#wow I has SO much fun drawing and even rendering her

[bigbrainbiology]

✨🎵~Welcome to my world~ 🎵✨

<3

[youredreamingofroo]

On Repeat

// Click for HQ

Whew,,, I finally finished these! Thank you @elderwisp / @elksun / @living-undead / @dejasenti99 AND @yukikocloud FOR THE TAGS!!!! Holy wow :0

Tagging :

@circusjuney / @butteredfrogs / @mmonetsims / @flovoid

@birdietrait / @venriliz / @retrotrait / @mattodore

plus anyone else who wants to do this! Also feel free to ignore esp if you've alr done this, idk who has and hasn't im sorry 😭😭

// Extras under the cut - below is very long, so open w/ caution if you don't wanna scroll a lot 😭

This has taken the piss outta me (albeit fun), so i'm kinda just gonna explain how I think the featured line in particular is akin to the OC/Ship and not the entire song... as much as I'd love to 😭 Also it's just SUPER hard (for me) to find songs that I relate to my OCs, lyrics as well so skdjhnsjk

Roo's Song Oil & Water by Origami Button "When did I become like the ones I never thought I'd welcome in my home"

The above line in particular is quite literally Roo in the current story/character arc- He's looking at himself from a third person view and going "Oh. I am what I hate." He's looking at his old self, in college, and how he treated Leo, to now, looking at his present self and seeing the way he creeps on Leo, how he clings to him despite being several states over. Roo looks at the progression of his stalker-ish behavior, his obsession, how it went from just general clinginess that Leo could bear, to something completely unbearable after 7 years of no contact, it saddens him. So taking it quite literally, if he was at his own door and he knew how awful he was, he would slam the door on himself. A painful self reflection for him :')

Leo's Song Truth or Dare by Ricky Montgomery "Hiding in the closet, trying not to vomit, didn't even want it"

The entire first verse for this song can be applicable to Leo. As a teenager (15-16), Leo went HEAVY on drugs as a form of escapism from his parents, of course they'd always find him and get on his ass HARD for doing that shit. After a while of being sober, Leo started going to house parties, great idea- Flash forward to his third house party, and he finally cut his year long sober streak for drugs. as many as he could fit in his body. He had terrible influences around him so they encouraged him to do this shit, it didn't take long for his body to feel the god awful effects of taking so many drugs, so he ended up in the bathroom for a while- He tried to hold back the vomit because he was,,, partially enjoying his high, but he couldn't hold it back for long and ended up passing out, but not before nearly gutting himself from vomiting so much. Cut forward in time, and people got worried, bashed open the bathroom door and found Leo's unconscious body slumped over the toilet 🙃 Obv he came out fine, but it's a major moment in his life, because looking back on it, he realizes that wasn't what he wanted, he just wanted attention, he wanted to be cool, he wanted to be rebellious, but he didn't want to (nearly) kill himself. The render isn't one-to-one with the situation, but the lyrics are accurate so :3

Onia's Song Bloodstream by Soccer Mommy Scene used in render "Now a river runs red from my knuckles into the sink and there's a pale girl staring through the mirror at me"

Overall, the song talks about how the artist (Soccer Mommy) has lost her childhood innocence and how she wants to go back to her childhood and putting Onia's Sheep in Wolf's clothing motif aside, Onia misses being a child, and misses not knowing the pain and burden of being the complete opposite of what her parents wanted, so she spirals over this a lot, and like the lyrics say, "a river runs red from my knuckles into the sink," She tends to lean towards harming herself, in this case, her hands, and her knuckles- I can't draw or simulate blood in either blender or GIMP, so the red light is supposed to simulate the blood-sodden sink that she's standing over, and of course, "pale girl," is Onia, she's staring at herself, but additionally I like to think she's staring past the mirror, or staring through it (wink wink), she's spacing out and thinking about who she should've been, or who she could've been.

Hero's Song Following Eyes by Soccer Mommy "An awful feeling started creeping over me and what I saw was like no horror I had seen"

I'm keeping this short and sweet. It's not easy to find a song (that I like) that's about being haunted or cursed so. I had to re-use her song from her intro post, which isn't bad, but I did hope to find a new song kdsjhnsjk Anyways. Hero's cursed, pretty much anywhere she goes, she is forced to perceive ~the horrors~, sometimes she's forced into a blank space, a void (SOMETIMES,,, not a lot,,, rarely moreso), where she'll be tormented for who even knows how long, this moment in particular, she was walking along this catwalk in the dark, she eventually felt something that felt similar to someone dragging their fingers up your spine, in a moment of fear, she turned around and just. saw. She looked onto this,,, being, what she saw was "like no horror I had seen,,," Although to be fair, the creature isn't all that horrifying (which in my defense.. I'm a blender novice so </333)

The Hiraeth Song Nomu by Good Kid "Four eyes entwined draw four separate lines and none of them point to you"

I think this song overall is a perfect example of Roo and Leo's relationship both after Leo's confession and after Roo tried to reconnect with Leo. After Leo confessed, he tried to keep their relationship going, but it didn't work out, so he gave up (Roo didn't realize Leo was pulling such a weight and he just let their friendship fall out) After Roo tried to reconnect (aka the CURRENT storyline), Roo has been trying to keep things together and has been trying to make things work, but Leo has long-since given up on their friendship as a whole. Now in terms of the lyric above; Post-Confession, every conversation they had together would not be the same, they couldn't look each other in the eyes, their eyes would connect momentarily and separate almost immediately; Nowadays, if they WERE to be living together or near each other, they just would NOT be able to talk to each other, because Leo would be fed up with Roo and trying to avoid as much eye contact and general verbal+physical contact as possible with him. Roo, on the other hand, is just terrible with eye contact so he would have a terrible time trying to engage in eye contact with Leo.

The Ithanel / It's All Wrong Song From Eden by Hozier "Babe there's something broken about this but I might be hoping about this oh what a sin"

Ithuriel and Nanel's entire relationship is inherently toxic, they are not toxic to each other, but the underlying (or moreso, the OVERWHELMING OVERLYING) dangers of this relationship makes it toxic, broken in a way. Nanel risks her life going to see Ithuriel outside of work-related interactions and Ithuriel risks her life by just. seeing, talking to and loving Nanel. Whether they know (they do) or care (they dont) about these dangers, they still want this relationship, they live on, literal, prayers that they are not caught and that they can continue to love each other in peace, but overall, their relationship, in the eyes of the heavenly council (ehhh W.I.P term for IAW lore stuff), is a sin, and nothing but a sin.

Ithuriel's Song What You Mean by Rome Hero Foxes "Cause every little god damn thing you do makes me wanna get close to you"

The lyrics speak for themselves... Ithuriel is very dedicated to Nanel, and literally every waking moment of seeing and knowing Nanel drives Ithuriel up the walls because she loves her so much.

Nanel's Song Future Me Hates Me by The Beths "It's getting dangerous, I could get hurt, I know, I've counted up the cons, they far outweight the pros."

This is semi-foreshadowing, but Nanel knows that her and Ithuriel's relationship is forbidden, wrong (not cuz its gay necessarily,, 😭), and the way Ithuriel's heavenly role works means that their relationship status and every interaction outside of a required interaction is a risky game of one or both of them being punished and sentenced to death. But ! Nanel loves Ithuriel wayyyy too much to let how insanely dangerous their relationship is to get in the way of them loving and being with e/o.

Nirvana's Song 1999 by Beabadoobee "And I'm not wasting time again, closure instead of s^x, and I'm not wasting time again" Idk if I need to censor s^x but i am justttt in case...

Oof, Nirvana... Nirvana has always been sxually active, she's always had one-night-stands with other men, she's tried to continue things after that ONS, but it never works, she's tried to have relationships with women, but they just use her for s^x. She's tired of wasting time with people who just want her for her body, she's tired of s^x, she just wants, well, closure, she wants someone who will love her for her, she wants a relationship without s^x, or at least isn't s^x-focused, she just wants to know someone will love her past her body. Although aforementioned is all just a habit so she will unfortunately end up right back where she started and continue this uncomfortable and sad spiral.

[kaksparkz]

for the artist askgame, idk how many youve answered already but 3,4,10,12,21,24 and 35!

hello helloo!! sorry im just answering this now, been pretty busy^^ (also, using this chance to thank u for your support!! i always see u interacting with my stuff here hbasfcyhdb you're a sweetheart😭💕)

Your fav piece/s?

Probably this vergil one! i still love how it looks djddgnds my art peaked here im afraid,,,,,

Piece you wish got more love?

hmm, this is an interesting one!! tbh i dont mind it much but this johnny fanart got waaaaay more attention on instagram!! i mean,,, i have a lot of mk moots there so it makes sense lol (and also just got to 1k followers on IG!! crazy stuff💌)

How do you deal with artblock?

to be honest, once i realize i have artblock i stop drawing for a couple of days. if i keep insisting on drawing i just get more and more frustrated and it makes it worse imo. so i like to spend some time doing my other hobbies!!! (´▽｀)

usually i just come back to drawing once i regain motivation or i get a cool idea that i need to sketch so i wont forget. and when that happens, my artblock is usually gone!! so,, i guess i just wait for it to go away? lol not much advice i can give on that sadly :/

Describe your process while drawing!

CHAOTIC. to say the least.

i spend like. half an hour on pinterest beforehand getting inspo & searching for refs and ONLY THEN i can start drawing. i start on SAI1, do the sketch and if i like how it looks, i just clean it up. if it dont, i do 'proper' lineart. after that i start coloring and shading!! this is my fav part tbh. once im done shading i color the lineart so its not completely black. then i open up SAI2 and start doing more rendering, adding overlays & effects. that part is also SO FUN cause it makes everything come together so nicelyy. my art process is a pretty big 'trust the process' till that part lol.

there's ALWAYS music or yt videos playing in the bg, and me taking A LOT of 15 minutes breaks cause that one song is so good and i have to stop drawing and start singing while looking at the spotify lyrics like im hypnotized LMAO

What do you thin you artstyle woukd taste like?

people always say my art looks so tasty and. i kind of agree!! like. smth very sweet. it really depends on the colors i use on the piece but,,, either hard candy, gummies, marshmallows or even syrup i think!!!

What's a compliment about your art that has always stuck with you?

i get super giddy with every compliment i get so i dont think i can remember one in particular??? but istg people always say the funniest, most sweet things ever and it's so nice to hear :3 but if i had to say smth,,, i once had the chance to talk with this one incredibly talented illustrator, and he kept telling me how he thought my stuff looked amazing. and i was like!!! wow!!! you actually like my stuff?? what!!!!

Piece of advice for my younger artist self

i would sit this little girl down and talk to her for hours tbh poor thing was STRUGGLING 😭😭😭

i guess my best advice for her (and for anyone who reads this, too!) is to not be so hard on yourself. art is a skill, and it takes a lot of time to build it up!!!

i used to get SO extremely upset when my stuff didnt look the way i wanted it to and ughhh. took me literal years to find my artstyle too and that didn´t help AT ALL with how frustrated i was feeling. i felt,,, stuck??

but now i look back at my art journey and. wow have i improved!! maybe if that little girl saw the stuff i do today she wouldn´t be so sad about her art :´] not to say i don´t struggle today, i still feel stuck and frustrated often!! but i guess i learned to be kinder to myself. but i still have lots of things to improve about my art!! i wonder when i´ll take another look back and see how much i´ve progressed since today,,,

thank you for the ask!! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

[beevean]

The show only telling us about Carmilla's trauma could have worked in the "it's so horrible it's better to not know the details" kind of way. Y'know sometimes there's more fear and creep factor in the unknown

But when I see Carmilla in S2 rant about how terrified the women in Dracula's council are of the men....even though we never even remotely see that happening, and when I take into account how, at the end of the day, Carmilla's selling point is not her traumatised psyche but her "cool queen" factor, particularily rendered explicit during her final battle with Isaac where she LITERALLY calls herself a queen, then I just can't find myself capable of giving her the benefit of the doubt

Oh and you know the whole "we won't be showing this because it's just too horrible" angle wouldn't really work either way in a series that had no issues showing us 2 rape scenes in full detail only for them to be turned either into jokes or shipping material :P

What you said.

Sometimes "it's so horrible we can't even show it" works. Berserk, the king of gore in manga, never showed in detail what was left of Griffith's face after being tortured: we can only imagine how utterly gruesome it was, especially after the torturer narrates us in great detail how much fun he had flaying him.

Of course, the difference is that Berserk is well written and doesn't shy away from all the horror that happens in the world. I'm not asking to see Carmilla getting brutally raped in a flashback, but NFCV suffers from a terrible case of show don't tell, not to mention general hypocrisy. It's the same logic of Alucard telling Trevor and Sypha about the day Lisa met Dracula, and nothing about his own childhood that would show how he feels about his parents. It's the same logic of Carmilla mentioning "four other women in the castle" being too paralyzed by rage to speak up, when there are only three women herself included and the other two are just there to look pretty, nothing about them being not allowed to speak. It's the same logic of Carmilla somehow knowing that Isaac was "an indigent boy getting beaten on the street" for the sake of sounding like a cool girlboss surrounded by stupid men. It's the same logic of Dracula and Isaac having nothing better to do but insist that Hector is a retarded manchild too simple for betrayal when the dude is actually smarter than those buffoons (not that he's intelligent, it's that those two were complete imbeciles). It's the same logic of the show stopping dead in its tracks to elevate Isaac to Jesus status when the height of his character development is "wow I sure like feeling good about myself". The writing is simply lazy on all fronts.

And when you put everything together, yes, Carmilla's only selling factor is that she's "cool", but cool in a specific #girlpower way to appeal to certain crowds. Her trauma is simply not taken as seriously as it should, it's there to pretend she has any depth to her.

Also yes, sure it's nice of the show to gently hide Carmilla's trauma from us, to then put Hector through graphic, humiliating torture porn, to the point of taking care of drawing his dick flopping around during a beating! Abuse against women is so horrible we can't even show it in our edgy cartoon, but abuse against (pretty) men is arousing :)

[rainbowgothdisaster]

For the artist asks, 2, 11 & 18 :3

2. 5 favourites of your own work?

in no particular order:

pokesona, the stars are falling (not posted, will be posted with this years redraw), jewel's house, sleeping jewel, jewel's bedroom (also an extra bcuz i really like it but couldn't find the compressed file to put here: be back soon screen)

i have a lot of fun drawing my pokesona, it was drawn completely using vector lines which was unbelievably enlightening

the stars are falling was first drawn back in 2020 and has become a way for me to compare how my art has developed over the years. 2020 only featured Jason (he/him), 2021 only had Zero (ey/em), and 2022 includes the former two plus Cleo (she/her, but shes bigender and also goes by Liam he/him), 2023 will include Jason and Ambe (she/her). its a way for me to basically do a benchmark test on my composition and anatomy and colours and shading. i always have a lot of fun drawing it and sometimes making whole new brushes. important note: this one was actually submitted to an art contest, sadly i lost but it was actually my first time since elementary putting my art out with the intent to be judged.

jewel's house was my first time drawing and designing a house and finding different places to incorporate hearts was literally so much fun.

sleeping jewel is just super cute and jewel's bunny hoodie is my favourite thing ever. i have it on my phone and could stare at it for hours.

jewel's bedroom is ALSO a redraw. i enjoyed trying to fit so many things in it, i enjoyed sketching, i enjoyed lining, i enjoyed colouring. though this is actually my least fav of the 5 bcuz i fully believe the idea that your art is only as good as its weakest point. that's not to say its bad or that everyone will approach it as critically as possible. not even to say that everything needs to be perfect. but when i was rendering it, i didn't want to shade. so i took a funky brush and just rushed thru shading. in fact you can see that when watching the speedpaint, i just kinda scribbled the shading. HOWEVER that doesnt take away from the fact i think the rest of it is really well done. i think i did well on the bed in particular and the fact that i stylized a real bed that we own and my actual childhood bed that i would die to get back (we owned two, mine was lost when mum and dad had to abandon my childhood home bcuz of shitty roommates and a shitty landlord) i enjoyed drawing my actual stuffed animals and my actual lolita dress. it like actually has sentimental value bcuz of all of that i just wish i did it better.

11. favourite comment you've ever received on your work?

uhhhh so like i dont usually recieve comments on my work aside from my family's "wow i could never do that" soooo well go with the comment you left on my bunny hoodie design bcuz as far as i can remember iirc it was the first time id gotten a nice comment about my fashion designs and i was really happy someone liked it bcuz im like super nervous about my silly fashion doodles :)

18. do you have any larger projects you'd like to pursue? like comics, shortfilm, a series, etc?

yes! id like House Of Misfits to be a cartoon, tho the show would probably be lighter than the short stories bcuz i don't imagine i could explore Amber's backstory on screen. im making a proof-of-concept website which is technically online and more than 70% unfinished.

i also have a coming-of-age novel i need to do research for called Saftey Blanket about a hijabi girl named Aminah in her senior year of highschool (if i made it a series wed get to see her twin siblings realize they're trans which would be fun but rn they are but lil babbies), id like to make a children's cartoon and a visual novel but i don't currently have any ideas for either.

btw despite the fact that i am an animator, i don't want to animate a show. i want to run a show. i don't actually enjoy animations longer than maybe 10 seconds.

i have a side project based around the album A Constant State Of Ohio by Lincoln that would be a very personal project around self image while having multiple personality disorders (and other problems), but i cannot for the life of me make an animatic. there's lots of ideas like this jostling in my brain, like a stop-motion animation of Through The Roof n Underground by Gogol Bordello, where i just simply cannot which i am fine with.

then theres the fact i do actually want to sew my fashion designs, at least that bunny hoodie if nothing else, and i cannot get my hands on any fabric despite owning a sewing machine

[enjeolmii]

10 questions - p.sh

synopsis: to ask questions isn't too bad. but to end up doing something you never expected from the intention behind every question? way better!

genre: fluff, slightly suggestive

word count: 2.4k

warnings: make out sesh (not written in depth), lots of teasing but it’s all playful you nasty

"Next question! Did you like anyon-"

"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing? I'm supposed to go next." Sunghoon blocks you with an audible tap on the soft mattress, tsk-ing at your smooth but not slick enough scheme to get more answers from him.

It's a Saturday - the day of the week when assignments, works, chores, and duties are temporarily thrown down the window. On these days, you and Sunghoon go on a carefree date. It's a routine you made once a week to maintain your relationship amidst the setback caused by lockdown, and it was going great.

At a time when real interactions between people became an inappropriate thing to do, and everyone turned to technology as a resolution, you made sure that everything is done by Friday, despite it being so dreading, just so that procrastinating wouldn't be a problem dragged over the next day. And when those pressuring times occur to you, you would send each other texts, exhorting to go easy on yourselves. That's why Saturdays are the only thing you wait for every week. You weigh it up as a chance to see the only light that keeps you going, the one that helps you see clearly the path you are taking in this obscure world.

So here you are with Sunghoon in your bedroom, sitting on the bed and leaning on the wall beside it, covered in your blanket as you cuddle under the warm, comfy covers. The day has been an uneventful one. If not for him reminding you of the conversation you had prior in the week, where you asked him to gather questions he had for you, you would have slept the whole day over without accomplishing anything.

"Fine, what's your eighth question?" You admit, frowning at his attentive remark, and he snickers.

He lifts his phone and scrolls through the questions he has saved in his notes. "Have you ever had a dream about me?"

Your eyes roll around with a finger on your chin, recalling the scenarios you had of him. There were many, some surrounding the time when he decided to confess to you, and most of them came from the fantasies you had of him. Those dreams scare you more than the stare of a fiery lion. It almost even feels illegal to think about it because you aren't well over twenty. Though they were just outlines of you and him kissing innocently, you always end up making out at the end of the story.

You weren't one of those twelve-year-olds who've had their first kisses already. Your mother kept a close eye on you in situations like this, so you would rather make out with your pillow than hear her nagging your ears off. Because of that, you grew up as a child unbothered by her love life, and the mere thought of kissing someone in real life makes your hair stand up. That's when you knew he brought out a lot of changes in you.

You swallow the lump of saliva in your throat. "Yeah, I have." You answer truthfully but still cautious of the words you put out.

"Really?" His head perks in your direction. "What did I do?"

You got a little nervous knowing he would undoubtedly interrogate you on this. But thankfully, you were prepared with a streamlined answer. "That's three questions, genius," You say, reaching for his head to give it a light smack, from which earns you a groan. "Save your chances for better questions."

"What do you mean? It's a good one. What did you dream about? I want to know."

"Okayy~ Next question. Where is that..." You switch the topic hastily, hands occupied with finding the question you were waiting to ask him through your notes. "Found it. Did you like anyone before me? If so, who are they?"

"That's two questions, though?"

"Nope. Not if you put them together." You smile at him cheekily, and he throws his head back in astonishment, mouth wide open, spewing out breathy wow's.

"You're playing it dirty, I see. Well, I had two other girlfriends before you." He brings his pinky finger out. "One was my sixth-grade classmate, and the other one was my best friend from the rink." He shoots his mouth off to chaff at you yet again.

A stiff frown crawls on your face as you nod at him sarcastically. "Oh, wow. Impressive." You hum in wonderment, silence unfurling in the suddenly insipid room.

Sunghoon knew you weren't easily irritated by these circumstances. If he were talking to a random girl on the street, more often than not, you would only think of them as one of his fans from the arena, nothing more. Even if he had to accomplish things with a girl in his class, you trusted him very much with your relationship to doubt him in his actions. And so, seeing you hush after a talk like this...

Of course, he would take it as a chance to play with you.

"Aww, is my precious little y/n jealous?" His voice sharpened one octave higher as he pats your head with a pout and mock sadness in his eyes. "What do I do? I kissed them, too."

You were okay with him having two other ones before you, but at the mention of a kiss, your figure skews his way. You weren't sure if he was hoaxing you or not, but to say so honestly, it troubled you. This wasn't the intention you had with your question. All you wanted to get out of it was something to tease him about when he says he has none, yet it was still you who got ragged of your own query.

However, that's beside the point. Was it necessary to point out those last words? It wasn't you to be agitated over something as dispensable as this, but of all things, why did he have to attack your weakness?

Sunghoon's sounds of laughter tear you away from your thoughts. "Got 'em~" He pulls a finger at you in another fit of laughter, seeing you in a state of total shock.

"What the heck? It was a lie?" You pull away firmly from his body, hitting him on the shoulder with force enough to make him wobble on the bed.

"You fell for it." He provokes you, head bouncing up and down in silent titters, and you smack his hand away, leaning back down on his shoulder.

"No, I didn't," You feel him nod abut your head, seeing mentally what teasing expression he has plastered on his face this time, but you only shrug it off. "Which part was the lie, though? You kissing them or being with them?"

"Can't answer that. Save your chances for better questions, cutie."

"Touché," You scoff. "What's the next question?"

"Well, since we came to the topic of kissing... When was your first kiss?" He converts his stare to a peer of glistening fervour. Though not as subtle as he would have probably wished it to be, you could sense the perceptive intent he was hiding behind his tone.

You render motionless. Never did you tell him anything about your dreams, nor would you ever have plans to tell him. It's a product of your wildest imaginations to feed your untold desires. It's what helps restrain the ungodly in you, but it also fuels you with the need to see what it actually is like. It's a continuous internal war going on in you, its purpose being to stop you from creating trouble for yourself. And now that you finally have him here, not going to lie, it's kind of embarrassing to acknowledge the profuse amount of dreams you had of him, moreover that he stole your first kiss... Except it was in your dreams, literally.

"I never had any," You answer, trying to stay as cool as possible. "I'm a good child who listens well to her mother, so don't think no one tried to hit on me once. I turned a lot of them down." A small smile trudges its way onto his face, but the way his eyes were fixated on you remained untypically the same.

"I don't know if I should be happy that you picked me out of all of them or be sad for those 'poor hearts' you broke." He draws an air quote along with his words, and you shake your head at him. "Don't worry. I won't tease you on this one. I just wanted to know." He mumbles quietly through a simper, moving to rest his head on yours.

Hearing that he'll cut you some slack relieved you, but one thing about his utterance caught you off guard. "Why do you want to know that?"

"That's the only way I'll get to know you deeper, Einstein," He retracts his head and nudges you on his shoulder, causing you to bump your head against its edge, a grunt following you. However, while you were still in the midst of justifying the whack he did on your head, he spins his vision to you in an adventitious celebration. "Oh- that's your tenth question, then!"

"Wait, hold on!" You haul over to straighten your posture, the creaking of the bed barely audible from the loudness of your opposition.

"It's my turn again." His eyes grow invisible from his cheeks, pushing it up into a smile. He just never gets tired of making fun of you. How you wish you could do the same to him. If only punching someone straight in the face denotes no wrongdoing, you would have done that ages ago.

"Bitch, why did you answer that?" You call him, blaming him with the irritation that you weren't able to control yourself.

"You ask, I answer. Isn't that how it goes?" He grins at you matter-of-factly, and you tousle your hair around in frustration.

"Ugh, you're crazy," You send glares up his way. "Whatever. Your last question, throw."

As if that was a signal he has been waiting for, Sunghoon shuts his phone and tucks it in his pocket. "How does it feel to kiss someone?"

You were confused. You just said you've never kissed anyone before.

A dry giggle leaves your mouth after much processing. You knew you shouldn't have trusted his words. No matter what you do, he'll find the cracks and holes to slip in his every jest. "I think you got the wrong person, kid. How do you think I'd know?"

"Hmm..." He drones, the ticking sound of the clock suddenly increasing in volume with every minute passing by. "Should we try it, then?" He suggests.

"What?" You were taken aback, a sudden chill sweeping through your body like a surge of cool air gashing through the enclosed room. What is he going on about?

Inch by inch, you feel him gravitate towards you, your torso backing up from his inclining frame until the warmth you caused on the cold wall completely presses against your back. Like the fire of a gun's bullet on a steady path, your heartbeat raced in a trice. His eyes stared at yours, tracing down to your parted lips as he led his other hand across your body, trailing up your arms to your shoulders, just until it reaches your jaw. Your breath hitched, lips shutting tightly as you gulp down at the presence of his queer boldness.

It's like the scenarios you formed in your head where he pins you against the wall, lips hovering yours with soft breaths that tickle your skin. Him studying your face with obstinacy to make you his, doing whatever it is that would make you happy. Nevertheless, he made sure to be cautious of things you wouldn't want him to do. He still respected you.

He's doing just the same thing, and it's getting you set on thinking whether this is all a dream taking too long to reach its climax or if your dreams are miraculously made into reality. But his next set of words were enough to tell you the clarification to your uncertainties.

"Please don't be mad." Without warning, his lips found their place on your light, pillowy ones. It felt like he was pouring out all emotions he's been holding in until now. He always controlled himself whenever you're around because he didn't want to disappoint your mother. But with this instance is a chance to do something he has long been dreaming of. He wasn't about to lose it.

The way his head tilts to the side to get a more comfortable position, eyes closing and immersed in the pleasure of your lips against his, got you clasping onto your blanket to ease the havoc he's causing in your guts. You froze at the contact. As if time had halted and the world stopped spinning, everything seemed to slow down at that moment. Maybe it was the sweet scent of his bergamot fragrance. Maybe it was the tightening of his grip on your jaw, or perhaps the longing you had for him that's enticing you in this position.

It's not every day that we get to see our dreams come true, and for one, it's a matchless feeling, especially when the dream is worthwhile. Slowly, you give in and close your eyes in the warmth of his touch. His lips parted to bite at your lower lip, and you overtly open your mouth to let him in.

"Do you think you could answer it now?" He questions you, but you couldn't comprehend what he was saying. You were too caught up in your own feelings during the whole session; you almost forgot what happened before it was done. Just when you thought he’d stop pulling out all the hidden quirks of yours, he caught you once again. And it didn't take long enough before you recollected yourself.

"Right. It's way better than I could have ever imagined." You smile at him, giving rise to the same smile as you.

"If this is how it will usually end, maybe I should start gathering more questions for you." He proposes, his head wheeling over to you with sheer excitement.

"Uh-huh... Just make sure you don't catch anything from the streets before you come over." You reply with a cackle, getting off his lap and sitting back down on the soft mattress.

It was supposed to be a dull and boring day. But with another chance that you two meet comes another something to remember forever. And you can't help but grin from ear to ear.

[alpacaparkaseok]

Mine

5. Draw me like one of your French girls

Genre: Min Yoongi x oc

Warnings: none

Word Count: 3.3k

At this point, I’m seriously considering commissioning my own fanart.

It all started the next morning at our first press release. Somebody had the bright idea to show me some fanart that’s been rolling in the past few weeks of a certain k-pop rapper and I. Not gonna lie...we look good together.

Too good.

Then again, everything about Min Yoongi has seemed pretty good since I woke up to a couple more texts from him this morning. I passed out after his late-night/early morning apology, but he sent another text not long after.

4:32 MYG: So does this mean I’m forgiven? Bong-cha made it sound like you enjoy holding grudges.

9:02 MYG: Morning. I hope everything goes well with you today...is it alright if I keep texting you?

9:02 MYG: Just so I can keep tabs on everything. I don’t want this to get too out of hand for you.

Obviously the poor man is just as worried about all of this as I am. I couldn’t help but give a sleepy chuckle when I woke up to his messages.

So far, I’ve done a wonderful job of ignoring how nice it felt to wake up to a good morning text.

I’ve also done a great job at keeping calm and breezing past any weird questions from the current press conference I’m in. That is, until a Korean reporter (I have a hunch they’re from Dispatch) pipes up not only with a question, but with visual aids!

“Cara, do you mind if I ask you a question? Would you like a translator?”

Reminding myself to be gracious and kind, I shake my head. “Go ahead. I should be alright without a translator, thank you.”

The reporter nods, shuffling forward until they pull a paper out of their file in hand. She gives me a sickly smile, passing the paper up to our security guard who does me the honor of bringing it right to my outstretched palm.

“This is one of the newest renderings, I was just wondering how you have been feeling about this entire situation?”

I already guessed what this was going to be about, but the picture in my hand confirms it.

It’s fanart.

To be honest, it’s very well done. It’s a watercolor, the artist placed us walking along a rainy sidewalk. Hand in hand, Yoongi’s gummy smile on full display while I look down at my toes.

Sebastian whistles beside me, clearly as in awe of the artwork as I am. Before me the reporter still wears her smile, waiting for a response. I pass the paper down the line, allowing Rhea to get a chance to admire the fanart.

Maybe it’s the boost of confidence I received upon reading Yoongi’s text this morning that has me grinning back at the reporter with a saccharine smile.

“Did you draw this? It’s very well done.”

Not everyone can understand Korean in this press conference, but the few that do start chuckling. The reporter blanches for a moment, smile faltering.

“N-no, but if you could answer the question-”

I’m sure I look very disappointed as I look down at her. She definitely works for dispatch; she practically reeks of it. Maybe that’s what gives me the boldness I need as I realize that I’m not even her direct target; Yoongi is.

Yoongi’s nice. I don’t think she is.

“Oh, everything is going fine. Honestly, I should get in touch with this artist. They’re very talented.”

The reporter’s eyebrows flick up, sensing a new method of attack. “Were you thinking of commissioning your own?”

“Honestly, I might consider it. Maybe it’ll make my aunts quit hounding me every Thanksgiving about my love life.”

With that, the paper is handed back to the security guard, but the reporter motions for him to keep it. Confused, he hands it back to me. I turn it over so I don’t get caught staring at it during the conference. That’s the last thing Yoongi or I need right now.

As the reporter takes her seat again, I can’t help but feel a little triumphant. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

🌙

12:22 ME: I never said you were forgiven, did I?

As soon as we get out of the press conference we are ushered into a van which takes us to another interview. I figure that now is as good a time as any to text Yoongi back, seeing that this morning I woke up late and was too flustered to come up with a response.

“Who are you texting?” Sebastian asks. “Is it your friend that always calls you?”

I consider lying to him for a moment, but realize that it might actually be nice for him to know. He can keep me from being unrealistic when I start to fangirl.

He may also help me to keep that promise I silently made a while ago: to not go so easy on Yoongi. Right now, it’s proving harder than expected to dislike him.

“Nosy.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes. “You’re grinning at your phone like an idiot, that only happens when you get texts from me.”

“Ha! Right. It’s a secret...kind of. Don’t tell anyone.”

“I’ll try my best not to.”

Taking an unnecessarily big breath, I spill my secret that I’ve kept for approximately 12 hours.

“It’s Yoongi.” When there’s no immediate reaction from him, I backpedal. “Also known as Suga?”

Before Sebastian can respond the ping of my phone pulls my attention away.

12:26 MYG: Oh good, you responded. I was getting worried you were actually mad. So is it alright if I keep texting you? I don’t want to mess with your schedule.

“You’re smiling again.”

I look up to see an annoyed Sebastian Stan. He’s not very good at sharing attention, and it would appear that Yoongi is no exception.

“How strange, I didn’t realize.”

12:27 ME: That’s fine.

12:27 ME: But I am mad!!

12:28 MYG: Hahaha sure

“Cara, we’re here.” Sebastian says as he clambers out of the car. I follow after him, pocketing my phone.

There’s a few cameras outside waiting for us, but we’re able to make it inside the building without too much fuss. Once we make it into the room where we’re supposed to have one of our interviews, Sebastian pulls a paper out of his back pocket.

“What’s that?”

He smirks at me, unfolding the paper. It’s the fanart from earlier. I didn’t even realize that he’d pocketed it.

“Tell Suga I say hi, at least.” He poses with the papers just below his chin, giving the best puppy dog eyes he can muster up. It’s rather convincing, if I’m being honest.

“You weirdo,” I mumble as I snap a photo. I’m quick to send it off to Yoongi, captioning it.

12:37 ME: Sebastian says hello.

Our interviewer is just about to come into the room when I receive a response. Not having the self-restraint to put my phone away, I quickly take a look. Sebastian peers over my shoulder, curious as well.

12:40 MYG: Winter Soldier!!!

12:41 MYG: Hi. Did he draw that?

I cackle, quickly translating the message. Sebastian looks appalled. “I have better things to do than draw fanart!”

“Yeah, like write fanfiction, right?”

He grins at me. “Obviously.”

12:42 ME: No, but he says he’s writing fanfiction.

12:42 ME: We’re about to start an interview rn but I’ll tell him to send you his rough draft later. 😏

Interviews pass, and it isn’t until I’m finishing up dinner that my phone pings with another message from Yoongi. I nearly impale Sebastian with my fork as I lunge for my charging phone; he’d come into my hotel room to eat dinner with me.

“Watch it!” Sebastian grunts, shoveling food into his mouth at an alarming rate. We were promised lunch by Rhea earlier but it ended up just being a small snack as she was whisked away by a long-lost friend. The two of us managed to control our hunger for as long as possible, but Sebastian wasted no time calling up some food for us before we even got back to the hotel.

We barely beat the delivery boy here. He wasn’t all that surprised that we were American. Sebastian had tried out some very choppy Cantonese. What did end up surprising him was that he was delivering a meal to the Winter Soldier. I was able to sneak into my room undetected while the boy’s eyes were bugging out as Sebastian signed his hat.

“Sorry,” I mumble around my food.

9:12 MYG: I’m still waiting for the rough draft.

I translate the message to Sebastian, who cackles and promises to get started on it as soon as possible.

9:14 ME: Sorry, Sebastian said he’s still trying to write it. I’ll let you know when it’s ready!

9:15 MYG: That’s alright. I’ll be patient.

9:15 MYG: I saw a clip from your press conference today.

My stomach lurches as I realize what clip it was that he probably saw. Does he think I’m some crazy fangirl now? I mean, I might be. But he doesn’t need to know that.

9:18 ME: I didn’t get you in trouble, did I?

Sebastian notices my change in expression and shoots me a worried look. “Everything alright?” I shrug.

“Yeah...I just hope I didn’t get him in trouble with what I said at the press conference today. I think that reporter was trying to go against him somehow.”

“He’s a big boy. Did he say anything about it?”

I look back down at the messages even though I already know what he said. My stomach lurches again as I see the three little dots at the bottom of the screen.

“No, not really. He just said he saw a clip or something. He’s typing right now, though.”

9:20 MYG: I thought I was the worrier. No, you didn’t. How was the rest of your day?

“What’d he say?” Sebastian grabs our cartons of food, tossing them into the wastebasket.

“He’s just…”

“Are you blushing?!” My friend stares at me from across the room, eyes wide. “No way! You like him!”

“No! No I don’t!”

“Yes you do, don’t lie to me! You’re so into him!” Sebastians hurries back over grinning wide. “Wow, he must be a good texter.”

That really is helping my blush. “Nooo, he’s not. He’s just nice. That’s it. It’s just fun having someone nice to talk to, you know? He feels really bad about everything and - Sebastian quit it - and it’s just sweet of him to care. That’s it.”

Sebastian stops looking at me with his puppy dog eyes and leans back in his chair, a contemplative look overtaking his features. “I thought I was nice to talk to.”

I pause for a second, breath getting caught in my throat. “Y-you are. I didn’t mean it like that.”

He shakes his head, giving me an award-winning smile. “No, I know. Aren’t you going to respond?”

“Oh! Yeah!” I focus on my phone again. There’s an uneasy feeling rising in me at Sebastian’s comment, but I brush it off for now. He’s always been bad at sharing his friends. He’s the same with Anthony Mackey, I’ve seen it up close.

9:25 ME: True, I’ll let you worry. My day was good, just finished up dinner. How was yours?

“There, I-” I look up proudly only to find Sebastian’s chair empty and the door clicking shut. “...I did it.”

MYG: It was great. Got lots of work done.

MYG: Have you decided if you’re going to come to the festival or not? Also, Bong-cha says hi.

ME: Wow, she can’t even tell me herself. No respect. No, I honestly didn’t even think about it today...but I’m pretty sure we’re all going either way.

MYG: Haha she’s not happy with your comment.

MYG: She’s reading over my shoulder, I promise I’m not reading our conversation out loud. Is your director making you go?

I just miss the chance to respond as my phone lights up with an incoming call.

“Bong-cha, quit reading my conversations you little weirdo.”

“Hey, how’s it going with you? I’m great, thanks for asking.”

“Are you still in the room with everyone?”

“No, just left. You should see Yoongi right now, though.”

“Why?”

“He looks like a kid in a candy store every time he gets a text from you. It’s adorable.”

“Yah!”

My friend’s cackle soars through the phone, and I swat at the air as though I could somehow get her to stop.

“Please tell me you guys are coming to the festival.” Bong-cha’s sudden change in tone has me pausing, chewing on my lip.

“We are. Why?”

“Come stay with me!” Bong-cha shouts. I jump up, a grin already working its way onto my face. “It’ll be just like old times. And, I was looking at the schedule you sent me...there’s a couple of nights where you’re done relatively early. We could go do something fun!”

I sigh, rubbing my temples. My phone is buzzing with incoming texts, but I ignore them for now. “Yeah, that’ll be fun. I’m not sure if I can come stay with you-”

“C’mon,” Bong-cha whines. “I never get to see you anymore. We’ll make it work! Oh, I’ve gotta go, Tae brought Yeontan. But let me know!”

With that, Bong-cha cuts the line and leaves me on the other side caught between excitement at seeing my friend and dread at having to come face to face with Yoongi. Texting is one thing; but actually spending time with him?

“Just be his friend,” I mumble to myself. Settling down, I attack my food once more. The space where Sebastian sat before makes me furrow my brows.

What’s going on with him? I mean sure, we’re really good friends. But we still see each other constantly, why would he be so possessive?

It’s probably all just in my head. My phone light up with the texts I received a couple of minutes ago while I was still on the phone, and this time I physically cannot restrain the smile that comes through as I realize Yoongi is still texting me.

MYG: Really no pressure about the festival. I know Bong-cha really wants to see you, but please don’t feel like you have to come and hang out with us.

MYG: We’re not even that cool, anyways.

MYG: Are you just hanging out with Sebastian tonight??

I stare down at my phone for a moment, the smile being wiped from my face. Plopping down heavily on my bed, I close my eyes and power off my phone.

Yoongi is nice. So nice, apparently, that I can’t even tell now if he’s trying to get me to stay away. The fact is simple: he’s a nice man who has a reputation to uphold and is trying to keep everyone happy. That includes me.

He’s nice for texting me and trying to make sure I’m doing alright. Any decent human being would do that. But there’s also the fact that I’m new to this game in the spotlight and I know that I’m not going to be able to keep my feelings out of this.

I take a moment to breathe, forcing myself to push away the impending panic that sets in. This is no way to live, and I know that I’m only setting myself up for heartbreak when someday I don’t wake up to a good morning text from Yoongi.

It’s only been one day of communicating and I can already feel myself getting too attached.

Powering on my phone again, I flinch at the new texts.

9:17 MYG: Bong-cha just told me her evil plan. 😩 Did she tell you about it on the phone?

9:31 MYG: Sorry if you’re busy! Just text me back when you can. Let me know about your plans for the festival, too.

Even though I’m itching to text him back and waste away the rest of the night talking to him, there’s another more pressing matter I have to face. Quickly getting up and leaving my phone there in order to fight the temptation, I grab my room key and head a few rooms down. A quiet knock and a few seconds later and Sebastian is opening up his door.

He looks down at me warily, and I feel almost like we had a fight because of the way he’s looking at me. Emitting a loud sigh, he shakes it off and grins down at me in a way that makes me question if I even saw the previous expression at all.

“Hey,” I mumble out weakly. Moving past him into his room, he follows silently behind me.

“Hey…?”

Without another word I land face first onto his bed, the action pulling a laugh from him. Good. His laugh reminds me that this is real. This friendship is real, and Sebastian for all his annoying teasing, is a true friend.

Bong-cha is miles away and busy. She’s also biased. So Sebastian is the next best thing.

“I’m freaking out,” the pillow muffles my words but I know he hears me loud and clear. The mattress dips on one side as Sebastian settles onto it, and a moment later a hesitant hand begins kneading the flesh at my shoulders. I let out a satisfied sigh.

“What’s going on?” His tone is gentle, and the sound of it nearly tugs some tears out of my eyes.

“I’m pathetic, Sebastian.” I clutch his pillow and bury my face farther into it. “I’m so pathetic! I’ve literally never met the man before in my life, and I’ve spent the last 24 hours sending a few texts back and forth and I already feel like I’d jump off a cliff for him!”

Sebstian’s hands pause in their kneading for a fraction of a second before continuing on. “I told you you liked him.”

I turn to look at him, and again I catch that wary gaze before he drops it. “Really? ‘I told you so’? Rude. I need help, Sebastian. It’s never going to happen, he’s just being nice, and I just need to be cordial and get through this. Right?”

He nods, contemplating a bit. “Sure. He seems like a great guy. But at the end of the day, the two of you are just caught up in a weird media frenzy and that’s it. Is that what you want me to say?”

“I guess.” I huff, flipping onto my back as I stare up at the ceiling. “Why do I like him though? Am I just desperate?”

Sebastian stands up and laughs. “No way. If you were desperate you would be falling for me, not some inconvenient, crazy famous kpop star.”

Somehow his words make me laugh, the feeling easing the panic a bit. “You’re right, I guess.”

🌙

I end up passing out in Sebastian’s room only to wake up at 3 am and find myself a little too close for comfort to my co-star. Gently untangling myself from his mess of arms and legs, I sneak out of his room and back to my own.

Half-asleep and looking the part, I groan at my reflection in the mirror as I try to brush my teeth. Pointing at my reflection with my toothbrush, I give myself a pep talk.

“You are not pathetic,” pause to spit, “you’re not desperate,” rinse out the brush, “you’re just friendly. You’re practicing making new friends, and Yoongi as well as all of BTS are a part of that. That’s it.”

So when I finally settle down into my cold and very empty bed, I don’t feel very guilty sending Yoongi a late-night text. He never texted me again after the last one I saw, and I easily brush off the feeling of disappointment and replace it with relief.

3:13 ME: Yeah, we’re going. No, I have no idea what the evil plan is. Do we need to come up with a counter-plan? And sorry I never responded...I was busy annoying Sebastian and left my phone in my room. Good morning! This is payback for your late texts last night!

I fall asleep easily after that, double checking that my phone is on silent before snuggling deep down into my pillows.

Honestly, what do I even have to worry about? Everything is going great with promotions, the movie is finished and should be well received, and in a couple of days I’ll get to go see Bong-cha and make new friends!

Into the silence, I can’t help but laugh. I’m not dumb enough to believe that everything will go as planned.

Especially not as my dreams take over and the only thing I can dream of is a man in a black suit, turning around to greet me over and over again. I can never quite see his face, but somehow I know him.

Even in my unconscious state, I lie to myself and say that it’s not Min Yoongi.

Previous - Next

Taglist is open! Ready to head to Seoul next time?

taglist: @taylorroe3 @eusticenatalie @agustneeds @oceandeep​ @prdshobi​

[twst-sumi-squad]

Cinder-Vil-a: A short story

♢ Sumi B exited the classroom with a weary sigh, lifting a hand to her head and holding it as she thought of her troubles. It was her turn to watch over the club so that no one they didn't want around came and trashed it. It may or may not also be to hide it from some of the people they write about. Groaning once more, she turned to head down the corridor, not focused on where she went. Even though her eyes were cast to the floor, she noticed Vil even before the collision, and only didn't dodge because she thought he would. However, today, this was not the case. Instead of his normally impeccable sense of self awareness, it seemed that the dorm leader had been distracted by something, his eyebrows knit tensely together even after they both noticed they'd fallen. Vil got up first, offering a hand that was politely declined by Sumi B. After humbling her with an apology, he soon set off again, clearly headed to deal with the task worrying him, leaving behind something on the floor. Sumi B picked it up and smiled, laughing a little as she examined the compact mirror.

"Wow, you'd have thought he was Cinderella running from his prince to have forgotten this by running in such a hurry..."

Turning back, she called him with a smirk.

"Hey~ Lampa alu~! You dropped something."

Later, in the clubroom, oceanic currents flew over her head as she sat at the alcove's desk. Staring down at a blank piece of paper as blue lights swam all around it, she tapped the pen to her lips in thought.

"Cinderella huh…"

Smiling, she began to write a small story springing from the fertile ground of her imagination. ♢

♥

“Rise.”

Soft supple lips part in a humbled smile, his sparkling lashes rising to show the gleaming grin within his amethyst irises. Nodding softly with grace, he stands to face you, the glimmering makeup over his eyes colouring his smile with glittering rainbows. It’s stunning to view and you hold your breath, taking in his elegant beauty. Dressed in a deep blue dress adorned with golden roses and split in two at the chest, he smooths it out, fingertips delicately clinging to the edges where they clutched it for his curtsy. Champagne gold hair that faded into a light lavender was tied up in a coiled bun, showing off the light blue earrings hanging from his ears, the almost diamond hearts shining like he’d plucked droplets of water from a river and hung its tears on his ears. The mystical aura that seemed to surround him led you to believe that might be true…

“Yes, my prince?”

His voice is light and alluring, you swallow as he addresses you, taking in a breath to compose yourself. You must not lose your image in front of all the people attending the ball, all the eyes cast indirectly at your way, through mirrors and whispers. They all watch you, scouring for a weakness - an opportunity. But instead of dismissing him, you can’t help but ask.

“What is your name?”

Calm in manner, he holds a hand to his heart and tilts his head slightly to the side, delight dancing in his eyes.

“My name… is Vil.”

Curious, you mirror his tilted head, holding a hand to your chin.

“Is that your full name?”

“My prince, my name is all I have. If you will not accept it for what it is, what else do I say?”

Smirking with a subtle flair of pride at your confusion, he bows his head to you as you reply.

“You avoided the question. Will you not answer to your prince?”

“I do and I answer only the truth.”

With that and flourished twirl, you are left staring at his back receding into the crowd, catching just the mere glimpse of his head turning back to gaze at you for just an instant - before your view is blocked by another person bowing at your heel.

Swilling from side to side, your reflection seems dulled in the drink you hold, the long glass cool against your fingers. All its shiny surface seemed to do was reflect the leering eyes glancing at you from every side as you walk along the table, taking care not to stumble in your poise as you do. The golden drink in your hands - apple juice? or was it alcohol? you can’t recall what was ordered for the party, you’d grabbed something random after all - served little as a suitable distraction from your nerves. Greetings sometimes bombard you and you check your reflection is smiling before looking up to reply, keeping your performance as prince as perfect as possible. Just as you settle to brood within a corner, a flashing golden rose decorating blue dashes by your sight. Instantly, you snap your attention to it, watching it disappear behind a corner and chasing after it. A name, short and sweet when spoken by his lips, flashes across your mind. It stands doubtful but you place your hope in it anyway, heat rushing to your cheeks. The warmth of your face is met by the cool breeze of air as you leave through the back door, still searching for that snatch of blue. Smiling with a laugh, he stands before you at the bottom of the steps that lead to the garden, holding his hands behind his back as he looks up at you. Vil presses a decorated nail against the edge of his lips, grinning. You try not to let your eyes focus on those lips as they move, teasingly calling out.

“Catch me if you can~”

His laugh is infectious, rendering you sick in its terribly fast spread as you start to smile, rushing forward down the steps. Every step forward you take, he skips back, before he begins to run away in the opposite direction. Unable to and not intending to do anything else, you follow him delightedly.

Casting moonlit shadows and sparkling spotlights down on you two, both of your performances shed, stripping you of your duties as you shrug the burdens off your shoulders and throw your heads back. And laugh into the night. Vil’s voice is musical to your ears, alighting your face aflame every time he sings to you from behind a bush, darting away from your grasp.

“My prince~!”

Running as fast as you’re able, you dash after his cooing words, letting your chuckles run free. Eventually, you sneak up on him, stealthily sidling up behind him, asking carefully beforehand.

“May I hold you in my arms?” 

Stiffening, he pauses before nodding coolly. Though he isn’t turned to you, you nod before slipping your arms around his waist. He smells of coal and roses, fire burnt petals and shadows overcast flowers.

“Then...I’ve caught you.”

Almost breathlessly, you whisper, knowing he’ll hear. Vil’s face pinkens to a crimson, flushing at your touch as he pulls out of your embrace. Holding the back of his hand to his mouth, he looks away from you and gently releases your arms from around him.

“...Indeed. Ah, I apologise, I lost my composure. I shouldn’t have teased you like that, you’re the prince after all and I’m...”

Hearing his voice sends your heart aflutter but hearing its notes strike a sadder tone fills your heart with sadness as well. Consolingly, you shake your head, smiling. 

“No, it was the most fun I’ve ever had in such a while.”

Your words seem to uplift him, as his crystalline eyes seem to shine a little brighter, their blazing purple gazing deep into yours. Smirking, he crosses a finger to his lips once more, tilting his head to his right.

“Well, I suppose your beautiful eyes must be quite the appraiser since a beautiful jewel like myself has caught your attention so easily.”

The moon casts light from behind his head, brilliantly shining as if he was glowing in the night. Upon his head, there almost seemed to be a crown of starlight, a halo of their shine surrounding his golden hair. Melting at the sight of his smile, you hesitate before reaching out to catch his hand, bowing with perfect posture as you plant a gentle kiss across the back of his palm.

“Then, may I ask for this beautiful gem to join me for a dance?”

Flushing a little, he nods wordlessly and you smile, feeling heat rise to your cheeks once more.

The waltz is slow and sweet as you both dance to the tune of melodic breezes, the air sweetened in fragrance by the aroma of the flower bed surrounding you and Vil’s own scent. His eyes sparkle as brightly as his earrings, but they hold an added edge of fondness that seems to deepen everytime he looks at you. There is a precious silence that hangs around both of you, soft in its touch as caresses your faces. Here, in the comforting emptiness of the garden, you’re both free from the whispers that would follow you. You take a step to the side, in time with the silent music, and feel him step closer. Another step and your heart begins to beat faster. His lips draw closer to yours as you stop dancing, standing still in each other's arms. Gently holding your chin, he pulls you closer and then steals your heart with a kiss, the gap between the two of you closing within a heartbeat. He holds the kiss for a dreamlike moment, drawing it out, as you close your eyes and enjoy the feeling of his lips against yours. A loud bell rings, signalling midnight, causing Vil to gasp. You barely get to open them after he hastily breaks it in a panic since he covers your eyes with his hands. Shaking, he grimaces.

“I’m sorry, my prince. This jewel cannot stay.”

Shoving you to the side, he rushes off, his fluttering marine skirts disappearing to the image of rags.

All that you have left, to remind you that this dreamy mystery beauty existed, is a golden pin shining in the grass, a silent image of a knife stabbing into a heart. Much like how yours is feeling. It was the one that held his bun. Picking it up, you examine it, twirling it around between your fingers, imagining the golden pin against the lighted gold of his hair. You press it against your chest, feeling the beat of your heart still pace quick against it through the fabric of your outfit. You aren’t going to let it end like this. Running after Vil, you dash through the gardens and towards the exit, delighted as you catch the sight of someone else running away. Rags flutter against their body and dark black soot is dusted over their fair hair. But as they turn back and pause at the sight of you, you know it’s Vil. His sparkling makeup is all gone, replaced by tarred marks that smear across his face. His hair is scraggly and thin, his clothes no more than sheets of fabric better suited for beds. But still, his amethyst eyes gaze longingly at you and you take a deep breath and walk closer. Even without the dress, the hair, the makeup, you know what he looks like. Beautiful.

“May I hold you in my arms?”

Your voice is soft and tempting, carefully holding your arms open for him. He looks away, unable to face you.

“Are you sure you even want to, my prince?”

“I know that I don’t want to chase you if you don’t want me to. But if I need to, I will.”

He laughs bitterly, skeptically replying.

“Really… even when your beautiful jewel isn’t as perfectly cut as it should be?”

Walking closer, you don’t let your arms fall.

“I don’t know what you mean. As long as you’re Vil, you’re perfect to me.”

Surprised, he looks at you with wide eyes before sighing.

“Well, you truly do have beautiful eyes. Ones that can see me for the beauty I am.”

Softly, he slips his arms around you and squeezes you into a tight hug. You feel your cheeks burn but your heart swells with happiness. Smiling, you whisper into the wind with a short laugh.

“I’ve caught you, my gemstone.”

♥

[rvmmm21]

. i think he likes you back .

summary : joohyun is tired of hearing seungwan go on and on about this wonderful, attractive senior she’s head over heels for. joohyun wants a name, and she knows exactly how to get it out of her, no matter how much Seungwan wants to keep it a secret.

requested : yes, by rvmmm21 to rvmmm21.

note : oh wow, is this my wenrene niche? do i have a soft spot for nervous, spluttering wendy and (big)tease, soft dom irene? oh, i don’t know... but this was ?fun-ish? smut practice nonetheless. i still cringed though, working hard on my plotless smut. i’ll proofread it like later or smth i’m gonna sleep now.

[(soft)dom!irene x wendy]

...

“… and I like him.”

“A name, Wan-ah, I need a name… come on…” Joohyun insists, dropping her pen and herself onto the bed next to the younger girl, incomplete pie charts and bar graphs surrounding them both.

I mean, yes, she could very easily bite the bullet and tell Seungwan that she, too, wishes to see them as more than just friends, that she’s been waiting for the chance to… deepen their bond. Or that she already knows that this infamous heartthrob senior Seungwan has an undying crush on is, in fact, her.

But really, what’s the fun in that?

They’d talked about crushes before. Far too much, in all honesty. Ask all the missed deadlines and turning up to class halfway through it. Oh, and Joohyun’s now a pro at flattening knowing grins and keeping her eyes from rolling skywards from all the times she’s had to do it when Seungwan was in one of her particularly ‘gushy’ moods. The senior she’s wholeheartedly in love with.

Senior as in a boy senior, of course, and definitely not Bae Joohyun.

“Oh unnie, he’s so good-looking… but – but you’ll never guess who it is.”

“His legs… his hair… he’s so pretty and… I don’t know, I think about what it would be like to… to kiss him and – and ugh, just kinda everything, you know?”

“… but – but seriously, you’ll never guess… I mean… so don’t even try.”

Joohyun could write a novel, at this point, with how much information she’s gathered on this mysterious senior no one else but Seungwan seems to know about. It’s the fine print, really. The little details like how smooth his fingers are when he tucks a spidery velvet lock of hair behind his ear, how she can just tell he’ll make a great partner because of how he well he listens; things that are far too in-depth and descriptive for someone who’s supposedly admiring from afar, for someone’s who’s never actually spoken to him.

Oh, and don’t even get her started on the number of times this ‘boy’ has been referred to as ‘she’.

“So?” Joohyun blatantly peers, head cocked and eyebrow quirked, “I’m sick of hearing about it. Are you going to tell me or what?”

“… I-I can’t, unnie, it… it’s a secret…”

There we go, that A-class excuse – ‘It’s a secret’.

Oh no you don’t, Joohyun thinks, not this time. She’s not letting Seungwan slither out of this one like she’s very poorly managed to slither out all those other times.

She casts the younger girl (who seems hell-bent on keeping her mouth shut) a look of determination, and receives one right back, doubled in intensity, if not a little fragile round the edges.

Fine, be like that, Joohyun thinks. She’ll pry that name from those lips… oh yes, she will… even if it has to come after a plethora of… other noises.

Joohyun sneers, edging closer to the girl who’s a few seconds away from releasing white puffs of steam from her ears. “Honestly, I kinda like how you try so hard. Unless you’re just playing dumb… Wan-ah, you don’t think I’m stupid, do you? This lover-boy of yours clearly doesn’t exist.”

Well… not like that. ‘He’ may not… but ‘she’, on the other hand, very much does.

Seungwan feels those very familiar cherry-blossom petals sear into her cheeks at how close Joohyun is. Suddenly, everything is amplified. Suddenly, she’s hyper aware of how she’s twitching, holding back from just leaning forward and connecting them both… or how she’s now caged in by her definitely-not crush, back against the headboard with absolutely nowhere to go.

She has to let out a nervous chuckle, if only to distract from her raging blush. “… unnie, I… he does exist… he’s –”

She’s cut off. Seungwan’s eyes bulge out before fluttering closed when she feels a pair of velvety lips against her own. There’s a lively tinge of strawberry-burst lip balm exchanged from Joohyun’s mouth to hers, and her lips are already tingling by the time the older girl pulls away.

“… w-wha – what was… that?” she finally manages, going stiff when she sees that sinful smile on her unnie’s otherwise innocent face.

“Now you know,” Joohyun replies, licking her lips, savouring the taste of inexperience and cherry liquorice – with a slight aftertaste of denial, of course. Although that’s nothing she can’t fix.

Seungwan couldn’t look more confused… or guilty.

“… know –” she gulps, not knowing how she could say anything that wouldn’t immediately give her away, “– know what?”

“What it’s like to kiss him.”

Seungwan’s eyes go wide again. Her brain short-circuits, and she jolts forward. “Unnie!”

But Joohyun splays a hand against her chest, gently easing her back onto the pillows. Seungwan knows the she intended the gesture to soothe her nerves, but it only succeeds in firing her up twice as much. Still, she’s mute, unwilling to believe this is actually happening.

“I bet you want to know everything about him, don’t you –”

Oh? Joohyun’s hands are inching their way under her skirt. Oh? What’s she doing?

“– I bet you want to know what he can do… to you. Hm?”

Seungwan whimpers down at the pretty fingers now caressing her against the damp fabric of her panties, stroking her slit with practiced precision. Oh no. No, no, no… this is so bad. She can’t possibly feel how wet she is, can she? That dewy heat had been radiating at her core the entire time, but she really didn’t think she’d have it revealed to the one person she was trying her best to hide it from.

Joohyun simply smirks up at her, poised as ever. “You’re thinking about him now, aren’t you?”

When Seungwan stays silent, Joohyun pushes herself up and leans over to give her a kiss on the cheek. And then her other one, and one on the corner of her lips, her forehead, her nose and her right ear. Her fingers never move from between her legs.

“Aren’t you?” she repeats, breath tickling the shell of her ear.

Of course I am, Seungwan confesses to herself.

It’s like an out-of-body experience, when Joohyun grasps her by the arms and scooches them towards the edge of the bed, grabbing one of the pillows and propping it up behind her. Ah yes, there’s that fine print in action again, in a very live setting, this time. She knows this can’t end well for her, but there’s something about Bae Joohyun, the girl she’s had very... descriptive dreams about, on her knees before her. It grants her the near perfect illusion of being in control. 

But then that naughty shimmer in those flawless eyes reminds her she really, really isn’t.

The older girl smoothly hooks her fingers into the waistband of her panties, pushing her bottom up and giving them a swift tug down past her hips. Despite the scorching humiliation, Seungwan complies, shifting up so Joohyun’s job is easier. Her fingertips leave trails of warmth down her skin and she can only watch as her underwear is chucked gracelessly over her shoulder.

“You want to know what he’s like in bed...”

Even almost fully clothed, Seungwan feels more naked than she’s ever felt before. She inhales sharply when she feels a brief pressure on her clit, instinctively trying to draw her knees together, but with Joohyun in between them, it’s impossible to. So she resorts to laying back, resting her weight on her elbows, helpless to whatever Joohyun has in store for her.

“You want to know how well he can take you.”

A finger dips into the wetness it finds and the younger girl gasps, feeling herself leak even more when it draws lazy little circles around her clit. Not on it, just around it. If she didn’t know any better, Seungwan would think she’s doing this on purpose, deliberately not touching her where she wants – needs. It’s unfortunate that Joohyun’s maddening teasing rendered her unable to speak, because she really needs to ask for more.

“… p-please… touch… touch harder…” she tries, not caring at how pathetic that sounds.

Joohyun smiles.

“Touch harder where?”

The embarrassed squeak she receives in reply gives her a pretty good idea, though.

“Harder… here?” She asks, sliding her fingers back into her core. Seungwan whimpers. “Or… here?”

A thumb on her sensitive clit rubs slow, firm circles, and it’s the direct contact Seungwan’s been longing for since they began. She’s being filled and fucked so well, it doesn’t take long before it’s unravelling that knot in her gut and she can’t help voicing her relief, all her muscles tensing at the sheer pleasure. “… oh, oh – oh my gosh, unnie…”

“Feel good, Wannie?”

‘Good’ doesn’t do it justice, especially not after she’s been teased out of her mind like that. Her hips are rocking against the fingers pumping in and out of her, trying to get them to go even harder, faster.

“I’m going to make you cum, Wannie,” she hums, “unnie’s going to make you cum on her fingers, okay?”

She sure as hell is. It’s already bubbling to the surface. Joohyun’s about to make her spill over, tip her over that edge, have her falling apart with her two fingers hitting her g-spot perfectly, with her thumb against her clit, that wonderful ache clouding her sensibilities so she can’t think straight. “… I’m… oh, unnie, I’m gonna – I’m…”

“Uh, uh, uh.” Joohyun stops completely. She’s still knuckle-deep, but any movement, any friction is ceased. Seungwan’s would-be orgasm plateaus then plummets just as quickly.

And she barely stops herself from ripping her hair out. “Uh-unnie!”

“Tell me who you really like.” Joohyun resumes her unbearable teasing like she did at the start, brushing over her clit, never giving her anything concrete to hold on to for longer than a second.

Seungwan groans, dazed and obviously reluctant. “… huh?”

“It’s me, isn’t it?” Joohyun pries, holding the younger girl’s hips still when they try to grind onto her hand. “He isn’t real. It’s me. You like me. Say it, tell me.”

“… wh-what… no, please it’s n –”

She chokes back the rest of her sentence when Joohyun continues to pump into her at an agonizingly slow pace, keeping her orgasm painfully tethered. “You want to cum… you need to, don’t you? You need it? I want to hear you say it, so say it. Say it and I’ll make you cum. I’ll give you what you need.”

Seungwan wants to slap herself. She’s walked right into this. She’s just played herself – but Joohyun’s right, she needs to cum, she needs it so badly – oh god, her thoughts are everywhere. Joohyun tone is as sweet and as kind as she is, but her actions are utterly cruel, and Seungwan hates it that she wants everything she’s dishing out. It takes little more than a peer down at that searching gaze, inescapable, blinking innocently up at her like she isn’t driving her absolutely crazy with pleasure before she caves in. She’s broken and they both know it, all red in the face and choking out a weak – “… I-I like… I like you, unnie… you, it’s you, it’s you. I like you!”

To which Joohyun chuckles, playfully.

And then her fingers are moving again, plunging into her. Oh gosh. Oh my gosh, it feels good. Too good, it’s insane. Seungwan can feel herself clenching down intermittently on the fingers thrusting, curling against where she’s most sensitive. The pressure on her clit is nothing short of delicious, and she can finally hold onto the feeling for more than a second, but she craves it so badly that it only takes a second before it – it’s – it’s coming –

With a hoarse whisper of Joohyun’s name, she tenses up and goes limp all at once, slumping forward and clinging onto Joohyun for dear life, tiny shocks of electricity racing through her system as she twitches and convulses in her unnie’s arms.

Joohyun shifts off the floor and settles down next to her trembling Wannie, taking the opportunity to hum sweetly in her ear. “There, there now… see? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Was it really worth keeping it secret for that long?”

It feels like a millennium before Seungwan finds the strength to sit up and the ability to swallow. She flops lifelessly onto her side, letting those warm arms engulf her before looking Joohyun in the eye.

“I don’t know,” she half sighs, half pouts. “Wasn’t like I had much of a choice.”

Joohyun huffs fondly, leaning in to press a light kiss to a sweat-matted fringe. She lingers, and Seungwan can feel her growing smile. “Don’t worry, Wan-ah. He definitely likes you back.”

[emmys-grimoire]

Season 2 review

It is done!

I’ll preface this review with the obvious but nevertheless important: these are my opinions. I am fine with others criticizing my opinions, mind you, but I’m usually disinclined to changing them. Like most opinionated people.

And as with most things covered in this blog, spoilers ahead. Don’t read it if you don’t like ‘em.

The Good

I believe the devs did the side characters justice in terms of character development, which is impressive because they have to fixate on seven other characters for most of the story (the demon brothers are the draw, afterall). It’s a little frustrating because it shows they are capable of revealing a lot about a character in just a single conversation, but they spend a great deal of their time on fluff. It is nothing unsurprising given the aim of the game as a whole (romantic fantasy/escapism), but it does detract from… well, everything else. If you don’t care about everything else, this doesn’t matter. If you’re one of the few who do, like me, you’re in for a drought before you get to the next juicy story morsel. Alas, that is the price we pay.

But, this is ‘the Good’ section of the review, so I will focus on that. Diavolo, Luke, Simeon, and Solomon get fleshed out more than they did in the previous season as promised, and their growing closeness to MC doesn’t feel hamfisted; there’s little realistic hooks strewn throughout that makes the relationships grow organically compared to, say, the newt syrup arc.

At the end of the season MC is set to become Solomon’s new apprentice, they are now instrumental in Diavolo’s plan for realm-wide peace instead of just being a particularly charming exchange student, Simeon is more interested in learning more about MC due to MC’s meddling during the retreat and their performance in his play, and Luke finally can bring himself to admit that he actually enjoys being in the Devildom. Michael is being alluded to more and more and finally drops in to say hi, even though the game stops short of explicitly revealing that it is him. It all feels like a good transition into more romantic things with them in the next season, and I look forward to exploring more hidden depths.

I am relieved they steered away from additional time travel due to its potential to confuse everyone and everything. We need to learn what the deal is with Barbatos but I’m sure it can be done without meddling with the time continuum. The introduction of the Reaper has interesting worldbuilding implications: the souls of all beings are overseen by what appears to be an unaligned third party, though prior lore implies that the departed souls still return to their respective realms (Lilith allegedly forgot how to ascend to the Celestial Realm in her desire to watch over her siblings). But, like with Michael, they avoided actually showing him by having him take a vacation right before Solomon and the brothers arrive.

On the whole, I’m happy with the season’s ending. It’s probably as good as it can get, and sets up the next season well -- assuming there is one (I think there will be).

The Bad

It’s hard to frame this because there were never any explicit promises made but wow was the build-up wasted and the climax went down dry.

Diavolo’s wishy-washiness and reluctance to tell Lucifer about how MC’s presence was slowly tearing the Devildom asunder, his growing jealousy and his doubt in the strength of Lucifer’s loyalty, the foreshadowing in Simeon’s play, Barbatos warning Lucifer that one day he may need to choose between Diavolo and MC/his family and how he was reverting back to his angelic self, the very foreboding storm that was brewing outside, how Lucifer was certain “something bad” was about to happen… all that juicy potential rendered impotent because of the Ring of Light and amnesia.

It didn’t lead to a tortured, difficult choice Lucifer had to make that had the potential to put either his relationships or the realms in jeopardy -- and it really felt like it was headed in that direction. But it couldn’t really lead there because Lucifer lost his memories, and he was just re-familiarizing himself with all those relationships. Instead we had to choose whether or not we let Lucifer martyr himself, and of course he’s willing to do that because he loves us even if his memories aren’t fully intact, and it’s heavily implied that he’s his angel-like self again. The choices we made during the play don’t really come into fruition, and the Ring of Light helps make our choice ultimately irrelevant anyway.

It felt like they winded up for the pitch and then lost their nerve.

Though I’d argue that Lucifer would ultimately be okay with sacrificing himself for MC and the realms even if he was still his full-fledged, assholish demon self… but it definitely felt like fate was going to make him choose between his loyalty and his love. You know, the whole “love is the death of duty”/”duty is the death of love” shebang. It would have been more rewarding -- they can even let the Ring of Light ultimately fix everything and I’d be happy if it was that dilemma! But this isn’t Game of Thrones, so I can’t be too disappointed that my expectations weren’t met.

If you like Lucifer and Mammon fluff, this season gives it in spades. If neither of those two are your favorite you might have been bummed out. They give Asmo an arc but he ultimately concludes he was trying too hard to be like Lucifer which left me all ?????? How? Satan tutors you, but he doesn’t really deviate from what he usually does (though his minor tiff with Simeon when he’s physically affectionate with us was amusing). The devs did suggest they want to explore Satan’s origins more thoroughly in the future in one of the newsletters, and I think we’re due for that in the next season. There’s hope for the others yet... just not much in this season.

The Future?

I think there’s a high probability that we’ll get a season 3. Nothing about season 2’s ending felt like they were wrapping things up. The season as a whole felt like a transition.

I think we’ll get more romantic scenes with our “undateables” and they won’t officially be considered “undateables” any more. We’ll probably get more cards with them. I’m not sure if they’ll fully graduate into dance battle sprites because that’ll require more creative color assignments for glow sticks, but I wouldn’t entirely discount the possibility. There are many shades in the rainbow.

I think worldbuilding necessitates more exploration of the Celestial Realm, and an eventual conclusion to the game storyline requires officially mending relations between the angels and demons and healing the wounds incurred by both the wars of the distant past and the Great Celestial War (which was essentially a civil war). Such a thing requires an honest dialogue between the two factions for it to ring sincere, not just a continuation of the exchange program. The game doesn’t hesitate in stating how violent all of it was.

To that end, I think we’re going to at least get a full-fledged Michael eventually, though I understand the reluctance to add him due to the work that will follow in adding another handsome man fans will undoubtedly want to make blush and kiss. They may leave him a disembodied voice for as long as they possibly can, but at some point fans will start complaining at the teasing. It’ll be like continually having to skip a missing step on a ladder.

Until then, though, he’s a missing step that’s fun to conceptualize.

You won’t get routes. The setting is ideal for a harem: all the potential love interests loved each other before MC ever entered the picture, so they will eventually accept having to share them, jealousy be damned. I’m pretty sure they’re all aware of MC’s affection towards each of them already: it’s just a matter of contention of which among them MC prefers the most. If MC wants to pursue only one of the brothers, it is up to them to do just that -- in the confines of the presented story.

Conclusion

There were some good story bits to chew on here and there, but as a whole the writing fell flatter than season 1’s writing, in spite of the predictability in the latter. The general unpredictability of this season has made things more exciting than the conclusion we eventually arrived at; it’s hard to commend it when it just doesn’t lead to something intriguing.

Welp, at least we get time to level up our cards for the next season. I only have three URs so it was pretty rough.

I’ll probably do more analysis and essays in the interim, as I work through hard mode and think more about stuff. It’s been fun, in spite of my critique.

[deprough]

Snowballs and Saviors

11/30/2020 Dincember Prompt: Snow

My Dincember prompts are part of a serial story I’m telling. This is the first part of the story.

“What do you think, Sheriff?” 

Corrie glanced up at the tall man and pursed her lips. “I think,” she said slowly, “that we don’t have much choice.”

Kado picked up the reins of his gurt and clicked once. The wooly herbivore started forward, and Corrie’s gray gurt, Cursehead, followed before she could give the command. Through the gunship’s front windows, she saw the armored man notice them, then disappear into his ship. A second later, the ramp lowered into the snow.

As they drew closer, Corrie asked herself once again if she was really lucky enough to have a bounty hunter drop into her backyard at this exact moment. If he was who Old Relston claimed, he could be exactly the person they needed. Corrie distrusted luck like that, though, even when the man stepped into view and she admitted it was probably that guy.

“Welcome to Zalzus,” Corrie called as they came to a stop in front of the ship. “You’ve landed outside the town of Libu. I’m Sheriff Corde Melne, and this is my deputy, Kado Soummu. May I ask your business, sir?”

That black visor bounced between Kado and her a couple of times. She wondered if their knitted garments, handmade from dyed gurt wool, looked cheap and primitive to him. “Do you always greet arrivals so directly?”

“No,” Corrie said honestly, her breath frosting the air. His didn’t, which meant his helmet contained it. Bet it has environmentals in there. “But I’m hoping you’re the Mandalorian who travels with a kid.” Just saying it made her uneasy.

The man looked to the side, telegraphing irritation. What’s the point in covering your face if you don’t control your body language? she wondered. “For your sake, you’d better be offering me a job.”

“What else would we want?” Kado asked curiously; Corrie swallowed her annoyance with her underling. Kado would someday be a great cop, but he was still naive. Someday, he’d get that jaded shell he needed to be a peace officer in the Outer Rim; sadly, it might be during their current crisis.

“People want lots of things from me,” the Mandalorian stated.

“I’m sure you have your charms,” Corrie said wryly, “but I need your skills, not your vagueness. A Hutt prison ship has crashed not far from our village. The Hutt in question won’t round them up, and we’ve already had one death. You up for taking in twenty men?” 

“Can you pay me for twenty bounties?” he asked bluntly.

“No,” Corrie said. “We’ll give you what we can, about half the Guild rate per head, the full resources and support of the sheriff's office, and room and board as long as you’re working for us.”

“Who died?” the Mandalorian asked.

Corrie blinked, thrown by the sudden topic change. “Pardon?”

“You said you had a death. Who died, and how?” he asked.

Drawing a deep breath and trying to not remember the scene, she said, “My uncle, the last sheriff. Vinor Cyone. He tried to track one down. We only found his bones, but we think his spine was snapped.”

The man stilled or stiffened; Corrie couldn’t quite tell what changed about his stance, but he’d definitely had a reaction to that news. “My condolences,” he said after a moment. “How did his body decompose so quickly?”

“One of the prisoners is a Wookie. I can’t say his name right, but his nickname is Maneater.” Corrie didn’t have to say more; they all heard his sharp inhale. 

“Where am I staying?” the Mandalorian asked.

“My mother’s house,” Corrie replied, feeling relief and hope flood her. She kept her voice neutral; there’d be time for relief once he’d proven he was as good as his reputation. “She’s got space. Do you have a bike or somethin’ up on that ship?”

He didn’t, of course, and so that was how Corrie ended up with a Mandalorian sitting behind her on Curse’s fuzzy back. They weren’t quite touching, but every so often, the gurt’s sway bumped their bodies together. He did have a child with him, not that Corrie had seen much of it with the bassinet sealed against the cold. Amusingly, he had the same model she’d used, though his seemed to have some modifications.

He remained silent on the ride into town, which was fine with Corrie. She pulled her yellow scarf back up over her nose, grateful for the warmth. The kids were out, playing in the snow, and they stopped to stare as the group rode into town. “Your kids really seem to like snow,” the man said suddenly.

Corrie frowned a second before she caught his misunderstanding. “It just snowed last night. Zalzus isn’t an ice world. We have seasons. For the kids, snow means two things: fun and Lifeday is coming.”

He grunted. “Your town celebrates Lifeday,” he said flatly.

“Yep,” she said, wondering what he had against the holiday. He didn’t elaborate or ask further, and it wasn’t her business.

She stopped in front of Mom’s house, turning and offering her arm for him to dismount. He slid down as Mom stepped out, beaming. Like Corrie, she was stout and short, with gray curls instead of brown. “Welcome, sir! I’m Brama Cyone, and my home is your home. What is your name?”

“People call me Mando,” he said simply, removing his gear from Koda’s gurt. 

Wondering if he actually ever answered questions, Corrie pointed at the next building over. “That’s my house. Mom and I share the stable behind the house. One of our folks is loaning you a gurt, if you can ride.”

“I ride.” He turned to Brama. “Can I see my room now?”

“Of course!” Brama led him into the wooden two-story house. The bassinet followed him like a loyal pet.

Koda turned to her. “Wow, he’s… I don’t know. Weird.”

“He’s a man who travels the edges of civilized life making a living off people who break the law,” Corrie said, pulling her gray wool coat tighter around her. “I’d be more worried if he were normal. I’ll see him settled and meet you at the jail.” 

~  *  ~  *  ~

“-- and this is Terian Novex,” Corrie said wearily, glad they were almost through the files. Her five other deputies, even Talee, the nightwatch, had met their hunter and stayed for the briefing. Corrie pulled up the next file, scraping her fingers through her brown hair as she waited for it to load. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched their guest; he’d sat down in the wooden chair at their table. His shiny, high-tech armor looked out of place in the simple whitewashed room. It probably also kept him warmer than the rest of them; the Jail’s single pane windows leaked the heat from the stove.

The click of knitting needles and carding wool filled the room’s silence as they waited for the ancient holo projector to render the image. Corrie had considered asking her deputies to not work on their side projects, but dismissed the idea. If Mando was uncomfortable, he could speak up and ask them to stop. A grainy image of the Zabrax woman appeared on the holo and Corrie started again. “She’s a hitman for a rival Hutt--”

“Half of these bounties are,” Mando sighed. He sounded tired, which was somewhat gratifying. 

“Hey, does your kid want to go outside and play?” Koda asked, drawing attention back to the bassinet. The alien child inside stared hopefully out the window, watching the other children at play behind the jail. As if sensing their attention, he turned and looked at them. All ears and eyes, Corrie thought again. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Mando said, sounding nervous.

“It’s safe,” Corrie said.

“Where I go, he goes.” 

“Poor guy,” she said, without thinking, and sure enough, their guest visibly bristled. “Calm down, I mean he wants to play, and we have a bit more work. Hold on.” She went to the backdoor and opened it. “Nuia!” she bellowed, and the girl turned and trotted through the snow toward them.

The sturdy teen stomped off her boots and came in. “Yes, sheriff?” she asked, but her eyes had already fallen on the baby and a besotted smile crossed her face. She waved at the baby, who stared at her, then waved back.

“Can you take the little one outside? Keep an eye on him but let him play with the tots?” she asked.

“I’d love to--”

“Where I go, he goes,” Mando interrupted. 

Corrie turned to him. “Then go play.” 

His head pulled back. “What?” Her deputies, used to her way of doing things, grinned and rose to stretch and get hot drinks.

“He’s a kid. He’s bored stupid here with us. So if the only way he gets to play is if you play with him, then go play.” Corrie waved her hand toward the door. “I need a break, and maybe you’ll realize by the end of it that we need you more than you need us, and we’ll protect you little one like our own.”

“You have children?” he asked. 

“We all do. I personally have two. Raina’s playing with the tots and Lonneric's probably in a snow fort ambusing the other warriors-in-the-making.” Corrie waved again. “Just go.” 

She feigned indifference until he was outside; then all seven of them crept to the window to watch. Mando stood outside stiffly, watching his little green child helping the baker’s daughter build a lopsided snow tower. “He’s hopeless,” Koda finally said. “Stiff as rock.”

“Yep.” Corrie pulled on her coat, gloves, and boots again. 

“Whatcha doin’?” Kend asked, his playful grin telling her he already knew.

“Just checking on things,” she said innocently as she slipped out the front door, pulling on her woolen hat. She eased around the side of the building, scooping up two handfuls of snow and pressing them into a ball. 

It was perfect -- heavy and wet without being drippy, compacting into a nice ball in her gloves. She peered around the corner, pleased to see his back toward her. She glanced at the window to see Koda shaking his head in bemusement. 

More than a few of the kids had seen her; Lonneric had already followed her lead, starting to make snowballs as fast as he could instead of throwing them as soon as they were complete. 

The kids staring at her gave him warning, and he half-turned toward her. Recognizing her window of opportunity closing, she threw the ball at his helmet. It wasn’t the best example for the children, but if you wore a helmet to a snowball fight, you were asking for headshots, in her book. 

She hit her mark, smearing white powder over the side of his head. He jumped and spun, hand on his blaster and for a second, she thought she’d made a terrible mistake. Lonneric had already followed her lead, and this blow hit his chest. Mando let go of his blaster, and Corrie relaxed, even as she scooped up more snow. “No,” he told her firmly, “don--”

One of the Kelshin twins nailed him in the face, and then Mando was at the heart of a flurry of snowballs. He put his hands up and crouched, but didn’t seem to know how to react to the kids pelting him. 

A snowball nailed her, and Corrie shrieked playfully. “Traitors!” she shouted as she also became a target. Her own son hit her next with a loose ball that exploded across her shoulder.

“Down with the adults!” Lonneric shouted, and the battle cry echoed across the field. 

Laughing, Corrie fought her way to Mando’s side. “C’mon!” she cried, pulling on his arm. “Run!”

After a moment of hesitation, he followed, stumbling after her to the back door of the jail. They staggered inside in a rain of balls, then pushed the door shut sharply. A few more snowballs hammered the door; then they could hear the children cheering. 

Corrie straightened up and pulled off her wet gloves. She looked at Mando and laughed. “You look like a snowman decided to become a Mandalorian.”

He looked down at himself; the snow had stuck to his clothing but not his silver armor. “You look like an insane woman who just got into a snowball fight with kids,” he said sharply.

Corrie held her smile with effort as she shed her hat and scarf. “Yeah, but I bet you’re ready to work again.”

He didn’t answer her, and as she hung up her outwear, she continued, “We were talking about Terian Novex--”

This was going to be a long partnership, but she didn’t regret dragging him into the snowball fight. They’d both needed it.

[rebelsofshield]

Far Far Away Comics: 9/23/20-10/12/20

Oh wow. Look what I did. I missed several weeks of Star Wars comics again. I promise this shouldn’t be a pattern. Hopefully. We’ll see.

Anyways, here are multiple weeks worth of Star Wars comic reviews featuring every major series that IDW and Marvel are releasing right now.

Star Wars #7 written by Charles Soule and art by Ramon Rosanas (Released on 10/7/20)

After a stellar conclusion to his first arc, Charles Soule moves forward with his second major storyline in Star Wars with a showdown between a scattered rebellion and a new Imperial enemy.

With the Rebellion still recuperating after its routing at Hoth, Leia tries desperately to not only reconnect with the disparate Alliance groups but also strike back at the Imperial forces hot on their tail. Unfortunately for Leia, Commander Zahra leads the Imperial fleet tasked with this mission and she has a bone to pick with the former Alderaanian princess.

Charles Soule has more than shown that he excels at writing villains. His takes on Darth Vader and Kylo Ren have become character defining story arcs and even some of his best work on Poe Dameron came in the exploration of the hapless First Order Intelligence Agent Terex. Now, Soule gets to introduce a new antagonist of his own making and she’s pretty stellar. Commander Zahra is introduced as not only a calculating and cunning Imperial naval commander, but also one that has a cruel streak to her and a need for vengeance. Her past connections to a Wilhuff Tarkin display an unexpected but consistently menacing take to this classic Imperial officer. It makes for a surprising and engaging issue even if it mostly amounts to an extended flashback to catch us up to speed on Leia’s newest nemesis.

Thankfully, the match up should prove interesting. Not only do Leia’s actions at the Battle of Yavin give Zahra a personal vendetta, Soule also positions Leia in a role where she can demonstrate her skills as a military commander. It puts the Rebellion and the Empire on close to equal footing which is a fun spin on a story that could have easily felt like a retread of Kieron Gillen’s outstanding “Hope Dies.”

Ramon Rosanas takes over for Jesus Saiz this issue and while his work doesn’t have the detailed flair of the comic’s usual artist, his pencils live up to the visual style established by the series. He particularly excels at large scale action scenes displaying expansive fleet combat with a sense of size and scoped. His characters prove slightly less impressive with a tendency to draw characters in the same stern mood throughout.

Overall, Soule and Rosanas have set up a strong follow up to the series’ standout first arc and set up one hell of a confrontation to come. Let’s see some blaster bolts fly.

Score: B+

Star Wars Adventures #1 written by Michael Moreci and Nick Brokenshire and art by Nick Brokenshire and Ilias Kyrias (Released on 10/12/20)

Yup, you read that right. Star Wars Adventures is starting fresh with a shiny new #1. The reasoning for this isn’t quite clear for as far as I can tell, the series is operating with close to the same status quo as it has been from the start. Offer two all ages stories of adventure set in the Star Wars universe with lots of colorful art. Even the stories feel like a neat continuation of the ones we were getting in  our pre-Covid reality. Regardless, new numbering or not, Star Wars Adventures remains its same charming self. Bursting with energy and good natured enthusiasm, it’s still one of the best Star Wars comics out there.

The meat of the issue follows a story of Finn, Poe, and Rey set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Any story following the sequel trilogy trio is appreciated and Michael Moreci crafts an enjoyable little tale of Finn and Poe trying their best to assist Rey in her new steps into Jedi training. Of course, being Star Wars, things never go as easily as planned and soon the crew run a foul of some pirates. It’s definitely fun to get to see some of our three heroes together and one can’t help but wish that maybe the adventures of Rey, Poe, and Finn could be a regular feature. Ilias Kyrias’s pencils are sure to be controversial with their overly stylized proportions and character designs, but they make for a unique looking story and capture some of the energetic action of the piece with a cartoony flair that feels right at home with the Adventures mission statement. It’s not going to be for everyone, but it hardly needs to be.

The one tangible difference between this volume and the previous is that the fun but static “Tales from Wild Space” has been replaced with a different back up feature, “Tales from Villainy.” As the name would suggest, these are shorter and more serious stories focused on the various members from the Dark Side. This week, we begin with an appearance by Darth Vader written and drawn by Nick Brokenshire. The result is a fun, well-drawn little bit centered on Vader’s role in the Battle of Hoth. Brokenshire renders Vader with a PG rated wordless intensity and the result is fun and dynamic even if there isn’t a lot of dramatic meat to chew on.

Score: B

Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars Battle Tales (Released on 9/30/2020) written by Michael Moreci and art by Derek Charm and Philip Murphy

Over its unnaturally extended run, Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars Battle Tales proved to be a surprisingly entertaining little tribute to the fan favorite animated series. With a gorgeous looking frame story by Derek Charm and creative clone centric anthology stories, Battle Tales was both colorful and surprisingly smart, often times telling stories that felt surprisingly more consequential than the standard Adventures outing.

Unfortunately, its finale ends with a bit of a whimper. It’s not that this final outing by Michael Moreci, Derek Charm, and Philip Murphy is bad. Not by any means. It’s just as colorful and delightful as any other Adventures comic. But that ultimately proves to be its biggest disappointment. After several issues of meeting and exceeding the expectations of a standard Adventures script, writer Michael Moreci more or less falls back to familiar tricks. It’s fun to see Obi-Wan and Commander Cody team up with ice Ewoks to fight General Grievous, but it’s not something particularly new to this brand and it doesn’t expand on the clone’s understanding of the Jedi like the previous issues have. It’s fun and Moreci seems more than content to leave it at that.

After weeks of build up, the finale to the Battle Tales frame story ends with little fanfare. There’s not much of a conclusion to speak of and lacks the artistic or storytelling fun of some of the previous Adventures mini-series heights like Vader’s Castle.

I still would recommend this series to any fan of The Clone Wars, but not as emphatically as I may have a few weeks back. There’s definitely joy and explosions to be had, but in the end, they turn out to be the familiar kind. As odd as that is to say.

Score: C+

Star Wars Bounty Hunters #5 written by Ethan Sacks and art by Paolo Villanelli (Released on 9/23/20)

Bounty Hunters is back for more face slamming violence, cool character designs, and questionable choices.

With Boba Fett, Vance Beilert, and Boba Fett all locked together in a close quarters space ship, the truth of their mission to Corellia all those years ago is finally out and it turns out it was a bit of a mess all around. Sure, Nakano’s act of mercy may have been the first act of chaos, but Vance Beilert’s inexperience and Fett’s bloodlust lead to the thorny crime war that they all find themselves involved in now.

It’s a smart idea, but it all feels a little cluttered. Ethan Sacks’s script looks to not only give us the full truth of the disastrous Corellia job, but also flesh out Nakano Lash’s past and also wrap up the double crossing bounty hunter beatdown that has dominated this arc so far. As a result, it all ends up feeling a bit confused and there often isn’t much of a clear thread to carry the reader through. The continued presence of violence against women as a central plot point to this series also can’t help but feel off putting at this point. Sure, Bounty Hunters is a brutal book, but when you have two issues in a row of new female characters killed off and imperiled pregnant women, it begins to feel in poor taste.

Thankfully, Paolo Villanelli is there to distract us with some gorgeous art and brilliant fight sequences. Villanelli along with colorist Arif Printo still manages that magic trick of providing dynamic action sequences that feel violent and energetic without ever losing detail or clarity. The smackdown between Vance and Boba Fett is particularly satisfying, with both hunters employing all members of their arsenal for some great panels of punching, slashing, and blasting.

It can’t all just be cool fights though. Bounty Hunters is going to have to really start digging into its characters and fix its creeping misogyny if its going to be a must read comic, but as it stands, this a book best rifled through. Look at the pictures, wince at the fights, and put it back.

Score: C+

Star Wars: Darth Vader #6 written by Greg Pak and art by Raffaele Ienco (Released on 10/12/20)

Darth Vader’s been bad. Well, not the right kind of bad. Turns out that failing to turn your son to the Dark Side and running of on a personal crusade to discover the truth about your deceased wife, isn’t the best look for a Sith Lord. And Ol’ Palpy sure ain’t happy.

Greg Pak and Raffaele Ienco provide some interesting personal consequence for Vader after the over the top and sometimes emotionally clouded first arc. With Sidious’s apprentice once again letting him down when his assistance is most needed, the Emperor unleashes a painful and total punishment. The resulting issue is a brutal and humiliating stripping away of the life that the former Anakin Skywalker has built for himself. Palpatine looks to make Vader rebuild himself from the ground up if his place in the Empire is to continue. It’s a simple read, but one that carries big consequences for the character down the line and some smart connections to The Rise of Skywalker. (Maybe Pak can help us make sense of that mess.)

Raffaele Ienco turns in his best work to date here. Ienco draws a creepy as hell Palpatine and his take on Mas Amedda feels both intimidating and appropriately slimey. Ienco also manages to nail Vader’s emotions here. The awkward sad face mask from issues past is stripped away and some smart framing and posing makes for a Sith who has clearer emotional depth while keeping the violent menace of his character.

This issue itself may be rather simple, but it sets up an exciting second arc for the series and even some long lasting emotional implications for our broken and battered Sith anti-hero. Let’s see how this burns.

Score: B

Star Wars Doctor Aphra #4 written by Alyssa Wong and art by Marika Cresta (Released on 9/30/20)

The second volume of Star Wars Doctor Aphra continues to disappoint. The decision to revert back to Aphra’s tomb raiding roots is a smart one and Alyssa Wong is undoubtedly a smart writer to spearhead the character’s next chapter, but four issues in and this comic is still sputtering out the gate. Maybe I have just too high of expectations for this character given how stellar Kieron Gillen and Simon Spurrier’s writing was for the last several years, but something about this latest volume is failing to connect.

It may be that after four issues the majority of the characters are failing to really congeal into anything substantial. We finally get some backstory on Just Lucky that adds a bit more drama to his betrayal last issue, but it still feels too little too late. The numerous hidden agendas throughout the first several issues may have done more harm than good as it kept the characters too distant and now that we know their true goals, the circumstances are too chaotic to really get a sense of person.

Aphra herself also feels like a bit of an afterthought here. While previous Aphra stories have certainly been full of big action and big ideas, they still came around to being morality stories about our lonely, morally bankrupt title character. I’m not clear what Wong is trying to say about Aphra here. In fact, at times she feels like something of an afterthought.

There are some bright spots though. Wong’s spooky approach to space archaeology still feels eerie and inventive in all the right ways, and one can’t help but wish that maybe she had leaned into it harder and delivered a Doctor Aphra cosmic horror comic.

Marika Cresta’s pencils prove serviceable. Her character designs are for the most part still largely unimpressive even if she gives surprising life to some of the Tagge henchmen. Like Wong though, Cresta is best served by all things ancient. Whether it’s old spaceships or ancient tombs, Cresta brings eerie and sometimes beautiful detail to the galactic old world.

Now if only Doctor Aphra could get its mind off the past and more into the brains of our main cast.

Score: C

[ptersparkers]

hi, peter parker

summary: the four nights spider-man visited your window and the one time he stayed.

a/n: this has been in my drafts since early 2018 and i am in love with peter parker. anyways im so grateful to get to hear back from you guys and i love seeing messages from you lot!!

warnings: none, just fluff 

masterlist / taglist 

i

To think you had said no to a night out.

You sighed and looked at your phone, your friend Taylor sending you a video via snapchat wishing you were at a friend’s house party. Initially you had declined because of a stressful week at school, but now you were bored out of your mind.

‘Sorry, Tay,’ you texted. ‘Maybe next time.’

Your phone’s clock read three minutes until midnight and you figured it would be best to sleep. You scoffed at the thought of resting when your body’s clock was rendered to stay up until four in the morning - what you had been doing some nights to study for upcoming AP tests. Now that that was out of the way, it’s like your body couldn’t fall asleep until well after midnight.

You groaned to yourself and switched on the small light by your bed. The light was dim enough so it wouldn’t bother the neighbors across from your apartment. Your eyes were closed for a total of, what felt like a millisecond, before you heard knocking on your window.

“What in the world?” you muttered. You stood up from your bed and immediately saw a red mask greet you.

“Hey there! I know this is weird, but you’re the only window with the light on and I really need to stop before I fall. There’s a whole bunch of houses and I need to fix my web shooters,” said the man in the mask, which you knew to be Spider-Man.

You stared at him, unable to comprehend what you were about to do. “Oh, um, sure,” you said before opening your window. You stepped aside and let him in. Spider-Man crawled through your window and landed effortlessly on the carpet, not making a sound.

“That was almost graceful,” you commented. “I’m pretty sure my mom would’ve thought I snuck out.”

“Do you sneak out?” he asked.

“Nah. I’m too lame to try. Do you want water or anything?” He shook his head.

“No, I just need someplace to fix my web shooters. I think they got jammed,” he replied.

“Okay, cool,” you said awkwardly, balancing from one foot to the other.

“Can I sit on your bed?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Do you have a small pick by any chance?”

“I have tweezers?”

“I guess that’ll do.”

You fetched tweezers from your makeup vanity and gave them to him. He instantaneously began working on his web shooters as you stood and watched. His head shot up and he faced you.

“I’m sorry, I never introduced myself. I’m Spider-Man,” he said, extending his hand for you to shake.

“Y/N,” you replied. “Welcome to my humble abode.”i

“Thanks! I really like the board above your bed with all the polaroids. It looks so neat that I fear I might mess it up from all the way over here.”

You laughed and sat beside him. “I’ve been obsessed with taking polaroids for two years now. I made it a point to capture the best memories and fix them into some sort of memory board so I can remember the good times.”

“That’s smart. I wish I was artistic and creative, but I can barely draw a straight line with a ruler,” he said. You watched as he worked and sat in silence for a moment.

“Say, do these web shooters get stuck all the time?”

“Not usually, I just think I haven’t really been able to update them or clean them out. I’ve been busy with all this ‘saving the little guy’ stuff,” he said.

“Is it fun? Being Spider-Man, I mean. You’re practically an Avenger,” you asked.

“I’m technically not an Avenger. Well, not yet. I’ve been working with Mr. Stark for a little bit, but it’s mostly keeping Queens safe for now.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a serious job on your hands.”

You could see the eyes on his mask move like he was smiling underneath. “Yeah, I do. I’m glad people can understand that.”

“So, what kind of things do you do on your day off? I’m sure you’re not always swinging around and hanging out in the homes of strangers.”

He laughs. “No, not really. I don’t know, I hang out with friends sometimes.”

You thought about asking him more, but decided against it. His life outside of being Spider-Man was his own.

“Wow, that sounds pretty mundane. I do pretty much the same, except school’s almost over and I have a month until summer break,” you replied. Spider-Man hands you back your tweezers and fixes the web shooters back on his suit.

“Any fun plans for the summer?”

“As of right now, no, but who’s to say?”

Spider-Man laughed and walked towards your window. “I’m sure you’ll find something fun to do. Thanks again, Y/N.”

“See ya!” you say as you watch him exit the window and swing away.

ii

Summer was just around the corner. It was another Friday night and you had decided against studying for finals because it seemed that that was all you did in your free time. The sky was getting dark out and you decided to stay in bed tonight and binge watch shows on Netflix, turning your phone on silent. You had enough snacks to last you the entire night and popped your headphones in, pressing play.

It wasn’t long before you heard tapping on your window. Curiously, you stood from your bed and saw Spider-Man.

“You again,” you said playfully as you opened up the window. “What do you need this time?”

“Honestly? I think I need a little break,” he said. “I’d also love to take this suit off, but my identity is something I’d like to keep hidden for a little while.”

“That’s fine,” you replied. “I’m not really in a rush. Not that you need to tell me who you are or anything, ugh, you get what I mean.”

Spider-Man laughed and pointed at your window and you nodded, watching as he climbed his way through.

“Can you even breathe in that thing?” you asked, pointing at his mask.

“Oh, yeah! It’s a breathable material and lets oxygen pass so I’m not always suffocating myself. That’s how I’m able to keep the mask on at all times.”

“Interesting,” you said, sitting on your chair by your desk as he took a seat on your bed.

“Studying for finals?”

“More like procrastinating. Well, all I do is study and I deserve a break,” you said.

“That you do. Final season is coming up and I’m dreading having to -”

“Wait, you’re in school?” you asked, interrupting his speech.

Spider-Man looked at the ground, the walls, and anywhere but your gaze.

“I, uh, yeah?” he said with uncertainty, scratching the back of his neck.

“If you think I’m going to look all over Queens to find out which school you go to, I’m letting you know now that I won’t. That seems like too much effort and for all I know, that isn’t your actual voice,” you replied, twirling a pen in your hand.

“Phew, thank you,” said Spider-Man, pretending to wipe sweat off of his forehead. “Damn, all of this swinging made me really hungry.”

“You should try the deli down there. It’s called Delmar’s and it’s my favorite sandwich shop. Also, asked for the sandwiches to be smushed! Don’t ask me why, but it tastes better,” you said.

Spider-Man went silent for a moment and you cocked your head to the side, thinking you either said something wrong or he was just really hungry.

“What?”

Spider-Man shook his head. “Nothing, nothing. I’ll be sure to try your suggestion. Anyway, I’ll see you soon!”

And with that, you saw red and blue flying in the wind.

iii

You were half asleep with your headphones in your ears when you heard a faint ‘thwip.’ Your parents were fast asleep and you had willed yourself to watch one more episode of Law and Order: SVU before getting sleep for your final. Currently, you were on your side with one earbud in (the other having fallen out, but you didn’t care much) and the voice of Olivia Benson could be faintly heard from the volume that could put you to sleep.

You stirred slightly, but not enough to wake you up fully.

Then came a knock on your window. Once. Twice. Three times. You yawned and rolled over to see Spider-Man standing outside your window with nothing but the moon behind him to illuminate your room. You threw the covers off of you and rubbed the sleep away from your eyes, opening the window for him to come in. With it, the chilly wind did not welcome you warmly and you grabbed a sweatshirt from your closet.

“Sorry to wake you,” he said sheepishly.

You waved him off. “It’s okay, Spider-Man. I like your company and you’re probably the only person who I couldn’t bring myself to yell at.”

He put his hands of his heart. “Wow, I’m so touched.”

“You should be,” you said, climbing into the covers and resting your back against your bed frame. “What brings you to this part of Queens at this ungodly hour?”

“It’s only nine thirty,” Spider-Man deadpanned. You shrugged.

“What can I say? A girl really needs her beauty sleep before her last final.” Spider-Man’s autonomic eyes seemed to narrow as if her were in thought.  

“Oh shoot, that’s tomorrow? I’m sorry for bothering you,” he apologized. You laughed and shook your head, patting the bed for him to rest on. Spider-Man gently put his knees on the mattress and situated himself so he was laying on his side, looking at you.

“It’s okay, Spidey. You already know I love your company. Besides, it’s only nine thirty,” you mocked. Spider-Man laughed and the room fell into a comfortable silence. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing really,” he began, but you looked at him with a knowing expression. “Okay, a lot but that’s for another day when we have more time. I’m just thinking how lucky I am to have you in my life and I’m grateful it was you whose room I stumbled into and not some mean old lady.”

“I’m happy you came here too,” you confessed. “This is probably gonna sound weird but...your visits are something I look forward to. I don’t know, I just feel like I opened up to you much quicker than any of the friends I have at school.”

“I feel the same way,” he said, sighing. “I don’t know, it’s just hard being two people at the same time. Even though you don’t know my real name yet, you know more about me than anyone else does.”

“And that’s something I will cherish forever,” you said, stroking his cheek with your hand. “I’m really happy I met you.”

“I can say the same,” he replied. But before he could make himself more comfortable, Spider-Man pushed himself off of the bed and adjusted his web shooters before seeing that you had tucked yourself in. Spider-Man smiled and his autonomic eyes grew wider as he bent down and pressed a kiss to your forehead. You could barely feel his lips.

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

iv

You groaned, slamming your door shut and planted your face into a pillow, wanting to forget the world had ever existed. It was a hot summer night and your mother had just let you know that she and your father would be staying at a friend’s for the week, but that you couldn’t join them this time. You probably should’ve been happy to have the apartment alone, but the last thing you wanted to be was alone.

Spider-Man hadn’t come by your apartment in nearly a month and you had started to grow increasingly worried about the boy who you couldn’t get out of your mind. Every time you thought about the possibility of dating, you immediately shook that out of your head for two reasons: the first being he’s a superhero and you were a regular New York citizen, and the fact that you didn’t know his name or what he looked like. You’d never pressure him, but that didn’t mean you were dying to know.

The sun was almost set when your parents left and you hadn’t had the decency to move from where you flung yourself. There was a tapping sound from the window and you knew who it was.

“It’s open!” you mumbled from your pillow, where you had curled yourself so you could continue in your self wallowing.

“Who dragged the cat in?” Spider-Man asked with a chuckle. You looked at him as if you hadn’t seen him in years and got off of your bed, letting your arms snake its way around him. With a sigh, you closed your eyes and let yourself revel in this moment. “You okay?”

“I was worried,” you said quietly. “You usually go no more than a few days of being gone but it’s been nearly a month, and I know I don’t have any right to worry, and that you were probably really busy, but I was really worried.” Spider-Man let out a soft chuckle and held your body closer to his, letting his chin rest on top of your head.

“You have every right to be worried, Y/N. I’m touched that you care so much. I-I’ve been a little stressed with my personal life and haven’t been able to patrol as often and I didn’t have much energy to swing to your place. I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay,” you replied. “I’m just relieved to find out you aren’t dead.”

Spider-Man laughed. “Say, what are your parents gonna think if they find me in your room?”

“Well, they’re gone this week so there’s no way that’s happening.”

“Oh, well lucky me, I guess,” he said nonchalantly as he let himself rest on your bed. He plopped himself in the middle, his back resting against the mattress as you chuckled. “Come lay with me.”

You didn’t say anything as you climbed next to him and willed yourself not to put your entire body on him, but Spider-Man pulled you to his side and held you tight.

“I had this nightmare that you needed me and I couldn’t save you,” said Spider-Man. “I was in a really weird place and felt like I couldn’t leave my house but last night was the last straw. You were falling and I couldn’t save you. I needed to see you again just to make sure.

His voice got weaker and you put your head on his chest, finding his hand to squeeze it to let him know you understood.

“Sometimes I think this gig is too much for me. I feel like I shouldn’t have been given these abilities but at the same time, I’m grateful for all the things it’s given me. Like you.”

“I’m here,” you whispered.

You both stared at the ceiling for a while, basking in each other’s company. You would faintly feel his heart beating through his suit and he was rubbing soothing circling on your hip with his thumb.

“You know,” you said, hesitantly while propping yourself up with your elbows. “You could stay for the night since my parents are gone.” Your eyes widened as soon as you said it. “I-I mean that in the most innocent way possible.”

Spider-Man laughed and looked at you with his autonomic eyes, letting a comfortable moment pass as he thought about your offer.

“I think I’d have to let some people know I’d be safe first, but I’d like that.”

It grew quiet between you two and you didn’t know what was to come next. Slowly, you moved your body to sit up and he followed suit, wondering what you were planning.

“Do you trust me?” you asked.

“I trust you,” he confirmed. You moved your hand towards his mask and you could already sense his body tense up, especially when you moved the mask up his face. You stopped for a brief moment, but he didn’t stop you. You kept lifting the mask until it rest gently above his nose and leaned in to place your lips on his.

The kiss was gentle and searing at the same time, like you both had been wanting to do something for a while but hadn’t until that very moment. It was passionate and innocent, slow and fast. It wasn’t rushed; you held his jaw with both hands, afraid that he was going to leave the second you pulled away. His lips moved in conjunction with yours and didn’t part until you both ran out of air.

“I’ve been meaning to do that for a while,” he said, not bothering to pull his mask down. You laughed and looked at him as he took off his web shooters and pulled his mask off his face.

“Hi, I’m Peter Parker.”

To say you were surprised was an understatement. Spider-Man was cute.

“Holy shit, you’re hot,” you whispered more to yourself. Peter laughed and your cheeks developed a pink tint.

“I happen to think you’re also hot,” Peter said with a chuckle before pressing another kiss to your lips.

“Hi, Peter Parker,” you said with a grin.

“Hi, Y/N Y/L/N,” he said with a grin equally as big.

“I don’t really know what I imagined under the mask, but you’re much cuter than what I had expected,” you said. “Let me go get some of my brother’s extra clothes. He lives in Los Angeles now but we still have some of his stuff!”

Peter smiled at you as you walked out of your bedroom and took the time to look around, letting himself bask in the moment that was pure bliss. How you were going to introduce him to your parents, he didn’t know. But Peter knew he didn’t want to let you go any time soon.

***

Taglist

@kath94210​ @sessi03​ @olliekookie​ @edgyhargreeves​ @simonsbluee​ @meraki--me @sleep-i-ness​

[omega-deku]

So I would love to progress on my art and try comics any tips? ÙwÚ

Hi! I’m so sorry about the late reply. D: I hope you don’t mind if I take this opportunity to address all the anon messages about how we can improve as artists. 

I have a tough time answering this question because there is so much I need to learn. I’m super flattered that some of you feel that my art is good enough to ask me for tips, first of all!! So thank you, guys.

It’s a struggle because I only recently started taking up art again. So I’ve forgotten a lot of the things. So I’m probably not the best person to ask about this.

I used to draw all the time as a kid, but after high school, I stopped drawing. I stopped drawing for almost a decade, pretty much. I really regret it. I feel like I could have come such a long way if I did keep going. My parents really discouraged me from pursuing art, even just as a hobby, too. Even when I left home (I’m back now tho), my ex-spouse, greatly discouraged me from doing art too. I mean, “proper” art. They told me my art wasn’t “real art” because it’s not studio art, it’s “sellout” art, like anime/cartoons/fanart. I had even worse self-esteem as I do now, and I listened to them and gave up. I convinced myself I hated drawing. 

Please don’t deny yourself things that make you feel engaged and connected. If drawing makes you feel good, if it makes you not realize how much time has passed and makes you feel like you’re accomplishing things, even little by little, please don’t stop. Even if you suffer from depression and feel like things like this are pointless, remember that just doing things in general will help you. Drawing is an awesome way to get into the flow state. To me personally, it’s almost like a meditative state and I find it helpful in dealing with chronic pain and mental health issues. 

Anyways, I’ll try to compile some advice sort of things.

ART IN GENERAL

1. Draw what you enjoy! I think the most important thing is to draw what you like. It’s okay if it’s “dumb stuff”. Draw your favorite characters or pairings from your favorite tv shows if that tickles your fancy! You’re much more likely to be spending more time drawing if you’re drawing stuff you like. And as long as you’re drawing, you’re improving. (But still, challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone!)

Especially for those of you who are planning to pursue art as a career, it’s essential that you don’t view practicing art as a chore. 

2. Draw from life. If you really want to take your art to the next level, drawing from life is vital! I think many of us have come across artists who are just amazing, but there are things that look a little “off”. For example, the anatomy doesn’t look quite right, or the perspective is a little wonky. Things like that can be a tell that they’ve learned to draw from other people’s art rather than from life. Or just haven’t practiced the basics enough. (My art isn’t amazing or anything close to that lmao, but it definitely suffers from this. I need lots of life drawing practice.)

There is nothing wrong with learning from your favorite artists, but to really train your “artist’s eye”, you need to strip away all the stylistic choices and go back to the basics. Training that Eye is one of the most crucial things you could do as an artist. 

Just take a piece of paper, a pencil and start drawing what you see. If you can, take figure drawing classes at your local community college, or draw the animals you see at the zoo. Sit on a bench and draw the scenery in front of you. Over time, you’ll start to recognize common patterns, simplify/think of things in terms of lines and shapes.

If you can’t afford a class or have the ability to go outside easily, drawing from photographs can be the next best thing. (See the Resources below for an online figure drawing tool.) I’m not experienced enough to definitively say why this isn’t the #1 idea, but from what I hear, there are things that you’ll miss out on, such as subtle shifts in shadows, colors, and other things that will happen from small movements in pose changes, a cloud moving, or whatever else. A different “feel”, if you will.

With the digital art boom, a lot of artists are learning how to do cool digital effects and fancy things, but forgoing basic anatomy, perspective, shading, etc. Which is all fine if you’re just having fun, but isn’t the best idea if you’re really serious about improving. Practice the fundamentals!

(If you have been dreaming about CalArts at one point like I did when I was in high school, one advice I came across from everyone who went there was to draw from life. All the time. It’s not an answer I expected from people who draw funny looking characters all day. You mean all these people who draw such simplified cartoon people and animals can actually draw like masters? Perfectly rendered bowls of fruit? I didn’t realize how much work goes into animating simple characters.)

3. Put in the time. 

It’s really easy to get suckered into just watching “how to improve” videos all day and thinking about improving. Watching how other artists work is an important learning tool, but you’ll never actually make progress if you aren’t practicing. 

Sometimes, the best thing to do is to not think about it. Just do it. 

It’s like when I’m spending a whole lotta time thinking about getting physically fit than just, you know.. just doing it. “Tomorrow for sure.” 

It may seem like it’s worthless, but doing those lame 5 push-ups a day instead of the 20-minute workout you wanted to put in, is better than nothing at all. You are making progress, no matter how small it may seem.  

Make it a habit to practice every day. That way, you don’t even hesitate. It’s as automatic as brushing your teeth.

All the artists you see who have fantastic, awe-inspiring art may seem like Unreachable Gods sometimes, but those artists didn’t just pull that out of their ass one day. They put in hours and hours and hours of work. Let’s not disrespect other artists by ignoring that and chalking it up to “talent”. No one is born with an innate ability to draw. WE can get there too if we practice!

I want to get good enough to draw the things I have in my head one day!

Some resources that may be helpful:

Draw a Box - This is a site for free lessons for absolute beginners. Look under “Lessons” to learn. The creator of the site is the mod for r/ArtFundamentals. You can post your work there to get critiqued.

Check out Proko’s videos on gesture drawing, art fundamentals, etc. Daily routines of successful artists.

Use this site to practice figure drawing, gesture drawing - Set aside some time to practice drawing people and animals every day. Start trying to see things as lines, shapes, and go big. Don’t get too caught up in the details, and tiny drawings. Learning to draw fast (not draw FAST as in speed, but as in capture the gesture in a post, the “feel” of the movement) will force you to do this more, and with more experience, make your figures less stiff looking. 

And it’s okay if you’re aren’t good at it. You’ll make loads and loads of shit drawings until you can get decent. 

I’m most definitely in this stage right now, trying to train my Artist’s Eye. As in, I can’t just draw a figure from memory. I don’t really know what goes where without a reference, or how they move, etc. You can tell by how stiff my drawings look.

Lulusketches How to Improve video - She has similar advice, but her point about looking at “Art of” books something I have come across from multiple professional artists; Her advice on worrying about finding your own “style” is really good too. Do challenges like she said!

Her playlist of art tutorials & advice is great. They’re short and sweet. Her beginner digital art tutorial got me started on digital art (the one with Ginny Weasley). 

Not free ($30 a month), but these online Schoolism classes look helpful. It’s run by Bobbie Chiu. I saw some great reviews and I want to try them someday. They’re taught by artists in the animation/film industry. But you gotta have a basic grasp on digital art/photoshop for many of the classes, I think? I’m not 100% sure. They’re pre-recorded video lessons. 

You can pay more for feedback from the teachers, but you can also just use it as a self-learning guide. 

This drawing faces from any angle video was pretty helpful for me. The artist has loads of other tutorials.

COMICS

I don’t feel qualified enough to give much advice on comics. I mean, I don’t even draw the lines for the boxes, haha.. However, these comic books are basically required reading for some courses:

Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics & Making Comics.

I can’t remember which one it is that I read, I think it was Making Comics? But wow, if I remember correctly, it was FULL of really useful things about how to make effective comics. I lost the book while moving years ago, but it was FANTASTIC learning material. I loved every panel of it. 

He talks about everything from perspective, placement of characters, speech bubbles, how big panels should be, etc. 

If you can afford it, get a used one and start reading! Even if you don’t want to make comics just yet, it’s super interesting. 

[nad-zeta]

Match up ^o^

May I request a Match up, please?

I’m at the part when I have to choose a route and I honestly don’t know/care. So I decided why not let some lovely internet stranger choose for me? Who do you think I would pair the best with?

I also noticed how much effort and detail you put into these so I decided that it was only fair to try to put in just as much effort in requesting. Or maybe I am just extremely vain so blabbering on this much about myself comes naturally (I also wouldn’t be too suprised if this were the case lol). Either way, I apologise for this getting so long. And without further ado, let’s learn about yours truly. Uh, yay?

I will start with my physical appearance because that’s easiest.  

First of all, I am rather tall for a woman. Pair that with the fact that I constantly wear boots with 8 centimetre or greater heels and I almost always cap out somewhere above 182 centimetres (that’s 6 feet in American). So yes. I’m not exactly the approachable type, on the account of my height and near constant resting bitch face. I always look pissed off at something (and to be fair, I usually am).

I am a brunette with boring brown eyes. Nothing of note there. 

I prefer to walk on my toes, for whatever reason. I also have great posture when I walk and these two factors always make it seem like I am floating. I’ve been told that I always seem very confident and self-assured. Which is complete bullshit because 90% of the time, I am winging it. 

I am a dancer (of sorts. More on that later), so I am rather slim and toned. This is literally the only aspect of my physicality that I am actually confident in. The rest of me can burn in hell for all I care. 

I am also very touch adverse. I hate the feeling of skin touching my skin it grosses me touch. However. There are a select few people in this world that I accept and enjoy hugs and cuddles from (and who I could snuggle with for hours). If I let anyone cuddle me that means I trust said person unconditionally and feel extremely comfortable around them. It’s essentially the ultimate statement of trust.

Onto personality.

If you can’t already tell, I have about as much dignity as a wet cat. I while I certainly do have an ego, it can be kind of difficult to bruise. Publically, I am absolutely shameless and don’t give two shits about what others think. 

I have a tongue of steel and can rapid fire the most atrocious insults and comebacks when provoked. I’m known for my venomous sarcasm and biting wit among my own circles. I have a line for nearly every single situation so one-liners have become my thing. Which works out for me because I am a huge flirt.

I’ll flirt with pretty much anyone regardless of gender, I don’t give a crap. To clarify, it’s not because I am an attention whore (okay, yes. I am a complete attention whore), it’s because I am a theatre kid so excessive eye contact and sexual jokes are kinda where I thrive. I am also not afraid to get questionably lascivious with my flirting if someone tries to out-pace me. I never blush, I never falter, and I never let anyone know that they got the better of me. It shows weakness. 

Despite my salacious façade, I am not inherently a sexual person. As a matter of fact, I am quite the opposite. I don’t experience sexual attraction (kudos to my asexual humans. I see you). This has rendered me practically immune to all charm, crushes, and sex appeal. It makes my life a lot easier, in my opinion. I don’t get too attached. I also enjoy messing around with the egos of fuck boys. 

As mentioned earlier, I am an attention whore. I love showing off because I crave validation (this could point to some deep seated insecurities about myself that I refuse to acknowledge…. Ahem). Being on stage as where I thrive. And yes, I am a dancer, as I stated earlier. But I am not your conventional prissy ballerina. I am a circus performer. More specifically, I’m an aerialist. I have covered trapeze, contortion (I am unnaturally flexible), lyra, and silks. It’s a lot of fun almost dying every day and finding bruises in the most questionable places (if you cant already tell, I am an adrenaline junkie. I took karate for the first dozen or so years of my life and have recently been searching for more weapons combat classes because apparently I don’t have enough bruises already).

I am not easily impressed. And I don’t give out compliments very often. And that includes myself. I can be unnecessarily hard on myself at times… most of the time. But then again, who isn’t? 

As for the side of me that isn’t stark-raving mad, I am usually a pretty objective person. While I have no qualms with discussing emotions (both mine and friend’s. I am a great listener and actually give pretty good advice when it comes to dealing with intense emotions). I tend to avoid letting them interfere with my logic. I look down on those who allow their emotions to dictate their actions. It makes them needlessly reckless. 

I am typically a pretty chill person. When I am among people I am unfamiliar with, I tend to stay quiet and try not to rock the boat too much (again, I won’t hesitate to unleash a severe tongue lashing upon any poor soul who happens to rub me the wrong way… Or just happens to exist. I don’t take shit from other people and I hate it when others try to control me. (I don’t play rough, I play smart). 

I really enjoy reading, writing, or drawing quietly. I can’t stand loud and excessive noises or people (parties, screaming, concerts). I am a true extroverted introvert. I love being the center of attention and chatting, but I need my alone time. People are exhausting to deal with. 

Because of my aversion to loud sounds, I tend to avoid typical dance parties like the plague. While I am very good with mingling and partying in general, I can only keep it up in short bursts before I have to retreat somewhere quiet. This is also the reason I greatly prefer the nighttime (if I had a choice I would sleep all day and only frolick around at night. I just love the dark. It’s comforting in a weird way). I also love the night because that’s when I get to sleep and just peace out on life. It’s kinda like non-committal dying.

I am near constantly on hyper-alert so I am not easily startled. When I do get startled, I have a tendency to squeak, yelp or growl. These noses are purely reactionary sounds but for whatever reason, my friends think that they are absolutely adorable and will go to great lengths to startle me just to hear me make them.

To counteract my friend’s malevolence, I have learnt to be super observant, especially when I feel threatened. Usually, I am caught up on my own world and thoughts. I have an imagination so powerful that I can trick my brain into feeling false sensations such as an extra limb or falling. I much prefer to spend my time in my head rather than our boring reality. But if I feel threatened, or think that another attack is imminent, I instantly become hyper aware. These moments of lucidity enable me to make certain observations others would otherwise be overlooked (for example. I was able to tell when my professor lost her wedding ring due to the discoloration around her ring finger and the habitual and near-constant worrying she did at it. I offered to help her look after class ^.^. I admittedly felt kinda smug when I saw her surprise.) Ironically enough, I like to refer to this mode of thinking as “Sherlocking”. I can be quite the detective when I really try. 9 out of 10 times my friends will come to me when they suspect infidelity, I am pretty good at digging up dirt. 

However, I have to make the conscious decision to do this, usually when I am trying to figure someone out or manipulate them into liking me. So this isn’t constant and usually I go about my day like everyone else, blissfully unaware of my surroundings.

Uhh, there is probably more I could cover but this is getting very long as-is and you are probably forcing yourself to get through my seemingly eternal ramblings. So I am going to stop here and go grab myself some food. 

Best of luck to you,

-November

Hi there love!<3 you sound like such a cool interesting person! ^_^ Hehehe I probs took so long with this match up that you already chose a new route lol! Anyways thanx for waiting soooooo long for this and I hope ya enjoy it love ^0^ ^_^

I match you with……………………… Masamune

Honestly, it was between Masamune and Mitsuhide for me lol but i eventually decided to go with Masamune 

The first time Masamune sees you, his eyes go wide in awe, like wow you are one tall fine lady! He has legit never met anyone so tall. After you were named as chatelaine, you stayed behind with some of the warlords to chat and get to know them better, you are after all going to be seeing their faces every day for the next 3 months. 

Right of the bat, Masamune is howling in laughter at the fact that you are way taller than Ieyasu. You, Masamune and Mitsuhide basically tease the poor porcupine for a solid 20 minutes. “My my I never expected such a scary-looking little mouse to be so bubbly and friendly.” 

Oooh, this boy just stared a war of wits. Today day was a good day cause your tongue of steel was rapidly firing witty words and sarcastic remarks at the resident kitsune. He almost couldn’t keep up, almost. Masamune was just standing there watching the whole scene unfold, you truly were going to be a lot of fun! Masamune decided to test out that tongue of steel of your and started firing some flirty pick-up line, while unbeknown to him you are the queen of one-liners, and have no shame when it comes lascivious flirting. Masamune, of course, never backs down from a challenge, and he was determined to make you blush. The conversation got so heated that it made even Hideyoshi blush on your behalf. You simply laughed and fired another one of your pick-up lines.

After the little chat in the hallway and a massive speech from mama bear for talking about things that were not PG13, cause of the kids *cough* Mitsunari *cough*, you and Masamune become quick friends. He had never met a woman before that was immune to his boyish wild charm, and handsome sexual appeal. Masamune was definitely popular with the woman, not as popular as Hideyoshi, but he was definitely a fuckboi. As surprised as he was, that his normal antics didn't work on you, his ego wasn’t dented one bit, it just made him more determined to get to know you. 

Masamune definitely finds your flirtatious nature attractive, especially when you managed to score the two of you free sweet bun just by flirting with the shop owner, he was, even more, shook when the shop owner was a woman, your flirtation truly knows no bounds. The two of you would spend loads of time together, just going out for tea and sweets while getting to know each other. TBH although Masamune would never admit it, he found it refreshing that you weren't just his friend simply cause he was hot or cause you wanted to climb in stations but because you actually liked him as a person. You and Masamune definitely made an unstoppable team when it came to banquets. The two of you would team up and start teasing everyone there. When you two cuties are together its always a good time with loads of laughter and banter

Masamune discovered that you like him, was an adrenaline junkie. He loved that he finally had someone around that would do stupid shit with him just for the thrill of it. The two of you would go out on adventures 24/7 jumping down waterfalls and hiking up cliffs. The two of you goofball would also dare each other to do the craziest shit. Like one-time Masamune dared you to jump off the castle’s roof onto your balcony, and you freaken did it, no questions asked. Or like the one time you dared him to put his head in Shogetsu mouth, mind you the little cub was now grown into a full-blown tiger

One day you and Masa went to go watch one of Mitsuhide’s undercover performances. The three of you were investigating a shady daimyo in one of the nearby provinces. The three of you disguised yourselves as performers and joined a circus troop as their new dancers. You were so excited, the stage is where you truly come alive. You had promised Masa to show him something that would shock/surprise him after he gave you the grand tour of  Azuchi. Today was the day, you had kept your dance and performances a secret from the two men, and now it was finally time to show them what you can do. You had 3 different performances planned. The first one was contortion. To say Masamune was shook would be an understatement he never knew anyone could be so freaken flexible, like wow. Your next performance was aerial dancing, his blue eye gleamed in delight, watching you move through the air so gracefully. If he wasn’t sure before he was sure now, this boy loved ya. But what really took his breath away was when you trapezed through the air, he was absolutely mesmerized at the way you flew through the air doing back-flips and other cool ass tricks. Masamune loved the look of pure joy on your face as you performed and after the show, you explained to him that you were a theatre kid back in the past. Mitsuhide definitely took note of your skills, and since that day you now accompanied him on most missions that required him to disguise himself as a performer.

Masamune loved everything about you at this point. Your overdramatic introvert/extrovert personality. The way you walked. Gosh, he loved the way you walked, it looked like you were an angel floating around wherever you went. He loved your banter and one-liner for every situation. And most of all he loved your hyper-alert side. Boy did he love to come up behind you to scare the crap outta you just so he could hear you squeak, yelp or growl. Like he lived for those adorably cute noises. And you somewhere along the line had fallen in love with the big idiot. He was always coming up with new fun adventures to go on or new fun things to do. He was one of those few people that could actually keep up with your banter

What was he most impressed with you may ask, well you Sherlocking skills of course. One day there were rumours of some super shady daimyos visiting Azuchi. Word on the street was that they were planning on stealing Mitsunari report to make the poor angel look bad. Mitsuhide was away sorting out some other plots and schemes, so it was now up to you to use your skills, to save the angel. You used your detective skill to gather evidence, and since your inner circle knew you were from the future, you were planning on catching them in the act and filming them for evidence. Masamune was always up for an adventure, so he acted as you own personal Watson. The two of you hid while watching the whole scene unfold, once they left the room the two of you came out. “What do you think they are going to do with the report lass,” he asked while his blue eye gleamed in delight. “Hmmmmm, I believe they are going to burn the evidence in the forest” you replied in your best British accent. Masamune couldn’t help but laugh. The two of you made your way to a secluded part of the forest and spotted them making a fire. Masamune looked at you curiously “How did you know they were going to be in this exact spot.” “Elementary, my dear Masamune.” He couldn’t help but burst out in laughter you really were a super fun kitten. Unfortunately for the two of you, they heard you guys laughing behind the trees and before you knew it, the two of you were surrounded. One of the men had a sword right at your throat ready to cut you open, that is when you shocked them by not backing down from the fight, you hit the sword away with one of your own gifted to you by your dearest one-eyed dragon. “ Point that sword at me one more time and i’ll slash your Achilles’ tendons, and TBH given the medicine situation of this time, no one would know how to fix your injury, so I hope you like hobbling around on one leg for the rest of your life cause that is what will happen.” These men were shook; meanwhile, Masa was next to you howling in laughter, “She’s not joking boys, this lass delivers on her threats.” You had never seen grown men run away from a fight so fast. You and Masamune picked up Mitsunari’s report that had fallen on the ground during the commotion and walked back hand in hand

You didn’t really like skin touching skin, but TBH you definitely like the warm feeling of Masamune’s hand warmed around yours. The two of you had come to fall in love with each other, and it wasn’t long before you two cuties entered into a relationship. Despite both of you being adrenaline junkies, both of you also loved your quiet times. Often you would sit together in his manor each doing your own thing. You would read and write, and Masamune would sit at his desk pretending to work (Cause admin is so freaken boring). 

The two of you would have the best time together during banquets you loved being the centre of attention and would chat with everyone, but as the night would progress you would start feeling a bit drained and that’s when the one-eyed dragon would swoop in, pick you up and takes you to a quiet corner where the two of you cuddle and snuggle together.

He would spoil you rotten with the most amazing food, he would basically, cook anything your heart desires just to see that beautiful smile on your face. His heart would always burst with affection whenever he cuddles and kiss you, he knew that the fact that you allowed him to cuddle you was the ultimate statement of trust between the two of you.

Often the two of you cuties can be found causing mischief and giving Mamayoshi more grey hairs or cuddled together sharing stories of your day

Other potential matches............... Mitsuhide 

Hope u enjoyed it dear @november-solarstorms

[scoundrels-in-love]

What's something fun or silly you'd like your followers to know about you? Also, got any fic recommendations?

Hmm, fun and silly? I can’t think of anything that would be entertaining to know about me. But okay! I misread and mis-see things to epic proportions (such as, the other day I read Spooklyn instead of Brooklyn and believed it for solid 5 seconds) and often forget lyrics or make up my own that become ‘and I really can’t fucking sing’ to vague tune and rhythm of the song. Basically, what is reality if your perception doesn’t mess around with it and spice it up Some?

Also, I absolutely love cats. Big and small and you will always get on my good side with caracals or snow leopards bouncing around.

Also fic recs? I absolutely do, but it also depends what you’re looking for. One shots, multichapters? Series, maybe? Ongoing WIPs that are definitely worthy of reading?

But okay! I think turned into author rec more than anything, oops? No particular order to this! Under cut because it got hella long.

I’d definitely rec anything by @angel-deux-writes​ over here! Amazing writing all around, poignant expression that gets you right in the heart, humor and besotted Jaime at his demisexual best. Has made me stay up until 4am to binge read and cry, and laugh. Can’t pick a favorite, just go in there and pick your poison. Even if it’s not tropes you typically like, there’s high chance you’ll like it anyway.

@ddagent​ is the person to go to if you want amazing, creative one shots of every kind of nature. They encapsulate entire worlds and often have continuations! Hot, tooth-rooting sweet, soft… You name it, she has it. Is also writing a lovely Queen!Brienne ongoing fic.

The Tides is fascinatingly interesting and beautiful story by @slipsthrufingers​ Probably my favorite Tarth depiction ever, but rest of it is just as great. The way they learn each other is just…. Hnngh. She’s also writing Braime takes on Miss Congeniality and Lost right now that are just chef’s kiss, if it’s something to your interest.

It wouldn’t be fic rec from me without @nire-the-mithridatist​ If you’re in for a one-shot that’s canon compliant and will absolutely destroy your heart, there’s this one from her. Otherwise, I strongly suggest looking over her work in general, like the lovely embroidery one (a depiction of married Braime that is one of my favorite yet), but also A Beauty By Any Other Name and Ocean Eyes, Diamond Mind. They’re both WIPs, but can you really pass up reading of a fanboy Jaime falling for singer/songwriter Brienne through internet while he overeagerly draws fanart of her work? Or a manmaid Jaime? Emotional, beautifully told and creative in every sense.

While everything by @luthienebonyx​ is utter delight, I am incredibly fond of her After Everything series. I am always here for exploration of emotional depth and underlying currents and she’s doing that so wonderfully (with a right amount of hot, though I’m trying to keep this rec neutral and not veer into fics that spin more around that).

If you do want some of that, though, @agirlnamedkeith​ is absolutely the person to go to, especially with We Make The Rules, but there’s lot of tenderness and beauty and hot stuff to be found all over her work. Also Jaime/Brienne/Addam. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Forpeaches/Bluecarrot also has some genuinely oh wow their mind AUs and concepts and I love the way they write, their dialogues are just something else and the way they tell story through them, versus internal ramblings that I can’t get rid of is just awe inspiring for me.

Samirant’s alright, outta sight is the ultimate ode to sort of enemies to friends to lovers trope, some of softest and hottest and most heart rendering stuff I’ve ever had the fortune to read.

LadyRhiyana is a delight, from fascinating AU one shots to entire series that revolve around Brienne squiring for Jaime or epic fic of Jaime & Tyrion timetravelling to present and getting adopted by Selwyn, essentially.

@ladyinredfics​ has a lot of gems but among my favorites are her epic sized Battle is the Great Redeemer ( Edge of Tomorrow AU that was absolutely wrecking to follow through while it was updating, but so rewarding) and also my personal favorite of direct transfer of book events into modern verse aka All the Redemption I Can Offer.

robotsdance writes in a way that always renders me into speechless, mushy pile of feelings and awe. I think I discovered her through the battlefield between us, which I’ve reread bunch of times, because it’s just so powerful in emotion and just take of events and the characters themselves, but you won’t go wrong with any of her other stories either, imo. Especially if you like Jaime gettin’ pegged.

Roccolinde’s works are such a FEAST, let me tell you. From a gorgeous take on selkie myth to canon-almost-compliant multichapter that is so frustratingly gorgeous in how they struggle to overcome the pain nested between them while loving each other so much, to a modern AU where Brienne babysits the Stark kids and befriends very demisexual Jaime.

Janie_tangerine has incredible amount of fics. And they’re mindboggingly good. But this time I’ll specifically rec one of first Braime fics that I read, ever, a soulmate AU. And it absolutely crushed me in best way possible and I still think of it often. Maybe one of ultimate tripping stones into this ship, by portraying the vulnerability and brokenness and the way they heal each other.

… Okay, listen, I could go on, obviously, but it’s 1am and I was supposed to be writing my own fic. So I’ll just round it up with assortment of few more fics.

The Lion, The Wench and The Wardrobe Trailer - a modern AU multichapter in full meaning of the name and still ongoing, but what a ride! Incredibly clever use of canon events in modern setting, emotional and sweet all at once, the shift from antagonism to mutual saviors to friends to essentially lovers but we’re too blind to see it to actual lovers. Interesting exploration of all characters, funny as hell, easter eggs for days. Slowburn

Measure in Love - I almost thought it was crackfic originally, but it’s amazing modern AU of a very unlikely and funny situation and two quite broken people drifting together. Slowburn for sure, but so rewarding, and every friendship in the story is absolute gold mine. Completed.

Souls to Hear - ongoing as of now, book verse. Absolutely keeping me on my toes and stressed how the hell are they going to get out of all of this, while also making me giddy with the emotional exploration of everything between them. Heading to slowburn territory but not yet long enough to really fall under into the category entirely.

.. There’s more, really, but my brain has shut down by now, ooops.