#well - that's quite a fitting result for her i guess

[deputy-morgan-malone]

Which Tragic Greek Figure is Your OC?

I was tagged by @corvosattano to take this uquiz for my OC/s, thank you!

Tagging @socially-awkward-skeleton, @poetikat, @adelaidedrubman, @henbased, @marivenah, @turbo-virgins, @josephslittledeputy, @aceghosts, @perhapsrampancy, @i-am-the-balancing-point, @fourlittleseedlings, @florbelles, @unholymilf​, @detectivelokis​ and @strafethesesinners​ - sorry for any double-tags but I find those super hard to keep up with - and no pressure!

Deputy Morgan Malone (FC5)

Patroclus

clever patroclus, beloved patroclus, poor patroclus: you do fall into madness, nor vanity, nor hubris. not, that is, for your own sake. love for that golden-haired man, sorrow for your countrymen; it is for his name that you don his armor, and for the dying greeks that you ride into battle. every piece of you is willingly given away, even if after you are gone there are wicked things done in your name.

[nejiverse]

NASTY WOUNDS PT. 2

Aventurine, Boothill, Wriothesley, Neuvillette

part 1

In which you tend to their injuries and pamper them. Fem! Reader

cw: none

1256 words

"Wipe that smirk off your face Aventurine", Y/n grumbled, patching the wound on his cheek. "It's like you're getting yourself hurt on purpose these days".

Aventurine chuckled, wincing slightly as merely laughing made his injury throb. With his hands at his sides, slightly behind him, he leaned his weight on them and shrugged his shoulders. "Trouble just seems to have a knack for finding me".

She rolled her eyes, her hands moving deftly to clean and bandage his latest injury. "Or you just have a knack for finding trouble". She shook her head in disapproval, a frown etched on her lips. "You're not making it easy for me y'know".

"Well, I do appreciate the attention," he teased, his eyes glinting mischievously. "You have a gentle touch."

Purposefully, she smacked the bandage onto his cheek, earning a string of childish groans from Aventurine. "Flattery won't get you out of this lecture i'm afraid", Y/n feigned an expression of sympathy. "You have to be more careful Aven", she said in a softer and more serious tone.

He sighed dramatically, placing a hand over his heart. "Alright, alright. I promise to be more careful. But, tell you what..", Aventurine pulled a coin out of his pocket and rolled it across his knuckles. "Guess right and you get a prize. Heads or tails?".

Y/n folded her arms and raised a brow quizzically. "What are you up to...".

"Pick a side and find out".

With caution, the woman picked heads.

Aventurine flipped the coin high into the air, both of them watching as it spun and glinted under the light before landing in his palm. He uncovered it with a flourish. "Heads it is," he declared, showing her the result.

A triumphant smile spread across Y/n's face. "Looks like I win."

He laughed, tucking the coin back into his pocket. "You certainly do. And as your reward..." Aventurine reached into his jacket and pulled out a single, delicate flower, offering it to her with a sincere smile. "For my favorite healer. A token of my appreciation."

Y/n couldn't help the smile reappearing on her lips. "Is this really a thank you gift or your way of getting me to shut up?", she giggled.

"That's for me to know and you to never find out", he gestured her to come closer and wrapped an arm around her waist, looking up at the woman with nothing short of admiration.

"See you tonight?".

"Boothill...I can obviously tell you're hiding your arm behind your back cause clearly there is no arm attached to your right shoulder", Y/n placed a hand on her hip, narrowing her eyes at the man.

Boothill clicked his tongue, revealing his quite literally dislocated arm. "Darn, an' I thought I was being pretty discreet".

Y/n approached him, patting his good shoulder. "Not in this lifetime I fear". She took the arm from him and opted to get some tools out, Boothill following close behind her. "It's not like I mind fixing you up, it's just..what if D/n sees—", speak of the devil.

The two were met with the shocked face of their daughter as Y/n quickly hid the arm behind her back, a poor attempt to stop the waterworks from beginning.

"I really wasn't discreet huh", a lazy grin made it to Boothill's face.

D/n's bottom lip was jutted out and tears prickled her eyes causing Y/n to panic and search for a screwdriver.

"It's okay baby, look!", the woman hurriedly attached Boothill's arm back on, the screwdriver almost falling out of her grip a few times.

"Good as new, see?", patting his arm for good measure.

Boothill helped appease the situation by flashing his pointy teeth a flexing his fingers.

"Ya don't gotta worry about me princess, you've got the strongest papa in the universe", he scooped his little girl into his arms, d/n wiping her tears with the back of her hand and her endearing sniffles ceasing.

"Where's yer smile gone, huh?", he cooed as he playfully tickled the toddler who erupted into a fit of giggles.

Suddenly, Boothill's arm fell off again, ruining the entire mood. He let out a sigh of relief that it wasn't the hand he was using to hold his daughter.

Y/n ran a hand down her face. "Dammit".

"You don't have to do this y'know, I'm used to it", Wriothesley voiced to the woman who had a worried expression etched onto her face.

"I want to though, you make me worry", the ravenette watched her carefully tend to his wounds, her gentle hands moving with practiced precision as she wrapped bandages around his bicep.

"Hey, at least I won".

Y/n gave him an unimpressed look, not caring about whether he was victorious or not. Wriothesley pursed his lips.

"Winning won't matter if you're dead".

Wriothesley laughed under his breath. "You're so dramatic". Y/n put away the bandages while Wriothesley gave his limbs a much needed stretch after being forced to sit down for what felt like multiple hours. "A few cuts and a busted lip won't be enough to take me out".

He came up behind her, hands on her waist and placed a kiss on her lips, one that lasted much longer than he intended.

"They still work don't they?".

Y/n punched his shoulder. "Those weren't just a 'few cuts' Wrio!", she responded, completely ignoring his question.

"Mhm..", he mumbled as he went in for another kiss before he felt Y/n's hand blocking him from doing so.

"Sorry but I don't like kissing people with busted lips", she teased.

Wriothesley frowned coyly. "I guess i'll just have to heal quickly. But in the meantime..", he leaned in closer and moved her hand down to her side, interlocking their fingers. "Maybe you can give me a kiss somewhere else?".

"Why would I wanna do that?".

"Well they say it helps for a speedy recovery".

"Is that so?", she retorted, a hand on his left cheek and placing a kiss on his right.

"Yup. I feel better already".

"No more apologising alright Chief Justice?", Y/n spoke softly, eyes focused on the last of the stitches she was applying to Neuvillette’s hand.

"Understood, forgive me for burdening you".

Y/n squeezed his hand before relaxing her grip again. "Hey what did I just say?", she scolded lightly. "Besides, you're not burdening me, if you're always looking out for others like this then who looks after you?", as she posed the question, a look of worry was evident on her face.

A faint drizzle began outside, the light pitter-patter of raindrops against the windows a clear sign of his emotions.

Without another word, Y/n wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. Neuvillette stiffened for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden display of affection. His formal posture relaxed gradually as he allowed himself to sink into the warmth of her embrace.

When last was he enveloped by such warmth? He wasn’t sure. But what he was sure of was that if it were possible, he would remain just like this, in her arms, for eternity.

“I’d like to be that person, if you’d let me”, she uttered sincerely.

Neuvillette’s heart swelled with feelings that were foreign to him. Maybe he wasn’t as familiar with human emotions as he thought he was. Still, whatever it was, it felt comforting and reassuring.

“I would be honoured, more than you can imagine”.

Masterlist

[flawseer]

Mail Call #3

Answering comments from @void-the-bear @railway-lands @keabirb @ilikebookssomuch @chezgorman @cartoons-everywhere @dragonra305

Please don't hurt me. I have glasses.

Thank you, to all of you. It makes me genuinely happy to know that I'm able to put something into this world that other people can enjoy. I think this is a great setting that is fun to add to.

Doing a Wings of Fire-themed run of this Smaugust challenge has been very interesting and it's good that the result appears to be well-received. It's not always been easy, I'm actually getting quite exhausted having to post content on a strict schedule like this. But it is worth doing if it makes people happy.

Relating to my comment on this post. I probably will do it eventually, along with some other ideas I had that didn't fit in. But it won't happen while Smaugust is still going, as I am already skirting the limits of what I am physically capable of right now.

Ahh... hm... This is the question that has toppled mountains and started wars. You're going to get hit squads sent after me.

Well, there is the big one, of course. Qibli/Winter. They have such wonderful chemistry whenever they are in a scene together (with one pretty upsetting exception). And Qibli is always teasing him about being his destiny and the two of them getting married, so I think there is some attraction there.

Then uh... I used to feel completely ambivalent about this one, but Starflight/Fatespeaker has really grown on me over time. There's a lot of interesting potential there that doesn't really make it into the story. I need to make a long-winded post about Fatespeaker one day.

Blaze/Glacier is another one that could be cute. I think putting a repressed Icewing together with a highly eccentric and rambunctious Sandwing is going to be a winning combination most of the time. Or well, I guess I should say "could have been cute", since Glacier had to die for the plot, in a very wretched and infuriating way too.

There are a couple more that I think have their moments or could be interesting in one way or another. Some of them even contradicting or overlapping each other. Listing all of them would probably be a bit excessive.

Oh yeah, and I think Sunny is ace.

Ah, a question that'll make me put someone else's favorite character at the bottom of a preference list... After the shipping question I'm starting to fear for my life now.

Let me preface this by clarifying that I generally like all of the DoD. There are some characters in this setting that I loathe and wish they would exit the story, and the arc 1 protagonists are nowhere near that. So being ranked low here translates to me saying "Yeah, they're okay, room for improvement", not "wow, they're the WORST!"

Okay whatever, let's get down to it.

#1 - Sunny

That one's easy, I mean, just look at the pinned post on this blog.

Sunny is so wonderful and charming and perfect in every conceivable way, she is one of my six all-time favorite characters. She is the flower that blooms in the bitter desert. A lot of people may perceive her as this demure and innocent character who is always happy and friendly, and oblivious to the suffering around her. Nah, Sunny knows exactly what is going on. She is keenly aware of all the bloodshed, suffering, and toxicity that unfolds in the world around her. When she remains optimistic and forgiving in the face of darkness, that is not her being meek or passive, it's her steadfastly refusing to let that darkness into herself. She is actively embodying the change she wants to see in the world, even when it hurts her or gets her taken advantage of, because that is what she believes in and the future she will create.

That's pretty inspiring. I wish I had that kind of inner strength.

Also, she is not weak. While she's not a powerhouse scrapper like Tsunami or an invincible stack of bricks like Clay, Sunny strikes quickly and without hesitation when her friends are in danger, and can be deviously clever. This is often overlooked, but she is--to my knowledge--the only character to land an attack on Morrowseer that comes close to actually hurting him.

Well... you got me rambling about Sunny. Let's go through the others more briskly.

#2 - Starflight

I like Starflight a lot. Unfortunately the story really doesn't. He is like, the unluckiest character by far. I don't know what he did to deserve the never-ending cavalcade of misfortune that gets shoveled in his direction throughout all three arcs. Like, it never ends. A couple of friends and I came together and we jokingly called our group the "Starflight Protection Foundation", because someone needs to stage an intervention. Like, wrap him in a cozy sweater and buy him hot chocolate or something. Heaven help this poor man.

He's another one of my favorites.

#3 - Glory

Glory is really cool; I vibe with the "unchosen hero spurned by destiny" theme. She goes through her life and is constantly told "No, you don't have a special destiny. You're the fifth wheel. You are worthless and unimportant". Though she struggles with the constant abuse and devaluation, she eventually finds a way to turn it into strength and declare that the only value that matters is the one she gives to herself.

I really wish the story had NOT made her turn out to be a secret princess. "I was born without destiny, so I'm making my own" is a so much more satisfying character trajectory than "Oh, don't worry. You were born special after all, you just didn't know about it".

So yeah, I kind of tend to put that "secret princess" plot twist on the shelf when I think about Glory, and prefer to think that she managed to sway Grandeur with her skill and determination, rather than a random blood link.

#4 - Clay

Clay is very lovable. He is like the emotional bedrock of the group and acts as a stabilizing force that pairs well with all of the other arc 1 protagonists. He pretty much resolves all of his baggage in the first book and becomes content and steady. That is very good for him, but unfortunately this also kind of turns him into just some dude for the following four books.

Which is fine, it is good for the other characters to have someone behind them who loves them and helps them up when they stumble. It just makes it difficult for Clay to shine on his own.

#5 - Tsunami

Okay, so, Tsunami. I actually like her a lot in arc 1. She's bringing an interesting kind of energy to the group that is like, half-supportive and half-detrimental. Very chaotic. She also has to contend with some heavy stuff; everything to do with her father and the complications in her family life. It's very interesting. Lots of places to go with that.

Arc 2 Tsunami though, really grinds my gears. She regresses into this kind of juvenile, immature personality that is just pointlessly abrasive and confrontational. She acts really condescendingly towards Peril-- despite the latter having saved Clay's life AND it being really important to Clay that her staying at JMA works out well. Her borderline sabotaging this effort by making Peril feel unwelcome seems very dismissive towards Clay's feelings. It also doesn't help that she is the most outspoken about her loathing of Nightwing mindreading and prophecies, which drives Moonwatcher further into her emotional shell and makes things more complicated.

Okay, I have to reiterate: I don't dislike Tsunami. I just think her character arc is incomplete. It feels like she is stuck in arrested development while at JMA. She's mostly running around yelling at people, when she really should be thinking about what to do about Queen Coral, and how to get custody of her siblings. Her sister Anemone is carrying emotional scars from how the Queen has kept her leashed like a dog for her entire life, a process that is now happening to Auklet, even to this day. And then there's the 30 something children who have never known parental love for a day in their life and their mother can't remember the names of.

Someone's gotta step in and save these kids. Or like, at least start vaguely thinking about it.

Turtle???

Hmm....

...

Moose!

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

Goddamn your note about Michael getting pegged makes me think you should elaborate on it because I’m down bad for that nerd and would love it if he cried while getting pegged

Is this anything?

Warnings: Pegging (obviously), smut Word count: I do not know. This is a drabble, I guess? Written within the confines of this Tumblr ask. No beta. We die like men.

The elasticated straps that fit snugly around the swell of her hips and arse make her feel powerful, the satisfying weight of the rubber phallus held firm by them against her crotch furthering the sensation.

But it is the sight of her boyfriend, Michael, laying before her, utterly at her mercy upon the bed that really feeds her ego. Stripped naked, skin flushed and perspiring lightly, as his breaths come in shallow pants, he looks utterly helpless. She doesn't need to look at the way his cock strains and leaks against his lower abdomen to see how eager he is. There is a desperate look of need in his baby blue eyes, framed by the square rims of his glasses, that tells her all she needs to know.

He gives an impatient whimper, his voice barely audible as a whispered "please" escapes him. She giggles, satisfaction washing over her in a warm wave as she watches him plead and writhe against the mattress.

When she had first met Michael at the start of first year, she would never have guessed she would have him in such a compromising situation almost nine months later. The bespectacled, self proclaimed maths genius had been cocky and arrogant, despite not falling in with the popular crowd at Oxford, and he was incredibly uptight alongside it.

In theory, she should have hated him, however, she found herself drawn to his sense of self assurance and unwillingness to conform to the social etiquette required to be accepted by the other students. Their friendship had blossomed into more when she had consoled him after he'd been ditched by Oliver Quick at the pub. She can't remember who had leaned in first, but from the moment their lips met, they were inseparable.

The end of the final term of first year is looming, and with it come exams. Michael has been tenser than usual, irritable and quick to anger. His refusal to accept anything less than utter perfection for his results weighs heavily upon his shoulders. She knows he's guaranteed a first, he's too clever for anything less, and she is sure that deep down he knows it too. However, the intense pressure he places upon himself to revise, despite being able to do it all in his head already, is placing a strain upon both of them.

It had started as a means to help him relieve stress - their usually active sex life had dwindled to nothing as Michael buried himself in text books, and she was so pent up from her own revision that the touch starvation was beginning to get to her. She had wanted to make him feel good, to ease the pressure he was placing upon himself.

The moment she had crawled down the bed and tasted him upon her tongue, all inhibition had left her. Her movements had grown sloppy and uncontrolled as she'd bobbed her head back and forth over the length of him. His soft groans of pleasure had encouraged her and she'd pulled off of him to offer the same attention to his stones. As her tongue had flicked out towards the velvety skin, her enthusiasm causing her movements to be imprecise, she had pressed her tongue lower than intended, the tip of it grazing the tight ring of muscle hidden between his buttocks.

To her surprise, instead of bucking away and demanding she stop, he had gasped, his breathless request of "do that again" making her smirk, but all too happy to oblige. She had pressed a finger into him, its passage aided by the wetness of her saliva and watched in fascination as, after a few well aimed pumps, a string of expletives had left her boyfriend's mouth as he coated his stomach in pearly white spend.

He had seemed more relaxed after that, not quite so intense in the way he carried the burden of his exams. With this in mind, and having unlocked a new side to Michael, she was eager to explore it, and after copious amounts of online research, which she was sure had forever ruined her search history, she had made a discreet visit to Ann Summers the following day. Her skin grew hot with embarrassment as she'd placed the strap on kit and lubricant upon the counter to pay for it, but the excitement of what was to come made her brief humiliation worth it.

Most nights since then have ended with him stretched around her fingers as he spills down her throat, his fingers clutching the bedsheets so tightly that hie knuckles turn white. Concerned she would scare him off, she had yet to bring up the topic of pegging - until this evening.

As she had laid between his thighs, her fingers circling his puckered hole, she had looked up at him, taking in the flush of his cheeks and his parted lips.

"How do you feel about pegging?" She'd whispered, her eyes flitting to his.

He'd swallowed thickly, attempting to get his thoughts in order. "What's that?"

Deciding it was better to show him, she had reached into her bedside table, retrieving the Ann Summers bag and taken out the kit to show him.

As his eyes had widened, she was sure he'd tell her no, accuse her of being a weirdo, insist he'd never do such a perverted thing, but he had shocked her when he'd simply asked: "will it hurt?"

She had reassured him it wouldn't, told him that she'd prepare him with her fingers first, use the same lubricant they always do to help loosen him up. It would feel as it normally, just fuller, more intense.

That is how he has come to lay before her now, spread out and trembling with anticipation.

She smirks down at him, leaning over to pluck his glasses from him his face, depositing them onto the bedside table. "Don't want these steaming up."

"But I won't be able to see..."

"Oh, Michael," she coos, "just focus on the sensations."

Taking one of the pillows from the head of the bed, she taps the side of his hip, with a gentle command of "up", before sliding it beneath his pelvis, elevating him to where she needs him to be.

Having already prepared him with her fingers, she spreads a generous amount of lube along the shaft of her strap, and around his opening. Michael's breathing is erratic as he watches her, his grasp of the bedsheets impossibly tight.

"You ready?" She asks, gazing down at him, stroking his thigh.

He nods fervently, his voice shaky. "Y--yeah...I think so..."

"Good boy."

She presses forward, met by slight resistance as Michael inhales sharply.

"Just relax for me, breathe," she instructs gently.

Her passage eases slightly as he relaxes and she stills as she bottoms out, reaching up to cup his jaw tenderly.

"How's that feel?"

"Full," he utters, voice strained, "but not unpleasant."

"Good. I'm going to move now, is that okay?"

He nods again, and she withdraws slowly, before pressing back in. Her heart feels as though it skips a beat as she watches his cock twitch against his stomach, accompanied by his soft groan of pleaure.

Slowly but surely, she increases the pace and intensity of her thrusts, until the slap of her skin can be heard against his. He writhes beneath her as she grips his thighs to hold him in place, no intelligible words leaving his mouth besides needy whines and whimpers.

Taking pity on him, she takes his length in hand - now so hard it looks as though it's actually causing him pain - and pumps it in a steady rhythm with the movement of her hips.

His toes curl, his breaths ragged and face reddened. "I--I'm gonna..."

Unable to finish his sentence, he screws his eyes shut, brow furrowing as he cries out an elongated "fuck", spilling himself over her knuckles in forceful spurts. He trembles with aftershocks, pulsating and twitching against her palm, clenching around her strap, until finally he stills.

As he relaxes back against the mattress, she can see his lash line has turned watery, tears of relief filling his eyes as he gasps for breath.

"You enjoyed that then?" She asks playfully.

All he's able to muster is a tired nod and an "mmm".

"Your last exam's tomorrow, isn't it?"

His eyes swim back into focus as he stares up at her, reaching for his glasses to put them back on. "Yeah...but we can carry on doing this afterwards...can't we..?"

She grins down at him. "Yeah, we can carry on doing this."

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

If your requests are ever opened.

Could I request an yandere twst boys x Elysia Reader?

If you haven't watched or played Honkai. Let me share you some details about Elysia!

Elysia is a female character from Honkai impact 3rd

She's an Elf. Titled as Miss Pink Elf.

She uses a prism bow that launches gorgeous crystal flowers on enemies. Not only that shes very fast at attacking! Even backflipping a few times while firing Arrows upon her enemies.

She's Elegant and Gorgeous. Very very gorgeous. Like an angel!

She's also one of the Flame chasers.

Flame chasers are like super powerful soldiers fighting against a strong deity.

Elysia is an elegant, cheerful, and sweet lady who's described as someone who "enjoys everything".

*but also very flirtatious *smug face*

She rarely speaks badly about anybody, and even then, she would say it in the lightest way possible. She is a friendly presence,

And she has a herrscher form!

A herrscher is a powerful being that either chooses to protect humanity or go against it. But she chooses to protect humanity!

I have a few more details about her! But it's a big big spoiler on the chapter! And I Don't wanna spoil.

Here are some gif and pics of her!

^

|

Her normal form

And this is her Herrscher form!

Take your time with this request! And remember to take breaks from finishing requests. Please be sure to tag me if your done! I would definitely like to see the results! Any character is fine!

Pink Elf Elysia Reader | Yandere Twisted Wonderland

Powers aside, you are a bubbly personality who loves to live stream and hang out with all your friends. Live streaming and posting It makes for many friends and really irritated obsessive suitors: 

Cater Diamond

“Come on pinky, pose for the Magicam!”

“Peaces!”

“Aww, you’re so cute! No worries I’ll be sure to tag you!”

Constantly texting you, posting about you, and you reposting in return

Always keeping you at arm's length

He makes it so that he’s the only one you’re turning to

Spending your time together because he knows the value of capturing you+ the best moments

While he can’t take you on in a fight he guesses he won’t need to

After all, he was hanging out with you the whole time that accident took place

“My magic to duplicate myself? Nah, they were helping me set the camera for me and (Y/n).”

Floyd Leech

“You’re pointy ears are sooo cutte! I want to bite.”

“Awww well only if I get to bite yours.”

“Please!”

Your energy fits his perfectly 

Nimble enough to keep him interested when he wants to hunt+ play

Playful enough not to get offended at his advances 

And teasing enough to keep him satisfied on a leash

You become the resident Floyd-relaxer

Don’t stop him from getting to you

He’ll strangle if you try and stop him

“Pinky! Elfy! Shrimpy! Give me nibbles!”

Leona Kingscholar 

“Oh Leona, do you like my outfit? Admit it I’m absolutely ravishing.”

“Yeah, ravishing for an herbivore.”

“Oya? Are you in denial? Or perhaps you’re quite distracted?”

“Oh please, you’ll have to try harder than that.”

Training with him is something he won’t ever admit how much he enjoys it

Sparring with you is great practice for when he tries to restrain you

He also enjoys how you let him rest on your lap

But he could do without you teasing him

He’ll wreck whoever bothers him about it

“Just shut up and let me rest.”

@rosalynakiyama

[aihoshiino]

Rie Takahashi Interview (Oshi no Ko Anime Guidebook: First Report)

In the recently released First Report guidebook, a number of key staff members from the Oshi no Ko anime project were interviewed about their work on the show - so you can imagine my excitement when I saw that not only was Takahashi one of those interviewed, but that she had a lot to say about her performance as Ai and how she interpreted her character. I just had to translate it!

I will say up front that I have no intention of translating the other interviews in the book - this one took me long enough as it was and I fully admit it was pure blorbo bias that kept me going the whole time lol. Given that an English release of Glare x Sparkle is already in the works at YenPress, I imagine an English version of First Report might not be far behind so be sure to support it when it comes out. I'm just impatient lol.

As usual, this TL is a combo of my own comprehension, various online dictionaries such as Jisho.org, some MTL and me collapsing, weeping into smarter people's DMs to beg for their help. If you catch any mistakes, please let me know!

Anyway, enough rambling. Check out the interview behind the cut!

Please tell us about your favourite scene and line from episode 1.

Since Ai only appears in the first episode, I really wanted to make every moment count, so each and every one of her lines are special in their own way. It's hard to choose just one, but as a fan of the original work, the line "lies are an exceptional form of love" was one I was especially particular about. Since it's the line that truly encapsulates everything about Ai, I wanted to make sure that one stuck in people's minds.

You've said in the past you were an 'Oshi no Ko' fan even before being involved in the project.

While I was reading the original work, I actually admired Akane-chan the most. Obviously, I loved Ai as well, but being a voice actress myself, I was particularly interested in how a genius actress like Akane-chan prepared for her roles and what performances she'd go on to give. The chapters where she rises above all the online harassment especially left a huge impression on me. Anyone who's worked as a creative or even just in the public eye probably knows what a pulse-pounding experience it can be when you see slanderous comments about yourself - feeling like all of society has turned its back on you and you have nowhere to belong, and not being able to talk to your parents about it. It was depicted with such care and detail that I ached with her as I read it. But then, seeing her rise back up and declare "I don't want to quit like this" gave me a lot of strength. I wanted to become an actress like Akane-chan, who could come back to acting no matter what struggles I went through.

Since I loved Akane-chan so much, when I heard there were auditions for 'Oshi no Ko', I thought "I want to play her!". I even had the thought of 'Since the original work touches so deeply on what it means to be an actor, if they don't get a good actor for this, I might end up hating Oshi no Ko!' (laughs)

As a result, when I was cast as Ai, I knew I had to step up my game. I told myself, "If I'm going to play Ai, I need to give it my everything. Anything less won't do." I gave it my all with that in mind.

Did you audition for the role of Ai?

Yes, I did. But I couldn't get Akane-chan out of my mind, so I gave her a shot at the table audition. When I was preparing, I went over the manga at home and tried voicing each character and scene and there's a part in episode seven where Akane-chan mimicks Ai as she says "I sure am sleepy. We record way too early". When I tried that scene, I went "Hold on, maybe I really am the best fit for Ai?"

I guess my hunch was right because I didn't even make it through the first screening for Akane (laughs). Because of that experience, I'm deeply grateful to (Iwami) Manaka-chan for playing my beloved Akane-chan. I love both her work and her approach as an actress, so I'm thrilled to be working alongside her. I started off as a troublesome hardcore fan thinking "If they don't cast good actors for 'Oshi no Ko,' I might end up hating it!" but now I'm just like "thank you, voice actors!!" (laughs)

Were there any scenes you thought would be particularly difficult to perform based on the script or the original work?

So, I prepared for the role by going over volume 1 of the manga, the scenes where Akane-chan channels Ai and the short story, but there wasn't much more material at the time (laughs). So just preparing for the role was tough.  During recording, I sometimes checked in with (Akasaka) Aka-sensei about Ai. Now the story has progressed and Ai's character has become more defined, I secretly get a little nervous every time I read a new chapter. "I hope my performance in episode 1 wasn't off... I hope...!" (laughs) Obviously, Aka-sensei and the team were present during recordings, so my portrayal was probably fine but a revelation about her could still catch me out (laughs)

What sort of things did you hear from Akasaka-sensei?

There's a scene where Ai talks to her ex on a public payphone. I had to make sure there was the right amount of distance between them, and whether or not Ai still had any attachment to or fondness for him. I'm the sort of fan who enjoys analyzing the original work so I had mixed feelings about getting told the answer (laughs). But because I knew all the ins and outs of her backstory, I could contextualize her behaviour and the things she says and does.

Another scene was when Ai was scouted off the street and talked about her past, mentioning being abused by her mom. She wasn't saying it with the sense of "it hurts, I can't take it, I want to die" but instead she weaponizes it like "look at what I've been through, poor little me, right?". I tried to make my performance a balance of resilience with her vulnerability.

Also, I was directed to keep the monologue before Ai gets stabbed "emotionless", so I ended up giving a much more detached and matter of fact performance than I'd initially planned.

Were you mindful of the differences between Ai in her private life and Ai on stage when performing?

The tricky part of portraying Idol Ai is that if I make her too distinct, she'll stop being Ai. For example, if I play her as an innocent, optimistic idol, she'd be Ruby, not Ai. I focused less on "what to do as Ai" and more on "what not to do". In "Viewpoint B," Ai says, "The "idol" Ai is pretty much the complete opposite of who I really am, but she's the person I'd like to be." so that was the feeling I used as my reference when portraying Idol Ai. Incidentally, in my work as a performer, I purposely try to avoid drawing a line between my public and private self. So for Ai as well, the switches between the real Ai and the idol Ai feel surprisingly seamless to me. It's not that there are two distinct faces, but that Idol Ai exists inside the real Ai so it's more a question of which side of herself she shows at any given moment.

Ai’s fans in the original story only know the Idol Ai. What do you think draws them to her?

Like in the lyrics of YOASOBI's song "Idol," she's nonchalant, carefree, and easygoing. I could've portrayed Idol Ai as more cutesy, bubbly and flirtatious, but I felt that wouldn't have a convincing appeal to characters in the story like Gorou-sensei and the otaku who support her. I wanted to make sure it was believable that idol otakus in this world end up falling for her. I think it's her more laid back vibe, not the hyper energetic or "look at me!" type, that charms people.

So what would you say is the appeal to fans in the real world who know her full backstory?

Firstly, Ai-chan's overwhelming visual appeal. When you think of shocking pink and purple, you think of Ai! (Yokoyari) Mengo-sensei’s art is so powerful, and the glittering animation is also fantastic. I also find Ai's professionalism in her work really appealing. While she has the cuteness of an idol, she's not just cute—she works with an incredible level of dedication and professionalism. I admire and love her for everything, including her behind-the-scenes efforts. It's impressive, she’s really cool! 

I’ve ended up with a lot more respect for the word ‘idol’ as a result. In the past, when my voice acting involved singing, dancing, and participating in unit activities, being described as an "idol voice actress" didn't quite sit right with me. But now, I realize how honorable and responsible that title is. Idols work hard behind the scenes, constantly smiling while singing and dancing, and performing so brilliantly. If there are moments when I'm called by the same title as those incredible idols, I feel I need to make an effort to match their quality, or it would be disrespectful. It really motivates me to do my best.

There’s a line in Ai's monologue where she says "I wanted to love someone, I wanted someone to love." Why do you think Ai wanted to give love rather than receive it?

It could be that she's looking for somewhere to belong, hoping that "if I can love, I might be loved in return". Ai's history of abuse and mistreatment likely made the love she received feel very different from the love most people experience. I think it all stems from Ai thinking of herself as an abnormal person - she might have believed that to be loved, she needed to become someone who could genuinely love others. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation with a lot of complex feelings. That’s just how I interpret it, though.

And in the end, she realizes her love for the twins is not a lie.

I think that Ai loved the twins all along, not just in that last moment. But the word “love” was like a curse for her, so she couldn't actually say it. That feeling only intensified after I watched the anime. There's an anime original bit where Ai kisses the twins on the foreheads and says, “I'm off,” when she leaves for work. That's the kind of thing you can only do with love - she was just too scared to actually put it into words. Though she was able to express her love fully in her final moments, it’s still sad it took such an extremely situation for her to be able to say it. If it’d never happened, or if she’d simply put the door chain on, she might never have said it. She might have always struggled to say those words. But it’s thanks to the twins she learned how to love. Even the love she has for her fans, that she derided as a lie, was always true. And when she told Ryosuke-kun, “I want to love you,” I think she was already loving him even then.

In the audio commentary included on the Blu-ray & DVD bonus disc, I was struck by the mention of Ai being so nervous before she says “I love you” to Ruby and Aqua, that she takes a deep breath. What sort of direction were you given for that line?

There wasn’t any direction, actually. During the recording, my focus was entirely on expressing Ai’s breathing after being stabbed, how much blood she was losing, and the urgency of conveying her final words. It was an intense experience. It’s a rare moment as a voice actor to feel like me and the character I'm playing have our hearts beating in sync, but this was one of those times. I think I was genuinely nervous myself as well. I could feel my heart pounding and my chest clenching like when you’re about to make a confession. That feeling still hasn’t left me.

Additionally, in the last monologue of episode 11, where Aqua reflects on Ai's words after she was stabbed, we couldn't use the original recording from the first episode. The recording from the first episode captured a raw and genuine emotion, as Ai was gasping for breath. So we re-recorded it with the intention that the more it resonated warmly within Aqua, the more unforgettable those words would become for him. I wanted to make sure that Ai’s final words would leave a lasting impact, something Aqua would revisit in his mind over and over again. Personally, I approached the recording with a deep sense of love, like passing the baton and saying, “Thank you, everyone, for your hard work in the first season.” There was a lot of warmth during that session, not just towards the twins, but towards the entire cast, staff, and the "Oshi no Ko" project itself.

What were your thoughts upon reading 45510?

I got to the end and I was like “Don’t delete the blog! I want to know more!” (laughs) The entire story felt like a box that really shouldn't be opened. Everything from the meaning behind the password numbers to the fact that Ai left behind a blog wanting to reconcile made it feel like Ai really, truly wanted to love the other girls in B-Komachi even when they were jealous of her.

In the anime, we only get a brief moment of interaction between Ai and the other members - that moment during dance practice, when one of them says, "You look kinda down, Ai-chan" and Ai replies with a smile, "That’s not it. I didn’t get to eat lunch!" So I was careful that Ai’s response didn't feel sour at all. If the sigh she let out before they spoke to her had even a hint of annoyance, it would’ve been a reason the other girls took offense with her. I felt like Ai’s invincibility should’ve been the main factor for their issues with her.

It’s just a brief interaction in the anime, but ‘45510’ really fleshed out that distance between Ai and the B-Komachi members. I based my understanding of these boundaries in her relationships on ‘45510’ and ‘Viewpoint B’ and I also read ‘Oshi no Ko: Spica, the First Star’ to get a fuller picture. The more I read, the more I understood - Kana Arima’s got the right idea!

YOASOBI’s song ‘IDOL’ closes out episode one.

The music itself was impactful, but the music video that was released after the first episode aired was something else altogether. We watched the first episode together with the cast, and then, after seeing the music video, I felt overcome by Ai’s presence all over again - I was left speechless by how powerful the experience was. "Oshi no Ko" really is an immersive experience. I mean, you willingly open YouTube and relive Ai's death yourself. Even after everything was conveyed in the main story, the music video introduced new layers of emotions and concepts. Seeing how YOASOBI's song "Idol," which was about Ai, resonated with so many people really made me realize all over again just how significant Ai's impact was!

And then you yourself sang IDOL at the Strawberry Productions☆Fan Thanksgiving Festival 2023 (FanFest).

For me, "Idol" is a challenging song to sing even at karaoke. So, when they asked me to sing it at the FanFest my initial reaction was, "Oh, that might be too much!" (laughs). It’s not a song that you can easily perform live (laughs). It's a song that only an incredible artist can pull off, so when I thought about singing it live on stage, I was like, "Really? Me?" But when I saw the setlist for the live part of the FanFest, I started feeling like, "Actually, I think I should give it a shot." As a performer, I had some reservations about whether I could deliver the quality it deserved, but the "Oshi no Ko" fan in me couldn't resist. I was like, "Everyone wants to see Ai's voice actress sing 'Idol'" (laughs). After a lot of back-and-forth, I decided to go for it. I understood how Kana Arima felt when she joined the new B-Komachi. The joy of being relied upon by the team and the desire to meet the expectations of the work won out in the end.

Between “Our Sign is B”, “HEART's♡KISS” and “STAR☆T☆RAIN”, which is your favourite B-Komachi song?

That’s a tough one since they’re all A-side quality! (laughs) It was like, "Wow, B-Komachi is seriously awesome!" You can really feel the passion from the music team, like they were determined to bring the world of "Oshi no Ko" to life through these songs. It was also surprising to see how the series expanded from the manga into this whole new realm of music.

Was there anything specific you focused on while recording the project’s songs?

I tried not to change my tone just because it was a song. My focus was on making sure that when people listened, they could immediately recognize it as Ai's voice. At first, it was really hard to come up with a solid idea of what "Ai singing” sounded like. Usually, she's a pretty laid back and carefree, but she can’t exactly sing like that during a live performance. Ai’s a pro when it comes to entertaining the audience and enjoying the moment with them so I was constantly trying to find the right balance between Ai’s characteristic nonchalance and the high energy of a live idol performance. The first recording I did was for "HEART's♡KISS," and honestly, I ended up putting too much force into the opening line, "I'll send you a cheer." Since the song's theme is about sending everyone good vibes, I got too intense with my delivery. I got an ‘OK’ on that take but when I listened back to it, I felt that it wasn’t quite right, so I asked to redo just that part. If people didn’t immediately sense Ai at the very start, I worried that they wouldn't feel her presence throughout the entire song.

If you were to send a message to Ai, what would you say?

There’s so much I’d love to say to her, it’s hard to pick just one thing. Still, I think Ai was really happy in her life because she got to say "I love you" in the end. Even though her life might seem tragic to others, the feeling that stuck with me from playing her was a sense of incredible contentment. So, I’d probably just want to have a casual chat with her and watch over everyone together. Oh, but I’d definitely tell her to keep that door chain locked!

[quibbs126]

could you do a blackberry x adventurer fankid if you havent already pretty please :3

I can’t really say that I made this because of the aforementioned “I haven’t drawn anything in a while” post, it’s just because I was scrolling through my requests and remembered that I was in the middle of drawing her before and thought “might as well finish”

Anyways sorry, this is Blackberry Scone Cookie

So if I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t entirely know what her deal is. I know that, unlike her father, she is very willing to acknowledge that she’s rich and uphold that side of her family. She’s also at least outwardly, very similar to her mother in being generally reserved in her emotions. I think one idea I had for her is that she does cool things, she just does with a disinterested face, which kind of just heightens the coolness

Okay so I’m gonna be completely honest, I am now going to just make something up as I write. That top part was in part for me to figure something out

Outwardly, she seems disinterested, but she has plenty of emotions, you just either need to pay attention to her actual words instead of tone, or you just need to get close enough to her for the mask to fall. She also has quite an interest in stories of magic and in mystical artifacts, though she prefers simply reading about them over going out to find them. Also, despite her interest in the subject, she just doesn’t have that much of an ability for magic/the occult, and has difficulty seeing ghosts (best she has is that she can sometimes see Onion), which is one of the reasons she sticks to simply reading about them rather than going out herself

While she has respect for her father in how he goes out on his own to seek out treasure and artifacts, she just doesn’t understand why he hates his rich life. Her only real guess is that he sees it as clashing with his adventurer persona, which she thinks is kind of stupid. She’s also pretty much the one running the estate while he’s gone (she’s an adult by this point) and being the one to actually deal with things such as house guests. Not to say Adventurer was an absent parent, and he’d actually take her along when she was younger on some of his expeditions, but he can disappear sometimes now

She doesn’t hate her parents, and it’s not like they were horrible parents to her, but she feels distant from her mother due to her lack of ghost abilities, and some amount of resentment for her father for being so attached to this persona of his and his disdain for his actual heritage, especially since she’s fully accepting of it and it unintentionally makes her self conscious about it

She’s not super sure of her place in the world, but for now she’s just trying to do her job as a member of a rich family

Hm, so I ended up writing more on her than I thought I would. Ah well, not a bad thing. Well, design time

So her name’s Blackberry Scone due to me headcanoning Adventurer to be some sort of shortbread or biscuit (I know they’re the same thing in other countries, but I’m unsure as to what kind of biscuit he is now). Scones are kind of like biscuits, add some blackberry and there you go, blackberry scones

A potential name was Blackberry Cobbler, but I think I prefer scone, especially since I made her more rich-seeming

Blackberry scone:

So almost everything I made of her, outside of the small sketches and some of the colors, I made a couple weeks ago while waiting at the dentist’s office, and I mostly blocked her out of my mind after that as a result. So I don’t really remember a lot of the design process

I feel like I gave her that hairstyle to make her look “cool”, but then I kind of threw that aspect of her character away. But I still like it, so she keeps it

Also, her suit was originally a bit more reddish, but I changed it today to make it more purple so it’d fit with the color of the scones. They don’t really look that red, so I changed it. But I think now the colors may not all look the best together

I feel like I may have made her colors all a bit too similar to each other, and/or not given her enough, but I don’t really know what else to change

Also when I came back today, the thickness of the lines was bothering me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been dabbling with the Syrup brush now, but I think I need to play with line width more now, since some of the smaller things like the brooch feel like they have too thick of lines

I don’t think her design is necessarily bad though, it’s mostly color wise I have issues with

And yeah, that’s Blackberry Scone, I hope you enjoy her

[story-stew]

So I managed to catch covid despite my best efforts and with it on type of my other chronic illnesses I feel like shit and am somewhat delirious.

As a result I am humbly requesting some illness comfort hcs for splatoon. Your choice on characters but I'd like it if you at least include Dedf1sh. Gender neutral or nonbinary reader please.

Thank you for your service 🫡

Man, that sucks. I'm so sorry you've been feeling so icky, anon. I hope you make a speedy recovery and feel better <3 !!

I'm gonna do all of the idols (including Big Man) because I don't wanna leave everyone out + I feel like they'd all have some unique way of going about your illnesses. I'm also so sorry for the wait! I've been busy recently, so I'm sorry (to everyone) if posting and responding is slow!

Now onto the thingy

‎‧₊˚✧[ The Idols W/ a Sick!Reader ]✧˚₊‧

(🎨🔫👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨💭) - splatoon headcanons

(reader type) - gender neutral

‧₊˚ ⋅ 𓐐𓎩 ‧₊˚ ⋅

- - - - - - -

Callie

♨ Callie is the type of person to follow all those clichés you see on T.V.

♨ Shrimp soup, ice pack on the head, thermometer in the mouth, absolutely no moving or leaving your room whatsoever, all that stuff

♨ She's not a doctor but she thinks she might be able to help

♨ The MILLISECOND she hears you sniff or cough, it is straight to bed with you

♨ If you throw up or something she'll be there to hold your tentacles back (if they're long enough)

♨ If she sees you out of bed other than to go to the bathroom she will throw a FIT and drag you back to bed

♨ She will do all the chores in the house and will cook for you, regardless if it's just a common cold or not

♨ You got sick around the time Grizz was defeated, so she had a lot of free time other than the occasional acting gig and the release of Wave Goodbye.

♨ Checks up on you every second

♨ Cuddles with you despite knowing she'll get sick too

♨ ❝ Quit it, you idiot! You're gonna catch a bug!

♨ ❝ Guess who doesn't care! ♪"

♨ She shares all the drama and gossip she's heard when she gets home if she has stuff to do

♨ Keeps you company while you rot in bed <3

Marie

♨ She's a lot more lenient than Callie, let's just make that clear

♨ Marie believes that, as long as you're not on the brink of death and it's a simple symptom, you don't have to be bedridden.

♨ You got sick around the time Grizz was defeated as well, so she had a lot of free time, too

♨ Except Thursday nights, because that's when she has her podcast "Marie After Midnight"

♨ You're allowed to help with chores, but she does all the cooking

♨ Mutualism, y'know?

♨ Also shares drama and gossip with you that she's heard while out and stuff as she checks your temperature n' all

♨ ❝ So then she said that she broke up with him-oops, you've got a fever-but then she was seen kissing him, like, an hour later!"

♨ She's still physical with you. She just keeps her distance a lot more

♨ She may not be a doctor, but she's certainly your personal nurse

Pearl

♨ The moment she found out you were sick it was a direct trip to MakoMart for medicine

♨ Her diagnosis was that you hadn't been treating yourself very well

♨ Pearl definitely isn't experienced with taking care of people medically since she grew up rich and didn't really have to do any of that stuff

♨ She knows about medicine and bandages and that's about it

♨ Buys literally all the medicine in stock

♨ Only the best medical care for her pookie wookie

♨ She does all the cooking and cleaning. She doesn't give a slug's ass what you came down with. You are not overworking yourself on her watch

♨ You got sick just before Off the Hook went on tour, so it threw a small wrench into the plan, but that was alright!

♨ She could make it work! (With the help of time management from Marina)

♨ Pearl isn't too good at cooking by the way, so it'll just be fruit or something that doesn't require more effort than a microwave and boiling water

♨ ❝ Okay, so I accidentally set the water on fire, so it'll just be fruit instead of noodles today.

♨ ❝ You what???

♨ But yeah give her a chance she tries her best </3

Marina

♨ Marina is probably the most medically trained person on this list

♨ Becomes a professional mother

♨ You also got sick around the time Off the Hook was going on tour, so that made her a bit busier since she had to work on the tour, the memverse, and make sure you didn't die

♨ So what did she prescribe? Love, it was the only medicine! That and prednisone

♨ She's almost as lenient as Marie but as caring as Callie

♨ Since she was in the military, she learned a bunch of ways to treat sick people, so she's a wiz at this

♨ She doesn't want you completely immobilized, so she lets you help with chores and cooking

♨ Will check in with you every once is a while, but when she does she asks a gazillion questions at a time

♨ ❝ Hey, (N/N), are you feeling any better? Are you hungry, thirsty, do you have a headache? Do you need medicine? Are you too hot, too cold?

♨ ❝ Just trying to process everything you just said.

♨ Makes songs dedicated to you and sings them at concerts (which always make you feel better)

Shiver

♨ Shiver, being the youngest of the Hohojiro family, doesn't know all that much about medicine

♨ But she tries her best, especially for you! Is that a lie? No!

♨ She definitely gets advice from Frye and Big Man. They even help take care of you sometimes

♨ She makes a bit more of a deal about it than she should

♨ You got sick around the leader splatfest (that goes for all of Deep Cut), so of course Shiver was all over you during the halftime break

♨ ❝ (N/N)? Please tell me you're okay! You haven't thrown up, right? Do you have a fever? I could get you some water and a fan if you do!

♨ She asked when all you wanted was a Crabby Cake.

♨ Shiver, no matter how much she loves you, will never admit that she had to get help from someone else

♨ Takes you everywhere just so you're in her sight, even while she's out banditting

♨ Orders Master Mega (or one of the Deep Cut members) to carry you around everywhere

♨ She mostly cooks you spicy food, even if it's mild

♨ Shiver is always cold (as her name kinda suggests) so she'll hug you when you get too hot

♨ Will buy you anything and everything you want, just like Pearl would

♨ Basically your gremlin helper

Frye

♨ Frye's family has a bunch of remedies that probably aren't safe to the public

♨ Big Man has repeatedly told her not to use these remedies as a last resort

♨ ❝ Just take 3 of these a day, she says as she holds up what is possibly the most toxic food known to inkling and octoling kind

♨ Other than that, she's good at treating people. Like i said before, she's got siblings, so she kinda had to be

♨ Frye's like Marie when it comes to stuff like this because she also believes that, as long as you're not on your death bed, you'll be fine

♨ With that said, she will not hesitate to carry you around and do everything for you

♨ ❝ Oh, yeah, no, straight to bed! C'mon, I'll carry you! You can work, but don't overwork yourself, man! I'll finish cleaning the dishes, just don't die on me!

♨ ❝ Frye, all I said was,'I feel kinda hot'.

♨ Just like with Shiver, the rest of Deep Cut helps out with taking care of you, too

♨ She mostly cooks you sweet food

♨ Frye is a human heater (as her name kinda suggests), so she'll hug you when you get cold

♨ Trust me when I say she'll barely treat you any different from when you weren't sick

♨ She'll still throw her banter-punches and lean on you and shake you and all

♨ Just be ready to take care of her when she gets sick from that :,]

Big Man

♨ Probably the most caring person on this list next to Marina

♨ He is a LOT more normal out of the other two members of Deep Cut

♨ And since he's a naturally caring person he makes a great caretaker

♨ Big Man's family definitely has remedies they use, too. Except these remedies are actually safe to use on people

♨ Mostly cooks you sour food, even if it's mild

♨ He is always prepared; he's got tons of medicine and tissues for when you guys go out together (and barf bags..)

♨ Big Man believes you're a capable person, so he'll also let you help with chores and cooking until he sees that you're tired/dizzy

♨ Then he'll send you right back to bed and spend the rest of the day caring for you

♨ ❝ Ay? Ay ay. ((N/N)? Do you need anything? More water, or more blankets?)

♨ ❝ I'd like for you to just be with me, if that's okay.

♨ Starts gushing over the entire thing and spends the rest of the day with you. Chores can come at the end

♨ At that moment, you thought you were cured

Acht

♨ There are a lot of people on this list who let you fend for yourself holy hell

♨ You got sick just after the Side Order DLC would've been completed, so Acht didn't have anything better to do than hang out with Marina or make music

♨ Acht seems like a "tough love" kinda character (that's also very caring at the same time), so that's why I feel like they'd be another character like that

♨ Though they still cook and clean for you from time to time! Albeit they're.. not the best cook..

♨ (You're better off ordering out.)

♨ Sometimes, if they think you've worked enough, they'll throw you over the shoulder and carry you

♨ Acht doesn't know medicine as well as Marina (considering they're a dropout) so they go to Marina for advice

♨ Acht might fuck up the procedure once or twice, but it all works out in the end! They try, trust me

♨ Also keeps you company while you rot away in bed

♨ Lets you suggest music for them to make (and its always good)

♨ Not always prepared but always ready to seek out the things you need

♨ ❝ Hey, you need tissues? Alright, lemme see if I have some.

♨ The combination of their personality and the way they care for you makes you oh-so-happy

♨ Even after you've gotten better, you still think you're sick.. sick with love that is

♨ Corny, I know, but it's true

- - - - - - -

‧₊˚ ⋅ 𓐐𓎩 ‧₊˚ ⋅

[spoilmesweetieforficssake]

Eating Out Of The Palm Of Her Hand

So I'm pretty sure this little idea came about as a result of a conversation with @bigolgay (but there's every chance I'm wrong)

Anyway, it's brief, peppered with mild angst and a tiny bit of Gary bashing (only because it fitted the idea and not because I hate him)

~*~

“Shoot.”

Barb looks up at her friend across their shared table with concern.

“I forgot about that tasting night I signed up for, back when, you know,” mumbled the red head.  She had been trying to expand Gary’s culinary knowledge in a way that didn’t solely involve her cooking.  Not that she didn’t enjoy cooking, but she didn’t like it when it was just expected.  Nor when her suggestions for dinner were shot down and he would suggest bad takeaway pizza and beer.  “You fancy it?”

“Sorry girl, but Taylor is in town and we have plans this Friday,” apologises the kindergarten teacher.  She nudges her friend, however, and nods in your direction. 

Melissa raises an eyebrow at her friend who it seems is forever keen to push her in your direction.  Still, she fathoms, it’s not exactly a bad solution.  You’ve been out together a few times outside of school and are always good company.  And just because it’s a couples thing, well, that’s more of an insignificant detail, she reasons.  “Hey, half pint?  What you doing this Friday?”

You look over as you hear the nickname the red head often uses for you, despite the fact you’re only a couple of inches shorter than she is.  “Nothing why?”

“You fancy this?”  She waves her phone at you and you push yourself up out of your chair to take a closer look.

“Tasting delicious things and drinking wine with you, where do I sign up?”

She smirks.  “You don’t need to sign up.  Just turn up.”

*

You make an effort for the evening.  The e-mail made the event look pretty classy and you were being seen out with Melissa, who never looked less than a million bucks in your book, so if you spent a little more time than usual putting on your make up and taming your hair, well, it was only because you didn’t want to show her up.

Despite the fact that you’d dressed up, you weren’t quite prepared for Melissa doing the same.  Yes, you’ve seen her most days for nigh on a year now, but you rarely get to see her like this.  “Fuck…”  It’s not quite the hello you’d intended, but then again, you were pretty sure it was criminal in some states to look that good. 

“What?  Something wrong with it?” asks Melissa, looking down at herself at your greeting. 

“No!  No definitely not!” you quickly reassure her.  “It’s just…” 

She smirks.  “Words, kid.  Come on, you got this.”

Your cheeks flame red.  “I know I see you every day, but I guess I just wasn’t ready for…” you trail off, gesturing vaguely at her. 

Her smirk only grows more devious.  “Don’t look so bad yourself,” she quips before heading inside, giving you a glorious view of the back of the outfit and suddenly making it rather difficult to breathe.

*

It immediately becomes apparent that tonight’s event is a couples event.  The chirpy receptionist that greets you both takes Melissa’s name and checks her off on her list, wishing her and ‘her partner’, who is apparently you, a lovely evening. 

The red head, however, seems not to care and you can do nothing but follow her lead.  As you settle in at your assigned table, you both share polite smiles and easy conversation with the other couples sitting close by.  They also assume that you’re together, and again, Melissa doesn’t correct them. 

You know you could clear up the situation with a few words, but it just feels easier to go with the flow.  Afterall, it doesn’t seem to bother Melissa, so the only real harm is to your own heart.  It’s something you’re learning to live with.  At this point, you can’t quite recall a time when you weren’t in love with the red head. 

As the evening progresses, it’s enough that even you forget for a while.  Her enthusiasm and passion are things you love about her, and when it comes to food, they shine through.  She knows her stuff and engages with the producers and chefs that have put tonight’s menu together.  You, meanwhile, are drinking her in just as much as the wine on offer. 

You know that part of her being so vocal about tonight’s offerings is down to her finding this an easier way to digest the information than reading the leaflets that have been left on your table.  Meanwhile, you take note of the things she’s been particularly keen on, tucking away the associated pamphlets and business cards into your bag to help jog her memory later if she wants to track any of them down. 

Each time there’s a new offering, you prompt Melissa to taste them first.  It’s not that you don’t like trying new things, but you like to have an idea of what you’re letting yourself in for first and you’ve found observing Melissa’s facial expressions to be both a reliable and enjoyable way to do so.  When she comes across something she thinks you’ll like she’s immediately reaching out to feed you the delicious morsels of food, and it’s not until you catch yourself thinking that she has you literally eating out of the palm of her hand that you realise you’re in dangerous territory. 

This is just how Melissa is, you remind yourself.  How she always is with you.  It’s not the red head’s fault that you want to read further into it.

*

At the end of the night, you’re both pleasantly buzzed.  You walk a little, agreeing to find somewhere for one final glass of wine before heading home for the evening.  That’s how you end up side by side on a small couch in a dimly lit wine bar. 

You’re not quite sure how it happens, but one moment Melissa is talking about new recipe ideas she has, and the next she’s leaning in, her intentions unmistakable. 

You pull back, one hand resting on her shoulder to keep a distance between you.  The hurt expression that crosses her face doesn’t escape your attention.  “Sorry, I just…”

She shakes her head.  “No.  No, it’s fine.  I just thought, we were having a good night, you seemed to be enjoying it, you thought I was hot.”

“I was.  I do,” you tell her.  As awkward as this situation may be, you owe it to her to be honest.  You’re well aware she doesn’t make friends easily, but she let you in, and for that alone, you refuse to let this moment go without making it clear why you’re refusing her.  “I think you’re beautiful,” you tell her.  “Beautiful, stunning, gorgeous.  Take your pick or take all three.  I think you’re amazing, and that’s why I can’t.”

She frowns, not understanding.  The whole evening had gone better than she had ever hoped it might.  Rendering you speechless before you’d even made it in the building had given her the confidence boost she’d needed to believe that Barb’s hunch that you liked her might just be true.  Then there was way you responded to her flirting, and now your words? 

“I can’t be someone who helps you scratch and itch, or fulfil some curiosity,” you say, smiling sadly.  “I can either have you as my friend or my everything, Melissa.  I won’t survive some middle ground.”

At this, she sits back, looking at you.  Really looking at you as your words sink in. 

“I’m sorry,” you sigh, ducking you head.  “I just…needed you to know.  I didn’t mean to ruin tonight or for things to get so heavy.”

“No, don’t apologise,” breathes the red head, scooting closer.  She reaches out, gently cupping your cheek.

“Melissa.”  Your tone is a warning.  One you hope she heeds. 

“I’ve never been someone’s everything.”

You look up at the quietly spoken words to see Melissa smiling shyly at you.  Your breath catches in your throat at the realisation that you hadn’t been reading too much into tonight.  It had felt like a date because it had been.  “Then maybe it’s about time you let someone show you how it feels,” you whisper in reply, closing the distance between you.

[deputy-morgan-malone]

What Form of Love Does Your Ship Embody?

I was tagged by @socially-awkward-skeleton, @direwombat, @fourlittleseedlings​, @shellibisshe​, @clicheantagonist​ and @voidika​ to do this uquiz for my ship/s, thank you!

Not tagging anyone since it’s been a while and this quiz made the rounds, but as usual, feel free to take this as an open tag if you’d like to do it! :)

Deputy Morgan Malone x Joseph Seed (FC5)

Morgan:

love as religion

[ love as the sole object of your reverence--nothing about you is holy, but maybe your love for another is ] when sappho said "in the crooks of your body i find my religion" and when the cast of les mis sang "to love another person is to see the face of God" and when halsey said "i found God, i found him in a lover" and when katherine philips wrote "to the dull angry world let's prove there's a religion in our love"

 Joseph:

love as religion

[ love as the sole object of your reverence--nothing about you is holy, but maybe your love for another is ] when sappho said "in the crooks of your body i find my religion" and when the cast of les mis sang "to love another person is to see the face of God" and when halsey said "i found God, i found him in a lover" and when katherine philips wrote "to the dull angry world let's prove there's a religion in our love"

[Interesting fact - I thought I’d done this quiz before, and I had, here, and got a different result for Morgan, Love As Being Known.  This being the ship, I did fill it in this time around thinking specifically about how Morgan would feel about Joseph, and their situation, which maybe skewed the result a little bit?  Or it’s just been a while and she’s evolved a little as a character, or I was on the fence about a few questions and answered them differently]

[sebastianswallows]

The English Client — Twenty-three

— PAIRING: Tom Riddle x F!Reader

— SYNOPSIS: The year is 1952. Tom is working for Borgin and Burkes. He is sent to Rome to acquire three ancient books of magic by any means necessary. One in particular proves challenging to reach, and the only path forward is through a pretty, young bookseller. A foreigner like him, she lives alone, obsessed with her work... until Tom comes into her life.

— WARNINGS: angst, fluff, smut

— WORDCOUNT: 3.7k

— TAGLIST: @esolean @localravenclaw @slytherins-heir

I

He walked her home that evening. They closed up earlier than usual as Ambrogio ostensibly wanted to be left alone. “Still not used to working during daytime hours,” Tom said, “it makes him tired and reclusive and crankier than usual. You know how it is.” He parted from her with a kiss on the cheek. She had felt alright when they said goodbye but as the night advanced she started to get that feeling again, that emptiness in her chest and fogginess around her head and numbness all across her body. She missed him. Missed holding him, and being held…

It came naturally to go to bed early — as if, by magic, she could find him waiting for her in her dreams. To keep her loneliness at bay she put a record on. It hardly helped because when the song called Ne me quitte pas began to play it made her even more yearnful. The pillow was hardly a substitute for Tom’s long, thin body, although it smelled a bit like him by now. And her weighty duvet, no matter how she wrapped it around herself, could not feel like his arms. She buried her face into the pillow and heaved a trembling sigh. She wanted him, she wanted him quite selfishly, and for one mad moment thought about getting dressed and going out to him just to see him for a bit and hear his voice. The record wavered on reciting its sad melody while outside the strong winds that had cleared the sky earlier battered at her window.

She squeezed her eyes once tightly and sighed, then rolled out of bed disentangling herself from everything and went over to the armchair.

“You’re so stupid,” she mumbled as she picked up the phone. “So stupid and needy…”

II

Tom was gloating, albeit privately, about the outcomes of the day. He’d eliminated Oso, gotten the symbolic revenge over the parasite by throwing him into the trash, and found his little secret stockpile too as a result. He was lucky his unwitting partner in crime had found that key in the vampire’s remains, although he’d likely have found it as well if he’d bothered to look. With the rest of his afternoon free he had set to looking around for any place the key could fit. It didn’t look like a normal key, that was for sure, with half its body being cut through with indentations rather than teeth. He looked around Oso’s bedroom, inside his coffin, the auction room — before finally coming upon a little orifice in the desk in the office across from their shared one, which at first glance looked rather like a hole where a screw had gone loose.

In the organised chaos, Tom found lists of all past auctions and what had been won by whom. He also found a few books of curses which he initially thought were part of the collection, but soon realised they were Ambrogio’s own. Most conveniently of all, however, he found details of the security charm Ambrogio had set on the books. Tom left most of his findings back in the undershop to study later, but that notebook, he took with him.

He wasn’t even half done deciphering its arcane scribbles, ancient languages, and profane geometry, when the phone rang.

“Hello?” he answered with a groan, holding the receiver between his ear and shoulder.

“Tom?”

Of course it was her. No one else would call him.

“Sweetheart,” he smiled.

“I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Not at all. And how come you’re still up?”

“I couldn’t sleep…”

“Clearly.”

“I just missed… talking to you. I guess I thought I’d feel better if I heard your voice.”

Tom grinned and put the dry old tome down to hold the phone up properly. “And do you?”

“I can’t tell yet,” she said, sultry and tired. “Talk some more.”

“Is that… sad French music you’re listening to?”

“It’s Belgian.”

“Pardonnez-moi,” he scoffed.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with the French, quit sneering.”

“So you’ve said…”

“And you know I love Paris and want to go someday.”

“Sadly, yes, I remember.”

“What were you doing, anyway?”

“Reading,” said Tom, pushing the notebook away as if she could have seen it. He had to remind himself this was nothing like a floo call.

“At this hour? Good grief, Tom.”

“It’s only midnight. Perfect time for reading.”

She said nothing, but he thought he heard her giggle.

“What were you doing?” he asked.

“Listening to sad music. And missing you.”

He found himself smiling and asked something rather foolish. “Do you want me to come over?”

“No, no, certainly not. It’s so cold out, and late…”

“Are you sure? I can be there quite quickly,” he grinned. He hadn’t tried it yet, but he was sure he could Apparate directly inside her building if he focused.

“Yes, I’m sure… It’s enough to be able to talk to you.”

Tom hummed thoughtfully.

“Do you want to go to work together tomorrow?” she asked.

“Alright. I can wait for you outside your building.”

“I’d like that…”

“And I’ll be the one to treat you to tea this time. I still have your… large bottle,” he stumbled.

“The thermos?” she laughed. “I forgot all about it… I’d love it if you brought tea. You’re always so good at making it.”

His face fought back a big, proud grin. It felt awkward to be complimented for something so plain.

“I’ll see you in the morning, then,” said Tom, already thinking of what he’d wear tomorrow.

“Until morning, then… Good night, Tom.”

“Good night.”

“Sweet dreams.”

“And stop listening to that whiny music.”

“No.”

He was left with his mouth open when she hung up.

III

She wasn’t joking when she said the night was cold. Tom could see it in the little icicles that formed on the overgrown grass by the road rather than feel it for himself. He had been more than simply cold since his second Horcrux… There was a numbness, even, outside as well as inwardly. He pulled his coat tighter around himself and looked up. Her window was dark. It would have been, at three AM. The decision to visit her came more easily to him than he expected… They were partners in crime for two murders now, and that was more than he could say of even his Knights of Walpurgis. There was a magic in taking a life, of forcing it between the worlds. Magic they had done together even if she was a muggle — whether it applied to vampires was merely a philosophical question.

And while Tom had considered Apparating right to her, he quickly realised it would have cheapened the act. That did not prevent him, however, from forcing her lock open with Alohomora. Her flat was as silent as a crypt and just as dark. He tiptoed into the bedroom and found her sleeping on her front, and on what Tom considered was “his” side of the bed. Moving slowly, he took his clothes off and piled them blindly on the armchair. The only risk to waking her up was when he’d crawl into bed — but to his surprise, she didn’t wake. Tom felt quite smug about his gift at sneaking, and all without resorting to any muffling spells. He’d half looked forward to surprising her and hearing the shift in her voice when she realised he was there… But that could wait until the morning. For now, he allowed himself to enjoy sliding beneath her blankets and wrapping an arm around her to warm his naked body.

IV

Everything felt quieter than usual, heavier, like a dream pulling her back. She really didn’t want to wake up but she knew her alarm would start ringing in a moment. She stretched and her feet peeked out of the blanket, but when she tucked them back inside they came across something hard and cold and smooth. It took her a moment to realise it was a body.

“AAAAHHH!”

“Ow!”

“Tom?! W-what are you doing here?”

“Surprise,” he mumbled while he held his nose.

“Oh no, did I hit you?”

“No, you just have very sharp elbows…”

She giggled and moved a little closer, lifting the duvet to cover them both up to the neck. “Let me kiss it better,” she said, reaching out to cup his cheek.

“No thank you.”

“You’re so adorable when you pout… Like a little kitty. My own Tomcat.”

He mumbled something but didn’t protest when she eased his hand away and pecked a kiss on the tip of his nose. It was only a little red.

“Who did you expect?” he grumbled.

“Nobody! That’s why I was scared. What are you doing here?” she asked as she parted from him, stretching toward the bedside table to check the time.

“I thought you’d be happy to see me…”

“And I thought we agreed to see each other in the morning.”

“It is the morning.”

“Tom, it’s six thirty AM.”

“Exactly.”

She fell back onto her pillow and sighed but soon she started laughing. One look at Tom fussing over his pretty face, his hair a mess and eyes all bleary, was enough to calm her heart and put a smile upon her face.

“You really did scare me,” she said as she curled up beside him. “How did you even get inside?”

He paused at her question then answered plainly, “I picked your lock.”

“Tom!”

“I locked it back up afterwards.”

She frowned and shook her head but couldn’t stay upset with him for long. “Did I hurt you badly?”

“It’s nothing.”

“You’re cute when you’re trying to be manly. Let me kiss it again.”

“No.”

“So you slipped into my bed why…?” she asked with a cocked brow. “Fine then. No kisses for you.”

Tom sighed and rolled his eyes then leaned forward to cage her in his arms. He tried to frown menacingly but she gave him that calm, confident look she had when she guessed exactly what he wanted. It didn’t happen often, as Tom was quite unlike everyone else she knew, but in those moments it was like she spoke his secret language and saw into the heart of him. And while signs of motherly affection were foreign things to Tom he responded well to other kinds of love. He leaned down slowly and kissed her lips. She sighed — he was so much softer in the morning. She laid back and smiled into the kiss, keeping her eyes closed and her hands nice and warm beneath the covers, and let him taste his fill of her. When his lips travelled to her jaw and neck she couldn’t help but giggle.

“Did you get much sleep?” she asked in a pleased and purring voice.

“A few hours,” he mumbled against her skin.

“You should sleep more.”

“Mhm…”

“Toooom…”

“Hmmm?”

“I’m in no mood for that again.”

He sighed. “Went too hard last time, did I?”

“A bit.”

“Don’t worry,” he said with a tilted smile. “I won’t try to convince you to leave with me again.”

And as his kisses travelled lower she felt a little disappointed that he had given up on trying to persuade her, although grateful as well in a strange twist of heart. It made her all the more determined not to tell him that she had already begun to change her mind, to plot her own escape with him.

He pulled the duvet back from her chest then eased her gown away, leaving her skin open to the morning air. She shivered for a moment until Tom lowered his head and covered her with more kisses. His right hand curled around her waist and he covered her body with his, pulling the duvet above both of them. With gentle pressure, his lips began to move. He nipped at the flesh of her breast with a smile, then circled and circled around until his lips landed on her nipple. He affixed his lips to it and suckled. He moved gently with her every trembling sigh and purred when she threaded her fingers through his messy hair. Her head fell back onto the pillow as his tongue began to play, lapping at the underside of her bud until it puckered, greedy to be back in the warmth of his mouth. Tom grinned and flicked it with the tip of his tongue a little more then closed his teeth around it, gently, just enough to hold it still while his lips covered more and more between them as if he wanted to swallow her whole.

“Tom,” she moaned, needy for his name in her mouth.

He smiled and raised himself from her, leaving her trembling and cold, and moved onto the other breast to give it some attention too. Her caressing of his head encouraged him and he suckled on her a bit harder, playing with her nipple like a pebble in his mouth. He pressed it with his tongue against the roof of his mouth and nursed on it, sucking the taste of her skin. His wet and noisy drool dripped down along the curves of her breast. And when she whined, pulling on his locks and arching her back into his mouth he went back to kissing down her chest, its soft undersides and top, moving to her warm neck for a while before going back down again. She was sighing heavily by then and groaning in that airy way she knew Tom understood as pleasure. It only encouraged him to tease her more and he moved from one side to the other with a smile.

“My darling,” she whispered, dizzy with the feeling of her whole body growing hot. “My Tom…”

And just as he was pulling on her nipple, bringing it as high as he could before letting it go from his mouth, a shrill sound cut the air around them, stopping him mid-motion in shock.

She sighed and turned to her nightstand. It was the alarm clock. She reached out and fumbled for a bit until she could turn it off then fell back to the bed and sighed. Tom crawled up and rolled onto his side, looking none too pleased at being interrupted. His lips were still soft and warm because of her.

“Do we have to?” he grumbled.

“It’s seven. We’ll be late for work...”

He sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Well, I’m hardly in a mood to leave while in this state too, you know.”

“Oh? A state of what exactly?” he grinned, his hand slipping around her middle. “Would you care to show me? Perhaps I can take care of it.”

“Bad Tom. You’re a bad, wicked boy.”

“If only you knew just how bad I can be,” he chuckled, covering her once again to kiss her.

She curled a hand around his shoulder and clung to him, revelling in being so completely covered by his body.

“You’re horrible,” she smiled into his mouth.

He only grinned more proudly.

V

The first day of freedom — in the sense of having the undershop all to himself — was spent with an activity that reminded Tom of his school years: experimentation. In the morning hours, with a clearer head and a warm cup of tea, he finished deciphering Oso’s notebook that he found the day before. A large part of it was mere references for brevity’s sake to books and ancient curses. Fortunately for Tom Oso was thorough in his citations, as any antiquary would be. By the time he could go on his lunch break, he had tracked down the most important tomes they stocked there and knew which others to look for.

He didn’t even notice it was lunchtime until his phone rang. That infernal trilling of the telephone never failed to startle him.

“Yes?” he answered, rubbing his forehead.

“Tom? I’m hungry…”

“Oh. What time is— Ah, yes, let’s go.”

The weather had cooled such that there was no outside seating at their favourite restaurant, so they sat inside squeezed side-by-side at a little table in the corner. Even with her warmth pressed into him, Tom ate distractedly, his mind still on those books. He was eager to go back of course and finish solving the mystery of the spell that bound the books to the building before anyone noticed Ambrogio was gone. He hadn’t even found where he’d placed Torchia yet. It wasn’t stored with all the others… Tom distantly feared he’d given it to Malfoy already. If so that was another hurdle he’d have to overcome, one that might make it all not worth it in the end.

But still, he took the time to kiss the corner of her mouth once they were back — just inside the shop, but openly; the scandal! — and brewed another cup of tea for them while she tried to control her blushing. She didn’t ask him where his thoughts went, but then, when he managed to pay attention she seemed a bit lost in her own thoughts as well. He did her the kindness, as she had done for him, not to pry.

After he was back downstairs he thought it might be prudent to build up some hints of Oso’s absence. He went to his room and preemptively Dissapparated several of his clothes, shoes, and a few of the books by his coffin. The coffin itself, he put up by the wall and took the pillows out of it, as if it was just another eccentric decoration.

He didn’t phone upstairs until the evening came.

“Yes?” she answered in a tired, dreamy voice.

“Hello, my sweet. Have you seen Ambrogio all day?”

“No? He should be down with you. He hardly ever comes up here.”

“Strange. I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

“Oh… Maybe he’s back to his night schedule?”

“Maybe.”

“But, since he’s not around…”

“Yes?”

“Do you… maybe want to go home early?”

She asked it in such a guilty and playful voice that Tom could not refuse.

He had enough of the papers at home to keep him busy but he knew he was approaching a breakthrough. It was time to direct his attention to Mr. Malfoy and his “secretary”…

Oso’s allegiance to Malfoy was not something Tom had ever anticipated. One solution seemed now to lead to another problem and while killing a vampire leading a double life among muggles was one thing, doing away with Burke’s best client was another.

Tom was amused, however, that Mr. Malfoy was stuck now with his “payment” to Oso tagging along uselessly… Poor boy.

VI

Halfway through the tram ride home, he noticed she was holding his hand. It was the buildup of warmth that distracted him, that made him feel like something was wrong. He looked down at their hands, then up at her, her drawn face perked up by a mysterious smile.

“What?” he asked.

“I like that look you get when you’re so lost in thought… And that way your lips curl, like a cat up to no good.”

“Ah yes, I almost forgot. I’m your Tomcat, right?” He sighed and rolled his eyes, but kept his hand in hers.

VII

It took three days for the Baron to notice Ambrogio was gone. It came about from a series of telephone calls Tom was only marginally involved with. First, Donatien called the upstairs shop, inquiring about Signor Oso. Tom had to hear about “that pretty French boy” again when she called him asking if Ambrogio was available.

“I can call Frenchie myself and tell him,” said Tom. “What’s his number?”

“No, I promised I would get back to him. So, is Ambrogio there?”

Tom frowned at her eagerness to talk to that boy again. “No,” he said firmly. “He’s missed work today as well.”

“Strange… You don’t suppose something’s happened?”

“It’s Rome, my dear. Anything is possible.”

“Well, alright then, I’ll let him know…”

“Do you think the Baron is informed?”

She paused. “I don’t think so. S-should I…?

“Unless you want me to…?

“Would you?”

“No,” laughed Tom. “Neither should you, in fact. Let Malfoy do it.”

“Tom, that’s a terrible idea! He’s a client.”

“So what? Oso’s being a lout, missing days of work, leaving us to deal with things… Let the old men figure it out between themselves.”

“You have a horrible work ethic.”

She still liked his idea enough to follow through because sure enough within the hour the Baron rang the shop, sounding calm but angry in his typical way. Tom eavesdropped on the conversation by tactfully picking up the phone in his office and listening in.

“I don’t know, sir. Tom hasn’t seen him either.”

“And why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, we thought he spoke to you —”

“Never mind,” the old man growled. “Come to my office tomorrow at ten o’clock.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

And that, Tom knew, was when his plan could finally be set in motion.

VIII

“Oh my goodness, Tom, he called me in. What am I going to do?! He’ll sack me…”

“No he won’t,” smiled Tom, leaning casually against the desk while she paced up and down. She’d called him upstairs in a frantic summons right after the Baron hung up.

“He’s so mad about Ambrogio…”

“Exactly. And now he’s forced to rely on us.”

“What if Ambrogio turns up again though?”

“He won’t,” said Tom a little too quickly. “And even if he does, he’s already fallen out of favour.”

She kept on fretting, her little shoes clipping on the wooden floorboards as steady as clockwork. Tom pushed himself to his feet and walked up behind her, embracing her to keep her still. Immediately, her head leaned back and rested on his shoulder.

“Everything will be alright,” he whispered. “The Baron will depend on you more than ever, and then you can ask for all the things you’ve never dared to ask before. And he shall give them to you. Because he’ll have no choice.”

“He can just hire someone else…”

“Not in time for the next auction.”

“He has you, though.”

“I will not be a more appealing option to him,” Tom grinned. “Trust me.”

Whether she did or not, she turned to face him and wrapped her arms around him, hiding herself in his chest. Tom embraced her, feeling more sorry than ever that he’d have to leave her behind.

[welcomingdisaster]

follow up to the voiceover post: how well various silm ships would do with the "my partner does my makeup" challenge:

finwë/miriel: once again perfect score, extra credit, 11/10. finwe softens miriel's look a little bit and miriel definitely adds extra flourishes, but it looks artistic and purposeful & quite well-done.

tuor/idril: 8/10. a lot of their early flirting was predicated on idril helping the newcomer to court get down the mannerisms/outfits/make-up, so it's definitely not their first time. that said, he's only had a mortal lifetime to practice (compared to her 500+ years) and thus loses some points of execution.

feanel: 7/10. both look quite nice, but neither is fully satisfied with it.

russingon: 5/10. despite all expectations, maedhros pays enough attention to re-create fingon's favorite looks quite well. he is however very ticklish and immediately elbows fingon in the nose when it's time to switch.

finrod/beor: 1/10 for the actual makeup looks, 8/10 for the earnest resulting conversations about cultural exchange and linguistics.

curufin/curufin's wife: 2/10. it looks quite nice but they're both having an absolutely awful time. she has just fit in a jab about his father and he's blaming her for their son leaving. let's close the door.

thingol/melian: disqualified for excessive use of magic.

daemags: 6/10. daeron assumes it's easy, gets frustrated mid-way through eyeliner, and writes some kinda poetry over maglor's bare chest instead. maglor does a nice job and then immediately smudges everything by jumping daeron's bones. extra points for commentary about the impermanence of art, i guess

miriel/indis: 9/10 indis has been sitting still while miriel paints her face for so long it's gotta be some kinda kink thing. looks nice though

beren/luthien: 8/10. not sure what's gonna happen but it's for sure gonna be cute

[toneelspeelster]

ethics of motherhood: the jane / charlie spring essay

ever since the release of the second season of heartstopper i've seen so many different opinions on jane spring as a parent; she's the absolute devil, overbearing, completely against understanding charlie and his relationship with nick etc. etc. but i would like to delve into why i think the way alice set up jane spring in s2 is a /great/ gateway into a deeper, nuanced storyline between jane and charlie because, quite honestly - it's clearly long overdue. once again, i'd like to use backstory from the comics to infer what might be happening to jane in the series and how, maybe a bit surprisingly to some - charlie is in some respects a lot more like her than you might think.

please note: this is not an apology, or an excuse to jane's behaviour as a mother to charlie; i just want to give her actions a context and i think, show the room for growth which I think would be a beautiful, very nuanced, storyline between parent and child to take on in charlie's mental health story in s3/4.

(tw for parental abuse, discussion of eating disorder)

one thing that really informs jane spring as a character and as a mother in general is her own mother. we see in the comics that her mother is a. physically abusive and b. does not allow jane to have any criticism against her and uses that as a reason for the abuse.

jane later tells charlie the following on her relationship with her mother, acknowledging the effect that her mother had on her - to an extent. she softens the things that happened to her.

jane knows this of her being a mother: she's overbearing, her mother was too, and she was also hoping to be very different to what her mother was to her.

now what i think is a vital thing to consider is the following: jane grew up in a household where she was physically and emotionally unsafe. she was hit for expressing normal teenage behaviour. it should be okay to sometimes not agree with your parents and pushing back at them. they should provide you with a safe method of communication for doing so but they never taught jane that. as a result, i think it's a very human response of people to try and make sure they deal with things differently when they get older; but that also can result in overcompensating behaviour.

my feeling is that jane is overly focused, i think unconsciously, on keeping in particular charlie safe, and in that sometimes loses sight on making him feel actually (emotionally) safe. because safe means to jane: performing well in school, not doing anything that might be dangerous, but also: keep in line with expected social behaviour. what is the safest thing, jane thinks? that your behaviour is perfect. because if you don't give others any reason to think you're being out of order (in whatever way), you will not get abuse. safe is being perfect, doing everything perfectly. you can and should control your life in such a way that it will be possible for things to be perfect.

and guess who feels that way too?

kids learn a lot more from their parents than they would think (or even like).

one of the most interesting changes from novel to tv series i think, is the change of having jane not being immediately supportive of nick from the get go; as it fits in quite well with jane's character trait of being focused on charlie's safety (and by extension julio's character, but he goes about this differently and quite honestly... can be quite of a wet wipe lol) and exercising control over his behaviour to make him safe in her own eyes. she wants him to be socially presentable ("please change out of your pyjamas to meet guests"), to focus on school work, and for him to listen to her when she says he needs to come home; in a sense i think she wants to be aware of where charlie is at a given time and not too stay out too late, because the night? that might be dangerous.

we have to remember that charlie was severely bullied only a year ago, and julio's constant reminders of charlie in s1 of please calling him when the situation gets out of hand with nick's circle of "friends", indicates to me that his parents were aware of the bullying, maybe being informed by ajayi bc i don't see charlie being able to tell that to his parents himself. so: nick's "sort" (tao mentions his circle as "exactly the sort of people who bullied [charlie]") are in jane's eyes boys to be weary of.

so when charlie tells his parents, jane doesn't totally trust it.

this is worsened when it turns out nick is also going on the paris trip. for charlie, that's not the only reason to on the trip at all, but the way the conversation goes with julio's comment that's the reason why he wants to go, this is where nick gets associated in her mind with charlie as something that she needs to be aware of and perhaps even intervene. to make sure he's safe. she needs to control the situation if it goes wrong.

which she does. almost immediately. when charlie shows behaviour out of the ordinary for him and the only cause she sees is nick; he's the new factor in all of this.

it's like she thinks if she doesn't completely nip this behaviour in the bud in a very hard way, all the bad things imaginable will come immediately. like charlie would flunk school within a few weeks. charlie, who's been a high achiever! julio's response is actually quite appropriate, i personally think: it's not a wonder that you're unfocused bc you have been spending time a lot (which we've seen! on screen!) but also i don't want ban you from seeing him completely, just set some boundaries.

interestingly enough, this is also due to charlie overly focusing his efforts on keeping nick essentially perfectly safe in his coming out as well; unfortunately, in that final scene shown above, he's just realised that he's got no control over nick's coming outs being perfect, as david has shown to be very biphobic and dismissive of nick in a way that neither nick or charlie had any say in or could even prevent from happening. jane has the option of trying to control things because she's his mother and has some authority over his life.

jane disappears in the show after this issue of charlie handing in his course work gets resolved for a while, so it does seem like she very much keeps to her word afterwards.

she comes back in time for some growth. tori rightly mentions that the family dinner is not something that their mum would totally enjoy bc tori has seen the criticism jane has regarding nick. but charlie does know nick, feels emotionally safe with him, especially after their convo in the louvre and nick being open about his dad, so charlie is right in saying nick, as a person not the idea that jane has of him by association, might convince her.

and he does.

nick can be trusted; nick has come out to his neglectful parent, chastised his older brother for being an asshole, mentions he feels happy with his life with charlie and living openly as his boyfriend and apologises to his mother for ruining the dinner (a sign of a well mannered boy!). and when sarah tells jane that this is something that she's never seen nick do and that must be of nick's deep care for charlie, jane thinks..

and comes around (a bit).

unfortunately, her overt focus on charlie's grades slipping being due to nick's influence in his life completely makes her neglect the signs that charlie is not eating well (that's something that is building up so gradually that i don't think she sees it as an option). there are some great metas on here by @ finnicksannie regarding this being one of the biggest reasons why charlie's grades are actually slipping.

all in all, i just want to close by saying this is a deeply traumatised mother parenting a deeply traumatised son and they both need time and therapy for a better understanding of the communication between them.

and i think the end of season 2 sets up a nice storyline about that quite nicely. jane accepts nick in their circle, but her communication with charlie has not been resolved; it's just a little tick towards her needing to trust charlie more. he's got good instincts. she's starting to realise.

this is all not an excuse. it's a set up for a responsibility on jane's part to work to communicate with charlie better. but life is life. and we're humans. sometimes we need to learn to grow.

and in the mean time, in the small moments, maybe with what you would say is the bare minimum, with not agreeing with charlie's self deprecation, jane does show her love of her son.

i don't think it's without reason that this was shown.

--

i have not read the novel solitaire / nick & charlie / this winter. feel free to add in comments if there's something in there too! but i do feel the series might incorporate jane's storyline maybe a little bit differently than from in the books; but it sounds like her controlling behaviour is a throughline to it all.

[cabi-leodrann]

I just wanna say I love how Selki looks to be a great pyrenes! A SHEEP dog!!!

That's a good guess! Not quite there, but not far off! Salky is inspired by White Swiss Shepherd. A race of dog I particularly affectionate for two reasons: -One, they are such pretty dogs -Two, a dog I really had looked like one of those! (the picture is not a pic of her, just one of the first result when you look for White Swiss Shepard)

And if I understood well, White Swiss Shepard are also sheepdog! So yeah, the dog was a perfect fit =D I don't have a picture of my dog on me, I'll have to dig up through my stuff to get one- But she looked a lot like the dog on the picture!

[sunshine304]

New Fanbinding! Two fics by KouriArashi

Now that the gift copies for @gingersnapwolves have arrived (and how quick the post was this time, I'm in awe!), I can post about my latest fanbinding project.

I had decided on binding both fics about, uhm, two years ago? XD I love all of Kouri's CQL fics; she's actually the reason I started watching the show in the first place, so it was a no-brainer to bind some of her fics!

I think I did the typset for "The Way It Wasn't" in 2021 but I had a specific design idea for the case in mind and didn't feel confident to tackle that just yet, so the printed version sat around for... a while. Sometime after that, I did the typeset for "Picking Up the Pieces", which took longer because of the photo edits.

I finally got around to actually making the books in May and I'm very pleased with the results, though there were a lot of stumbling blocks in both projects and I'm actually surprised that the finished books look good. XD I was sure I'd case in the block upside down after all the other mishaps, but at least I didn't do that. XD (I might have checked each book like five times, though... just in case. XD)

More pictures and info about the process behind the cut.

The books are supposed to be the first in a series of 5, each focussing on one of the great sects, and so I decided to use the same basic design ideas: colour-coded for the sect, the cut-out on the front, the little graphic on the back, same brand of Parisian marbled paper, frontispiece depicting the location, sect logo as title page, same design for titling on the spine.

For some reason, my camera refuses to really catch the foil colour from "Picking Up the Pieces" on the titling - it's a light pink/ rosé coloured foil.

The planned design for that book really caused me quite some grief, because it turned out that the foil I'd wanted to use (a light lilac one) did not work on this kind of book cloth. It's only for using a laminator / hot iron and so also doesn't work on paper with a foil pen.

I changed the colours for that books so often, going to a coated lilac cloth (where the foil works because it's coated...) but that didn't look good with the light coloured paper I used with the logo (no contrast), so I went back to this cloth and went looking for another foil. I tried rosegold which was okay, but then I lucked out and got the light pink one at a local shop.

For "The Way It Wasn't", I used a lot of official art:

For "Picking Up th Pieces", I used a mix of (edited) official art and photo edits I made myself. The "problem" of this fic is that Lan Wangji starts living at Lotus Pier, wearing Jiang colours most of the time and no forehead ribbon.

Also, Jiang Yanli is now sect leader and needed some fancy clothes. Luckily, Xuan Lu has acted in a lot of dramas recently where she wore some more dramatic robes that would fit a sect leader. I had to do colour edits of the robes at times and at one point had to photoshop Lan Wangji into a picture with her. My old Photoshop did not like all of this but I managed in the end. XD

I'm pleased with the results and might make a post with the photo edits at one point.

I also asked Kouri about her fancast for the OC Yu Zhiyi; that was a while ago. I wanted to include a picture of the character but didn't want to choose someone at random if Kouri already had someone in mind. Of course, I never mentioned that this was for the book; it was supposed to be a surprise after all! ;D

I'm really pleased with how the books turned out, especially considering all the stuff that went wrong in making the cases... XD I guess I can say I learned some things? XD

It's always fun if you mess up something on one case and think, "Ah well, this will be my copy then, I guess!" and then you mess up even worse on the other case! XD So Kouri got the book with more air bubbles in the logo because on the other case, the title was crooked. Argh!

I added some ornaments to distract a bit from that. It's also important to know that I'm a bit OCD about titles and stuff being crooked, I just hate it. This was a very sad moment for me.

But that's always the danger when fumbling around with that flimsy foil and the print-out. I'll live! :D

Materials used:

Printed on Clairefontaine Papago 80g (TWIW) and Clairefontaine DCP 100g (PUTP)

Case + endpapers "The Way It Wasn't":

- booklinen Brillianta - French marbled paper 120g - craft paper - hot foil (on brand)

Case + endpapers "Picking Up the Pieces":

- booklinen Imperial - French marbled paper 120g - Rössler letter paper 100g - hot foil (cheap stuff)

[saintsenara]

re: tom sr and how he isn't thought of as a victim, i think he fits very well into how the text generally treats victims, in that it tries to suggest that he plays a part in his own assault and also that he deserves everything he gets as a result of his response to it.

imo, there's a distaste not only for "bad" victims (like not being gracious enough to stick around for your rapist, i guess), but for anyone who could be perceived as 'weak'. it comes up again and again, from merope (her home life to her death is pretty much a straight line), to snape (if only he weren't so obviously poor and working class and ugly, then james and sirius wouldn't have had to pick on him....!!), to marietta edgecombe (if you snitch at school while under a burgeoning authoritarian regime where your actions could have consequences for your parents then you deserve to be mutilated for life).

i'd say that neville also fits into this, both as a victim of snape, and as a parallel to harry. of the two orphans, both victims of the war, one is brave and heroic and courageous as a result, and the other spends several years being regarded as a joke by his peers, whose response to bullying results in more bullying.

so true.

the series has such a bad vibe when it comes to violence or cruelty against those it thinks "deserve" it.

[the fact that everyone's response to harry using the cruciatus curse on amycus carrow is to think "that's so hot" comes to mind...]

i get that it's just something that happens with the genre conventions the books are anchored in - which means that everything becomes a simplistic good-vs-evil, "we're good so what we do is good, they're bad so what they do is bad" dichotomy [especially in deathly hallows] and the grubby reality of war is obscured [i.e. how we never see anyone in the order use the killing curse, even though they literally must be].

but i don't like it! it's dull!

but what i dislike even more - to annoy everyone by pointing out that the author is, in fact, not dead - is that it's quite striking if you read interviews with jkr that this is how she feels outside of the constraints of genre. on the basis of her public statements [obviously we don't know her in private], she does seem to be someone who's quite vindictive, but who regards that vindictiveness as proof that she has a strong sense of fairness...

not a great vibe, that. luckily we have fandom as a space to interrogate this nonsense.