of their similarities in disposition, and how they are treated by others (hearts of pure light, designated by their groups as "the one who should stay home/be protected", wavering self confidence in their own abilities and self worth). Additionally, the hilarious potential scenarios of Kairi being like "yeah, and my favorite color's actually-" and Ventus interrupts with "Purple. I know," because the man essentially vicariously lived Sora's childhood. I'm super stoked for future Kairi screentime! Loved when she saw Xehanort in her memories and was like 'I don't care if you're a memory, data, manifestation of my heart or any other thing- I hate you, get out of my life forever. Hugs and kisses, die.' Like, 10/10, girl. Fair. Kairi's a volcano wrapped in a sweet package ready to snap at someone.

Riku's like "Y'know Ansem, I'm gonna miss you... 🥺"

And Sora's like "Xemnas, stooop all the violence. How can you take advantage of people with hearts? You should feel your feelings. You're valid, bestie. ☺️"

Kairi's no bleeding heart for baddies, she just wants everyone to get off her damn case, lol!

Also LOL at the fairy godmother of all people being the one to ship Riku off to Quadratum after Sora. My Cinderiku jokes (as well as my previous KH3 post's blurb about Riku determinedly walking into the ocean to find Sora) may not be completely unwarranted, now. Like, Miss 'specialty in dreams?' Miss "If you'd lost all your faith, I couldn't be here. And here I am." Not even to mention "a dream is a wish your heart makes," a very relevant lyric for this set of circumstances, if I do say so myself. I guess that's just gonna be another song I love and sing to myself that now makes me think of KH. 🤷 There's worse things I suppose, for example, like Buddy Holly being stuck in my head for three days straight and making me feel like I'm trapped listening to my uncle's records (thanks, Good Omens).

I ended up re-watching "Cinderella" for the first time in a while because of that part of Re:Mind and MoM. The KH association of the part with Fairy Godmother's appearance is now semi-heartwrenching, given the context of her appearance in "Cinderella," as well:

You have the vocalizing chorus throughout the opening of the scene acting as a callback to Cinderella's "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" song as well as reflecting her inner thoughts, and she has a dialogue with it while she sobs alone in the garden:

Chorus: Whatever you wish for, you keep...

Cinderella: "Oh, no... no, it isn't true."

Chorus: Have faith in your dreams and someday... your rainbow will come smiling through!

Cinderella: "It's just no use. No use at all."

Chorus: No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing...

Cinderella: "I can't believe! Not anymore..."

Chorus: The dream that you wish... *lyric trails off, unfinished*

Cinderella: "There's nothing left to believe in... nothing..."

[Fairy Godmother materializes next to her]

FG: "Nothing my dear? Oh, now you don't really mean that."

Cinderella: "Oh, but I do-"

FG: "Nonsense, child! If you lost all your faith, I couldn't be here, and here I am!"

[the violin and cello come in to finish the last part of the lyric] "...will come true."

Beautiful scene, really. The chorus assisting the animation is delightful... I watched Bambi and Lady and the Tramp (Bella Notte <3) a lot growing up because I loved that old-timey choral work. So dreamy...

Additional funny/sweet bit: I like how Mickey was freaking out to the point of being pinned down over Riku being unceremoniously dropped into Quadratum via Fairy Godmother's spontaneity and enabling.

'You sent my son to the big city ALONE?! He could get mugged, he could get lost, he could get hate-crimed, he could-'

*jump cut to Riku, and he's trying to gauge the value of Earth Money by spying on hot dog stands. He sheds his first known tear of the series by trying to figure out public transit routes*

Anyway, in the words of Cid:

"But what happens next?!"

[chthonicgodling]

(April’s)Huevember - Day 22!

featuring: Cinthy & Krokos

[in which I’ve made my very own #Huevember wheel this year (that you can use too! Pls tag me I’d LOVE to see!) - unabridged version continues, including a wide array of Elysium’verse characters across the rainbow!]

PURPLE DAYS BEGIN!! my official ™ fave of the month is still coming up but literally all the rest of these pics from now til the End end are my faves honestly I. love every one of these. starting today with some GHOSTS 👻 - Flower Shades Hyacinthos “Cinthy” & Krokos! ok the lore info on this post got ridiculous I’m so sorry — for once I’m actually gonna stick it behind a cut to spare u all from this essay lmfao??? AUGHH

I’ve given my whole Flower Shade spiel twice prior (most recently on the 8th for Karpos & Kalamos’ pic) so I will spare you all lmao - Cinthy’s untimely demise turned him into. well. yknow. Hyacinth. (Actually, *annoying mythological facts voice* it’s larkspur but honestly that’s stupid so—) and Krokos’ own death turned him into…. crocus. duh duh. Hello. duh.

Krokos and Cinthy died, separately, in the EXACT SAME STUPID WAY, and also their personalities are SOOO polar opposites from each other so drawing them next to each other is exceptionally hilarious to me-

Krokos was dating Olympian Hermes when he died in a FREAK DISCUS ACCIDENT rip - death by frisbee🤦🏻‍♀️ and tho they’ve long since “”formally”” broken up they did part ways on good terms and consider themselves friends…………. With benefits in current days fgkgkg

and then, Cinthy!!💞💞💞💞 Cinthy is NOT as much of a background character like the other Flowers, since in current canon he’s actually engaged to Gany, with whom he’d been secretly…💞close friends💞 with during his own mortal life, back when Gany was tethered to Zeus and Cinthy himself was dating the Olympian Apollo. Cinthy’s own death via discus accident was… a little more complicated, as it came at the hands of another god and…. Maybe even more than that one god - if anyone had known about his relationship with Gany at the time….. hm. Well.

….meanwhile Elysiumverse!Apollo is an actual villain in here, like. in my list of Elysium Villains with Thanatos and OrigiMel. by the time Gany fell into the Underworld, Apollo and Cinthy had already kindave grown apart BUT Apollo’s absolute rage (and following related actions) over discovering that the Elysium palace was “keeping” Gany, and that Cinthy was choosing him over him, was the final “mask off” trigger to expose ✨his real horrible self✨ and needless to say that breakup was. uhhhhhh. rough.

BUT that was years ago and now they all live happily ever with Cinthy reunited with the ACTUAL love of his life snotty Olympians be damned

despite being a natural brunette (maybe) when he was alive Cinthy was constantly dying his hair different colors every week and when Meli & Loki turned Elysium’s shades solid (long story) years ago, he jumped right back to it; although his go to default is usually like, blurple-pink. When Krokos turned solid the first thing he did was make Cinthy dye his hair bright purple! Also fun fact Cinthy was the person who first dyed Chal’s hair red :-)

idk why tf I felt the need to do all this on this post but. jazz hands here you go. STAY TUNED TOMORROW ETC- all the hUevemebr posts are in this tag!!

[midnighthybrid1]

mor ask gmae

4. Which Moon do you prefer, Old Moon or New Moon?

7. Who is your most favorite minor character?

32. What is your most favorite plot-focused "in VRChat" episode?

:D

Sorry bout taking a sec to answer 😅

Lemme see… first couple of answers are a little shorter this time, I think? I don’t have a huge amount to say for these ones-

4. Which Moon do you prefer, Old Moon or New Moon?

I… am so behind that I haven’t actually seen what new Moon is like yet- I’m kinda iffy on how much I like Old Moon rn but I shall see if my opinion changes once I finally catch up (I’ll probably reblog this with an updated answer, we shall see)

7. Who is your favorite minor character?

Is Monty a minor character? He feels more like a secondary character with how much he shows up… hm… ima say that the Trash Man is one of my favorite minor characters. His intro with Bloodmoon was very hilarious, and I just enjoyed his dynamic with the BM lads a lot in general. ALSO I rly like Computer as well- I even made a design for both of the Computers (EC voice and Davis voice) because why the heck not? I should digitalize some more of my designs and post about them eventually…

32. What is your most favorite plot-focused “in VRChat” episode?

Man this one’s difficult… off the top of my head, one of my favorites would be the one where Eclipse kinda showed his true colors to Lunar for the firstish time (the one where Lunar tried to stand up for himself against Eclipse who was demanding he go back in the daycare), and another one would be Bloodmoon’s origin story video. For the first one, I enjoyed it because it felt like a good turning point in the arc that they had for Lunar at the time (in which he begun to realize that, unlike Lunar, Eclipse saw him not as a brother but as a tool), and- if I remember the episode well enough- the acting in that episode was pretty good. I’ve also seen some really good animatics of the scenes from that one, which I think also kind of increase my enjoyment of it. As for the second one, well, Bloodmoon is definitely one of my favorite characters from the series, and I like the Blood Bros’ dynamic with one another. It’s strangely wholesome, for a pair of blood-obsessed killers. Their line about them ‘not needing a Sun’ was also pretty wholesome imo. I actually drew art based on this episode a while back, it was one of my first posts on this platform actually.

If y’all would like to participate in this ask game, here’s the list of questions!

[luimagines]

*comes on in tiredly, waves* Hullo there, OG Lustrous Anon here, how do you do today? I hope you’re faring well ^^

Have to agree with 2nd Lustrous Anon (Houseki Anon? Kingdom Anon since Houseki no Kuni literally translates to Kingdom of Jewels?), I did not expect for there to be three of us and for us to basically barge into your place with Starbucks and lore and discussing media you weren’t familiarized with, but I particularly find it hilarious even if I apologize for having you lost xD, also shout out to them and Shrimp for explaining how Inclusions work better than I could ever sleep deprivation or not, all I can say for certain is that they’re not hiveminds, I suppose you could say they work a lot like the human brain, but they’re a body wide network rather than just the organ, they’re what give gems their ability to think, move and have personalities and store memories, hence why every lost part of a Lustrous causes memory loss if it’s not put back, unless a gem is quite literally shattered into fragments then they won’t lose consciousness, hence why they don’t work like hiveminds do. Usually the quickest way to get a Lustrous unconscious is by breaking their heads off at the neck or shattering them into incomplete fragments, but as mentioned in some of my previous posts they can’t really be killed unless they’re ground to dust, affected by mercury since it kills the inclusions on them and those parts become dead weight, meaning where the mercury touched needs to be scrapped off and replaced if too severe, or dissolved, though the last case is very rare to ever happen as we only see it once in the series.

Anyway, delivering more Lustrous Reader shenanigans with the Chain because why not? XD, thinking of writing all of this down into stories on a separate blog one day or on ao3, though that’s a hard maybe. I'm not a good writer at all.

-Lustrous Reader immediately clocking Four and the Colors even when they don’t tell them anything because there’s a Lustrous with a similar case back home, and then just going “So, who’s fronting today and should I get anything different or...? Cause Wild was going to teach me that one nice cake recipe today but I could change a few things up.”, And then it’s either instant panic or Lustrous Reader being chill with the colors on their free time when they split, if asked why they’re so chill they just shrug and go “Ghost Quartz is the same back home, them and Cairngorm think they’re subtle, but there’s not really anything suble about their temperament going from quiet and nice to rivaling Blue’s temper and Vio’s tendency to say yes to violence on a good day. This is a cake walk.”

-Lustrous Reader twitching whenever they hear bells, because that’s usually the first sound you hear during a Lunarian attack, so they instinctively draw towards a member of the Chain whenever they hear one as if to defend them, it probably kind of reminds Warriors of how soldiers can have of very specific things after being in battle so long it they recognize it as a threat, so the next course of action is obvious next time they can: instrument introduction to see what likely might be a trigger and if hopefully continued exposure in small doses help, Lustrous Reader also won’t touch a flute with a ten foot pole, but they’d probably be interested in learning the ocarina or the harp. After a while it’s likely not uncommon for them to hear them humming songs they picked up from the Chain from time to time once they’re more comfortable, though it probably has a clinking and tinkling sound behind it, like how you’d tap a crystal just to see it ring, it’s very soft but it’s there. It’s nice but eerie if someone hears them in the middle of the night.

-Lustrous Reader, in Ordon or in Lon Lon Ranch, casually picking up unruly goats or helping Malon move cows with their bare hands, or just straight up picking up Wolfie to carry him around on their arms “What? Like it’s hard?”, meanwhile at least one Chain member is registering in full how strong they are in spite of looking delicate and falling in love. Or Lustrous Reader casually pulling a Wild and riding a Lynel into battle or wrestling one into submission because again, zero sense of self preservation and a lot of pent up spite means one is willing to do crazy things. Never let them, Wild, Hyrule, Wind and Flora on their own, they’re just as likely as to stop the shenanigans as to accidentally throw fuel into the fire.

-Whenever they’re in a Hyrule with a castle that can actually be used, I feel like Lustrous Reader is just immediately kidnapped by any and all present Zeldas, look their hair is literally made out of jewels and they can pull off any outfit, it’s prime opportunity for them to dress someone up who won’t mind and will only be mildly exasperated! Plus they can probably exchange battle tactics and cultural differences since Lustrous Reader lived for a long time, and their fighting style is more fast and acrobatic than anything Hyrule uses so it would be a good opportunity (you can’t tell me Artemis, or Dusk or Flora for that matter, wouldn’t want to learn from Lustrous Reader how they deflect arrows back onto enemies with their sword on instinct, if the Chain can learn it from them then so can they), Lustrous Reader probably wouldn’t mind since Red Beryl does the same to all Lustrous, they’d draw the line at anything related to jewelry (since Lunarians make Lustrous into jewelry and weapons decoration most of the time, this probably relates to why they’re wary of Ravio but rh sleep deprivation is failing me), but they’d pull off any clothes convincingly enough. I can see any member of the Chain accidentally stumble because they’re more use to seeing them with simple and practical clothes (since fun fact, all clothings Lustrous are basically patterned after mourning clothes, or those you’d see in a funeral for the most part apparently) and seeing them dressed up throws them for a loop. Also bonding times with Flora because I bet they’d be amused and willing to go along with all her experiments and bonding times with Sun over their shared trauma of being hunted down for who they are, even if on a different spectrum, and staying stuck in a place for thousands of years and unable to move, Sky is probably happy but concerned, maybe wanting to give them a hug and check in if they’re really doing good only to get this very mixed answer of “Yes/No”, meanwhile Time, Wild, Fierce Deity and First, with similar trauma, probably feel like they need more context and some names.

Also something I personally find hilarious is if Lustrous Reader, after hearing about the Links journeys, realizes they all usually start with them having people they love or care for kidnapped or taken away similar to how they always lose their fellow Lustrous to the Lunarians, points it out to the Chain and they just have something of a small existential crisis, or shared bonding time over that particular trauma.

... Now I have this in my mind about Demigod Readers and Lustrous Reader meeting somehow, and the Chain just having to deal with two unnaturally beautiful people who quite literally shine around the edges hitting it off and swapping battle tactics, it’s probably just the sleep deprivation and the headache talking though

-As for the arm thing...

Twilight, who canonically lost an arm and had it reattached in the manga, but that was his own arm not another person’s so he’s still horrified but not too shocked since he could immediately clock that they lost it somehow: Since when was this as surprise?

Lustrous Reader, tired and cracking from the stress: Trust me, no one would rather it be my own arm rather than me. I’d gladly be ground to dust a thousand times over if it meant it would get their original owner back and my partner. *Sighs, sits down* How much time do you all have? May as well explain about how I lost it and my eye while I can, plus about this nifty thing called inclusions and how losing body permanently parts causes amnesia.

And the Chain freaking out because what do you mean one of those eyes isn’t yours either?!

(I’ll honestly probably write it how I envision it went down in full from their perspective in another ask, this is getting long enough as is)

-Lustrous Reader learning to draw from Sky, has a bunch of pictures done of the Chain on the a second notebook separate from their historian one and, if they somehow manage to contact Little Lucky, sends a picture of themselves and the Chain together as a way to say they’re fine, Little Lucky is ecstatic even if wondering where they are even more. It probably leads to nice bonding times with Sky or them revealing to someone of the Chain that they’re drawing so that, even if they lose more parts, they won’t forget their time together easily. Or one of the Chain spotting a drawing of Lustrous Reader, fully whole with both their eye and arm, with Little Lucky and immediately see the resemblance between them all even if in the form of a jewel person, or they spot a drawing of Lustrous Reader, a Lustrous that looks suspiciously like Zelda but with blues and pinks and purples in her hair along with the usual gold, and someone who looks like them but with greens and blues along the gold, clearly a Lustrous as well, though it doesn’t look like Lustrous Reader style, more similar to their own and way on the back of their historian notebook. And then wondering what happened to their world would make two generations of the hero’s spirit appear so close to each other and know the same person, Lustrous having a different life span aside.

And I believe that is all for today, very sleep deprived and have a headache, week has been rough and not even coffee has been helping. Anyway, hope you’re having a nice day and thank you for all your hard work in the fandom!

-Just an Anon on A Stroll.

Anon- how long must you stolll for? XD

Take a nap. <3

I don't feel like I have much to add this time around. Very well rounded and bitter sweet in all the right place. Almost like a dark chocolate with raspberry filling. (I'm channeling a specific flavor but I'm sure if raspberry is the one I'm looking for.)

LUCKY.......My baby DX

He needs to know his sibs is ok. Send the pictures!!!!

[vespertin-y]

liveblog o’clock! this time the second part of ch3′s daily life!

-”well? what is it? if you have something to say, say it!” [suddenly, a thought flashed into my mind! a...man’s...fantasy...wh-where is this thought coming from? not from my mind...from my heart? yes, my heart! for i have love on my side!] “i understand now, monokuma. you’re telling me...that it’s time.” [the girls are going to go play in the pool, which means they’ll be in swimsuits. that *must* mean a zany-yet-romantic scene will play out! and i’ll be there! but...should i? is it really okay to be doing something like that? tenko would kill me...no, i can’t back down now. the power of love in my chest has filled my throbbing heart! full charge! i have no choice. i *must* go!] NO!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-uhhhhh the student council has formed. miu has started working on the computer. kokichi continues to bitch very loudly about maki’s existence and has started writing on the horse a rock. idk man i’m still processing monokuma’s magic pervert brainwashing.....

-”umm...i don’t think the resurrection ritual can really bring the dead back to life. it’s probably more like...returning the dead to us.” whether the necronomicon uploads a dead student’s personality/backstory into a new contestant, or just puts a ‘dead’ student back into the VR simulation, angie’s right! i can see why her insistence that they were ‘never dead in the first place’ would freak everyone else out, though. unless she knows far more about the nature of the game than we were lead to believe, this is some serious escapism.

-”monokuma and the exisals are evidence of ridiculous scientific advances...” AND YOU *AREN’T*, KIIBO???????

-”why do you deny me so fiercely, shuichi? do you not care about those who have died? i didn’t realize you were so heartless.” [that’s...not...true. i still want her...i want everyone to be alive.] shuichi loves all kaedes and non-kaedes equally!!

-WHITE ANGIE *AND* WHITE GONTA CG....THE HORRORS.....

-i wanna know more abt gonta’s grandma!! it sounds like she was rlly the only one who was kind to him,,

-this game cannot decide if tsumugi’s hair is parted in the middle or on the side and it infuriates me. at least shuichi’s eyes changing color is funny.

-[i saw it. i then immediately questioned the morality of my actions.] I SHOULD FUCKING HOPE SO, SHUICHI! WHAT is kodaka’s obsession with having exactly zero of his fanservice be consensual!? it’s not like i would protest seeing a titty the normal way!!

-FTE time! this time with kaito! we learn that a) he tells just as many ridiculous stories as kokichi does, and b) “there’s no way i, kaito momota, luminary of the stars, would ever follow a map to adventure! a life free from maps, finding my own adventures...that’s the life for me!” he’s a nightmare to go on a roadtrip with.

-they chose gonta next! gonta running at top speed with shuichi fluttering like a napkin behind him continues to be hilarious, gonta’s insistence that he’ll do *anything* for shuichi less so.

-”it’s pretty thoughtless of him to bug me to train with you guys, then flake out...” “ah, well, he *did* say he wasn’t feeling well-” “why are you making excuses for him?” do you think she knows not working out if you’re feeling sick is normal...? probably not.

-not maki infodumping a full paragraph about the ways she was tortured, shuichi trying to empathize, and her saying she ‘didn’t ask to hear his life story’ 😭. girl you told him your entire backstory with no prompting whatsover!! what did you expect to happen!!! shuichi is so *unfazed* about it too, i’d be throwing hands...perhaps i’m just not built to be friends with a tsundere....

-the student council all confront maki at once to tell her not to go out at nighttime - smart. considering how impulsively violent she’s been shown to be. *i* certainly wouldn’t want to try and take away her freedom without some very buff witnesses on my side.

-and that’s the end of day eleven! see you next time!

[doubleddenden]

The Knuckles Show was on nickelodeon this week, so I got to watch it for free without resorting to other means for once.

I can understand the overall mixed reactions. I definitely enjoyed it, but I will say that it's less of a Knuckles show and more of a Wade Whippler show.

More under the cut:

It watches a lot like one of those Will Ferrell comedies with a dash of Knuckles and a mix tape someone REALLY wanted to use. Thankfully, I like stupid comedies. The dryness of Knuckles being a mentor to the dork that is Wade is funny, the costumes and rock opera are great and silly, and Knuckles learning about Jewish culture kinda came out of nowhere, but it's still a hilarious take.

Add that to the cultural mixing pot that is Knuckles the Echidna- Jamaican colors and inspiration in his shoes, implied Central American heritage (The Sonic Adventure depiction of his ancestors especially), jokingly claimed often by black people (as my black friends have told me) for his music in SA and SA2, the symbol on his chest being the Nike symbol- thus adding Greek to the mix, echidnas are native to Australia, and now? In the words of Momma Whippler: "He's basically Jewish." Keep adding more to the guy. Let's add some Indian, German, and Chinese to the mix. Unironically, it's enjoyable to see a character resonate with so many cultures.

I do understand why game and comic fans probably take issue with the show- they were probably expecting Rouge the Bat or Team Chaotix to make an appearance, maybe even Chaos Zero or Angel Island and the Master Emerald to be plot significant. I'll even say that I'm a bit miffed at how they gave Knuckles "The Flames of Disaster," aka the title that Iblis from Sonic 06 goes by, in which Knuckles had near 0 interaction with.

However, it's kind of expected when you compare it to the Sonic movies prior. Sonic is normally cool, but in the movies he's a quip slinging dork and a pop culture fanatic. Knuckles isn't a fierce warrior from outerspace in the games, he's the Guardian of the Master Emerald and occasionally one of Sonic's closest friends, sometimes a himbo and quick to anger. Eggman hasn't been called Robotnik in the west since 1 throwaway line in Adventure 1 as far as the games go, and he's not nearly as fun or charismatic as Jim Carrey Eggman. The Master Emerald is a whole other basket of worms to look into.

All of this being understood, the Live Action timeline is an entirely separate continuity- a product made not entirely for game fans, but to be consumed in a simpler format for an audience that either vaguely heard of the franchise, parents of people that were into it, or fans that sort of fell out after the 90s tv shows to 2000s. It's not just the audience it's targeted at, but probably the audience that MADE it as well. The majority of the audience- in their mind, probably parents forced to watch with their kids- probably wouldn't want a super serious story about Knuckles, but those people probably will enjoy the classic rock callbacks or the humor put in.

It's a basic issue with live action versions of franchises in which slightly out of touch writers try to adjust the source material to be more palatable to a "normie" audience. Detective Pikachu did it when they claimed "Mewtwo is the strongest Pokemon" when game fans could list plenty of Pokemon that could literally wipe it out of existence via lore or via in game stats alone. One Piece Live action did it by making Luffy more of a wise cracking character, taking away the "Wii Music behind his eyes" if that makes sense. These and the Sonic live-action series are fun, mind you, and at least are more respectful compared to disrespectful ones like Dragon Ball Evolution or Death Note's Netflix movie.

Of course, there's also budget. Guys, it was a 6 episode streaming service show. It's not going to have movie budget to animate Knuckles or make more cgi characters for every scene. That's the real reason the show was more about Wade than anything- budget.

There's 1 more thing to consider: the director for the Sonic movies seems to have the top priority of making sure the cast has fun making this, if the bonus scenes of Sonic 2 are anything to go by. The actors probably haven't played much of the more story heavy Sonic games, but they do know that these characters are fun to work with and the acting gig is fun because of all the zaniness that goes on. Maybe it's not the most loyal to the source, but it IS fun for the people working on it.

So all of this in consideration, it's kind of childish to look at this and expect some grand epic that abides by the games, and even more childish to expect comic book canon (don't forget Ken Penders fucked that up for everyone, so its now a legal issue) when that's not the type of people making it, being targeted, or the type of budget they have. Is it a cash in? Sure, but it's at least a fun one.

I mean, I can't hate it. Look

They remembered that hat from the Sonic OVA

They care enough to make it fun, and that means something to me, you know?

That being said, if I have to voice my own issues, I'd say this:

1. The Flames of Disaster in this format feels a tad disrespectful to Silver's timeline, given that Iblis, aka "the flames of disaster," was a demon that engulfed the world in fire and blotted out the sun. I know they probably just thought "oh this comes from 'the worst game of all time,' it's no big deal, who cares, everyone hates it lol" and didn't really mean anything by it, but still. It also kind of makes Blaze the Cat feel redundant since fire is her whole thing- there's no chance she or Silver will ever make it to the Live Action universe, so I guess they don't have to worry about that. I am a bit miffed, but I understand.

It might have done better to have him obtain his famous level up items, like shovel claws and hammer fists and such, rather than turning a powerful enemy into a mere power up. It's a bit like taking Trigon from DC comics and giving his powers to Batman, if that makes sense.

2. The soundtrack is fun, but I think they missed an opportunity by not including some rnb, hip hop, or rap, and probably focused more on classic rock to appeal to a more neutral, older, white audience- aka something a bit safe without ruffling the "I hate rap" crowd. I mean listen to SA2's Knuckles' levels: Wild Canyon, Pumpkin Hill, Aquatic Mine, Unknown from M.E. both og and sa2, c'mon man. Classic game tunes imo (Hunnid P's awfulness aside, covers are a thing and he merely provides the vocals), and honestly would have been fun to see and hear at least referenced. It's not mandatory, but music more closely matching his style in the games would have been nice to have included.

Knuckles having a "I must meet this 'Snoop the Dog!'" moment would have been hilarious, and honestly I'm surprised the chuckleheads on the writing crew missed that opportunity.

3. It's probably a budget issue, but the final fight scene should have been longer, and there should have been a scene where Maddie asks why Knuckles was in Reno when he should have been "grounded." It felt slightly rushed in a way that could have been prevented if they managed time and budget better.

Otherwise it's a fine show. It's more of a parody or a "hey you got your anthro cartoon echidna in my silly pg13 comedy" situation, but it did make me smile and laugh. Knuckles being a Julia Roberts movie fan is just hilarious.

Other things I enjoy is just how respectful Knuckles is to other cultures- he doesn't mean to be as impolite as he comes across, he just doesn't quite get it, you know? But he picks up on customs and things like a sponge, and it's hilarious to see him adjusting to life- drinking coffee straight from a coffee pot, eating bread at a bar and talking to mascots as if they're real, and being a supportive friend for Wade but not quite understanding NOBODY talks like him is just hilarious.

Also the practical effects and props/prop comedy is impeccable. Wade going through the kitchen after it's been wrecked to hell and the fridge falling apart, the motorcycle and bicycle duel, the bowling alley being the battle field- in an industry ruled by cgi, stuff like this makes me laugh harder than anything.

Something else minor I really enjoyed was the mention of a similar bowling tournament incident happening in 1974- aka 50 years ago- is such a small but hilarious addition and nod to Shadow, implying he went bowling or was forced to bowl. It makes me somehow more excited for Sonic 3.

I wouldn't hate the idea of a season 2 overall, or maybe a Tails or Shadow centric show in the future.

7/10 seems like a very fair score. Could have been better, not as bad as a lot of die hards claim it is- and let's be real, some of the hate probably comes from the same type of fans that hated Johnny Boyega in Star Wars, but in this case it's anti semitism instead of racism. It's not "political" to include a culture in a movie or show, just like it's not to include people of certain races in it either.

[duckletranslations]

Ariadne Ch 1 - Prologue

Season: Fall

HiMERU: ……

Kohaku: Mm~? This design, I’ve never seen these socks before. Whose are they?

Niki: Ah, those’d be my new socks ♪ The light green color is just like a kiwi, so I thought it looked delicious!

Kohaku: Ahh, so they’re yours, Niki-han. Kiwi color y’say, I’ll remember that.

Havin’ said that, ya just gotta make everything about food. There has to be a more fitting comparison.

Well, it doesn’t matter. Rather, why’re we packin’ our bags all of a sudden? Rinne-han broke the news so suddenly, I meant to ask while we were in the middle of it.

Niki: Ah, that’s what I wanted to know too! Telling us to suddenly pack up like that….could it be he wants us to make a secret escape by night!

Rinne-kun, be honest. You didn’t dip your hands into our unit activity funds, did you?

Rinne: Now why would I do that. It’s for work, work.

Niki: Work….?

Rinne: Yep, and it’s gonna be a shoot at a country locale!

CosPro basically neglects us, so this is a rare opportunity! So whatever other business you guys have going on now, drop it all cuz I’m takin’ us there pronto!

Niki: What? So we’re packing our bags right now for work?

I don’t like that~ Traveling far for work is gonna make me tired!

Rinne: Ya don’t mind, Niki? Y’know there are all sorts of specialties in the country? An opportunity to try ‘em all is being handed to you, and ya don’t mind being left behind here all by yourself?

Niki: Eh!? Then I’ll be going! I’ve decided!

Kohaku: What a crafty guy. Well, that’s fine. I’m just grateful that we’ve got a job.

HiMERU: — — …..

Rinne: Hey, what are you zonin’ out like that for?

What’s goin’ on in your head this time, ◼◼?

HiMERU:…..! Amagi, how do you know “my” name…..?

Kohaku: Oh dear, ◼◼-han. Ya really thought y’could keep hidin’ it?

We know everything. The whole story about how you, ◼◼-han, became an idol in the real HiMERU’s place ♪

Niki: I noticed it right after Crazy:B was formed! That’s when Rinne-kun said we should keep our mouths shut about it for a while for fun ♪

HiMERU: No….. For “my” true self to have been leaked—

Niki: Nahaha. You still haven’t figured it out?

All the fans and idols at ES, they know all about it!

HiMERU?: That can’t be….! Surely you’re lying?!

Kohaku: Oh, but it can be. Basically the only one outta the loop was you, ◼◼-han….

Niki: Everyone was excited for when you’d catch onto it~!

Rinne: How absolutely hilarious. It was really only you, ◼◼, going around thinking you had everyone fooled ♪

But ya don’t have to hide yourself anymore, ◼◼.

From now on, leave “HiMERU” or whatever behind, you’re a part o�� our very own, Crazy:B!

Oh yeah, ◼◼, we’ve been preparing a live show where we’ll drop your real name! Let’s make it a dramatic reveal! ♪

HiMERU?: Don’t you dare! “I” did not become “HiMERU” for that!

Moreover, the thought of being reduced to a spectacle for the world’s eyes—!

HiMERU: …..Uah!?

A d, dream…..? And this place…..

Kohaku: You musta been havin’ something fierce of a nightmare, HiMERU-han. Yer soaked through with cold sweat.

We’re in the middle of a long tunnel. The blackout curtains of the studio bus are drawn so that light wouldn’t come in while we sleep.

HiMERU: The atmosphere is strangely poetic. In fact, it is so dark that everyone could believably die in an accident on this studio bus.

Once we come out of the long tunnel, the snow district—no, the country locale will come into view.

Kohaku: That’s right. Even so, I’d say talkin’ about everyone dyin’ is rather ominous. Just what kinda nightmare were ya havin’, HiMERU-han?

HiMERU: — —No, it’s not important. A nightmare not worth caring about.

Niki: It’s beef tongue~

HiMERU: ……?

Niki: Beef tongue, beef tongue….. Mumble mumble…. ♪

HiMERU: He’s talking in his sleep, how confusing.

Kohaku: Lately, all that comes out of Niki’s mouth is “beef tongue.” I know he’s been lookin’ forward to it, but ain’t the countryside shoot the whole point of the trip?

HiMERU: —Yes. Amagi hardly takes the listener’s position into account in his explanations, so HiMERU had no choice but to inquire of the Vice President.

You remember the job we took on with the honey maker, right? Upon seeing it, a local TV station recommended us out.

They have started pushing for Crazy:B to promote local specialty products.

Kohaku: Hoh…. those kinds of secret deals were happening. I was thinkin’ for sure, they’re sendin’ us to get some work experience at a ranch.

We’d look at even the most piddling work and think, “might as well try it out.” I’m sure even the heavens are watching over our great efforts.

HiMERU: — —Hm. Is that really so.

Kohaku: ? Sounds like yer gettin’ at something. Is there something botherin’ ya?

HiMERU: For a while now, the view out the windows has been concerning.

Kohaku: Out the windows…..?

Rinne: Kohaku-chan, are you that excited about traveling after so long, ya didn’t sense it?

Kohaku: Even you, Rinne-han. When d’ja wake up?

Rinne: Just now. If you don’t rest up properly before working, you’ll lose your energy quick.

The studio bus is slowin’ down, I’d say we’re about to arrive.

Kohaku: Arrive?...... Weren’t we s’posed to arrive the next morning? It’s not even time for the sun to be out yet…..

Rinne: Look’ere. This entire time, you guys didn’t think anything was weird? Sure, closing the doors that tight is fine. But the blackout curtains completely shut like this leaving no gaps—

HiMERU: If you noticed too, you could have said something, Amagi. HiMERU is unfamiliar with studio buses—thanks to that, he belatedly noticed.

Rinne: Gyahaha ♪ Y’know they say the road to misfortune is paved with good intentions? Well that’s gotta mean the road to good fortune is paved with bad intentions ♪

Other words, this job with malicious intent behind it—my gambler’s intuition said “Accept it!”

HiMERU: What an unscientific thing to say. HiMERU probably would have made the same choice in the end, but he hoped he could at least brace himself.

There is too little information to deduce our client’s true intentions.

Kohaku: The two of ya seem to be in the know, so what’s goin’ on? Personally I don’t have the slightest idea!

HiMERU: We’ll know once we get off. It seems the bus has happened to stop now anyway.

Shiina, too, should wake up. Because soon, HiMERU will know what our situation is.

Niki: Mm…. So, where’s the beef tongue?

Rinne: Alright alright, I said we’re goin’, Niki! Make sure to stick with your group on a field trip, ya didn’t learn that at school?

Niki: Gyak!? I’d like it if you wouldn’t kick my butt as soon as I wake up!

Who d’you even think you are? Talking like that when you didn’t even go to school yourself!

Kohaku: Wh, what is this place ‘ere….!?

HiMERU: A man-made maze—No, a labyrinth would be more fitting to call it. This is the first time HiMERU has actually stepped foot in one.

No matter how you look at it, we have been tricked into being dragged here.



[witch-hazels-musings]

Hey there! I wasn't sure if this was something you're comfortable writing, so if not, feel free to skip! I couldn't find anything in your faq but I just wanted to make sure!

Can I request a reader who never really drinks getting a little tipsy after a particularly stressful day? Just acting kind of giggly and clingy to their s/o? Nothing dubious ofc just some fluff 🥰 for Diluc, Xiao and Kaeya?

^ This made me laugh. I am a LIGHTWEIGHT, so I tend to get drunk after like ... one beer - haha! Anyway - enjoy ;) 

Tipsy, Touchy

Warning -> flirty, touching, fluff, mentions of alcohol, and getting drunk

Includes: Diluc, Xiao, Kaeya

Character x GN Reader  |  Anthology

Diluc

He’s a bit shocked when you go beyond your normal one drink, in fact, he’s a little surprised at your demeanor in general - normally you only had a drink if the event warranted it, but today, you seemed to be throwing them back all on your own 

“Did something happen?” he asks you, his attention on the third glass you’ve begged him to pour. 

“Today,” you groan, your words already slurring a little, “was … not. good.” He can see the alcohol already making an impression on your skin. Your cheeks were flushed and you kept fussing with your hair, little strands making their own decisions as if in defiance of your touch. 

“Hmm, well don’t go overboard.” 

Once you reach your fourth drink, we gotta cut you off, too drunky. And worse, you were starting to get a little handsy with the people around you. You’d already given a few of the female patrons a hug goodbye, telling them you were the designated “send-off committee”

In fact, you were having a hard time keeping your hands to yourself especially when it came to Diluc. When he forcibly switched you from wine to water you grabbed onto his arm, or tried to convince him to lean in close so you could share with him a secret - he wouldn’t 

You thought everything was funny, and he often caught you giggling to yourself or chuckling after the small conversation you and he shared 

He wasn’t really on board with your ostentatious behavior, but he did enjoy seeing you smile in the grandiose way you were - unreserved and relentless 

As the evening beings to slow and patrons leave the bar, you were trying to work out a thought in your head. It had been floating around for a while and you weren’t doing a good job keeping it off your face. 

“Hey,” you finally speak up. You wait to finish your thought until Diluc looks at you. He’s been gathering the final glasses from the tables so he takes a bit to react to you. “Come here.” You beckon, uneasily, with your finger for him to walk closer to you. 

When he does, you wave him down so his face is close to yours. 

“You.” You point your finger at him, “are my favorite person.” There is a smirk on your face and playful energy in your eyes. 

He scoffs at you and tries to retreat but you grab his face in your hands, “Wait. Wait. Diluc Ragnvindr ... “ he’s so close to you, his face, his eyelashes, his lips … it’s too much and in defeat you let him go, dropping your head in your hands. “Ugh, you are much too attractive for me right now.” 

“You are a lot of things right now.” You peek your eyes out from over your arms and see him rubbing the back of his neck, his head turned to the side. There is no doubt in your mind he is blushing. 

“You’re blushing!” you shout. The excitement of his reaction is too much to handle. 

“Shut up.” He tosses a towel your way and disappears into the back office. 

Diluc makes a mental note to not let you drink that much in public again, not only is he worried you might do something dumb, but he worries how he will keep his composure

Xiao

Xiao would have no idea what to do with alcohol. He doesn’t touch the stuff, so he wouldn’t really know the common behaviors of inebriated people 

He’d probably take whatever you were drinking and dump it out in front of you the drunker you became - he could barely handle normal humans, let alone a drunk one 

“What are you drinking anyway?” He looks at the bottle, turning it over in his hands. 

“I don’t know, I picked it up on the way out here.” You rub your hands over your face, the wine hasn’t fully hit you but you know with the amount you drank it’s only a matter of time. 

“Is it normal for humans to drink so much, all at once?” 

“Meh, maybe? Today was the worst though, so I’m giving myself permission.” 

It’s hard to tell if he would have any reaction to your tipsy behavior other than being exhausted by it

The way you laugh at things, that to him, aren’t funny or how you try to ask him really silly questions about things he wouldn’t know anything about 

Xiao is prickly, so you’d have to push through a lot of spikes to get to the gentle core he’s given you flashes of, so don’t get offended if he reacts to your clingy-ness in an irritating way 

He just doesn’t let people in very easily, and even though you two are together, and you’ve been physical before, this level of touch might be overstimulating for him 

You look at him from the floor of the inn. He is sitting on a pillow with his eyes closed. There were many nights you spent with him where you just fit yourselves into each other's space, like pieces of a puzzle nestled tightly together. He looked so regal, and you wondered how he would act if you poked at him. 

Carefully, you crawled your way over to him with wobbly limbs. When you got close enough you whispered his name. 

“Xiao…” He opened his eyes and is startled by how close your face is to him. His arms launched to his sides to steady himself as he leaned back away from your proximity. The reaction made you laugh.

“What?” 

“Nothing, I just wanted to get closer to you.” you desperately want to touch him: his cheeks, his forehead, his collarbone, his arms and hands, you wanted to touch them all. The alcohol emboldened you. You scoot closer to him, your sides practically touching, and, in an instant, you wrap your arms around his. The grip you have is possessive. 

He sighs but doesn’t push you away. So you tread onward. You slide behind him and wrap your arms around his chest, each of your legs on either side of him Rubbing your face against his back you breathe him in, he smells like rain after a thunderstorm. 

“I like you.” You place a kiss on his exposed shoulder before resting your cheek against him. 

It’s quiet for a time, all you hear is his beating heart and slow breaths. You don’t expect him to answer you, or say anything, you know he likes you by the way he lets you cling to him like this. That’s all you’ll ever need him to say. 

“Are you always going to be this clingy when you drink?” the question breaks the silence. 

“Mm, possibly, I don’t normally drink this much. Why.” You return his question with your own, slightly tilting his body to the side so you can strain your head to look at his face. 

“No reason.” Even in the dim lighting, you can see the blush on his face. 

Kaeya

Kaeya finds your behavior hilarious. He’d be so enamored with the way you were acting and amazed it happens with only a few drinks of alcohol in you

“You’re putting those away,” he’d muse over his own beverage. 

“Well,” you’d say as you empty yet another glass. “Today sucked! So i’m drowning my stress in sweet, sweet alcohol.” 

“Cheers to that!” 

When you laugh he melts, when you giggle he nearly passes out, and he’s having a hard time not fainting right now. Everything he says to you sends you into a fit of laughter and he just can’t stop himself - he’s obsessed with you and when he can see something new that he’s never noticed before he is filled with pride 

For instance, he didn’t know that when you laugh when drinking that you shield your eyes and nose and let out breathless laughter. He didn’t know that when you had several drinks you started to get louder and louder - which may have annoyed others, but he found it endearing

“... and after finishing the bottle he passed out for three whole days. And that is why our aloof bar owner doesn’t drink.” You can’t help but laugh, you’ve heard this story already but it makes you chuckle every single time. 

“Kaeya, how many times are you going to tell that story…” Diluc warns from behind the counter, his hands dangerously wrapped around the neck of a wine bottle. 

“Oh, come on. Look at how happy it’s made them.” 

“I’m cutting you both off.” 

“Hey!” Even with the cap on your drinking for the night, you couldn’t stifle your laughter. 

Normally, Kaeya is the overly touchy one. His hands cannot keep themselves from your tempting body. So when you cling to him he finds the action rather refreshing 

Wrapping your arms around his, leaning your head on his shoulder or digging it into his arm. Scooting closer to him, practically sitting on his lap, he finds it all a riot - don’t be shocked if he helps you into a comfortable position on or between his legs 

“Kaeya,” you look at him, your head bobbing around, your cheeks the color of pomegranates, and your hair falling out of place. 

“Yes, lovely?” He helps steady you, a possessive hand wrapping around your lower back and his other moving from your shoulder or lower arm, whichever one needs the most support. 

You giggle, and the sound pulls at his heart, “Do you know that you’re handsome? Like, really, really handsome.” 

“I’m glad you think so.” 

“No, listen, it’s kinda ridiculous how attractive you are. LIKE … WhO do you think you are with this face?? hmmM?” You wave your hand in front of him as if to drive home your point. You aren’t sure what answer you wanted from him, but his laughter seems satisfactory enough and you join in shortly after. 

He finds everything you do to be adorable, but multiplied by ten when you start drinking - he will always make sure you have a good time, and as long as you are safe and happy he will be there to join in on the fun

[live-the-fangirl-life]

It's Only Temporary

Feyre Archeron x Rhys - Tattoo Artist Oneshot

After losing a bet, Rhys gets a new tattoo

Masterlist | Read on Ao3

Warnings: Language, Tattoos

2492 words

*******

“Fey!” Cassian’s voice boomed through the glass door as he grinned and waved to get her attention.

Looking up from her sketchbook, Feyre watched as Cassian tried to open the locked door again, shaking the wood so hard the bell hanging above it started chiming frantically.

She rolled her eyes and walked out from behind the counter she’d been working at, quickly getting to the door before his enthusiasm ripped it from its hinges. Feyre had barely flipped the lock when Cassian swung it open and immediately wrapped her in a bone crushing hug, lifting her off the ground as she laughed before setting her back down and ruffling her hair. Then he strutted through the dim lobby of her tattoo parlor taking his time to survey the walls of designs, the colorful crushed velvet couches, and the small rack of t-shirts and stickers she had for sale with the shop’s logo printed on them.

The Rainbow was Feyre’s baby. She’d saved almost every penny from the time she’d gotten her first job in order to afford her shop. After studying art in school and apprenticing for a few years, she’d finally been able to buy a small storefront in Velaris and built her business from the ground up.

It didn’t hurt that most of her friends liked tattoos and were always happy to be her canvases and subsequent advertising.

Shaking her head at Cassian who’d made himself at home near her front counter, Feyre returned to her spot with her sketchbook, now open to display a howling water wolf, and raised a brow, “Can’t you read? I’m closed.”

He scoffed, grinning, and leaned his forearms on the counter. “Not for me, Archeron.”

She rolled her eyes again but couldn’t help her smirk when she told him, “It late and I’m busy. Care to tell me why you’re here?” Feyre looked at him expectantly.

Cassian just grinned. “Do I need a reason to visit my very successful, very talented friend?”

“Wow, such flattery, Cassian. What exactly are you trying to get me to agree to?” She raised an eyebrow, trying to reign in a smirk.

He flashed her a wolfish grin. “Convince your sister to go out with me.”

Feyre snorted. “I don’t think you’re Elain’s type.”

“You’re hilarious, Archeron.” Cassian deadpanned and rolled his eyes, “Come on, Fey. Talk me up to Nesta.”

Feyre sighed, closing her sketchbook, and resigning herself to not getting anymore work done tonight. “Cass, I’ve done all I can on that front, believe me. You’ll have to win her over all on your own.”

“Been trying that for years.” He grumbled then ran a hand through his hair.

“I know that isn’t why you’re here,” Feyre insisted, “you ask me to do that literally every time you see me, so I know you didn’t seek me out for that. What’s up?”

He shot her a grin that made his single dimple stand out as he glanced at the door to the parlor. “Az is on his way over with Rhys and we were hoping you would do us a favor.”

“A favor?” she asked skeptically.

Cassian kept grinning. “You see, baby Arche,” Feyre snorted at the nickname. “your idiot boyfriend made a bet that he never stood a chance of winning, and he lost. Horribly.”

“Okay…” she rubbed at her face, trying to steel herself for whatever she was about to hear. Cassian’s shit-eating grin wasn’t making Feyre feel any better.

“Az and I want you to tattoo a little something special on Rhys for us.”

She paused, halting her shuffling of her sketches and furrowed her brows. “You want me to tattoo something on Rhys…because he lost a bet?”

“Yes.”

“Does Rhys know this?”

A slow smirk spread across Cass’s face, “He knows he’s coming to see you.”

Feyre rolled her eyes. “Cassian, why would I agree to tattoo something—you haven’t even said what it is, by the way—onto my boyfriend when he obviously doesn’t even know what’s happening?”

“Well,” Cass pointed out, “I’d hope he’d realize what was happening once you sat him in the chair and got your needles and ink out.”

She snorted, “You know what I mean.”

“Because, Fey,” He sighed dramatically, “Little Rhysie is a punk and lost a bet so now he has to get a tattoo of our choice. And who better to do it, than his wonderful tattoo artist of a girlfriend?” his grin came back, wider than before.

Feyre said nothing for a moment as she stared Cassian down. Then she asked, “How drunk is he?”

Cassian chuckled, “Very.”

Feyre smiled slowly, “And how drunk are you?”

He narrowed his eyes at her but lifted his fingers to show a small space between his thumb and pointer finger. “Just a little bit.”

“So, a lot.” Feyre corrected

Cassian was silent a moment before grinning, “Rhys bet that he could outdrink me.”

Feyre blinked, then clutched the counter as she bent over laughing. She heard Cassian’s loud chortles next to her a moment later. When she stood back up, she wiped a tear from her eye and shook her head.

“Oh, my gods,” She was still chuckling, trying to picture Rhys go shot for shot with the mass of a man standing in front of her. “I love him, but sometimes he’s such an idiot.”

“I think you mean all the time.”

Just then, the bell on the door jingled again and Azriel held it open with one arm as he gripped a stumbling Rhys with the other.

“Hi, Feyre.” Azriel nodded at her as the door shut behind him.

“Hey, Az” She chuckled and walked towards the pair. “Can you lock that? Thanks.”

“Feyre, darling!” Rhys suddenly beamed and stumbled towards her, stepping close enough that she could smell every shot he’d taken on his breath. He used both hands to gently cup her face, squishing her cheeks in little and pressing a sloppy but sweet kiss to her lips. “I missed you.”

She smiled at him but stepped back to avoid his breath. “I saw you a few hours ago.”

He pouted, “That’s too long. I’ve had to look at those two ugly faces all night when I could’ve been looking at your dazzling one.”

“Why does he have to insult us when he compliments her?” Cass grumbled to Azriel who looked mildly amused.

He snorted. “Perspective.”

Feyre removed herself from Rhys’ grip only for him to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her into his side. She leaned into his touch, and helped keep him standing, as she rested her head on his shoulder as she faced Azriel.

“Az, can you fill me in? Cassian tried, but I don’t know how much I trust his story.”

Cassian feigned hurt and shook his head. “Fey, I am wounded that you doubt me.”

Azriel’s explanation had been essentially the same as Cassian’s with a few more details and a little less slurring of words. She’d rolled her eyes but told them to wait in the lobby while she took Rhys back to her studio.

Feyre had no intention of actually tattooing her very intoxicated boyfriend just because he and his brothers had made a stupid bet. He’d have to be completely sober before she agreed to that.

Guiding Rhys into her back room, she waited until he was sitting on the edge of her large, leather chair before moving to stand between his spread legs. His hands instantly found her waist and she rested her palms on his thighs.

Quirking a brow at her boyfriend, Feyre asked, “Did you actually think you could out drink Cassian?”

Rhys scoffed, “I’m just as big as he is, why shouldn’t I have been able to do it?”

Feyre smirked as Rhys pouted. “Babe, you may be fit,” she huffed a laugh at his raised brow, “okay, fine, extremely fit, but Cass is a tank. And he’s a bartender. There’s no possible way you could’ve won that bet.”

Rhys kept pouting, flexing his fingers over her hips, “You’re supposed to be on my side, Darling.”

She laughed and pecked him on the cheek. “I am, always.” She kissed his lips for good measure. “But I’m going to tease you when you’re being an idiot.”

He used his grip on her hips to pull her towards him for an actual kiss. Feyre stayed wrapped in his arms for as long as she could stand his horrid tequila-drenched breath. Letting her arms loop around his neck and her fingers tangle in his hair, Feyre pulled back.

Rhys let his forehead droop onto her chest and Feyre had the distinct feeling that it was less about the warm comfort of her skin and more about an excuse for Rhys to press his face into her breasts.

“I don’t hear any needles buzzing back there, Fey!” Cassian bellowed from the lobby area. She snorted at the clear sound of a hand hitting someone’s head and the following curse.

She rolled her eyes but kept playing with Rhys’ hair as he mumbled something too muffled for her to understand.

“What was that?” she asked.

Raising his face, he looked at her and winced. “Are you actually going to tattoo me?”

She snickered at the disdain on his features.

“Maybe I should,” she teased, “to teach you a lesson making ridiculous bets.”

Rhys winked. “you can teach me a lesson anytime, Darling.”

Feyre rolled her eyes and was about to retort back when Cassian yelled again, “Baby Arche! We’re not paying you to make out back there!”

She snorted and hollered, “You’re not paying me at all! I’m getting there, don’t rush me.”

Azriel’s voice came next, “We didn’t bring your intoxicated man-child here so the two of you could get it on in the back parlor.”

Rhys snorted and replied back, “You say that like it’s never happened.”

“Rhys.” She hissed, smacking his arm as he chuckled.

“Gross,” two voices audibly gagged from the other room. “You’d better sanitize back there!”

A pause, then a disgusted Cassian said, “You’ve tattooed me on that chair, I don’t want to know what you sickos have done to it.”

Feyre and Rhys snickered before she said, “You might want to avoid the front couch then, too.”

Rhys, still grinning, added, “And the check-out counter—”

“—and the bathroom sink!” Feyre finished.

“Heathens.” Azriel muttered.

Rhys and Feyre laughed at their friends’ obvious disgust.

“I don’t need to hear any more of this,” Cassian insisted. “Ever.”

Feyre rolled her eyes and turned on her machine, allowing the steady buzz of the needle to flow into the waiting area; Cassian’s loud whoop telling her the sound was loud enough.

She carefully set the device on her counter and let the buzz echo through the room as she turned towards a small drawer and pulled out a colorful packet.

Rhys raised an eyebrow at the needle she clearly wasn’t prepping to use on him and watched as she flipped through the pages of whatever she was holding.

She paused on a page and grinned, flipping it around for him to see.

“Do you want a flying bat or one that’s hanging upside down?”

Rhys blinked. Twice. He slowly grinned back at his clever girlfriend as she handed him the sheet of temporary, press-on tattoos.

They were cartoonish-looking designs; the ones made for children that you could use a wet cloth to press onto your skin. He flipped through the rest of the pages to see a variety of other animals and plants, all ready to be cut out and used.

“Is my only choice a bat?” He grinned, looking back up at Feyre to see her already grabbing a scissor and paper towel.

She snorted. “That was what your brothers insisted on.” She took back the packet and carefully cut out the two bats. “They may be drunk enough to think a press-on is a real tattoo, but I don’t know if they’d accept anything else.”

When she held up both bat options for him, he nodded towards the one with outstretched wings. Feyre wet the paper towels and pushed his sleeve up to reveal his toned forearm. After making sure his skin was clean and dry, she gently pressed the bat onto his skin and covered the design with the wet paper towel, allying pressure to keep the image steady.

Rhys reached over with his free hand and grabbed the packet again. “Why do you have these? Besides for saving your boyfriend from a stupid bet?” he finished with a wide grin.

She laughed, still pressing firmly on the tattoo. “I keep them for the kids.”

At his raised brow she rolled her eyes. “Sometimes my clients can’t help but have their kids with them, so I keep the press-ons for those who see their parents and insist they get a tattoo, too.” She snorted at some memory. “I used to have washable markers for them to use but then a few of them would walk out of here looking like some avant-garde painting, so I switched to these. It’s adorable when they hold their cartoon dragon next to their parent’s actual ink.”

Rhys chuckled and Feyre lifted her hand, slowly peeling back the sticky paper to reveal a cute, flying bat.

He flexed his arm, grinning as the movement made the bat’s wings look as if they were flying. “How do I look?”

She leaned in to inspect the bat, making a show of darting between the cartoon and his real tattoos trailing down his arm. “Hmm, I think maybe when you’re sober, I should actually ink this onto you.”

Her grin made him laugh. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss next to the bat, careful not to brush it, and he smiled as she looked back at him.

“How’s it going?” Az’s low voice carried from the front room, making Feyre chuckle and Rhys huff.

She leaned over and expertly turned off the still-buzzing needle before calling back, “Just finished!”

Rhys brought his arm up and laughed again at the small, cheery bat placed between his darker swirls of years-old markings. He locked eyes with Feyre again as she put her supplies away and moved to stand once again between his legs. “You think they’ll buy it?”

She snorted, “Probably not.” She laughed again at his sullen expression. “But I don’t think the bet ever specified the tattoo having to be real.”

Rhys’ grin returned in full force as he brought his hands to Feyre’s face and guided her lips towards his. “You, Darling, are spectacular.”

Laughing again, Feyre leaned out of his reach. “And you, babe, still have horrible breath.”

Rhys rolled his eyes but loosened his grip as she stepped out of his arms, taking her hand as she led them back towards the front lobby.

“Come on,” she said over her shoulder, winking, “let’s show them your new tattoo.”

*****

Taglist:

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[elliementarymydears]

A Cinderella Story Franchise Review (that no one asked for)

A Cinderella Story

Starring: Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray

Release: 2004

Dress rating: 6/10 (weirdly long torso anyone?)

Cinderella references: 5/10 (bonus points for intro)

Overall rating: 8/10

+10 for being the original

+10 for being a theatrical release

+10 for the presence of sane adults

+10 for being the only movie not to have a pop star dream angle

-10 for diet culture

-10 for no chemistry between leads

Another Cinderella Story

Starring: Selena Gomez and Drew Seeley

Release: 2008

Dress rating: 5/10 (minus points for being boring, bonus points for making her stand out, additional bonus points for being practical to dance in)

Cinderella references: 7/10 (bonus points for “the pumpkin”)

Overall rating: 7/10

+10 points for being the one I’m nostalgic about

+10 points for chemistry between leads

+10 points for better use of the “shoe” that was left behind

-20 points for the Drew Seeley situation

-10 points for unnecessary drama when Mary catches him “cheating”

-10 points for being the first to introduce the pop star angle which is now a staple

A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song

Starring: Lucy Hale and Freddie Storms

Release: 2011

Dress rating: 2/10 (would be 0 but bonus points for at least obscuring her hair color)

Cinderella references: 3/10

Overall rating: 4/10

+20 points for making me actually care about the stepsiblings

+10 points for Cyrano references

+10 points for catchy tunes

+10 points for scooby doo scene

-100 points for racism

-10 points for no chemistry between leads

-10 points for little screen time between leads

-10 points for unnecessary nude scene

-10 points for obvious lip synching

A Cinderella Story: if the Shoe Fits

Starring: Sofia Carson and Thomas Law

Release: 2016

Dress rating: 7/10 (points subtracted for being a “costume”)

Cinderella references: 6/10 (points added for shoe scenes)

Overall rating: 4/10

+10 points for chemistry

+10 points for screen time between leads

+10 points for somewhat convincing disguise

-20 points for convoluted plot

-10 points for trying to do dance, singing, and acting

-10 points for being the worst one

A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish

Starring: Laura Marano and Gregg Sulkin

Release: 2019

Dress rating: 8/10 (side note: how did her friend make two dresses like that in like two days??)

Cinderella references: 5/10 (Bonus points for naming her dog Bruno)

Overall rating: 7/10

+20 points for Gregg Sulkin because nobody said this review wasn’t subjective

+10 points for chemistry between leads

+10 points for screen time between leads

+20 points for being better than the last two

-10 points for tacking Christmas onto the story for no discernible reason

-10 points for one number that made it seem like a musical, despite the fact that the rest of the movie is decidedly not a musical

-20 points for stupid disguises and stupid reason why they can’t take off their disguises

-10 points for Laura Marano speaking out loud while she hid her invitation/dress allowing her stepmother to overhear her

-10 points for the weird tacked on plot line of her stepsister stealing her identity at the gala

A Cinderella Story: Starstruck

Starring: Bailee Madison and Michael Evans Behling

Release: 2021

Dress rating: 3/10

Cinderella references: 4/10

Overall rating: 6/10

+10 points for accidental queer vibes

+10 for Twelfth Night shenanigans

+10 for Kale, secretly the best part

-10 for two scenes with Musical™️ vibes that came out of nowhere

-10 for wearing impractical outfits for working on a farm

Final Thoughts

Ranking:

1. A Cinderella Story

2. Another Cinderella Story

3. A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish

4. A Cinderella Story: Starstruck

5. A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song

6. A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits

The “Cinderella Story” franchise is headed by Leigh Dunlap and the original helped launch Hilary Duff into stardom, which is no doubt the reason why the remaining 5 seem to have fallen into a formulaic routine meant to launch their own respective leads into stardom as well. But the “my dream is to be a star” gimmick runs old very quickly and as we saw with Sofia’s movie, oftentimes runs of the risk of feeling like they’re trying to do too much. At least with Selena, Lucy, and Laura there was a focus on a specific area (dancing and singing/songwriting specifically) but in Sofia and Bailee’s movies it definitely seems like they’re just following whatever direction will make them a star quicker. This franchise also suffers from some serious NLOG syndrome, which is glaringly obvious after watching them all back to back. I think these movies shine the most when they’re simple and put focus on the relationships or the inherent cruelty/trauma of “Cinderella’s” situation. I appreciate the ones who make an effort to explain the specifics of how “Cinderella” escapes her family, like in finding a hidden will. I think the Cinderella references quickly disappear and it doesn’t take long before these movies simple follow a formula instead of trying to find new and unique ways to tell a modern version of this fairytale. In the next iteration (assuming there is one) I’d like to see a step away from the pop star story- back to basics, where the prince is the most popular guy in school, not some superstar- and more of a focus on relationships with unique nods to the original fairy tale.