#this is my favourite style of pottery

[easterneuropeancrafts]

Veliko Tarnovo Pottery

(12th - 15th Century)

Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

There are three major schools of Bulgarian pottery (that have survived and are practiced in some form to this day) - pottery from Troyan, Veliko Tarnovo and Busintsi. The three styles of pottery are made using different techniques, forms and ornaments.

The pottery from Veliko Tarnovo uses a Sgraffito technique, which involves applying a thin layer of white clay, engraving designs on the dry surface of the clay, firing the design at a lower temperature, applying coloured or transparent glaze on top of the engravings, and re-firing the design at a higher temperature, resulting in a three dimensional design.

This style of pottery was typical of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom in the 12th to 14th century, and was made in Veliko Tarnovo, which was the Bulgarian capital at the time. It was used by the aristocracy of the time both for dining and for decoration.

Commonly used designs include plant, animal and human motifs as well as complex geometric patterns (some of which evoke solar imagery). The colours associated with this style of pottery are brown, yellow and green which all carry different symbolic meanings, with the brown originating from the natural colour of the clay, and the green and yellow coming from different pigments in the glaze.

Tarnovo style pottery is made to this day by artisans in the city. Nina Nesheva and her son, Dimitar Neshev, make designs which recreate the palette and style of the Tarnovo ceramics. Inspired by designs recovered from Tsarevets (the medieval stronghold overlooking Veliko Tarnovo) during archaeological investigations in the 70s, Nina Nesheva set out to create this style of ceramics, and has been creating works of art on the Samovodska Street in the Veliko Tarnovo historical district for more than thirty years. In their atelier "Chupi Kupi", you can see both modern examples of this pottery, as well as original shards of pottery provided by the Veliko Tarnovo Archaeological Museum (see the 4th photo above). It is also made in the city of Elena by local master Valentin Dimitrov.

Images from (1) Veliko Tarnovo Archaeological Museum, (2)-(5) Bulgarian National Radio Article on Nina Nesheva's work.

Nina Nesheva and Dimitar Neshev's atelier (Facebook page)

Valentin Dimitrov's atelier (Webpage)

[mimiruuna]

Girrrrl pls write more mouth washing headcannons like you just did 🙏🙏 truly you are a good writer and I enjoy your posts (I saw your intro and happy belated birthday!!)

thank you so much anonny!! so sweet :) i honestly love you for this request bc that means i can ramble on and on and be super unserious 👅 i'll section this off into two, nsfw and sfw!! (adding the read more link bc this is long!)

(reader is afab and uses she/her pronouns)

୨⎯ sfw ⎯ ୧

anya ۶ৎ

strikes me heavily as the "stay at home and rot" typa gal

and she's so real for that!!!

dates w her would definitely consist of little picnics, sitting by the lake and having deep talks, stargazing, pottery, library dates, all that good stuff >0<

she's totally slavic

i can't exactly put my finger on it but she gives russian/polish

will def give you nicknames in her one of those! (im not listing any bc im gonna be so embarrassed if i butcher my own language 😭)

if you're good at it, she loves when you braid her hair or do it up in fancy styles, she'll wear it for literally the rest of the day

LOVES seeing you all dressed up

like if you have a job that requires you to dress formally, and you walk out that bathroom with a dress shirt and slacks on??? ur gonna be a little late for work

she makes GREAT pasta dishes

vodka pasta, shrimp/chicken alfredo, mac n cheese, lasagna, gnocchi, YUMM

likes baking as well, but isnt very good

the most impressive thing she's ever made was chocolate chunk cookies that had literal pockets of gooey chocolate

can you tell im hungry

she's toned asl

loves the gym!

i feel like she dresses modestly for the most part in public but at home she'll wear crop tops and teeny shorts

definitely the type of person to give great advice but never use it

likes your voice, will say whatever to get you to talk (even better if you're someone who just talks and talks and talks) (me)

very comforting to talk to

WOULD NEVER JUDGE YOU OMG

you almost ran someone over? we've all been there!!

you actually ran someone over? why were they jaywalking??!

they died on the spot? ...get the boat.

i feel like she displays all of the love languages

but her main one would be words of affection i think

calls you love, dear, darling, all that sappy mush

wife!!!!!

curly ۶ৎ

ever since i've read what the devs said abt him liking snow sports i genuinely cannot stop imagining this guy skiing or snowboarding w you LMAO

but besides his love for that, he likes summery sports as well!!

like surfing, volleyball, badminton, tennis, golf, etc

dont take this in a weird way but i rlly just see him as the sugar daddy type

like yes he's your significant other BUT he's a good-looking man who looks a bit older, so if you look a lot younger than him then yeah ppl are gonna raise an eyebrow

but they have the right to bc every time you two go out he buys you something expensiveee

showers you in jewelery

he loves the beach!! (same)

definitely the type to massage sunscreen on you EWWWW (im kicking my feet)

he likes to give you massages in general, those strong ass hands be at WORK!!!!

my friend said he looks german and i can't get it out my mind, pls gimme opinions bc i totally agree 😭

sosososo nice and friendly and caring

loves taking you out on cruises, swanky resorts, michelin-star restaurants, the works

and if you like to workout he takes you on gym dates

my favourite

sometimes when he doesn't feel like going he'll just use you as a weight lol

likes randomly lifting you up

loves to listen to you ramble while he's cooking

good at cooking!!

calls you darling, princess, baby, beautiful

gentleman!!!

daisuke ۶ৎ

dream gen z bf

has a skincare routine he does with you every night

and if you arent there with him in person he'll facetime/video call you so he can "make sure you're doing all the right steps"

(he just wants to admire your LETHAL face card)

pothead >0<

this man takes you on dates GALORE

the arcade, thrifting, the mall, walmart (if they in walmart together they fucking RAW /ref), go karts, amusement parks, the beach, more i can't think of

likes when you do his makeup/give him a full glam makeover, it's so fun to him

lots of piercings

you HAVE to have a good relationship with his parents (saw this somewhere on ao3!)

has HUNDREDS of pictures of you in his gallery

has pics of you sleeping, cooking, walking, eating, watching tv, doing work, drinking, just existing

the type of mf to take like a thousand pictures of himself if you leave your phone around him

his love language is 100% physical touch and sending sappy ass tiktoks/instagram reels/everything else

LIVES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

he totally has like a fashion acct and it's just him trying on clothes and giving reviews

he has an impressive following!!

omg speaking of fashion, THIS MAN.

he's not like wisdom kaye level (one of his biggest inspos) but he can DRESSS

he'd totally judge you for wearing like socks and sandals or something utterly unacceptable

"girl. take those ripped skinny jeans OFF."

kinda like swansea is, i can see him being a sneakerhead (no i am not projecting)

calls you babe, dude, pretty girl if he's feeling freaky

jimmy ۶ৎ

he's such a pos i need him so fucking bad

he tries to clean up for you

shaves more, wears cheap cologne, tries to keep his home as clean as possible (which...isn't very clean)

is EXTREMELY dependent on you, esp if you're well off

loves getting high with you

off of VARIOUS substances 😭

mostly powder or acid but you two will shoot up from time to time

you've bailed him out of jail several times

committing crime dates!!! like

oh and yk eating out (at mcdonalds off the dollar menu), road trips (in his rusty ass truck), facetime/videocalls (his phone is so fucked up, his internet is horrible, and his camera quality is disgusting) whatever

hes so pathetic but he loves you so so so much

even if he doesn't display it like a normal person

his love language is definitely physical touch and words of affirmation

because that's all he can afford

very jealous, the two of you got into an argument once bc he thought you were looking at curly

tries to keep him away from you as much as possible

dont hate me for this but he definitely abuses his partners

psychologically, physical, verbally, sexually

but i dont care we love you jimmy!!

tbh most of the headcanons i have for him are nsfw, hence why this list is so short

im sorry!!!

swansea ۶ৎ

now THIS is a sugar daddy

(he's not technically bc you don't use him for money) (you better not.)

anyway!!!

he absolutely LOVES to take you out on fancy dates

likes travelling!!!

i can see him being a big fan of italy, germany, thailand, the bahamas

(psa: guys once before you die you HAVE to go to the bahamas omg its so freaking lovely and the locals are very very sweet :) )

oh he definitely enjoys a leisurely game of golf

he's such a sweetheart like he'll make you breakfast in bed and cook you a romantic candle-lit dinner and give you back massages and urghh

gives THE most insightful advice

actually super smart, will help you with any college work you have

his strong suits are math and science!

very good at cooking, devs themselves said he makes a mean paella!

i can see him being rlly good at cooking cultural food

like dont let this man make butter chicken or pad thai 👅 it will be GONE.

he admires you very often! you're so beautiful!! yes you!!!

he really likes it when you cuddle him

like aww imagine he's just watching something on his macbook and then here you come curling up next to him

AWWW I LOVE HIM

he's not super affectionate himself but if he notices it makes you happy then he'll try to show you that he loves you more physically

his love language is gift giving/quality time

having long talks with you is a must, especially when you are tuckered and all snuggled in your bed, and the tv's on but you aren't paying attention to the plotless show because you're too focused on listening to each others life stories, revealing little bits of lessons you've learned and why the way you are

ily swansea

୨⎯ nsfw ⎯ ୧

anya ۶ৎ

very gentle

unless she's like super into it then she'll start gripping your thighs or tonguing you down more intensely

she def watches porn when you aren't around and imagines the actors are you and her

but only the amateur lesbian type. that produced shit makes her cringe and uncomfortable

lots of toys!!1!=1

has the softest cutest moans

isn't particularly loud in bed, the loudest you'll get from her is a long, shaky whimper

loves giving head!!!

she literally has a fucking waterpark like she gets SO wet

not the easiest to turn on, which is why sex is uber intimate and precious to and with her

she's very sensitive and he orgasms are intense

also doesn't have the best stamina, will go literally two rounds before she's knocked tf out

PILLOW TALK

ughh she can't keep her lips off of you

even when you two aren't making love she's always kissing you somewhere

do NOT let her get a hold of a strap-on.

her stroke game is so freaking good like where does she get the experience??!

she likes your tits, her hands are always on them even in non-sexual situations

no matter their shape and size, she thinks they were sculpted by the gods

she thinks you were sculpted by the gods!!!

if you're super loud in bed then you're in luck bc she can't get enough!! she cant!!

she only initiates if you two are laying down, she'll wrap her arm around you and kiss your jaw

then she'll ask "is this okay?"

HELL YEA

curly ۶ৎ

oh man

he's 100% the type to put you in the most absurd positions

one i think about him doing all the time is like he'll be standing and he'll be drilling into you while you're UPSIDE DOWN

he's such a gentle giant, if you like it rough you'll have to beg him to stop being so nice

makes the hottest noises when you give him head

aughh he'd totally shut his eyes and keep a hand tangled in your hair and curse under his breath and buck his hips

when he initiates, it's always by lovingly running his big hands up and down your waist and pressing tender kisses to your neck while he whispers "i love you" and "so beautiful" in your ear

ooh that'll do it!!

you trying to initiate though? literally just kiss his neck and all of a sudden you're on your back

you call him "grant" when things start to get hot

like imagine moaning "curly"

doesnt watch any porn whatsoever

if he's horny and alone he'll just pleasure himself thinking about you

very very romantic, don't let this man find out it's valentine's day or your birthday or ANY holiday for that matter

like yk those tiktoks where someone is showing off a hotel room that their spouse decorated all romantically for their birthday, and then it cuts to the morning after and everything is all messed up after a few rounds?

YEAH THATS CURLY

for the love of god PLEASE SIT ON HIS FACE

likes risky/public sex

definitely part of the mile high club

loves fucking you in the kitchen

he seems like the type to grope you

but in a 'husbandly' way

like before he leaves for work he'll kiss you and smack your rear

or while you're cooking dinner he'll just squeeze your tits/ass

he loves ur ass!! i see him as an ass man

LMAO ASS MAN

good stamina, can go a FEW rounds

he will ALWAYS let you come first. no exceptions except for when you're sucking him off

he's so fucking good at giving head it's genuinely unbelievable

he likes his nipples played with

guys i NEED you to hear me out on this, he'd eat your ass/he likes anal

BUT LIKE ONLY IF YOU WANTED

but c'monnn don't tell me he wouldn't spit on it and get it real wet before slipping it in

daisuke ۶ৎ

THE freak of mouthwashing

canonically he's always horny lol

other ppl say he'd be a virgin but i cant see it 😭 he been to all those parties and he looks that good, are you sure he didn't get him some?!

watched a shit ton of porn before you two got together

and lemme tell you

HE DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE

big ass, petite, goth, ebony, asian, latina, blonde, brunette, bbw, interracial, WHATEVER.

enough of that

he's soooo noisy and sensitive like it doesn't make ANY sense

ESPECIALLY from head like he'll be gripping the bed/couch and moaning like a girl into the air and his thighs will be twitching and-

loves to edge himself

like if you're sucking him off and he's close, he'll tug your head off of him and take a breather before letting you do your thing again

LOVES recording you

literally i can see him downloading snapchat for the sole purpose of the 'my eyes only' feature

he's absolutely down for anything you wanna do

he would let you peg him tbh

gives super sloppy head

like it's not bad but he's just so eager and excited to please you that he gets kinda carried away

his tongue piercing feels so good

he noticed how much you loved it so he bought a vibrating one

literally wants sex like everyday and his stamina is insane

GENUINELY he can go all night

worships tf outta you

he is so obsessed w you and loves you so much like pls ride his face

dry humping is a lost art and he is bringing it BACK

he's like a fucking dog he's so noisy and messy and sloppy and horny and ugh

i love him so much he's literally me

jimmy ۶ৎ

extremely rough

like hardcore shit

he will actually choke you until you pass out and then fuck your unconscious body

same with whenever you go down on him, he hold you there until he feels your body go limp and then fuck your face

he loves getting head so fucking much

he has lots of...philias

i REFUSE to name any of them pls

intense groper

complete disregards the idea of consent

he's gonna take what he wants, whenever he wants it

and im okay w that!! 😻

wakes you up with head every morning

has a super high sex drive

the littlest, stupidest things turn him on

you spilled water on yourself? he's hard. you burnt your hand from super hot tap water and yelped? he's hard. he sees you cry? he's hard.

his stroke game is actually insane

if his goal was to make you finish (it's typically not) he'd succeed in a very short amount of time

he likes anal and he doesn't care if you like it either

ugh he doesn't even lube you up correctly

he just spits on it and goes on

he loves when you mark him up

leaves insane hickeys like that mf will look like you got SOCKED

he totally bites...just look at him

has sickkkk fantasies and expects you to mold yourself to all of them

likes torturing you for no reason whatsoever

he has a bunch of whips and paddles

something i always imagine him doing is coming home from a long day of work, pulling down his pants the minute that he sees you, and just going at it

swansea ۶ৎ

he would spank you

just to get that out the way

like if you're pissing him off he'll tell you to bend over his lap and he'll strike your ass until it's flushed red and tears are streaming down your face

but it's okay because then he'll kiss you all over and fuck you oh so nicely after

he's kind of but not really the brat tamer type

ehhh

as i said before: pussy slapping, face slapping, clit pinching GALORE >0<

kinda mean

like a mixture of praise and degradation

he likes when you spread your legs wide for him

sex drive is not high whatsoever

i mean he's like 50

neither is his stamina 😣 but he gives it to you super good

he usually just lets you ride his thigh or has a snack between your legs

he's so good at fingering

like imagine just sitting on his lap writhing around while two thick fingers are plunging into you and two more are rubbing tight, fast circles on your clit

loves kissing you during the act, he knows it makes you feel good

loveeess seeing you squirt/cream

he loves your moans as well, they're so cute to him and they're letting him know that he's doing a good job pleasuring his baby

he honestly believes that his job as your partner is to please you as much as possible

and he does that

girthy as FUCK

doesn't make a lot of noise

but when he's close he'll grunt quite a bit

another position i imagine he likes is one where you're lying on your side and your leg is in the air, and he has a grip on it while he fucks the shit outta you ahhh

after the deed you two will lay down and simply make out while his hands roam your body

that's how it starts sometimes too!!!

[snoopyrpc]

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES FOR WHEN I FEEL STUCK OR BORED. most people, myself included, are prone to writer's block, and while this can be an extremely frustrating process to get to, i try to use this as an opportunity to approach it in a fun way. i thought i'd share some of my favourite activities that might be of use to other people.

create a movie library. if your muse is someone who likes movies, make a list of their favourites on letterboxd or imdb, or even serializd for those that prefer tv. you can make lists for ones they've seen and enjoyed or haven't seen but would like. i use letterboxd for this quite a bit and sometimes even add some notes within my lists detailing my muse's thoughts and reviews of the movies.

make a sideblog. i know that many people do this already, but aesthetic sideblog for your character can be extremely helpful and fun to maintain. you can build these however you like! i like to use mine to post photos that my muse would like, faceclaim content, playlists and songs, ships/dynamics inspo, headcanons, silly text posts, and a variety of other things. if you're unsure where to look for content you can post on your sideblogs, @museinspo has a variety of things for many types of characters and is a really helpful place to start. they have a great detailed tagging system to make it easier to find content best suited to your muse. some tags that you can also look through could be #character inspo, #ship inspo, and #muse inspo.

play a barbie dress up game. most people who know me can attest to how much i love this — building a closet for my characters' style. every muse is different, so this can be a fun exploration activity. pinterest is a frequently used resource, but what i like to do most often is browse resale websites like depop or poshmark because i like the variety of styles and the fact that you can find some things you might not see in every store! i have many muses who like to wear silly graphic t-shirts, handmade, vintage, and eclectic styles, so this tends to be the best place to search. you can also do this with any website that sells styles you like for your muse. i like to think of this as a dress up barbie game since that helps me maintain the fun aspect of it all.

build and decorate a barbie dreamhouse. on the topic of barbies, you can do the same activity with furniture, homewares, trinkets, toys, art and decor. build your muse their barbie dreamhouse, fill it with things they would collect and feel at home with. browse furniture websites. ikea, crate and barrel, pottery barn, anthropologie, and west elm are all great places to look for ideas. if you really want to get into it, architectural design (i particularly like this article listing recommendations for furniture retailers) and dezeen (has the added bonus of being able to search for things based on location, if you're looking for example of interior design specific to your muse's city of residence) have extensive articles on both exterior and interior design. etsy is also a great place to look for antiques, vintage style, and more eclectic items.

feed them. if your muse is a foodie or likes to cook, come up with a menu for them. read food blogs and restaurant menus, think of what they'd like if they went out for dinner or what they'd cook at home. i will sometimes make up an imaginary dinner party for muses when its applicable and plan out what they'd like to serve or be served in that situation. food can be a great way to get to know your muse because it can tell you so much about their personal tastes, their current lifestyle, and their cultural background. while food is something that is prevalent in everyone's life, different people will have different approaches to it. this can be especially fun if you look at the menus for restaurants and shops local to your muse's area! read about what's popular in their neighborhood, take the specifics of that culture into consideration.

consider history. think about the time and place in which your character was born and raised in. how would things like pop culture, trends, media, neighborhood, and society affect them? this will differ with every character's upbringing and background, so take all that into consideration as you explore resources. for example, say that your muse is inspired by something like punk subcultures in the 1990s. what music, movies, and clothing styles would have been prevalent at the time? try looking into the history of the underground scene, you can even look further back than that particular decade to understand its roots and how the subculture go to that present moment. how would current events of the time affect what's being put out there and how would the changes within the world cause your character to evolve in their mindset or interests?

study movement. often times we study physicality in terms of what the character looks like as a static image (their hair colour, face shape, clothing, etc) and less about what it looks like when they look like when they are in movement. consider things like their gait, posture, facial expressions, or even specific tics. how do they move when they're on the go and in a rush, compared to when they're confined to a room? how do they position themselves in a bed or on a couch? what does their face tell you about them when they speak? what does it not tell you? a lot of behavior and emotion is not limited to dialogue, but rather how a person composes themselves through body language. you can learn so much about someone by being observant of them even without dialogue. it can be helpful to watch videos or movies and study an actor's movements with all this in mind. i often find myself watching videos with the sound off, just to pay closer attention to body language and try to understand what they are saying without verbal communication.

feel free to reblog if any of this is helpful to you. i maintain the belief that roleplay should always be fun and the best way for me to do that is to treat it like a barbie game. remember that not all character development revolves solely around written words, but rather the environment and details you put into them.

[strongermonster]

my favourite part about getting into local theatre and stuff this past year has been the signs in small multi-use community centres when they're like

9am-10am: grief counselling support group 10:15am-12 noon: little tykes dance-a-thon lunch day 12:30-3pm: roller bingo pottery and yoga dogs club (PRIVATE!! EVENT!! DOORS WILL BE LOCKED) 4:-6pm: chamber orchestra, full ball room style dress required for entry. 7:30-9pm: cunt dickulas fag-tastic halloween drag show and comedy hour (it's march)

[sweetchillipeppers]

Heads or Tails?

Jason Todd x Reader - Teacher AU Pt 2

Pairing: Jason Todd x Gender Neutral!Reader

While on a school trip, Two Face takes you and your class hostage in the Gotham Museum. After realising Damian is missing, you sneak away to find him, running into the Red Hood instead, who is of course, Mr Jason Todd, your colleague and forever rival, behind the mask. TW: Hostage-taking, guns, violence, blood, bad language

A/N The fic that started it. yeah I wrote this one first lol. I have not yet started writing part 3 and I have exams this week so it might be worked on next week. I don't plan on this series being longer than three parts but if inspiration strikes me, we'll see.

Tags: Rivals to lovers, mutual pining, teacher AU Word Count: 3716

Pt 1 Pt 2

Your students were rowdy on the bus. You could hardly blame them, it was far too early on a Saturday for your liking but you’d offered this history trip as an extra credit option open to your freshman class as part of your Ancient History topic and a surprising number of students were interested. So you, your teaching assistant and your 15 pupils all piled out the bus and into the Gotham Museum at 9am on a Saturday. The exhibition you were visiting was from Themyscira. Jewels, weapons, art: all very rare and very valuable. It was of course a walking advertisement to be robbed but the exhibition had been untouched for days so you had convinced your school board that this was a safe opportunity for the children to see some of the things you had been learning about in class. 

The exhibition room itself was large. It had clearly been styled to replicate Themyscira’s Greek architecture, with tall marble columns and large braziers lighting the room dramatically. Your class settles near the start of the exhibition and a tour guide who introduces themselves as Sammy begins the talk.

“And this is the original axe that Wonder Woman used. Beside it you can see some of the armour pieces she donated when the exhibition was first organised. Later you might even get to hold some.” The students all started chattering excitedly at the prospect. Your group was then led around the large room over to a tapestry depicting the history and movement of Themyscira into the international community. “Themyscira is now a thriving nation with Wonder Woman acting as their UN diplomat.” The guide then turns, “And over here we have some pottery shards depicting different parts of her life.” The first half of the tour wraps up shortly after that and the students are given some free time to explore the exhibition themselves. 

You make your way around the room, listening in and helping out the students with their worksheets until you overhear a group near the entrance. 

“It’s a pity Mr Todd couldn’t come,” you hear a student say. He wasn’t there, you’d made sure of it no matter how much your students begged. It’s unfortunate that the trip was scheduled the same day as an important rugby tournament. “Wonder Woman is his favourite superhero.”

It’s a pity that you now have to hate Wonder Woman for the rest of your life. Okay that’s dramatic but now she’s been ruined. Why would he do this to you? 

“My favourite is Batman. We’re Gothamites, remember?” One kid grins.

“Wonder Woman is an admirable hero but I must agree with Charlie, Batman is superior.” Damian interjects. You were glad he was starting to be more social in his classes after your conversation.

“I like Green Arrow.”

You can then hear raucous laughter as your student tries to defend her choice, until she locks eyes with you and decides that her safest bet is to offer you as a sacrifice instead. “Who’s your favourite hero?” 

Well you can’t say Wonder Woman anymore- even if that was a huge part in why you wanted to come to the exhibition. “Well I quite like Superman. I think he’s an inspiration to us all.” Safest choice. You get a few nods, and a couple eye rolls, of course you made this into a teaching moment. “But my favourite is Robin.” you finish.

Damian gleams at that for a second, puffing his chest out like a preening bird. He then checks his phone. “I must go to the bathroom. I will be back soon.” 

“Do you want someone to go with? The museum is pretty big.” 

“I do not require assistance. Besides, the next half of the talk will begin soon. I will not be long.”

The next half of the talk started soon after Damian left. The next speaker was very informative and the kids were filling out their worksheets diligently. The guide brought out a couple pieces of real Themyscerian armour when it happened. It started with gunshots near the front of the museum. Then silence. You ushered your kids quickly to the one side of the room alongside other museum visitors, getting them all to crouch low while you and your teaching assistant, Ms Anderson, peered into the corridor. The two security guards in the exhibit had their guns drawn, watching the front entrance double doors with bated breath. Silence. Too silent. The emergency exit door flung open behind you. You turn swiftly, using your arms to corral your kids close together by the wall in a huddle. More gunshots have you flinching. Then the spray stops. You look over at the two guards. Dead. A voice grabs your attention instead. 

Two-Face, flipping a coin absent-mindedly. “You will all be fine so long as no one plays the hero while we collect from this lovely display.” He says languidly. 

Multiple armed thugs walk into the room pointing guns at the civilians. Now hostages. 

“I would hate to hurt any of these cute kids” You scowl at him, not your smartest move but who could blame you. Two-Face smiles and flips his coin. Your eyes widen and Ms Anderson squeezes your hand. “Safe.” 

Two-Face replies. “Anyone else want a go?”

You sigh in relief, forcing yourself to swallow your pride and your anger. Your kids are here and you will not be the reason any of them die today. He had almost killed you. Your life was tethered to that stupid coin. 

Two-Face then demands everyone’s phones be handed in. You collect your classes. That’s when you notice it. Shit. You settle your class down, praying you miscounted,  sitting them on the floor and doing a quick headcount. 14. Double shit.

“Cathy.” You whispered but it came out almost like a breath. Your teaching assistant turned to you. “We’re one kid short.”

“What?” She frantically replied, “Who?”

“Damian. He went to the bathroom, just before the attack started.”

“Shit.” Cathy paused, doing a quick headcount of her own. “Shit. When Batman gets here we’ll tell him.”

“We don’t have time to wait for Batman.”

“You really think they'd hurt him? We’re hostages, how would shooting a child help?”

“I am not taking that chance. I’ve got to find him.”

“During the active hostage situation? How do you plan to do that?”

You have no idea. You suppose you’d need a distraction. Something to draw attention to the rest of the museum so you can sneak out and find Damian. 

A distant bang can be heard. More gunshots. Some of your students cover their ears. Two-Face directs three men to come with him when they leave to investigate. 

“Batman will be here soon,” Ms Anderson says with an encouraging smile to the class. Some of your students nod to each other. 

“Come on guys,” You chime up, “Do you really think Wonder Woman is going to let someone just steal all her stuff? I’m sure the entire Justice League is on their way” 

Your students seem more relaxed by this. There are only two guards left in the room both with heavy weaponry. Some kind of assault rifle you’re sure. But you still need a way out to find Damian. Now more than ever seeing as Two-Face has left the exhibition.

You take a deep breath and stand up. “Um, excuse me, Mr Guard sir,” You ask, hoping you sound very innocent, “I really need the bathroom. Like super bad.”

“Hold it.” He grunts.

“Oh um, I can’t. I have IBS?”

“Fine. Come on. Where’s the toilets?” Well, he sure changed his opinion quick. But you know what they say, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

“What, you're just gonna take her?” The other guard groans. 

“Uh yeah. I have a wife with IBS. When they got to go, they got to go.”

“So you’re gonna leave me by myself for the Batman?”

“One: Batman's nocturnal. It’s lunchtime. I don’t think he’s coming.” Some of your students snicker at this but Cathy silences them quickly. “And two: you are the only one in the room with a semi automatic gun. And the emergency exit has two guards right outside. But I guess if you can’t handle it I can call in one of the boys from the prehistoric section.”

“No I can handle it… just be quick.”

“Yeah, yeah.” The goon turns to you, “Come on.”

Okay. Stage one complete. And you’re going to the toilets towards Damian which is good. Unfortunately you don’t know how to lose the guard you have. You want to observe him but he’s walking behind you so you have no idea if he has any back up weapons. You reach the nearest toilets quickly and you strain to listen for any noise coming from the men’s bathroom. Nothing. Either Damian was hiding very well or he wasn’t in there anymore. You still needed to check for yourself, just to be safe. 

“Um sorry, can you go grab my bag? I don’t have my medication on me, they're in my purse. I left it in the other room.” You ask the guard, begging for a miracle.

“Oh no problem.” You breathe in full of hope that he’s just going to leave you unattended until he pulls a plastic sandwich bag with medication out of his suit jacket and hands it to you. You blink. 

“They’re for my wife. Always good to be prepared. What kind do you need?” 

You blink again.

“Uhhh. The anti-diuretics?”

He hands you the pill pack. “I’ll wait here, be quick.” He orders.

You walk into the bathroom.

You must be in shock. Yeah, that must be it. This is the strangest hostage situation you’ve been in. But you still needed to find Damian. 

You’d only just started pacing in the bathroom when the door slams open and the goons body falls to the ground. Your eyes widen as the Red Hood stalks in. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” He demands. The Red Hood is as imposing as one would expect an ex-crime lord turned vigilante to be. But you don’t have time to consider the politics of vigilantism. 

“It’s one of my kids. His name’s Damian. He wasn’t with the group when the attack started. He was in the bathroom. You need to help me find my kid. Please.” You beg.

Red Hood stands there for a second stunned. Jason wasn’t really used to anything but cold and snide remarks from you, and maybe the occasional light-hearted jab. Aside from that heart to heart on parents’ evening that started sincere and well-meaning, when you remembered yourself, you returned to harshness or just plain avoided him. To see you so worried over Damian was a breath of fresh air. He stood unmoving for far too long so you decided you would at least check the other bathroom while his brain rebooted or whatever. Jason only saw a glimpse of you leaving the room, when he ran out after you, and watched you enter the neighbouring door. 

“Damian.” You whisper-shouted “Damian. It’s me. Are you here? Tell me you're here.” 

No reply.

Then you spot it. Damian’s backpack on the floor of a locked cubicle. “Shit. Damian!” You pull yourself up to look into the cubicle, praying to any and all gods out there that there was a perfectly good reason he wasn’t responding. You breathe a sigh but you don’t know whether you should be relieved or not. The cubicle was empty.

“He’s not here.” You say, absentmindedly as you pull the backpack out from under the cubicle door and swing it onto your shoulder.

“You can’t just run off like that.” Red Hood chastises. “You could get hurt.”

“So could my student.” You whip back at the man. “Who is not here and could be bleeding out somewhere. I need to find him. I have a duty of care to these kids.”

This was the version of you Jason was used to. An angry spitfire, although he hadn’t seen righteous fury before. The protectiveness you have over your students, his brother in particular, made him feel something. Although he wasn’t entirely sure what.

“Look, you need to calm down. Describe the kid.” he of course knew what Damian looked like. He also knew that you wouldn’t find him because he was in his Robin costume fighting Two-Face. He was sure Alfred would be having a conversation with him about smuggling his Robin costume onto a school trip in his backpack. But he needed to calm you down and convince you that Damian was safe. 

“Damian Wayne. 5”4, dark black hair, green eyes.” You paused, thinking for a moment, “Angry eyebrows.” 

He choked a laugh back.

“I already found him. He’s safe, outside with the GCPD.” 

“Oh thank god.” Jason watches you release 10 years worth of stress from your body at that admittance. “We need to get back to the group. If I stay away too long the guards might get suspicious and something might happen to the kids.” 

God, Jason had misjudged you. You had a heart of pure, shining gold. He feels bad about all the misunderstandings now. He promises himself that he'll be nicer to you on Monday but first he needs to focus on getting you out. 

“There’s one guard in the room with the hostages and two outside the emergency exit. Do you think the GCPD has dealt with the two outside?”

Jason is attracted to competence, and holy shit you're competent right now. Making plans, working to protect the kids. Maybe his colleagues were right when they said you were amazing.

“No but Robin will have. Robin report.” He orders, pressing his fingers up to his earpiece.

You wait for a moment as he talks with Robin.

“Wait here.” He orders, “I need to deal with the one guard in the exhibition hall. Lock yourself in a stall. I’ll be back in less than five.”

And with that, the Red Hood leaves you alone. 

You move into a stall, locking the door and pulling your feet onto the toilet seat. Five minutes feels like forever. And it can’t have been more than three minutes when you see the light of the outside stream in through the open door on the floor. You get down and unlock the stall. “That was hardly five minutes,” you start as you walk into the bathroom. Then you stop. That’s not the Red Hood. 

“Fuck.”

Jason dealt with the last guard easily. No problems in the slightest. He got everyone out the emergency exit and reassured the nice old lady called Cathy that you were fine and Damian had been rescued earlier, that he was going back out for you in just a moment. He opened his com line: “Exhibition room secure, hostages with GCPD.”

“Hood, you did not save my teacher.” Robin’s voice was shaky down the line.

“Ms Anderson is with the paramedics and the rest of your class, I left (Y/N) in the bathroom with your backpack, I’m going back for her now.” Jason rolled his eyes and walked back into the building.

“Hood, building entrance. Two-Face has (L/N).”

Jason hasn’t felt this guilty in a while, running through the corridors of the museum and taking out at least 7 more goons on his way to Robin. He can’t believe he didn’t leave you somewhere more secure or at least with a weapon. Now he has to be the most nicest he’s ever been on Monday. If you make it to Monday. He spots a barely contained rage of a Robin trying to reason with Two-Face, who is holding you against himself, gun to your temple. Jason is glad he can’t see your face. He doesn’t know if he can take it. To see you so terrified when you were so strong just 10 minutes ago.

“Heads? Or tails?” Two-Face asks.

Robin is scanning for any way to disarm him, all his guards are gone but with you in the firing line there’s nothing that can be done. He starts to sneak toward the group.

“I know you’re back there, Red Hood. Stop sneaking around. Or this cute teacher gets it” Two-Face’s rough tone softens mockingly, “Make a bet, start a gamble, heads or tails?” Jason comes out of his hiding place and stalks towards his brother. He would blow Dent’s face off if he could. All he needs is an opening. He’d probably have to fight Damian for the honour though. 

“Did my class make it out okay?” It’s the first words you’ve said since Jason entered the room and judging by Damian’s barely sealed expression it’s the first they’ve heard you talk as well.

“Yes.” Jason responds.

You smile and take another breath, adrenaline spiking. “Flip the coin.”

Jason’s eyes widened, he figured they could get at least a few minutes before you’d be forced into the 50/50 but you’d sped up the process. Why? Was this confrontation really so hopeless? 

Two-Face flips the coin and as it arcs through the sky Jason shoots it, sending it careening of course toward the front desk. Two-Face lets out a wail and begins dragging you both toward where the coin landed while the vigilantes watch.

He pushes you down onto all fours, gun still at your head, “Find it.” You gulp and start searching for the coin that held your fate. There you see it, angled in a grout line and you see the coin's scars marked upwards. 

Jason didn’t think Two-Face noticed your flinch, and if he did, he probably put it towards the general anxiety. But Jason saw. Jason knows you’ve seen that coin. And he knows you didn’t make it. He knows you’re playing on borrowed time now and borrowing from the house never ends well for anyone. He nods to Robin. They have to strike now. He waits for anything that could work as a distraction, he hopes to the Gods for anything but the Gods are silent. It’s you who takes charge again. “I think I see it, I just need to stretch more.” Two-Face moves his gun back as you flop onto your stomach and army crawl so you can reach that bit further. Maybe you could flip the coin, change your own fate. Would two-Face know? Your breathing wasn’t even anymore. Your thoughts didn’t make sense. You just want to go home. You shut your eyes tight and as you grasp the coin and cry “Got it!” Hood launches himself at Two-Face, who fumbles, not having seen the results of his coin and fires instead a warning shot next to your head. It doesn’t matter though because Robin has you and is dragging you towards the doors saying something that sounds like “You’re okay, you’re fine, everyone is safe.” and prying the coin away from your hands but you just don’t know anymore. He brings you to the paramedics but doesn’t head back inside. He doesn’t leave at all. Instead he stands silently next to you like a guard dog or loyal hawk. “Don’t you need to help Red Hood?”

“No.” He responds immediately.

The two of you sit in silence until Cathy comes stumbling over. “Oh my goodness we were all so worried. Are you okay? And before you ask if the kids are all fine, don't worry, everyone is accounted for.” She rambles.

“Even Damian?” You ask.

Robin tenses.

“No but I was assured by Bruce Wayne himself that he made it safely home when I called earlier.”

“Oh thank god. I’m so glad. How are you feeling?”

“Me? I think I might retire next week. I won’t be on any field trips for a while after this. I think it’s too much excitement for my heart.” Cathay laughs, “Do you have a ride home? I’m just getting everyone picked up or sent home and was going to head off myself. You are more than welcome to join me.” She offers, probably feeling somewhat guilty over your ordeal. For no reason of course. It was hardly her fault you were held at gunpoint.

“Don't worry Cathy, I’ll be fine getting back. When the last kid is gone, go home. I’ll do all the paperwork and incident report tomorrow.”

“Oh honey you are an angel, I’ll bring in a lovely cake for you and the class on Monday, we certainly deserve it.” She grins and heads off past the police tape and back to the stragglers of children who haven’t yet gone home.

It’s barely even a minute or perhaps it’s an hour before Red Hood drags Two-Face out of the museum, tied up. The police move in to gather the various unconscious thugs scattered around the building and the vigilantes walk toward you. 

“Are you alright?” Red Hood asks, modulated voice heavy.

“I’m fine, no injuries.” You say. You’re really just tired. It’s been too long a day. You want to go home. “I’m sorry for leaving you in the bathroom by myself. I figured Two-Face was busy with Robin.”

“He was busy. It was some goons who dragged me there. It was just dumb stupid bad luck, don’t blame yourself. Besides, if I hadn’t left the group none of this would’ve happened. I’m sorry for making the fight harder.” You curl inwards.

Robin speaks up.

“Do not apologise. You were noble and brave searching for your missing student. I’m sorry you were not informed of his safety.” 

“It’s okay Robin, you guys don’t have control over everything that happens in a situation like this.” You try to encourage the young hero.

“You have a good attitude. You would definitely be my favourite teacher.” Jason can’t help but bristle at Damian’s favouritism, wasn’t he the brother?

“Aww thank you. You’re my favourite hero, Robin. Superman’s got nothing on you.” You smile. God that smile would knock Jason out. He’s honestly quite glad you hate him at the school. He doesn’t think he could manage if you treated him so kindly. Unbeknownst to Jason of course, you suppose that, secretly, Red Hood was also your favourite. He had changed your fate. And after saving your life it didn’t seem that Wonder Woman could really compare to the Red Hood.

Dividers made by @/cafekitsune

Taglist: @theendofthematerialgworl @salvatt1 @insideoutjulie

[lexithwrites]

Fluff wolfstar headcannons?

(Fave thing to do tg, fave book to read, fave music to listen to tg ect) :D

I’ve missed my boys!

- Remus is really bad with alarms, he’ll set so many but still sleep through them whilst Sirius can wake up a minute or so before his (Sirius wakes him up with kisses when they start sharing a bed)

- Sirius, to me at least, loves rock but he also loves classics like 80’s and 70’s stuff too, I feel like he wanted to branch out with his taste when he met his friends and so he took a lot of inspo. I also love Sirius as a drag performer so he listens to a lot of iconic queer artists and songs too

- Remus loves softer indie music, but also David Bowie, the smiths etc, he will listen to ANYTHING Sirius recommends to him tho (he has a 12 hour playlist just of Sirius’ songs)

- they love getting ramen and sushi together, Remus always gets giddy over the food on the conveyer belts

- they sometimes swap clothes but because of their different styles it’s very obvious

- when Sirius has a gig at pride or at a local bar Remus is always helping him with makeup and his outfits, and always sitting front row for him

- Remus isn’t confrontational or loud but if he has a couple drinks his ‘Sirius side’ comes out (his boyfriend inspires him)

- I love picturing them both playing guitar and singing, I feel like they’ll play songs for each other all the time or duet

- Sirius taught Remus how to play piano

- Remus goes quiet a lot so he is always touching Sirius in some way to show him he’s there

- Sirius flirts with Remus constantly just to make him blush and flustered

- they hang out with other people a lot too, they aren’t always together, but being together alone is their favourite thing to do

- I’m a Remus loves pottery painting truther and do they go once a month? Of course

[norabugz]

In honour of one of my favourite listeners (BARISTA), I present to you...

HOW SAKUVERSE CHARACTERS WOULD DRINK THEIR TEA / COFFEE

Featuring: Elias, Andrew, Xanthus and Isaac

ELIAS (no idea if he has a canon order but oh well)

Whenever he would come into the brew house early on he would always, without fail, order a black coffee.

Because it was a neutral ground for the gangs, I imagine many other gang members would be around.

Elias is so hell bent on trying to prove himself and keep up his 'bad boy' act, I genuinely see himself smiling through the bitter taste of a black coffee.

Eventually, I imagine he would start to venture outwards. Maybe the Barista ordered him a different drink 'on the house', or another customer bought him a drink to try and make a move/ flirt with him.

I can definitely see Elias as a Latte drinker. Solely for the reason that he would like to see what different art the barista can do with the steamed cream.

Sometimes it would just be simple swirls when the shop was busy, but other times it was more intricate designs.

After being taken to the safe house I can imagine Barista teaching Elias how to make late art and trying different, much more complex styles.

They're so cute your honour 🥹🥹

ANDREW

Honestly, I don't see him being a big coffee drinker or going to a coffee shop.

He strikes me as the type of guy to make his tea at home exactly how he likes it and put it in a portable thermal to carry with him.

When trying to make a move on Darling he would start to go to a coffee shop though.

I can just imagine him walking into class the morning after a late night marking with three paper cups, Earl grey for him, a hot chocolate for Luca and a different type of coffee every day for Darling, who always shows up before anyone else in class.

After transitioning from the university to the museum, I imagine his coffee shop visits becoming less frequent

In museums lots of different areas prohibit eating or drinking due to the fragility of the displays and although his previous transgressions don't show it, he is a rule follower.

But I still see every once in a while, Darling dropping in to his work with either a thermal of Earl grey or PG tips, or would take him to the museums café.

Btw they definitely have matching thermals.

And I DEFINITELY did not make the thermal headcanon because that's what I do LMAO... 😬

XANTHUS

This man CANNOT STAND tea bags

Bro is so posh he definitely uses tea leaves and a pestle and mortar

He also has those fancy tea cups that are antiques and says shit like "Florence nightingale drank from that teacup once"

Man shut up (with affection, ily sm ur such a yapper)

He always nags Love to put whatever mug or teacup they have on a coaster. Picture Effie Trinkets "THAT IS MAHOGANY"

He doesn't really care that much, but just finds it amusing that Love doesn't care about getting tea stains on a century old coffee table lol

Since Love moves in with him though he did buy a top of the range coffee machine.

He avoids it like the plague, but Love likes it so that's all that matters to him.

Also when Love moves in he went through their cupboards and found this self made pottery mug that is so ugly it's unbearable

He uses it everyday and says it's an 'art piece'. Love hates it. He does it anyways.

Sometimes he sticks his pinky up in the air. Old ass vampire aristocrat smh 🙄❤️

ISAAC

Unlike Elias, Isaac unironically likes black coffee.

Pickle asked to try it once and was absolutely disgusted.

Pickle still makes it for him though, but always says something like "I don't know how you can stand this, it takes like dirt"

Was absolutely horrified when pickle told him they couldn't remember what most coffees/teas tasted like.

The next day delivers different boxes of tea leaves, tea bags, herbs, coffee grounds, creamers, etc.

Every mug in his mansion house is either fully black, or fully white.

Except for three. One mug had a hand drawn superman logo and writing that said DAD, one mug had different hand drawn flowers and writing that said MUM, and one with little planets and stars with writing that said ISAAC.

They are hidden right at the back of the cupboard.

Pickle also found a scribbled down recipe for a herbal sleeping tea in handwriting they recognized as Isaac's mother's.

Isaac couldn't put together why Pickle's "experimental" tea tasted so familiar and how he fell asleep so quickly. Pickle would tell him someday.

SORRY ISAACS HEADCANONS WERE LOWKEY DIABOLICAL LMAO.

Anyways, my little British heart enjoyed making these, I might make some more for different characters, unsure yet 🤔

[pigeonstab]

a lot of creators on tiktok have had to move over to youtube, sooo here a a few of my favourite creators that have been relocated ^^

@saramicspottery: Pottery+storytime stuff very fun to listen to, she talks about pottery, mudane everyday stuff and raises some important questions and topics!

@wisdomkaye8335: Fashion content, he styles super cool outfits answering people's requests or challenges he's even styled fonts, very cool

@thefourthsaluki: Probably my favourite one this list, she makes really good and quick analyses on basically any piece of media ever, she's talked about mouthwashing, beastars, fear and hunger and so much more, she'll be reposting her old tiktoks soon as well as longer full video analyses

[dovesdreaming]

Eddie x artist!reader 🎨

Hi this is my first writing that wasn’t requested and it is one that I have thought about way before even considering writing fics! (I used to use it as a sleeping scenario 🤫)

Anyway I would I love to do a series of one shots for this sort of reader so if you have any requests send them my way!! <3 this is only headcanons for now tho

Warnings: smut/suggestiveness (not a lot only 1 headcanon)

Eddie with an artist reader is the best thing ever. I can imagine him with any style of artist from the bubbly, always covered in paint artist to the dark clothes, paints about feelings artist.

Eddie would love to look at anything you create and always handle it with the utmost care as if it was the most delicate thing he has ever held. He would admire everything that was created by your hands and would be in awe of you.

Would love watching you paint, draw or make things. He finds it interesting and relaxing at the same time. Would love to have you teach him if you were willing.

If you were a painter he would try and paint with you, easels side by side painting the same view. He would be so happy he could join in with your interests. Would be a drastic difference in paintings by the end result. In a modern world he would definitely want to do the trend where you swap paintings every few minutes -would be amazed how good you could make his bad work look.

If you make pottery he would try it without your help onetime to try and make something nice for you, let’s say like a mug or jewellery holder. He would start off well and then it took one wobble of the wheel and his previously nice piece of work turns out wonky. Would try to fix it and probably end up making it worse. He still gives it you though, very shyly and almost unwillingly. However you adore it and it makes you swoon with how he went to the effort of trying your hobby and making something for you.

My favourite headcanon for Eddie with an artist is that he would ramble to you about his d&d characters and this would ignite your creative spark. You would spend hours creating designs of his characters from mental notes you had taken from his rambles. When you presented them to Eddie he would have heart eyes and would want to marry you then and there. You had captured the smallest details he had told you about his characters and created exactly what he had been imagining this whole time. Would reward you by smothering you in kisses everywhere (which could escalate into more). Eddie would proudly walk into his next d&d meeting and show off your work to everyone there. They would all complement your work and if you didn’t sit in on the meetings or weren’t apart of d&d eddie would remember every complement and tell them you all the next time he saw you. This could lead to a lot of the d&d members making requests that you draw their character next. You would happily draw their character but you loved drawing eddies the most always gifting him a new one when you try out new pens/pencils. Your sketchbook is probably filled with doodles of his character by this point maybe even the margins of your maths book as well.

I can imagine you meeting when you’re both young in an art class and he notices how yours is so good. He won’t stop talking about how good the spaceship you drew is and he asks how you do it and from there you’re hanging out every day with him still asking you the same question. I can also see you meeting in either middle school or high school when you’re walking in the hallways with your Walkman on drowning out the chatter, lost in your day dreaming or looking down at your sketchbook when you crash into a chest that belongs to Eddie. Your book falls on the floor next to where you fell and Eddie scrambles to pick you and the book up. He noticed your drawings and goes on a nervous ramble and just doesn’t shut up so you adopt him as your friend (later boyfriend).

Would definitely still kiss you even if you told him you had wet paint on yourself. Would end up covered in paint himself but he couldn’t care less he was too busy smiling at you.

Smut headcanon: would definitely want to do the thing where you cover a canvas in paint when having sex with each other.

Thank you for reading!!

[lycomorpha]

Fun thing I've been doing this bank holiday weekend; starting work on the next Journal of Video Game Botany I'm making with my partner in botanical SciArt-crime, Dr. Maria Christodoulou. We've finally made up our minds to head to ancient Greece. I've been putting off doing an Assassin's Creed Odyssey zine because Maria 1) is Greek, and 2) has a botanical PhD. So... I have some anxiety that my part of this better be good, or she might not forgive me and her mum might never send me food again. Yikes! I think we finally have a plan, though.

AC Odyssey is one of my all-time favourite games, and I will never not love Kassandra. But working out how to botanise the world of this game was trickier than expected. Partly because we want to make each issue of JVGB different to the last, instead of just making it into a series of field guides. And partly because of our expectations of what we'd see, based on Greece IRL and what we know about its history....

Initially we thought about looking for plants in the friezes at in-game locations that have real-life equivalents with ancient wall art featuring plants. For example some of the Knossos friezes - one shows a blue bird on rocks surrounded by wild roses, lilies, vetch, and other flowers. But that didn't fly - most locations depicted in AC Odyssey have just 2 or 3 repeating murals throughout.

Wall art from Agamemnon's palace and tomb in AC Odyssey - based on art from real historical sites, but only a small number of the designs are repeated throughout the location.

The Cup-Bearer frieze - Reconstruction of frescos from the South Propylaeum of the Palace of Knossos

The same frieze in AC Odyssey is repeated across walls and rooms.

It's understandable that the complete body of known wall art for somewhere like Knossos wasn't replicated in its entirety! The game isn't intended as an ancient art tour, after all. Temple artwork was another source of botanical imagery in game, but suffered the same problem. Still, that's fair enough for a game not centered around botany. So we considered plants left as tributes in temples. But again, the items left in different locations were often generic and repeating. Although there are differences between temples to different deities in the game, the fruits and flowers we find in them didn't vary much. We needed a different kind of plan.

This temple from the Heraion of Argos in AC Odyssey has pomegranates and flower petals in the offerings... But so do many other temples in game.

The spring biome

Finally, we turned to the structure of the in-game world for inspiration. The landscape of ACO is designed as various 'biomes'. Some of the biomes are habitats, some are seasons. Think of them more as themes than biomes in a strict technical sense. Each region in the game had been designed to fit one biome/theme; spring, summer, deciduous forest, arid, volcanic, paradise islands, and underwater.

Unidentified seaweeds in the underwater biome.

So for each biome, we're going to choose a plant that exists both in-game and IRL, and explore its links to Greek mythology and culture. The drawings for each will be in the style of a particular type of ancient greek art - red and black figure potteries, mosaics, fresco, sculpture, etc.

Red figure pottery - Wedding of Thetis and Peleus. Attic red-figure pyxis, ca. 470–460 BC. From Athens, South side of Mouseion Hill.

~

That's the plan, and for this project I'm gonna write some posts and take you along with us. We haven't done that since looking into Medicinal valley's blush for HZD!

Choosing the plants is our first challenge. Some in-game flora are easy to line up with real species. Others... Not so much. Stay tuned.

[immortal-if]

Read the demo for Immortal here

Rue - gender selectable he/him or she/her. RO.

"I can protect you, my dear. Until I can be sure you're able to protect yourself."

An enigmatic professor, Rue is a foremost expert in Rosutan culture ... conveniently working just half an hour from where your murder happened. Coincidence or something more sinister? You'll have to work closely with them if you want to find answers.

Appearance

Rue is 6 foot 4, with bronze skin and black hair and eyes. Both male and female keep their hair to their hips, usually in a braid that's slung over their shoulder while they work - they must consider you very close if you ever see it loose. They prefer to dress all in black, the only colour you'll usually see on them is their nails, which are nearly always brightly painted.

Random facts

They have a green thumb. Rue loves gardening in their free time, and their favourite flowers are sunflowers (hence the abundance of them on this blog!).

Their favourite colour is yellow, which is the colour of their car. No one would suspect which car in the carpark is theirs.

Rue is dyslexic. They hated reading as a child, though they've always loved learning about anything and everything. Their love of books came later in life, and while it takes them a while to get through one they can usually be found with a book on their person.

They make pottery - there are a lot of vases etc in their office at the uni that they use to show Rosutan styles etc, they made all of them themself.

Rue teaches at three different universities. They're a specialist lecturer, teaching only Rosutan history. They live about an hour from Crescent Hill University, so teach there in person for a semester - then the other two semesters remotely at other unis.

[liones-s]

making friends at uni (and other places): a guide

okay so this is by no means a comprehensive guide, but hopefully it's a helpful starter. connecting with people is legitimately hard but it gets easier with time, and knowing where to start is the first step.

Find an activity

classes are okay, but voluntary spaces that involve a shared interest are best. this could be a drama club, pottery class, sport, or even just a drop-in campus event like a tote bag painting night.

2. Find something nice to say

compliments are a great opener! specifically, compliments about stuff people have agency over (as opposed to physical features). this also feels more friendly and less like you're hitting on someone. some options include:

'I love the colour palette you used for your painting (or other activity-relevant compliment)

'Your outfit is so cute - can I ask where you got (X)?'

'Your brows are amazing, I feel like I always struggle to get that shape'

if these don't feel like something you'd say, go for something that's more in your style. the key is to just find something you think is cool about them, and tell them that.

3. Assess if they're down to chat

this one requires a small judgement call. if you offer a compliment and someone just says 'thanks!', or generally seems like they'd prefer not to chat more, it's best to leave it. however, if they follow up with something like 'thanks, this is my first event like this so I wasn't sure!', or 'thanks, I love yours too!', you can try chatting a bit more.

4. Ask a follow-up

try for something related to the initial compliment or activity. if you complimented a vintage clothing piece, ask if they have recommendations for a favourite thrifting spot. if you talked about the activity, mention that you're new and this is your first time trying this, or ask if they've done this activity before.

if you're in uni, a safe bet is usually to ask about majors and classes. this is a great way to see if you have common interests while still staying in a friendly, social area of conversation.

5. Don't be afraid to be uncertain

if you're new to uni and you don't know anyone yet, it's okay to say so! it's totally fair to be like 'this is my first event of this kind and I was kind of nervous to come without knowing anyone'. there's a solid chance that other people are feeling this too, and it takes down the social pressure.

6. If you're vibing, exchange info

If you get to the end of the event and you felt like you connected with someone and would want to be friends, ask! instagram sucks but it is a safe go-to for exchanging contact info in a way that doesn't feel too intense. you can say something like 'by the way, do you have insta? if you're free and down I'd love to hang sometime (or specify an activity you discussed)'.

if you're not ready to ask for an open hang, you can suggest going to another campus event or class together.

yes, it is scary. that's often just an unavoidable part of making friends. but it's worth it and doing scary things will make you better at them, even if it doesn't work every time. that's the main takeaway from this experience - you won't necessarily make a new pal every time, but you will get better at the process of meeting new people and talking to them. remember that socializing and making friends is a developed skill, even if it doesn't feel like it. the only way to get better and make it less scary is to do it a bunch.

[cheriladycl01]

Quirk #8

Here is my eighth quirk idea! Feel free to use this in your fanfics (just give me credit if you directly got it from me) obviously I know however I’m not the only creative person in the world and that some people may have also had these ideas before me!

Quirk: Shield

She can create force-field like shields and utilise them however she requires

This entails:

- Can create a force field shield in different sizes and shapes

- Can create mental shields from psychic attacks on not only themselves but others

- Can create oxygenated or deoxygenated shields.

Weaknesses

- Will get migraines after defending off heavy physics attacks

- The larger the shield the more energy used

- The laws of physics still apply to them so if she was to create a shield to absorb the impact of a nuclear bomb that energy is still in the shield and will have to be released somehow. User can absorb small impacts like gun shots quirk impacts and punches but not a bomb or a building falling etc

Strengths

- She’s taught herself fun little ways to use her quick offensively as “shield normally connotes quite a defensive power and that it wouldn’t be very good in an upfront battle. She can create loads of mini shields that will feel like bullet wounds with or without piercing skin, (it depends how mad she is)

- Her quick isn’t only defensive but is great for rescues and I feel like she’d learn a lot from heroes like Thirteen.

- Theres so many capabilities of her quirk that different pro hero’s all show her different ways to use it!

Hero Name: The Defence Hero: Dish

Zodiac: Scorpio

Ethnic Background: Scandinavian

Height: 5ft 11

Weight: 192ibs

Style: Bohemian

Physical Traits: Her eyes are like diamonds and they really sparkle

Mannerisms: She’s very nature oriented. The type to get rid of a spider holding it like it’s her child.

Favourite:

Food: Homegrown Fruit and Veg, like Raspberries, Courgettes etc

Drink: Tropical Chai Smoothie (Anytging that screams healthy)

Colour: Grey

Weather: Morning Dew and Light Drizzle

Possession: Her plants, she’s a massive nature girlie and she loves having succulents and flowers and vines in her room.

Morning Routine:

She has one of those really aesthetic lives where she wakes up, showers, does her skin care, puts on yoga clothes, does yoga, meditates, waters her plants and trims them etc, then she has breakfast.

Hobbies:

She’s the type that people would assume is lowkey and likes to do things like pottery and painting but I feel like she’d shock people by being into stuff like Ghost hunting and Extreme Sports etc.

Special Skills:

Apart from the fact that she definitely has a green thumb she’d be incredible at teamwork, something that a lot of characters would admire her for.

Pet Peeves:

Talking with your mouth full or wet noises when eating.

Bad At:

Reading people, she cannot see emotions at all and her social skills are in fact lacking.

Biggest Fear:

Her shield not being strong enough and it breaking when she’s protecting civilians.

Greatest Flaw:

She’s just a very chill dude, but a lot of people see her as too chill and nonchalant. She was at one point super unmotivated to be a hero but after certain interactions her mind would be changed.

Goals:

To open up an immersive rainforest cafe where all the profit goes to helping civilians who have experienced some kind of loss in villain crimes and for betterment of the community.

Who I see them with:

Guys - SHINSO, Aizawa

Girls - Mandalay, Uraraka

[there-must-be-a-lock]

Writer asks -

@bittercape tagged me in this weeks ago and I’m finally doing the thing!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

215 works...

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

976,222

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Marvel and DC lately, but I’ve also written a significant amount of Supernatural and Criminal Minds.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Brains Over Beauty (SPN/CM) 

Spitting Venom (SPN/CM) 

The One With The Pottery Barn Couch (DC/Marvel) 

Quitting (SPN/CM) 

Origin Stories (SPN/CM)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! Almost always.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I usually just do angsty endings that are on par with the angst level of the rest of the fic, I guess — I try to end with some amount of resolution or at least hope, and so I rarely think of my endings as angsty. But probably Come Haunt Me.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Sweet Home Was Home. The whole story was about sorta… figuring out what happened after the camera stopped rolling. And figuring out what “happily ever after” would look like for them. So it was the fic that I felt was most important for it to have a happy ending and to have a full resolution to all the emotional threads. I really love the ending — I love the way it mirrors the beginning scene, and I love how well it sums up the ways in which the characters have grown, and I think it gives them exactly the full, meaningful lives that they deserve. It’s not just a love story and the ending reflects that.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not particularly.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

Yes. So many kinds. But usually the “rough sex as catharsis” and “kink as therapy” kind.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

Ha. Yes. They’re my favorite thing to write!

Weirdest ones were probably This Tall To Ride (Sam Winchester/Frank Iero, because that height difference is fucking hilarious), Daisies (Sam Winchester/Harry Styles on acid at Bonnaroo), and Four Super-Soldiers and Tony Stark Walk Into A Bar… (in which Slade Wilson and Soldier Boy are in the cryo tanks in Siberia).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of, but I’ve never looked.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I’m aware of.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Marshmallows, with @noxnthea

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Winterhawk. There is something so fundamentally good and healthy about the way these two fit together, no matter which aspect of their dynamic you bring out, and there are so many - they work as grumpy/sunshine, as murder husbands, as snarky disasters... more importantly, they’re two characters who would be able to both accept each other unconditionally and help each other grow, and that is my favorite thing to read.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don’t have any right now! My only current WIP is Map of My Heart. The others have been shelved but I either don’t have interest in finishing them or I absolutely think I will finish them, no doubts involved.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Putting the reader in the character’s emotional state, showing character growth/development, and writing relationships that are ultimately healthy.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes and building suspense. Which is why I'm doing this instead of working on my fic! Oops.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I feel meh about it? I am not a fluent speaker in any other language, so I’d have to use some sort of translator, which tends to miss nuance and feel stiff, which is never what I want in dialogue. Instead I tend to use italics to convey that they’re speaking another language but write the lines themselves in English.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Lords of Dogtown. On fucking Quizilla. I am a Fandom Old.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

A Muscle the Size of Your Fist. If anybody wanted to get to know me really well, get to know what I believe and what I value and how I see the world, I’d point them to that. But it’s also just well written; I’m proud of the unique character voices and the way their narrative arcs all fit together. They all make each other better over the course of the story.

Tagging (with apologies if you've already done this) @kangofu-cb @stunudo @i-know-how-my-story-ends @carcrash429 @betrayedbycinnamon

[spottheantisemitism]

Racial and Ethnic coding in Shaun Tan’s Arrival

Published in 2006, Arrival is wordless graphic novel that tells the story of an immigrant who moves to a different and brilliantly surreal country and attemptimg to find a house, a job, food he is able eat and cook and ultimately earn enough money to bring his family to the new surreal country.

The novel uses no words, none of the character have names and all odd structures, machines, Creatures and animals are up to the reader to name if they so desire. I will assign each character I cover an epithet based on their role in the story such as “the refugee’s son” and “the veteran’s bowling friend”. Creature is capitalized for reasons that will become clear soon.

Before we start I highly encourage you go to your local library and check out Arrival as it’s popular staple for school and city library. Check if it isn’t shelved in the teen section as it’s often marketed to young adults. I say this as this graphic novel is so subjective that my interpretation might taint yours.

About Me

That said I enjoy sharing this one with people and am glad to show to the gaggle of regular followers my childhood favourite that I have shown all the adults in my life (including all the women in my family). This is because I emigrated with my parents from Russia to America and remember that everything in America is weird and wonderful and wrong full of strange animals and occasionally creatures.

About Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan’s father was a Malaysian immigrant who came to Australia and faced significant racism and had a hard time adjusting at first. The wonder and confusion is captured quite well. Oddly the protagonist looks European and the New country looks more like America does in hollywood movies than Australia. This is because while his father’s experience was the catalyst for telling this story most of the testimonies Tan used were of immigrants to America. It’s clear Tan was more interested capturing the feelings his father felt and universalize the immigrant experience rather than tell his father’s story in particular.

Now let’s look at some creatures and discuss visual choices!

stylized as photo album, Tan traced from real photos from eras ranging from 1870 to 1948 hence why the styles of dress seem to vary wildly. One thing is clear, the industrial revolution happened and there was recently some sort of war.

These are all based on real people from Ellis Island arrival records. Find the Chasidic Jewish man.

The Old Country uses technology typical of a 19th to 20th Century European familly. Note the watch and the suitcase especially

Our first creature are what I call the “The Dragons” but it’s not clear what they are. It really adds to the horror of it that you only ever see their tails and them infesting a tenement (possibly even some sort of ghetto). They are clearly meant to represent some opressive force that makes life in the Old Country unlivable and our protagonist impoverished.

One interesting thing is that the protagonist knows origami and communicates with his daugther via letters shaped like a bird. Plenty of Europeans know origami and likely merely a recurring motif but perhaps there is deeper meaning to it.

Our protagonist, henceforth “the Immigrant”, travels by a very titanic like boat that confused me as a child I was determined to believe this was set in an alternate 19th century, Since Ellis Island stopped operating around when the Titanic was launched. I needed to learn the borrowing here is not to code a specific era but to create a vibe. What year is it? Anywhere between 1870 and 1946 at any given time!

This statue always struck me as more American than the Statue of liberty. It’s showing two things America is famous for (but doesn’t always embody), trade and taking in immigrants. Here we have a man from the Old Country with objects like the one the immigrant owns ( familiar pottery and a suitcase) shaking hands with a man from the New Country and a cooking cone, a Creature and a Creature House. The man from the Old Country isn’t trading the animal in his hands for the apple, by the way, that’s his Creature, an equal to bird on the New Country man’s shoulder. I believe the idea is that the apple is a welcoming gift. I do like that instead of being potrayed as the wretched refuse, huddled poor yearning to be free and welcomed by a chain breaking lady of light and liberty, the New Country sees and expects its immgrants to be equals of citizens. This while laudable creates a few of problems of it’s own.

This bit used to frustrated me because it’s so clearly Ellis Island which would not be active after the titanic but considering we have a man who dresses like it’s the 19th century interacting with people from the 1930s and 1920s this should be the least of my worries.

Tan himself admits these are traced from postcards of 19th century New York to get the clothing and buildings right. Notice these are supposed to be various Immigrant quarters by the presence of not only New Country Script (which is maddening gibberish as you’ll see) but a few that look slightly like Arabic, one that looks almost like a Latin script and one that looks slightly like Kanji. The fact that these scripts are painted on walls imply it’s the most used written alphabet for that quarter.

The mixture of familiar and unfamiliar is also great (and a staple of Tan’s work). Some like the Barber, the newsboy, the gaggle of sewing women and the lady with her Creature are on the realism side of things while the man selling food from a cart which he hitched his Creature House to and the couple packing giant eggs into a crate border on the more Surreal. Note also the each panel represents a different culture and the immigrant is lost among the other immigrant quarters.

I do appreciate this man, whom I dub “the local” is potrayed in native dress. While one can cynically argue that this is to add flavor and unfamiliratily to the New Country by having people in clothes a Western Audience deems “exotic”, I think the intention is to show that all cultures are present to so extend in the new country and they are not forced to assimilate their modes of dress.

Note also the Immigrant’s “phrase book” is actually a blank notebook he is seen writing and drawing in. His grasp of the language is good enough to ask “where is ….?” Or the equivalent and he only needs to draw a room with a bed to symbolize a place to sleep.

Note finally that the symbol on the bag containing the Creature slung over the Local’s shoulder, these are typically found on most containers holding a Creature and appear to be unique to that particular Creature.

My mother and I have wildly different interpretations of this page. To me, this is a story of learning hot and cold water have been merged into one knob and that outlets are a different shape, encountering new cutlery, an electric stove and the kitchen island for the first time. To me, this is about the cultural technological gulf between the Old Country and the New Country. My mother, however, sees this as the story of buying or renting the cheapest place in a new country and discovering the utilities don’t work and the stove is miscalibrated and knowing you’re going to have to pay a rent’s worth of money to get it all fixed. She said with a sympathetic nod as if this happened to her all the time. This likely is a reflection of our lived experience as my mother is the one who did the house renovating of the house she bought with my father and I always came in a few months later to marvel at how different it all is.

Now that the Immigrant has aquired his Creature, let’s finally discuss how Creatures work and what they are.

Creatures live in Creature Homes inscribed by a unique symbol. They bond with a human and act as their assistant and also as extra pair of ears looking out for threats and opportunities. They seem more intelligent than the other animals of the New Country, mimicking the emotions of their owners.

The comparison that sprung to mind were Pokémon or Daemons from the His Dark Materials series. However, the main difference is Creatures are not bound to a specific person but to the household their Creature Home is in. We see this later that there is only one Creature per household. If immigrants acquire their Creature upon getting a house or apartment it is logical to assume that a citizen of the New Country gets their Creatures upon moving out and marrying which was synonymous in the late 19th and Early 20th century. I can see it as a popular housewarming gift.

All the Creatures and especially this one are based on Tan’s pet parrot. It warms my heart to think some of the interaction between the Immigrant and his Creature might be based on something in real life.

anyways back to canon! Our protagonist has deal with his new roommate and find something to cook and eat

The immigrant now has to deal with his new Creature roomate and spends this chapter looking for food. He also uses Public transport Airships which I will tragically not show. Get the book if you want to see some airships.

In its first bid to win him over, the Immigrant’s Creature make friends with another Creature to tell its owner to ask for help. The woman politely informs how to do it. I’m pretty certain that her outfit is also codedly Asian but again I’m no expert on this. As her and the immigrant get talking and demonstate their passports to each other she explains she was a child laborer or possibly even a child slave.

I honestly believe her being non European was intentional to not fall into the dreaded “white slavery” rhetoric. By the way when she goes over the edge and sees girls identical to her it’s unclear if it means they’re all children or all the same nationality and that’s really up for interpretation. Regardless the New Country is neighbors with a country that allows either gruesome child labor or outright slavery. Yes all of the flashback scene are this dark. This is rather dark children’s book. The two say goodbye and the Immigrant disembarks at the market which is denoted as such by a statue of a Creature holding a basket of food. Very weird food…

Do not try to read the language on this, it’s again gibberish. At no point do people pay which baffled teenage Libertarian me but I must conclude that since the Immigrant pays for rent, his airship ticket and his passage on the boat but NOT anything at the market that it’s possible groceries are free in the New Country.

The Creature has found what might be what it’s type are supposed to eat.

Here we meet the Refugee and his son. They dress like people from the early 20th century and this will become thematically important. What follows is comic exchange as the immigrant points to a pictogram of think from the Old Country and the Refugee and his son offer his objects that look nothing like bread or milk but which they assure him TASTE about the same or just as good. They then decide to invite him for dinner but when they get to the boat

The immigrant is spooked by the their family Creatures mistaking it for the dragons of his homeland. I do appreciate how the panels linger on making the Refugee family creature both unnerving and ridiculously cute at once. Notice also they have it stay in it’s Creature Home and don’t take it shopping. Perhaps because it also claws at the drawers and tries to eat the groceries. Maybe it doesn’t like crowds.

Upon trying to relate his experience, this reminds the Refugee of his own bad experiences in his Old Country. I will say this probably the most symbolically compelling portrayal of a fascist purge.

Look at this stuff. This is available as a print called “Walk of the giants” because it’s a deeply terrifying piece that stands on its own.

The Building in the background is distinctly Italian and considering the early Twentienth century dress of the Refugee this means they likely survived something similar to Fascist Italy.

The Refugee and his wife survive by hiding and emerge in a strange new system. The blocks are up to interpretation but mine is that they represent the strange and hostile corrupt bureaucracy that springs up in such regimes.

They eventually find a boat and leave and just arrive at the New Country. Stowing away on boats used to be an acceptable way to immigrate to America before Americans realized Jews could escape the holocaust that way and changed the laws.

the New Country is very clearly not just America but also New York as they’re doing the equivalent of sailing from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

Family music night sounds fun and implies some creatures can sing or it could be like the dog barking along to the banjo

I want to highlight that the Immigrant is making an origami version of their Creature and that the Refugee and his family offer the Immigrant a pot as a housewarming gift. Considering how absolutely normal it looks it might be handmade by immigrant artisans to resemble pots from the Old Country. This pot will later be symbolically significant.

And that’s all folks! We have covered half the chapters and hit image limit. The next three chapters will be covered in part two.

[finkinthisfrew]

Anything (Pt.14)

A Matty Healy Fanfic

Chapter 14 We were sitting on Matty's patio the next morning, drinking our iced coffees that he'd grabbed us from the coffee shop downstairs when Matty's phone began to ring. He answered the phone, placing it between his shoulder and ear while he used his hands to light a cigarette.

The patio we sat on was gorgeous- luscious, green and private. Along one side was the giant wall of windows that looked into the living space, on the other was a tall concrete wall covered in greenery. There were potted plants scattered all over, all happy and thriving considering the gloomy weather London was known for. A large set of dark wood and soft beige linen patio furniture sat in the centre of the patio, along with a giant faded pink and orange Moroccan-style outdoor rug underneath. An old wrought-iron staircase adorned one end of the patio, leading up to likely the roof, peppered with even more small potted plants.

It was an especially sunny and warm day. We'd just finished eating breakfast when we'd decided to go bask in the sunshine with our coffees before Matty's phone rang. I savoured his little frown of concentration while on the phone, the way his cheeks hollowed as he took a drag on his cigarette.

I held out my hand, requesting a drag. He wagged his finger at me, and I gave him my best pout in response. A small smile appeared on his face and he shook his head before reluctantly holding out the cigarette.

"Just one puff!" I mouthed at him, holding up a single finger as I reached to take it cigarette. He snatched my finger before I could retract it and placed a big kiss on the tip of it, before letting it go with a smile. He handed me it, holding up his own single finger, mouthing, "Just one." I inhaled the smoke, then as I exhaled, attempted to blow rings. All but the last attempts failed. Matty applauded silently at the successful ring, giving my knee a light squeeze before taking back the cigarette.

After another few minutes on the phone, he gave me a look of boredom. He looked so handsome in his sunglasses and bedhead, the cigarette now perched between the two fingers that held his coffee, the other lazily tracing circles on my thigh which hung over his lap. In addition to the sunglasses, he wore an oversized black hoodie and a pair of boxer shorts. My outfit matched his, as I had donned a pair of his boxers that morning too, in addition to his favourite blue hoodie.

I watched Matty's face break into a wide grin as he spoke to the mystery person on the other end of the call. He turned to look at me, throwing a fist in the air and shaking it in celebration, then excitedly grabbing my thigh and shaking it, making me laugh.

He said his farewells to the person on the phone before he turned to me, tossing the phone on the seat beside him.

"I've got wonderful news. Our videographer has the flu!" Matty said cheerily.

I raised my eyebrows at Matty.

"I'm sorry... am I missing something? Why are we happy that they're sick?" I asked in confusion.

"That means I have the entire day free! All I had today was this video shoot, but we have to postpone, so now we get to hang out instead!" Matty said enthusiastically.

I laughed at Matty, charmed by his excitement.

"Matty, that sounds like a dream come true, but I have to go to the studio today!" I reminded him.

"Well, can I come with you? How long do you have it booked for today?" he asked eagerly.

"Only five hours today, but it won't be very entertaining. There isn't much else to do at the studio aside from pottery. Plus, I really don't think I'll get much done if you come with me." I reasoned with him.

Matty pulled a grumpy face, and I reached out my hand to squeeze his.

"Five hours is much too long to be apart..." he said, hanging his head off the back of the couch in frustration, "but I understand. I won't pester you. I guess I should be responsible and work on the new album today now that I have some free time," he said rolling his head to one side to look at me with a smile. "Maybe I could come for the last half hour? You could give me a tour and maybe show me some of your work?" he asked hopefully.

My heart melted at his request to see my work and my studio. It felt so nice to have someone so genuinely interested in my craft.

"Of course, babe. I'd love that," I said with a smile.

Matty hummed a sound of pleasure. "I love when you call me that," he said before taking another drag from his cigarette, blowing out several perfect smoke rings.

"Let me try again," I said, reaching my hand out, but he didn't pass me the cigarette this time.

"Look, now I know you are a grown woman who can do as she pleases, and I would buy you a thousand cartons of these if they didn't cause cancer, but I will not let my nasty addiction become your new hobby."

I once again gave him a small playful pout, and he took his sunglasses off to reveal a pair of warm brown pair of saddened eyes.

"Oh please, Anna. I know I'm being unfair, but let me be a hypocrite just this once?"

I rolled my eyes at him, knowing he was right. "Oh, fine." I huffed, dropping my hand. I didn't want my hobby of making shapes with smoke to become an addiction that could ruin my lungs. Besides, I didn't really care that much. I mostly just liked that we were doing something together.

He smiled at me and picked up my hand, kissing the back of it. "How can I make it up to you? I feel bad telling you no. World's your oyster- what would you like?" he asked sincerely, his doe eyes locked onto mine.

"Hmmm," I pondered out loud. "Maybe a back rub?" I offered.

"Not an expensive dinner at a Michelin-star restaurant? Or a trip to Paris? Or a night under the stars in the Sahara?" he said, brow furrowing. "If you could do anything, what would it be?"

I laughed, then once again realized he wasn't joking. "I mean, I'm happy with dinner and a movie at yours tonight?"

"That's it?" he asked bluntly.

"Well... I'd also like the back rub." I said with a smile, nudging him lightly with my knee. He looked confused, so I explained. "I don't really care what we do, I just want to spend time with you. We could go have dinner in the Italian countryside, or go swimming off the coast of Mykonos, or go eat sushi in Tokyo, or we could sit in my living room and stare at each other in silence for four hours and I'd be happy either way..." I shrugged. "-although I'd rather it not be in silence if I get to choose... I like talking to you too much... but my point is, all I care about is spending time with you. The rest doesn't matter to me."

Matty stared at me in silence, then turned his head away, looking at the far end of the patio. I felt his energy change, so I tapped the back of his hand with my finger and asked, "Hey, is everything alright?"

He dropped his head, and I felt a splash on my hand. A tear had fallen, and I could see his lower lip tremble slightly.

"Hey-" I said, sitting up quickly. I shuffled over to him on my knees and sat down in his lap, taking his face in my hands. The way he looked up into my eyes broke my heart, eyes wet, brow creased, another tear streaking down his face. I wiped his cheek gently with my thumb. "What's wrong?" I asked delicately.

He shook his head, then wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in. I hugged him back as he burrowed his face into the crease of my neck. He held me so tightly. I ran my fingers along the back of his neck and through his hair as he stifled quiet sobs. We sat there quietly holding each other as I waited.

"I'm sorry, I'm so fucked up..." he whispered in my ear.

"Shhh, shhh, don't say that," I said soothingly. "You're perfect."

At this he squeezed me even tighter, so I squeezed him back.

After a few minutes, he loosened his grip, and I pulled my head back slightly to look at him. He kept his head hung low, taking a breath to speak.

"I've... I've never dated someone who doesn't want something from me. Whether that's money, fame, music, drama, or the idea of me... Everyone always expects something of me," he said, voice shaking in frustration and emotion. "And I've spent so much of my life playing the part- like my life is one big play... because it's my job to... and it's made all my personal relationships so toxic. People expect something from me, and it melts my brain trying to dance between reality and expectation because my job is my reality... It drives me mad. I'm sorry if none of this is making sense," he shook his head, eyes hiding from mine.

"No, no. You're making perfect sense," I said reassuringly. I nodded my head encouragingly at him as his eyes peeked up at me briefly.

"I try to be myself but I can't set boundaries, because you can't in this industry. So I play into them- exaggerate everything so that no one can really know who I am. Not truly." He took my hand into his and began to fiddle with my fingers anxiously. He took another deep breath, gaining more confidence. "You don't know, but publically I'm a bit of a bad boy. I play into the character a lot- as my own form of protest kind of... I don't let people know what's authentic and what's not because fame and celebrity performance are all so meaningless, yet people attach so much meaning to it all... And I guess it's a bit of a defence mechanism as well... if I'm not myself then I can never truly be to blame for anything..."

He lifted his head, his watery eyes looking deep into mine.

"But now with you, I feel like I don't have to act. Like the play is over... You don't expect anything from me... You just want me." his voice faltered, wobbling with emotion. He sniffed loudly, then carried on determinedly. "You don't just make me feel like myself- you let me see myself for who I truly am, which is something I forgot was even possible. Being with you is amazing, fun, exciting and all these wonderful things. But amongst all that, it's also a giant relief, and in moments is disorientating. I only now realize just how emotionally exhausted I've been. It feels like I've been running on empty for the last five years and I've only just noticed now."

He looked back and forth between my eyes, searching for something. I placed a hand on his cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Matty. I can't imagine how that must feel..." I said sincerely. I took a breath to continue, but he interrupted me.

"But you do, Anna. You do know how it feels. Maybe not in the same way, but you had expectations put on you by the people who claimed to love you most, and played the part you thought you had to too. You and I have wanted the same thing- we just want someone to want us for who we are. Not for what we provide or what is expected of us. We just want to be ourselves and to be accepted for who we are. We want truly unconditional love. Real love."

Then, I understood. Truly understood. The emotional exhaustion, the confusion, the fear, the relief... it was all the same. My heart broke even further, for him, as well as myself. My eyes welled, but I wanted to stay strong for him at this moment. That felt important to do.

I looked at him straight on, his chocolate eyes desperate for my understanding. I needed him to know that I understood- that he was right. That I felt the same way. He looked so sad, so hopeful, so handsome, so sincere in his emotion. My chest broke wide open, and I couldn't hold its contents back any longer.

"I love you, Matty. I love you for who you are. Not for what you do, for what you have, for how you act, for how you look... Just for you. Nothing more, nothing less. I love you." I fought back the tears that threatened to fall and watched as his face transformed.

His eyes crinkled in that way I loved, his smile wider than I'd ever seen it. His cheeks reddened, shining from the fresh tears that now fell. His eyes glittered with happiness.

"Anna..." he began, pausing from speechlessness. He stared at me in silence, mouth agape. Then he gathered my face in his hands, and slowly leaned in, placing a long and meaningful kiss on my lips. I kissed him back. The room spun, and suddenly we were in a world full of stars, flying through these emotions together. 

As he pulled away, he tried to look serious, but his face was still stained with his smile from my declaration. He kept holding my face tenderly as he said, "I have never loved anyone or anything as much as I love you, Anna. From the moment I met you, I knew... I just knew. You have given me everything I never knew was even possible. You saved me. Thank you, Anna."

He kissed me again, and again we started to fly. I felt our hearts connect, veins intertwining, becoming one. Every emotion possible swirled around us as we kissed, deeply, love dominating them all. 

He pulled away, looking tenderly into my eyes and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," I whispered back.

We sat there smiling at each other with big wide dumb grins on our faces. We were drunk in that moment, eyes hazy, minds melted. We were gloriously happy. After a few minutes, I laughed to myself before saying, "Well, we made it- what?- 12 hours before finally saying it? I guess that's not so terrible..." I joked.

His eyes crinkled once more. "I'm pretty impressed with us if I'm being honest. That's better than I expected, don't you reckon?" he said sweetly.

I was overcome with adoration at that moment, leaning in once again to kiss him, still not feeling like I'd had enough. This time, he kissed me back fiercely, a strong intention behind his lips.

He pulled away, resting his forehead heavily against mine, his eyes closed in silence for a moment.

"I'll be careful with your heart, Anna. I promise. If you can be careful with mine too." He whispered to me softly.

I nodded into his forehead, and we sat there bundled in each other's arms whispering 'I love you' over and over again, like we'd finally come home.