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softquietsteadylove · 1 year

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My request is quite suspense and it has 3 parts. Can you write about Thena settling and adjusting to Gil's house, just them together at peace. Them going to the market, Thena doing unusual things like eating raw fish that made Gil startled and also the market lady. I could also imagine him bringing her to a library and she loved it there.

Just them being happy and at peace together going through adventures (you can write more). But...end it with Gil having to ask Thena to stay for a while, and then Thena saw a man giving a paper to every person he had passed, he gave her a piece of that mysterious paper too, and left. She tried to understand what was written into it but all she understood is the word 'Treasure'. When Gil cameback, he just saw Thena examining a paper. He gently took it away from her hand despite the panic he's feeling, he crumpled and thrown it away. He held her to rush home. The paper has announcement in it with a reward, Kro is haunting the person that stole the treasure he caught. (He calls the mermaid he caught which happens to be Thena as 'treasure').

Thena eyed the fresh fish laid out for sale. She had been tempted to take a bite of one earlier but Gil had quickly snatched it away from her before she could. She knew that humans would sometimes eat raw fish, but apparently that required more preparation.

He was jumpy about them being out of the house and on the mainland, but he needed supplies, and by his own reasoning, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to get her more used to humans.

She moved away from the fishmongering stall to another. Gil was talking with someone he had known for quite some time, and she didn't want to deny him the time to socialise. He was already cooped up on the island with her enough.

"Hello there, dear."

Thena smiled - remembering to keep her lips closed over her fangs - at the woman to her right. She had a stall of fruit, all vibrantly coloured and fragrant. "Hello."

"I haven't seen you here before," the older woman said gently from her seat of a few fish crates stacked up.

Thena looked back at Gil and clasped her hands together. "I'm...here with someone."

"Ah," the woman nodded her understanding, able to follow Thena's eyes back to Gil as if the line were drawn through the air. "There were rumours that Gil had found himself a lady. Never thought I'd see the day."

"Found a lady?" Thena asked, fidgeting with the shawl Gil had given her for 'sunburn', so he said. Why was skin averse to the very thing it needed to live?

"Oh, it's an expression, love," she waved off with a raspy chuckle. "I mean that Gil has never really seemed interested in finding a lady friend before. But I'm glad he's found someone nice for himself."

Ah, she was referring to mates. Humans had a plethora of names for a person who was some form of mate or another. There were varying degrees of matehood. She had heard the word 'girlfriend' applied multiple times, now. "Yes, I'm...a marine biologist. I work at a...remote outpost--usually. I know his sister."

"Oh, what a romantic story," the woman smiled, and Thena smiled again as well. "He is a handsome boy, isn't he?"

Thena wasn't entirely sure what handsome meant, but it seemed positive in this context, and if it was positive, then it applied to Gil. "Yes, I suppose he is."

"You feeling peckish, dear?" the woman finally stood, revealing her even shorter stature once she was on her feet. Thena peered over the stall containers down at her. "I saw you eyeing some of the other stalls."

"Oh," Thena mumbled out. That one in-between word could say quite a lot for humans. She examined the billowing white skirt of the dress she had worn (Gil had insisted she wear something Sersi had brought instead of one of his shirts).

"No, no, it's okay," the sweet little woman assured her. Despite her age and the slow way in which she moved, she was carving up a mango with frightening precision. "It makes you hungry, being here, right?"

"Right," Thena confirmed, watching with a certain amount of fascination as the woman worked. She had only really eaten what Gil made her, and she had never tried fruit before; she already knew she hated plenty of vegetables. But the way the woman was peeling and cutting the fruit so skilfully reminded her of watching Gil de-bone fish.

"Here," the sweet woman handed over the slices of mango in a bag. "A little snack for you."

"Um," Thena looked over at Gil. Things here required a trade, all exclusively done in little coins or paper--and he had them all.

"On the house," the woman laughed, even more so when Thena tilted her head a few times. "I mean it's free, dearie. Consider it a welcome gift to the market--and to get that handsome boyfriend of yours out of the house more often."

Thena blushed faintly; something about the woman's wink and her tone and the way she flicked her eyes over to Gil made Thena's chest feel funny. She nodded, "thank you."

"Thena!" Gil called out as he jogged over to them, his shining new toolbox fully stocked with all the specialty gear he would need for boats. "Sorry, I lost track of time. You find something?"

The woman waved her bony hand as Gil started clumsily fishing around in his pockets for change. "You stop it, I told her it was on me."

"A-Are you sure?"

"First timer's discount," the woman gave them a somewhat crooked thumbs up. Thena returned the gesture, having seen it on the box at home. The woman laughed. "Bring your girlfriend around more, Gil!"

Gil blushed much more brightly than Thena did. Well, his blood was a lot warmer than hers. He took her hand in his again, as he had been doing since getting to land, "y-yes, ma'am."

Thena waved to the new friend she had made before slurping back a slice of mango and swallowing it whole. "Hm!"

"Chew your food, Angelfish," Gil reminded her, once again anchored to her side and keeping a watch around them for anyone noticing a little too much about her.

"Gil, this is amazing," Thena beamed. "It goes down like a fish, but it's sweet, like candy!"

Gil chuckled; he had let her try just a few kinds of candy here and there, testing to see if she would even like it. Some she did, some she didn't, but he always remembered what she ended up liking. "Mango is pretty common around here. We can buy some to bring home."

Thena's eyes widened, and Gil nodded to assure her that he was serious. "She was right, I should get you out of the house more often."

"Maybe," he admitted, much to her delight.

"Really, Gil," Thena gave his hand a squeeze, her fingers meshed together with his like the loops of a net. "I think it's good for you to be here and not...what is it you say?"

He sighed, "cooped up?"

"That," Thena rested her head on his arm as they walked. "You seem quite happy here, and your friends have missed you."

"I don't have to come to the market all that often anyway," he argued, although Thena gave his arm a bop with her head (both of her hands otherwise occupied). "I guess you're right; it's nice to get out and see these guys."

Thena looked behind them at the woman getting further away. "I would like to come and visit her again."

Gil took advantage of her position and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "okay, Angelfish. We'll come back soon."

Thena sighed as she leaned against him again. The salty air of the water combined with the sun on her skin and Gil's warmth beside her made all the comforts of home. If she had her tail it would be wagging like a fool.

"Take one, take one!"

Thena tilted her head at the strange man walking through the market, making a ruckus. He was handing out paper to everyone he passed, including those who clearly didn't want it.

"Ma'am!"

Thena frowned at the paper shoved at her. She was going to let it fall, still holding onto her mango, but Gil picked it up, whisking it over to himself. She caught the word 'treasure' zooming by. "What does it say?"

"Hm," he grunted, balling it up and shoving it in his pocket, "just something about a treasure. Some nut job is looking for it."

"Oh," Thena said quietly, curious about Gil's resistance to even let her look at it. He didn't usually keep things from her, but he didn't seem very happy to be handed litter.

"We better get back," he said suddenly, stopping them dead in their tracks and starting to turn to walk them out of the market again. "Before the weather turns."

"O-Okay," Thena blinked, but followed as he more and more urgently started walking back the way they came. She didn't smell any changes in the wind off the water, though. Something had turned his mood on a dime, and it was that paper. Thena leaned over.

"Wh-Thena!" Gil attempted to stop her, but she reached around the back of him and snatched the paper out of his pocket.

She frowned at it; maybe she could see what had gotten him so panicked. It was a reward being offered for a lost 'treasure'; she hadn't quite mastered numbers yet, but it seemed to take up a lot of room, so it was probably of high value. And she recognised a few of the words in the description of such treasure, including 'pale' and 'blonde'. She looked at Gil.

"Come on, Thena," he tugged at her hand again, his worry all over his face, "please."

She tucked herself against him as they scurried out of the market. She was still holding the paper, "it's me, isn't it?"

"Must be." He sounded stressed.

Thena just barely managed to smile and wave at her new friend before they were almost at a jogging pace. She squeezed Gil's hand, "it'll be okay, Gil."

He sighed again, his face knotted up like bleached and broken coral, "will it?"

#Thenamesh Mermaid AU #pt 1 #the dRAMA #it's time #poor Gil #he takes his fish girlfriend out for a market date ONE (1) time #and finds a wanted poster for her #at least it doesn't have a picture or a sketch of her on it #and as much as the market crowd didn't pay it much attention #it's not very comforting to know that Kro is now inducting the general public in his witch hunt #the poster may sound insane #but anyone could be swayed to at least cast their line a few times for 500K #Gil rushes them right home #he forgets to buy more mangoes :(

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mementoasts · 10 months

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jonathan sims head archivist of the magnus institute london

#IM JUST POSTING HIM RANDOMLY BECAUSE I CANNOOOOOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME DRAW ANYONE ELSE. I HAVE APHANTASIA MAN IT'S HARD OUT HERE #i just started season 3 and heard him mention the graying hair i was like hm.. what if i tried drawring some characters.#i'm actually super happy with how he looks... i had some prior inspiration bc i followed one artist who's posted fanart b4--#(which is how i first heard of the series) and so i already kinda had a picture of him in my head bc of that (i love their art sdfghgfdjh)#so i was jus sketchin and i was like.... yeah this looks ok. i wanted his hair to be kinda just pokin up every which way in front--#--because i imagine him constantly running a hand through it. otherwise it'd look nice n tidy. i just sketched til it looked good enough #the eyes were easy because i wanted sharp and tired. the color was just me testin shit out and being like oooo that looks pretty #the outfit..... i just googled some like business casual stuff LOL. i thought it looked nice #bag and flashlight because he's dungeon crawling #he's also filipino for no reason other than i said so #OHHH YEAH freckles. freckles are cute. also worm scars.#i gotta say i didn't wanna put glasses on him but i thought he looked nakey without em.. but also it might be bc i was strugglin w lineart #the glasses make him look younger i think. which is bad!! he needs to look at least 35!!!#i dunno if i have it in me to draw the others;;;;;;;;;; martin i can't figure out a color scheme for-- and tim & sasha.... waauugghhh....#it's hhhhaaardd because when i'm like reading anything i cannot *picture* characters.... i just get like..... a feeling yknow.....#again i already had some vague images for jon (and martin) bc i saw fanart before lol so that's what showed up in my head #i have a good *feeling* of what sasha should look like but i cannot for the life of me draw it....#i keep sketching and going “noo this doesn't look like her” <- i DON'T know what she looks like #i've somehow instead ended up with a sketch that really feels like melanie tho lmao #if you're somehow at the bottom of this long ramble i will send you $500.#the void given form

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galacticsuperstitions · 2 months

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the minds of a lab at three different points (LONG rambling under the cut)

I am constantly in awe of the analyses people put out about Arknights on this website. I feel like my own interpretations are somewhat lacking as a result, but I was confident enough to post this, at least. I've had this idea for a long time now, I think since Lone Trail released, but I've only been able to make the time for it now.

Rhine Lab has so many fucked up elements and people involved in it that it's actually impressive. They were really gunning for "most unethical scientific consortium" reward. Really, though, it's just the result of Kristen gunning for her parents' wishes. All of the directors want something and all of those somethings are different.

Things I want to mention or just feel proud of (allowing myself this because of how long this took):

-I was originally planning on crossing out Saria's surname to reflect that we still don't know what it is in canon, but I don't know why whoever has this poster would do that, so I just kept it in. Hermon refers to Mount Hermon, which Saria's name apparently derives from. Technically, her name here is the same thing twice. Oh well.

-I don't know who this poster belongs to. It's just in some Rhine Lab tech's personal desk, I guess? Doesn't explain the doodles, though. Maybe they were bored and feeling spiteful about the potential job insecurity of your boss being comatose in space.

-I realized only while making this post that I made Saria's, Muelsyse's, and Jara's doodles reference Kristen, yet Kristen's only references herself and her parents. Completely unintentional, but appropriate nonetheless.

-I am so happy with how the poster came out. It makes up for how hard I had to fight Canva for it to come out like that. Here it is in full if you want to look at it closely for whatever reason. (writing an actual description for this thing was fun!)

-Andenate doesn't actually have a face under the sticky note. That's why he's still Mike Wazowski'd in the poster png. I didn't feel like drawing one since it wouldn't be shown in the finished pieces anyway. His jacket is just the same as Magallan's.

-Ifrit's picture board was a literal last-minute addition. It's why the images are sketches rather than being in the lineless style of the poster. It feels fitting, though, so I'm keeping it that way. Seeing Ifrit all grown up and doing so well in Lone Trail was wonderful. There's something in her being happy and healthy and also surrounded by not just her loved ones and friends from Rhine Lab, but also people outside of it. She's cultivated her life to be as fulfilling as she wants it to be, and while there is still room to grow, she has plenty of support and insight from others for it to do so. I may be misrepresenting her a bit (the sleepiness doesn't help), but man. I love Ifrit. She's so cool.

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blood-red-ocean · 6 months

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It's been a while since I did an unhinged headcanon so here's what I imagine would be in each RL character's bag/backpack/pockets ✨

Miranda

- Poison. Either concealed in one of those old timey capsule rings or in a little bottle à la Emperor's New Groove.

- Paperwork. More specifically, expulsion paperwork already filled out except for the name section which she would fill out any time she was displeased.

- Some crow feathers. Whether it's from Cornelius getting nosey or Miranda being sentimental, nobody knows.

- Pictures of Eva and of MC.

- I feel like she'd also be the type to have a fountain pen in her handbag too.

Alcina

- One of those poseable wood doohickeys. You know the ones.

- Her signature perfume. And maybe a rose. And a tube of lipstick.

- A brochure of local wine tastings, and also a bunch of brochures from her theatres.

- She would probably have a Polaroid nude of MC stretched out on a chaise lounge tbh.

- Something to represent each of her daughters. A little trinket, perhaps.

Donna

- A book on herbology which is tattered and yellowed, the spine barely keeping the pages together.

- Her notebook with her order ledger and her own sketches and scribbles.

- A travel mug of herbal tea that she brewed herself.

- A little bag of dried flower petals and herbs.

- Her gardening gloves.

- I also believe that Angie would've gotten her a very small plushie of a plant that she takes everywhere with her.

Angie

- At LEAST twenty seven of those little travel sized alcohol bottles. Every time she takes a step, there's a clinking sound.

- Painkillers.

- A small, much less tattered copy of the herbology book that Donna has, but every page has a dried flower within it.

- In a secret pocket, there is a very small folded up picture of her mother.

Bela

- She doesn't carry a bag with her, it's not practical.

- Though if she did, she would probably just fill it full of office supplies.

- Maybe little things that made her remember her heart was beneath layers upon layers of numbness. The skull of a mouse, a four leaf clover, a small plushie.

Cassandra

- Its ✨the backpack✨ that she takes to dates' houses/dorms.

- Also like a billion of those little coffee machine capsules.

- An old takeaway cup.

- A stack of pieces of paper with phone numbers on them, just in case.

- A wrench, just in case.

Daniela

- TECH DECKS. SO MANY TECH DECKS.

- And like fifteen sticky hand things that she can use to hold MC's hand from a distance.

- Also a rag for when she gets sweaty.

- A skating magazine and a book on constellations.

- Also a book about theatre and some brochures for when she tries to connect with Alcina.

Mia

- Knives.

- So many knives.

- Empty her backpack out? Knives.

- Turn her upside down and shake her by the ankles? Knives.

- Look under her tongue and tell her to say 'ah'? Probably a tiny knife in there too.

#resident lover #horror #resident evil #alcina dimitrescu #bela dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #donna beneviento #angie beneviento #mother miranda #headcanon

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gynandromorph · 1 month

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god this shit took forever to sketch. another NofNA emulation comic. it reminds me of the midterms in secretary, for obvious reasons, but Legend is sort of an inverse secretary situation, where she is exceptional at fighting, but wants to write.

let me see what i can remember...

PS, the blue-eyed black lemur, has been friends with Legend since their mutual first season at college, as mentioned above her reference sketch... they probably became more friendly after being paired up to peer edit each others' work. PS has since graduated from college and works as a markscraft. Legend frequently commissions PS to scribe for her, not only because they are friends, but because PS is one of the few markscrafts in the area who isn't a rodent. many primates go into law or medicine. mainly Legend commissions notetaking in classes -- she is too insecure to share her stories. PS has a more relaxed, informal personality, and i tried to get that across -- i think it's relevant to why she decided to become a markscraft instead of pursuing more intense study. still, i also tried to get across that they are good friends, not just scribe and customer, particularly with the amount of touching that PS does. the impulse to touch and groom is probably innate for her as a primate. there isn't as much information about her species, but in ring-tailed lemurs, lemurs usually only groom based on the strongest bonds, rather than more communal aggregate grooming as a sort of social currency. i honestly don't know what PS would need to note during finals, but i think Legend just Wanted her there anyway.

the bird, DL, fighting the squirrel, GG, is a grey shrike. i imagine him as an average student in the middle of his education, but i think he is in the class for combat purposes, because pressure point manipulation can be incredibly powerful, more so if from a less expected species like a bird.

mr. deciding is a much more serious, no-nonsense teacher, possibly due to his specialty. when you're teaching students how to explode a kidney with a handshake, you probably just play it safe and try to put the fear of god into them before any kidneys get exploded. i wanted this class to have a much heavier emphasis on safety of the participants than the class in secretary, with a more focused goal than "who can beat the shit out of each other better." i think the goal of fighting to show off knowledge here is still Fucking Insane, but it's just. their culture, i guess. you can technically "move" your pressure points, so being able to defend yourself by utilizing this knowledge can also show off what you've retained. the mouse next to him is a proctor, who is an extra teacher brought in to judge and often write for another teacher, but primarily as a peacekeeper and bouncer. in classes where a student can theoretically totally disable a teacher by just touching them once, the precaution is seen as necessary. the mouse is probably a combat-oriented point invocation instructor.

the mandrill, MK, is a first-season or first-year student -- i assume that one class, from midterms to finals, is a season, as secretary seems to start near autumn. midterms have snow, and finals are during early spring. anyway, that's tangential. i think he's very new to the educational system. i pictured him as a medical student. in his fighting style, i made him more defensive; he doesn't really know nearly as much about attacking an opponent in a fight. he does think at least about his opponent's most immediate reactions, but doesn't have enough experience with fighting to think ahead to the degree that Legend does. you can see him make the same mistake that Legend did against Machinations, which disables his non-dominant hand. needless to say, he will probably always be aware of headbutt proximity now. he attempts to use two factures in the fight within a style meant to evoke debilitating vertigo by manipulating the connection between the occular, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems. it's obvious that he created the style from his medical classes. it is fairly empty as far as styles go. interrupted facture: nystagmus, which causes the world to spin around the opponent by involuntarily twitching the eyes back and forth. second facture: strabismus, which misaligns the pupils, primarily impeding aim. denied by Legend because a honey badger does not rely on vision or a vestibular system as much as a primate does -- not something he really considered when making the style. factures that never ended up being used: pursuit, which forces the target to follow a spinning image of themselves instead of looking where they should; and mask's lasting, which forcibly initiates saccadic masking, suppressing the intake of new visual information altogether.

the large bird is a bateleur. the mouse is just a regular house mouse. the lizard is an ornate sandveld lizard. the opponent of the lizard is a common mole-rat, also called an african mole-rat (even though most species of mole-rats live in africa). the monkey god i'm not super sure but i believe it's just a vervet monkey. the other mouse is also a common house mouse.

GG is a second-year student, which is the last year for a rodent. i think she's been kind of aimless -- she thinks incredibly fast as a squirrel, and finds solving problems in the moment to be a much more successful endeavor than trying to plan ahead. she doesn't worry about the future and doesn't ruminate on the past much. she's aware that she isn't the best ever and doesn't apply herself as much as others, but it also doesn't particularly bother her. kind of ironic, given the aesop she slops onto Legend after the fight. i imagine that she will eventually choose the name Serendipity. i tried to write her lack of foresight, but compensatory quick thinking in both fights. like the shrike, GG is a combat-oriented student. the style she briefly introduces at the beginning is called fanciful flower's delightful blight. it is based on the deadly nightshade flower and its berries -- which are toxic, obviously, and a hallucinogenic. squirrels flick their tails for many reasons, and the most common reason is simply a default flicking to attract predators. their tails are designed to "deglove" easily; if a predator lunges for their tail, which is the moving part of them, the skin and fur will tear off, and the squirrel can escape. delightful blight utilizes the attention-grabbing flicking of the squirrel's tail as a nightshade plant to induce a trance-like state. the berries represent temptations so much more pleasing than what you ought to focus on. a nice berry and a flower to smell are so much nicer than struggling in a fight. even when you resist them, they linger in your mind, and "plant seeds" when the berry falls as self-restraint is worn down over repeated abstinence from the temptation. factures induce hallucinations and nausea. she primarily uses the base rodent style to fight Legend here, but also uses base squirrel style twists, which include more acrobatics, backflipping, and contortions.

the two things that really catch Legend off-guard use limbs that she doesn't have, and most opponents don't have -- elbows long enough to use defensively, and a long, rope-like tail. she is otherwise supposed to be fairly adept at analyzing what an opponent will do, usually a few steps ahead, related to her ability to fabricate narratives quickly. you can see her also come up with a lie for kicking GG fairly quickly... she was going to say the impulse was in her legs because she was trying to move away from GG's strike.

anyway if any part of this fight is like... unfathomable i can probably explain. i've already been typing for way too long, lmfao

#nofna shitposting #partaking in the act #basically legend left her chest open because she expected GG to attempt to block #instead of considering that GG could take an offensive action instead

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actual-changeling · 1 year

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ellie learns how to draw, and, if she might say so herself, gets pretty damn good at it, especially faces. it helps her ground herself to see happy memories physically stare back at her from her sketch book, her walls, the fridge, and wherever else joel puts up her drawings. he loves all of them, even the very first ones that aren't much more than vaguely human scribbles.

the first year in jackson is a pain, and she spends most of it holed up in their house, drawing, painting (she has no idea where joel gets all the paint from and he refuses to tell her), and once they make it through their first winter together, she feels comfortable enough to show them to other people, too. mostly tommy and maria, and in a weak moment she even gifts them a drawing she made of them and their baby.

she's over at their house a lot, it's a lot more lived in and settled than theirs but they're working on it, and notices some actual pictures, the kind you take with a camera, decorating the living room. it's obvious that they're prized possessions, framed and front and center on the walls. a handful of them show maria and what must have been her family before the outbreak, others are newer. jackson does have some cameras saved for special events, and there are two pictures of them on their wedding day, and even one from a few days after the baby was born.

she doesn't think much of it until their second summer in jackson when she notices the way joel stares at the baby pictures and realizes that all he has to remember sarah by is the broken watch on his wrist. the only tangible memory and it's one of pain and death.

ellie mulls over it a lot, it keeps her up at night and while joel picks up on it, he doesn't press the issue when she refuses to talk about it, though she assures him she's fine.

it takes her another two weeks after her realization to catch tommy alone one afternoon with joel safely away on patrol, oddly nervous and unsure how to phrase what she wants to ask. eventually she manages to explain her idea and the positively soft, distantly heartbroken look he gives her makes her breath catch in her throat.

do you think he would be okay with it?

i think he would love it, sweetheart.

they sit together for hours in his kitchen, ellie is determined to make it look exactly right and urges tommy to not hold back his criticism if something isn't accurate, and by the end, they have missed dinner and her wrist hurts like hell, fingers stained with pencil lead and color, but her chest is brimming with a warm sense of accomplishment.

tommy gives her a frame and she wraps it as well as she knows how to. he insists that she gives it to him alone, but ellie draws him into an uncharacteristically tight hug before she leaves and hides her smile in his chest when he presses a hesitant kiss to her hair. family, she realizes, is pretty damn great.

the waiting is the hardest part. she puts her gift on the coffee table and paces the living room for at least half an hour while she waits for joel to return from his patrol, switching between chewing her lips and biting her nails. by the time he finally walks through the door, she has almost convinced herself to abandon the whole thing and just pretend it never happened, but then joel's there, gaze immediately softening when he sees her, and suddenly she can't wait to give it to him. it's a pretty big frame and the best paper she owns, rivaling some of her larger paintings on actual canvas, and joel has to sit down to open it without running the risk of accidentally dropping it.

i hope you like it.

the quiet tremor in her voice makes him stop halfway through unwrapping it, but she just gestures for him to continue, rocking on her feet.

tommy helped.

when the last of the paper falls away and joel sees her work for the very first time, they both hold their breath at once, even the summer breeze stilling, air brimming with something neither of them have the words for.

joel is looking at a vibrant water color painting of sarah, face at a soft angle as she wonders at a small purple butterfly resting on her finger, hand raised in front of her, eyes and smile shining brighter than the sun, hair a shimmering cloud of brown and gold. a frozen moment in time, sarah forever fourteen, capturing the love ellie feels pouring out of joel whenever he talks about her, a wave of affection and distilled joy that makes her miss a person she has never known.

i thought you might want a happy memory of her to look at, too.

ellie points at his watch, broken glass fracturing the light falling in, hand shaking.

i hope it's okay that i- if you don't want it-

joel's arms are around her before she can finish, cutting off her stuttered attempts, frame safe on the table as he hugs her so tightly her feet lift off the floor and she clings to his neck, relief bringing air back to her lungs. he holds her with his face buried in her hair, and ellie only notices he is crying when she can feel a few stray tears run down her neck. when he sets her down again, eyes glassy even after he dries his cheeks, her knees buckle under his gaze. they're both bad with feelings, bad with words, love shown through touch and gestures, through don't forget to eat, i'll stay with you until you fall asleep, fresh cups of coffee left on his nightstand before she leaves for school, hands searching for each other in the crowd again and again and again, never letting go.

love brought to life by a painting of the daughter that taught him how to be a father, made by the one that helped him find his way back to the light.

thank you, ellie.

they both know it means i love you, too, sarah immortalized on their living room wall where the morning sun illuminates her face with every sunrise.

more rambles in the tags

#alex writes tlou #the last of us #tlou #joel and ellie #joel and sarah #joel miller #ellie williams #tlou fluff #sarah miller #tommy miller #ellie and tommy #this got so much longer than i planned help this is like half a fic synopsis #this started out as ellie draws sarah for joel #and turned into whatever this is #so so so tempted to turn this into a full fic #but also listen listen i cannot draw i wish i could because i want to capture the image of that painting so desperately #blanket permission to everyone who wants to do that i will literally give you my first born #gonna sleep on the highway tonight this is killing me #this is an apology for the tommy's baby looks like sarah post #and a peace offering for all the angst to come in my fic #fr though im almost tempted to literally pay someone to draw this i am mentally ill #also ellie and tommy bonding as a bonus because i am still obsessed with that too #ellie is sarahs sister and while neither of them will every say it like that they both know its true #theyre just emotionally repressed its ok they communicate in their own way #anyway gonna try and not die now and actually get stuff done but also pls talk to me about them i am vibrating hard enough to shatter glass

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randoimago · 2 months

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Hello is it okay if I could please have headcanons for yusuke and akechi and joker and futaba from persona 5 with a animator s/o like the reader does anime or cartoon animation and probably still watches cartoons and old animated movies as someone who wants to study animation I just wanna share my passion with these guys

Fandom: Persona 5

Character(s): Akechi, Joker, Futaba, Yusuke

Note(s): Sure thing!!

Akechi

He's tried watching you animate before and he had to walk away after he watched you draw the same shape for what felt like a hundred times. He knows animation takes a lot of time and patience but he doesn't have either of those to watch.

Akechi will pull you away from the TV or whatever you're doing with your animation to spend time with him. And to make sure you've eaten or taken care of yourself. He's definitely a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to that.

Doesn't really watch cartoons with you, but he does listen as you talk about some specific effect or frame of animation. Akechi doesn't completely understand what you're talking about but you look happy so it's good enough for him.

Futaba

Oh she thinks it's really cool that you do animation. Might ask if you could show her a bit of the software you use. She's not artistic, but she loves technology and learning new things that you can do with it.

She's more than happy to watch whatever anime or cartoon with you. Probably asks you a bunch of questions about the animation too. She knows you pause and rewind quite a bit to watch the details of something multiple times so she tries her best to see whatever you saw.

Futaba would jokingly suggest doing stop motion animation with Phantom Thief dolls or something. If you decide to go with it then she'll gladly come up with a script and get to work while you get your own stuff set up.

Joker

There's many times when he'll go to spend time with you only for you to be involved in your animation. He doesn't mind it since you've visited him when he was making lockpicks or tending to Le Blanc. He doesn't know everything about animation, but he enjoys listening to you talk about it.

He likes whenever you go on tangents or talk to him a mile a minute about some new technique you learned or some new feature you figured out to help you animate more smoothly.

He is always happy to sit with you and watch some anime or something and see how you react to the animation in it. He doesn't quite know why he feels more kind after watching Studio Ghibli with you, but he's not going to object with how you seem to be very enraptured with the animation.

Yusuke

The idea of making a picture or image move is fascinating to him. He's a fan of most art mediums so if you'd like to practice animation by having him sketch a couple things out then he'd be glad too.

Yusuke is the most fascinated with 3D animation. Watching you rotating the character or object and changing details is something he enjoys doing. Although he does throw in his own input of what needs more shadows or changing the texture of something.

He'd try his hand at traditional animation if you explain it to him. Yes, it's very time consuming, but it's a new art medium and he is determined to make an attempt. The issue is he's a perfectionist so you probably won't speak to him for a few weeks while he's working on this. At least he's supportive of your career?

Taglist:

@reo-the-leo @abellaheart-blog

#honeyandbiscuitandtea-cafe #persona 5 x reader #akechi x reader #futaba x reader #yusuke x reader #ren amamiya x reader #akira kurusu x reader #futaba sakura x reader #yusuke kitagawa x reader #goro akechi x reader

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hoardlikegoldenirises · 4 months

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This is Peter's "move your arm before I kill you" face 😄 aka his "I only agreed to stand here to make my aunt happy and would rather be anywhere else" face.

EDIT: decided to change the eyeshine color lol

closeups and a bonus doodle below:

say cheeeeese!!! (left to right: flash, janine, aracely)

I realized while drawing this that I accidentally put the boys in left-to-right order from least- to most-fucked up face 😂 Ben and his perfect nose 🙄🤣 IDK what he's saying but probably something engineered specifically to make Peter mad.

He's smiling. 🙂💢 See? Busted nose. Turns out I also put them in order of "least to most traumatized," now that I think about it... Peter is a little less uptight by 2016 but... only a little. He might even not be wearing the costume under his clothes.

I know you're probably thinking "how the fuck is Ben less traumatized than Peter?" but in this case it's true. Ben is the most well-adjusted of them all. Comparatively.

Kaine is definitely wearing his costume under his clothes. Head to toe coverage, no skin except face and hands basically ever. When I sat down to sketch this pic this morning I realized that he probably doesn't like having his picture taken, because he has very bad self-esteem (understatement) and lots of scars, but probably also for Warren reasons, as essentially an ex-lab specimen. So he's hiding.

His hair would be in the process of growing back out from a buzzcut, if it's November 2016... so a bit longer than his shoulders, most likely.

If it wasn't like, May's idea to take the pic and Janine w/ the camera Kaine would not be tolerating this. He'd either leave or break the camera LOL but... if May wants a pic... he can at least pretend to be in it.

Miss Maybelle... The only one in the pic who doesn't have anything weird going on (ah, her strange nephews and their strange eyes). She has an O2 tank though. Her lungs are not very strong after 2012 because ummmm... Kaine stabbed her in the chest. (He apologized, it's fine 😓😅)

Ben's tan lines 😂 peter has 'em too but Peter is all covered up obv. Peter's neck tan line is actually way higher up though, because his costume has a higher neckline so he has to wear higher collars/scarves/whatever even if he rolls the neck down. But (not pictured) Peter's arms are more tan than Ben's because Ben's Scarlet sleeves are longer than Peter's Spidey sleeves. Obv Ben isn't wearing (the top of) his costume in this pic though. and they can both roll the sleeves up anyway.

That's the watch Peter got May for her birthday in 2007 btw. Actually the color is wrong because I didn't bother to check my own #lore but also because I almost forgot to color it at all (lol whoops) so I was just like. It's purple, I remember that much. But the strap is supposed to be "pale violet linen."

I also almost forgot to draw Peter's wedding band entirely 😂 Luckily I remembered! lol

Kaine is wearing a kilt, by the way (over jeans or leggings or something probably... well, maybe not leggings if his costume is underneath...) My goal is for him to find a different way of expressing his masculinity. related to why i am sticking to pink for his theme color (for costume etc.) and letting him grow his hair back out. I think he probably has some genders going on but not in the way that Flash has. He's not a girl. More like he wants to be nothing at all... null gender... etc... but also he doesn't have the language for that and would likely push back against it because of the way he was treated by Warren and the issues he has with like. personhood and manhood... but experimenting with (expensive) clothing is a way for him to explore his own autonomy in spite of that treatment and a way to learn to hate himself a little bit less, maybe, even though he's still very insecure.

he also has a "nazi punks fuck off" shirt, but... he wouldn't wear that to thanksgiving with aunt may... probably. I'm sure his leather jacket is around here somewhere...

i picked thanksgiving arbitrarily btw 😂 it just made the most sense as a reason for may to force i mean ask them all to come over and get pictures and stuff. kaine leaves nyc in 2012 following ben and only comes back for good in 2016, but when he and aracely first come up in the summer there's a bunch of stuff happening so it makes sense to do fall, once it's settled down...

May: Oh, by the way Peter, I invited your... brothers... to Thanksgiving. Peter: You did WHAT?!

#let's pretend they have a photo backdrop because i didn't want to draw a background #ben reilly #peter parker #kaine parker #aunt may #clone bros #nadiart #fanadiart #came in through the window last night #flash would be on E for like a year at this point... small changes #not sure which art tag to use for this.................#rough art #but also #shiny art #kind of in between #peter is a lil tilted (i mean the drawing is literally crooked) but he looks extra tilted because ben's sleeve is in front of his shoulder #alas #i'm not fixing it

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dokidokitsuna · 6 months

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I SWEAR I DON'T SHIP THEM

...I know I've said that before, but it bears repeating. ^^; Mostly because it actually clearly looks that way now, and that's probably going to continue...I'm not sure what else to say about it. If there's a word for this particular flavor of platonic relationship, I don't know what it is. Maybe someone will tell me. ^^

Anyway, since I still haven't started writing the script for this video (tbh I haven't had the time...) I'm going to continue practicing by talking about the pictures I draw. I did all three of these yesterday, thinking I'd just attempt to play with the designs a little and probably get tired and quit...surprisingly, I did not. '_' In a shocking twist, I'm enjoying drawing RWBY characters again~.

So while I was doing these sketches, I was mostly thinking about how Adam and Cinder interact with each other in the Neverfell AU...mainly by belittling each other and fighting constantly. ^^; Cinder thinks of Adam as just another stupid lackey; another piece of gentleman arm-candy; a mere tool that just needs to be kicked a little more than usual before it does what she wants it to do. And Adam (somewhat hypocritically...) thinks of Cinder as a myopic drama queen who's too wrapped up in herself to be an effective strategist or leader.

It's because of these opinions that they end up spending a lot of time working together, trying to show each other up as they re-attempt the not-fall of Beacon. And in doing so, they gradually learn more about each other, especially Adam, who starts to understand where Cinder is coming from as he gets drawn deeper into Salem's inner circle. Fortunately, he still has (a) an outsider's perspective on Salem's manipulative behavior, and (b) too much pride to let himself become blindly loyal to anyone. And eventually, he gains enough concern, or at least pity, for Cinder to use those traits to try to help her, in the end.

Now the point of this isn't just "wow, Cinder gets to such a dark place that even Adam feels sorry for her"...although that is part of it, kinda. ^^ The main point is "wow, Adam's character develops so much that he can peacefully coexist with someone who doesn't respect him or fear him, and even sympathize with her", AND, "wow, Cinder's character develops so much that she can actually confide in someone about her struggles, and might even be willing to accept his help".

...I have a lot of details to fill in to make ^that development clear. But I'll get to it in the script. Eventually. :9

#rwby #cinder fall #adam taurus

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lindalofbroome · 5 months

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original sketches

DELTORA FASHION CONCEPT ART V2

hello i have finally coloured some rough sketches of some deltoran fashions, a redraw of some really old sketches from ages ago.

im a pretty amateur concept artists and i hate designing clothes so truly was a challenge for me hahah BUT it has given me plenty of time to think of headcanons. im not sure what i've already posted about or not so im just gonna go ahead and rant

these characters were originally just models for me to draw the clothes on, so i didn't need to draw a new person every time; although in some of my earliest sketches of different people groups i did a bunch of people. but naturally these characters have developed a little and some of them are my beloved adin-era OCs <3

[about 4,500 words]

⬜ JALIS

since the jalis are reknowned for their warrior prowess and their signature gold armour, i thought it'd be neat that even if when they're not wearing the full set, they are always wearing their arm guards. it's a sense of pride and identity, they probably receive them as a rite of passage into adulthood. not every jalis is a knight, but they value a heart of courage and great feats and they all have them, and would wear them always (or at least special occasions if one prefers not).

i headcanon that jasmine was gifted her own set of arm guards as an expression of their respect and admiration of her. her relationship with glock grew so much and was cut off, but she earned her "heart of a jalis" and we didnt get to see much of jasmine and gers together, but theres plenty of time post-DQ3. i think my jasmine and the jalis thoughts should be a separate post though, otherwise this post will never end 😂

i dont imagine that the jalis had special party clothes, i think they just turn up in their usual clothes and get drunk and dance their hearts out maybe start a brawl thats none of my business

i cant remember why i've been giving them this geometric sort of pattern tbh. i think i drew someone at some point and wanted it to look different to mcbride's design but im not sure if i like it or not. the plus is that i can make diamond motifs though!!

i also cant really remember how my brown skin gold hair came to be 🤔🤔 wait backtracking i think what happened is that i decided to draw del people as black latinx inspired, so it wasn't that big a step to make jalis also dark skinned since they're both in the south (deltora geography is weird tho so like it's not that deep) and then i think i made them blonde as i "why not??" situation but tHEN i thought maybe it's connected to their jalis gold?

my headcanon is that their armour is made of a unique metal that can only be found in diamond territory, it's super hard, tough, and light etc. so maybe whatever is In The Ground is also in them and their blood and shows in their hair????

🥳 fun fact 🥳 wasn't until i had to draw steven and glock side by side that i had realised what i'd done?? i.e. steven canonically has brown skin gold hair too¹. which now forces me to think about whether it should be a coincidence (like it is) or shall i headcanon that steven and nevets' father was jalis² 🤔 ¹ pretty sure it's about the dichotomy, to show contrast but connection between the brothers. i have many steven and nevets thoughts but that should also be another post ² i am.

🟩 DREAD GNOMES

these characters are adin-era, so unfortunately this would be when the gnomes still hunt the kin. whats weird is that i realised that i was picturing the caramelly brown fabric that this gnome is wearing was the kin pelt and not the big furry parts?? i usually picture the kin as more like velvetty. idk what the thicker fur parts would be though?? literally any other animal i guess 😅 i dont know it doesn't make sense and it's only occurring to me right now i shall have to think about it lmao

anyway made them green because why not. maybe they come in different colours idk. this gnome is pre-gellick so does go out in the sun, gellick-era gnomes would be waaaaay more paler they probably looked white. this could be similar to the jalis and like theres something in the grounddd

gla-thon claims that the dread gnomes knew that lesser gems had weaker but the same powers of the great talisman gems (sots), but im not sure if they knew it before adin. would be interesting if they did 🤔 and how they figured it out?? (side note but now im wondering about how withick knew what to write about the gems??) would imply that if they got the great emerald than they could deduce there are others surely. unless they thought it was a freak accident/miracle. anyway we know they love gems and gold etc etc so they obviously decorate themselves with heaps of jewellery

triangle motifs in homage to their mountain 💚

i gave them a sort of war paint ritual. i'm not sure if they all do the same markings, but this one was specifically to symbolise a bow and arrow (arrow going up the nose). you can see it a bit better here lol. i also decided that sometimes they wear it for purely cosmetic purposes. im not sure what the substance is exactly though. i think in my head i was imagining something similar to kohl, but maybe not.

🥳 fun fact 🥳 bre-tak and az-zure are lesbians (i make the rules)

🟦 MERE

oooooh baby this is my guy my babygirl my everything

okay so i think this headcanon developed recently when i last drew sky of rithmere and i thought that mere superstition encouraged them to wear their charms in random spots to avoid them cancelling each other out. it could be construed to be they were inspired by the night sky and the pattern of the stars perhaps. this led them to prefer asymmetrical fashions, mostly prominent in the armour i put badr in

🥳 fun fact 🥳 badr means "full moon" 👀

i think i originally decided the mere had leather armour just to give them something different iirc but the mere characters we see are usually the lithe, speedy, crafty type, so maybe light, mobile armour does work for them lol. anyway the main reason is that i had the image of studded leather, and i was like ohohoho STARS

i generally think of them with muted colours but sometimes they have a bold blue for their prized garmants. like zillah and co, the leaders of rithmere in adin's time were described with bright blue and starry cloaks. (i checked the wiki just to check zillah's name lol and apparently it's actually canon they have leather armour?? so not sure why i thought otherwise) anyway i do currently have minecraft brain but i did vaguely remember that people made ultramarine pigment from grinding lapis lazuli into a powder and im not sure if thats something the mere would do or if there's some strong blue dyes they can get from plants or something native to their territory 🤔

actually im liking that idea now? it would be incredibly time-consuming and labour-intensive but that would add to its value?? real world lapis lazuli has a horrible yield rate of 1kg lapis to 30g of pigment apparently, but it's a strong pigment (unless i misunderstand). alternative name for ultramarine is "permanent blue" apparently so. anyway ultramarine irl is more of a paint pigment, but in roddaverse maybe the mere make a lucky blue dye to use on cloaks and scarfs and shawls etc for good fortune?? me frantically checking that i put badr and luisa's wedding garb in bold blue lmAO oh i did but it's a little muted. they mix in oils and stuff to make the paint, so it doesnt seem like a stretch that they can mix different ingredients or ratio to make a cloth dye (to my very amateur understanding).

so im imagining now that they have a special (probably secret within the mere) process to create bright blue thread speckled with white (also gold to me. im pro deltora lapis with gold) and weave it into their beautiful starry night fabric. the amount of labour and the use of their prized lapis lazuli makes it very special, and maybe some people think it's the lapis that makes the fabric lucky or maybe some people think it's the work of love and time that makes it lucky, maybe both.

🥳 fun fact 🥳 i forgot that "bless your lucky stars" is like a real saying until recently lol

a starry cloak is probably something only the really rich could afford, but i think that they are more like heirlooms and states of office? im not sure if these pieces are things that one would purchase or something they would receive. bit hard to imagine people doing it for free but maybe it's one of those staple things that they revere and everyone else works to support them as well etc like the cooks in noradz are prized. idk. but yeah like a poorer family couldn't get a new one, but they would have one that has been in their family for generations you know? and i think that there would be something about like. idk youre meeting up with your doctor or something and youre nervous and you put on your family's best clothes (the most lucky ones) and maybe youre cynical about the whole good fortune stuff but there's something comforting about wearing the cloak your mother wore and your grandmother and your great grandmother wore, who also had to do such things. something something gives you the confidence to make your own luck because youre no longer pessimistic and allowing avoidable mistakes to happen

this means that the mere giving adin a cloak was a REALLY big deal because they definitely dont just go throwing those around and they would probably only give it to an outsider in trade for a steeeeeeeeeeeep price. which of course means that there would be knock offs with bad quality dye. lmao thats perfect actually. like 10000% there would be merchants in rithmere trying to sell cheaper versions to people that are expensive but still affordable to the average person. some would be different shades of blue, but the more crafty might have dyes that are strong but not lasting.

oh also i headcanon that palace fashion was a conglomerate of aspects from all the tribes but this should be it's own post i think. but i just remembered that i put gold thread in badr's braids in the formal wear sketch. i did that to tie in with the veins/flecks of gold (technically pyrite) in irl lapis lazuli. as such, people at del palace were inspired to weave gold into their hair too.

also gives me another thing to ship badr and luisa lmao. badr can wear some gold and luisa can wear some blue as a treat for me <3 moon and stars ocs beloved

🟨 DEL

alright. okay so del is definitely very white western patriarchal coded (most just a bias of living in that type of society i reckon) but it sucks and i'm passionate about making del NOT that. i think i've said this a million times now but this should be it's own post too, but most succinctly del is a very vibrant, curious, and daring sort of culture (e.g. their recklessness, exploration, trading). they were already marrying non-deltorans before adin (i imagine that some might have dared to marry outside of del, but it would have been way more politically complex so it was rarer and often kept quiet and rural). people of del were moving to other countries (like dorne) and people were probably moving to del, so del is definitely a big mix of different people and languages and superstitions and stuff.

but anyway i wanted to set a sort of base for before that. i've had art on the wip pile for YEARS about this and i'd flesh this out properly when it's done lol (hopefully we see that day) but since the topaz has the power to summon spirits, i really wanted to develop an aspect of del culture around that? i was inspired by Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and i still want to do some more in depth research and explore it more properly, but i like the idea that del will celebrate their lost loved ones life, coming together to remember, if they were lucky the got to see and even talk to their spirits. maybe pre-talisman they did know about topaz properties and they had a big deposit of gems that they would wheel out for the festival and the huge pile under the full moon would be enough to allow the spirits and people to interact? anyway this is a longwinded explanation of why my sketches of del fashion could be latinx inspired.

circle motifs in homage to the moon. the trim decoration on luisa's scabbards are based on moon phases :D

i also arbitrarily decided that del people love swishy clothes. they're all about the drama of cloaks and twirling in sundresses etc it's fun. not sure if i will actually follow through with that lol or maybe that can just be luisa.

🥳 fun fact 🥳 i think hearing luisa laugh would heal me

there's no particular reason for why i've been drawing a lot of del people as black, other than maybe spite lol. i think i drew jasmine and that got the ball rolling. del is a blank enough slate that they can be anything. im tired of white people being the front runners asldkjfhalsdf. bUT again del is multicultural, so there isn't a particular look for anyone in del. being del is more a state of mind and being part of community i think. you move to del and you participate in their society in one way or another and boom youre del now they adopted you.

🌈 PLAINS

hiran attire inspired by french aristocratic fashion. i cant remember who posted about it but pretty sure this was something that circulated around the fandom at least a little bit at some point.

added some subtle rainbow to harlow's outfits because he's the strong silent type. but i suppose there are so much more gaudier and extravagant outfits.

i was going to say this was just hira fashion and not like, rural plains fashion but i guess this is the same for all of them. it's just like a general direction for what someone might wear.

the swirly patterns?? i dont know. i drew them when i did adin's pre-battle speech as the last supper but i dont think there's a particular reason. i remember that i was trying to do something unique because lief recognises the cup in the city of rats as the same/similar to the one in noradz, so there had to be something to be recognisable lol but i probably just did it this way because it's relatively easy to doodle, just takes a bit of time.

🥳 fun fact 🥳 harlow was a cook before the shadow invasion. out of desperation, he and many others had to train to defend hira. he's big with natural balance and reflexes so he excelled and is a pretty adept warrior, but he will always think of himself as a cook first, warrior second.

now the armour!! freshest headcanon piping hot. yesterday when i was colouring i was sitting there like wow you look like a tin can man and you are so boring. we went from pretty colours to blank. im almost certain the hiran soldiers were described as silver with white plumes, so i was planning on doing that but they had intricate details on their armour because they are Extra, so it has the swirly patterns you can see on harlow's coat.

but then suddenly i was like. what if. pearlescent.

and honestly i loved it so much i didnt care i was setting myself up for some difficult work ahead lmao. but my general idea was that they're armour looked like it was silver, but if the light catches it at the right angle it exposes the rainbow in it. most of these headcanons i've had baking for at least a year, but this is very new so i dont any hard details yet. kira mentioned enamel or ceramic and lowkey interested in having a look into that so that theres another armour material. maybe it's gonna be like special jalis gold and special plains silver. maybe something else. i also just remembered bismuth exists (same boat as gold as very heavy and soft) but i think maybe it's too loud, i think im liking the more subtle pearlescent thing aLTHOUGH it's a good metallic rainbow reference 👀 maybe there is an esteemed plains warrior with a rainbow sword

ANYWAY pearlescent armour really hit my heart because oh my god once upon a time the plains had a shore and they could visit the sea,,,, lowkey ocean vibes without an ocean [screaming crying cat spinning in a void.gif]

🥳 fun fact 🥳 i have NO idea what food harlow has made. i think i had ratatouille on the brain at the time????

🟥 RALADS

⚠ PROPAGANDA ALERT ⚠

ruby territory best territory. ruby symbol of happiness. warns of danger AND antidote to poison. double helpful. ralads are so sweet and so smart. architectural and engineering marvels. living in harmony with the land and beasts. D'OR!!! manus and nanion friendship underrated and so special to me. horse girls. AND. broome. god theres so much i could say about broome that i cant say anything. anyway you guys know im normal about broome yes of course. separate post etc etc

i think technically this is a headcanon but it's not that big a stretch surely but as above i always picture ralads as in harmony with nature. never take more than they need, know how to work with not against, theyre not the main attraction but an equal part of the bigger picture.. this isn't even about how smart they are with engineering and their perfectly round houses with bricks that are cut perfectly. im thinking about their knowledge of their world is so strong and wide and diverse. they have the most vibrant and potent dyes and pigments around, they have the most colourful fabrics and clothes around. the plains has many colours but it can't compete, and they have different styles. i think that the hirans would trade for the dyes though (maybe undercutting pre-adin, maybe more equal post-unification). i think that they would also have a pretty decent blue dye but it is still inferior to mere lapis lazuli blue. it is probably a dye that could be used for a mid range mere garment?

maybe it's the anime fault but i do usually imagine ralads as barefoot but i also drew iris with construction tools and just the idea of ralads walking around a construction site barefoot was not fun to me. but it could be a hobbit tough soles situation. anyway i drew some shoes so i had a vague reference if i wanted to draw ralad shoes.

obviously had a problem drawing warrior attire for a non-war race. but i thought what if i leaned into the stories the hirans tell about how the scouts and soldiers they send into the ralad wilds never returned and were often found dead with broken bones or whatnot. definitely big watching but never seen vibes imo. so i decked iris out in some camouflage lol

🥳 fun fact 🥳 im sure the ralads can whistle and whatnot to make birdcall signals, but i thought it was fun for iris to be able to make birdcalls with her flute

HEY ALSO headcanon about ralad hair. i was making some dragon art from a doran pov that i was going to save for that but i cant wait now. but we know from Tales that the ralads had a good relationship with the ruby dragons, could even summon them (unless im misremembering and it was more like a premeditated calling) but i was thinking about how they nest with .. human? hair. and i was thinking what if they grow out their hair? and then they offer it to a dragon when they are ready? i dont know if there's a nesting season for dragons but it could be something like that? ralad-dragon ceremony and party time. this isn't a rite of passage type of thing, just something that they like to do. not everyone does it probably, but most do it once, some people do it several or many times in their lifetime. it's an honour, but not really a sacrifice to them. it's part of the world balance and theyre willing to serve the dragons as the dragons serve them as they water the plants and the plants feed them and they feed beasts and beasts feed them.

also dont remember why i did the hair so bright and orangey??? genuinely perplexed lmao. probably was leaning into irl ginger but like THEYRE BLUE so i could probably make them actual red. not sure if this is also like a "theres something in the ground" situation also that makes their hair red but maybe 😂😂

side note but it's lowkey so wild to me that rodda was like yeah these guys are blue-grey with red hair, and then everyone else is like an average person, BUT the mountain people are short. like they're all just some guy basically???

it does make return to del so so funny because fallow is like AYO look at these MONSTERS they are UGLY and WEIRD

but i guess thats part of the motivation to give the deltora tribes some basic unique traits.

🟪 TORANS

okay so toran robes as inspired by japanese fashion is definitely something that's floated around the fandom for ages. i can't remember if it was before or after seeing posts about it that i started my first concept sketches but i think it probably had a hand in helping me visualise what rodda was talking about when she described their robes as butterfly wings when they speed-travelled. like yeah big deep sleeves and floor trailing hems WOULD probably look like colourful butterfly wings in the wind,,

🥳 fun fact 🥳 azami be always hungry. if only she knew someone who liked to cook 🤔

i don't have much to say design-wise, kinda just did various doodling. they would probably be second in extravagance to the plains, but it's a different sort of detail? they are probably a bit more refined and elegant than the hirans who are probably more bold in their designs. torans grow to be vain and selfish (it's already started by adin's time) so they probably have a high value on the beauty of their belongings, and it probably began with imagery of beasts and plants and dragons in amethyst territory, "true" pictures. but as time went on it probably distorted a bit and became idealised and/or fantastical etc.

OKAY SO my brain bluescreened just now for a moment trying to figure out how a people who use magic to make life easier, were also the ones known for their weaving, a manual hands-on task (lief's cloak is praised as being worthy of toran looms, implying high grade; pretty sure this was supposed to be a hint that his mother is not who he thinks she is also). some conclusions are 1) they weave with magic (sad, horrible), 2) they weave as a past-time, for fun etc (okay) but i took it to a third option

for a long time ive been thinking about toran magic as like, a balance and an energy thing (because i like that stuff lol) they cannot create something from nothing, only change things. they couldnt summon a fire, but they could change a piece of wood to fire and start a campfire, or those more advanced could even change the air into fire. but honestly it's left me a bit unsatisfied. like how does that explain the tora-del highway? hELL tora itself? what happened to the marble that got carved away? also how can that mountain have been so perfect there was no cracks or seams?? or did they carve those bits out lol. questions for another day.

anyway i was thinking about how hobbies are good for you, you dont have to be good at something but it's good to do stuff for fun and when you do crafts you get a cool thing at the end of it that you made. but it's also like skills you can develop? and i wondered what if weaving is a starter skill that they learn, some of them at least. maybe there are different activities, and they do the one that speaks to them the most. there were other types of artisans in tora, just not as talked about (i guess they're robes are pretty iconic so it's easy for people to go wow robes wow weavers who made fabric for the robes so soft) like i distinctly remember barda remarking about how tora was untouched and why bandits wouldn't have stolen the carved box that ended up holding the auto-reply letters from the palace.

so what im thinking is that maybe this builds a foundation to help torans visualise and perform their magic?

it actually solves a problem ive had in my headcanons i feel like ive got seven eyes open rn 😂😂 but in relation to del culture and traditions, i've been thinking about there being a physical and spiritual realm of course, and maybe it's the comfort of threes but it felt like something was missing.

i dont know what to call it yet, but im thinking the third thing is like the glue, it connects all things, it's in everything. it's like a third realm but also more of like a medium maybe? kind of sappy but we can just call this the magical realm for now. i actually used to think of toran magic as being like a subset of the greater deltora magic, but now im thinking it's more like torans are more receptive to the magic realm, as del are to the spiritual, and the ralads to the physical; theyre the experts in these things, which is why unified deltora is important 😂; likewise dread gnomes specialise in gems, jalis in combat, mere in cunning, plains in hope perhaps? literally never thought about it quite like this so maybe i will process it different later and designate different specialties.

so when the torans are young, they learn a craft and these skills help them sort of "tap into" the magical realm. so in the case i first thought of, when a toran weaver starts to see and interact with the magical realm, the easiest way for them to engage with it would be to think of it as weaving. they might see the magical realm as threads that connect everything, and weave things together to get what they want. a potter might see it as a malleable mass and sculpt what they want. a carpenter might see it as something to carve, something to break and put together.

the magical realm is not a concrete thing at all, up to interpretation, perhaps a unique experience to anyone who could glimpse in; don't strictly have to be toran, but they are perhaps naturally receptive to it or it could even be entirely a knowledge thing and that they are taught about it more; someone like verity who had her eyes opened to this realm, and learned to interact with it on instinct. does open questions to what the hell is up with the plains lmao but i think thats another post.

sorry about all the "i'll tell you in another post" i was attempting to stay on track 😂😂 also there's a 90% chance im gonna forget to come back and write about them so if anyone is dying to know feel free to send me an ask or something???

also if you want to know more about these OCs let me know 👀 i can find an ask game or something maybe. it's a case of i know a lot but will forget it all if asked to speak freely, i need specific questions. i have also developed the first four a bit more, but the last three are not without character so they can still be included. maybe it will be a group effort and they will have Background.

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reilly310 · 4 months

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Outlander: Blood of My Blood

art credit: @SimonWrightSays

I'm dusting off my blog for the first time in a looong time with some thoughts about the new prequel series.

I've been on the fence about the new series, but after learning that Claire's parents' story will be included, I found myself more intrigued. Then seeing this (amazing) sketch of young Jamie and Claire got my imagination flowing.

I'm mostly interested to see how the writers will integrate the two storylines, as I would think they'll have to do. Given at least one (and perhaps both) of Claire's parents can time travel:

Will one of them be from the past (her father, I presume) and, in a kind of reverse Outlander, meet/fall in love with the other in the future?

And/or will both of them travel back to Jamie's parent's time (purposely or by accident) and will they meet/be friends (or foes) of each other's for a time?

Will they give birth to Claire in the past or the present? Will Jamie and Claire know each other (or at least meet briefly) as very young children but be too young to remember that encounter/relationship? (See picture above..and yes, I know there's a 5 year age difference in OL but just indulge me here because that picture is so cute. Maybe, more realistically, when Claire is 5, they are present for Jamie's birth instead. Isn't one of the rules of time travel in OL that you have to have a connection to where you're traveling to? Since Claire went through the stones the first time by accident, could she have landed where/when she did because of that connection to Jamie / his family from her past even if she didn't consciously remember it?)

Do Claire's parents actually die in a car crash or was she just told this by Uncle Lamb as a way to explain their absence? Did they get stuck in the past instead and spend the rest of their lives trying to return to her? Do Jamie's parents find out their secret and try to help them in this endeavor to return to the future?

Or maybe they perish in the past and Uncle Lamb, a time traveler himself, brings Claire to the present to keep her safe.

Because (I don't think) there's any book reference to Claire's parents other than her mentioning how they died and that she doesn't really remember them, the possibilities related to their storyline are endless.

Having put these thoughts out into the universe, though, I'm likely setting myself up for disappointment if/when the series airs and does none of these things. However, a connection of some sort between the two couples will have to be established in order for the series to have a flow that makes sense and is not disjointed.

PS: I read the first 3 books and part of the 4th before setting them aside years ago, so I don't consider myself a book reader. Perhaps there's information in the later books that would make the potential connections I've imagined for this new series impossible. If so, please let me know.

PPS: . Do we know if this prequel is intended to be a limited series (like the Yellowstone prequel "1883") or a series with multiple seasons? If it's a limited series of 10 episodes, they might be able to get away with two separate storylines that merge in some way only at the end. I just don't think I would find it as intriguing as one that's interconnected.

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trulycertain · 7 months

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i'll be your mirror

In which Astarion receives a gift of a portrait. Developing Tav/Astarion. 2k words.

Astarion forgets that little conversation entirely - he's wondered what he looks like now so many times in two centuries that one more occasion, albeit one where he was rather less solitary in his vanity, hardly stands out.

He forgets it until he ducks out of his tent into the morning light, and... Interesting. There's a sheet of paper tucked under his jar of - ugh - slightly congealed blood. He can't help the dread rising at the back of his throat. Some note left to toy with him? (He can almost see it: that hideously neat, tight little handwriting. I know where you are, boy. He focuses on the sun's warmth on his skin, and takes a breath he doesn't need. No. It'll at least be a damn sight harder for the bastard now.)

Shaking off his paralysis, he unfolds it, and finds... a portrait. Hm. He squints, smoothing it and trying not to smear charcoal all over his fingers.

A handsome fellow, certainly - straddling the line between that and pretty. High cheekbones and long eyelashes and an elegant, straight nose. A bit of a wry glint in the eyes. (Impressive, capturing that. For all his talents with a dagger or a body, he's never been that kind of artist.) Crow's-feet around them, too, and lines around the mouth; a man, not a boy. Delicately pointed ears. A head of soft, pale curls.

The realisation drops onto him something like a very large rock.

...Ah.

He touches his own hair, absentmindedly, feeling a texture he'd know like the back of his hand but hasn't seen from that angle in two hundred years. If his hand is shaking a little, no-one else has to know.

He stares at cheekbones he must have traced over a thousand times, trying to rebuild a faint, shadowed picture that was fading in his head by the year. At the bow of this strange, handsome elf's lips. He maps it on his own face, finger tracing over another familiar shape that he could never quite envision. Besides, he'd been preoccupied with the newer, unwelcome shape of fangs.

But it doesn't feel wrong. The picture in his head was more of a featureless shadow with fantastic hair than anything else, but this… this has the ring of familiarity. They've even bothered to capture his moles; he puts a fingertip to his cheek, where one had been forgotten, not raised enough for him to know.

Someone who sees him often, then, who knows his face. Someone -

I'll be your mirror. Those hazel eyes tracing carefully over his face, when a night or two ago she caught him craning for a reflection that would never come.

Lora.

He's seen her scribbling away enough times; he just assumed she kept a journal. He saw the odd drawing - plants, mainly, things she'd bring to the tree-hugging bores at the Grove and ask about, or discuss with Gale...

Like she's doing now. They're off in the woods with Gale trying to teach her some spell, and the worst thing? That's not even a euphemism. Even now, they're probably deep in debate. Ugh.

But it does mean that the little journal she keeps is sitting on a log, temptingly unoccupied. He puts the drawing carefully aside, and then it's a matter of moments to wander over and close his hands on the book. If she didn't want anyone to look, she shouldn't have put it with the communal supplies.

Making himself at home on the log, he flicks through it. Gods, she hasn't even used a cipher. To-do lists that seem to involve far too much saving helpless idiots, half-scribbled song lyrics and roughly dotted notes - even he can't somehow make those his business, and swiftly moves on - and… there.

He recognises those roughly-drawn lines, the way they soften out to the curves of the cheeks. Gale, sketching out some mnemonic absentmindedly with three fingers, a faint swirl of magic drawn in a couple of lines. Karlach, beaming and dimpling quite becomingly. Wyll, practising his forms with a rapier. Shadowheart, deep in meditation while Lae'zel scowls at her.

And on the other page… Ah. Hello.

If he'd wondered, truly wondered, whether the other portrait was him, this one confirms it: he's caught in laughter, a wineglass in hand, and... He stares at his own fangs. She hasn't shied away from drawing them, but there's been more attention paid in rendering the firelight on his hair, the crinkling around his eyes. Neither fear nor fetishism. He... honestly, he has no idea what to do with that. Another, in profile view, and something must have rather pissed him off, from the look of it. Little notes cluster around the drawings on what herbs she needs to find, on infernal iron for Karlach, on drow poison for Astarion.

He turns the page, and is greeted by a drawing of the day they were caught in an impressive downpour and took shelter in a cave. Well, they were all caught, but the subject is him, specifically. He looks at half-flattened, sopping hair and his truly unimpressed expression. Is that what it looks like when he glares? He catches his brows pulling tight, in mimicry. This should be mocking, but it feels more… It's not as unflattering as it should be. Almost fond, which is odd, considering the sheer amount of time he and Lora spend arguing.

Perhaps… hmm. One doesn't draw a face that much without being a little enamoured of it, surely. That's probably all she wants, the look of him. She still grimaces at his goblin jokes, still stops to help every fool going and sighs when he complains. He'd thought perhaps they'd had a little breakthrough when she let him bite her, when she speculated on the taste of their companions - she has a streak of dark humour that he rather enjoys, when she's not too uptight to let it out. But then she put them all at risk and wasted time they didn't have to rescue that idiot bard from the goblins, and when Astarion glared at her, she glared back even more fiercely. Sometimes a glimpse of the sunrise is just a lantern, or some other foolish metaphor she'd use. So, seeing as his sparkling personality certainly isn't the draw here, it must be his looks. He can work with that. Hardly the first time. He thought he'd have to try his luck again with the terrifying gith or gods forbid, the wizard, but perhaps all isn't lost with the leader of their merry little band.

There's another drawing that makes him pause: him caught examining his own hand, in the sun. The look on his face - he's smiling, just slightly. He looks… happy. He doesn't look that soft, does he? The kind of soft that he can't afford to be. It's dangerous, it's stupidly complacent, it's… Annoyed, wary embarrassment prickles up his spine - has he been that obvious? When did she see that? How did he not catch her staring?

He flips back to the more general (safer) drawings. "Karlach," he says to his erstwhile red companion, who's currently keeping watch.

"Yeah?" She heads over to his makeshift seat, axe still slung over her shoulder. Her eyebrows raise. "Huh, those are good. Look at me!" She reaches out a finger - Astarion draws back the book protectively, and she remembers, face falling. The sight shouldn't bother him as much as it does.

"Yes, yes, but are they… accurate?"

She sits next to him, axe resting by her knee, and her eyes widen. She squints at him. "Oh shit, mirrors. How much do you remember?"

He shrugs, and if she looks any more pitying he may have to bite her, so he focuses on the book instead.

"These are… yeah, these are definitely you. Ha, look, this one's got the way your hair goes all curly round your ears! Aww, look at your little fangs!"

"'Little'?" he says, offended. He peers at her.

She grins at him, pointedly, with a mouth full of many.

"Hmph. Not all of us can be a hellspawn."

She's nudging the page carefully with a nail before he can protest. Her eyes widen. "Wow, these are really sweet…" Pausing, she looks up at him. "Astarion, where did you get this?"

"It was… communal," he tries, vaguely.

"Please tell me this isn't Lora's."

"She checks it around us all the time! She showed me her list of herbs just yesterday! It's not as if I'm reading her diary." But there's a reason he didn't just ask. They both know it.

"Astarion, sometimes you can be a real shit."

He knows. He stares at the drawings and reassembles his usual lack of care. "Hm? Sorry, I was busy being distracted by how pretty I am."

"I swear -"

He hears the steady footsteps and a creak of leather even under Karlach's words - he's always been a hard man to sneak up on - and looking up, resigns himself.

Lora says, "How come no-one invited me to this party?" Her footsteps stop abruptly when she sees what he's holding. There's the faintest flicker in her eyes, and then she pastes on a resigned, tired sort of smile. "I guess this is what I get for giving you gifts."

That… itches. He's had far worse said to him - had knives under his ribs - so it's not as if it really hurts, but she so clearly means it. She's not trying to posture, or hurt him. Her disappointment simply is.

Karlach and Gale seem to be having some kind of mouthed conversation, with hand gestures. Astarion distinctly catches the words Not getting involved on Gale's side. "Tell me if you need his arse kicking, mate," Karlach says, and stands, ushering Gale away with a hand on his elbow.

"I was looking for soup recipes?" he tries, not even aiming to be convincing.

"Sure." Lora takes her lyre from her back and leans it against the log, then sits to untie her boots. She doesn't look at him once. It's almost impressive.

It should be a relief: a break from her incessant brightness that felt too much like unwelcome sun, back in the pre-tadpole days. Finally not having to listen to how there are kind people, you'll see, now rescue that bunny from under a cart. Gods, somehow even her hair is wilting. It's pitiful. He'd be angry at the manipulation, but this seems too exhausted to be a manipulation. It's… real, he thinks.

Leaning on pity should work - and besides, it's the truth. "Can you blame me, after two hundred years? I just wanted to see if you had any more." He smooths a hand over the corner of the page. "I asked you what you saw when you looked at me. This is it, isn't it?"

She nods, and that's all. A silent bard - somehow almost as ominous as a loud crypt.

He takes one last look, drinking in the familiar unfamiliarity of his face, and then carefully puts the book onto her lap. "Here. I think this is yours." His voice is quieting before he can help it - too damn soft, he thinks again, though perhaps softness will get her to let down her defences where simple seduction won't. "I can promise you, there won't be any repeats of my little endeavour today." Her eyes slowly raise to his, and he says, "It answered my question." He clears his throat, crosses one leg over another, and tries to look elegant rather than self-pitying. "You've… given me back my face. It was always just one more thing Cazador stole from me. Thank you." The words are far, far too real. He didn't quite mean to say it that bluntly.

She blinks, seeming taken aback by his little display - and then she nods. The beginnings of forgiveness are in her slackening shoulders, the way she takes the briefest glimpse at him before it's gone again. It won't be a problem, travelling together today, even if she'll be quietly licking her wounds. Good.

The broken mirror is still lying in his tent when he returns. He sighs at the sight of it. And then he shifts old wine bottles and blood jars out of the way. It doesn't need much room, a small charcoal drawing - it certainly doesn't need him to clear a whole corner of his tent. Even so, he does, propping it up and looking at the life in his own eyes for longer than he'd want to admit.

#astarion x tav #Astarion #astarion ancunin #baldur's gate 3 #That Damn Mirror Scene #lora mctavish #Chaotic good punk slight disaster at love bard #My fic #This might become part of something bigger eventually #Still working it out

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ohbo-ohno · 6 months

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This is a bit dark, feel free not to respond to this. But I'm thinking of a world where Werewolf!Simon meets Johnny in the middle of the woods.

Like, picture this:

Johnny recently got hired to work in Canada as a fire lookout. In the wilderness, it reminds him of back home: mountains rise and fall, covered in trees and rivers and whatever else crawls around under the cover of darkness.

It's a peaceful yet lonely job, where he gets to sketch out whatever he finds most interesting that day, plays games on the handheld console he brought with him, and doomscrolls online. Mundane. But the daily chatter with fellow lookout, Kyle, and the nearby ranger station, Price, held over the radio make It enjoyable.

One day, though, Kyle tells him of a story he heard from Price, of the monsters of myth walking the earth. of how, sometimes, the Rangers will encounter something they simply can't describe: a little girl walking backwards, floating ethereal lights, and the constant howling of a lone wolf, the size of which has been described as simply monstrous.

Johnny didn't think too much about it of course, he's heard enough tales in Scotland to scoff at what Kyle tells him. But then Price, usually serious, corroborates the stories. Tells him Rangers have a special guide to deal with things like that.

If you see the girl, toss her a coin and she'll leave. If you see the lights, turn away. And if you see the wolf, you should hold your head low, bow, and hope he leaves ou alone.

Johnny still thinks it's a joke, an elaborate ale to freak out the newbies.

Then, in the middle of the night, he wakes from the loud howl ringing through the forest. That's not what's strange: the wolf always howls. The problem is that the howl is nearly deafening from so close.

He rises from his bed, and crouches out of sight, paranoid that the wolf is watching him from the windows. He's too high up, he knows it makes no sense, and yet Kyle has successfully freaked him out. He crawls towards the door and makes sure it's locked, before peaking out.

It's too dark, he can't see anything. The howling has stopped though, which freaks him out to duck back down.

He makes his way to the main desk, opens the PC, and checks the camera feed on the bottom of the tower.

He can't see anything: the night is too dark, especially since there's no moon out tonight.

He debates turning in the flood lights, but for some reason, he doesn't want to scare it away, at least not now.

He wants to know what it is, first. Maybe it's just a regular old wolf, and he doesn't want to scare it half to death for simply howling too close to Johnny- how would it know there's a scared human up the metal tower?

So, he clicks the little switch to turn on night vision. The screen freezes for a second, and then the green hued images flood him.

It's a man.

Tall, compared to the tree he's standing besides, further away into the foliage.

His arms are preportionally longer than they should be, hairy and muscled. His feet are covered by some bushes, but from he Furr crawling up his legs, Johnny can guess he's standing on a beasts hind legs.

His face is that of a wolf.

Slowly, the man leans his head to the sky and a howl echoes through the woods.

Johnny quietly barracads his door with tables and chairs and whatever else, he locks the windows, puts the blinds down on them, and is attached to his feed.

It's horrifying, but he has to keep watching the creature- man (?) As he stalks the towers, sniffs around.

He almost dozes off when he first head it: the scrape of something sharp on metal. Scrape. Scrape. It's rithmic. Like steps.

Johnny jolts, and switches cameras.

It's walking up the stairs.

To Johnny.

Oh god.

(And then Ghost finds him and bursts through and then ghost turns back into a human and then fuks the sweet-smelling man he found)

I ran out of brain juice sorry 🗑️

trash you NEED an ao3 or a blog to just post this in the ghoap tag omgggg i LOVE IT

#but i have nothing to add #fucking fantastic concept though i love it sm #🗑️ anon #asks and answers #ghoap

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lenakluthor · 25 days

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Would Lena move into Kara's loft or would they stay in her penthouse? Would they get a new place?

Kara's loft is homier, messy and comforting in a way, but it has lots of memories (like when Lena came to apologize for being a villainous idiot and everyone was ready to end her).

Lena's penthouse is cold and very Luthor, and it has bad memories too (like Kara calling her a villain), but it's her safe space in National City.

after everything they've been through together, i think they'd get a new place. moving somewhere new would give them a fresh start, one they're taking on together. they'd probably try to find a place that blends the two of them and what they need- rooftop access, balconies, and large windows for kara; space for an office and lab, all the latest smart home tech, and maybe some big closets for lena (and kara too, lbr). they'd have a nice big living room with tons of space and cozy couches for game nights. they'd have a big table in the dining area where they can have family dinners, too. there'd be a big pantry stocked for kara- lena has her specialized nutritionist stock it with things kara would need in addition to her favorite snacks. they'd have at least one guest room for sure because you know game nights can get a little crazy sometimes and they always want their friends to be safe. the walls would have tons of pictures of them and their family mixed in with kara's paintings. in lena's office, she has the first sketch of the first suit she ever designed kara framed. she'd also have the blueprints to the yellow sun grenade that saved kara in the phantom zone framed and hung above her desk- a constant reminder of just how important her work is. tucked away in a corner by a window is kara's easel, because she doesn't want lena to work long hours alone (lena prefers to have her around, too). the lab would be connected, and kara would bring in a kelex and kryptonian tech for lena to use whenever she wants, no fortress necessary. everything would be cozy and full of love, but also elegant because lena brought in an interior designer. she wants their first home together to be perfect. and it would be, because they're in it together.

#katie answers #i may have gotten a little carried away #but i had fun imagining this #i honestly could've probably kept going #ask: anonymous #supercorp #supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor

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alien-slushie · 2 years

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Another Maribat prompt! I tried to write this one but it wasn't working out for me 😭, so I thought I'd post the idea here so maybe someone would have better luck than me.

Another "Marinette is shipped off for BioDad!Bruce Wayne" storyline because I really like those ones, but with a little 💥flare~💥

Prompt: Because shes constantly getting in trouble Sabine and Tom send her to Bruce to straighten her out. Bruce read her school files but didn't look too deep because he didn't think a school would be so incompetent not to research bullying, and thievery claims, and he is not impressed. Right out of the gate, before Marinette can even enter the house, he lays down the rules. And of course he told the others, warning them so they wouldn't be swayed. So, there Marinette stands, in a unfamiliar country, in a unfamiliar house(manor), with unfamiliar people staring at her like shes a wild, unpredictable animal(they didn't even give her the decency of letting her prove herself) after her parents, friends, and school basically turned their backs on her, and something just snaps.

She was Marinette Cheng, upcoming fashion designer, and weilder of (and Gaurdian of) the Miraculous. If they wanted to treat her like a wild, unpredictable animal, fine then, she'd give them what they wanted! But it was well known that if you corner a injured animal, they will fight, and fight she does.

Marinette is coldly polite with them(except Alfred, Jason, and Seline who she happily greets, and chats with because they treat her normally), until they treat her badly, and then all gloves are off. And boy does she know how to hit them right where it hurts. They hurt her? Well shes going to hurt them right back.

Bruce watches her likes shes going to steal something from the manor when she just stopped to gaze at a picture? She loudly wonders what her 'grandparents' would think about the untrusting, emotionally shut off batchelor Bruce had become. Damian sneers at her while she sketches in the garden? Marinette gushes about how lucky she was that her parents had at least kept her around because they loved her instead of seeing her as a weapon for their own means. Dick suspiously questions where she got the money to afford 3 MDC originals? Marinette cant help but wonder what it feels like to be continuously replaced by stronger, smarter, and blood related siblings. Tim questions why she would take answers to a test when she could get high marks if she just tried after it's his turn to check her homework? Wow Marinette sure is glad she doesn't want any part of Wayne industries because she would hate to be used as a pack mule who's only use is to do the paperwork Bruce doesn't want to do.

But sometimes the injured animal, after fighting for so long, just can't fight back anymore, at which point they can either surrender, or run.

Bonus Points if: Marinette is the Black Cat and Gaurdian rather than the Ladybug, and Cat Woman + Marinette bonding both in and out of the suit.

A/N: You can change this in your rendition of this prompt, but I have a reason that Alfred, Jason, and Seline were spared. Alfred knows all and treats Marinette like he would anyone else, Jason is really carefree and can tell when someone is just trying to defend themselves(plus watching his families insecurities get poked at by a little girl is hilarious), and Seline warned Bruce not to go in guns blazing and recognized her defense mechanism for what it was as soon as she had seen Marinette's eyes during the first interaction between Bruce and Marinette(plus Seline + Marinette step mom and daughter bonding).

Like with all the prompts I post, this is free to use, but PLEASE send me the link to the finished project so I can check it out.

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anncanta · 4 months

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‘Miller's Girl’: when the mirror has two faces

It’s interesting that the film Miller's Girl, which, as I understand it, caused a lot of controversy among viewers and critics, is not about sex at all and certainly not about the relationship between a teacher and a student, but about the collision of worlds. In that sense, it's a very smart film that's worth watching even with the need to wade through the heroine's pompous comments and thoughtful descriptions of love.

The beauty of Miller's Girl is that it literally and clearly shows what happens when two completely different and somewhat opposing views of the world collide.

But here it is necessary to separate several layers and semantic lines.

The first layer is figurative. At first glance, the film is structured as an impressionistic sketch, a kind of poem about a blossoming youth thirsting for love. Thus came the choice of Jenna Ortega in the lead role, simultaneously referencing the absolutely innocent (despite the gothic and deliberate sinister) Wednesday and the classic, offensively typical debutante girl. Contemptuously commented on by the same teenage girl, the old house, green leaves, drops of water, a kiss, her figure in a silk dress against the backdrop of the entrance, intricately and diligently weave this network. But then we blink – and the camera shows the other side of this mirror.

On the other side, as if in the interrogation cell window, a completely different aspect of the text is visible. If there, inside (in the cell), is a typical erotic fantasy – or picture of sexual preferences – of a man, outside one of the common erotic fantasies of a woman is. A man who is unaware of his attractiveness.

And only Martin Freeman could play this role properly. Although outwardly unattractive, or at least possessing a discreet appearance, he is so exquisitely masculine in the best sense that no further erotic scenes are needed. It is no coincidence that everything we see on the screen is fragments, short flashes, hints. There is no imitation of sex that is usual for films of this rating. What is there?

There is a man in a blue sweater standing at the table. Not a superhero, not a famous actor, not a fashion model. Very sincere and very smart. Warm. With certain life experiences that he doesn't yet know what to do with. Lost, and therefore getting involved in a game that is not his own.

This is the initial disposition. The beauty of what happens next is that we know what's coming, and yet it's discouraging.

The next layer is semantic.

The main character is ‘not like everyone else,’ because, unlike them, she is aware of her own banality. She lives alone in an old house and longs either for love or to grow up.

And then there's a click. At eighteen years old, the first and second are one and the same. Any adult knows this, even abusers know this, which is why they single out their victims, telling them that they seem ‘older’ than their peers. And Jonathan Miller knows it too. As he also knows, fantasies are just fantasies, and experiencing an orgasm in despair at home on your own from someone else's text is not a crime, because this is not an event of shared reality. This is your personal event.

Therefore, Jonathan does not consider any of his actions in relation to Cairo as strange, reprehensible, or ambiguous. Even when he lets her light a cigarette. Because it doesn't occur to him that he could want an eighteen-year-old teenager. Don't fantasize about her, but want her. These are completely different things. A person at forty knows this. But at eighteen, no.

And now we move on to ‘that very scene’ that has caused so much controversy and in which, as at a key node, the threads of the pictorial and semantic layers converge.

To begin with, we know from the characters' conversations (and just timing) that this scene never happened. That is, we have before us a fantasy that comprehensively shows what happened and what this story is about.

The scene is divinely well-shot and conceived. I advise everyone to watch it in the original because it was greatly lost in translation.

So, Jonathan invites his student to write a story in the style of a famous writer. The girl reads a lot; by the beginning of the semester, she had read the entire list of 12 assigned books. But for styling, she chose Henry Miller.

Very important. This moment shows how lost, self-absorbed, and actually uninterested in Cairo Jonathan is. If he had been calmer, more outward-looking, and more confident, he would have seen Henry Miller as an offer and would have rejected it (as he did at the end). An eighteen-year-old girl approaching a man and waving a Henry Miller sees herself as brave, sexy, and uninhibited. But that's because she doesn't know anything about sex. She simultaneously wants to appear experienced and relies on what she imagines as the ‘male gaze’ – tired, bored, and lustful when all vaginas are the same. She seems to be saying, ‘Here I am, take me, I'm ready for sex on your terms.’

But she knows nothing about his terms.

The beauty of this (truly wildly erotic) scene is that although the characters are together in the same frame, the mirror of the interrogation room is maintained, and we see both his and her fantasy at the same time.

In addition, this is a rare case when voiceover works. Jonathan opens Cairo's letter, sees what's in it, understands that the text of the story she sent is, to put it mildly, unusual, and goes to read in the little house near the home. Everything that happens next is accompanied by this very text.

Jonathan will later give it a completely correct definition – pornography. But pornography also comes in different forms. I recognized this text immediately since I had seen it many times on literary sites, in the stories of beginners, mainly very young authors. This is a typical NC-17-rated fanfic, in which the same thing always happens, described in the same words. He pushed her (to the bed, to the wall, to the table), spread her (legs, folds), tore off her underwear, and brutally (that's necessary) fucked her.

There are two important points here. Firstly, many young women, due to their inexperience and emotional and sexual illiteracy, really imagine sex this way. Especially passionate sex. And secondly, pornography is really arousing. This is its function. We are designed in such a way that the naming of certain organs and erogenous zones, the literal description of the process of copulation, and even the aggressiveness of this process appeal to the lower parts of our brain and cause a reaction. This does not necessarily mean that we enjoy this. This means that we get sexual release. That's what happened to Jonathan. But there is another important detail.

We remember that this is not just Cairo's fantasy, right? And also that this is a fantasy. But because we saw it, we know how Jonathan perceives what is happening and what his real attitude towards sex is. (I think the fact that in his fantasies Cairo is not the real one does not need to be explained – if it is not clear enough from the visuals, there is his profession, a literature teacher, and an explanation in the second part of the film when he refuses her; a character is a character, it does not overlap with a real person.)

Look how amazingly and delicately woven it is. Imaginary Jonathan and Cairo are standing in the bedroom, Cairo reaches out to him for a kiss, but he sternly pushes her away (Cairo, fan fiction, daddy issues), turns her back to him, and leans her on the bed (Cairo). Then he slowly runs his hands down her back and gently and calmly pushes her hair to the side with one hand. He leans over and shows which sentence to start reading from (reenactment of real-life interactions between Jonathan and Cairo, confirming that this is his view). It's one or two seconds, and only Martin Freeman could play it that accurately. This is how he sees interaction with a woman, as it happens between adults. And this has nothing to do with the brutal rhythm, wet folds that are filled with sperm, and identical vaginas.

The drama that happened next is not only about how the narcissistic girl punished the teacher for refusing her. It's about how such things are inherently hopeless, because Cairo, at eighteen, even if she were less narcissistic, cannot understand that Jonathan actually said ‘yes’ to her.

But only he said ‘yes’ to that Cairo, who will grow up, recognize herself, meet a man who she will like and who will understand her and speak the same language with her, whom she will choose not because he is older/younger/blue-eyed/tall/teacher/driver (because it's a child's choice), will discover real (not cum-filled) depths within herself, connect desire and emotion, and be able to experience what he fantasized about her.

He separated literature and reality, fantasy and life for her. I won't say that he resisted his own desires, because I'm pretty sure he didn't want her. He wanted to be seen – yes, he wanted to understand what to do – yes. He wanted to have sex with his wife, after all. And even with all this pressure, he was able not to confuse the story and reality. Which, by the way, suggests that he is a much better writer than his wife.

So what is this story? Erotic thriller? Love drama? An attempt by the authors to satirize Hollywood and literary romantic clichés? In my opinion, this is a novella, beautiful, stylish, psychologically accurate, and ruthless. And at the same time, it is incredibly careful with the material and puts everything in its place.

#miller`s girl #martin freeman #jenna ortega

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