Tumgik
#I have a lot of notes but I’m saving any extras for later
kagooleo · 4 months
Text
Tumblr media
the zine’s officially out, so I can post my contribution for the @extraordinaryzine :D!
my piece is an interpretation of the caverns on Iron Island 🏝️ so I wanted to incorporate more of the water surrounding it by creating a sea cave to have light spill inside (akin to the modra špilja/blue grotto)
the focus of the zine was on the daily lives of trainers and their pokemon, so Riley uses a spot inside the caverns like this to meditate with his team, although any new Riolu he trains can’t resist wanting to jump into the water to play υ´˶ ・ﻌ・ ˶`υノ”
this piece alongside a ton of amazing artists can be found free to download digitally here! (and lastly some closeups bc I liked getting all the little deets down)
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
145 notes · View notes
supercutszns · 3 months
Note
Luke x reader where a girl, daughter of Aphrodite, flirts with him and insults the reader, causing her to avoid Luke, but later he manages to find her and confesses that he actually likes them... I don't know if they should already be together or not, but I believe in you!!! you write very well :ooo
Sorry if the idea is bad or you wouldn't want to write something like that, if that's the case please pretend you never read this 🤡🤡🫶
true colours; luke castellan
Tumblr media
wc + pairing: 3.6k, luke castellan x child of iris! reader
synopsis: everyone wants luke castellan, including you. curse your mother for getting your hopes up.
warnings: friends to lovers, reader is very insecure, bullying, lee fletcher & will solace cameo!! some angst with a fluffy ending
notes: thank you for the request!! as always this is longer than i anticipated but hope you like it :) i also combined it with another request for a child of iris reader (i also identify as a child of iris sometimes so i lovee writing for them) also i’m pretty sure lee + a lot of parts of this are ooc sorry but i havent read the books in about a year so hopefully everything’s fairly accurate!🌈
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
You knew this summer would be different because your mother sent her wishes twice as much. On the first day of July, when children flood into Camp Half-Blood like a hive of wild bees, a rainbow always lights up the sky. 
This year, there were two. 
As a child of Iris you’re technically supposed to be in the Hermes cabin. But your love for art, for music, for fun, has made you a particular favourite of the Apollo cabin. Most of your friends are there. They tolerate you singing in your soft, often unsure voice. They love when you catch sunlight and filter it into prisms of colour on their cabin walls. 
You’d probably move in there permanently if it weren’t for Hermes. Or rather, his son.
Over the last few months, in the sticky summer heat, your mother knew you would fall in love. 
It's not any surprise you love Luke. Everyone loves Luke. A fact that's becoming more obvious every passing day. 
It used to bother you less. You’ve always been his meagre, hopeless friend, never any real competition to these girls. You’d basically taken yourself out of the running and instead decided to pine after him in the very back of your mind. A safe, deluded fantasy that would never happen. 
Until recently, where it seems less like a fantasy and more like a terrifying possibility. 
Over the past few weeks Luke has gone out of his way to be sweet to you. Or at least you think so. He’s spent extra time talking to you at lunch, laughing at your half-formed jokes almost in earnest. At bonfires he saves you a seat, grabs you a marshmallow on occasion. You even made him a friendship bracelet of sorts—admittedly a little ugly—but he’s never taken it off. Not since the day you gave it to him. 
Not to mention helping you last week before the archery competition. His hands lingering over yours as he steadied your bow, the curls of his breath on the back of your neck when he stood behind you. 
“Don’t be nervous,” he says, a tinge of mirth in his voice. “You just steady your aim and first is as good as yours.”
(You came in fifteenth.)
You don’t want to say that it’s him weakening your aim, making your pulse beat out of your neck. His nose brushes against the back of your jaw as he leans forward and you smell the pine on his skin. Is this friendly? Is he this close on purpose? Are you delusional?
It’s all you’ve been thinking about these past few days. So when Luke Castellan’s endless admirers come to the forefront of your mind, you feel like all those moments of potential buildup have been ripped away. 
“You alright there, sunshine?” 
He takes you out of your spiral with a teasing lilt you love. When you look at him, his face is a shimmering warmth, complete with boyish smile. 
“Yep,” you reply, trying to ignore the nickname making your insides flutter even though you know he’s saying it ironically.
You’ve always had a gift for identifying colour. It’s the thing you pay attention to most. Something inherited from your mother, you suppose. So you’ve memorized the way Luke’s eyes melt in the sunlight. How his scar blends with his pinking cheeks when it’s hot outside. You never told him, and you probably never will, but you’ve painted him from memory quite a few times in the Apollo cabin—always with the excuse that you were practicing. It's so blatantly obvious you're in love with him there's no point in your friends bringing it up.  
The two of you are meandering around camp before dinner, a tradition Luke started early on in the summer. You talk about high points of your day (mostly you) or share nuggets of gossip you’ve heard around camp (mostly him). It's the thing you looked forward to every morning. A time when his words are just for you. 
Idle chatter flows as you keep walking. Sometimes your arm brushes his and you have the embarrassing urge to tug yours away. You do your best not to stare at him too long or laugh too loud at his jokes. 
“Hey, Castellan!” Someone calls. 
Luke’s head turns. Your heart plummets. A beautiful girl, Aphrodite cabin, you think, is heading towards you. She’s all honey-spun hair and dazzling pink lips, and it’s obvious she knows it. You don’t know her name. But Luke does. 
They fall into conversation the second she arrives. It’s just greetings, pleasantries, but there’s a coy smile on the girl’s face that betrays any sense of disinterest. “Heard you’re not too keen on pairing up with us for the Chariot Race next week. What gives?” Her tone is pouty and playful as she taps Luke’s shoulder. She side-eyes you, lips curling imperceptibly. “I’m sure you’ll have a better chance with us.”
He lets out a strained chuckle. “Dunno, just thought it was fine to switch it up.”
Just like that, you’re out of the loop again. More of her friends flock after her, and soon Luke is tangled in a whole other world. They’re all glowing with a kind of righteousness you only get when you’re popular. You know Luke has friends, tons of them. He's the leader of the cabin with the most campers. Not to mention assertive and gorgeous. His presence is so inviting it’s a challenge not to fall in love with him. 
So you can’t blame this girl, the one that keeps touching his arm and giggling. It’s not like you’ve staked your claim on Luke—no one even knows you exist. As much as you want him to be yours, you know you’ll never stop someone from taking him first. It’s your fatal flaw, you think. Cowardice. 
You end up sidelined completely. Watching him swathed in people more charismatic than you plants an ache deep inside you. All your wishful thinking feels sour now, a pipe dream, a bedtime story to help you sleep better. Somehow it hurts more knowing that it’s nobody’s fault but yours. These people can’t be doing this on purpose. It’s just who they are. It’s who you are—always a step behind, always daydreaming. You are your mother’s daughter, after all. Just a prism reflecting everyone around you. 
Eventually, one of the boys in the group takes notice of you. He’s not nearly as captivating as Luke is—you don’t find the colours of his eyes hold as much depth. There’s also a haughtiness when he looks at you. He sneers, “What the hell do you have on your face?”
It draws the attention of others in the group. You feel like a naked sculpture in an art gallery. “Uh, what?” You stammer. 
Some of them purse their lips. The girl with Luke lets a laugh slip. You’re pretty sure you look like an idiot, waiting there with your brows wrinkled in a daze. Their gazes keep flicking over to your cheek, so your hand flies up there before you can delay any more. When you press your fingers to the side of your face, they come away tacky and pink. Mortification constricts you.
Paint. It’s leftover, half-dried paint. The colour of Luke’s cheeks in the sun. 
“Oh,” you say dumbly. It’s drowned by snickers. All you can do is find Luke, the only face you know, and ask, “Why didn’t you tell me?” without sounding too hurt. 
You know you failed when your voice comes out wrong and his ebony brows push together. “I thought it looked—”
He never gets to finish because the golden girl laughs a little louder, the pink tones in her face a little darker. “Oh my Gods, you’re that Iris kid that’s always singing, right?” She giggles sharply, cornflower eyes darting between her friends. There’s something in there you can’t quite pick up on, until it flushes the pupils of all her friends, and they all grin with a secret knowledge they want you to see. “You’re, like, really good!” The girl simpers, but her bottom lip pulls between her teeth to soften another laugh. 
“Oh, so good!” Another friend piles on. 
Their passive-aggressive chuckles start to sound like hail on a window. You shift further away from them. Dirt slides beneath your shoe, and you long to kick up more of it, displace yourself, disappear. 
You don’t look at Luke. The giggly, flaxen girl has already turned back to him, and you’re sure he’s enthralled once more. You try to stir up the image of Luke’s closeness during archery practice, the lilac bruise on his knuckles when he angled your bow, but it doesn’t take. Now, it feels like you’ve dreamed it. 
Out of the corner of your eye, you see Luke leaning down to catch a whisper from the Aphrodite girl’s ear. The boy that first commented on your cheek leans closer to you again. He’s suffocatingly smug when he grins, “Why are you still here? Shouldn’t you go … wash that off? You don’t want to look like that at dinner.” He snorts. “For an Iris kid, you really aren’t good at taking a message.” 
If you were a more confident person, maybe you’d point out how that didn’t really make sense, or how stupid it sounded coming out of his mouth. But the sentiment of it wounds you, and you’re weak enough as is. 
"Guess you're right," you mumble. You wipe your face of paint as you leave. The memory of Luke’s skin stains you until you wash your hands off in the sink. 
You haven’t talked to him since. 
It’s been a few days of you avoiding him, and it’s hard to explain to anyone why you’ve been doing it. How do you tell the truth? Luke Castellan is a work of art and you are … a weird doodle, or something. Despite your adoration, you know there’s no reason he should feel the same for you. Everyone loves him for a reason. Everyone must ignore you for one, too. 
“Why haven’t you been talking to Luke?”
The question breaks your concentrated silence in the Apollo cabin. You’ve been sitting here for a while now, humming to yourself over a mostly blank canvas. The cabin is dusted with a lilac haze, thanks to your manipulation of the light streaming through the windows. Helps you feel less like you’re at camp and more like you’re in a fairytale. 
“Helloooo, lady, I asked you a question.”
You begrudgingly look up. Lee Fletcher, head of the Apollo cabin, is at the mouth of the cabin, gazing at all your supplies strewn about the floor like they’re a bunch of unsavoury substances. “It looks like a hurricane came in here. Now why aren’t you talking to Luke?”
“How do you know I’m not talking to him?” You mutter as Lee sits beside you. 
“Uh, because you’ve been sleeping here multiple nights in a row and you never do that. And you don’t sit with him at dinner. And whenever we see him you drag me in the other direction—”
“Lee!”
“I’m just saying, you should probably talk about it. My beautiful voice can heal wounds, yes, but not of the heart.” He splays a hand across his chest in mock theatrics.
You don’t say anything. The familiar weight of the brush against your fingertips is far more comforting than trying to talk, so you busy yourself with your canvas again. “He waits for you, you know,” Lee continues, quieter. “In the morning. And before dinner. He always asks if you’re here.”
“Oh,” you say, and your wavering voice betrays your expression. But you think of everyone else at camp, their gleaming smiles and their celebrated parents, their own cabins and friends and dreams, how you don’t seem to have any of those. You think of the girl whispering in Luke’s ear. All her shades of beauty. You know it’s wrong to compare yourself, to be jealous. You’re just … sad.
The cabin darkens from a lilac to an imperceptibly gloomier shade. A blue sort of longing gets caught in your throat, blurring the colours on your canvas. But you keep your brush steady, focused on the scratch of its bristles so you don’t have to hear what you say next. 
“I think I love him, Lee.” And then, “But I don’t think he loves me.”
There’s no sound except the scraping of your brush when it’s run out of paint, and a sniffle when a tear rolls down your cheek. 
“Oh,” Lee fills the silence the way you did just moments before. Then he says your name, laced with pity, and hugs you on the floor of his lavender cabin. 
“You want to help me lead the bonfire song tonight?” He asks after a minute. “Or at least … come to the bonfire song?” 
“No to the first, yes to the second.”
You wish you said no to both. 
The spot you choose after dinner is right next to the fire so you can distract yourself with the golden flecks of flame. Fire is so fluid, so complex, from a colour perspective. But no matter how close you get, the searing warmth can’t hide Luke’s gaze peering over the embers. 
He will not. Stop. Looking at you. 
The singing from the Apollo kids usually soothes you but tonight it’s just making you anxious. All this attention so close to you. Will Solace has been sitting next to you this whole time, your unofficial assigned companion for the night thanks to Lee. One of his siblings beckons him over, and he shoots you an apologetic look, hesitating. "Just go," you wave off kindly. "It's all good." He's not entirely convinced, and you aren't either, but he squeezes your shoulder with thanks and leaves you anyway.
Now you’re acutely aware the space next to you is wide open. And so is Luke, it seems. There’s an awkward moment where your gazes slide over each other and he weaves out of his current crowd towards you. So you do the most mature, sound thing you could possibly do in this situation:
You say you have to go to the bathroom to no one in particular and get out of there. 
It’s dark, but you’ve got sharper eyes than most. Soon the noise of the campfire is behind you. You traipse through the camp towards the bathroom,but you don’t get far before you hear something that makes your stomach drop in the worst and best way. 
Luke, calling your name. 
At first you think you can get away with not hearing him. Then he calls a second, a third, a fourth time, punctuated with, “Come on, I know you can hear me, can you just turn around?”
He’s got longer legs than you so the next time he speaks it’s practically in your ear. “Hey, just look at me. Please. I want to talk to you.”
There’s something so tender in his voice that it makes you cave immediately. But you already feel so fragile, you can feel the tears behind your eyes. You know you won’t have the strength to talk to him. 
His hand curls gently around your wrist and it sends warmth all the way up your arm. He says your name again, softer, and you love the way it sounds. You can’t meet his eyes, but you already know what he looks like. Even in the dark you picture him crystal clear. 
“Look at me,” he repeats. “I just—I need to know what I did wrong.”
His dark eyes are full and apprehensive when you heed him. You notice how much you’ve missed studying his face—the slight bunch of his brows, the tensing in his jaw. And you almost delude yourself that he’s missed you just as much, the way he squeezes your wrist and rakes over your expression.
“Why are you ignoring me?” He asks. 
“I’m not—”
“You are. I know you. Just tell me why.” 
He looks so sweet, so earnest, and it kills you. You think of the way he looked when all his friends made fun of you. It all comes up before you can help it. 
“Do you always let me walk around looking like an idiot?” You ask bitingly, staring at the floor. “The thing, with the paint on my cheek—why didn’t you tell me? I looked so stupid and all your friends just laughed at me!” 
His face falls. “I tried to tell you, I thought—”
“It’s okay to say you don’t like me, or that you’re embarrassed, or whatever, but I …” You swallow, tears thick on your lower lashes. “Everyone makes fun of me. I don’t know why you don’t.”
“Because I do like you,” he states, hand moving up to your forearm. 
“Don’t say that,” you whisper. “You’re so much … better, you know you are, and I don’t want your pity, or your spare time. I just—I made something up in my head that wasn’t there and I only noticed it the other day after you talked to that girl and that guy made fun of me and I’m really, really sorry—”
“It looked cute. I was trying to say I didn’t tell you about the paint because I thought it was cute.”
There’s a lull.
“What?” You blink stupidly. 
“I know I should’ve told you about it, but I swear I was going to before dinner, I didn’t think we’d run into anyone before then.” His cheeks tinge red. “I had this whole dumb thing planned out where I’d wipe it off your cheek and tell you how cute it was once you got embarassed. I was waiting to tell you. I was thinking about it the whole time.”
His hand on your arm is a frighteningly grounding thing. You're dumbstruck by that alone. Your lips part, but all that comes out is, “Why?”
A gentle laugh tumbles out of his throat. “Why do you think?”
His other hand comes up to brush your cheekbone, where the paint had been, and you can imagine him doing it to you on that day. How you'd probably react just the way he said you would, the way you are now. A warm orange glow blooming in your chest. “But the girl—”
“She tried whispering to me how much she liked my bracelet,” he smiles fondly. “Told her you made it for me. It shut her up. I don’t know what that guy said to you but I chewed ‘em all out the second you left. They knew I wasn’t happy. I tried looking for you but you were gone. I don't like them, you know."
You don’t know what to say. It’s too difficult, too uncertain for you to jump the gun on this. So you just stare at all the shifting colours on his face as he moves closer to you. All this time going over his every detail, and there's still more to be enthralled by.
“I found the paintings,” he says, voice so close you can feel it brushing your skin. “The ones of me. I was looking for you in the Apollo cabin a week ago and you left one out. I knew it was yours because ... I mean, there’s no one in the world that can make me look that … beautiful.” 
The last word is apprehensive but it’s spoken with an unimaginable tenderness. He looks a little teary himself. You think you’re dreaming. “I knew I had to tell you after that. I’ve been trying to tell you. But you started pulling away from me so I thought I was making it all up.”
“Tell me what?” It’s a ghost of a question between you, an impossible thing, but the hand on your arm slips around to your back and he presses it there with such certainty. 
“You’re really gonna make me say it?” He cocks his head, but you nod. “I’m in love with you, I think.”
The words cascade over you in ribbons of warmth. Your brain feels fuzzy, seperate from the rest of your body. Your mouth opens multiple times but you can’t seem to control what comes out. “Luke, are you joking?”
“Not even a little.”
“But you’ve got so many other—”
“I want you.”
“I am literally the most incompetent person alive; I can’t sing, I can’t talk to people, I have a weird knee—”
"Your knee is fine!"
"I'm just saying, this makes no sense from an outsider perspective, it's—"
“Okay, clearly the telling thing isn’t working so I guess I’m just gonna have to kiss you.”
It happens so quickly you don’t have any time to think (probably for the better). You let out a surprised “oh” before his mouth silences you, stopping every other thought. He’s gentle, thumb still rubbing your cheekbone, other hand still firm at your waist. You want to panic—where should you put your hands? How do you know you’re doing this right? But he steadies you, the way he always does, and you give in. 
He starts to smile against your lips. You’re almost positive the intensity of your heartbeat could summon a storm. When he pulls away, he kisses the corners of your mouth and you think you’re going to evaporate. “I don’t think I’m very good at this,” you whisper.
“You’re perfect.” He grins a little when your hands tentatively tug at a curl on the nape of his neck. “And none of that stuff you say is true. I mean, you’re definitely a better singer than me.”
Leaning close to your ear, he warbles out a song you know but gets the words horribly wrong anyways. You can’t help but laugh. “Okay, maybe you have a point.”
He hums and chuckles with you. You swear the moon gets brighter when he wraps his arms around your waist to kiss the side of your face. “Next time you paint me, I want to be there when you do it.”
You blush harder than you ever have in your life. “Only if you try painting me,” you say quietly.
“Of course. You’re very pretty, so I’m sure my horrible artistic skills won’t even make you look bad.”
Luke lets you press your face into the crook of his neck. You soak it up for all it’s worth. 
In the morning, you wake up in the same position. Your nose tucked against his collarbone, the shade of pink you love freckled across his cheeks. You can't wait to paint him again.
When you look out the window, you say a silent, grateful prayer to your mother.
She's given you two more rainbows.
5K notes · View notes
Note
how do i get my character out of the corner i wrote myself in without a dues ex machina😭
How to Not Write Yourself Into a Corner (and How to Write Yourself Out of a Corner if You’re Already In One)
Tumblr media
One of a writer’s WORST fears is writing themself into a corner.
It’s easy to write your characters into death-defying situations…but it’s not as easy to write the actual “defying death” part.
Some writers, in their desperation to get their characters out of a bind, employ the use of a Deus Ex Machina, as mentioned by anon:
Deus Ex Machina: (Translates to "god from the machine") A plot device where a seemingly unsolvable situation is fixed by an out-of-the-blue occurrence. The term “deus ex machina” is a reference to Greek plays, when actors playing a god would literally be lowered into the scene via a machine to magically solve any situation.
Unfortunately, this plot device is often ridiculed by readers, cited as a hack-job solution for a writer out of ideas.
How do we avoid this situation, then? Here are some tips and tricks on how to not write yourself into a corner, and how to write yourself out of a corner if you’re already in one!
Note that these tips may not work for everyone, so make sure to use your own intuition as a writer— you know your story best.
1. NIP IT IN THE BUD— OUTLINES ARE KEY!
I’m sorry to all of you pantsers out there, but the key to prevent writing yourself into a corner is to already have an idea of how each scene is going to turn out; don't make a problem without making a solution! If you keep on top of your outline, you should have no worries about writing your characters into a situation they can't get out of it.
It may be easiest to jot down ideas about a couple of scenarios and then select the one that works best, especially when it comes to dire climax scenes that have a lot of moving parts. 
Check out my posts below for more in-depth advice about outlining!
How to Outline
Plotting for Pansters and Pantsing for Plotters
This advice, although essential, does require a ton of foresight and time to plan…and if you’ve sought out this post, it may mean that it’s too late for preventative measures. The subsequent tips in this post are going to be for people who are already in the thick of it and need a way to save all of their writing progress. 
2. FORESHADOWING IS YOUR FRIEND (AKA “CHEKHOV’S GUN YOUR WAY OUT OF THAT SHIT”)
Foreshadowing: A narrative device wherein a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. It helps maintain believability while subverting expectations and making plot twists.
Chekhov’s Gun: A narrative device wherein a seemingly insignificant element or object in the story becomes useful later on. Sometimes used synonymously with foreshadowing, but usually refers to a specific object.
Examples of Foreshadowing/Chekhov’s guns in media:
The 1981 Quarter (Or Extra Life Quarter) in Ready Player One
“Don’t Cross the Streams” in Ghostbusters (1984)
Winchester Rifle Hanging over the Bar in Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The Rita Hayworth Poster in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Water Bottle in Bullet Train (2022)
In my opinion, a Chekhov’s Gun is the more refined twin of the deus ex machina; although it may seem like it comes out of nowhere, observant readers or those who go back into the story will realize that this event was set up from the beginning.
Foreshadowing is the key to turning a deus ex machina into a Chekhov’s Gun. It’s spreading breadcrumbs to maintain believability even when unbelievable things happen.
My advice: plant a line here and there referring to the object/element that will get you out of the corner.
These lines can be about a healing potion that a character carries around to save them when they’re at the brink of death, the fact that the city they’re fighting in often suffers from sinkholes, or that a character has a seemingly useless skill. 
However, haphazardly inserting foreshadowing into your story may come across as heavy-handed; make sure it aligns with the narrative beats. Particularly big Chekhov’s Guns, especially ones that “save the day," may require multiple foreshadowing elements.
It can take a lot of work to incorporate the foreshadowing smoothly, so make sure it actually saves you time in comparison to rewriting the whole scenario/plot point.
3. TAKE A BREAK
Sometimes, the solution to your problem may not come to mind because you’re too immersed into the writing process and not thinking of the bigger picture. Or maybe it might just be good old-fashioned writer’s block. Take a step back, reassess, and return with the scene properly re-evaluated. Maybe start a new book or TV show to get some inspiration, or check out one of my posts below!
How to Overcome Writer’s Block
How to Get Inspired to Write and Regain Creativity
4. ASK FOR HELP
Sometimes, it might be best to have another set of eyes on your story! A situation that may seem unsolvable to you may have an obvious solution to a writing buddy.
5. KNOW THAT SOMETIMES RE-WRITING IS NECESSARY
Tumblr media
I know this sounds horrible. It’s something that I wouldn’t wish upon any writer.
Sometimes, however, no amount of foreshadowing can get your characters out of the debacle they’ve put themselves in. Either that, or the work that it would take to insert the foreshadowing would be more than it’d take to rewrite the scene or the plot point.
My suggestion would be to search for the last place that you didn't feel lost, and then cut out everything after that.
(NEVER DELETE MAJOR CHUNKS OF YOUR WRITING! ALWAYS CUT IT AND SAVE IT IN A SCRAP DOC—IT COULD COME IN HANDY LATER!)
Then, take the time to outline the scenario and figure out the solution to your problem beforehand. It will suck, but trust me, it'll be worth it in the end.
HOPE THIS HELPED, AND HAPPY WRITING!
871 notes · View notes
wonderingpanda · 7 months
Note
Hello!! Could you please either write a scenario or Headcanon for either rottmnt or bayverse x reader for pining turtles (turtles with a crush on reader) and how they try to “romance” them? Who’s more upfront who isn’t it? What kind of gestures they do? Please and thank you
Rise Turtles Pining for Reader
Originally I was going to do both Bayverse and Rottmnt but I wrote this pretty late and couldn’t come up with many ideas for Bayverse. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Raphael
I feel like Raph is the kind of person to act casual around his crush and then freak out later
He’ll get excited around you and try to show you extra care
He’s also going to be very worried for your safety
If you had plans to go over to the lair and end up being 10 minutes late he’s already picturing the worst
Raph does try show off his muscle and strength sometimes
Particularly if you watch him train it’s a huge confidence boost
But his favourite moments are when you get to watch him win against one of his brothers while sparring
Oh come on you totally cheated. Sorry Leo rules are rules. That was awesome Raph! O-oh Y/N! Thanks.
He is a gentle giant so you can expect fairly small hand gestures
Hands clasped, arms crossed maybe a small wave
And of course he’s giving out the best hugs of all time
While he may be pretty chill about his feelings, if you flirt with him it will have him a flustered mess
I’m talking you won’t be able to tell his face from his mask
At the end of the day he just really wants you to like him and will always be there for you
Leonardo
Oh boy, here we go
The second Leo realised he liked you there was no more peace
You won’t get a single moment alone because this boy will just be everywhere
He’ll try every pick-up line he can think of and will find any excuse to flirt with you
The guy has no shame because he makes it look like a joke
Spoiler alert, it’s not
Have I ever told you I think you’re beautiful No, why? Cause you’re beautiful. Aww thanks Leo. *kisses on the cheek* *Dies inside*
While Leo might act confident on the outside if you try to flirt back with him his heart will instantly melt
But he’d never show it of course, he’s too cool for that
He is also a complete drama queen so his hand gestures are naturally large
Lots of pointing, pretending to faint, open arms, you get the idea
However Leo might also use smaller hand gestures when he’s feeling nervous or guilty
He might be twiddling with his thumbs or rubbing his arm with his hand
Another important thing to note is that he loves to show off
He’s got fighting moves, skateboard tricks, video game scores, comic collections and more
He loves you, wants you and will let you know loud and clear that he’s in love
But he’s only “kidding”
Donatello
Donnie is far more reserved in comparison to Leo
He also has a very complicated idea of what he wants
He wants you to know he likes you without you knowing he likes you
That being said there are a lot of different ways to tell if Donnie is pining for you
He’ll feel more comfortable with you in his lab vs others
Lots of gifts and is always free for whatever favour you need
You can expect to be given more privileges around his tech
But that’s also because he wants to impress you with it
He might also make small comments to hint he likes you
What were you thinking!? Ah but you see my sweet beautiful Y/N, he wasn’t thinking. Donnie quit flirting with your girlfriend and come save me! Not my girlfriend…*whispers* yet.
He’s the kind of person who will admire from afar and won’t try to get super close physically
Although if he’s really excited then he may give you a hug or two
His hands are usually closer to himself as well
Arms crossed, hand on hip, very generic and nothing that’s too out there
Hand flaps all the way
And you can bet that after every moment you two have he’ll be in his lab celebrating like there’s no tomorrow
Because a dancing Donnie is a happy Donnie
Michelangelo
Mikey just goes with the flow
Wait he likes you! Oh well, time to show tons of love and affection
It’s hard to tell if he likes you or not because he acts the same way around everyone else
Lots of physical affection, big hugs, warm smiles, hand holding
One unique thing you might be able to nitpick at though is his kisses
That’s right, Mikey will constantly be kissing your forehead or cheek if he gets the chance
You’re also one of his biggest inspirations
The amount of times this turtle will tell you to hold your pose so he can sketch it
He wants you to understand that to him you’re beautiful and inspiring
Compliments are another big thing for Mikey
He won’t stop telling you how pretty, smart and cute he thinks you are
Hey Y/N do you mind standing right there for a second? Uh sure another drawing? Yup! Sorry you’re just so pretty I can’t stop drawing you. Thanks Mikey that’s really sweet.
Mikey’s hand gestures, I think we can all agree, are big
Arms open wide all the time
He is definitely more upfront about his feelings and is just waiting for the day he can open up and say he loves you
I hope this was similar to what you wanted. Have an amazing day/night wherever it is you are!✨
218 notes · View notes
soulofapatrick · 1 year
Text
Birthday Surprises - Pedro Pascal x Reader
Tumblr media
Summary: Oscar gives you the task to distract Pedro so they can break into his  apartment and set it up for a surprise birthday party - both you and Pedro get more than you planned for
Words: 2.4K
Warnings: none I think
Notes HAPPY BIRTHDYA TO THE BEAUTIFUL AND HUMBLE MAN THAT IS PEDRO FUCKING PASCAL
--------
Y/N’s POV
My heart pounds in my chest as I knock on Pedro’s door, Oscar having given me his address with one specific detail: get Pedro out of the house by 1pm and keep him out until 6pm. It’s his birthday and we want to surprise him with a small gathering, knowing he’s been stressed recently with The Mandalorian and The Last of Us press tours and the fans wanting to know his every move. 
Before I can have any doubts about this the door swings open and a very sleepy Pedro appears. He looks fucking amazing in just his shorts and a loose lakers tee shirt, fluffy hair standing up in all different directions as if he’s just run his hands through it. He seems to light up when he sees me, the frown slipping from his soft features as he ushered me in. The door shutting with a soft click and he’s herding me to the kitchen where I see a massive stack of pancakes ready to slide off the plate. 
“Happy Birthday Pepsi,” I laugh softly, turning to face him and pull him into a hug. I’m not much of a hugger but Pedro… I will never say no to a Pedro hug. His chest rumbles with laughter as he wraps his strong arms around my shoulders and rocks us on the spot as he presses a smiled kiss to my temple. I don’t know how long we stand there but we only separate when Pedro suddenly lets me go with a cry of ‘save the pancakes’ and I’m just watching him race around the island and steady the pile with one fatality. 
He’s laughing and pointing towards a cupboard for me to get another plate, “Come on sweetheart, we’ll share the birthday pancakes. I made too many for myself anyway!” 
“Alright but I have an afternoon planned for us and you can’t say no.” I shoot back, grabbing another plate and helping Pedro dish out the pancakes before both plates get placed on the island. He buzzed around the kitchen, grabbing all sorts of things like whipped cream; sugar; lemon juice and syrup before joining me, “That’s a lot of sugar.” 
“It’s my birthday.” He grins around a mouthful of pancake and whipped cream, bright and bubbly like a child. I can’t keep the fond smile off my lips, shaking my head fondly at him as he giggles. Fuck me he’s so cute and I wish this was everyday life for me, getting to wake up and have breakfast everyday with him and be able to kiss the bit of whipped cream from the corner of his mouth but this isn’t my life. I’m just here to help a few friends out and before I can stop myself I’m swiping the cream from his lips, going to wipe it on my jeans when those very same lips wrap around my thumb and his tongue darts over the pad of it before he’s pulling back with a ‘pop’ and a cheeky grin, “I’ll go get dressed.” 
*
Despite being spring the breeze was still cold and harsh, rustling hair and tugging at our coats that are tightly wrapped around ourselves. Pedro is telling me how last year he had a quiet birthday with his family who came to visit him and he made them a traditional chilean meal, it was apparently his mother’s favourite meal. My hand found his when he told me that, the sadness in his voice evident despite how hard he’s trying to hide it, gently squeezing his large hand comfortingly and getting that softest smile in return. 
I had definitely had reservations about becoming an actress when I had seen how pompous and self-centred they could be, scared I would end up just like them but I quickly found my group of people who I couldn’t live without. I met Pedro through Oscar Isaac after being an extra in Star Wars, not sure why Oscar decided to become my friend but here we are now years later. I owe a lot to Oscar as he got me my role as Bobbi Morse aka Mockingbird in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and it was my breakout role really. I wouldn’t be where I am right now, having worked with major stars I could only have dreamt working for, and currently walking along side the most humble and warmhearted celeb I have ever met. 
Pedro is currently eyeing up a cafe across the street from us, eyes flicking between the cafe and me with his bottom lip jutted out in a pout and his honey eyes all wide and innocent as he flutters his eyelashes at me. A simple look would have gotten me to say yes but what he’s doing in making me weak at the knees so I just fake sigh and pull him towards the cafe, hearing the triumphant sound he lets out. 
The coffee shop is a cozy haven tucked away on a quiet street corner. Pedro moving closer to me in excitement as we step inside, the sweet aroma of freshly brewed coffee filling my senses, instantly calming me. The shop fills with natural light streaming through the large windows, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere and none of that fake brightness lightbulbs give in quaint places like this.
The walls are adorned with local artwork and framed photographs, giving the space a personal touch. The wooden floors creaking underfoot, adding to the charm of the place. The furniture is an eclectic mix of cozy armchairs, wooden tables, and benches that looked like they had been there for decades. Behind the counter, a barista greets us with a smile, ready to take our order. The menu written on a chalkboard, which I take the time to look art despite knowing exactly what Pedro and I will have to drink. We get the same things every time so I go ahead and order.
“Hey! Could we get a caramel macchiato and an iced quad espresso with extra ice and six shots please.” I tell him and he raises an eyebrow at Pedro’s six extra shots but a warm smile replaces it when he sees Pedro staring at the pastries and small cakes with his face and hands practically pressed to the glass. It catches me off guard as it’s the smile you give a couple when you see them do something cute and deeply romantic. I should correct him and tell him he’s wrong but instead I add to my order. “Could you add two caramel doughnuts to that.” and I don’t regret it when Pedro’s face lights up even more. 
Pedro is practically bouncing on the spot as we wait for the coffee and doughnuts, watching the barista prepare them with such love and care while I scan the cafe, It’s quiet and calm with the only other occupants being a group of friends huddled together in a corner, chatting and laughing and a couple sat across the cafe, lost in conversation. The sound of clinking cups and spoons fill the air as I thank the barista and grab our cups while Pedro practically snatches up the doughnuts, having already taken a bite out of one of them before we can sit down. 
“Mmmmm, so fucking good, we - me and you -“ He waves a hand between us, almost knocking his coffee over, “We are coming here very often.” 
“I can get behind that.” I agree as I take my first sip of my macchiato. It’s the best macchiato I’ve tried, the rich and complex flavours making me groan lightly into my cup and I don’t miss the way Pedro’s honey eyes sparkle with amusement. It’s too damn good to care, I’ve made my fair share of coffees as a barista before I became an actor and no way have I ever been able to make one this good. The smooth and velvety texture of the steamed milk adds a layer of creaminess that beautifully balances the espresso's bitterness. It is like a dance between the two flavours, with each one complementing the other perfectly. But the real star of the show is the caramel syrup. It is sweet and slightly nutty in flavour which adds such a warm and decadent sweetness that lingered on my taste buds. 
“You’re making out with that coffee.” Pedro smirks and I’m spluttering. 
“Just because I have actual coffee and not six shots of hyper,” I retort, sticking my tongue out at him, “Whatever this barista has done it’s really fucking good. Like a fucking work of art, a symphony of flavours perfectly crafted and blended to make this-“ 
“You’re cute when you nerd out. You know so much about coffee.” 
“I was a barista before I became an actor.” 
The afternoon continues like that, Pedro and I finding topics to discuss or bicker over but each of us avoiding the topic of our shows and movies. We have an agreement that we talks about normal things, like we aren’t famous or noticeable. Pedro tells me all about his family and I always listen intently as they’re such great people and he seems so close to them it makes me a little jealous as I broke a lot of bonds with my parents when I became an actress. I think out of everyone in his family I would love to meet Lux as she is crafted by the gods themselves and she just seems such a strong and passionate woman with a lot to say and no fear in saying it. She seems dedicated to what she does and seeing pictures and videos of her and Pedro I can see an unbreakable bond that I can’t wait to see in person if Pedro would ever allow me. 
I had told Pedro about my parents and how they had reacted badly to it all. My dad wanted me to become a machine and sit at a desk doing a nine to five job until I get old and die. My dad kicked me out while my mum had shook her head and let me pack my bags, not knowing that I had sent a message to my older brother. My brother had become my pillar of support and Pedro had sat there with pain in his eyes and a hurt look on his face when I had told him everything. He  had promised me that he would always be there for me and I could always find him if needs be which really solidified the growing feeling I have towards him. 
We were on our second round of drinks when my phone buzzes with a message from Oscar. 
‘Mission birthday boy is go.’ 
Then another comes through before I can text back, shielding my phone from Pedro despite the small pout on the older man’s lips as I never hide my phone from him, I could never as I have nothing to hide from the man I am head over heels for but right now Oscar needs me to be secretive. 
‘That means get your asses here now.’
‘Be there in 10.’ 
*
Pedro turns his key in the lock and swings the door open to darkness. He frowns at me, raising an eyebrow in question as we step inside but I stay silent, seeing the smallest amount of movement as I shut the door. As soon as the door clicks shut the room lights up and erupts with cries of “SURPRISE!” 
The birthday boy lets out a shriek of surprise before accepting the hug Oscar pulls him into, the pair laughing and hugging. I think they probably would have stayed like that for longer if Sarah hadn’t wrangled Pedro out of Oscar's arms. All I can do is watch: the apartment filled with weighed down balloons; birthday banners strung up and a small feast of food spread out upon the kitchen island while Oscar joins me leaning against the wall by the door. 
“You did good,” He bumps my shoulder and I laugh softly, taking the beer he’s holding out and leaning my head on his shoulder. There’s not many people here, around 25, and they’re all giving their birthday wishes to Pedro who is practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. I can’t stop the fond smile as he is so happy, eyes sparkling and hands flailing excitedly while Oscar turns his head and presses a kiss to my hair before mumbling, “There’s a surprise for you too.”
“For me?” I frown up at him but I don’t get to pry more when Pedro makes his way back over, a grin so wide I think his face may split into two. He pulls me away from Oscar who takes my beer from me, shrugging with fake innocence when Pedro stops us by the floor to ceiling windows he has in his top floor apartment. His large and soft hands slide up my arms, stopping when they’re cupping my jaw. 
“You organised this for me?” His voice is low and gentle, eyes wide in awe and I go to protest but I realise what Oscar meant so I just nod, scared to see his next move. His ducks his head a little, nose bumping mine a little and I can’t stop the squeal of surprise when his nose is cold and the feel of his warm breath ghosting my face is almost overwhelming. My heart jackhammers in my chest, my eyes slipping shut at the first brush of his pillowy lips in mine. It’s a gentle kiss, full of tenderness and love, nearly knocking me off my feet and how he can make it feel like nothing else matters as I melt into his embrace. It’s just him and me, lost in the passion that comes with a first kiss. 
But the cheering and whooping brings me back to reality, my face heating up and I’m hiding in Pedro’s shirt as he chuckles. Mixture of emotions fill my chest: excitement, nervousness and a rush of adrenaline. His heart is racing just as fast as mine, a small moment of pure intimacy despite the many people observing our interactions. The hug is long and lingering, and as we pull away, I look up into his warm honey eyes and see a mix of emotions there as well. It’s like we both know that something special had just happened between us, and we are both feeling the weight of the moment, knowing we’re in this together and all of our friends couldn’t be happier for us. 
“Happy Birthday Pepsi.” 
“Best birthday present mi cariño.” 
----------
Tag List Form
@clover723 @a-psych0s-w0rld @sexyvixen7 @iraot @gemimawrites @pedropascalsrealhusband @twopercentmilk @amythenortherner @sxnshinebxcky @nelsoomon @urnewghostfriend @grooveandshit @reyas-world @canpillowscry @androgynoysgaz @outl4wage @ginger-swag-rapunzel @quinnverses @librafilms @leonkennedyslefthand @notsosecretspy @intergalacticspacemonkey @certifiedhunter @yourmommilf @mediocrewallflow3r @fariylixie0915 @randomhoex​ @secretsthathauntus​ @ems-alexandra​ @pedr0swh0r3 @quinnsgrapejuice​ @marvelsimps​ @cutesyscreenname​ @missmomiverse​ @thesapphirequeen
507 notes · View notes
Text
History Repeats Itself
masterlist
note: first jess one-shot!!! (and i'm actually proud of it???) also i say their baby is one but i don't know babies to well so if she's too advanced for a one year old, just cut me some slack
warnings: teen pregnancy, food/eating
word count: 4.7 k
♡ summary: Being a teen mom is hard but without any help it's even harder, after saving up enough she can finally move to Stars Hollow to be closer to her baby's father
♡ Jess Mariano x reader
request ✓
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
The bus ride down was long, and it only got worse as 1-year-old Caroline woke up from her nap and decided to let everyone know of the inconvenience. Finally after the long months of working and saving up she had enough to move to Stars Hollow, unlike Jess who had a parent to send them and an uncle to stay with, she saved up and made it happen. She wanted Caroline to be around her father, and she wanted to be close to Jess.
And Y/n’s always loved the idea of a small town, a place where you felt safe, a place she would feel safe raising her child in, a place that wasn’t $2,500 a month for a closet. Here she could give her daughter a lot more, here she would have a support system in Jess and Luke. Unlike what her parents would give her.
By this point in the bus route it was only the mother and daughter and a couple strays, she saw the messy haired boy sitting on a park bench close to the bus stop, of course he had his nose in a book. She started packing up Caroline’s stuff, tucking her blanket and toys in the basket of the stroller.
When she got to the bus doors, Jess quickly made his way to help her lift the stroller down the steps, when the stroller was once again on the ground Jess squats down getting face to face with his little girl, “Hey, Care!” “Daddy!” He lifted her up by her armpits. When the little girl was out of her seat and in her dad’s arms, her mom stacked their bags on the seat.
“Hi! You’re so big! Really she is. She’s growing up so fast.” “Well she can walk way more stable now. No more scaring, mommy that you’ll fall if I look away for a second.” She says the last sentence in baby voice while she tickles the girl’s belly to make her giggle and their foreheads to rest on each other’s.  
“So you gonna show us around?!” “‘Around’?” They continued their walk around the gazebo area, walking towards Luke’s. 
“This is it, that's the record shop, that’s the bookstore, that's Luke’s, and that’s all you need to know.” “Well where’s the bank, I might need to rob it later.” “You’ll find a job. And if you don’t then work at Luke’s, he could do with the time off then maybe he’d get off everyone’s backs.” “He’s probably stressed with you always causing trouble.” “Me? Trouble? Nooo, I’m a peach.”
-
Jess had the baby today since Y/n was off to find a job, her first stop was the most promising. Luke let her know that a friend of his needed extra staff at their Inn for an event that was coming up, someone who could be an assistant of sorts. So after wearing her most capable looking top, and best fitting jeans. She kissed Caroline’s check and yelled goodbye to Luke and Jess as she began her walk.
When she walked inside she saw a man at the front desk on the phone. Waiting to ask for directions, she hung around the man’s desk, busying herself with some pamphlet. She couldn't help but listen to the man’s angry English in his french accent.
Suddenly he hung up the phone and got back to writing whatever he was writing, without looking up and with an annoyed tone said, “Yes?” “I was looking for Lorelei, I’m here for-” “The assistant job, yes.. Follow me.” He walked quickly to wherever it was they were going, mumbling along the way, “Of course, an assistant. Just what we need around here. Not like I don’t already do most of the work around here.”
He opened the door for them, it ended up being the kitchen they were now in. A tall woman holding a to-go coffee cup that said ‘Luke’s’ on it and a shorter woman in an apron fighting with a scruffy man about vegetables, which look to be parsnips. 
“The mini-you is here.” “One little comment, Micheal. I’m not saying you’re incapable. I just want more help with organising events so I focus on planning!” “Whatever.” Turning on his heels, Micheal walked out the doors making his way back to his desk. 
“So you’ve met Micheal! Sorry, we usually don’t let him around the new people but we're a little short-staffed. Let’s head to the dining room.”
They sat down at a table in the dining room, Lorelei asked all the important questions, and Y/n was perfect, now she was just asking the things she’ll tell Sookie later when the woman asks about the new hire.
Taking a sip of her sixth coffee this morning Lorelei asked, “So, are you new to town? I haven’t seen you around before.” The girl was stirring milk into her second coffee as she responded, “Yeah, I am. I just moved here with my um- my daughter, closer to her dad so…” 
Since it was of course the time most adults got horrified, thought she was a bad kid, and though she didn’t get that vibe from Lorelei, it was at least bound to shock her. “You’re daughter? How old are you? Wait- I know, it’s on your resume. I mean- I’m, deja vu y’know? Abba did say ‘the history books on the shelf are always repeating themselves’.” 
She must have seen the confused look on the young girl and explained, “I had my daughter when I was sixteen.. And came here to get a job, so just getting major deja vu. Well then, since I know what you’re going through, I won’t put you through the short mental torture of waiting for a call I was gonna do and just tell you you got the job.” “Oh, thank you! I really need this, I can’t thank you enough.” “Just change her name to Lorelei and we’ll call it even.” “deal.” Those two would get along great, much to Luke’s misfortune.
-
Y/n sat at the counter with Caroline in front of her sitting on the counter while she played with her mother’s hair. Jess was filling up cups of coffee and serving customers while he listened to Y/n’s words.
“So until you go back to school, you’ll have Caroline during the day here and when I’m done work I’ll take her.” “No, you’ll never have a break. After work you go to your house, relax then grab her after dinner.” 
Jess may have this ‘I only care about myself’ attitude but that never included Caroline and Y/n, he’d kill for either of them at any given moment. He always put them first. If thought Y/n needed a break, she was getting a break whether she wanted it or not. 
Just as the girl was going to thank him she was interrupted by another girl around their age coming to sit down at the counter, two over from her. 
“I have the book you lent me.” She said, unknowingly interrupting the conversation since Jess was facing the coffee machine to make a new batch when she sat down. “Oh, thanks.” He muttered, notably not turning to face her.
On the inside Jess felt guilty. Why did he feel guilty? He didn’t do anything, he and Y/n weren’t together, nevermind the fact that all he did was lend Rory a book. As friends. Because they’re friends. But nonetheless it almost felt like cheating. Jess and Y/n may not be together officially but that didn’t mean that they both didn’t love each other. And not just because they were the parents to a beautiful little girl. Jess had always wanted more, he’d let the girl know that more than a handful of times, and she let him know it wasn’t unrequited, yet something always came between them.
You’d think having a baby together would bring them closer, and in some ways it did; they trusted each other more. But they also fought more and being the dumb teenagers they were, they didn’t have the emotional ability to move past that and build the relationship they both wanted. And then when they felt they were ready to, Jess was sent to live with his uncle. Just another fork in the road. But now they were living in the same town and had a good system, and people to support them. It was the perfect time, everything was going right, they could feel all the feelings that never really left resurfacing.
“Okay, I have to get to work. You’ve got her?” “Yeah.” “Bye, baby, I love you. I’ll see you in a little bit, but you get to spend all day with daddy.” “Bye-bye, mommy!” 
She said bye to Jess after she walked around the counter and handed him Caroline, muttering a small ‘go see, daddy’ that Rory most definitely heard.
When the door finally chimed shut Rory shot up to follow Jess to the table he was now setting Caroline up at. She watched his gentle movements as he readjusts her shirt and places crayons and paper in front of her, which she got right into scriballing away. 
“She’s yours?” “Yeah.” “.. So that girl is your girlfri-" "I’ve got work to do.” 
-
The warm atmosphere of the dinner is a stark contrast to the cold winter air. Noticing Jess and Caroline are nowhere to be seen she assumes they were upstairs and makes her way up the stairs. Half-way up the flight of stairs she could hear her little girl’s loud giggles. She quietly opens the door to see Jess holding Caroline above his head, as if she was flying.
When she first got pregnant everyone told her Jess wouldn’t be a good dad, that she can’t rely on him for anything. God were they wrong. She doesn’t think it’s possible for her baby to have a better person as a dad. She sadly doesn’t get to watch the scene for much longer as she’s spotted by little Caroline.
“Mommy! I see daddy ‘morrow?” “Yes, you get to be with daddy all day tomorrow too.” “Yay!”
As the conversation between them goes on, Jess lets his little girl plant her feet back on the ground and starts collecting some things she’ll need during the night before she comes back here tomorrow, he then starts getting Caroline’s shoes on her feet. While Y/n sits on the couch next to their little girl.
“So who was that girl this morning?” “Who?” 
Jess always did this, it was a tell tale sign that he didn’t want to talk about it, but that’s never stopped Y/n before. “You know who.” Of course having to be difficult, Jess gives her a fake confused look, as if he’s never met another girl in his life. 
“The one returning your book.” “Oh, that girl.” “Yeah, that girl.” “She’s nobody.” “So you just lend books to ‘nobody’s now?” “Care, where’s Mr.Wiggle?” The girl lets out a gasp and reaches out for Jess to help her off the couch, when he does she runs into the closet where she previously hid while playing hide and seek a couple hours earlier. 
“What? Don’t want Care to hear about her new step-mom?” “Don’t call her that.” “What? Care? Only you can call her that?” “No, don’t call Rory Care’s ‘step-mom’.” “Rory! I get her name!” 
Jess was a quiet guy, but not this quiet, especially not with Y/n. He didn’t want to talk about Rory, maybe because it was weird talking about another girl with your baby momma. And yes it was weird for Y/n too, but for a completely different reason, she assumes. She liked Jess, and has since before she even knew about Caroline.
“C’mon, Jess, it’s me. I want you to be happy.” Sure Rory made him happy, but only because she was the only friend he had here, it wasn’t the way Y/n made him happy. Before he could deny for words again Caroline came back running into the room with her stuffie in her hands. Having already said her goodbyes, she opened the door and walked out.
“Caroline, wait hun! I think you should go for it Jess.”
She walked out the door, closing it behind her, leaving Jess to stare at where she disappeared. He decided to take her advice, just maybe not the way she meant it
-
Y/n helped Caroline pack more snow onto their snowman. Caroline wanted to do it after she heard Luke complaining about town events again, he stopped complaining when he saw how excited the girl was. They had Mr.Wiggles off the side learning against the tree, using him as a reference. 
“Mommy, no. Mr.Wiggles has more hair.” 
Caroline was getting very comfortable ordering her mother around, but in this instance Y/n let it slide, poking more sticks on the top of the snowman’s head to mimic Mr.Wiggle’s spiky hair. 
“That’s good!”
Lorelei and Rory were just one snowman down, both told Caroline they thought she would win and encouraged her before she even started. Since they were so close, they could hear the scene that had just played out. 
“Tough age, wait till you get to the terrible twos. ‘No’ is all you’ll hear.” Lorelei said, kindly as her and her own daughter walked past them. Y/n let out a laugh at the comment before she asks, “You guys done already?” “No, but after Michelangelo over there busted out the power buffer, and when Caroline busts out her cuteness, what chance do we have?” “I see your point.” “So off to Luke’s we go.” “We’ll see you there in a bit.”
-
Y/n was standing talking to one of the decorators when she saw Lorelei and Sookie step out of the kitchen, quickly finishing her directions she wrote down a note on her clipboard then made her way to meet them at the entrance of the dining room.
When Sookie sees her, she asks, “What’re we looking at today?” Sookie was really fun to work with, like Lorelei she was very chill as a boss, but Sookie was also so kind and always took it upon herself to make sure Y/n has eaten and that her and Caroline are taken care of. She could tell the woman was going to make an amazing mother.
“This is last on the list.” She replied, after she took a quick glance at her clipboard, then continued, “We’ve got trumpets, the madrigal singers-” “Sorry to interrupt, but I’m not playing squire of Bracebridge.” 
Sookie and Lorelei must have finally told Jackson to play the squire, they told her earlier in the week that they were playing to ask at the last moments so he had to. It was a flawless plan, especially when Jackson can’t say no to Sookie.
She saw that Lorelei and Sookie were just ignoring him, so she played along and continued down her list, “All the servers are lined up. This is just for the recorder players and harpists.” She stopped at the recorder players and let Lorelei talk to them, “Hi. Lay some on us, guys.” 
The two recorder players played the soft tube they were going to come accustomed to in the next few days. The three of them shared positive looks and when their playing came to an end, Sookie said, “Hey, you cats really know how to blow those things.” Lorelei continued Sookie’s comment by saying, “You’ve got the gig. Y/n here will call you later with the details. Thanks.” 
Recorder players started packing their things, Jackson started again on the fact that he wouldn’t play the squire, and the three women continued to ignore him.
“When do the quests arrive?” “Thursday at four on their own jet.” “After buying out the whole inn.”
“Must be nice to have money.” Y/n added, checking off and writing down more notes on her clipboard.
“You know what struck me today?” “-Was it the fact that I am not the squire?-""We’re crazy for doing this.” “We’re beyond crazy.” It did feel crazy, Lorelei told her they’d never done a function this big before and that’s the reason they hired more help. Like her, but also that they were planning to do a lot more big things like this, more weddings, and such. 
“We’re ‘Anne Heche speaking her secret language to god and looking for the spaceship in Fresno’ kinda crazy.” “Oquinis no-goodo noto.” Sookie said, causing Y/n add, “Il ecnatra dos guidan.”
Their nonsense was once again interrupted by Jackson, “And spring this on me at the last minute too. I mean, that’s just manipulative.” Suddenly a cook pops his head out of the kitchen, saying calmly, “Sookie- fire!”
Sookie rolled her eyes softly, this happened far too often, before saying, “I gotta get back in the kitchen. You guys handle the harps?” Both women nodded and replied in unison, “You got it.” 
“Alright. I’ll do it. I’ll play squire Bracebridge if that’s what you want.” Everyone knew he would cave eventually. Sookie patted his arm and said a quick, “Thanks, sweetie.” before walking back into the kitchen to hopefully deal with the fire. “As long as it’s not just because I fit the costume.” Jackson looked back at Lorelei and Y/n, Lorelei had a grin on her face while Y/n wore a tight-lipped smile. “It’s because I fit the costume, isn’t it?” He followed after Sookie.
Lorelei put her arm around Y/n and led them to the harpist, “Go ahead.” The harpist played the same tune as the two recorder players. But just as the woman started, Lorelei got a call. She patted Y/n’s arm, “I have to take this, you handle the harpist.”
The girl tried to stay calm, nodding her head and going back to listening to the music. Lorelei trusted her, yes it wasn’t a big job by any means, but still it was a step into a bigger role down the line.
-
The next day, Sookie and Y/n had all the waiters/performers in the dining room going over what their job was. And teaching them the old English words to use for things.
Sookie was just telling Rune that he couldn’t just talk like an old man whe Lorelei came in with a disappointed look on her face, and let them know the dinner was off.
The three women, as well as Rory and Caroline were now sitting at a table at Luke’s, Caroline was happily eating her pancakes, plain just as she liked and completely unaware of the collective disappointment of the group.
Lorelei has really welcomed Y/n into her life. She may not be Jess’s biggest fan, but she would always help another teen mom out. Especially since she sees so much of herself in Y/n. She’s grown to really love the girl in the short time they’ve known each other. And aftering hearing Y/n didn’t have her family in her life she was more than happy to help and maybe become that family for her one day. Just like Mia did for her.
“I’ve got 30 pounds of aged beef, trays and trays of trout, mountains of prune tarts. I diced pumpkins until my hands turned orange. I’ve got pumpkin hands!” Sookie showed the table her hands, it apparently caught Caroline’s attention since she grabbed Sookie’s right hand and held it in her left while she continued eating. Sookie lets her hand rest in the little girl’s while she freaks out more and asks Lorelei, “How can you stay so calm?” “There’s nothing we can do about it.” 
Rory was just as upset, mostly because she knew how hard her mother worked on the planning, “I can’t believe they got snowed in.” Y/n hasn’t told Jess, but she’s become pretty close to Rory, the girl sometimes comes to the Inn and helps around and Rory’s become kinda her only friend, that was until Rory invited her to the record store with Lane. After that day she had two friends. 
After knowing Rory more, she realised how much she and Jess have in common, and even though Rory has a boyfriend she can tell there’s an attraction to Jess she’s trying so hard to hide. 
Y/n zoned out for a moment, looking outside, she was upset that the first event she helped organise wouldn’t even happen. She was broken from her stare out the window from Caroline jumping in place while sitting on her mom’s lap, the cause of which was Luke coming to the table. 
“You girls want anything besides coffee?” He asked, adding on with a pat on the girl’s head, “Or pancakes?” “Hey, what about Luke?” “What about him?” “He eats, and Jess eats. Doesn’t Jess eat?” Sookie directs the question at Y/n, before the girl could say anything Luke cuts her off, “What’s she doing?” “I think she’s inviting you for dinner.”
Getting distracted while trying to convince Luke to come to dinner, the four decide to still put on the dinner for the town. Like an out of control slumber-party.
-
The dinner was going great, the secret amazing part of inviting the town was that Y/n and Caroline could actually meet everyone. Miss. Patty and Babette loved Y/n and Caroline (mostly Caroline), Caroline loved Kirk, and everyone loved that Caroline could do whatever she wanted and Talor wouldn’t say anything. And Y/n got to meet Paris after all the stories she’s heard.
Caroline and Y/n were in line for the horse drawn carriage rides, when Caroline saw her favourite person, Lane. “Laney! I ride with you!” Lane, before agreeing, made eye contact with Y/n to make sure it was okay. Y/n gave them the go ahead and helped Caroline get settled. After their carriage left she made her way to the next one. Telling the driver it’s just her.
It was nice to get a break from everything. It was quiet and peaceful. Well that was until Jess ran up and hopped on the carriage next to her. Without a word he put the blanket that was over the girl’s legs on his too. 
“I thought you and Care were going together.” “She’s one ahead, with Lane.” “Ahhh. Well it’s two to a sleigh no more, no less. So you were breaking the rules, you're welcome for saving you.” “You could have hurt yourself.” “Aw, you care about me.” “You are my baby's father.” 
She wished she just agreed with him. She didn’t just care for him because he was Caroline’s dad, and she doesn’t think she says it enough. But then again, maybe it would mess things up if she admitted that. But that decision was made for her.
“I’m touched.” “Jess. I don’t mean it like that. I care about you, Caroline or not.” 
Trying to change the topic to something she thought was more lighthearted, she says, “So, how are things with Rory?” “There are no things with Rory.” “C’mon, Jess, we can talk about this stuff-” “Why are you so insistent that I date Rory?” 
She wasn’t expecting that outburst. Not from Jess. He rarely ever yelled at her, and when he did it was always misplaced anger, never actually angry at her. This time it was her, it was what she said.
“I just want you to be happy-” “C’mon, Y/n. Be serious.” “I am. I want-” “If you want me to be happy so bad, why won’t you give me a chance?!” 
He turned his face to her, looking right into her eyes, she could see the hurt in his. Did she put it there?
“What’re you-” “Since we found out about Caroline, I’ve tried and tried to help you realise that I love you. And not how you mean ‘I love you’. I don’t love and care for you because we have a family and I have to. I love you, because I want to. I want to be with you. And I know it will be hard, but I’ll do the work.” 
If she had more social awareness at the pent she would have hated that the coachman heard all of that. But after what Jess said, the look in his eyes; that was so full of love. She felt like it was just them two in the world. No, that it was just their little family in the whole world. He and Caroline were all she would ever need.
“I love you too, Jess. I have for so long, long before Caroline, but I thought you wouldn’t want to be tied down to me, especially after I had Caroline, that any sign I thought you gave me was all in my head.” “It’s not.” 
He brought her in closer to him, an arm around her shoulders and when her arms wrapped around his waist he left a kiss on the crown of her head. The small kiss brought her eyes up to him, which led to their first real kiss in one year and nine months. 
His lips were softer than she remembered, but they still fit into hers as if they never left.
She broke away from their reuniting kiss to place her head in the crook of his neck, wanting nothing more than to be close to him.
“My mom didn’t want me to come home.” She took her head out of his neck to look at him fully. They were always that person for each other, the one you can tell your problem to and they knew when to help and when listening was enough. Right now, she knew listening was enough.
“I’m sorry, Jess.” “It’s fine. Just sucks.” “I know. Well, Care and I will always want you to come home.” After her words, he brought her closer than before. She was always just what he needed. 
Wanting to change the subject, Jess nodded his head to the snowman Y/n and Caroline built. “It’s good.” “What?” “Your snowman, well Caroline’s snowman I'm sure she’d want me to say.” “You know which one’s ours?” “Definitely shows her personality… It kinda looks like Mr.Wiggles.” “That’s what we were going for. But everyone thinks the one on the end is going to win.” “Really? It’s so overdone.” “I agree.” “You and Care’s should win.” “Agree again.”
-
The dinner was filled with Jess and Luke confused at what exactly was in the food, Jess and Y/n trying their best to keep Caroline sat which about half an hour in they gave up and just let her walk around the lobby, as well as saying hello and talking to everyone at the table. Having an interesting conversation with Mrs.Kim about grace, ‘helping’ Kirk by sitting on his rolling food cart, and even talking with Paris for a while. 
Overall it was a great night. Even better when Jess, Y/n, and Caroline got to their shared room, putting Caroline asleep together for the first time in a while. And falling to sleep in the same bed together, holding each other, listening to each other’s breaths, as well as Caroline’s. Everything was just how they both always secretly wanted. And now get to have openly and freely. 
In the morning Y/n got up early since she was technically working, and she still was when Luke, Jess, and Caroline left to open the diner for the day. It was around noon when Y/n finally left, walking to Luke’s to spend the day with her two favourite people. Which was when she saw Michelangelo’s snowman fallen to a large pile of snow on the ground.
She didn’t even have to think for a second to know that Jess did it. Sometimes he did the weirdest things to show his love.
The bell rang as she pushed open the door, she sat down next to Caroline, saying ‘good morning’ and getting one back before she made her way to the counter.
“I saw what you did.” “What’d I do?” “Caroline will be happy she won.” “Anything if my girl’s win.”
57 notes · View notes
razorblade180 · 11 months
Text
9 Days of Lancaster Day3: Secret Relationship
Yang:Water?
Weiss:Check!
Yang:Gym clothes?
Blake:Check
Yang:Leader to guide/bond with us as we test our limits?
Ruby:Cry all you want. I can’t just change my plans. *grabs notes*
Yang:But you could!
Weiss:I can’t believe you got roped into helping Jaune study for his test.
Ruby:Weiss, it’s called “helping a friend.” Plus we made these plans first. It’s not like you’ll be alone.
On queue, a knock on the door made Blake open it. Nora came jumping in with her gym bag and already limbered up. Ren and Pyrrha.
Ren:She’s very excited about the new gym installed.
Nora:Today we sweat!!!
Pyrrha:Let’s try to leave the place intact. Ms. Goodwitch hasn’t forgiven us for the cafeteria.
Ruby:Is my naïve weapon enthusiast ready for me?
Pyrrha:He’s at his desk frantically writing notes. Y’know…if you need any help-
Ruby:I may not be a star student but when it comes to the history of weapons and their engineering, I might as well teach the class.
Weiss:Now if only you applied half that enthusiastic in Dust reaction experiments.
Ruby:Nobody can be perfect at everything.
Blake:The two star students of our year are literally in this room.
Weiss and Pyrrha: *all smiles*
Ruby:Pfft, so lightning struck twice? My point stands. Either way, I’ll have Jaune passing with flying colors in no time so don’t worry about it. Have fun everyone. We’ll join next time.
Pyrrha:If you insist.
Ren:It’s probably for the best.
Blake:Yeah we someone to save us from Yang and Nora’s routine ideas.
Yang:It’s not that bad!
Nora:The pain is weakness leaving the body.
Ruby:And on that threatening note… *grabs books* I’m off to across the hall!
Everyone funneled out of the dorm room and went on their way. Ruby waited for them to full turn the corner before knocking for times. The door was opened by Jaune and she gladly walked in. Pyrrha wasn’t joking; his desk had papers stacked and books opened.
Ruby:Wow, hard a work I see?
Jaune:I try. I’m just a bad test taker.
Ruby:We’ll have no fear! I’ve made mock tests and flash cards to drill all knowledge into you! Stick with me and-
The knight’s arms suddenly wrapped around her waist as he gently pressed his lips against hers, making Ruby jolt. A smile spread quickly on her face as she kissed him back harder while her arms hung off his shoulders. As their lips separated, Ruby couldn’t help but giggle as she went into for another chaste kiss. The slight grunt of approval he gave as he held her tighter made the girl shake her head playfully.
Ruby:Easy now. We should at least attempt to study. I talked a big about you passing. That means I should actually teach you. There’s an entire chapter dedicated to hand placements.
Jaune:Hehe, you are so ridiculous.
Ruby:Yet you looked intrigued. We can smooch later.
Jaune:It would be easier to get kissing out of the way now so our friends don’t potentially nterrupt later. Isn’t breaks an important part of studying? Besides, I don’t think I can survive an enraged Yang even if she’s tired and sore.
Ruby:Hmmm you drive a hard bargain, but I can’t have you too tired to learn. Tell you what, take the test and every correct answer gives you a kiss. FYI, there’s fifty questions.
Jaune:Oooo that is a good deal. Got a reward for if I actually pass the real test?
Ruby:Let’s aim higher, a hundred on the test earns you a date anywhere you want, my treat.
Jaune:And if I get the extra credit?
Ruby:*blushing* I’m open to ideas.
Jaune:What if…we did of this…
He raised her slightly, her feet struggling to stay grounded as he kissed her roughly. Ruby felt a tingle up her back as she refused to back down, deepening the kiss. His arms held her so close his scent both put her heart at ease and made it flutter.
Jaune:But a lot more?
Ruby:Deal~ but you’re getting ahead of yourself. *waves papers* Study time you dummy.
Jaune:Okay, you win. I’ll be a good student. *kisses neck*
Ruby: No flirting when testing is in progress!
xxxxx
Oobleck:Attention class! I have finished grading your weaponry tests and i must say I’m quite disappointed in the overall performance! Mr. Arc!!!
Jaune:Y-Yes…?
Oobleck:….Yours was not one of them.
He zips by everyone, giving them the grades they all earned. The usual suspects passed. Weiss, and Pyrrha even had a perfect score while Ruby on the other hand, waved around a 103%
Pyrrha:Congratulations. The extra credit stumped me.
Blake:I’m fine with a B
Ren:*holds 94* I’m very lucky all of you have varying guns I’ve seen in use.
Nora:*holds 88* Same hehe…
Weiss:It would be a tragedy if your hyper fixation didn’t help you pass with flying colors.
Yang:Why can’t you just say congratulations? A hundred questions and I got 99. But the real question is…*looks at Jaune*
Jaune:*holds 103* I owe a big thanks to my personal teacher.
WBYNPR:WHAT!?
Ruby:*dark red* Well would you look at that? Nice work.
Jaune:*smiles* Couldn’t have done it without you. I promise to pay you back in full.
Ruby:*internal screaming* Looking forward to it.
203 notes · View notes
peanutbutterwrites · 1 month
Text
My Good Looking Boy - Part Two
warnings for series: angst, struggles with self worth and self esteem, issues with appearance, childhood trauma, and mentions of death and murder.
summary: taking place after the southern raiders, zuko and katara finally learn to understand each other a bit more and long held on to feelings come to the surface. the gaang go and watch the ember island play and chaos ensues with katara's feelings.
part one - part two - part three
Tumblr media
authors note: in part two here we're gonna start to explore katara's insecurities and how they have an effect on her. i tried to bring some uncle iroh wisdom because i believe there are a lot of lessons that iroh taught zuko that he maybe just didn't recognize later and this chapter has one of them. as always, let me know what you think and if there are any errors feel free to bring them up. enjoy!
word count: 1.9k
Not too much later, Katara and Zuko brought the now clean clothing and blankets back to camp with limited finds for meals today. The group was finally all awake with Toph and Aang working on earthbending exercises and Suki and Sokka chatting as Sokka sharpened his boomerang. 
“You’re back! I missed you this morning.” Suki said fondly, wrapping Katara in a warm embrace. 
“Yeah, you have housework to do?” Sokka joked making Toph snort as she gave a brief wave and good morning to Katara and Zuko. With a roll of her eyes Katara snapped,
“You think that’s all I’m good for? Don’t take me for granted or precious prince Zuko is gonna have to start doing everything, and trust me, you don't want that.” Zuko frowned, slightly embarrassed, but said nothing as he passed out the clothing to their rightful owners. 
“Hey, maybe I didn’t know how to do laundry this morning, but I do now.” he mumbled, retreating into himself, but he didn’t snap back at her. Placing the basket down, Katara felt guilt pool in her gut and it made her feel sickly.
“I’m sorry, yes, thank you for your help Zuko.” He perked up, and a small smile made its way onto his face. Katara felt herself easing up and had a smile to match. 
“So, I wanted to bring up that there’s a play in town nearby!” Sokka announced, getting everyone’s attention. “Maybe we could take a break from saving the world one of these days and watch it. It's about us you know.” He announced, wiggling his eyebrows. The group looked mostly enthused at the idea, but Toph took her turn to speak.
“That's all fine and dandy snoozles, but those plays tend to be way too long and I don’t feel like trekking all the way back here at midnight or having to find a new campsite.” The group seemed to actually agree with Toph on this one, especially the early risers not wanting to be out late and sacrifice precious hours of sleep. 
“Oh come on guys, one night won’t kill ya.” 
“Actually,” Zuko interjected quietly, “I might have a solution”. 
His brilliant idea is how the group decided to pack everything they had on Appa and make their way to the royal family’s vacation home with Zuko’s guidance. Apparently, Zuko was aware of the small town they were near and it just so happened to be extra close to the abandoned royal family’s vacation home. It has been unused for quite some time now, so he was sure they wouldn’t be found or bothered. The breeze on Appa helped alleviate the summer heat and Katara actually found herself closing her eyes and relaxing again. That is, until a flying pair of pants found their way to her torso.
“What the-” “I need you to sew them.” Sokka said, point blank rubbing his boomerang between his fingers. Katara felt herself grind her teeth in frustration, but quickly reeled herself back in and breathed deep while she reached for her sewing kit. 
“Sure, Sokka. No worries.” Speaking the latter under her breath with a roll of her eyes. Shifting the fabric around in her hand, she found the guilty hole and got to work. And while the breeze was still refreshing and the thought of an actual bed enticed her, the frustration never completely left. From across the bison, Zuko eyed her with concern. He knew she was frustrated, it was simply palpable when she was. Fighting an internal war with himself to offer his help again, he found himself shutting his mouth seeing her furrowed brow and focused expression. He would only frustrate her more, he decided. The saddle was quiet until Toph began with her questioning. She had practically interrogated him before asking about the home itself. 
“So sparky, how come you didn’t tell us about this beautiful abandoned home earlier? You tryin to make us sleep on rocks for forever?” 
“Uh no,” he stuttered, “I just honestly didn’t think about it until Sokka mentioned that town. I watched many plays at the theater growing up. With my mom I mean.” At the mention of his mother, the saddle fell quiet again. “But you guys will love it I’m sure. There’s enough space for us all to have our own rooms and a courtyard for bending practice. I’m sure the kitchen still works great too.” Everyone lightened up a bit after that and the group fell into friendly chatter. 
“Hey Zuko!” Aang's voice rang from the front of Appa. “Is that it?” And everyone peeked over the saddle to make out a large, traditional fire national style home at the very top of a mountain on the island. 
“Yeah, it is.” A nostalgic smile found its way to his face, and Katara paused her sewing long enough to admire it. Landing was calm enough, and Katara threw Sokka’s finished pants right back at him causing him to sputter and fumble for the fabric. Working together, Appa was unloaded and the group rushed inside to pick rooms. The first thing Katara noticed was how big the home was, and then how red. The walls, ceilings and floors were all red with ornate gold accents, though she knew the palace must be ten times what this was. Rooms were plentiful and so were their size, so she was in no rush seizing one like the others. Venturing upstairs, she walked to the end of the hallway until a room caught her eye. Strolling in, it was nothing special. Like all the other rooms it was red and very large, but a balcony at the opposite end of the room stole her attention. Walking out, she gripped the railing as a breeze ran through her. From this balcony, almost the entirety of the island and most of the sea could be seen. The water stretched on and on until the horizon kissed its now calm edge and the island was lush and green. Turning her head to the right, she was surprised to see Zuko hanging out of the only other balcony. He looked peaceful, far more serene than his normal awkward, brooding self. And she found herself staring at him more than the scenery, that unfamiliar fluttering feeling returning to her gut. Then his head turned, and she found the fluttering doubling in intensity and the heat of the sun growing uncomfortably hot. But he simply smiled back at her and she got to see a hint of the golden twinkle in his eyes once again before he retreated back into his chosen room. 
The group watched in legitimate horror. This play was horrible. Filled with fallacies at best and harmful lies at worst, their story couldn’t have been depicted in a more inaccurate way. Everyone was either arguing in outrage or grumbling in a mopey silence the entire way back to the vacation house, with Toph’s boisterous laughter the only exception; and Katara couldn’t even blame them. Angered at the way she was portrayed was on the forefront of her mind for the past couple of hours. Is that really how people see me? Some hope obsessed fangirl?! She stomped her feet even harder, pushing herself to get to the vacation home quicker. Her thoughts and doubts were slowly getting to her, was she really that useless? All the housekeeping and motivational speeches, did that make her weak? She was spiraling and tears were forcing their way out of her eyes despite her desperation to hold them back. No, she would not be seen crying. 
“Good night!” She called out as soon as she reached the house, most of the others too busy still arguing to notice. She couldn’t hold the tears back as she raced up the stairs and slammed the door to her chosen bedroom, allowing herself to collapse onto the floor in a heap. Folding her legs under she ripped off the golden bangles and rings, a foolish attempt to at least look somewhat presentable, and ripped the half top knot from her head. Tears were pouring down her face and sobs and hiccups made her break down quite loud, once again she was grateful for the privacy this room offered her knowing a campsite would be far less forgiving. She was so busy breaking down that the creak of the old wooden door was the only thing alarming her to another's presence. “Just go away, I’m fine!” she roared. The intruder paused, hesitant, but after a beat the door simply shut quietly and soft footsteps made their way to her before strong arms wrapped themselves around her. She assumed Aang would be the one to follow her, but this person was larger and the hug warmer. She tensed up at the initial contact, but quickly melted into the embrace as the smell of cumin, sandalwood, and smoke engulfed her senses. 
“Shh, it's okay.” came Zuko’s raspy voice as he gently rocked her in his arms and she sobbed into his robes. The back and forth rocking calmed her, and the warmth finally made her feel at home, safe. When was the last time in all of this that she actually felt safe? She couldn’t remember. This went on until no tears came out and the hiccuping had come to a minimum. Resting his chin on her head, he spoke again very softly, “Do you want to talk about it?”. He felt the rustle of her shaking her head into his chest and he sighed. “You know, I always felt like I was kind of useless.” He began, and Katara stilled. She let out a forced sort of chuckle and croaked out, 
“You’re a prince, how could you feel useless?” 
“My life wasn’t always so royal Katara. I was the oldest, it was my responsibility to learn how to lead, to rule. But I was always left behind. I couldn’t firebend as well as my little sister, I could never make my own father happy, spirits, I couldn’t even make friends. I have felt like a total failure my whole life. And yet, when I took time to think about things, about what my purpose actually is and where I belong, I find that I succeed a lot more now. Maybe sometimes, we feel like we’re failing simply because we’re in the wrong place. Maybe, if we look at things from a different perspective and reconsider where we stand, we can find the spirits are letting us fail to learn. To learn where we truly belong and are needed.” The crying had stopped, only leaving the occasional sniffle. “I am not needed in the fire nation, not now. That’s why I always find disappointment and failure there. But here, here Aang needs me. It's my purpose to teach him firebending and now, maybe you need me so I can teach you. Just like my uncle taught me, that really, no one is useless, they’re just in the wrong place.” Zuko finally looked down and found himself staring into two round, gemlike eyes. 
“How did you know?” she mumbled, barely a whisper. 
“When we see others going through feelings we’ve already experienced, it’s very easy to spot.” She leaned into his arms a little more, and he tilted his head to rest his unscared cheek softly on her head. 
“Thank you.”
“Of course, Katara. You can always talk to me.”
35 notes · View notes
space-writes · 10 months
Text
Tumblr media
Anyone who talks to me knows that when I start talking about writing, they have about point five seconds before I start shilling for obsidian.md. I made a post about why I use and love it here, and in it I mentioned plugins, which a few people were interested in.
There are so many plugins, an absolute plethora (I have about 40 or so on my main vault at the moment), but today I’m just going to cover my top 10 plugins for writers using obsidian!
presented in no particular order, and below a cut because it's pretty long.
(note: I’ve included links to the github repositories for all the plugins, but to find and install them in Obsidian, just search their names in ‘community plugins’ in the app!)
Templates
First up is a simple core plugin, that if you aren’t using it already…why??? I have so many questions about how you function ANYWAY
If you’re doing any kind of repetitive Writing Task, make a template. Character profile? Template. Worldbuilding note? Template. Scene? Template. Chapter? Template literally i have templates for everything. Set yourself a hotkey (I use ctrl+t), and let your dreams run wild with not having to write out the same information over and over and over again.
This is also vvv useful if you want to get into using metadata, because you can guarantee you don’t forget to add a field. (I might make a post with some of my templates later, if people are interested in some examples?)
Setting them up is very straightforward: enable ‘Templates’ under Core Plugins in Settings, set a folder in your vault to be a designated templates folder, and that’s it! Keep any templates you make in that folder, and go wild. As mentioned I use them for page structures, but also for things I don’t want to remember. Like tricky dataview queries, or infobox/callout structures. You can be so lazy if you make templates for everything, you’ll wish you had them in every app, I stg.
(You can use various other plugins in conjunction with templates to make them even more useful, such as QuickAdd and Commander, which I might talk about in another post if folks are interested.)
Workspaces & Workspaces+
Workspaces+ on github
Okay, so technically this is two plugins but Workspaces is a core features, and Workspaces+ adds extra functionality. At this point I’ve been using W+ for so long I genuinely do not remember which features are core and which it added. If there is one plugin I refuse to live without, it’s this one.
Workspaces are layouts you can save within obsidian: setups of tabs, sidebars, notes, etc. This is a fantastic bit of functionality that lets you make obsidian into an absolute powerhouse of seperate contexts. I set them up for different projects within my main vault (I have a workspace for my Obedience fics, one for my art projects, one for research, and many more), and for different needs in my worldbuilding vault (worldbuilding, outlining, writing, research etc).
Workspaces+ makes managing and creating your workspaces a lot smoother, and gives you the option to auto-save changes when you switch, which I like because my workspaces are very much active, living things that I don’t want to remember to re-save every time I change between them.
Tumblr media
A NOTE!! - keep backups. keep backups, because sometimes - it’s happened to me twice - if you are syncing vaults between devices, the workspaces file can get wiped, and you do not want to have to rebuild them all from scratch. this is good advice generally, but KEEP BACKUPS! DO IT!
Longform
Longform on github
this is theeee writing plugin for obsidian. everyone recommends it, and that’s because it’s good! especially if you’re coming from Scrivener, as it adds a little of that flavour back into Obsidian.
with it, you can drag-and-drop re-arrange your scenes and chapters in the sidebar, which native Obsidian doesn’t let you do. my favourite feature is the project wordcount, because I like seeing The Numbers Go Up, and it will also show you per-scene wordcount, and you can set targets! (i don’t use the targets feature much, though, i track my words with Pacemaker)
Tumblr media
it also has an export function that i have not played much with, but it worked very nicely to give me a basic file for the first draft of one of my long-fics, so that was pretty useful!
Kanban
Kanban on github
do you like outlining? do you like to-do lists? do you like drag-and-drop? me too, i have nothing else going on. i’ve been using kanban for book to-do’s for a while, and i’ve recently fallen in love with it for outlining chapters: yes, I can re-arrange things with longform, but with Kanban i can mark my scenes with various notes, and give myself a good visual overview of plot balance, and drag things around to arrange my book!
using it, i do recommend playing with some css snippets to add some lane wrapping, to get multiple lanes stacking. unless you like side-scrolling, i guess. (this is the one I use, which I got off the discord ages ago and I cannot remember who posted it, I'm so sorry TT_TT)
Tumblr media
my top rec for using kanban in planning is to have lanes for ‘backlog’ ‘up next’ ‘active’ and ‘done’. this way you can list out all the million things you need to do, without getting overwhelmed about doing all of them at once.
completr / Various Complements
compltr on github / Various Complements on github
i have a lot of words to type and sometimes, i don’t want to type all of them! that’s where autocomplete comes in. I vacillate between the two, because VC has a tendency to lag my poor tiny laptop, but otherwise it’s great!
VC is the one if you’re doing worldbuilding, because the linking you can do is a lot faster, and it helps you remember all those ridiculous fantasy names you don’t want to type over and over and over. both have good settings for autocompleting/suggesting in metadata though, which is fantastic because then you don’t do what I used to do, which is forget how i structured my data and have four different versions of the same field.
however. neither are as good as the autocomplete from Libreoffice, which i miss dearly and is the only thing that is constantly tempting me to go back to drafting there.
Outliner
Outliner on github
This is a small and simple plugin, that adds some extra features to lists. I find it very handy because a lot of my outlining is done in bullet-points, and being able to quickly move items up and down a list with a simple button press is very handy for me.
Dataview
Dataview on github / Dataview documentation
okay so. strictly you don’t need this for writing. HOWEVER. if you like data, and organising, and tracking things for your writing, dataview is The One. It’s the one for auto-generating lists and tables, and you can, I’ve heard, do some buckwild things with it.
I am a simple man, and I use it in my writing for a handful of simple things: auto-listing characters and places in worldbuilding; making tables listing characters & plotlines & scene wordcounts; keeping track of my wips.
I’m not going to try and explain how it works here, there is an entire set of in-depth documentation for that. (also Danny Hatcher has a short and simple intro to the plugin here.)
Basically, anything you can add in metadata, you can pull into a dataview query. Status, character, plot — it’s the customisation thing again. There is no default, you get to pick what’s important to you, and then display it!
Here are some examples of my queries & their results, to give you an idea of what’s possible:
Tumblr media
Left side: a query pulling the current fanfics I'm working on. Right side: what that table looks like in Reading Mode
Tumblr media
Left side: queries pulling characters from the Renegade Prince series by race. Right side: What those tables look like in Reading Mode (each one displays the same, only filtered by the 'race' field I have in the characters metadata)
copy document as html
copy document as html on github
Another small, simple plugin that has been the saviour of my obsidian-to-AO3 export process for months. All it does is allow you to copy a note as HTML. That’s it. Which you can then paste into AO3’s HTML editor, clean up slightly, and be good to go.
For extra bonus points, you can set it up with a hotkey (or a commander plugin button, which. commander is a plugin tale for another list but OH BOY IT’S GREAT) and just one-click go. Fantastic.
I like it because much as I love obsidian, exporting things into other non-markdown programs can kinda be a pain. That is one of its weak points IMO. There are also plugins for exporting things in other formats, but that’s beyond the scope of this post.
Colourful Tag
Colourful Tag on github
This one I love because a) pretty and b) colour-coded plot tags my beloved. It gives you a simple, straightforward way to make your tags coloured (and to add emoji prefixes!). I use it in conjunction with kanban for outlining, as it gives me a really great way to visually track plotlines & character arcs.
You can see an example of this in the screenshot I posted for my kanban outline.
Smart Typography
Smart Typography on github
And finally, another sweet and simple plugin, that converts quotes to curly quotes, dashes to em-dashes, and periods to ellipses (it does a few other things as well, but those are the main ones). I like it, because I need those things for writing! Nothing complicated, just a neat little quality of life improvement that’s great for writers.
---
And that's my top ten plugins! as always, shoot me any questions you have about these or anything else I do with obsidian, I'm always happy to answer. I'm aware there's so much you can do with the app, it can be overwhelming if you're just starting out.
As I said, I do use a BUNCH of other plugins for things that are not specifically focused on my writing, so I can always talk about QOL and other types of plugins that I use another time, if folks are interested?
Thank you so much for reading all of this if you made it all the way to the bottom. I genuinely adore obsidian and everything you can do with it, so it's really fun to write these posts!
99 notes · View notes
mytragedyperson · 7 months
Text
Thoughts I had while reading TCF chapter 10
The idea of little 5 year old Raon Miru being so desperate to escape his tormentors that he cuts into his own life force still makes me so incredibly sad. The idea that in canon there’s a world where Raon Miru not only died, but was killed by Choi Han. Can you imagine if Choi Han found out that this could’ve happened. I don’t think he’d ever forgive himself even if Raon 100% would. God this book has some sad moments, but even the novel within the novel is so sad. I know that’s a doomed world but this is actually insane. I also feel like this book does a really good job of exploring the butterfly effect or something similar. Literally one person changed, was transmigrated into the world, but because this Cale was different he made different choices, and each small choice he made, caused another change, some smaller than others, but all ultimately leading to their victory. Let’s talk about how him saving Raon changed a lot. For one thing, I don’t think, without him, he would’ve known Alberu was a dark elf. He might’ve been told or found out, but it would’ve taken longer, and he might’ve reacted differently. Because he had Raon, he knew Alberu was using magic to change his appearance, and had an aura or something that was different to the rest of his family. Then, in the forbidden forest, Raon recognised the dead mana or something, so when he next met Choi Han, he told Cale or something. Sorry, I’ve not gotten to that point in my reread yet so I might be misremembering but that was the gist. But his lack of a bad reaction to Dark Elves, allowed him to meet and form some sort of alliance and bond with them, while also improving the bond he had with Alberu. And there are so many other times where Raon or one of the kids were helpful, and The Birth of A Hero world didn’t have them. In fact, that could’ve been the start of the world being doomed, those kids, and Taylor, and Paseton dying. Just by bringing Kim Rok Soo to this world, things changed, but he had no real way of knowing, when he saved these people, the impact it would have, the knowledge it would give them. He just didn’t want to see kids, or anyone else, suffer. And just by refusing to let people suffer or die if he could help them, he gained allies, and resources, and information that they didn’t have in The Birth of a Hero, or if they did, they learned it too late. The fact that having one person change, the fate of the world changed. Each small choice, each small change, each time he does the thing he decides to do, it leads to a much bigger change and a much bigger impact later on, even if just because now all these people he’s helped have a common ally that they trust and respect. God I could and probably will go into more detail about this later on, but yeah. Moving on for now.
Also Choi Han was right that the dragon’s eyes being full of pain and sorrow but its mouth still smiling is sad. This is his first time being outside the cave he was kept on, he’s seeing the world for the first time, but he’s lost his rationality. He’s happy to be free but he hurt and lost himself in the process. And then you imagine Raon Miru (that means happy dragon, right?) the same adorable little dragon that threatens to kill everyone and destroy everything if anything happens to Cale. It’s heartbreaking, that’s heart breaking. Cale needs to hug Raon extra tight for me because he deserves all the love and affection, plus extra for the version of him that never got any.
I’m so happy Cale went out of his way to save Raon. Like, he didn’t have to do that, he chose to and it was the right thing to do, but so many other people would’ve probably not cared. This is another example of Cale being a good person and refusing to admit it. Let’s keep note of that, misunderstandings, every time someone just doesn’t question something, honestly everything, let’s just keep a note of everything. It’s not even like he can say this is selfish because he doesn’t plan to keep him, he literally gains nothing from this if everything goes according to plan, and he doesn’t care, he does it anyway. Also him saying that he can use the kids to justify adopting them will never not be funny, adorable and kinda sad, because he can’t admit, even to himself, that he just wants to keep them around.
I forgot this was still the interview scene. Damn, a lot of shit is mentioned in this scene, like from the scene with Hans before the interview to the end, we get a lot of information.
Also, the interview being about whether Choi Han can protect people and then the job actually not requiring him to. Beautiful. That thing I said yesterday about the interview scene being good for Choi Han because it gives him someone who believes in him and respects him still stands. But his first job more or less being an escort mission of find and bring these two people to me, with the two people being capable of protecting themselves? It takes the pressure off Choi Han to have to protect them and builds his confidence and belief in himself, while also providing him with a support system of some sort. And Cale doesn’t intend for this but it happens. And the fact that Choi Han, not only succeeds in the job, but also helps save the other wolf children? That probably did wonders for his confidence, for his belief in himself. Ugh, it’s so good.
Also, Cale claiming in his thoughts, to himself that he’s just gonna let Choi Han, Lock, and Rosalyn deal with the terror incident, only to make a whole plan to stop the attack. He’s so good at scamming people he even scams himself. That’s beautiful.
And then he makes it a secret between just them. He’s essentially telling Choi Han he trusts him with this more than anyone else. No wonder he can never get rid of Choi Han after this. And the best part is he doesn’t even realise he’s doing it, he doesn’t know the impact it has on Choi Han.
Also Choi Han is just kinda precious in a way I can’t explain. Like he seems like he needs a hug, but specifically a hug from Cale and his kids and Rosalyn and Lock. Tbf the entire Calefam kinda needs a hug.
Also for some reason I just got the image of early days!Hans hearing from Deruth he has to give Cale more money and just cursing in his head the entire time he goes because what is he even doing with all this money? He’s not spending it all on alcohol, he’s not drunk enough for that? He hasn’t been back to Billos’ shop and then remembering hearing from someone that Beacrox saw him buying a fuckton of bread and medicinal herbs and going into the slums and being like did he really spaen that much money on bread? How much bread did he buy to be spending that much money? Also why does Deruth give him his allowance in gold coins and cheques exclusively? No wonder he doesn’t wait for change and just says keep it, that would be a bitch to figure out for everyone involved. Also I’ll be honest I don’t get how cheques work in general but, like, he goes to three different bakeries for bread, and I know he paid for that with coins, was that first gold coin for the rest of the week? It was, right? Because otherwise my question was gonna be how does using a cheque at 3 different places work but the answer to that is it doesn’t, right?
God I love Ron just tormenting Cale with lemon things. And then he gets Beacrox and I believe later recruits Hans to help keep it going even when he’s not there? Or maybe Choi Han? I can’t remember who but I know he told someone to do it while he was looking for information on Arm. Maybe one of the kids? That would explain why he didn’t just say he doesn’t like lemon things. I don’t know. I’ll revisit this when I rearead that bit and remember who it was. Ron’s already admitted he knows something’s up. I feel like this is an attempt to figure out why he’s changed at first and then it just becomes their thing.
Also his plan to foist everyone off on Choi Han has already failed because Choi Han already knows he’s not leaving Cale, not if he can help it. So, sucks for Cale but, sorry, you’re already stuck with the troublesome people. But in all seriousness that’s probably for the best because they all need each other.
I’ve finally finished this chapter. I’ll be back with my thoughts with my thoughts during chapter 11, if I have any.
51 notes · View notes
mxmspeedster · 10 months
Text
sfw alphabet with oscar piastri
mentions of male reader and toxic relationships but nothing graphic. and swearing, but your here so thats on you. fair warning, i'm mildly dyslectic but i had grammarly to help me this time so i should be better than the last one lmao.
auto correct saved my life on this one, i wrote in two hours listening to viva la vida but lofi on repeat.
a- affection (how affectionate are they? how do they show affection?)
hugs !! my god does this boy love to hug you. his driver room? hugs. middle of a flight? he will hug you. cooking? back hugs. he will do anything for a hug. he also loves to give you small, everyday things that remind him of you. he sees a flower shop with your favorites in the window, he’ll by them for you. soft toy of your favorite animal? he’ll get one, put a little bow on it and gift it to you. he would so give you a little ring with ‘81’ on the inside, if you played a sport/raced he would have a matching one with your number in it. and if you didn’t, he would put your initials. vv sweet baby.
b- best friend (what would they be like as a best friend? how would the friendship start?)
he would drag you to his house to watch every single race when you were kids. you’d be forced to sit next to each other in the seating plan and became fast friends, especially if you’re good at math, (why do you think i have so many friends?) he would miss a lot for racing so you’d take extra notes for him so he would buy you a little trinket at every race, and you’d put them all on a shelf. (your parents had to take you to IKEA and get new shelves, just for the trinkets.)
c- cuddles (do they like to cuddle? how would they cuddle?)
little spoon. even better if you’re taller than him. if you disagree, you can talk to the rock wall as i climb it. (i’m a rock climber btw, this isn’t meant to be a joke)
d- domestic (do they want to settle down? how are they at cooking and cleaning?)
he cooks and bakes a lot. (in Australia, you have a class (i had to take if for two years but that varies) on cooking, he would thrive there). he would do all the cooking because he loves it so much, so you would always clean up to share the work load. he would so want to by a little cozy house, maybe on a hobby farm, and adopt kids with you. you would take in sibling sets so they wouldn’t get separated in the system. i can see him doing that later in his career (after he wins a WDC maybe), and he would be a stay at home (working form home) dad for your little family (of like 10 kids across four adoptions and a surrogacy) while you worked full time.
e- ending (if they break up with their partner, how do they do it?)
he would let them down gently. he wouldn’t break up with someone for no reason, so if it was out of his control, he would by flowers and do it somewhere privet but with no real sentimental value to anyone. he’d cry doing it too. but like i said, unless they cheated of him, bby wouldn’t break up with anyone, ever. it probably meant he had a toxic high school relationship that one of his sisters had to get him out of because he didn’t want to make anyone upset :(
f- fiance(e) (how do they feel about commitment? how quick would they be to get married?)
if he won an aus gp he would so take you out to dinner at his favorite place (he looks like the kinda guy to take you grilld at any and every opportunity) and propose to you at a park with ice cream afterwards. i think he would have no problem settling down. it’d give him some peace of mind that he always had someone in his corner to go home to after a bad race or stressful day.
g- gentle (how gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)
he would treat you like glass, even if you could kill him with your bare hands, he’d still be so so so gentle with you. he’d always ask you how you’re feeling, and would tilt his head while listen to you talk about your emotions. the king of communication. 100%.
h- hugs (do they like hugs? what are their hugs like?)
he loves hugs. i will not be elaborating. (especially if you lay on top of him, he loves it, it makes him feel so safe.)
i- i love you (how fast do they say the l-word?)
depends on how long he’s known you. if you met as kids, he’d probably say it to you before you got together (in a platonic way.) but otherwise he’d wait until you said it to him.
j- jealousy (how jealous do they get? what do they do when they’re jealous?)
he gets jelous so easlity, but he wouldn’t show it. if someone was flirting with you, he’d go all quite and moody as he holds your hand tighter or hugs your waist. he won’t outwardly do anything to anyone because he trusts you so much, he knows you would never do anything.
k- kisses (what are their kisses like? where do they like to kiss you? where do they like to be kissed?)
he loves to kiss you. he would kiss your cheek then blush and run away. if you had tattoos, he would so kiss them. if you kissed him, anywhere, he would melt into a pile of goo and mark would have to stop him spacing out every five minutes for the rest of the day.
l- little ones (how are they around children?)
he loves children. did you see him with the grid kids at the aus gp? he didn’t look like he stepped on lego for once. if you had to baby sit a small child (between 4yo and 10yo) he is so coming with you. he’d probably enjoy the toys/shows you give to the kid than the actual kid.
m- morning (how are mornings spent with them?)
if you had a whole day off, you would just never leave the bed. he’s be so cuddly and soft. if you try moving before 10 am he would complain that it’s too cold without you. then you’d make breakfast and eat on the balcony/porch together. until lando or logan comes over unannounced and insist that you all play a video game.
n- night (how are nights spent with them?)
so so so soft. he goes to bed a 7 pm on the dot every day. the golden light from the setting sun would be so cute. he’d look like a teddy bear. he’d also insist that he childhood toy would sleep with you guys.
o- open (when would they start revealing things about themselves? do they say everything at one or wait a white to reveal things slowly? )
he’d be so mysterious and would suddenly drop lore like he’s a dad or something. you wouldn’t know anything for months, then you suddenly know his favorite flower is a daisy and he once had to go the hospital because he ate a dandelion. then you have to wait months for any new information.
p- patience (how easily angered are they?)
he is a saint. unless your lando, logan or fredrik, then he is perpetually annoyed at you. if you had a disability (both visible or invisible) he’d be so so patient with you if you were slower to get somewhere/do something/understand him. and if you spoke a different language, he’d learn it in secret so you could talk. he’d probably be more comfortable talking in your native language than in english, he gives me the vibes of “i don’t like speaking English to people i’m close to, it doesn’t feel special enough for them.”
q- quizzes (how much would they remember about you? do they remember every detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)
he would remember every little detail you ever tell him ever. your favorite pen brand you mentioned as you walked though officeworks or your Favorite teacher from when you were 5. he will remember everything. until you ask him, then he forgets his own name.
r- remember (what is their favorite moment in your relationship?)
when you brought him flowers for the first time when he was still in f3. you brought them for him when you went on your first in person date since covid started and he took them home and pressed them so he could put them in a frame and keep them forever. he’d set the photo of you two from that date as his wallpaper and would always show it to people like “look at my man :D”
s- security (how protective are they? how would they protect you?)
he would wrap himself around you entirely when he wants to protect you but he also cried when he almost killed a spider so i don’t think he’d be capable of anything else.
t- try (how much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts everyday tasks?)
he puts so much effort it making things special for you were ever he can but it’s all or nothing. it’s either pizza on the living room floor with a shitty film, or the most expensive wine he could find with a home cooked, three course meal on a balcony in Paris. he’d always make is special for you, but it depends on his mood and what he can do.
u- ugly (what would be some bad habits of theirs?)
he’d bite your fingers if you put them too close to his mouth. he’d get the overwhelming sense of love and would bite your fingers to keep your hands on him or at least close to him because he would cry otherwise. this wouldn’t be a problem for you if it weren't for the fact he has sharp teeth and a strong jaw.
v- vanity (how concerned are they with their looks?)
he does not care. he does not give two fucks about how he looks. until it’s a fancy date, then he cares. he’d learn how to do eyeliner so he’d look extra good for you. (him in eyeliner, i’d pay money to see that)
w- whole (would they feel incomplete without you?)
absolutely. he would cry every night he couldn’t be with you or call/talk to/see you. he would take your clothes so he could feel even just a little but closer to you.
x- xtra (a random headcanon for them)
he’d call you ducky. no reason for it. he just called you that one day and never stopped.
y- yuck (what are somethings they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)
he wouldn’t want someone who would always one up him or treat him like a baby. he also wouldn’t want someone who always did all the cooking and cleaning while he just did nothing. he’d probably cry if the work load wasn’t split evenly.
z- zzz (what is a sleep habit of theirs)
he’d take all the blankets. even in an aussie summer, he insists on sleeping with three blankets and you’ll always wake up at 3am with no blankets and again at 6am with him (and all the blankets) on top of you.
103 notes · View notes
Text
So....the KFP4 plot huh? WHEW! I really needed DAYS to process all this & uh...I think I’m finally ready to talk about it?
Also before I start saying anything please note that I may share few more EXTRA details. Where did I get the details? Welllll? I may have cheated & decided to spoil myself a bit to get more stuff out. Although I promise I’m not gonna share any images & go deep to spoil movie. To be honest I myself only managed to get like only 5% extra details. Also reason I had to spoil myself to dig this deep by talking with the person who got this stuff personally from CinemaCon is that I’ve seen a lot posts saying most of you all have GIVEN UP on the franchise after the plot news was out. Granted some of the plot is not making sense. I myself had to read like 100x to process all in. But giving up on the franchise? I still can’t do that. KFP has a special place in my heart. I’m not saying I’m here to rescue by giving you guys hope. Instead I’d highly suggest you all to keep the expectations low....LIKE REAL LOW! The higher we’re setting the bar the more disappointing results we’re gonna get. Some things so far I found does give us a little hope of light & some are well....meh?  
ALSO PLEASE NOTE IF YOU DONT WANT TO GET SPOILED I’D HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM REDDIT & TWITTER FOR A WHILE! ESPECIALLY DO NOT USE THE KUNG FU PANDA 4 HASHTAG ON TWITTER 
|| SPOILERS UNDER CUT || 
So first let’s just start with the villain herself. The Chameleon. Turns Kate Mckinnon is voicing the villain & her design so far is actually not bad? So far it actually looks good. Only way I could describe her looks is that she’s giving me a bit Shen mixed with bit of Viper vibes. Elegance is the only word I can describe her. Since its only a storyboard image sadly. Its not even a concept art image. 
As for her abilities/powers! Ooooh I hate Dreamworks here for baiting us saying this Chameleon can ‘summon’ the old villains. I know they’re doing this for keeping this a surprise or something idk but whatever the CinemaCon fans saw are completely different from the whole summoning idea. Apparently turns out she IS THE ONE HERSELF who can turn into TAI LUNG, SHEN & KAI. SHE’S A SHAPESHIFTER! Which is no surprise since she is a Chameleon & they’re known for changing colors. So I really don’t see the point why Dreamworks made movie news blogs & reports saying & using the word “SUMMON” which is completely different from “Shapeshifting”? Another thing this is gonna disappoint a lot of Tia Lung, Shen & Kai fans because i’ve seen a lot over excited fans who are waiting for a rematch Especially a Po vs Tai Lung. I’m so sorry guys but these guys are not coming back. They originals are dead DEAD!
She’s also gonna shift into one of Po’s biggest challenger yet too. I’m not mentioning this one this is worth saving it for the movie or the trailer. I hope they save this surprise of the MOVIE ONLY
So far for me the villain actually does sound & look promising. Whoever came up with Chameleon shapeshifting idea is actually pretty darn smart. My only concern is that she doesn’t become one of jokester type villains since its Kate Mckinnon who’s voicing. So yeah...that’s the villain info
Now for the fox character Chen?Zhen?Zhan?Chan? LMAO y’all have no idea how many different spellings I had to come across to get this character info! The funny part is people are even changing the fox’s gender in some articles which is really weird because its Awkwafina who is gonna voice her. So far we only know that she’s gonna be shown as a thief first? And later as Po’s student? Her design? No idea. For now. 
Judging by Awkwafina’s past animated characters like Sisu & Ms Tarantula I’m assuming the character might be some playful, sneaky, childish, cunning type of a fox character since the fox is gonna be introduced first as thief? idk this is just my thoughts? Bonus if she turns out to be some annoying teenager or young adult who would try to get on Po’s nerves during their adventure.Kinda to give Po taste of his own medicine & realize how difficult it is for Shifu & Tigress who has to deal with Po’s shenanigans. 
Also I won’t be surprised if the Fox too has some very similar backstory like Po or Tigress. I’m really getting a feeling the story is gonna be about misunderstood fox who most likely could be either an orphan or abandon by family/villagers or something
Okay so now comes the plot. We all know that Po is gonna get promoted to higher master position & he has to find new Dragon Warrior...yaddy-yaddy-yadda!  Apparently their gonna show Po finding Chen/Zhen/Zhan/Chan (SOMEONE PLEASE CONFIRM WHAT’S HER REAL SPELLING!) in the museum where Po is....patrolling? (i’ll be honest this info is a little confusing because I really don’t see why Po of all people is patrolling at the museum especially since now he’s in a bigger position....like why?) So after he finds her & catches her & stuff & she tells about Chameleon & later go on this adventure (Oop! Dragon Knight plot?) to city where the Chameleon resides & here comes the typical Mike Mitchell writing. Take a wild guess what the city is gonna filled with? We had got Wolves for the Gongmen City right? Now what could be MORE DANGEROUS THAN WOLVES? Hmmmmm? Well.....
Tumblr media Tumblr media
LADIES & GENTLEMEN! WE’RE GONNA GET CUTE EVIL BUNNIES! WHEW....LET. THAT. SINK. IN 
This really reminds me of one episode in LoA where Po had to deal with his past bully which was also a BUNNY! Funny part of that episode was that even Tigress had hard time believing Po couldn’t fight his bully bunny enemy & constantly reminded Po how tiny the bunny is which pissed & offended Mantis off. Anyways back to the main topic.
Now I’m not gonna sugar coat this one. The plot STILL very much does sound very off & very animated series level of writing. Also the person has confirmed this movie is gonna have more of comedy BUT (here’s the hopeful part or at least I’m hoping) the thing is all this info is just like 10 or 20% of the plot. There could be chances that we could still get some emotional stuff since Dreamworks is known for hiding & saving the emotional stuff strictly only for the movie. Remember Puss In Boots? The trailer gives us more of action & the idea of the plot meanwhile the scenes like Puss feeling guilty about not attending his own wedding, the anxiety scene, Goldie’s wish scene & Perrito’s back story all this was saved for the movie. So yeah I am still keeping 5% hope we do get some heavy stuff especially if this movie really does turn out to be the FINAL CHAPTER. Who knows that those storyboards were only the main stuff just to give idea & furious five too MIGHT be there during the adventure but their all split up or something? Idk man I’m just saying.
Where is Shifu? Furious Five? Po’s dads? The Other Pandas? OKAY....uh...so far uh....sadly I’ve no freaking idea where the hell are Po’s dads or the pandas? I’m just gonna assume all the pandas have settled down in Valley of Peace & living regular lives. Po’s dads I’m assuming running the restaurant? There’s sadly no info on this one. Although I really wished his dads would’ve played important role in this one since its gonna be lot difficult for Po to take in his new position & to pass his Dragon Warrior title. 
As for Shifu & the Five. We are gonna get them but we’re told they’re NOT gonna be part of the adventure or what so far the storyboards was shown at Cinema Con din’t have much of them. I am still like 3% hopeful for this one since the guy mentioned these were only the boards which were shown there could be chances the changes can be made. But if the movie really is only focusing on Po, the fox & the Chameleon than I’m assuming we might get very few cut scenes of Furious Five & Shifu. Back & forth scenes like they did in KFP3. Either that or the Furious Five are having some other separate mission & hence that’s why Po decides to go solo with the fox. 
THIS IS WHY!!! THIS IS WHY WE NEED A WHOLE SEPARATE FURIOUS FIVE SPIN OFF MOVIE
Now for the big question; Why isn’t Po giving his Dragon Warrior title to any from the Furious Five? Especially to Tigress?! OH BOY! When I came across the articles saying Po is gonna have to find new Dragon Warrior replacement my mind too immediately went on Tigress! HECK! EVEN MY MOM SAID THIS! Also I had the whole KFP1 movie flashed in front of my eyes Especially the scene of Tai Lung screaming at Shifu telling him about how he filled Tai Lung's head with Dragon Warrior dreams & trained him hard till his bones cracked & Shifu & The Furious Five being sour & bitter towards Po in beginning...I understand now...I FREAKING UNDERSTAND THE PAIN THEY WERE GOING THROUGH TO PROCESS THE FACT THAT THEY ALL TRAINED THE HELL OUT OF THEMSELVES FOR THIS DAMN TITLE EVEN GOING TO EXTEND THE GET THEIR BONES CRACKED & END UP GETTING NOTHING & instead some random noodle folk panda fell from the sky with no whatsoever kung fu skills gets the title...YUP I UNDERSTAND THE RAGE NOW. AND THIS SHIT IS HAPPENING ALL OVER AGAIN I SWEAR TO GOD THIS DRAGON WARRIOR TITLE IS SUCH A FREAKING CURSE!! GODDAMN OOGWAY!!
BUT...BUT...Here's the thing what we also see is that Five...ESPECIALLY TIGRESS never had that desperate goal for Dragon Warrior title in the first place. We all know at this point well aware that Tigress only wanted to get the Dragon Warrior title is because she wanted to make Shifu proud but after seeing Shifu finally being more compassionate and the older playful self again thanks to Po. Tigress doesn't hold that grudge or jealousy anymore towards Po. Which same goes for the five since they were already warming up towards Po before Shifu & Tigress.  
I know most of us & myself deep down all wanted Tigress to get the title since she has gone through hell the most right from her Bao Gu days but Tigress has made it very much clear that she's moved on from the whole wanting Dragon Warrior title and she's become her own warrior
Now in Tai Lung's case. Even though Tai Lung says he did all that training to make Shifu proud but it was clear that Tai Lung was already blinded & thirsty for the Dragon Warrior power the most (Thanks to Shifu). Heck! Shifu himself admits this that his pride blinded him so badly he turned Tai Lung into a monster.
So yeah I know right now we're all disappointed that Po isn't giving his title to any of the furious five but to some random fox (who is a thief...wow..nice choice Po) but let's not forget that's how even Po's story started & we'll just have to wait & watch to see Po taking Shifu's role as master & trains this fox character. 
Also I’ll make a separate post on how Chen?Zhen?Zhan?Chan? (I SERIOUSLY STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HER REAL SPELLING IS) on how she could earn the Dragon Warrior title. That’s not gonna be a spoiler post that is just gonna be an analyzing post or how I can see it happening
And lastly can we trust Mike Mitchell?...OOOOOH BOY! Judging by his past projects I would say it’s a little concerning but lets not forget even Joel Crawford had made some not so very successful projects in the past as well & years later Puss In Boots 2 became one of his best & successful projects yet. I’m not so concern of Mike my main concern is what exactly happen to Jennifer Yuh Nelson for not being part of this so sudden? I remember in interview she had mentioned if she really decided to make all 6 chapters like Jeffrey Katzenberg suggested she really wanted to make a complete beautiful necklace franchise for Po’s journey! Heck to be honest the third movie itself WAS ENOUGH AS A PERFECT END TO THE CHAPTER! It really did give us a perfect trilogy I honestly don’t know why or what made them to give us fourth. This whole retiring thing & passing on torch has been a very common plot trend in most animated/anime/comic medias lately. Anyways. Too late now. Lets see how this chapter turns out.
So....uh..yeah I guess that's it? I tried my best to keep this post with some positive stuff just to you know...lighten up? The thing is we can't say much anything right now because the movie is still in beginning/mid (storyboarding) stage. Its still too early. Changes still can happen hence we cant say much yet. Jack himself mentions that its too early for the trailer. So yeah its very common at times last moments some ideas could have changes.
Only word of advice to the pandom I'm gonna give is be a little more patient. I myself needed DAYS to process & break it down. If we have waited this long we just going to have to wait a little longer. My guess on getting the first teaser we could most likely get it in... August or September (this year)? I'm calculating according to how we got Puss In Boots trailer. The trailer was released in June & the movie was released in December.
We just gonna have to play the waiting game a little long & PRAY!! LOTS & LOTS OF PRAYERS (& INNER PEACE) THIS MOVIE DOESN'T RUIN THE FRANCHISE!! That is all for now. Feel free to share your thoughts or can private DM me!
Tumblr media
111 notes · View notes
theshiningbeacon · 2 years
Text
Tutorial for my OFMD Breakup™/Bird Robe
Tumblr media
Disclaimer: I’m not a professional sewer or costumer, so any weird methods of execution are entirely due to my own (mis)adventures in sewing. Also all of the links for the fabric and research are in the replies bc I have no idea if tumblr is still ~suppressing~ posts with links.
The basic design for my Breakup Robe™ was based on heathervanderstitch and  hannahgreenecostumes‘s instagram posts (two of the costume designers on OFMD) who said that their bird robe was a modified 1940′s kimono pattern with a box pleat in the back to give more movement at the bottom without being too baggy at the top. So I took that info and essentially worked backwards by comparing screenshots from the show and a bunch of online kimono patterns. (The most helpful ones were Ralph Pink’s free Satchi kimono pattern and The Tailoress’s Giselle Kimono). 
--- 🦜 ---
I found a helpful starting place for pattern piece sizes was a twitter post from another fan (fiftyfathomkinit), however I ended up making my own modifications because I found her drafting slightly confusing (she includes armhole cutouts in her back panel which i could never figure out). I also adjusted the sizing to better fit my own measurements and I added an extra seam on the sleeves so one side of the pattern wouldn’t be upside down.
On a personal note, don’t be afraid of making mistakes! I didn’t realize I needed to adjust the pattern measurements until after I’d started making the lining - which was an oopsie on my part and could have saved me a little bit of money on fabric for my lining. You can get around this error by making a mockup in cheap fabric, or you can do it like me and start off with larger pieces and make them smaller as you adjust to your own fit.
Speaking of the lining, the original robe has a fuchsia dupioni (coarse) silk lining and a hand dyed, block printed 100% cotton velvet outer shell. I found the velvet from (I believe) the same seller on Etsy. It’s a little pricey, but they also have a regular cotton version for those who want a cheaper option. 
For the lining, I wanted silk to match the original, bc it breathes better than polyester satin, and I believe it’s longer lasting. But I wanted something softer than the dupioni, so I went with... literally the smoothest silk in the closest colour I could find at a local fabric store. (I literally just rubbed my fingers against every fuchsia silk they had). But you can go with whatever lining you’ll be most comfortable with (satin, cotton, etc). 
I got tassels from that same fabric store and the thread and orange bias tape from Fabricland, but you can make your own tassels with yarn if you prefer.
I bought 5 yards of the bird velvet (bc they don’t do half yards) and 4.5 metres (5 yards) of the silk. I ended up using most of the silk and about 4.5 yards of the velvet.
Tumblr media
--- 🦜 ---
I started by making my own patterns from some super cheap brown wrapping paper with gridlines on the back, which I got from the dollar store. You could also probably just measure and cut your fabric directly, but having paper patterns made me feel better.
Your own measurements will vary (I’m 5′7″ and 120 lbs), but I wanted it to be quite oversized, with the sleeve shoulder seam hitting a little ways down my arm, and the overall length sitting just above my ankles, the same way it does in the show robe.
Tumblr media
You can see in the above graphic I have a neck opening cut into the front panel that ends halfway down - this is how long I’m also making my collar. (Pro tip - cut the collar longer than you think you’ll need). Meanwhile, the sleeves have an 11″ x 1″ diagonal cut on the sides that will be attached to the main body of the robe, as used in a lot of kimonos.
Here are my pieces cut out (minus the sleeve diagonal bc I forgot to do it while I was cutting everything - but that was a very easy error to correct later):
Tumblr media
--- 🦜 ---
For the inverted box pleat, based on screenshots and insta posts, I went with 3″ on either side of the centre point and guestimated that it ended a little lower than the armpit. So mine ended about 10″-11″ from the top of the back panel.
I basted some stitches along the three points (centre back, 3″ to the right and 3″ to left, so it was easier to keep both sides equal). Then I pulled the two sides of the fabric together so they met in the middle at the centre point of the back panel. I pinned them together, stitched the sides together by hand with a ladder stitch, and then machine stitched a line across the top of the panel at my ½” seam allowance.
Tumblr media
I then machine stitched the sides together down the middle with a really small zigzag stitch to make sure it was extra secure.
Tumblr media
I cut a 1″ x 7″ inch neck dip after doing the box pleat, which is probably not the proper way to do it, but it worked out for me!
I didn’t take a picture of it, but this graphic is an approximation of how you’d go about it:
Tumblr media
--- 🦜 ---
To sew the actual robe, it requires very simple straight line sewing to connect all these rectangles. 
Firstly, you’ll want to attach the front panels to the back panel at the shoulders (right sides together).
Tumblr media
Next, you’ll want to sew across the top of the sleeve panels (right sides together). Make sure you’re matching the diagonal sleeve indents so that when you open up the sleeve panels, it looks like this:
Tumblr media
Then you’ll open up your robe body so the right side is facing up:
Tumblr media
You’ll then attach the sewn sleeves to the front panels (right sides together), ensuring you’re matching the sleeve seam with the shoulder seam. Make sure you’re sewing the side of the sleeves with the diagonal cutout so when the garment is flipped right side out, the diagonal is next to your body. You’ll sew from the marked line to the marked line.
Tumblr media
Next, you’ll want to sew the sides of the robe together to close it. However, this was a tricky part for me, because I had tried to sew the body and sleeves at the same time when I was doing my lining, but the armpits ended up bunched and slightly twisted around. So I tried getting around this issue by stopping about 1″ from the armpits, leaving a gap, while sewing the sides together. (You’ll close this gap at the very end of your project).
Tumblr media
For the collar, attach both pieces together at one end, right sides together, to ensure the pattern isn’t upside down on one side. Once done, the right sides of the attached fabric should look like this:
Tumblr media
Then, take the collar and fold lengthwise so the right sides are together. Sew a straight line across the two bottom ends. Then, flip the collar inside out so the wrong sides of the fabric are together and the bottom edges are nicely hemmed. It should look (more or less) like this:
Tumblr media
(Ignore the weird cuts on the bottom right and left hand corners  - this was my first attempt with a collar that I realized was too short. [Pro tip - cut the collar pieces way longer than you’ll think you’ll need!] I forgot to take a pic of my second attempt, but you get the general idea of what it’s supposed to look like).
For the bias tape, this is probably not the proper way to go about it, but it was the only way my CFS brain could figure it out and it worked for me! (As the disclaimer said, I’m not a professional sewer - I’m more concerned with whether something works than whether it’s the 100% professional method of execution).
So, take your bias tape, open it up, and pin one edge against the raw edge of your collar. Sew these together a little bit lower than your seam allowance (1). Then you’ll want to fold the bias tape up so both edges are facing the sewn edge of your collar. Then pin and sew your collar, bias tape side down, to your robe (2). (When doing so, make sure to match the seam at the back of the neck on the collar with the middle of the back panel).
Tumblr media
This way, when you attach the collar using your seam allowance, you’ll still be able to see a small amount of the bias tape peaking through around the collar when it lays flat against you, like so:
Tumblr media
For the bias tape on the sleeves, I attached one edge of the bias tape to the right side of the fabric, stopping an inch past the 9″ marking on both sides of the sleeve. (I sewed this about 1/4″ from the edge).
Tumblr media
I then flipped each sleeve inside out (right sides together) and sewed it together, stopping about 1/2″-1″ away from the armpit (as previously mentioned) and at the 9″ measurement on the opposite side. For the side with the bias tap, I flipped the bottom part of the tape over onto the wrong side of the fabric and sewed it down as I was sewing the entire sleeve.
Tumblr media
At this point, if you flip the entire robe inside out so the right side is facing outwards, it should look like this:
Tumblr media
--- 🦜 ---
For the lining, follow the same steps as you did for the velvet (minus the collar). But when you do the box pleat, make sure the inverted side (the side you pull together) is on the wrong side of the fabric. 
Once the lining is fully constructed, you’ll want to attach the lining to the velvet, right sides to right sides, along the collar and centre front.
Tumblr media
Once you’ve sewn the lining and velvet together, flip your robe inside out so both right sides are showing. 
Tumblr media
As you can probably see in the photo, I already started the next step. Which is hemming the bottom of the robe. I’d recommend doing so while it’s hanging (either on a hanger, dress form, or another person), to ensure you don’t have any weird spots where the lining is pulling up on the velvet. I attached the lining and velvet by hand stitching.
Tumblr media
For the sleeves, I folded the bias tape down onto the wrong side of the fabric, folded the lining under itself to make a nice little hem, and sewed both together. I did so by hand with a really simple stitch. (As with the bottom hem, make sure you’re only picking up the bias tape and lining so you don’t poke through to the other side).
Tumblr media
Then for the final touch - the tassels! Mine came with a large loop that I had to remove. I cut it off and then encased the shorn ends in hot glue to ensure the entire thing didn’t somehow unravel. 
Tumblr media
I let the glue harden and then attached the tassels by hand to the corners of the sleeves and collar.
Tumblr media
Now we’ll finally close those ~1″ gaps under the armpits. I did this with a very simple hand stitch, making sure I grabbed a bit of fabric from each side of the fold and pulled the thread taught.
Tumblr media
--- 🦜 ---
And voila, you should now be the proud owner of the infamous breakup/bird/wrap robe.
Tumblr media
--- 🦜 ---
And that’s it! Hopefully this all makes sense and if anyone has any questions either send me an ask or add a reply to this post and I’ll do my best to answer! 
On one final note, not to be That Person™, but this took quite a lot of work (both the robe and this post) and I’m a chronically ill freelancer who’s income was hit hard by COVID. So if anyone wants to throw some change at my KO-FI if you found this helpful, I’d be very much appreciated.
485 notes · View notes
villirio · 4 months
Text
⚓︎ MASTER POST ⁏ TWST ocs, RSA, +
Bom dia! I realized now that I can pin posts:-) so I’m going to get all the major resources on my world building and the sort out of the way now instead of later. This is a lot of content … I’m so sorry.
★ CONTENTS — reference sheets [14/14], document links [all, though some incomplete], and an explanation of the setting (most) things correspond in. In this order…depending on how tumblr formatting works with me.
🐟⁀ Ref. sheets, ocs.
!! Yes, the proper images are in the documents as well. These are of hard to see, I’m sure. In the documents, there will be proper information on each. I’d share the full references here and now if it weren’t for the image limit on posts! I’m sorry.
Tumblr media
*these are not drawn to height accuracy/scale.
— I think a fun note to add on this as a treat is that not everybody is based on Disney media…I thought that was a little too restrictive since I didn’t grow up on Disney (minus the Nightmare before Christmas), so … hooray!
🐋⁎⁺ Documents.
This section will be pretty straightforward and short, as well.
!! Link → short description of link contents → complete or not.
GENERAL INFORMATION — all character reference sheets, basic info, a master document to take you to anything else if you need. Minor details such as voice claims / themes + coffin / diamond icons can be found here. — TBC
SIGNATURE SPELLS — all signature spells and their uses are here. — TBC
UNIVERSAL INFO — general knowledge and information on the dorms I’ve made for Royal sword Academy will go here. This document is a little bare, though in it you can access the visuals Google slide. — TBC
★bonus : VISUALS — every drawing for the RSA dorms that I’ve done including staff, uniforms, statues, magestone holders, etcetera. This is the furthest from complete out of all of them, and will also likely be the slowest to update. — TBC
🐚┄⵿⃛𐄙⊱ Overview.
So, finally. What is really going on here? I figured I’d save the longest part of the post for last. All in all, this is still Twisted Wonderland as its canon stands, only with more development on RSA. By that I mean these characters coexist at the same time as our canon cast, so..a Pomefiore character of mine like Sergei would never be housewarden or vice for example, since Rook and Vil are the current dorm leads. Contrarily, I’ve been developing dorms and a visual to flesh out Royal sword Academy instead, as a treat. It was so barebones on the bottom of the island that I kind of took a pity towards it, put my hatred towards Neige aside, and started to develop the dorms, etcetera. I’ve had some help from my friends Cater and Azul, and plenty of school friends tend to help with uniform design and feedback / advice, so it’s definitely not a project I work without tips on, though all the art is mine. I don’t think I’d have gotten this far without them.
TLDR; All of my characters exist in the same timeline as the main cast. They don’t necessarily overlap in story much, and I have my own characters lives simply coexisting in the same world, that’s all. I kind of scrapped Neige & Chenya for this … and don’t plan on adding them back … but that’s fine. This is a personal project for myself and my friends that I’ll be slowly chipping at in time, I’m not too sure what else to say about it! I’ll enable questions if anyone has them, but feel free to comment any inquiries as well.
!! EXTRA🫧
— Story wise, settings don’t include much beyond Sages island, minus the dorms (which will be in the visuals link soon). But there is one Fanon town I made, of which a chunk of my characters derive of. I coined it Hallow Village, (or what tourists call Pumpkin Valley), as a blaring nod to TNMBC. You’ll see that a handful of ocs have Hallow Village as their homeland! I’ll have art on it soon. For now, it’s an old village with small town “southern hospitality” of sorts, with a smaller population, though notorious for becoming a tourist sensation during October. Adjacent the true film, the village is run by a mayor (though more so his son…Jack in the film). I like to think the town was once Halloween town, though the monster populous slowly died out as outsiders moved in and carried stigma. Given blot monsters, and the sort. Human + monster tension caused divide until most of all the ghouls themselves left. Modern residents aren’t so proud of that history, and hold a respect towards monsters now. (In other words, Grimm would have a fan club if they were canon). A lot of the residents are equally passionate for Halloween & October since it’s cultural to the town history, so a lot of them end up in Nightingshire if attending RSA. That’s the only outsider location I’ve got! All the actual dorm info is in the documents, I won’t divulge here.
— [ EDITED: 3/27/24 ]
Blot Elassia. / 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘌𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢. As of current, the only oc I have with BE is Sergei. But what is it?
✶ Elassia — noun — “E-LAE-shia” · Specifically in regards to a mages magic pool, something within is functioning below the standard level. (I.e, too slowly).
Hence, Blot Elassia is an uncommon, though genetic disability that results in a mages ability to burn blot being far slower than what is necessary. This slower build and more constant slow-burn results in chest pain and chronic fatigue, which worsens with increased activity and magic use, and will subside with less of the aforementioned instigators. Excessive activity and magic use may hinder those with B.E and leave them physically unable to function as able bodied people would, until their symptoms flaring up manage to subside through proper care and aid. With age, especially, walking / mobility aids are advised for those to preserve their energy. Their bodies are utilizing every bit of the energy they have to burn blot.
Individuals with B.E are more highly susceptible to overblot.
Rest and maintenance of normal needs is helpful, but not a cure. To stop using magic entirely will slow the exhaustion of the mages body extensively, and is commonly recommend for those who decline medical aid. Alternatively, there is medication to help boost the magic pools ability to burn blot (also not a cure). The only known, official “cure,” is surgical treatment to the magic pool. This surgery has a high risk rate, and problems could potentially resurface.
FIN (?)
*(If anything else major gets added that “fin” will be a massive lie and there will be ANOTHER major block of text.)
18 notes · View notes
starmanbyler · 8 months
Note
very important question ANY GCSE ADVICE i'm starting my gcse courses and i'm acc panicking sooo do u have any revision advice or anything!!!
and a fun question!! if u could be any animal for a day what would u be
ILY HAVE A GOOD DAY /p
HII RUBI I CAN TOTALLY SORT OF HELP??
first advice, don’t panic too much yet. or at all. i was freaked out when i started doing my gcses, but for now all you need to do is focus in lessons and if there are things you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to ask questions or look stuff up so that you aren’t left behind, because trust me, being confused about certain topics when everyone understands can be very frustrating. so if you need to do some extra revision to work on weak topics, that’s cool, but you will be fine if you don’t. at least take note of your weak points so you can focus on them later, because you’re saving yourself some unnecessary time. id suggest having a little notebook for that kind of thing.
if you want to revise this year (i’m assuming year 10) then i’d suggest maybe half an hour to an hour per subject in a week. and btw i did NOT revise at this point at all. i did revise for physics towards the end of the school year (like march-may) because i had a gcse a year early. but unless you’re really behind and stuck then just do the best you can and only intervene if you notice there are things you don’t understand, because again, this will really help in the long run.
i’ll be honest i didn’t start revising for the rest of my gcses until april this year. most of them i revised the night before. not to brag but then got 98877776666 😭 so in some cases you will do alright even with little revision. but you know yourself better than i do. look at how you do currently in exams and whether you struggle a lot without doing revision or not. some people tend to naturally be better at taking in and memorising content, but others need to work a bit more to solidify it which is totally okay and very normal. so if you do struggle then you should try and revise properly for the actual exams. start out just revising when you have specific topic exams throughout the year. revise for like a week before (cus these aren’t that important) and focus FIRST on your weak topics. that’s the key thing. don’t skim through easy stuff just cus it’s easy. it won’t help you much and is just a waste of time. you need to be honest with yourself and really try to improve the parts that are holding you back. try out different revision techniques every so often or when you have exams to see what works for you. i can’t give many specifics since i don’t know how to revise but there are a lot of resources and ideas online. some that worked for me are:
flashcards (i used quizlet over and over to memorise case studies and vocab)
free science lessons is a GOD
also mr salles is good for english! there is a little community on youtube of english teachers that i found helpful (and i’m doing a level now so hey i guess they worked) also just youtube in general is good for a lot of things, revision advice, actual specification content + explanation and whatever you want to find
if you play around with these now (and anything else you find useful) then you can be more prepared for actual exams.
when it comes to mocks (y10 and y11) they aren’t as important as people act like. unless there is a sudden awful outbreak of covid and they have to cancel exams (which is unlikely in a year or two), your mock results don’t have much effect. they may make you feel bad (i can promise you mine did) but even just a little bit of revision can make a difference come may of year eleven. from february mocks to gcses, i went from a 5 to a 7 in biology, and a 5 to an 8 in geography. i didn’t revise at all for mocks, and i did a day or two last minute for my gcses. i’m not saying that’s a good idea… but what i’m saying is that a little goes a long way. so don’t panic if you don’t get the results you want in mocks. i do suggest revising for mocks, to practice revising and so you have a better understanding for real gcses, mine is sort of a cautionary tale that just happens to have a happy ending. but if you don’t because you’re tired or struggling, don’t beat yourself up about it like i did, because it just makes you mad at yourself and it doesn’t help you motivate yourself. use this as fuel to try harder for the real exams.
id say for actual gcses, start properly revising in the january of year eleven. january is mainly mock revision, but after mocks, you can focus more on the right topics from march-may. and make sure to continue revising before each exam. it can work to just go over your weaknesses over and over again until it’s basically branded on your brain. even if you forget these the second you walk out of the exam, you will still succeed. especially with right-wrong answer kind of subjects (maths, science and maybe geography) gcses are 1% inspiration, 19% motivation and 80% memorisation. that’s probablt an exaggeration, but my point is, it’s okay if you don’t really have the capacity to fully comprehend every concept, just memorise things so you can regurgitate it into your exams. no harm done really. it’s only important to fully understand the subjects you plan to continue onto a level and beyond.
i knoww this is mostly year eleven focused so it might not be as relevant now but trust me the main point is do not stress right now. you are safe so don’t freak yourself out. it’s good to try and get ahead if you have the motivation, but now is your time to have fun and relax before all the academic pressure piles up. not slacking off, but just don’t worry! especially when it’s just september. you don’t need to start immediately, just try things out and work your way up to a system that works well for you!
and out of interest, what gcses did you choose? (besides the obvious maths english etc) and does ur school make you do religious studies?
and good luck of course!! i sincerely hope you do really well and you deserve it :) just work hard and do your best really.
also, if i was an animal for a day it would not be any bug cus i’m dead. if i had a human brain maybe so i wouldn’t act like an idiot and annoy people. or a dog because they’re chill. and cats can climb shit so maybe cat.
anywayssss love you i hope you have the best time at gcse cus i’ll be real with you i wish i could go back sometimes. sixth form is super interesting but way less worry free; so save your worrying for later!!
Tumblr media
can’t believe i just put a lana gif in a post. lmao
12 notes · View notes
tantumuna · 11 months
Text
Thoughts on Zora Biology
In this essay I will combine all the information I’ve gathered from the game with all the information I know about the real-life counterparts to the animals Zora are based on and from there I will not only make completely accurate assumptions about how they must be but also bring up a few things that are deeply concerning from an evolutionary standpoint.
Below a read more for your sanity and mine.
Overview
This is based solely on the Zora as they appear in Breath of the Wild/Tears of the kingdom with only minor consideration for how they’ve appeared in other installments. While chronically, BotW/TotK is very early in the Zelda timeline, the designs are the most recent iteration and likely a good representation for what Zora are supposed to be
The faults of this research -
They are obviously a fantasy species and may not correspond directly with their real-life counterparts, however, it’s about all we have to go on so this is what I’ll use
There is not a lot of diversity shown in the Zora, but the inclusion of a mysterious domain far far away in TotK implies there is more than meets the eye
I’m refusing to cite any sources because this is mostly me rambling about a niche interest so. allow me my peculiarities
This is very unorganized and stream of thought so godspeed
Methods include:
Research from the game, including both written and physical
I am a 3D modeler who likes to make fanart of these games, so I use the in game 3D models as reference
Research on real life counterpart animals and oceanology
Key Takeaways
Zora come in three main species
Dolphin (the most prevalent)
Ray
Only Yona and Muzu appear in the series, but Yona coming from another domain implies there are other Rays, for this reason, I am ranking them as the second most common type
Shark
Sidon is the only shark Zora present in the series, and based on the shape of his nose, I have deduced he is likely of the Hammerhead family, more specifically the Bonnethead shark, which has the curved nose crest, whereas most Hammerheads have a straight crest.
Side notes:
Other variations of zora have appeared in different installments and look most closely related to jelly fish, but we are counting this as an outlier for the moment because they are not even remotely related to any of the other species so what am I supposed to do with that
Dorephan is a whale and is likewise the only whale that is present in the series; however, all dolphins are whales. It might be more correct to say that Whale is the most prevalent type of Zora but since they look more similarly to dolphins (all dolphins are whales, not all whales are dolphins) i’m just gonna say Dolphin
Despite their difference in appearance, all Zora are of the same species or of at least close enough resemblance that they are able to intermingle - this is especially important to note for means of reproduction, as if they were all different species too far apart to reproduce, it would not make sense for Yona and Sidon to get married, as they wouldn’t be able to have children. More will be explained on this later down, including thoughts on lineage.
Physical Appearance
Teeth:
Dolphin Zora appear to have the most humanoid sets of teeth, including all flat teeth save for 4 canines in the 4 corners of the mouth
Shark and Ray Zora have all sharp teeth, implying they are primarily carnivores, as sharp teeth are not designed to chew on vegetation.
Outliers:
Dorephan has entirely flat teeth; he appears most similarly to a Blue Whale, which filter feed, but it is important to note that Dorephan does not have baleen
Mipha also has entirely flat teeth despite being more obviously a dolphin
Mipha’s model also does not include a bottom row of teeth, though this was likely done as a game optimization choice; her mouth is so small we never see bottom teeth and therefore it makes no sense to have the game load extra mesh when there’s no use for it
Neck:
All Zora wear some type of neck ornamentation
It’s also worth noting that despite not having much of a neck, Dorephan still wears neck ornamentation. not really sure what his deal is
Necks appear to be very long and very thin, which I believe makes the neck ornamentation entirely necessary. Zora have very large heads, and the size of their necks would not be enough to support them outside of water
Zora likely began to wear neck ornamentation as they left the water in early evolution in order to hold their heads upright. In water, the length/size of their neck would be less of a detriment
There are real societies today that practice elongating the neck and thusly wear rings their whole live to support their heads, so it’s not that crazy to think that the Zora either do it out of necessity or have a similar tradition
Zora cannot go without neck ornamentation or they will not be able to hold up their heads outside of water and would suffer a neck break.
Ray Zora have notably shorter necks, but they have much larger heads which accounts for them still having ornamentation, but it is shorter, as they likely need less support because their heads are closer to their shoulders.
Gills:
Zora can breath in and out of water, so they likely have a developed set of lungs in addition to gills
They have less gills than their counterpart animals tend to, but this is likely because they have the addition of lungs
Comparatively, species like sharks have the ability to breathe through their skin. Some can only breathe like this (which is where the rumor that sharks can never stop moving came from, though this is only true for some species), which would be applicable for Sidon and any other shark Zora we don’t see
We don’t know how much deep-sea swimming, if any, zora are capable of. This might be because they need to make up for having less gills by breathing actual air, or it might just be a weird oversight.
I believe in other installments, the Zora have been entirely under water; because of this, I think the less gills is probably just an aesthetic choice of not wanting to cover their torsos in gills (especially cuz some people find gills to be unsettling looking)
Zora can likely spend as long under water as they want.
The Dots:
I know it’s a common headcannon that the dots are bio-luminescent but I really just think they’re a cute way to tie all the Zora together; i can’t imagine what they actually provide from an evolutionary perspective
Furthermore, there is no IRL counterpart to show mammals emitting true bioluminesence
That being said they are a fantasy race so whatever who cares have your headcanons this is one i just don’t personally agree with.
Eyes:
Because Zora have eyes more or less on the side of their heads, they probably don’t rely on eyesight (especially in the water)
Dolphins and Sharks both have real life counterparts showing the use of electrolocation (the ability to detect electric-magnetic fields in order to navigate) or echolocation, so I’d like to think that the Zora have this ability as well
Yes, I know you can successfully scare Sidon if you ascend into the throne room in totk - i don’t think that disproves my theory, as these seem to be more manual things to use and not just natural things happening all the time
Dorsal Fins:
Despite IRL dolphins having dorsal fins, none of the dolphin Zora do. Sidon is again the only Zora with a dorsal fin, and he actally has two
Because of this, I don’t think Zora have any real use for Dorsal Fins and they’re likely just ornamentation/vestigial
Reproduction
The Physicality
Dolphins/Whales are mammals, but Rays and Sharks are not, however in order for the Zora population to thrive, they likely all need to be able to reproduce together, not just like with like
Because of this (and that they don’t really appear to be mammals in LoZ, even the dolphin/whale inspired Zora), I think it makes sense that they have more ~fish~ related genitals
Males would have claspers and a cloaca; similarly, females would have a cloaca
traditionally, species with claspers have two of them; only one is ever active at a time but go nuts idc
The process
Most Sharks, Rays, Dolphins, and Whales have live births, and because they all need to be compatible, it makes the most sense to assume they all give birth the same way
For the purposes of my long thought process - Zora have live births, but can likely have anywhere from 1-4 pups at once
Yes, I’m choosing to call them pups. Whale babies are called calves so i think pups is better
These species all have WILDLY different gestation periods, so to combine it all into one species, I’ll average it out and say about a 6 month gestation period.
Some sharks/whales have a gestation period of 11-12 months, some longer
some also have incredibly short gestation periods, for instance, the bonnethead shark’s gestation period is only 4-5 months
Obviously, just like IRL, there will be differences from Zora to Zora
Likely gestation period is 7-9 months depending on the Zora
However i could GENUINELY see arguments for Zora having much longer gestation periods especially considering we see so few babies in the actual game
That was a really long way to say They probably just have a normal 9 month gestation period like people do but whatever
Unfortunately, this is really hard to gauge since we don’t have a real gauge on how old any of the Zora are or when they reach maturity
We know Dorephan has been leading for 200 some years but that doesn’t tell us how old he was when he took the throne
we know Sidon is 100+ years old but we don’t know how old he was in his child appearances
It’s just as likely that they have 2-3 year gestation periods and take 50 years just to fully mature but WE WON’T KNWO UNLESS NINTENDO TELLS ME
Development
THIS IS ALL JUST PERSONAL HEADCANON IN ATTEMPTS TO COMBINE HOW THESE IRL SPECIES DEVELOP
I think Zora are born in a sort of tadpole state where they are MOSTLY just their heads + tiny stubby legs that haven’t developed fully yet
Baby zora would be kept in a communal nursery pool (incredibly shallow) while the rest of their development takes place outside of the birther
Kinda just think they develop like frogs do. eventually grow in the rest of their bodies and their legs/arms come in and as they get bigger they are transferred to deeper and deeper pool. they’re free to roam probably slightly smaller than we see the canon kids running around
Some of the kids in totk appear to be quiet young, as their head-side-fins are still growing in and haven’t reached full length
fins are likely one of the last things to develop as Zora get older because all they REALLY need to swim is the big head-tail but we like ornamentation in this species
So to put it simply, here is the development cycle
Vital development happens while still inside the birther, including gills and lungs and head-tail for swimming
Once outside - the head is the first thing to finish developing
While the head is developing, the stubby legs develop out into an actual body with legs and arms
the head finishes developing first and the body has to catch up (see: how fucking massive baby Sidon’s head is compared to his body i mean his head-tail drags on the ground!!! he’s so cute!!!!)
the side-fins will also develop faster than the body
Their development/growth likely never stops, but they will only grow as large as their eating habits can support
This would support Dorephan being a true herbivore as herbivores tend to grow the largest (the largest whales are baleen whales and dolphins, which are whales, tend to be carnivores and much smaller
Hard to say how long it takes them to fully develop or reach maturity, so I’m not even gonna take a guess. it takes however long to work for your fanfic tbqh
Diet
The difference in teeth makes it hard to pin-down an exact Zora diet, and it’s likely entirely decided by what kind of teeth they have
Shark and Ray Zora
They have sharp teeth exclusively, which hints that they may be carnivores
If they do eat any vegetation, they likely need to swallow it in large chunks or whole, as you do require flat teeth to grind vegetation down
Dolphin/Whale Zora
We have instances of omnivore teeth and herbivore teeth
to me, this only makes sense for Dorephan to be a herbivore since he is clearly based off a baleen whale; Mipha’s teeth I think are entirely a weird decision choice given that there are no recorded herbivore dolphins
With this in mind, the Dolphin Zora have likely developed an omnivore diet in order to better survive in their multi-environmental life (ocean and land); they also have the longer necks which to me says that land-life is a bit more important to them
Rays have likely spent more time in the water and their secret far away not-plot relevant domain may even be more akin to the domains we see in other Zelda games, where it’s mostly if not entirely underwater
What do they eat?
Probably fish.
For vegetation, it’s probably limited to larger vegetation for our poor sharp teethed friends whereas the omnivore Zora can eat anything they want; probably a diet similar to Hylians, though the Zora would eat more fish and Hylians eat more land-meat
Zora likely don’t need as much vegetation to survive/be healthy as other groups might given that they seem to have evolved from carnivores
Conclusion
This is meant just to be a fun deep-dive into fantasy biology; no offense is meant towards anyone who disagrees with me and I will take no offense from anyone who disagrees with me
Mipha’s lack of a bottom row of teeth haunts me
I think Sidon and Mipha had a shark mom because otherwise how did Sidon happen
19 notes · View notes