#when I was going to support the whole set of plushies and keychains

[anaquariusfox]

No shade towards this user! But I would actually love to address this statement or thought process.

(And its actually £37 for you!)

But nonetheless, there are many things to consider when you’re criticizing an artist for the price of their works and here are a few!

How much time goes into the process of a piece(s)!

For example, I made not only one zine, but two in the span of 7 months. While working a 40+ hour a week active job. So all my free time was consumed with this zine. You may think $43 is a lot for a zine, but I am just one person make a whole NSFW zine. I wasn’t one of 20+ artists and fic writers putting one piece into a whole zine. And I won’t undervalue myself and my time! Also, most of my commissions, for one custom piece, cost more than not only my nsfw zine, but both my zines combined.

How much time goes into the technically side of the piece(s) (I.e. creating the actual zine with printing companies and sizing and resizing, and shipping and handling artists usually handle themselves)

For myself, it was hours and hours of file converting and resizing and in the end it still didn’t look good in zine previews, that’s why I decided to go digital.

The exclusivity of the artwork(s)

You’ll find a lot of things of this nature are either limited time products or exclusive to the product itself! For example, all my pieces in my NSFW zine, are for the zine supporters only, as well as my SFW being half favorite pieces and half new, zine exclusive pieces!

The content of said artwork(s)

My zine for example, is a “taboo” type of artwork, it’s basically a book full of porn. Not a lot of artist draw porn and even less nsfw artist, share it on social media! But here I am, sharing a whole exclusive zine of porn for two lovable characters! Oh, and as trans characters haha. They’re t4t in my zine because I draw the representation I want through my favorite characters!

* And in the end really! *

You’ve got to understand, as artists, we are putting out so much free content on social media. Whether it’s every day, every other day, once a week or once a month. You, as a consumer of our work, get free content (both old and new), all for free! Is that not wild?! For example, people pay $10 a month to see all the porn I’ve ever drawn on Patreon on then get to see the latest porn and sfw stuff I post! Ive been told by so many friends that I should charge more even! But that’s not the point of this post.

Artists could never share again, or put their craft and skills behind a massive paywall, but we love sharing and putting art into the world, cause fuck, a world without art would kill me. I literally love scrolling through my social media and seeing all my mutuals and artists I follow share their work and interests through art. I love seeing their minds work and what they felt so proud of to share it with the world.

And on top of that, if you think something is a bit too high in price, just remember all the free content the artist puts out, remember what art piece you love the most from them and why you followed them in the first place maybe! And by purchasing an item(s) from them, is a way of showing them support for all the joy their art has brought you 🫶😊 and just supporting artists in general vs large corporations who usually underpay their artists or just straight up steal art.

**In the end, I won’t undervalue my time and skill for a quick sale cause I’ve had people happily support me at the prices they are and I’m so grateful te for them.**

*** No artist should undervalue their work! We have a skill and took time to create this skill and study our skill to become better and better 🫶***

I do hope that anyone with the same mind set as this user, might have a new POV on the artists side/ BTS side of an artist and content creator when judging their prices.

[aarmaudiaries]

ya’ll i just had the most humbling experience of my life today so i’m gonna talk about it. for context i am in a school that is 6-12th grade, and there’s like a total of like 24 kids in the whole building (this is because it’s specifically a setting for students with mental disabilities and disorders- and is small on purpose to reduce stress levels) so some of my classes are mixed with little 7th grade boys. specifically my gym/health class because i am the “teachers assistant” for some reason (i did not sign up for this somebody save me /j) and basically i was just minding my business with my aarmau meemeows on my desk because a lot of people carry around plushies as like a support item, so i carry around my aaron and aphmau ones on days where i’m having a hard time and stuff. and this little 4 foot boy taps me on the shoulder and goes “those are from aphmau” and i had a fucking HEART ATTACK. i just stared at him and went “yea. you watch her?” and he got all excited. it was very cute. so we started chatting about it and i was like “oh who’s your favorite character of hers?” and he said ein and i was like interesting choice but ok- and we started talking about aarmau since we both knew a decent amount about them n’ stuff- or at least i thought we did. i was fully convinced we were on the same page but then he started talking about what videos he watches and it hit me like a truck. he watches jess’ CURRENT content. he watches COCOMAU. WHICH MAKES SENSE SINCE HES LIKE A SMALL CHILD BUT FOR SOME REASON I DIDNT REALIZE THATS WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT UNTIL HE MENTIONED LIKE A RECENT VIDEO. so i was just sitting there hiding my absolute whiplash while he asked me if i’d seen any of the videos he was talking about- and i confessed to him that i only like her older stuff from like 2016 and he was like “oh. okay.” HE DIDNT LOOK UPSET OR ANYTHING BUT I STILL FELT A BIT BAD. nothing was worse then when i felt like i was aging rapidly though. like oh my god i am an out of touch elderly woman. pleaseeeee someone put me out of my misery or something because that was so depressing.

but the worst part was when class was almost over and i took out my wallet so i could go buy some oreos from the school store once the period ended or something- and i forgot that i have my mcd aaron keychain hooked onto my damn wallet- so i half expected this kid to like notice it and bring it up in front of everyone. which would’ve been kinda embarrassing if i had to explain to everyone in my gym class who mcd aaron was. but alas he didn’t say anything. and it took me a second to realize the reasons he didn’t recognize the damn keychain was because mcd aaron’s design is DRASTICALLY different from cocomau aaron’s design- SO THE LITTLE BOY HAD NO IDEA WHO IT WAS. WHICH WAS SOMEHOW WORSE THAN HIM BRINGING IT UP CAUSE IT MADE ME FEEL EVEN OLDER. GOOD GOD 😭😭😭 IM CRYING LAUGHING WRITING THIS TOO BECAUSE ITS JUST SO FUNNY TO ME AND I DONT REALLY KNOW WHY?? I was just humbled so bad tbh it was very silly.

ANYWAYS YEA THATS MY STORY HOPE YA’LL HAVE FUN WITH THAT LMFAOOO

[miss-tc-nova]

Kupo - Riku x Reader

Ooo, I like this one. However, because I already did a haunted house with Hermod, I’m gonna mosey on over to the carnival! I hope you enjoy, anon!

~~~~~

              Eyes on the horizon, I am literally bouncing down the street. The only thing preventing me from bursting into a sprint and shoving Sora out of the way is the grip on my hand holding me in place.

              “Will you calm down,” Riku says. I’m almost one hundred percent certain he’s enjoying the torture he’s putting me through.

              “But Riku! It’s the carnival!” I reply, waving at the rides and booths set up in the distance. “It only comes to Destiny Islands once a year! How are you not excited?!”

              Kairi, walking ahead of us with Sora, turns back. “Cut him some slack. Riku and Sora only got to go to the carnival a couple times.”

              “Yeah,” adds Sora. “Our parents were usually busy when it came around, so we hung out on the island instead.”

              “So he should be even more excited! C’moooooooooon!” The young man easily resists my pulling. “How are you walking even slower?! Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!”

              “What are you complaining about? We’re here.”

              I pause; he’s right. We’re finally here and I feel the built-up excitement just might pop. The bright lights and colors, the mouth-watering smells, the exhilarating rides: it’s been years since I’ve been to a carnival myself so I don’t even know where to start.

              Someone walks by with a plate and Sora practically starts drooling. “What is that? Can we get one?”

              Okay, I know one place not to start.

              “No! You can’t eat yet!” I tell him.

              “Aww, why not?”

              I point to the claw-like structure waving several rows of seats in the air. “Because the last thing you want to do is pay for carnival food and then go on that.”

              He waves me off. “I’ll be fine.”

              I slap that hand down. “No! Ride first, then funnel cake!”

              His blue eyes go wide. “Funnel cake?!”

              “Later!”

              As per my demands, we take on the rides first. Due to space, the rides are situated on either side of the carnival; so on our way to the other side, we pass through the game booths. Lines of stall attendants call out to patrons trying to lure them in. Some seem deceptively easy or just like a good time. On top of that, there’s an old rivalry sparking between Sora and Riku.

              And then I spot it.

              My fingers turn into a death grip around Riku’s hand as I emit the loudest gasp of my life.

              “KUPO!”

              “What?”

              Releasing my boyfriend, I lose the group and slip through the crowd like a snake until I pop up at my targeted booth. There’s a hopeful grin on my face as I awe at the wonderous prize I hope to own by the night’s end. White plushies decorate the shelves in various sizes and even a few different colors.

              “What the hell are you doing?!” Riku catches up, looking miffed. “You can’t freak me out like that!”

              Pointing at the plush hanging above the game, I say, “It’s a moogle, kupo!”

              His green eyes spot my distraction and a sigh emits from his mouth. “You still can’t just freak out like that.”

              “My bad,” I say with a cheeky grin.

              Green eyes roll; he can’t argue with me when I’ve admitted fault, so he moves on. “Anyway, I didn’t know you like moogles.”

              “Are you kidding? Look at that face! That one’s huge!” I wave to the three-foot-tall plush sitting at the back.

              Riku laughs. “Yeah, moogles don’t actually get that big.”

              “Stop ruining the fun!” My attention finally turns to the game and I become a bit more apprehensive. “Hmm, skee-ball…”

              “You got a bone to pick with skee-ball?”

              “Let’s just say it’s not my best game.” Rifling through my pocket, I pull a handful of munny.

              A silver brow quirks. “So you’re gonna waste your munny?”

              “I want that moogle.” The currency drops into the machine, releasing five skee-balls.

              “You’re the kind of person these games target.”

              I pick up one of the balls, sizing up the game ahead. “Hey, even without a prize on the line, carnival games can be fun.”

              “Just not skee-ball?”

              The first ball rolls down the lane, pops up, and bounces off one of the rings before rolling into the 10-point hole.

              I let out a puff. “…Maybe not for me.”

              Riku chuckles and watches the rest of my miserable attempt.

              There were five holes vertically aligned at the other end of the lane with point values of ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty. For the extravagant moogle I had my heart set on, I needed a near perfect game of two hundred and forty points. Alas, with my skee ball skills, I’d be lucky for the keychain prize at one hundred and eighty points. At least I didn’t bring all my munny with me today.

              The game ends with a pitiful score of one hundred twenty. Two following games don’t turn out any better and I figure it’s time to cut my losses.

              “No moogle for me, kupo,” I sigh.

              “Let me try.”

              Before I can question, Riku nudges me out of the way and drops in a few munny. His first attempt is, expectantly, as bad as any of mine, but his second is much smoother; unfortunately, he still ends up ten points shy of any prize. However, a hard glint sparks in his eyes and I consider the problem I may have created.

              Two keychains later, I decide to intervene.

              “It’s fine, sweetheart.” I tug on his arm before he can start the next game. “Let’s go. Sora and Kairi probably went on all the rides without us already.”

              Riku’s eyes flicker between the me and the game but he shakes off the competitive state he’s worked himself into.

              “Yeah. Sorry.”

              “Don’t be. You got these!” I dangle the keychains. “They’re freakin’ cute and there’s one for each of us, kupo!”

              “Are you going to say that all day?” he asks, but I see that quirk at the corner of his lips.

              Capturing his fingers, I lead the way. “Maybe. It’s fun, kupo. Say it.”

              “No. Not gonna happen.”

              “Oh come on! Please, kupo!”

              “No.”

              “Rikuuu! You’re no fun!”

              I pester him to no avail; he’s clearly amused but he’s not budging on this one. Then it’s Kairi and Sora’s turn to pester us about disappearing—of course I get all the blame.

              Our day continues with rides, attractions, games, and food that’s not at all good for you but tastes so good. We did a few more rides before we got food though, because there was no way I was sitting next to anyone on a ride right after eating. Then we moved on to games and attractions. The glass maze might be my favorite; I laughed so hard I almost couldn’t get off the floor. Sora and Riku both got stuck running into walls and now they both glare when we pass by the maze. Competition galore comes around with the games, though I notice Riku actively avoiding the moogle skee-ball stand. To be fair, we did already play it.

              Once I’m confident there will be no barfing on the rides, it’s time for round two. Riku, however, seems distracted and I’m worried he might be getting sick. Just before we jump in line for another ride, he stops.

              “You okay?” I ask.

              “Yeah, but I’m gonna sit this one out. You guys go ahead.”

              “Are you sure?”

              “Yeah. I’m going to walk around for a bit.” Leaning in, Riku presses a kiss to my forehead. “Don’t wait up for me.”

              “Okay, but don’t be gone too long.”

              “Got it.”

              Riku splits off from us as we get in line for the gravity ride, but as he walks, I can’t help wondering what’s up.

              “Where do you think he’s going?” Sora asks.

              “No idea,” I say.

              We enjoy the ride, but when there’s no Riku when we get off, we find another nearby. A couple rides and another shared funnel cake nearly waste an hour but still, there’s no sign of my boyfriend. The sun’s been long gone and booths are starting to close. Soon after, workers begin ushering people towards the exit.

              Standing outside the carnival, I scan the crowds heading home.

              “Where is he?” I question, looking around.

              “He didn’t go home, did he?” Sora says.

              I cross my arms. “If he ditched us, he’s going to be in serious trouble.”

              Kairi folds her arms thoughtfully. Then her eyes light up and a smile plays on her lips. I try to follow her gaze, but just as I turn around, I run face first into something soft.

              Thrown off guard, I cling to the squishy object, which offers no support whatsoever, but, thankfully, someone else keeps me on my feet.

              Stable in my stance, I lean back, coming face to face with a pink-nosed, pompom-wearing, three-foot-tall, winged moogle.

              “Kupo?” I mutter in confusion.

              “For you.”

              My gaze pulls from the plush to find Riku behind this ambush, clearly over-the-moon proud with himself.

              The grin pulling at my mouth comes more from my understanding of his secrecy rather than the gift itself.

              “So that’s what you’ve been up to this whole time,” Kairi announces.

              His ego falters, marred by the tint bleeding across his nose. “Maybe…”

              “Dude, you’ve been gone almost an hour,” Sora blurts out. “How many tries did it take you?”

              The shade darkens. “Uh well…It’s been a while since I played skee-ball…so…”

              Kairi jams a finger against his shoulder with her own smug simper. “You spent that whole hour playing, didn’t you.”

              Suddenly, there’s a shout from the passing crowd. A little girl holding a small moogle waves her hand. “Thank you, moogle man!”

              Another pair of kids behind that family, also with smaller moogles, also wave.

              A hand against his face attempts to hide the face of defeat, but it’s too late—Kairi and Sora have already put two and two together. Riku had won many games of skee-ball, but didn’t stop until he obtained the extra-large prize.

              My arms tighten around the moogle. “Well, I love him.”

              Riku’s pride makes a small recovery. I love that look in his eyes, the one that says he’d do anything, even play a ridiculous game for an hour to win some silly prize.

              “Which one? Riku or the moogle?” Sora asks.

              I giggle. “Yes.”

              While the brunette tries to figure out my answer, I push the moogle onto him. The moment my arms are clear, I lunge at Riku, even throwing my legs around his waist. Pouncing at Riku isn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence, so there’s no surprise when he keeps his balance and holds me up.

              “I love you, kupo.” I nuzzle my nose against his, pulling a chuckle from the young man. “Say it.” He glances away. Not about to take that as an answer, I smush my face against his. “Say it! You know you want to! Say it!”

              Riku’s hands release me, forcing my feet to come down before I drop onto the concrete. He peers down at me, face turning redder with each second and smiling like a bashful fool.

              “I love you too, kupo.”

[tumblunni]

Hhhh bunni legs pain accomplishment day

I HAVE FINISHED THE SHOPPING OF HELL

Tfw u only get paid 4 days before christmas and have to rush everything aaaa

It was bad enough today so i'm so glad i got it done before it got even more busy!

Misc boring essentials i bought for myself: new phone charger cos broken, new trousers cos i spilt hair bleach on my only two pairs, new shoes cos my left shoe literally snapped in half down the middle like wtf even happened there, cheap pink hair dye from a discount store cos i wanna try different colours but in a thrifty way

Now for EXCITING CHRISTMAS PRESENT TIME!!!!

First off SO MANY pc and xbox 360 games from Every Charity Shop In Cardiff, St Mellons, Rumney and Llanrumney. My sis has been trying to find some games to play but was like 'dont worry about it i can just wait til the charity shop gets something good'. So i thought i'd get some stocking stuffers via all the charity shops on my side of town. By our powers combined we will blitz the entire vale of glamorgan's discount gaming scene!!! I found SO MANY good stuff for £1/£2/£3 like holy shit i love when charity shops dont know the proper price for shit XD

speaking of which i also found a WEBCAM for £2! If its that cheap it probanly isnt great but itd still be fun to play around with! :D and the same store also had an old vintage G1 My Little Pony coffee mug in excellent condition. Oh god the nostalgia! My support worker gave me a lift to llanrumney so i had to awkwardly explain why i had an armful of weird 80s mugs and big teary eyes!

Speaking of vintage, i found this new vintage toys and games shop in cardiff called Galactic Attic! The name hooked me in and then they actually DID have pokemon inside! As well as all sorts of stuff ranging from 40s to 90s, wow! There was even a lil pile of old 90s gaming magazines in the corner, covered up by a bunch of boxes. I'm glad i noticed them! I got the announcemt issues for pokemon diamond pearl and platinum in a weird old pokemon fan magazine that i loved as a kid. Im kinda sad that nowadays we just have one official magazine fpr each console and not the wild madness of amateaur journalists failing horribly to get news from japan. Shame they didnt have Beckett Pokemon cos that one was infamous fot drawing its own terrible interpretations of pokemon sprites to avoid copyright. And speaking of terrible, they even had bootleg pokemon!! I talked to the cashier and he was like "you know those are fake right" and i was like "yeah its so nostalgic thats why i want em" and he was like "lol yeah they actually sell pretty well so i'm not mad my supplier ripped me off". It was a pretty good and awesomely terrible fake at the same time? There was this exact replica of some japanese display stand for the product and then the actual pokeball toys looked perfect BUT the mini pokemon inside were.. Really not. I am so damn happy with the surprise inside my one, surprise inside has never been more accurate! I can't take a picture now cos my phone is charging but REGICHEETO. Just..just imagine that, and whatever you're imagining it is probably worse. I love it so fuckin much. Also less hilariously there were some bootleg mini pika plushies with actually (as far as i can tell) their own unique design? They have cute lil winter scarves and an art style that reminds me of the Magical Pokemon Adventure manga. A really cute and good bootleg that i would have loved to see as a real product! The only way you can even tell its a bootleg is because there's no marking on the tail. I dunno, maybe if i still have some brown fabric in the cupboard i could fix it? Or maybe its unique tail makes it even more special! I mean there's Cosplay Pikachu with its double tail marking so maybe this is her cousin Accessory Pikachu with no markings? He just likes wearing scarfs and hats and stuff. OMG HE'S THE POKEMON GO EVENT PIKACHU!!!!!!

Along the miscness of finding a few things for myself, i also found: cute lil pokemon pencilcase, kingdom hearts blind bag, cheap copy of Fruits Basket volume 1 cos the new remake is coming out soon and i wanna Get Hype! The KH blind bag was really weird cos i didnt know they now have an entirely different set as well as the keychains i bought before. Its kind of a shame the art style doesnt match cos vexen is only in the keychains, alas! But i do really love these ones! Theyre apparantly made by funko pop but dont have the art style AT ALL, they just look like really accurate versions of the characters in mini form. Its kinda like the 'distance animation' style in steven universe? (Incidentally they also do SU ones but they missed the opportunitu to actually use the distance style, lol) I got a Sora in his kh2 outfit and i'm decently happy with that, its not one i really wanted but its not a bad one either. But i think now i've tried the fun of surprise once i'll just buy the actual ones i want off ebay later. They have roxas in his organization outfit! With a happy smile!!!

Oh oh and then EVEN MORE XBOX GAMES OF THE WILD THRIFT STORE VOID! i managed to find the whole fable series, two assassins creeds, saints row, gta, some misc shooter games and racers that she wanted but i dont know much about, mass effect 2 and ff13. I think maybe one or two others cos i cant fully remember right now. Theyre all in separate bags strewn across the room and my shoulders feel like death so i'll sort through them later.

Aaaand i wrote up like 14 paragraphs more but tumblr didnt save my draft fpr some fuckin reason and now im way too tired to do it again

Briefer summary:

* had a huge horrible panic attack getting stuck in a skyscraper shopping centre clothes place full of screaming and every perfume smell and WHY DO I HAVE TO NAVIGATE THIS HELL MAZE TO FIND THE ESCALATOR and seriously i was my most primal animalistic self and i went full fight or flight on this bitch

* had a lovely time visiting Cool Shop Grandma and rambled the story of how i met her and how we became friends but hhh too tired to rewrite. But anyway today i gave her a christmas pikachu plush as thanks for everything and cos her shop is moving on to its next location soon. She got really teary and gave me a big hug! She's gonna be at a comic con in march so i hope i'm able to go to that and see her again.

* went on a wild goose chase looking for harry potter merchandise and eventually found a gold plated replica of the movie prop version of the time turner and HELL YES my sis will love it!

* rambled about several market stalls that were cool but i can make a separate post about that in the morning when i find their contact details to advertise them

* got a plushie delibird and decided to take selfies with it everywhere to try and fight my social anxiety somehow. We went to a neat lil restaurant and had cheesy fries and a coke float!

* asked for a refund on an item for the first time ever and im proud of myself

* went off on a mystery bus trip to buy a preowned 3ds and pokemon games from a lady in an online preowned stuff facebook group and it didnt go horribly and i am glad! She was really nice and i witnessed A Good And Smart Parenting Moment and man it healed my heart and i wish i'd been raised that way. Again i'll probably ramble about the details later when im less tired, it really touched my heart seriously! And now i have MANY GIFTS FOR SIS!

* in total i was out present shopping from 9am to 8pm and i clicked my shoulder out of its socket for a split second from.all the heavy bags. Now im in a lot of aches and i need a sleeps

The End

[skswriting]

i saw it more like armys love to sell out in record time anything the tannies endorsed, throwing money at them for the flex just cause we can is like one of the basics of kpop stan culture it's kinda just what we do, and I usually just find it so funny when say the whole of korea sells out one particular brand of fabric softener within hours of JK saying he likes it, or like the hyundai thing

so the absolute madness of the pricing sort of just felt exploitative to me in this really dismissive and demeaning “well we know it'll sell out anyway might as well get as much out of it as we can” kind of way

lile capitalism trying to maximise its profit isn't a surprise but this kind of feels like blatantly not giving the fuck about us as individuals and it feels just a lil like a personal betrayal (＃`Д´)

Omg I didn't even think of this not hybe using our sellout KING

I completely agree with you. Hybe knows fan culture encourages spending exorbant amounts of money (think of the money fans spend to get into fan signs just to spend MORE money on presents for the idols and again... scalped tickets...) and everyone and their mother knows that if very specifically JK even LOOKS at a product for too long it'll sell out.

I think because we love the boys and big hit treated them "well" there was this sort of like expectation (is that the word?) that big hit could do no wrong and so whenever anyone criticized any business decisions they were deemed a hater and ignored. But I think this mind set has somewhat led into this sort of predatory behavior from hybe now, who have the perfect storm of dedicated and almost naive fans who (I'm going to keep using this word) they're taking advantage of.

And please don't think I'm knocking you down if you bought any of the artist made collection, or if you buy a lot of merch in general. If I had more disposable income, I KNOW I would be buying it all because 1 I like stuff (i am a SUCKER for bt21 plushies and i want buried with mine when i die) but also 2 as a fan this feels like the major way we can support them right? We give them love and we give then our hearts through our comments but buying merch and concert tickets is like the most tangible way we can let our idols know we're here. So please, buy the cups and the keychains ans the hoodies and thay adorable fucking mood lamp. But I think we can acknowledge this want to support our idols and still be adults and criticize the way hybe is taking advantage of us

[statticscribbles]

BD: Zoo

Summary: Baby Daddy Pt 3, Cherik with baby Peter; a trip to the zoo, more soft x-fam

“Is there a word for anti-cockblocking?” Erik asks and Charles chokes on his drink looking up to where Erik leans against the door. “Wingmaning?” Charles furrows his brow as Erik starts to recount how Hank and Logan had been questioning him about the last time he’d gone out without Peter. “Yes; thank you; they’re wingmaning us repeatedly.” Erik huffs and Charles laughs. “Well it’s good to have students and friends who want us to do well in our relationship.” Charles offers and Erik sighs. “Raven walked by me as four separate people last time I went to the store; and I was with her! I saw her shift!!” Charles laughs and then sighs. “Maybe they have a point? Charles; would you come to dinner with me next week?” Erik tries to bite back the laugh when he can hear Hank cheering and running to inform the rest of the school.

Logan had assured Erik and Charles they could have a date night without anything bad happening. Raven had stressed the part of a date outside of the mansion. It was Hank that calmed their growing anxieties at leaving Peter; who was well on his way to running, which meant an even faster blur to keep up with. Hank had shown them the paper schedule he’d made; which had variations from date nights to power emergencies and even had added a section on babysitting potential other kids. “Others?” Both Raven and Logan seem hesitant to ask and Charles is equally as curious.

“You’re really going to tell me that there’s never going to be another mutant with powers at birth? Maybe more visible than Peter’s we can help those kids; might as well have plans.” Hank grins when everyone nods and congratulates him on the forward thinking. I was worried there was something you weren’t telling me. Charles’ voice cuts into Hank’s thoughts and Hank tilts his head slightly; still not used to not physically responding to Charles’ voice in his mind when he’s not in public. I would think Raven would know first, if that was the case. Hank doesn’t mean to project images but Charles glares. “My sister.” He reprimands and Raven laughs, draping herself over the back of the chair where Hank sits chuckling along with her. “My mind Charles. Don’t pry if you don’t want to see worse.”

“Hank!” It’s Erik who chides him and Hank grins the entire time Erik scolds him about giving Charles bad images of his sister. “I’m sure he’ll get over it.” “Yes; but not while we’re staying out of the mansion…” Erik hisses and Raven shoves him back. “Erik that’s gross; I don’t even need to be a telepath to have those images in-ugh.” Raven shivers and curls back towards Hank; Erik grins victoriously and Peter joins in on the grinning from where Logan is tossing him into the air. “Seriously Chuck you worry too much; everything will be fine! He’s too excited by this new vertical running to care about cookies even.” Logan laughs when Hank opens his mouth Raven kissing him on the cheek before he can launch into the scientific explanation of why throwing Peter in the air is not ‘vertical running’

“We’re going to the zoo.” “The zoo? You want all of us to-” “No; Peter Erik and I. We’re going to the zoo; you all are going to fix up the guest rooms that are still a mess. Since we’ll be having more students soon.” Charles seems smug and before any of them can ask what they actually need to do beyond setting the rooms up Charles, Erik and Peter have all made it out to the car and up the driveway.

Erik feels only a tiny bit guilty about weaving a thin strand of metal into all of Peter’s clothes. It had taken him only a few hours; despite the amount of clothes Peter had received as a birthday present, and it was easy enough to get Hank to agree to give him a small amount of whatever spare metal scraps he had in his lab. Erik preferred using the scraps; it was easier than having to get Charles to order him specific metals and then trying to explain why he can tell the seller tried to con them out of the pure metals.

He shakes the train of thought only feeling relief that the threads he’d woven provide a solid anchor to Peter so his son can’t actually run to try to match the cheetah which they’d seen running after a lure when they’d gone by. Charles having informed Erik that Peter’s thoughts had turned into a warm competitive burst. Erik grimaces looking forward to a long future of competitiveness and frustration and no one being able to be enough competition.

Charles loves the irony as much as Peter is in love with the sloths and that all his thoughts are dominated by them after seeing the area where they were hanging from trees. Erik hadn’t tried to coax him into enjoying any of the other animals; they’d simply spent almost an hour staring through the glass. This had given Charles the opportunity to scout the gift shop and without Erik to keep his spoiling in line buying one of everything with so much as a hint of a sloth on it. He’d hidden it in the car, and allowed Erik to pick out souvenirs for everyone else. Peter; unknowing about the gifts Charles had kept hidden, attaches himself to a floppy sloth plushie that Erik refuses to even take from his hands to scan it. Instead getting a second one for the cashier to scan in its place.

“Why has nothing gotten done; all that’s happened is we have a pool table?” “We got plenty done.” Logan nods from where he’s reading the paper. “So the rooms are all set up?” “We have at least a week. We saw the calendar in your study when we were looking for the room list.” “Okay fair enough but..” Charles trails off noticing the shimmering paper around everyones wrists. “Did you guys go to the zoo?” “You were staring at the sloths for two hours Chuck; two hours; we saw the whole zoo and got to see the lion feeding.” “I can’t believe you all would just shrug off your duties to this school!” Charles tries to look upset but Logan just dangles a set of keys with the keychain Erik had picked out for him; a metallic lion roaring. “You know that car is for emergencies.” “It was technically an emergency.” Hank speaks up, wringing his hands nervously.

“Oh?” Charles doesn’t pry into his mind; interested enough in what Hank’s going to try to pass off to actually hear him speak and not trying to verify it’s true until after. “We were cleaning out the main ballroom; since we thought it would be a good place to host classes.” “It’s a study actually.” Logan interjects and Charles smirks a little trying to keep a straight face. “Fine the study; and Raven mentioned how Peter doesn’t actually have a playroom; we just all sort of bring him back and forth to different rooms where ever we are; so we decided to make a playroom, and we had to go get paint; no offence the wallpaper in these rooms is murder, and we drove by the zoo.” “Angel had never seen a wolf! We had to go in.” Raven grins and Angel laughs a little Hank nods trying to look sincere and Charles nods leaning forward slightly. Everyone knows to lean in so Erik can’t hear.

“I may have bought one of everything with a sloth on it; Peter will be happy.. I’ll forget the zoo trip if you all get it into the playroom without Erik finding out.” “Easy.” Hank grins taking Peter from Charles and  pulling his shirt and pants off so he’s just in his underwear. “Why did you do that?”

“Erik’s nervous about him running off; Logan I heard there were cookies in the kitchen right?” Peter perks up at the word cookies and starts to toddle off which quickly becomes a blur as he races to the kitchen. Erik rushes after him glaring at Hank who turns his head away. “He needed a bath; he heard Logan mention cookies and took off with that sloth.” “Sure; I’ll let Charles deal with you all.” Charles grins as the rest of the group make their way to the car.

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