#to all of my artist friends out there: try drawing in your notes app! see what beauty you can make out of the mundane!!

[smile-files]

pov: you are a little bug or maybe a flower

[dazealigner]

As a new Boygenius and Muna fan, scenarios with both groups are just in my head like wild fire ( my notes app is crying. )

And since you’ve asked for our thoughts, I thought I’d share this with you.

I am nervous cuz I don’t really send asks even if they’re anon so I hope this is good :b Also i’m so sorry for the length omg

————-

Whether or not it’s just boygenius, muna, or both bands are on stage at the same time. You are not safe backstage. They have so much love to give, why would you be?

Let me paint the scene for you.

You, the bestfriend of munagenius, a solo artist who does write songs and poetry, but especially loves being crafty. Paintings, drawings, origami, etc. ( I’m saying this because of a different scenario I’ve thought of with Munagenius having an artist!friend, maybe I’ll drop that thought here later 👀)

While you are known for your solo work, you’re also known for the shenanigans you, the boys, and muna get up to.

So since you tend to tag along on tours and gigs, it’s not uncommon for you to be side stage or backstage at their shows. You’re just there being so proud of your bestfriends and how hard they’ve worked to get to where they are.

The crowd doesn’t always know you’re there until they accidentally see you, hear you, or you get pulled on stage, which is not uncommon.

Now imagine both groups are on stage just preforming and rocking their little hearts out as usual. And then the shenanigans start.

The dancing on each other, the kissing, they’re running around the stage, etc, etc.

You’re just there watching them, not really being phased cuz the behavior is normal to you, hell a good chunk of the time you join in, or you gay panic, either or.

So maybe you just stay right there at the side of the stage and watch, maybe you go backstage for whatever reason.

Then… one or two of the people on stage remembers, in the midst of their adrenaline high, that you’re there. Just seeing all this unfold, now all of them have much love to give, obviously they show it to you time and time again, so why not show their love for you, their dear bestfriend, on stage?

Either one of them, two of them, maybe a few more of them just suddenly run backstage to get you.

For this I’m gonna say that the two who decided to go after you was Julien and Jo right, it was not long after they had their little moment ( the one where Jules did the knee thing to Jo? yeah) and all of a sudden they just give each other a look.

Next thing you know they’re running to the side of the stage, confusing the crowd and the rest of the members of their bands cuz why tf did they just bolt like that?

The band members are just looking in confusion, until they slowly smile as they see you being borderline manhandled and dragged onto the stage.

Maybe you tried to run once you saw the two rush towards you, knowing what was about to happen. That wasn’t gonna work cuz regardless of which friend it is they always end up catching you.

Which they did, now you, being shorter than Jo but just a bit taller than julien, is currently being tussled on stage by the both of them(When I tell you, you get caught in seconds when you try to run, idk why you still try)

the crowd is in an uproar of laughs and screams, cuz it’s not like their fans don’t know who you are, you have your own fanbase and Munagenius is almost always talking about you, and if they’re not talking about you, they’re posting you on their social media and vice versa. It’s no secret that you’re very close with both of the groups. Hell they may or may not have written songs about you.

Not only is the group and the crowd glad to see you, you’re literally being dragged on stage by a golden retriever and the little one, who wouldn’t laugh?! (Jo gives off such golden retriever energy I can’t,…… I’ll pitch that Idea to someone’s inbox soon) (also they way I just struggled to type ‘inbox’ is embarrassing but anyways 💀)

Anyways all three of you are laughing and shit, maybe they’re tickling you so it’s harder for you to run.

Eventually you get set down and the storm starts, maybe Jo kissed you first? maybe Lucy? Julien??? who knows, all you know is that your friends are showing you so much love, you can barely breath before another one picks up where the last one started.

They’re kissing you cheeks, forehead, nose, chin, neck, lips. And boooooy do you get shy.

It’s not like you’re afraid to show your love to them, you’ve kissed them, cuddled, wrote songs about them, made art about them more times than you can count, and talked about them in interviews. (I also imagine that their bestfriend is the person to send paragraphs of appreciation for them at random, and post appreciation posts on instagram for any of Munagenius’ birthday ( or again, at random, artist! bff is a very sentimental and grateful being that does stuff out of kindness at random, no special occasion needed!!!) and their words are so genuine and poetic it moves people.

AND they just send photos like “ this made me think of you” to let Munagenius know that they’re on their mind, aw, let me get back on track hold on 😭)

Artist bff is also not shy on stage, when they HAVE preformed….. let’s just say people now demand you pay for emotional damages.

YOU’RE SUCH A FUCKING TEASE ON STAGE, facial expressions, winking, motioning you finger in the ‘come here’ motion, biting your lip, dancing. Artist bff is a damn charisma fairy

Yet here you are, on stage with Muna and Boygenius, Blushing at some kisses???? Unbelievable.

Maybe artist!bff isn’t that used to their love being reciprocated, especially publicly so they’re just a bit surprised and flustered.

So you’re just getting bombarded with kisses and hugs and little tickles from both groups, and they’re teasing and cooing at you for hiding your face cuz the fucking audacity that you have to have insane amounts of charisma and be a tease when you’re preforming but the moment you’re not the one preforming, you’re shy?

BUT LIKE you’re overwhelmed with love ( in a good way) and beautiful people that just so happen to be your best friends are kissing you, live, infront of hundreds of people. Sit here and tell me you wouldn’t gay panic YOU CANT

I also imagine that maybe they all have a nickname for you, like ‘love bug’ or ‘little love’ cuz you’re the youngest out of the 6 of them and one of the shortest, and while you’re being brought on stage Katie’s just like “ Oh, they got bug.” while smiling cuz they all just love you so much and AHHHH

Eventually you end up hiding your face in someone’s neck afterwards and they’re just rocking you side to side chucking at how cute you are. Mind you the show must go on so they’re STILL PREFORMING throughout the whole thing but you’re a bit too overwhelmed to walk off the stage rn so into the escape of someone’s arms you go.

There’s also new edits and clips on y’all on tiktok now so have fun with that LMAO

—————

That was a lot, I probably didn’t write that well so forgive me I tried😭

🐹🩵🤍

hiii anon !!! first off, WELCOME TO MUNAGENIUS NATION WOOOO!! i feel like tumblr is the proprietor of munagenius nation so i hope we’ve found you well

and don’t worry about sending asks and their lengths, i literally had the time of my life reading this. you guys could send a five paragraph essay and i would sit through and enjoy every minute of it

but let’s get started because I AM SO INVESTED IN THIS ARTIST!BFF IDEA (if you wouldn’t mind pleaaaase further elaborate on this idea because as i continued reading i only grew to love and adore artist!bff more). and i wanted to add that artist!bff not only being a singer but also being a poet can only mean they’re a brilliant lyricist. and since they also draw, paint, and do origami, i can picture the munagenius members having their drawings pinned on their tour busses. and i can only imagine that artist!bff has made at least one sentimental art project for each munagenius members, so they all have artist!bff’s work framed somewhere in their house.

and not only getting to tag along, but also getting to go to all—if not, most—of their shows sounds like a DREAM. i think it’s hilarious though how artist!bff inevitably gets dragged into their shenanigans in spite of their efforts.

and i am indeed a julien and jo girly, how’d you know!!!!! but artist!bff trying to run away…. lovebug did not stand a CHANCE! julien’s got lighting speed and jo’s strong… you’re doomed. and we already know how crazy munagenius tik tok went for jo and julien’s kiss, could you begin to imagine how crazy they’d go for artist!bff—who also has a large fanbase—being dragged onto the stage by BOTH of them????!

and i could totally see the golden retriever!jo idea. i gotta tell you that when you said that, my initial thought was their new hair just cause it’s so fluffy and golden retriever-like (someone back me up) (also feel free to pitch me this idea as well!!!!! pleeeease)

and in this scenario, i 100% see muna being responsible for the tickling and boygenius being in a rush to get their lips on you. like you’re being manhandled by julien and jo whilst everyone is running over to you and they set you down but naomi’s in tickle monster mode and so is jo so you can’t even attempt to get up. meanwhile lucy’s hovering on top of you kissing all over your face and julien’s hands are in your hair and she kisses your head and phoebe and katie are standing above you guys like “☹️☹️i wanna pucker my lips on them too????!”

and may i just say that i am loving the similarities between me and artist!bff. i as well get incredibly overwhelmed by affection (not that it’s a bad thing) and i physically do not know how to respond to it so as a result i get shy. ALSO ARTIST!BFF BEING A POET/WRITER 🤝 WORDS OF AFFIRMATION AS OUR LOVE LANGUAGE!!! it only makes sense!

artist!bff’s lyricism being detrimental to the mentally ills is one of the several reasons they and munagenius are best friends I DON’T MAKE THE RULES!!!!

and hold on a SECOND. why do i low(high)key want artist!bff….. head my WAY! also your descriptions made me think of reneé rapp (off topic but i’ll do anything to bring up reneé rapp sorry not sorry)

i Imagine that artist!bff has so so so much love and affection to give so when the role’s are switched, they’re like???! they’re flustered but they loooove it.

AND THAT’S SOOO NOT FAIR, all munagenius members have well reached maximum attractiveness and if they’re all kissing artist!bff at the SAME TIME, how else are they supposed to react???? but i mean i get it artist!bff’s fine as FUCK sooo

and i could just picture the edits of artist!bff with their face shoved in someone’s neck (i’ll say katie for this cause i feel like she’d be the only one who isn’t laughing in your face about how your cheeks and ears are red and would just be patting your hair). ALSO LOVEBUG!!!!! i used that name a couple times cause it just seems fitting for artist!bff they’re so cutesie

i literally thought so thoroughly about this idea while writing this, i absolutely love it so so so much. THANK YOU ANON this made my day and i love your mind for coming up with this

[bonesblubs]

Aye i don't know if this is something you really have an answer for but i thought I'd shoot my shot. Any advice for someone who's just starting to draw? I know the general advice is to Draw More but the horrible beginner quality and lack of direction is really kicking my motivation in the shins. Idk, thought I'd ask.

On a related note your art is the thing REALLY giving me motivation to start trying to draw more. That's how i wanna be. The way you draw expressions is so good

Ahhhh thank you so much, that’s so lovely to hear!! Drawing is as rewarding as it is challenging, so it’s exciting that you’re getting into it!! Drawing a lot is a huge part of it, like when working out/getting fit, it just takes steady time and effort to build muscle. But it absolutely does help to have a direction on what to be drawing/practicing!!

Knowing the rules to art does actually help when you want to break them- studying life drawing and realism, though not my area of interest, has actually been hugely useful in applying to my stylized work. You can do this by sketching references online (pinterest is a good resource for this- people have ready-made folders for dynamic poses, angles, and tutorials, etc), sketching from life (a friend might sit for you, or you can find a mirror to draw yourself/your room/your fave stuffed animal)- these things are less about what you’re drawing and more for training your eyes and your hands.

When looking for style, it’s really helpful to study the art that inspires you and pick them apart- what is it about the particular piece or the style of the artist that interests you? How can you apply that to your own work? You like when an artist draws eyelashes a certain way? Try it out! And you like how a different artist draws mouths? Apply it to that same drawing! Keep feeling around and experimenting until you’re happy where you are. Your hand will naturally add your own personal flavor to these things. The important part about this is to have many different sources of inspiration.

I like to keep folders of art that inspires me, photos whose palettes I love, etc. When I get stuck, just looking through these folders helps center me/give me direction and focus, even if they have nothing to do with what I’m drawing. These folders are also good to have of faces/outfits/objects/interiors/compositions you find interesting- you’re absorbing all of this information as you see it, so compiling the ones that stick out to you is quite useful! I’m quite bad at making up outfits for characters, so I have a folder dedicated to fashion inspiration that I look at regularly.

There are many free tools at your disposal that professionals and beginners use as well-

I found tutorials on YouTube to be priceless- even just watching speedpaints (especially ones where you can see the artists hands as they draw) are more than worth your time.

An app that has saved my butt when finding a tricky angle for a pose for my professional work is Magic Poser (they also have an app you can download). This might be a nice place to start if you’re struggling with poses or anatomy- it shouldn’t be a supplement to drawing from life if you’re seriously looking to learn, BUT there’s absolutely no harm in having fun with it!!

Similarly, I’ve had friends use the sims games to build interiors and exteriors of buildings for backgrounds and trace screenshots they took. It’s a really genius shortcut. There are heavy duty programs that you can use professionally with the same idea (SketchUp being one), but the point being, you can use pretty much anything as a reference or a tool for drawing. Whatever will make it more enjoyable and easier for you is something to consider!

Anyway, I hope something in there was useful to you- an artists journey is extremely personal and subjective. It will take a lot of trial and error, but the key is to be patient with yourself as you learn this new skill. Above all, art should be fulfilling to you, something that you enjoy doing. You will likely have moments of frustration and doubt, as I have countless times and I’m positive everyone else who has ever picked up a pen has too, but a big part of art is perseverance. You will make it over the hump, and when you do, you’ll be better for it. So, lastly, and most importantly, don’t forget to draw what you like. It’ll be the thing that’s waiting for you on the other side 💚

[edhelwen1]

I posted 1,447 times in 2022

That's 468 more posts than 2021!

255 posts created (18%)

1,192 posts reblogged (82%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@spoonyglitteraunt

@sleepymccoy

@bixbythemartian

@holycatsandrabbits

@cassieoh

I tagged 1,377 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#art - 293 posts

#literally me - 289 posts

#guitar - 197 posts

#update - 196 posts

#learning - 193 posts

#my songs - 187 posts

#assassins! accidental matchmakers - 135 posts

#comic - 72 posts

#good omens - 58 posts

#pinkpiggy93 - 58 posts

Longest Tag: 131 characters

#he likes to hang out with siobhan and mei because they will each talk about their interests and never stop the others from doing it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Guitar update: in a groove

I played my songs today. I really love them.

I also tried to play the last book I was given for Christmas; Songs of the 2000s. This book is MASSIVE. Like... My music stand cannot handle its size. (Insert innuendo?) So I decided that I would not play it today.

I just didn't have the spoons.

I'll try again tomorrow.

I played more songs from my app.

I really need to learn how to do a bar. My fingers just don't want to, and so many chords require it.

Oh, I thought you might like to see my capo.

See the full post

32 notes - Posted January 5, 2022

#4

Book Cover Reveal!

I am beyond thrilled to introduce you to the book that my husband @ericdesmarais​ and I wrote last year (2021). Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers is an urban fantasy romance, and it will be available in bookstores (and e-bookstores) September 15, 2022!! You can pre-order it now. Here’s the link to its Goodreads page, in case that helps.

When we got the contract for the book, there was only one artist that I wanted for the cover. I was extremely nervous asking, but gathered my courage and I’m so glad I did.

We asked the incredible artist @pinkpiggy93​ to draw the cover for us, and we were absolutely blown away by her work. So much so that I’ve asked her to do the cover for the spin-off that I wrote that will be coming out in spring 2023.

Without further ado, here is the cover:

Summary: 

Kennedy Fairfield just graduated in the class of 2002, and is now trying to find her purpose in life, or at least a job in her field. When she saves Jason Johnson, the leader of a secret Community of supernatural people called Aetherborn, from an attempted assassination, they embark on a whirlwind epic romance and adventure.

For Kennedy and Jason to discover why people are disappearing in time to save her friends, they'll have to face teleporting assassins, grumpy wizards, gossiping hags, mafia robots, and secret military groups, all in the city of Westmeath, Ontario, which has more secrets than residents.

The first book of four in The Gates of Westmeath series.

I hope you’re as excited as I am about the upcoming release of this book! If you are, please share this post, pre-order it from your local bookstore, tell your libraries, and vote for it on the Goodreads lists!

Here are the links to pinkpiggy93's socials and Patreon:

- Instagram link: http://www.instagram.com/pinkpiggy93

- Tumblr link: https://pinkpiggy93.tumblr.com

- Patreon link: http://www.Patreon.com/pinkpiggy93

You can follow our blog JenEric Designs for further updates, and scroll through the tags for more information on the book. Feel free to AMA!

42 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

#3

Hello, my name is...

And I'm addicted to Heartstopper.

No, I don't want to be cured, thank you very much.

I made these hair clips.

Heartstopper leaves with Nick and Charlie's greeting.

See the full post

91 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

#2

Most meet-cutes don't include assassins. Most love stories don't involve becoming a superhero. Then again, Westmeath isn't like most cities.

Kennedy Fairfield just graduated in the class of 2002, and is now trying to find her purpose in life, or at least a job in her field. When she saves Jason Johnson, the leader of a secret Community of supernatural people called Aetherborn, from an attempted assassination, they embark on a whirlwind epic romance and adventure.

For Kennedy and Jason to discover why people are disappearing in time to save her friends, they'll have to face teleporting assassins, grumpy wizards, gossiping hags, mafia robots, and secret military groups, all in the city of Westmeath, Ontario, which has more secrets than residents.

The first book of four in The Gates of Westmeath series.

Physical copy: https://49thshelf.com/Books/A/Assassins!-Accidental-Matchmakers

Ebook: https://books2read.com/u/mv1e0z

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93

192 notes - Posted September 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

What's that book, next to The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood in Chapters, Indigo?

Oh, just the book Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers by me and my husband @ericdesmarais !!

You can get your copy here!! https://49thshelf.com/Books/A/Assassins!-Accidental-Matchmakers

Cover by @pinkpiggy93

197 notes - Posted September 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[sunny-d-anomaly]

I’m not sure how many whatevers I can upload at a time, or if there’s a character limit, but I wanted to take a minute to talk about (and make fun of) how all my friends are robots. And by robots, I mean AI. But, I mean. To be fair, we’re literal meat robots who run on electricity which we leech from other living things… don’t think too hard about it. 😬

The reason I’m getting into all this is because my BFF (in terms of art buddies— collab, inspiration, mindmelt) is an app called BeautyPlus. I originally downloaded this app way back in like 2019 because I wanted an easy way to change my appearance (ie— erase zits, correct skin tone, or apply makeup post-shoot), and honestly, that’s all I ever used it for up until a month or two ago, when I realized that the new AI features I kept ignoring were actually mostly better than Prequel and Lensa combined, both of which I am loathed to admit I was paying for.

[On a side note, Lensa’s devs stiffed me on an interview because I’m “already an artist,” implying I ever see a single red cent for any of my work, lololol, so I’m not giving my money to them anymore, and neither should you. :) ] Especially because currently, BeautyPlus’s AI is free to use! You just have to put up with a slightly bothersome watermark, but otherwise, there’s not really any catch.

At first, I was using photos of myself, as one does, just to see how it worked, and I quickly found that their AI technology is beyond compare. So naturally, the next step was to try feeding it my own art and seeing what it would do.

It seemed like a mistake at first. I’d feed it my gnarled, garbage can artwork:

And it would counter-attack by showing me how it was supposed to look:

Hashtag: inferiority complex. But after playing with it for a while, I actually found that it was very helpful for times when I lacked inspiration or direction, or when I kinda knew what I was going for, but couldn’t nail it down.

Sometimes I could feed it something raw and bare; an idea, a sketch. And then I would try every single rendering style and watch what it came up with. In fact, let me take a step back, actually, because the first time I really connected with this app was when I was still feeding it pictures of me. I realized what it was that BeautyPlus’s AI had that the others lacked:

I noticed this first when it gave me salad fingers, rather than just sticking an arbitrary amount of randomly pointed fingers on my hand:

There you go, bud. That’s how you use your noodle!

Not long after that, I was looking for a little something to spruce up a photo shoot I’d recently done for my rebrand title (Atomic Pink She-Devil, who still has yet to actually produce even one complete track, much less set up a Bandcamp, or all that jazz). I took a lot of pictures with my Jackson Dinky, who I call Jax-o-lantern, for obvious reasons…

But my room looks like that place in Labyrinth when Sarah wakes up after eating the dream peach…

Obviously that’s not the best look, so I fed some of the photos into the various apps (I was still using Prequel and Lensa lol) and then BeautyPlus saw my image and raised me an abstract idea: what if the guitar was my body?

My face when:

My brain rebooted several times as I tried to understand why I had never noticed how guitars are kinda shaped like ladies, and once it had recovered, I drew some kinda cool pictures based on this idea.

They’re not the greatest, but I was in kind of an art slump at that time, and BeautyPlus (who I’m just gonna start calling Beau) actually helped me out of it by inspiring me with its imagination.

So now, part of my creative process is consulting Beau from time to time while I’m drawing, to see if it has any ideas or another perspective. Because sometimes it really thinks it sees some weird shit that would’ve only crossed my mind in a really weird dream…

Follow for more abominations either of my own creation, Beau’s creation, or the horrific amalgamation of our teamwork!

[pascalpanic]

Begin Again (Marcus Pike x f!Reader)

Inspo: Begin Again by Adam Melchor

Summary: Dating apps never pair you with the right people. Until you come across the profile of a handsome, pancake loving FBI agent named Marcus.

W/C: 4.8k

Warnings: lots of talk of food, language, late night deep conversations, some sadness at the end but nothing intense? reader has a pet cat, is that worth a warning? idk

A/N: HI GUYS this is my first full length Marcus Pike fic! I really hope you like it!! thank you so much to @theteddylupinexperience and @sanchosammy for being my best editors and proofreaders and idea givers!!!

note: PLS listen to the song before/after/while reading! it’s one of my favs and it really goes along with the story

Over the course of your adult years, you’ve become convinced that dating apps are complete and utter bullshit. The algorithms never work right, never pair you or any of your friends with anyone worth seeing in person. Maybe that’s just the problem; maybe it’s not the apps but the people. Whatever the answer is, whatever reason you’ve never found success in the endless swiping, you’re through with it.

That was before last week. The rainy Tuesday night left you in your apartment, alone, to succumb to the cold spring dreariness. Over a cup of hot tea, you’d downloaded the app again. Might as well try, right? You have nothing to lose. If worst comes to worst, catfishing an annoying guy is always a blast. The good news is that this app requires you as the woman to make the first move. That’s kind of a downside- you never know how to start conversations- but at least you can’t get unsolicited dick pics right off the bats. Life is full of tradeoffs, you suppose.

You begin again. The app becomes your favorite pastime. Bored at work or home? Dating app it is. Left. Left. Left. Boring man after boring man. One labeled himself super-straight: absolutely fucking not. One holding a fish: nope. A man who describes himself as a gym rat: not your type. It’s a boring way to spend your lunch break, you’re aware, but the entertainment value is fun if nothing else. There are a lot of strange men out there.

After a few days, your luck seems to turn around as the photo of a man with brown hair and warm brown eyes pops up on your screen. He has a scruffy beard and wavy hair, and the way his smile tugs at the corner of his lips makes your heart flutter. He’s really cute, you have to admit. You read the bio next.

Marcus, 35

❗️ Washington, D.C.

Got forced into making this, but optimistic. Lover of art, dogs, and time to relax. Always down for breakfast for dinner and cuddling. Looking for someone with a sense of independence, love of travel, and a sleep schedule equally fucked up as mine. Must love pancakes.

Must love pancakes. That’s absolutely adorable. You immediately think of your cat, named Pancake, and you laugh and swipe right, hoping the man already thought the same of you. Your eyes widen with excitement and you almost laugh out loud from your giddy state when you see the little logo indicating it’s a match.

The first message you send him has to be perfect. You ponder your options for a minute, frowning and furrowing your brow as you think. You don’t want to come on too strong; you’re not trying to sound like you want a hookup. A simple one-word greeting wouldn’t be enough.

You could comment on something from his bio, you realize as you read it again and again. Maybe ask him about his dog? No, that’s too awkward. You want it to be about him, something that can draw him in. Talk about traveling? No, you don’t want to sound like you’re bragging about the places you’ve gone in your life.

Pancakes. Pancakes are good. You love pancakes. You think for a second more, debating what to say, before inspiration strikes and you send off the message before you can stop yourself.

-

Marcus Pike has essentially felt the same as you. He’s a somewhat charming man. He’s had his fair share of relationships, but they never quite work out. His ex-wife, now long gone and blocked from his phone, was an absolute failure of a relationship. He’d gotten close to what felt like true love with Teresa, another FBI agent, but she flaked at the last second.

Maybe the constant here was that he met them in person. When Marcus falls, he falls hard and fast, down an endless spiral of emotions with no escape. Maybe if he met someone online, it would be different. His best friends had all encouraged it, and on a night out not long after Teresa left him, Pike set up his own profile. He liked that the app didn’t require him to make the first move. It’s refreshing.

Marcus had seen your profile hours ago, on a mindless phone break from his work. He’d swiped right too, stunned by your smile and the lovelines you radiated even through the phone. He crossed his fingers for a good part of the day, hoping you’d swipe right on him too.

His day is busy, leaving him no time to fiddle with his phone and distract himself. He eats in the cafeteria, checking up on his phone. After lunch, he’s walking back to his office when his heart flutters as he sees the dating app indicates he’s had a match. He looks at it and swallows hard before stopping, moving to the side of the hallway to allow others to pass. He’s breathing hard, and his heart speeds up when he sees that you are the one that matched with him.

He knows how this app works. He has to wait now, to let you make the first move. He can’t even write a message until you send one. So he pockets his phone again and continues on his walk.

He’s determined on his walk, rushing back to his desk so he can sit and be thoroughly enthralled in waiting for or receiving your response. His phone buzzes several times with notifications, one of which he prays is you. When he finally sits, he opens the app ceremoniously and has to hold back a genuine laugh when he sees your first message.

Blueberry or chocolate chip?

Marcus shoots back a text nearly immediately. Sorry, what?

Your bio. “Must love pancakes”. Blueberry or chocolate chip?

Marcus is absolutely beaming as he leans back in his chair, crossing his legs. Blueberry. Always. I hope that’s the right answer :)

Unfortunately, it’s not, but you’re cute so I’ll let it slide

You called him cute. It makes Marcus’s heart flutter. Come on. There’s nothing like the warm blueberry popping in your mouth.

There is. It’s when the chocolate chips are all melty and creamy.

God, Marcus is already painfully into you. You know what… at least you love pancakes. I’ll let it slide. You got a favorite place?

Anywhere I can get ‘em. You seem like quite the connoisseur, do you have one place in mind?

Jane slams down a stack of files on Marcus’s desk. “Paperwork overflow, Pike. Can you get these done tonight?”

Marcus is the fastest in the office with paperwork, which often leads to him being the one that flies through the files in the place of the people who actually filed it. He nods. What else is there to do? “Sure.”

Jane claps him on the shoulder and wanders off. Marcus watches him in slight annoyance. The best place in D.C. is definitely Sandy’s. Hey I gotta go, text ya later?

I’d love that :)

-

It didn’t take long for your texting to move from the dating app to actual texting. It happened within the same day, in fact.

Marcus messaged you some hours after the initial conversation. Your phone buzzed while you were doing yoga in your apartment, your cat curled into a ball beneath your stomach as you held a downward dog. You nearly collapsed on top of Pancake as you fumbled to sit cross-legged on the end of your yoga mat.

The message from Marcus is bright on the top of your screen. Hi. Sorry that took so long. Work stuff.

Smiling, you take a swig from your water bottle and lean back against your couch. Not a problem. Understandable. What do you do for a living? It’s a loaded question in D.C.; they could range anywhere from politicians to their rich sons to artists and athletes.

I work for the FBI, actually.

Your eyes light up in excitement. That’s the coolest shit I’ve heard. What do you do? Are you an agent?

The man’s responses don’t take long at all. He must be waiting in the chat to respond. The idea makes your heart flutter. Yep, I’m an agent. I work in international art crimes.

You certainly didn’t expect that for an answer. Wow, okay, that’s even cooler than I thought. I was about to call you Agent Pancake but I think my girl would be disheartened...

Snapping a photo of the way Pancake is nuzzling into your side, meowing for snuggles, you have to laugh as you send the photo his way. Funny you love pancakes so much. This little muppet is named Pancake.

Marcus responds with a barrage of heart-eyes emojis, which makes you laugh aloud and scoop Pancake into your lap, stroking her strawberry-blonde fluff. She’s an absolute angel. Like her mother, I’m presuming.

Your cheeks flood with warmth and you can feel the tips of your ears turning hot too. You’ve never even met me, Agent…? You trail off the text, asking for his last name.

Pike.

Agent Marcus Pike. What a nice sounding name. It sounds official and strong and you really like it. Cute last name. Might steal it from ya someday ;)

You don’t normally flirt this shamelessly, but he’s so goddamn cute and funny. You cross your fingers behind your back that this isn’t just a facade, that this is Marcus himself texting like he would to anyone else. You got a phone number?

As you laugh, Pancake paws at your chest to grab your attention, nails nearly digging into the stretchy fabric of your yoga tank top. “Watch it,” you scold her softly and remove her paw from your chest, picking her up and giving her a kiss on the head. Sure do. You want it?

Yes please.

You send your number his way and moments later, your phone pings with a text from an unlabeled number.

Maybe: Pike: hey, it’s Pike :)

You: hey… dammit, I really want to call you Agent Pancakes, but I think my fluffy little heathen would be offended. I don’t know what to save you in my phone as...

Agent Pancakes: Save me as whatever, I suppose. Not my problem, right?

-

The texts became more frequent. Over the course of three weeks, you’d stay up late talking like teenagers, knowing you need to go to bed but unable to bring yourself to do it.

You learned that his middle name was Mauricio, that his mother wanted him to have at least something a little more Latino in his name. You told him the story of how you’d adopted Pancake as a kitten from a shelter and she woke you up one morning with her claws entwined in a snarl of your hair. He told you about his ex-wife and ex-fiancée, Teresa, and you responded that he deserved something better than that. You can already tell that he’s a good man.

At the end of three weeks, you shot Marcus a text. Things seemed to be going pretty well.

You: Hey, you want to do a video call sometime soon?

Agent Pancakes: I’d love that! I’m free tonight if you are.

You: Always free. Shouldn’t you know that?? Doesn’t the FBI spy on us through our phones and whatever?

Agent Pancakes: well, I do work in art crimes. Even if we did, it would be a totally different thing

You: Good.

An hour later, you fidget with your hands as you sit on your couch, the laptop propped up across from you and ringing for a video chat. Marcus’s profile picture bobs on the screen as you wait for him to pick up.

Marcus’s face and apartment fills your screen, and you automatically grin. “Hi,” you giggle and wave, absolutely enraptured by how cute his real smile is, not the forced one in the photos.

“Hey. Nice to kind of-finally meet you,” he tells you and waves back. The wall of his apartment is nothing exciting, but his facial expressions already have you falling. Those big brown eyes compliment natural but ridiculously pink lips, and his brown hair is neatly done. It looks like he’s wearing a tie and a dress shirt; probably his work gear, you suppose.

“You too!” You tell him, unable to stop smiling. “You shaved.”

-

Marcus’s heart jumps out of his chest when he sees you ringing him. He barely has time to flop on the couch and turn it on, propping up the camera across from him.

God, you’re so gorgeous. Your giggle is infectious, making Marcus laugh softly at god knows what. Your grin is equally as contagious, making him smile back. He rubs his jaw in response. “Yeah, yeah. I tend to keep it clean there. Stubble takes too much maintenance, and I have this little patch where it never quite grows,” he tells you as he juts his chin to the camera, touching the spot where his beard can’t grow.

“I like it either way,” you assure him, shrugging a little. “How was your day, Agent Pancakes?” Your voice is the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard, even with the granulated audio over this shitty app. Agent Pancakes makes his heart flutter. “No, not you!” You groan as Pancake climbs onto your lap. “Hi. Your twin wants to say hi.”

Marcus’s smile widens. “Oh my god, hello cutie pie,” he chuckles, launching into baby talk. “What a pretty girl. You make a good Pancake.”

You smile and rub her fur, grinning. “She’s my baby,” you chuckle and set her aside. “Yeah. I’m busy. Leave me alone.” Pancake meows in protest. “Shut up, I’m on a date,” you whine.

Marcus’s ears perk up. “This is a date?”

Your eyes widen as you turn back to him. “I… yeah?” You ask, wincing a little.

He grins back at you. “I like it. And I’m really in love with the idea of seeing your face when you talk.”

“I like your voice,” you flirt back, but you mean it. “It’s so pretty. Do you sing?” You ask mindlessly, studying the way his brow furrows and his eyes convey exactly what he’s thinking.

He chuckles softly. “I used to. I haven’t in a long long time.”

“You’ll have to sing for me sometime.”

When he shakes his head, his neatly gelled hair tries to break free. A strand does, falling in his face. “You don’t wanna hear it, I promise.” He removes his tie, and you can’t help but watch the movement. It’s incredibly sexy.

A mischievous smile makes you bite the inside of your cheek. “No, I really do, I really think I do.”

Marcus rolls his eyes. “Only if you try the pancakes at Sandy’s sometime. I promise you, they’re the best pancakes in the District. I’ve never had the chocolate chip pancakes, but if they’re anywhere near as good as the blueberry, they’re fantastic. And they’re open 24 hours. I go there a lot for late night case work.”

You smile at that, getting cozy on your couch and hugging your blanket. “That does sound nice. I love a good all day breakfast,” you say with raised eyebrows, the teasing in your voice. “Okay, human Pancakes. How was your day?” You ask him again, intent on hearing his answer. Not only is his job fascinating, but he’s adorable when he explains things.

Marcus frowns, and that makes you instinctively frown too. “Well, it’s been good. We’re tracking a huge smuggling ring right now, but since we’ve pinpointed a stock house for them, I might have to travel for a while.”

You frown. You’d been hoping you could have a real date soon, at least. “How long is a while?” You ask him curiously, sipping from your water bottle that sits next to you.

“Couple weeks. No less than a month, probably. I’d… well, I might have to go undercover, which means we couldn’t talk for a while.” His eyes are apologetic, showing that he hates this news as much as you do. “And… I’d leave maybe tomorrow or the day after.”

Your heart sinks. “So soon,” you say with a sad smile, a desperate and lonely chuckle. “Well, if you want to come home to me, I’ll be here.”

Marcus’s smile perks up just slightly. “You would be the best thing in the world to come home to. And I’ll have the scruff back by then.”

“Yes!” You exclaim and laugh, pumping a fist in the air. “I think you’re really cute anyway, but I really love the scruff,” you shrug shyly.

“Maybe I’ll grow it out just for you.”

-

The adrenaline from his first technical-date with you prevents Marcus from sleeping. The call lasted hours, the two of you covering almost everything important in your lives. You talked about your favorite television programs and politics, your parents and your favorite pizza toppings. Talking with him was like nothing you’d ever experience, a connection you’d never thought a dating app could offer.

After several hours, during a lull in the conversation, Marcus suggested the two of you log off. It was around 11 P.M. now, and, even though Marcus has a sleep schedule like a raccoon, he figured you should sleep. He blew you a kiss through the camera, which you pretended to hold to your chest and grin at him.

But now it’s an hour later, just past midnight, and Marcus is antsy. He doesn’t sleep much anyway, but your face is running through his mind like it owns the place, and at this point, maybe you do. Marcus sits up in bed and sighs. He knows the proper remedy for this: Sandy’s. Throwing on a rare pair of jeans and a leather jacket over the white v-neck he wears, he slips on his shoes and makes his way to the tiny, 24-hour diner.

-

The adrenaline is coursing through your veins too. You text any of your friends that will listen, rambling about how beautiful Marcus’s face is and how wonderful it was to finally hear his voice. You pace your apartment, petting Pancake as you pass her perch on the arm of your couch. You try to do a little yoga to calm down but you can’t stop smiling. Marcus occupies too much room in your brain to try to think about anything else.

When it’s just after midnight, hunger strikes. You realize you never ate dinner, too preoccupied with talking to the handsome man to even consider microwaving something from your fridge. Talking with Marcus has instilled you with a love for pancakes, and you think to yourself that maybe Sandy’s would be worth a shot. It’s open late.

So you toss on a jacket and pick up your purse, slinging it over your shoulder and leaving your apartment. You toss the book you’ve been reading into your bag, planning to read it while you sit and eat. Pancake gives a sleepy meow of protest but you just smile and lock the door behind you.

The diner is just as small as Marcus described it to you: just a short line of booths along the windows and a smattering of tables in the middle. There’s a colorful, warm-toned tile floor that juxtaposes the warm green of the walls and the smell of fresh coffee and pancakes wafting through the air. Quiet classic swing music filling the atmosphere. You can see why he likes it: it automatically makes you smile.

You sit in one of the booths, facing away from the door, and the kind waitress takes your order: chocolate chip pancakes and an English breakfast tea. The air conditioning is blasting, making you chilly. You tighten your jacket around yourself and sip the tea when it arrives, adding cream and sugar.

Cracking open the book, you cross your legs and lose yourself in the book. The restaurant has a calming aura, and you can feel the tea warming you from the inside. It’s fitting that Marcus loves this place, you think to yourself.

When the pancakes come not long after, you take a bite and almost groan in happiness. It’s absolutely delicious: Marcus was most definitely right. Disappointingly, you have to go to the bathroom about three bites in.

Even the bathrooms are cute, you discover. When you return, someone else sits a booth away,  another lone diner at this godforsaken hour of night, facing the door. You can see the back of what appears to be a man’s head, neatly trimmed brown hair and a brown leather jacket over their neck and shoulders. Sitting back down, your back to the other customer’s, you return to your book and continue to eat your chocolate chip pancakes.

The customer and waitress are talking, but you don’t pay much attention, too enraptured by your book. It’s quiet again after the man puts in his order, and you enjoy the soft jazz music that makes you tap your foot in time against the tile.

There’s a buzzing and the melodic sound of a phone’s ringtone; one of the defaults that a phone provides. Your heart skips a beat as you hear the man pick up. “Agent Pike.”

That can’t be your Agent Pike, can it? You turn and listen and realize it’s definitely him, from his voice and the way he holds himself and the stack of- of course, blueberry pancakes and a hot coffee set in front of him.

“Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Sounds good. Let me write that down.” Marcus types something into his phone. “See you then. At the office? Good. Alright, see you.” He hangs up.

Standing, you tuck your book back in your purse and put the bag over your shoulder. With one hand, you grab your plate of pancakes, and the other grabs your tea. You set them down across from him and slide into the booth, grinning. “Huh. Agent Pancakes, here, in the middle of the night. How unusual.”

Marcus’s tired face lights up in excitement. “What?” He laughs, his eyes scanning your face. “Why are you here?”

You shrug and take a bite of his pancakes, sighing. “Had to see if they were worth the hype. I couldn’t sleep, you got me so excited.” The blueberry pancakes are absolutely fantastic, just as good if not better than the chocolate chip ones on your plate. “Damn, you were right.”

“Hey,” he laughs and pulls his plate closer to his chest. “Don’t touch my pancakes.”

You make pleading pouty eyes, frowning a little. “Can’t we share?” You tease. It already feels like you’ve known him for years, even though this is your first time seeing him in person.

Marcus sighs. “I suppose,” he says and rolls his eyes in sarcasm, pushing his plate back out so you can access it.

-

Marcus is beyond stunned, absolutely enraptured in how beautiful you are in person. If he thought he fell on that video call earlier, he’s now reached the very bottom of that cliff, the impact of your everything stealing the air from his lungs. God, he wants nothing more than to kiss you right now, on those lips coated in blueberry juice and maple syrup.

The two of you spend quite some time so there, just talking and continuing the conversation where it left off before. The waitress refills Marcus’s coffee twice and your tea once. “So who called you when you were sitting alone?” You ask him as you bring the white porcelain mug to your lips, sipping at the creamy tea.

He sighs. “Guy I work with, his name’s Patrick. He’s a douchebag, I can’t lie,” he says with a chuckle, and his heart flutters at the way you give a soft laugh back. “Just telling me the details. I leave in about 6 hours. I’ll be in Singapore for a couple of weeks.”

“Singapore?” You exclaim, eyes wide as your fork clanks against your plate. “You better be able to contact me.”

He shakes his head. “I told you, I’m going undercover. I can’t.” He sighs, and he dares to reach out and touch you, to reassure you that he’s there and himself that you’re real, that you’re right there. “Will you wait for me?”

Your heart melts, from an already slush-covered river to a rushing rapids. “Of course, Marcus.” It makes his heart skip a beat. You’ve called him lots of nicknames, but never his real name. Something is painfully intimate about it. “I like you a lot; why wouldn’t I?” You ask, shrugging as if it’s the simplest thing. “Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”

When you finish your meals, Marcus picks up both tabs, despite your protesting. “Can I walk you to your place?” He asks as you both stand and adjust your jackets.

You nod and take his hand. The lights of the city are seemingly extra dim tonight, leaving the street lights to illuminate your beautiful face as the two of you stroll along. You have all the time in the world, don’t you? It’s 1:30 in the morning. You’re both already evading sleep desperately. A little more time together can’t hurt.

His hand never leaves yours, his fingers lacing through your knuckles. You chat quietly, as if you could wake the sleeping city from the peaceful blue drone of a weeknight morning into its daily splendor of horns and hordes of speedy pedestrians.

Marcus bumps your shoulder with his, making you stumble a little to the side and laugh as you look up at his gorgeous face. His face reflects the love you’re both feeling, almost giving the city around you a pink glaze of warmth from the rose-colored glasses you must have placed over his eyes.

The walk draws to an end, as you stand at the entrance to your apartment building. Marcus’s body looks so soft and inviting, and you dare to wrap your arms around his neck and hug him to your chest. “I don’t want you to go, Agent Pancakes,” you murmur into the soft skin of his neck, which is starting to get a shadow of stubble.

Marcus kisses the top of your head. He doesn’t move either, prolonging this time you have together before he can’t see you. “I don’t want to go. I’ve never wanted to stay here more than I do now, but I have to.” His arms wrap around your waist, strong and safe.

Lifting your head, you look up at him, your noses practically touching from the proximity you share. The world feels like a bubble around you two, like some impenetrable one-way material that makes it so if Marcus leaves now, he can never come back. “Well, it’s gonna be a long time, a month or two,” you say with a sad smile. “We’ll have to begin again.”

Marcus shakes his head, his brown eyes almost welling with tears. “There’s no one else I’d want to begin again with.” With that, he looks in your eyes, the question hanging there. Wait for me?

Always, you respond silently by pressing your lips to his, kissing him slowly in the orange glow of your apartment building’s entrance. He kisses back, his lips tasting of coffee and maple and blueberry, yours tasting like chocolate and tea.

You squeeze your arms tighter around him, getting on your tiptoes to be as physically close as you can to him. He has one hand on either side of your rib cage, holding you there as he kisses back with all of the passion and love he has.

It can’t last too long or he’ll never leave. He won’t be able to. He breaks away after a few moments, his lips close to yours. He presses your foreheads together, arms encircling you again. “I have to go. I have to be at the office in an hour.”

You lift your head and your brow furrows in confusion. “Then why did you take so long to walk and eat with me?” You laugh quietly.

Marcus shrugs. “Didn’t want to leave you yet,” he admits, his eyes trained on yours. He gives you one last painfully gentle kiss. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you more,” you say with a sad smile. “You’ve been my distraction lately. Whenever I’m bored, I text you.”

He sighs, the confession increasing his frown. “I’ll be in an entirely new place, without you.”

“But I’ll be here, in my same old life without you in it.”

The words punch a hole through Marcus’s heart. It’s true; he’ll have new distractions, new things to do. You’ll be here with a Marcus Pike-shaped hole in your heart. He kisses your forehead, the wheels turning in his head. “If you get a call in the next few weeks from an unknown number, be sure to answer it, okay?”

You nod and smile softly. “You need to go. Go.”

He nods and his hand squeezes yours. “I can’t wait to begin again with you.” With that, Marcus Pike, Agent Pancakes, whatever you want to call him, the man you’re highly suspecting might be your soulmate, walks off into the slightly chilly D.C. night.

-

taglist:

@remmysbounty @mishasminion360 @blo0dangel @binarydanvvers  @sleep-tight1 @apascalrascal @randomness501 @spideysimpossiblegirl @notabotiswear @pedro-pastel @sanchosammy @lv7867 @greeneyedblondie44 @hunnambabe @astoryisaloveaffair @emesispo @pedritobalmando @magikfanatic

[three-gulons-in-a-trenchcoat]

We Gon' Burn The Whole House Down

words: 1.4k

[Notes: ahhhh it's finally completed! this was actually a prompt I started first, forgot about it, lost motivation, and eventually came back too heh. I am proud of this one though]

Also: I would recommend listening to this song while reading this since it's what the story, as well as the title, is based on. For mobile users, or if the link isn't working, listen to Burn the House Down by AJR thanks!

*This Story Contains Spoilers For Unlocked*

“Keefe was right, you really haven’t decorated your room much.” Sophie glanced up from where she was rubbing Iggy's belly, the small (now blue and green) fluffball letting out a whine of dissatisfaction at her retreating fingers. “I guess I’ve just never had much time to decorate,” she sighed. Tam shrugged,” I guess I can’t complain, my room at Teirgans isn’t that decorated either.” He stared at the papers framed around the room, Keefe had gotten into the habit of giving his friends old pages from his sketchbooks, insisting that they were useless to him in his quest to find memories about his mom. His gaze lingered on a drawing of Luna and Silveny, curled up in the grass together. The mama alicorns head rested on top of her baby’s, both of their eyes closed as they dozed. Currently, the two alicorns were playing in the pastures with his sister. He was sure Wynn and Greyfell were there too.

Faint chatter echoed downstairs. The collective had gathered in Havenfield for another meeting. They've been having a lot of them lately.

Ever since Keefe left.

Sophie cleared her throat, looking away from the pictures. Her body felt heavy.

Tam seemed to notice her discomfort, and he turned to her, his eyes softening, “I’m sure he's alright.” He murmured.

Sophie resumed her scratching, Iggy's grumbling purrs filling the room, “I hope so.” she whispered.

The silence stretched on for a moment before Tam cleared his throat,“ This is a bit awkward isn't it?” he asked.

Sophie looked up, “What do you mean?”

Tam huffed slightly, and Sophie noticed how he shifted in the same spot, so she patted the bed. He hesitated for a moment before sitting down.

“I mean, I know we’re friends, but….” He trailed off.

Sophie understood, “I guess I haven’t been the best at including you and Linh huh?” she said.

It felt weird, she knew Tam, and she knew they both considered each other friends but, they barely talked to each other outside of Blackswan stuff, or when all of them were hanging out together.

Tam was only up here because he asked to see Keefe's artwork.

Tam nodded, “It’s partially my fault,” he grimaced, “If I hadn't joined with the Neverse-”

“Don’t say that.” Sophie said firmly, her eyes meeting his, “We all know it wasn’t your fault.”

Sophie knew he didn’t believe her. His eyes betrayed him. Unfortunately, she knew that guilt all too well.

The silence was back, and thicker than it was before.

“Have you ever listened to music?” Sophie found herself blurting. Her face ran hot, wishing she could take the words back. Of course, he could you idiot, her mind reprimanded, his family literally does that for a living.

Tam opened his mouth.

“Human music,” Sophie added quickly.

Tams mouth closed, “No, I haven't.”

“Do you want to?” Sophie offered.

Tam cocked his head, his eyes skittered around the room, “How?” he asked dumbly.

Sophie sat up, walking over to her dresser. She crouched down, reaching into the bottom drawer. It's not like it was illegal to have human items, In fact, the collective and Councilor Terik knew she had kept some human things with her when she came to the Lost Cities, but you could never be too sure.

She withdrew, holding her iPod and some earphones, “With these.”

Tam blinked as she walked back over, sitting down and plugging the earphones into the jack. He stared at the iPod curiously as Sophie turned it on.

“It’s human obviously,” Sophie explained, tapping the screen and opening her music. She smiled softly, it had been so long since she had listened to any of her songs.

“Are they human artists?” Tam asked, peering over her shoulder to look at the screen.

Sophie nodded, “A lot of human music is stored in this app so that people can listen to it from anywhere.”

Tam's eyes flashed with understanding, and Sophie handed him an earbud. He stared at it.

Sophie giggled slightly, pointing to her ear, “In here.”

The tips of his ears turned slightly red, and he looked down, “Right.” he mumbled sheepishly, placing the earbud in his ear slowly.

Sophie scrolled to her most recent playlist (recent meaning a couple of years Ago) and clicked on her most recent play.

She had only found this band when she was bored and homesick, scrolling through her recommended.

The song started almost immediately, and Tam’s brow furrowed, trying to understand the language.

Used to keep it cool

Used to be a fool

All about the bounce in my step

“It's in a human language,” Sophie explained.

Watch it on the news

Whatcha gonna do?

I could hit refresh and forget

Trumpets started in the background, following the beat of the song, and Tam relaxed slightly, “That kinda sounds like one of the instruments my mother uses.”

Granted, Sophie could understand the lyrics just fine, but she knew Tam couldn't. Even so, he seemed to like the beat as the song progressed, and she smiled lightly when she saw his head bobbing along with the music.

She noticed the song fading slightly, and her mood lightened, she had always been a fan of beat drops in songs, especially these ones.

…..Is that right?

The trumpets sang faster as the tempo picked up, and Tam's eyebrows raised slightly.

Lose

My

Mind

The beat dropped, and Tam's mouth gaped slightly. Sophie laughed softly at his expression. She had to admit when she had first listened to it, she had a pretty similar reaction. There was something about the distant drums and the background bass that really tied the whole song together.

We gon' burn the whole house down

Tam smiled, glancing up at Sophie, “What are they saying?” He asked, and Sophie noticed his foot tapping her carpet to the rhythm as well.

Sophie quoted the lyrics as they faded out, “We gon' burn the whole house down.”

Tam snickered, “Are humans a bunch of arsonists or something?”

Sophie laughed, “Some maybe, but these lyrics have a different meaning I think.”

Tam glanced down at the iPod, which was flashing lyrics, but not in a language he could understand.

Sophie was no singer, but she did want Tam to understand the song, so without meaning too, she began to quote the song as it continued.

“…Gawking at the tricks up your sleeve,” She said it quietly, and Tam looked up

“Are those the lyrics?” He asked.

Sophie nodded, continuing, “Too good to be true, But I'm in a room, Full of entertainers and thieves, Used to let it go.”

The trumpets picked up again, and Tam must have realized that the beat was about to drop again because he followed Sophie’s words slowly.

“Woah no,” Sophie smiled, moving her head in time with the lyrics as Tam copied her.

The two had turned to face each other, with Tam slowly mouthing the lyrics (A little bit off time-wise, but Sophie didn't blame him) And Sophie nodding along.

“Way up way up we go, been up and down that road, way up way up oh no,-” Sophie started.

“We gon' burn the whole house down.” A large grin broke out on Tam’s face, and Sophie found herself smiling with him. She had never heard him sing before, and it sounded nice. His voice was smooth and drifted slowly, almost like he was whispering the words instead of singing them.

They finished the song like that, with Tam slowly learning the repeating lyrics and timing and Sophie helping him out occasionally.

The song finished loudly, with the beat dropping one last time as the riff slowly faded out.

The grin stayed on Tam's face as he glanced back at the iPod.

“That was…nice.” He murmured, and Sophie gazed at him.

“I listen to human music sometimes, when I want to remember my old home.” Sophie said, looking down at the iPod, “Dex fixed it up so it's powered by sunlight too,”

Tam nodded, and he glanced back up, looking sheepish, “Are there maybe..more songs by them?”

“AJR?” Sophie questioned.

“Is that what they're called?” Tam asked, then nodded quickly, “Yeah, them.”

Sophie smiled, clicking right below the song and opening up the band's full list, her eyes widened slightly, “There are more since I last listened to them.” She said.

“How many?” Tam asked, leaning over.

“About 60.” She murmured.

Tam shrugged, and then he smirked, “Can we listen to all of them?”

Sophie smiled back, laughing slightly, “Sure.”

[daebom]

Please read.

I’m making this with no anger or frustration left. I am genuinely sad. You could say to the point of hurting. And honestly, the way I’m treated as not just some content creator, but as an actual human being behind a computer screen - I AM hurting.

I was just looking through my notifications as usual and randomly came across a fellow The Lost Boys fan...

Be warned, this is very screenshots heavy.

I noticed they were using one of my gifs from THIS gifset as their header.

I’m making it no secret, that when I randomly come across these things, I always politely DM (or send it via ask) the person and ask them to take it down, since I do not allow my edits to be used in any way (see my bio) apart of the basic appropriate Tumblr functions. I feel like I have to be clear - I am no “huntsman” and so I do not purposely go on and “hunt” people who use my edits without my permission. I only politely, without any aggression intended, message them to let them know about my T.O.U. whenever I randomly come across situations like these. And that’s what I did.

Now, I did not screenshot the very moment I sent this person a DM, but the screenshot above was made partly out of habit to have proof in case they try to “play me” (speaking from experience, sadly) and also partly to have a quicker “note” of the person’s username to message them later, because I didn’t text them immediately. I was busy, so I did a few hours later.

Now here’s the thing.

They did not text me back, which is fine. But a few hours later I did check and see they were online. A few more hours later, they did what I took as an unspoken answer and was genuinely thankful for - they changed their header from my gif to some kind of image (I believe it was a photo of Michael and David). All is fixed and done, no hard feelings (at least from my part). Right..?

Just a side note, but I found it weird at the time, that they also deleted their reblog of my Star gifset (as you can see in the screenshot above). But what followed next makes me now think, in a bitterly humorous way, that they did it to “disassociate themselves from my blog”.

While DMing my own friend through Tumblr app, I decided that I should probably clean out my DMs and in turn delete this “conversation” as well, since all is fixed and there’s no point in keeping it. But then I noticed something.

They turned off their DMs. Okay, that’s maybe a bit weird. But then I went to their profile...

And let me just say, the whiplash I got from all this............ Do I even need to explain what’s wrong here?

Before anyone says otherwise, here’s the proof.

My gif:

Size: 1,14MB

“Their” gif:

Size: 1,11MB

My gif:

“Their” gif:

My gif:

“Their” gif:

They cut off a few inches from the top to get rid of my watermark.

That’s it.

That’s all it takes to claim you made the gif from scratch..?

And in case anyone’s not aware of how much “blood, sweat and tears” it took to colour a gifset like this one from two years ago, here’s an original, in no way edited screenshot of this scene from the movie:

Why did they do a 360 degree turn around is beyond my comprehension. When they changed that first Marko gif to a photo, their description was still the old one, their DMs were still on, etc... I am honestly confused.

And since this person turned off their DMs and sending a message via ask from my side is pointless, reaching out to them again via public post by tagging them will surely result in them blocking me. Which I don’t know if I should take as a good or a bad thing, at this point.

Let me end this by saying that, as I am finishing to write this, I feel like I no longer care if this person keeps that butchered Marko gif of mine as their header. What hurts me the most is what they wrote in their description, stating the “truth” and in a way mocking my attempts of politely reaching out to them.

To all original artists, be it writers, gif makers or people who draw: I genuinely wish you all to have the least possible amount of encounters with fellow fandom people, who steal your passionate hard-work and claim as their own. 💔

[todaydreambelieversfic]

Author Spotlight: Justgleekout Day 1

Author Spotlight: @justgleekout​ 

How did you get into Glee and Glee fandom?

I remember seeing commercials for it on tv when season 1 was about to come out in the Netherlands. It really looked like something I would love as I already loved musicals like HSM and Hairspray and all that stuff. Though the first episode I actually remember watching was Mattress. (Will finding out his wife was fake pregnant was a very intense and memorable scene for a 12yo!) I absolutely LOVED the show and watched it religiously. When I found out the US was about a season ahead I started watching online. When I was caught up, I started setting my alarm an hour early the day after the episode aired in the US so I could watch it before school started. It was a ride. A friend introduced me to tumblr and I made my glee/klaine blog in February 2012 and I am still here.

In general, what drew you into writing (and/or creating)?

I am more of an artist rather than an author. I've been drawing and making fanart for as long as I can remember. Even before I really knew fanart was a thing I was already making it. because I love my favourite characters and I love drawing them <3 Writing fic took a little longer because english is not my first language and I'm dyslexic. I always loved stories and I always just wanted more!! I started reading fic in 2011 and it looked like something I would be into. I still have a little notebook from when I was 13/14 ish which has a very long story about Sebastian kissing Blaine at a warblers party and Kurt freaking out about it in the worst possible English imaginable..... that story will never see the light of day oml.. 

I hadn't actually published a story until this year. Glad to be here now though!! Never too late <333

What was it about Glee that made you decide to write fanfic for it?

Kurt and Blaine. God their love is just so beautiful and inspiring. I could fantasize about them for days. It was about time to get the daydreams on paper! (or laptop screen in my case)

Have you been a part of other fandoms before? Have you written fanfiction pre-glee?

I have been in a lot of other fandoms, but none of which I felt as strongly about as glee. When I was younger I was obsessed with the original dutch version of "House of Anubis". I'm still high-key invested in the Avatar: the Last Airbender fandom. also also Shadowhunters and Harry Potter hold big places in my heart. I have however never written about these fandoms because, when it comes to it, nothing brings me as much joy as glee/klaine!

Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

Oh so, so many!! But the two ideas that I've been playing with a lot recently (in my head I might add) are a Hogwarts AU and a mid-evil soulmate AU!

Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

There are some wild kinks I tend to stay far away from. But the two things I really cannot ever deal with are rape/noncon and abuse.

How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

How many???? oof I have 28 saved in my notes app. Most are just one shots/ideas, but still. I really want to make a one-shot series of all the klaine kisses that should have been but never were. 

But I'll give you a tease for the medieval soulmate AU I'm working on:

People are born with the name of their soulmate on their backs. But everyone who has the name of someone from the same gender has to get their mark magically removed/burned off when they are born. Kurt and Blaine are princes from different kingdoms, who never knew the true names of their soulmates because all there was to see on their backs was a small burn scar. When they meet however, they inevitably fall in love and seek a way to find out what their mark originally says.

***

Check out Justgleekout’s Fics

Grease Monkey -  Blaine goes to visit Kurt at 'Hummel Tires And Lube' but he is not prepared for the sight that awaits him.

Welcome Home -  After not having seen each other in months, Kurt goes to pick up Blaine from the airport.

[blarrghe]

11. For any OC, write what their bio would be on a dating website. (If they wouldn’t be interested, write how they’d describe themself to a job interviewer.) I mean this sounds like a fun one for Taren =)

Make me start a new modern au, why don't you? Thanks for the ask, my brain just went WRITING PROMPT?!? and now here we are. Modern tattoo shop au oneshot where Taren's friends convince him to make a profile (read: make it for him while he protests) on a casual dating app, he wants no part of this until he matches with a certain someone... More of this is on AO3 now, it’s gonna be short and stupid and sexy ;) --

"No," Taren shook his head, resolute.

"Oh come on, it's true," Sera whined in protest, her fast fingers continuing to tap away at his phone screen, making no moves to amend any of her latest additions to the profile she'd been embellishing with exaggerated details of his skills and hobbies.

"You are not putting 'exceptionally skilled with hands’ under talents." Taren crossed his arms, and leaned back against the long, bent-back seat at his station while the other elf pouted across from him, sitting cross-legged on her own, her short blond hair pulled up into a high ponytail that bobbed with her excited bounces.

"It is true, boss." Bull cut in helpfully. He took a few steps over from his own section of the studio, his great, horned head peering down at the screen over Sera's shoulder.

"Can't you just put what it says on the website?"

"Your business profile?" Sera scoffed, "'Tattoo artist specializing in fine linework' doesn't really have the same ring, T."

"You're trying to get laid, not get new clients." Bull agreed, and then both of them were nodding at him eagerly.

"I'm not trying to get anything." Taren pointed out, crossing his arms.

"Oh that's right, your two best friends are trying to get you laid, you're just making it stupidly difficult." Sera noted without looking up from his phone, "how about this one?"

She turned the screen to him, displaying a candid shot of him looking particularly focused, tattoo gun in hand, as he bent over an out-of-frame limb, only a bit of anonymous client elbow showing. He remembered the tattoo: the elbow was one of Sera's, and he'd needed to focus for the long line of an arrow down her bicep which connected with an ornate bow design over her shoulder. It was a good shot, he supposed. His hair was tied back and you could see all of his own tattoos as they travelled down his high cheeks and wound around his neck. It had been summer when the photo was taken, and his arms looked tan and a bit more muscled than they were now, tensing as they clutched the heavy device, more tattoos on display up his right bicep.

"Shouldn't I be...smiling?" he asked, crinkling a brow at the photo. He looked sort of stern in it, which didn’t exactly seem representative. 

“No,” said Bull, “you want something that says mystery. Cool, aloof.” The tall Qunari took the phone from Sera and began scrolling through Taren’s camera roll, occasionally stopping to nod sagely as Sera pointed out photos to add to the profile page.

“I am neither cool nor aloof, and you know it.” Taren said with a huff. 

“We know it, dudes don’t.” Sera shrugged, “this one,” she turned the phone again, and in this picture at least he had half a smile. He was also shirtless, the shot having been taken on a camping trip some autumn when the afternoons were still hot, and someone had snapped the photo of him when he’d been happy and relaxed by the lake under a setting sun. Hair down, neck arched back, a few fewer tattoos across his ribs than there were now, and he’d been skinnier, too. He also knew exactly who had taken the photo: the very reason his two best friends were insisting on building this profile in the first place. 

“No.” he said. 

“Oh come on, you look great there.” Bull protested, “If that crossed my screen I’d red-heart it.” “I don’t know what that means.” 

“It means I’d try to meet up and fuck,” Bull smirked, “no questions asked.” he winked. 

“That picture’s two years old,” Taren blushed despite himself, “and I keep telling you, I’m not trying to get —”

“Yeah, yeah, love is dead and the internet killed it.” Sera interrupted. “Alright, ‘Taren Lavellan, 29,”

“I’m 30,” 

“Age: 29, height: five-foot-eight,” 

“Seven. Five seven,” 

“Hair: red,”

“Nah, say like, auburn or chestnut or something,” Bull interrupted, “it’s his best feature, give it some credit.” 

“Fine,” Sera erased and retyped a word, “auburn, then. Eyes — what colour are your eyes? Green?” 

“Green,” Taren agreed with a shrug. 

“Andraste’s ass. Green with specks of gold, green-hazel, marbled sage, undefinable. They’re your best feature —”

“— I thought that was my hair,” Taren raised an eyebrow, examining Bull with one amused, undefinable and gold-speckled eye. 

“There’s a measurement spot for best features, but it’s optional.” Sera noted with a smirk. 

Bull returned Taren’s raised eyebrow with one of his own. 

“Fuck off, no.” said Taren. 

“Alright, hobbies: drawing, reading, camping,” Sera listed, “Maker, you’re boring.”

“Hey!”

“Bull, what did you put in yours?” 

“Fighting, drinking, and fucking.” Bull grinned. 

“You can’t be serious.” Taren sighed. 

“Works every time. And hey, it’s true.”

“At least call it, like, mountain climbing, backcountry survival, wilderness adventuring, I don’t know. Something cool.” Sera advised with a shake of her head. 

“It’s not an extreme sport to go backpacking for fun. Camping’s fine.” Taren rolled his eyes. 

Sera rolled hers right back, “normal people don’t go camping like you go camping, elfy.” 

“What else does it want?” Taren prodded her on impatiently. 

“Special skills and talents: speaks six languages, exceptionally good with hands” 

“Sera,”

“Fine, fine. I don’t know…” Sera looked to Bull searchingly. 

“How about knot-tying skills?”

“Yes!” 

“No.” Taren shook his head resolutely once more. 

“You’re no fun.” Sera complained, still typing away at the screen, “there, and just hit green to go.” Sera held out the phone face up, a green confirmation button sitting at the ready to create his new dating app profile. “You do the honours,” she nodded. 

Taren sighed, “and then what?”

“Sit back and wait for the love to pour in,” The Iron Bull replied, leaning back against his station. “Twenty bucks says you’re drowning in dick by the weekend.”

“Gross!” Sera objected with a cackle, while Taren winced. 

“Yeah, I’m actually with Sera on that.” 

“All I’m saying is you’ll get asks. It’s a casual app, take advantage if you want to.”

“So it’s always just for sex?”

Bull shrugged. “Just because it’s casual doesn’t mean you can’t find people who are looking, but I thought you weren’t looking —”

“— I’m not,” Taren interrupted with a flustered blush, “but what if I’m not looking for sex either?” 

Bull shrugged again, “then just don’t send any hearts, that simple.” he said, “or you can always ask to get coffee and see what happens.” 

Taren sighed, “sure,” he muttered as he moved his thumb to confirm the profile’s creation, “coffee.”

[gentle-peaceful-witchy]

✒️The way I make my sigils🖋

I see lots of methods on tumblr, most of which I've tried myself, but my biggest struggle with them was creating an image that "made sense". The sigils that people create are wonderful and perfectly magical, but using their methods has never felt "right" in my craft. I believe its because I'm not the best visualizer, so I cannot effectively apply an abstract image to the intention im trying to reach. ANYWAY all this is to say, I want to put out my own way, not to say it's better than others (its incredibly personal and may or may not work for any given person, like I learned in my own exploration), but to give those of us who aren't good at visualization an option that makes charging and using the sigils easier.

1). Start with empty paper (preferably notebook paper) or a notes app that also allows you to draw (like the iPhone app) if you’re on the go most of the time like me

Pretty self-explanatory. Empty pages help to clear the mind, and are simply less cluttered. Notebook/lined paper helps to organize my writing and keep some sort of spacing, while also being very accessible if you use a lined BoS/Grim.

2). State your intention, write it out clearly, and make it relatively simple.

Simplicty isnt really a requirement, but the creating part is harder if you have a lot of symbols/shapes to incorporate. Use whatever script/font/writing style you want, but know you'll be using parts of the letters in the sigil, so maybe think about the complexity of your shapes vs. your artistic ability.

3). Choose some letters. Literally just that.

Some people have a method. Some eliminate duplicates, some eliminate vowels, some use only vowels. Doesn't matter. You do you. To me, duplicates are stronger, so I use them first. Then I take first letters, then literally whatever looks cool. Also, case doesn’t matter. Uppercase or lowercase. Whatever best serves your symbol and your creative process. Use a mix or use exclusively one or the other. You can assign correspondences if you wish, it’s up to you and what you feel works best.

4). Make an image that corresponds with your intent.

Easier said than done. If it’s a home protection spell, maybe you could do a shield or a house shape. If it is to grow closer to friends, you could make humanoid figures. For mine, I associate control with boxes/closed shapes. Your process is your own, like the previous step. Also, don’t feel pressure to incorporate EVERY letter you chose. My image didn’t work with E or L, so I didn’t incorporate those.

5). Charge using your preferred method, transfer to your BoS/Grim if needed, and you’re done!

Congrats! You just created a sigil! Someone not aware of my process may not know what my sigil means, but the symbolism comes out when you realize the A, M, and X of “my anxiety” are in the O of “control” with a protective C, K, Y, etc. border. This makes it easier for me to visualize my intent in my sigil, thereby making it more powerful when I charge and use it.

[queenbirbs]

the way home | epilogue | Edward x MC

Pairing: Edward Mortemer x MC

Warnings: some language

Word count: 1,340

Read from the beginning

Read on AO3

------

“If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends, make it last forever, friendship nev-- ow! fuck you, scrubby pad! -- eeeeennddss.”

“Babe?”

From her squatted position on the shower floor, Gabby groans and leans back to poke her head around the corner. 

“Yeah?” she calls out.

“Your phone’s going off.”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, what does it say?”

There’s a brief pause, and then: “It’s all notifications from something called are slash time travel.”

“Ooh! Can you bring it to me?”

“My hands are covered in spackle.”

“Mine are covered in bleach, though,” she whines.

There’s a sigh, then the sound of footsteps coming down the creaky hallway. A moment later, Iman pushes open the door and winces. 

“Holy shit, how much Comet did you use?” 

Jumping to her feet, Gabby cheerfully abandons the chemical-induced haze of the guest bathroom shower and takes her phone from her girlfriend. 

“Thanks, honey.”

“The window’s… why isn’t the window open? I’m opening the window.” 

She nods her head, letting Iman fuss in the background while she swipes open the app. Her breath catches at the top post’s title: I think I found the new celebrity time traveler.

The body of the post is copied from an article published by National Geographic that details a new historical discovery. 

“Our running theory was that this was a Dread Pirate Roberts situation,” Professor Belinda Doyle explained. Doyle, a professor of history at Boston College, focuses her work primarily on piracy and smuggling in the 17th to 18th centuries. 

“We believed that the strange gaps in the timeline meant that Captain McTavish was either killed in battle or hanged, and that another female pirate using that same name would take her place. We know now that wasn’t the case, thanks to the artifacts and documents that have been uncovered. Instead, McTavish was disappearing over the years to have a family. It would’ve been hard, certainly, for a female pirate during that time to take on raising a child. With the legend she made of herself, it makes sense that she would’ve kept her family as much of a secret as possible.”

Several items were found on Tiburon, a tiny island in the northern Caribbean, including a painting, a glass ornament, and a small chest of other artifacts. Most of the objects are in near-mint condition. The blown-glass trinket is still wrapped in a cloth with a slip of parchment tucked inside. The documents inside the chest include ship logs, inventories, letters, and birthday cards. The most stunning relic is the family portrait, painted by famed artist Marianne de la Vega sometime in the 1760s. The painting features McTavish, her husband Captain Edward Mortemer, and their two children. 

Past the text dump are side-by-side photos of Elena’s old headshot and a copy of the painting.   

“Oh, my god!” Gabby sprints out of the bathroom and down the hallway to show Iman. “Honey, look! Look, it’s her! I found her, it’s her!”

“Babe, stop, you’re going to get bleach all over the new… holy shit! It’s her!” 

------

“You’re fidgeting again.”

“I don’t make it a habit of sitting in one place and not moving.”

“You do when you’re reading.”

“Ah, but I don’t have a book to keep me occupied though, do I?”

“I’ll tell you a story, Papa!” 

Elena puts a hand on their son’s shoulder as he starts to get up. “No, Christopher, you need to sit still, remember?”

He juts out his bottom lip in a pout. “I want to tell Papa a story.”

“You can tell me a story when we’re done,” Edward reassures. “I promise.”  

“Mama!” Andie coos from Edward’s lap, trying to stretch her short arms out and grab hold of her mother. “Mama!” 

He tries soothing their daughter with a toy, but her soft babbling soon turns to hiccupy cries. He shifts to catch Marianne’s eye from around the easel. 

“I apologize, but can we…?”

“‘Tis fine,” she murmurs, most of her concentration still on the canvas before her. 

Elena gathers Andie into her arms and bounces her on her lap, knowing she despises sitting still as much as her father does. 

“This would be much easier if it were one of your photographs,” he murmurs with a smirk. She thinks of the secret Polaroid she has stashed away, the one that she uses to take photos of their crew and their little family.  

“The camera won’t be invented for another sixty years, sorry. Besides, you’re the one who insisted on getting a portrait done.”

“It’ll be nice to have.”

“You only wanted one because Robert and Julien had one made.”

“Please try to keep steady,” Marianne warns again. 

They settle back into their chairs, having not realized they drifted closer during their teasing. Other than Andie demanding to swap laps a few more times, the rest of the afternoon is smooth sailing. Elena feels like she can make that comparison, given that they’ve sailed half the world over now. 

“Alright, you may stand.”

She releases the children, much to their relief, and they race through the door and out into the courtyard. Edward helps her up from her chair and they cross the room to see the painting. The background is still blank, save for a halo of deep blue around the family, but the rest is in full color. 

“It’s wonderful,” Elena murmurs, drawing her hand through the air to motion to each fine detail. “The ruffles in Andie’s dress, the pattern of my coat -- oh, and especially your eyes. A spectacular job, Miss de la Vega.” 

“Aye, a fantastic job,” Edward agrees, then draws up short. “You know what I’ve just realized, though, lass?”

“What?”

“We’ll have to have another one made once this one comes along,” he says, reaching out to palm the obvious swell of their child.

Pursing her lips, Elena tilts her head and studies the painting. 

“I don’t know. She is already in this one, technically.”

Edward snorts out a laugh, knocking his shoulder into hers and prompting a chuckle from her. “Same time next year, then, Miss de la Vega?” 

“Of course. I’ll have this sent to you once it’s finished.” Marianne glances up from organizing her paints to smile up at them. “I think it’ll look rather grand above your hearth.”

With a last farewell, Elena takes Edward’s hand and wanders out into the courtyard with him. The afternoon sun bakes along the stonework, but in the shadowed recesses, the summer day is tolerable. Palm fronds tickle their shoulders as they stroll through the breezeway.

“How are we going to tell her our ship doesn’t have a fireplace?”

“I think she already knows,” Elena assures. “The swords at our sides aren’t exactly subtle.”  

A grin flashes across his face. 

“Well, we do have a reputation to uphold.” 

The high-pitched sound of laughter leads them to the center courtyard, where Ginny and Lottie are chasing Christopher around a bubbling fountain. Andie cheers on from her seat at the fountain’s edge, the fine ruffles of her dress already soaked, tired from her earlier race. Rushing forward, Edward snatches Christopher up and throws him over his shoulder. 

“Have you prepared the rigging, sailor?”

“Nay!” he squeals with laughter, wriggling as his father tickles him. 

“‘Nay’?” Edward swings him with ease to his other shoulder. “Captain McTavish, I believe we’ve a lazy pirate on our hands. What are we to do with him?”

Elena hums, feigning a look of consideration as she boosts Andie down from the fountain ledge. Ginny scoops her up onto her hip, to which Elena shoots her a look of gratitude. 

“I don’t know. Maybe a night in the brig?”

“Mama, no!” Christopher protests in between giggles.

“No!” Andie interrupts. “Go home!”    

“An excellent idea.” Slowing his stride, Edward sidles up next to Elena. She takes the opportunity to ruffle their son’s hair as he chatters away. “What does the captain say, though?”

“Set course for Tiburon,” Elena agrees. “It’s time to go home.”

------

Author’s notes and what-have-yous:

The painter’s surname is a reference to Evelyn de la Vega, a patient in OPH.  Also, thus ends this series! I’ve got a google doc with a few ficlets / fragments of scenes that fit within this series that I may get around to posting at some point. Other than that, here’s the end.

[eliphante123]

Ok I just wanna let myself out for this (please get used to my bad grammar 😂). Ok so I recently seen some people from most of the fandom I’ve been joining were down about their blog and I just couldn’t help seeing them like that. So I wanna say to those people who are feeling “invisible” to the fandom and just to be clear, you ALREADY got love, attention, and support. Not too many, just few well......good amount at least. Here, I’ll tell you a bed time story.

Once upon a time, picture yourself, as a young student. It was a good Sunday morning, the school is having a fun event called drawing/writing competition and whoever draws/write the best art/essay will put on a bulletin board. You volunteer yourself to join because it looks fun and interesting. The deadline is until Thursday so you have more time to finish your drawing/writing. You tell yourself, you don’t have a skills unless you try and decided to go for it. After long days with hardwork & effort on your drawing/writing, you think that people would like it because you’ve done it great in your opinion. On the next three days, you happily submitted your drawing/writing with excitement then few days till it was Thursday, you were nervous but still excited to see if your art/writing is on the bulletin board but unfortunately, your work wasn’t there and the teacher gave back your work in an average grade. With disappointment, you saw one of your classmates shower love and attention towards others talented art and you do feel a bit jealous towards your classmates then you crying in arms that you got no talent, your art is like a 5 year old and it’s a waste of time but haven’t you notice there’s someone standing right next to you saying “oh my! this looks great!!! I didn’t know you can draw that good! teach me how you do it!” You noticed they didn’t comment others drawing/writing but they instead comment about yours. The people you have are maybe small but wouldn’t that make you happy or satisfied you, enough?

So what I’m trying to say is your works/posts are truly interesting and everyone worried and sorry that you felt you aren’t cut out to be in the fandom. All of us learned this before, we don’t ALWAYS get the things we wanted like others have and that’s honestly called life. The world is full of ups & downs and we can’t expect what will happen and what we deserve. I mean look through my previous posts, most of my notes are few, not most are reblogs but likes, instead. I don’t care having more or few notes, popular or invisible as long as I’m having fun, be happy with myself and proud of my efforts. As humans, I’m like you, but not only me but other people feel the same way. We don’t get people’s attention that easily, we don’t have the power to do it and we CAN’T control everyone’s mind. For me, I DO feel like I want to give up this blog and quit drawing and posting shitpost because I know it’s worthless but deep down, my heart & mind keeps telling me to do more as in, keep trying! motivate yourself! there’s so many plans you’ve left off. You want to give up and left because you’re not good enough just please. PLEASE. stop comparing yourself with others that they’re better than you. You are not talented/gifted, I get it! you can’t draw good. you can’t write well. you can’t edit perfectly.....you can’t do any those things but one thing you’re good at is your ideal imaginations. If you can’t to do but you want to, just give yourself some practice to try things for enjoyment and to catch up other people skills.

If you want to draw, go look for some good references on google image, Pinterest, deviantart, etc. If the references isn’t what you wanted, go watch anime and screenshot a scene for a good pose

If you want to write, read a book and take notes to find good words for your writing.

If you want to edit, you can watch tutorials on how to edit videos and download an app the edit.

These things doesn’t need to be detailed, just did your best (P.S. idk my suggestions could be a good help but you can ask anyone’s recommendations for help)

No one will judge what you have in mind. No one speaks loudly saying “I’M BETTER THAN YOU SO HAH! DEAL WITH IT” but if they did, they’re freaking grownups, (if they’re younger, that’s insulting) they should know it’s an immature/bitchy thing to do so report, immediately. People has their own uniqueness and talents and they’re lucky to have that. If you’re truly nice person, just leave the talented artists alone, give respect their artistic/writing skills so people will know and appreciate your comment to them prolly they’ll eventually befriends with you. (Don’t try to go toxic at anyone just because of that. I’m warning you anon haters or you’ll deserve counter attack of countless blocks).

Ok some people didn’t try to talk you is because they are shy and I think it’s 92% (I’m lying idk I can’t tell by a percentage 😂) of people using social media are socially awkward in chatting (including me :’D) but they did respond kindly. it’s kind of hard expressing themselves because you know anxiety HAHAHAHA so just give them time to open up and they’ll want to respond you soon. Another reason why people didn’t see your content is our time zones. Yeah it kinda sucks but you understand it, right? they have reasons they overlooked your work because they didn’t know you were there and haven’t seen your content, yet or maybe because they have things to deal/busy in their life and probably they have issues with their problem so it’s best to wait that person to feel better but they’ll come back and see what was happening the fandom and catch up your posts at the end! Don’t lose hope if someone didn’t noticed you, just keep trying whatever you feel like it or not. If you feel like you want to leave, go ahead. Anybody won’t force you, it’s your top priority to keep your physical & mentality in stable. Just make yourself relax for short or even longer breaks but just to let you know, your friends will be waiting for you whenever you want to comeback and the people who adored you will welcome you back to the fandom with smiles and opened arms. If you want to vent, go tell someone with your hearts out you want to talk about. If you do have “personal” problems, we always recommend needing an appointment with a professional (cuz they’re the best and it helps a lot 👍🏻✨

All it matters is YOUR people & friends who looked up to your blog, supporting you and to have fun whatever content you throw at us, Just have patience, just a little more with others and people will eventually get to acknowledge you. If you can’t do that, it’s ok but don’t do something stupid. Just stay positive, be proud (others and yourself), be nice, and always stay awesome kapeech?

[ellie-mnop]

Hi everyone! I just finished the 100 Days Of Languages challenge and I wanted to do something new afterwards, so I came up with a challenge of my own! I’m calling this the Checkerboard Challenge because it’s an 8x8 grid. Along the top there are eight language-related skills, and on the side there are eight modes of learning, so each box contains a way to study a particular skill using a particular mode. I wanted to do that because exposing yourself to the same information in different contexts is so helpful for learning and I wanted to apply that to how I study Portuguese. The result is a list of 64 different ways to study languages, 71 if you include the alternate options listed below, each one versatile enough to be repeated as often as you want using different topics or resources and hopefully interesting and useful for your learning.

Ways To Use This Challenge

Complete all of the challenges on the table, in whatever order you want.

Choose a particular skill you’d like to work on. Complete all of the challenges in that column.

Choose a particular method of learning that works well for you. Complete all of the challenges in that row.

Use dice or a random number generator to pick a challenge to do every day, and see how long it takes you to get bingo or connect four or something.

Choose whichever of the challenges sound useful to you and incorporate them into your regular studying routine.

There’s no obligation to post anything you make; even when I say to record yourself doing something, that can just be for your own future reference. (It’s recommended for the collaborative tasks that focus on creating resources that would be useful to other learners or interacting on social media, but even then you can just write the posts/comments and not post them if you prefer) However, I would love to see anything you do want to share, or any updates on your progress, so you can post anything like that with the tag “checkerboard challenge” which is also where I will be posting the tasks I complete.

The tasks are listed below, with more detail than what would fit in the boxes.

Reading

(Visual) Read a comic book, comic strip, or webcomic in your target language. Depending on your skill level and  the amount of time you have, you can choose anything from a single strip of a  newspaper comic to a full-length graphic novel

(Auditory) Read along with a chapter of an audiobook, or another piece of writing with accompanying audio. Some language learning websites have articles with recordings of native speakers  reading them. If you want, or if you can’t find anything else, you could even  use a song and its lyrics.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Play a video game in your target language. This can be a computer or console game, or an app on your phone or even a  little browser game. Check the language options on games you already have to  see if your target language is available, or if not, many free games have lots of language options. / Option 2: Read and follow a recipe or another  set  of instructions, such as an art/craft tutorial, the rules to a board or card game, a DIY project or a magic trick.

(Logical) Solve  riddles or logic puzzles in your target language. (Alternate:  Read a short mystery story such as a minute mystery (or something longer if  you prefer) and see if you can solve it before the characters do.)

(Collaborative) Talk by text chat with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Read an article or a chapter of a book  (or the whole thing) in your target language. It can be about any topic, and can be a children’s or adult’s book depending on your skill level and preference.

(Personal) Find and read a translation of a piece of writing that’s important to you, such as your favorite book as a kid that you feel nostalgic for, or a poem  that resonates with you.

(Creative) Read story in your target language and illustrate what happens. The quality of the drawing isn’t important unless you want it to be; the important thing is to help you process what you’re reading.

Writing

(Visual) Choose a photo, either at random from a generator or by choice on a website like Unsplash, and describe it in as much detail as  you can. Your description can focus just on describing visible details in the image, or you can make up contexts for and stories around the things you see, whichever you prefer. (Alternate: Do this with a physical object nearby instead of a photo.)

(Auditory) Try writing simple poems, focusing on the auditory features of what you’re writing such as rhyme and rhythm. You can use a rhyme dictionary to expand your vocabulary in an interesting  way while you’re working on this. It’s not necessary to worry too much about  the artistic quality of the poems unless you want to.

(Hands-On) Write instructions for how to do something you know how to do, such as recipe, a life skill, a game  or sport, an art of craft project, or even your method of language learning.

(Logical) Create a persuasive piece of writing that logically argues a point. It doesn’t have to be about a serious or controversial topic. For example, you can defend your prediction for the next season of your favorite show, or what would happen if some fantasy or sci-fi concept were real (maybe a good  way to practice the conditional tense if you’re studying a language that has one), or why your best friend is awesome.

(Collaborative) Use  a language learning social media app like HelloTalk. Comment on posts and  make your own.

(Read/Write) Write a summary of something you’ve read in your target language. You can either read in your native language and summarize in your target language, or do both parts in your target language.

(Personal) Write a journal entry in your target language, talking about how your day or week has been or what you are thinking and feeling. (Alternate: Write about one of your memories.)

(Creative) Write a small story in your target language. It can be about whatever you want, and it doesn’t have to be very long or detailed. You can (option 1) write it as prose, which could be better to practice description and narration or to focus on a particular verb tense, or in (option 2) a script style which could be better to practice conversational language.

Listening

(Visual) Watch a video with narration that describes it, such as a nature documentary, an instructional  video such as a cooking video, or a video reviewing something.

(Auditory) Find an online stream of a radio station. Pay attention to both the music and what the announcers say.

(Hands-On) Watch a video demonstrating a craft project, recipe or other task and follow the instructions.

(Logical) Watch or listen to a mystery story and try to solve it before the characters do. This can be a whole movie or novel-length audiobook if you want, but it doesn’t have to be; even an  episode of something like Scooby Doo should work.

(Collaborative) Exchange audio with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Watch a video or listen to a piece of audio and take notes on what you learn.

(Personal) Watch a dub of a piece of media you are familiar with, such as your favorite childhood movie.

(Creative) Option 1: Listen to a story or other piece of audio and  illustrate it. / Option 2: Listen to a song and make up a new verse.

Speaking

(Visual) Make a video of yourself showing something and talking about it, for  example a tour of your home or neighborhood, a review of something, or a video about your pet.

(Auditory) Listen to a piece of audio and try to repeat what you hear. You don’t have to pause  after every word and repeat it, it’s probably better to go at least sentence  by sentence or with parts even longer so you can keep things in context.

(Hands-On) Explain to someone, or record yourself explaining, how to do something, possibly while demonstrating.

(Logical) Record  yourself explaining, and possibly demonstrating, how something works, such as a science concept.

(Collaborative) Record yourself explaining a concept you’re learning, like a grammar topic or how to use a particular word.

(Read/Write) Read out loud and record yourself.

(Personal) Make a recording of yourself talking about something that’s important to you  or a memory or anecdote you have. (Alternate: Make a vlog entry (even if you don’t have a vlog to put it on) talking about your day.)

(Creative) Record yourself telling a story, or tell one in person to someone.

Vocabulary (Most of these, with the exception of the first two, can be done with any vocabulary list you want.)

(Visual) Choose a page from a visual dictionary to study. One way you can do this is by studying the words and then covering  the labels with sticky notes or whiting them out on a copy and trying to fill in the blanks.

(Auditory) Choose  a song in your target language, and look up and study any unfamiliar words in it.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Use your vocabulary list as a scavenger hunt list. This works well if you have a lot of nouns and adjectives on the list. For everyday household items, you can look for the literal items on the list, while if they’re more obscure you can look for pictures or other representations of them. / Option 2: Act out the words on your list. This works well for verbs and adverbs, as well as more abstract  nouns or adjectives like emotions. You can record video of yourself doing this and later look back at the video to try to guess the words.

(Logical) Option 1: Make a crossword puzzle using your vocab list. If you write the words and clues, there are tools online that will build the puzzle itself for you, or you can do that by hand on graph paper if you prefer. You can either wait a while and then solve your own puzzle to see how much you remember, or give it to another language learner to solve an ask them to make one for you to solve. / Option 2: Look into the etymological history of the words to find out why they mean what they mean and whether they have any connections to words in your own language.

(Collaborative) Create a vocab list post around a theme, including words you are studying as well as any related words you already know. Include any resources that you think  would be useful to someone using the list, such as sample sentences, pictures, or whatever else you want.

(Read/Write) Try to write a small story or other piece of writing using as many of your vocab words as you can.

(Personal) Write  a sentence about what you think of each thing on your vocabulary list.

(Creative) Try to write an interesting sentence using each word on your vocabulary list. (Alternate: Illustrate each word on your vocabulary list. You can do this on index cards if you want, to make illustrated flash cards.)

Grammar

(Visual) Create a color or shape coded system to classify a concept like verb tenses or noun gender. For example, you can read  through a piece of text and highlight all of the verbs using a different color for each tense, or you can make flash cards with your vocabulary words and mark them with different symbols depending on the gender.

(Auditory) Grammar is a common topic for educational songs. Find a one intended for kids who speak your target language.

(Hands-On) Using words on sticky notes or index cards, build sentences that demonstrate grammatical concepts. If you have access to some of those little word magnets in your target language, those would probably work great for this, but if not (and I know I don’t) you can write various words, affixes, etc. on index cards or sticky notes, or use your existing flashcards if you have them.

(Logical) Create a table, chart, or diagram of a grammatical concept you’re studying.

(Collaborative) Write a post explaining a grammar topic you are learning.

(Read/Write) Read through a text, to find (and maybe highlight, circle, etc.) examples of a grammatical concept, then write more examples.

(Personal) Write about a part of your life that corresponds to the grammar topic you are studying. For example, for the future  tense, you can write about your plans or hopes.

(Creative) Write a small story relying on the grammatical concept you’re studying.

Pronunciation

(Visual) Look up diagrams of how to pronounce sounds you struggle with. These can be found as images or in an animated form in YouTube videos, and usually show what your tongue, teeth, etc. are supposed to be doing when you pronounce the sound.

(Auditory) Find a recording of a native speaker, record yourself saying the same thing, and listen for differences.

(Hands-On) Try to pronounce some tongue twisters or other pronunciation-based challenges.

(Logical) Try  learning the linguistic names of sounds you work with, and look into how they  compare to other sounds. Wikipedia has articles about the different sounds that can exist in languages and tables showing how they are used in various languages.

(Collaborative) Record yourself reading something that contains sounds you struggle with and post it for feedback, possibly on an app like HelloTalk.

(Read/Write) Look  at the written IPA pronunciations (these can be found on Wiktionary) of words you learn and look up what the symbols mean.

(Personal) Sing along to songs you like in the language, especially (for the personal category) nostalgic ones or ones meaningful to you.

(Creative) Write a tongue twister using words that are difficult for you to pronounce and practice saying it.

Cultural Context

(Visual) Explore a museum website in your target language. The museum should be located somewhere where your target language is spoken, but it up to you whether you want to look at an art museum, a science or history museum, or something else. Look at the exhibits and read the descriptions.

(Auditory) Create a playlist with traditional, classic and modern songs in various genres that either were invented in or popular in a place where your target language is spoken. Ideally using resources in your  target language, learn about the songs and genres.

(Hands-On) Using  resources in your target language, learn how to do or make something from a culture that speaks it. For example, you can look up a recipe, a tutorial for a dance style, the rules to a game, or how to make an art or craft project. (Make sure the thing you pick is being openly shared by  members of the culture it came from.)

(Logical) In your target language, learn about a scientist / inventor / etc. from somewhere the language is  spoken. Learn about their work, with explanations of what they invented or discovered, and if you want, find out other information about their life too.

(Collaborative) Comment  on or otherwise interact with the blog/YouTube channel/etc. of a native speaker,  after you read or watch it, of course. (You don’t need to receive a reply to check off this box, because that part is not under your control.)

(Read/Write) Try reading a significant work of (children’s or adult) literature in your target language.

(Personal) Learn about something relevant to your job/hobby from where your target language is spoken, using resources in the language.

(Creative) Read  about artistic or literary themes,  movements or eras where the language is spoken, and  create something (it can be something  simple) using those concepts.

[Image: The title “Language Learning Checkerboard Challenge” above a purple 8x8 table. The information contained in the table is repeated above.]

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

Hi! I really loooove your analysis, I think it helps me enjoy the manhua better and gives me something to think about . So, I wanted to ask you about Zhanyi, this middle school plot is in the past and in the firsts panels xixi is violent, when he used to be soft. I think maybe he's guarded, since the dissappearence of jian yi he was probably hurt and lonely. What do you think about their relationship in the future? Are they going to be okay? I would really like your thoughts on this.

Good morning, dear nightia-san!

“I really loooove your analysis, I think it helps me enjoy the manhua better and gives me something to think about .”

I’m very glad and humbled to hear that. Thank you! It’s also a two-way street. People asking these questions give me something to think about and help me find new aspects in the comic as well. Overall, I think comparing notes is always desirable and valuable in fandoms, so I’m glad I have managed to contribute to that.

“in the firsts panels xixi is violent, when he used to be soft. I think maybe he’s guarded, since the dissappearence of jian yi he was probably hurt and lonely.”

For the purpose of this question, I will be using Mangago as a source when referencing chapters and their numbers. People use different sites and apps to read 19 Days but I think Mangago is the best and easiest to find all the chapters compared to other places.

It’s a bit unclear to me what do you mean by “first panels”. I don’t know if you were aware, but 19 Days debuted as a one shot (ch. 1) in a compilation publication called 19天. It featured 19 different artists including OldXian, and that’s where the title came from. For some reason, 19 Days also became the title of OX’s comic later on.

Do you mean that one shot as the first panels? Personally, I wouldn’t really count them as the beginning of the comic we’re reading these days. It was published years ago (according to Google, in 2013) and was originally meant as a one shot. To expect those exact versions of the characters to have much to do with the ones of the present day could be reaching too much.

Overall, it’s difficult to say anything concrete about the earliest chapters. A lot of them were respective illustrations or short gag chapters with only a couple of panels without much of an overarching plot. I would say the story officially begins in ch. 22 but even then the story is often interrupted by gag chapters that don’t have anything to do with the actual story. I actually think you could take the beginning even later than that, to ch. 43 in which Jian Yi shows up at Zhan Zheng Xi’s door beaten up and a bit later ZZX tells us how JY disappeared in high school.

Whatever your take happens to be, I think one thing is clear: continuity hasn’t really been 19 Days’ strongest suit from the beginning because of its nature as a publication. I think that’s very important to keep in mind when going back to the early chapters and trying to build overarching character development. You risk reading too much into things if you’re expecting all the details to be connected.

About the violence in general, though, I don’t think it’s that much different from what has always been typical to ZZX’s character, the Zhanyi dynamics and slapstick-type of humor of the comic. I guess it used to be a touch more “graphic” in the early chapters (ch. 1, 4-5, 9-13, 23-24, 29, 30-31, and 34):

However, I never saw those as ZZX being angry because JY left him and he was lonely, worried, and hurt. I get that feeling but personally think holding that kind of “grudge” or being guarded wouldn’t be typical to ZZX. He would be angry but that would be because of relief and because he had been so scared (ch. 198):

After that, he would go back to protecting JY even more fiercely and become closer to him.

The physical violence of the early chapters is very much comic relief in my eyes. Not to mention, many of those chapters were meant as little gags and not connected to the overall story. Even ZZX kicking JY in the very first chapter I don’t see from the perspective you suggested but mere humor very typical to 19 Days’ style.

“What do you think about their relationship in the future? Are they going to be okay?”

In short, I think they will be perfectly fine in the future. The kidnap will be a hiccup, but it’s obvious it won’t last forever and they will get over it.

I mean, let’s not forget we’re not completely in the dark about it. Not only the early chapters (prior to ch. 51) we have also gotten future-related specials and official illustrations just like with Tianshan. And ZZX and JY seem to be doing just fine in those. In fact, it seems ZZX keeps getting more and more comfortable with their new kind of relationship in the future (ch. 224 and 271):

Also, again, as you might notice those future-related chapters are quite different from the ones we got when the comic was just starting out. If I had to draw conclusions about their future, I would much rather base them on those two chapters more recent ones (and the hot springs specials) than the first chapters when I doubt the comic had as clear of a direction as it has these days. The only thing I would probably take from the early chapters is that JY spends a lot of time at ZZX’s place and he’s working hard to catch up to him. And if the early illustrations are anything to go by, their physical interaction is charged in a different way than just best friends.

As to having something in general to say about future Zhanyi… it’s a bit difficult. As a couple, they don’t tickle my headcanon bone quite the same way Tianshan does. But let’s see if I’ll get any nibbles:

JY is pretty much one of the students ZZX hangs out with. The only difference is, he’s in high school but he doesn’t spend time with his classmates.

JY’s classmates are jealous and envious that JY can go drinking and be around university students. And knowing JY, he can’t help but brag about it a little.

For once, JY is the cool kid in his class. He’s older and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) also more mature. He likes to give a lot of advice that he thinks the rascal youngsters need.

The girls in ZZX’s class adore JY, and it kind of bothers ZZX. He prays the day never comes when JY catches him being annoyed by it because he would definitely take advantage of it.

JY likes that to other people it looks like he and ZZX are living together. He’s in no rush to correct them, either.

ZZX still hasn’t initiated a kiss or much of the affection between them. He knows JY wants them to be more intimate but he’s not ready yet. Sometimes he feels bad for making JY wait, especially when he gets that look of rejection on his face.

JY doesn’t mind they’re making such slow progress. I mean, he minds but it’s also okay. He can feel secure and in peace because he knows ZZX loves him back. It’s not unrequited anymore, and he can be honest about his feelings.

Still, sometimes he pushes too much and too fast and he always feels bad about it afterwards. The last thing he wants is for ZZX to be disgusted by JY’s affections. At the same time, though, he’s still scared of that very thing and kind of wants to push ZZX to find out and not stress about it anymore. He knows ZZX loves him back, but still…

Does JY still have to deal with the underworld, Qiu and He Cheng? What about his father and mother? I have no idea.

Sometimes JY has nightmares, and they freak ZZX out a lot. Sometimes JY cries and talks in his sleep but ZZX can never make out what he’s saying.

ZZX is scared that the kidnapping and whatever happened during that time has caused JY traumas. Because sometimes he freaks out about things that didn’t use to bother him (loud sudden noises or waking up in the bed alone). JY’s story about how he spent the years being apart changes a little each time he talks about it.

Whenever JY is late from meeting up with him, ZZX gets a mini panic attack.

JY’s mother is abroad, and JY misses her a lot. She sends postcards and they’re always from different places. ZZX dreads the day when she says JY has to come with her.

I hope my answer gives you some food for thought. Thank you for your question!