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tmntstyle · 4 years

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BIRTHDAY GONE WRONG

**BEEP BEEP BEEP**

A green hand reached over and hit the 'off' button on a Mickey Mouse alarm clock. Stretching and yawning loudly, Michelangelo slowly sat up in his bed. The young terrapin rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and glanced across his dimly lit bedroom.

"GASP! Today's the day!!" Mikey exclaimed as he hopped out of bed and bounded to his calendar in excitement. Mikey grinned and bounced in place as he viewed the highly decorated date on the kitten calendar Raph had gotten him for Christmas.

"Ooh I can't wait to see what my amazing older brothers have planned for me today."

Mikey set about to get ready for the day. Once the bathroom had been visited with teeth brushed and an orange mask had been tied securely on his face, Mikey skipped out to the main living area.

Sitting on a beanbag was Leonardo scrolling through some app on his phone, his shell facing Mikey. On the ground beside Leo sat Donatello tinkering with S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. again. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

Hmm. Mikey shrugged and strode toward his immediate older brothers. "Good morning, dudes! It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

Leo glanced up from his phone and turned his head to smile at Mikey. "It sure is, hermano. Too bad we can't go outside to enjoy it."

Confused by Leo's lack of acknowledgment of the day's importance, Mikey went and sat in front of his brothers.

"Well yeah, but I mean... It's a beautiful day down here. In sewer sweet sewer. Don't you think?"

Mikey directed the question at Donnie, who merely shrugged and said in a flat tone, "Don't know how this place can be anymore beautiful today than any other day."

'What is with these guys?' Mikey thought to himself. A bit disappointed by his brothers' lack of enthusiasm, Mikey stood and headed toward the kitchen.

'Maybe it's too early for any celebrating. Neither of them like mornings.' Then it was if a lightbulb turned on above his head. 'Aha! Of course! They have a big surprise planned and don't want to spoil it. Oh, those guys...'

Mikey hummed a light tune as he entered the kitchen. There, he found Raphael pouring milk into his bowl of cereal. Seeing his youngest brother, Raph smiled wide. "Mornin', little man!"

"Raaaph. How many times do I have to tell you? I'm NOT a 'little man'! I'm grown up like you!" Mikey rolled his eyes and huffed, placing his hands on his hips as he stared at his oldest brother.

"Right, right, sorry. Ya hungry, big guy?"

Mikey grinned and nodded. "You bet! What do we have?"

Raph looked at his brother in confusion. "Uh... Same stuff we always do. Cereal, toast, leftover pizza. Whatever you want."

Posture deflating, Mikey uttered an "Oh," and rifled through the fridge for the pizza box from the night before.

Heating up two slices of supreme pizza in the microwave, Mikey poured himself a glass of milk and took his 'breakfast of champions' (Leo's name for it) toward his room. Noticing Mikey's dejected behavior, Raph followed him.

"Somethin' wrong, bro?"

Mikey shook his head and opened his bedroom door. "Just still tired, I guess. Kind of a slow morning."

Nodding at his brother's words, Raph gave him a small smile. "I think we're all a bit tired. Take it easy for a bit."

Mikey didn't respond and shut the door behind him. Rather than sit and possibly drop grease on his bed, Mikey opted to sit in his egg-shaped floating chair. He sat his glass of milk down on his desk and started eating his pizza.

"What the heck is going on today? Does no one respect the joy of a birthday anymore? No happy morning greetings with confetti, no pre-made breakfast...no pops. Where is he?"

Setting his empty plate on the desk, Mikey sipped his milk and used his left foot to push on the floor. His chair lightly swung as he mulled over his family's behavior that morning.

After some time had passed, Mikey was woken out of his light doze by a knock on his door. Rubbing his eyes, Mikey called out, "It's always open!"

Splinter entered the room, ears twitching as he beheld his youngest and smallest child alone in his room. That alone was not concerning. What bothered Splinter was that Mikey seemed to have been asleep instead of painting or drawing or writing something. Keeping one hand behind his back, the older rat shut the door and walked toward his son.

"May I ask why you are alone in here and not with your family out there?"

Shrugging, Mikey kept his toes on the floor to maintain a steady swing of his chair. His right leg was bent underneath his left, hands resting on it. "Not much going on out there, dad. Seemed more fun to do my own thing than be around those party poopers."

Frowning at his son's words, Splinter sat on the edge of the bed and held out a brightly-colored box. "Well, I hope this can lift your spirits, Orange. It's not much, but I hope you like it."

Eyes widening at the expertly-wrapped gift, Mikey took the box from Splinter's hands. It wasn't overly big, nor was it small. Mikey smiled and tore off the orange wrapping paper, removing the lid covering the box.

Inside was a small book. Mikey gently lifted the brown leather tome, noting the professional binding. In gold lettering were the Japanese characters for Hamato on the spine. Turning the book over, Mikey found that there was no description for any story. Looking up, he saw Splinter smiling at him.

"It is a journal. Tradition in my family is to pass one down to your son to write of his life and adventures. Seeing as I have four sons, I had to decide which of you to give it to." Splinter reached out and flipped the book over to the front cover, pointing to an engraving on the bottom right corner.

"I knew a long time ago that it would be given to you once you had reached the right age. Of all my sons, you are the most creative and open-minded. I had your name engraved with April's help a few years ago. I hope you may find some use for it."

Mikey didn't know what to say at first. So he sniffed and threw his arms around Splinter in a tight hug. "Thanks, dad! This is the best birthday present I've ever gotten!"

Splinter chuckled and patted Mikey's shell. "I am glad you think so, my son."

Pulling out of the hug, Splinter stood and headed toward the door. "Feel free to join us whenever you wish. Though I am sure you would rather use this time to use your present."

Mikey grinned and nodded, grabbing a pen from his desk drawer. "You bet, pops. I'll be out there for dinner and topside shenanigans."

Smiling softly, Splinter left the room and shut the door behind him.

Hours of writing/doodling later, Mikey shut his journal and got out of his chair. Stretching his stiff limbs, Mikey checked his phone and was shocked to see that he had indeed missed lunch and nearly dinner.

"Oopsie! Guess I should finally make an appearance." The young turtle, mood drastically improved, exited his room and headed to the kitchen.

"Hiya guys! Wassup?" Mikey's entrance was met with wide eyes.

"Mikey! Where have you been? Haven't seen you all day!" Leo pulled out a seat at the table beside him. "I was bored without you."

Grinning, Mikey sat beside Leo and piled the pasta onto his plate. Other than Mikey himself, Leo was the best cook when he needed to be.

"Sorry. Got distracted. Excited to head topside, though!"

"Oh... Yeah, about that. No one is going up top tonight."

Groans and protests were the responses to Raph's statement. The leader merely crossed his arms and shook his head. "According to the news, a large storm is coming in. We're not going out there. End of story."

Sighing in defeat, Mikey rested his chin on his fist. He twirled noodles around the tines of his fork. 'Well this sucks,' he thought.

Standing up and grinning, Leo addressed the room. "Fear not, brethren! I have a fantabulous plan!"

Donnie rolled his eyes. "This oughta be good."

Ignoring his twin, Leo went on. "We can have a skateboarding competition! Winner decides on dessert and movie."

Mikey's eyes lit up at the idea. If he won, he could demand cake and an awesome movie. Then they would have to celebrate his birthday and reveal whatever surprise they've been hiding.

"I'm in!"

The four turtle brothers later stood at the top of their indoor skate ramp, skateboards in hand. "Alright, bro-hames. Rules are simple. Do a trick. Stick the landing. Winner will be decided by majority votes." Leo looked at his brothers for understanding. After an affirmative nod or thumbs up from each, Leo designated himself as first up.

The turtle in blue skated down the ramp and flew up the other side, completing a flip before skating down to the bottom. He finished with a twirl and bowed with one foot on the board. The other three clapped at the performance before moving on. Leo stood beside the ramp, watching as Donnie did a similar trick, but instead landed on his hands rather than his feet. Impressive.

"Why don't you go next, Mikey?" Ralph suggested.

Mikey grinned. "Don't mind if I do." With a determined look on his face, Mikey kicked off the edge of the ramp. 'Gotta win. Gotta win. Gotta win.' This chant overtook Mikey's thoughts as he picked up speed. When he made it up the other side of the ramp, he was too distracted to realize his placement and instead of doing any kind of trick, he plummeted toward the bottom of the ramp.

CRASH!

"MIKEY!!" Three turtles surrounded their fallen brother. "Mikey, you ok?" Donnie immediately assessed his younger brother for injuries. When he saw the unnatural angle of Mikey's left ankle, he cringed.

"Ooh, that looks bad. I gotta get you checked out then bandaged."

Shaking and silent, Mikey held his leg. No words came to him. Nothing except, "Ruined! It's ruined!"

Raph lifted Mikey delicately. "Don't say that, bro. Don'll fix your foot good as new." With that, the brothers headed to the genius' lab.

Mikey refused to speak after that. He didn't make a sound the entire time Don poked and prodded his obviously broken ankle. Even after being treated with utmost care and gentleness, Mikey remained mute.

"You're all fixed, Mikey. Can't you say anything? Not even 'ow'?" Leo tried his best to coax any words out of the youngest, but failed. Sighing, he patted Mikey's head. "Some birthday, huh?"

Mikey looked at his brother in shock. "Y-You remembered?" Taken aback by his brother's voice, Leo blinked several times before responding.

"Of course I remembered! That's why I came up with the skateboarding competition. I know how much you were looking forward to being topside today. Sorry my plan sucked."

"No! No no, your plan was great! I just... I thought you guys all... forgot. Or were just messing with me to surprise me later."

Leo swallowed and sat beside Mikey. "I'm sorry, Mikey. I didn't forget, but the others might have... They haven't talked about it at all."

Heaving a sigh, Mikey looked at his bandaged foot. This birthday sucks. Seems like everything went wrong today. No special breakfast, no party, not even a cake!

"Hey, I just remembered. I have something for you. Be right back." With that, Leo got up and left the lab.

A few minutes later, Leo returned carrying a cake, followed by Raph and Donnie. Both had apologetic looks on their faces.

"I'm so sorry, Mikey. I wasn't thinking. I can't believe I forgot what today is." Raph looked devastated. He took pride in caring for his family. This whole situation hurt him.

Donnie looked just as upset. He sat next to Mikey and took his hand. "Bro... Why didn't you say anything? We could've had a party!" Then the genius in purple smacked his own forehead. "April's text makes more sense now! That's what she meant by 'when's the party '!"

The three older turtles gave Mikey pleading faces. "Can you forgive us, bro? We didn't mean to give you a terrible birthday." Leo held the cake out to Mikey, candles lit.

Glancing at each brother, seeing the love and regret in their eyes, Mikey slowly smiled. "Of course you're forgiven. I can't stay mad at you guys. Besides, you brought cake! How can I say no to that?"

Three huge smiles were given in response. "Alright then," Raph said. "Blow out your candles and make a wish, big guy."

Mikey blew out the candles. "I have everything I need already. My family. My friends. Personal butlers who will cater to my every whim to make up for my sucky birthday and broken ankle." At this, his smile turned into a smirk.

"Isn't that right?"

Raph decided to answer for the group. "Sure, bro. Just until your foot heals."

Nodding, Mikey opened his arms. "You may hug me now."

His brothers chuckled and hugged him tight. They'd never forget important days like this again.

#rottmntquotes prompt #prompt A22 #birthday gone wrong #rottmnt #mikey #donnie #leo #raph #splinter

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the-hilda-librarians-wife · 4 years

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Silver Lining

Summary: My sketchbook twist on what happened in the episode The Storm while Johanna was alone in her car. You know, technically, it could have happened...

Inspired by something I said in this rewatch post

Notes: Okay so originally this was going to be something very different with lots of obliviousness and mutual pining, but then it hit me that outside of the angsty hell that is The Mistakes We Made, I have no established relationship fics??? Time to fix that. Also I wanted to jump into the “librarian and Johanna were secretly dating during season 1” bandwagon before season 2 comes along and crushes our dreams.

Read it on ao3

The art supply store had been deserted, presumably because of the storm raging outside, which seemed to only get worse by the minute. Uneasy over the weather, Johanna’s shopping was quick, and she only bought what was absolutely essential, even though she promised herself to come back some other time.

She couldn’t fathom what was happening that day. Even in the height of winter, it never snowed like that in Trolberg, not as far as she remembered. It could be one of those freaky effects of global warming, she supposed, but it still was weird that it had happened so suddenly.

Returning home was not an option. The roads were completely blocked by heaps of pristine snow, and she’d certainly catch her death if she attempted the walk back, thus why she’d called Hilda. She’d wanted to tell her why she wouldn’t be returning home so soon, but knowing her daughter as she did, she also found it wise to warn her not to leave the house. Just in case she had any grand ideas.

After putting down the phone, she looked around only to realize that the stores were all closing, turning off their lights and closing their curtains. Johanna could see where they were coming from, seeing as no customer would face this storm for things like art supplies or doughnuts, but she had hoped at least one of them would be available for her to stay inside and make use of the heating. Seeing no other option, though, she returned to her car.

Her cellphone had no signal, and she was sure that that, too, was due to the weather. The supplies she’d bought weren’t enough for her to get ahead on her work, or even to doodle, so she was stuck with people-watching to pass her time. Everyone she saw looked like they were hurrying somewhere, and Johanna silently wished good luck to each of them, even though she knew that they would only be able to go so far before being forced to find somewhere to stay immediately.

None of the anxious faces she saw evoked more than a brief memory from her, either people who frequented her favorite cafe at the same time as her, or perhaps people she’d helped during her time working at the hardware store. Until one did.

Johanna recognized her colours before her face, because even though she was looking down at the ground, stepping carefully on the snowy street, her black clothes and purple hair always gave her away. She was curled in on herself, apparently clutching something to her belly to protect it from the snow.

Her house wasn’t nearby, Johanna knew this. The only reason she was outside at all was because of the weekly coven meeting that the witches of Trolberg did every Sunday morning. She must have been caught abruptly by the storm when she was already on her way.

Feeling icy wind on her face as she opened the car’s door, Johanna waved her hand in the air and tried to shout to get her attention.

“Maven!” Though she knew the woman to get lost in thought while she walked, Maven heard her right away, and a look of recognition overtook her face when she glanced at the yellow car. “Come here, you’ll freeze to death!”

There was barely a second of deliberation before the librarian crossed the street and headed for the passenger seat. When she opened the door, Johanna was already sitting down again, and she helped herself inside the car.

“Thank you, Anna.” She said, incredibly relieved that Johanna had been there in the exact moment she’d needed her. “You just saved me.”

The smile Johanna gave her stole her breath, making her feel warmer in spite of the freezing cold she’d just come out of. She always had that power of making the room feel like it was filled with a light so strong that it seeped all the way into Maven’s heart, and it was one of those things Maven knew she’d never tire of.

“Well, I’m glad to be of help. How was the meeting?”

Maven shrugged, opening her coat’s zipper to get rid of the icy garment.

“It was alright. Harvesting season is coming closer and we are planning on blessing the crops nearby.” She said, throwing the coat on the backseats. “Heavens know they’ll need it with this storm. The elders also warned me that they’ll be coming to the library this week with a group of children who showed gifts to the occult arts. You know, to teach them about the path. So I guess that will be interesting.”

The most intriguing topic on the reunion had been, by far, the concern over a group of kids who had caused a commotion in the cemetery. One member of their coven had recently made contact with a ghost, only to find it unwilling to help her ‘because of the human children of their town that had been disrespecting their eternal slumber’. Maven had to admit that she’d had to make an effort not to laugh when their spirit worker told this story, but unless she had a death wish, she should not let Johanna in on this. It wasn’t lying, she told herself. It was simply not snitching on Hilda. Besides, since Johanna wasn’t a witch, Maven shouldn’t even be telling her any of that to begin with.

“What about you?” She asked, trying to shake the ghosts away from her mind. “What are you doing out here in this storm?”

“Oh, I came for art supplies.” Johanna pointed at the shopping bag on the backseat. “Wasn’t quite this bad when I left home. I wonder what on earth brought on this crazy weather.”

“Oh, weather spirits undoubtedly.” Maven said as she took off her gloves, rubbing her hands together for warmth.

“Weather spirits?”

“Yes, I can sense they’re the ones behind this. Besides, the coven has been observing some very unusual weather spirit activity in town. We could be here for a while.”

Looking worriedly at the sky, Johanna only noticed that Maven was offering her something when she all but shoved it under her nose. She blinked, picking a cupcake up on her hands. It was still warm and exhaled a sweet apple scent, with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top of it.

Maven’s left hand was inside a paper bag, which Johanna assumed was what she’d been trying to protect from the snow when she’d been outside. After taking another cupcake, she folded the bag closed.

“One of the witches made too many cupcakes and brought them to give us. Very convenient to have them right now.”

“Oh, that smells lovely.” Johanna said. “Are you sure you don’t want to take it home for yourself? I’m not going to starve if I have to wait a few more hours to eat.”

Maven smiled right before taking a bite of her own cupcake, shaking her head fondly in exasperation.

“I’m your girlfriend, Johanna.” She said when she finished chewing. “If I don’t feed you, who will?”

Johanna rolled her eyes playfully as she brought the cake to her lips, humming in satisfaction at the sweet taste. Along with seeing Hilda happy and with new friends, her newfound relationship with Maven was what made her be thankful every day that they’d moved back to Trolberg.

“So, these weather spirits.” Johanna began while each of them focused on their sweet. “Any idea of why they went haywire?”

“Hard to tell, really. They’ll pick fights with each other over anything, but for a storm this strong it has got to be an enormous gathering of them. I honestly don’t know what could have caused this, but one of the elders specifies in weather magic. Maybe he knows, I’ll ask him about it when he goes to the library with the initiates.”

Frowning, Johanna felt herself getting more worried.

“So there’s no way to know when this will stop.”

“I’m afraid not.” Noticing her girlfriend’s unease, Maven tried to catch her gaze, but Johanna seemed to look everywhere but at her. “Anna? Are you okay?”

“I’m just a little worried about Hilda.” She answered. “She’s alone at home with Alfur. I told her to stay put, but even so… she’s just a kid, and if anything happens, she has no way to talk to me.”

“Hey.” Maven put a hand on Johanna’s shoulder, trying to ground her to the moment and not leave her to imagine every bad scenario she could. “I know I don’t know her like you do, but from what you’ve told me she’s a smart and brave little girl. She’ll be fine. If you want to worry about anything, I’d suggest worrying about us at the moment. We’re due to become icicles any minute now.”

Johanna chuckled, grateful for Maven being with her in that moment. She always seemed to know what to say to make her feel better.

“Yeah, you’re right.” She sighed, relaxing the weight of her body against the seat and taking one more bite. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw that Maven had taken a pen out of her pocket and was now scribbling something on the paper bag the cupcakes had been on.

“I’m not kidding, if this storm gets any worse I don’t know if the car’s heating will keep up.” She said when Johanna shot her a questioning look. “I don’t have many sigils memorized, but luckily Ruth packed a heat one with the cupcakes. I’ll just activate a few and we should be fine.”

Indeed, on top of her tight there was a small paper square with a doodle in it, which Maven had already copied three times on the bag, and was now doing a fourth one. If Johanna saw that symbol and no one told her of its meaning, she’d wave it off as some sort of stylized drawing of a spider, or perhaps of a flame from a certain point of view, so she was glad to be with someone who knew better.

After finishing the drawings, she put the pen aside and began to carefully rip the sigils from each other. When she had the four pieces of paper, she pressed the first one against her window and recited some words that Johanna couldn’t recognize. Listening to witch language always felt singular to Johanna, like even though she’d never learned it, something deep inside her felt awake when she heard it, like it was in her blood. She’d asked Maven about it once, receiving the answer that this wasn’t an unusual feeling. The language of witches is the language of the Earth, which we’re all part of, she’d said. Johanna couldn’t say in all honesty that she’d understood, but it had seemed to make sense to her girlfriend so she hadn’t pressed any further.

When she removed her hand from the glass, the paper had disappeared, and only the symbol remained on the window, shining with orange light as if it was on fire. Then, it vanished leaving no trace on the window.

Johanna continued to stare at where the sigil had been while Maven maneuvered herself to the back of the car to repeat the process with the back windows. Magic never failed to leave her astonished.

It registered on the back of her mind that the car was indeed getting warmer, especially when the librarian activated the third sigil on the window behind Johanna’s seat. After Maven had done that too, Johanna felt her put her elbow on her seat, near her neck, leaning the other against the passenger seat. She was kneeling on the car’s floor, practically by Johanna’s side in the gap between the two front seats. The look she was wearing immediately gave away to Johanna that she wanted to talk about something.

“Anna, I wanted to ask you…” She began, proving her right. “When do you think it will be okay to tell her about us?”

“Her?” Johanna frowned.

“Hilda, I mean. Obviously I’ll understand if you want to keep our relationship just between ourselves for some time. But what do you think she’ll think of me?”

Johanna opened a smile and leaned towards Maven, kissing her cheek. When she retreated, she had to bite back a giggle at how flustered her girlfriend looked.

“Hilda will love you.” Johanna answered honestly. She’d admittedly thought about how Hilda and Maven’s relationship would be, and she was afraid, just not the way one would expect. Her fear was that they’d get along a little too much and Johanna would have to run after them every other day, trying to stop them from getting killed at the hands of a magical creature they’d attempted to befriend or a spirit they’d summoned. Though it was possible that there would be some unease between them at the beginning, the thought that they wouldn’t see eye to eye didn’t even sound possible to Johanna.

“The only reason I haven’t told her yet is because she seems to have a lot on her mind right now. Some trouble with her friends, I think, but she won’t tell me yet. But it’s a conversation I want to have with her as soon as she’s alright again.”

Maven looked away from Johanna, now feeling silly for having asked. It wasn’t like her to be insecure like that, but this truly mattered to her. Whether Hilda approved of her or not would be decisive for how far she and Johanna would be able to take their relationship. Besides, if Johanna told her daughter about them, then that would mean that she took their relationship seriously, so she couldn’t help but care about it.

At least Johanna hadn’t taken it the wrong way, her pursed smile as she put a stray lock of Maven’s hair behind her ear telling her that her girlfriend was probably very amused. She could practically hear Johanna calling her ‘adorable’, stopping herself from doing so only because she knew how Maven didn’t like being called cute.

“I’m… very happy to hear you think so. And I hope whatever is troubling Hilda gets solved soon.”

“I do too. Are you done with your sigils already?”

Between her fingers, she was still holding one last piece of paper, and she flickered her wrist so that it was in front of Johanna’s eyes.

“There’s one more, but I’ll need your help this time.”

“How so- oh.” Before Johanna had time to wonder in what way she could possibly help Maven with magic, her girlfriend had already deposited herself in her lap.

Johanna wasn’t one to blush often, but she was certain the heat on her cheeks was not because of the sigils.

“Just keep this up. I only need to activate this one near your corner of the car.”

Maven then pressed her palm with the sigil to the window, repeating the incantation. This time Johanna was distracted by more than just the magic, in a way that she barely noticed it when the casting was finished and the car was filled by cozy warmth.

“That’s good.” Maven said, approving her own work. “I can go to my seat now, if you want me to.”

Realizing that she’d abstractedly put her arms around Maven’s waist, interlacing her fingers near her side, Johanna shrugged and then caught Maven by surprise by learning in to kiss her lips sweetly. It would have been a very romantic cenario, snug with her love while snow piled outside, if only they weren’t there because they were trapped inside a car due to a mysterious storm. Still, she was with Maven and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I don’t want you to go anywhere, dearest.”

_#_#_#_

Maven did go back to her seat eventually, but it was only because Johanna remembered a deck of cards that she kept in the glove compartment and after some time they decided to play something. It didn’t take long at all for the librarian to realize that she was pretty bad at that, but seeing Johanna’s childlike joy every time she won a match, she couldn’t even be annoyed.

Safe and sound inside the car, the storm hadn’t really been on the forefront of their minds. The magic kept them comfortable and the flow of people running from the weather outside was all but nonexistent at that point. But they did realize when the few rays of sunshine that made it through the thick layers of clouds became stronger.

Both of them put their cards down, the change so noticeable that they wanted to get a good look at what had happened. While Maven only lowered her window and stuck her head out, Johanna stepped out of the car to look at the sky.

“At last!” Johanna sighed with relief as the clouds became smaller, making a gap just above them.

From her side of the car, Maven was more interested in another thing she’d noticed than in the changing weather. Either her eyes deceived her, or a thunderbird was flying away at that very moment. What it had been doing in the middle of that tempest was anyone’s guess.

However, they were soon startled by the booming sound of thunder, and watched in stunned silence as one of the remaining clouds seemed to swell unnaturally, darkening at each moment that passed. Johanna closed the door by her side just in time to not get hit by the first drops of water.

They were static while they watched the rain pour down, not believing in the situation even though it was happening right in front of their eyes. Stunned by the abrupt turns, a laugh escaped Johanna’s lips, and soon the absurd picture that she made, laughing like a madwoman while monstrous rain surrounded them made Maven break into giggles as well.

“Well dearest, I think we’re going to be here for even longer.” She said after she had gathered herself enough to form a coherent sentence.

Picking up her girlfriend’s cards as well as her own, she began shuffling them together.

“In that case, I would like a revenge match.”

“Alright, but I warn you that you’ll regret it.”

Huffing in feigned outrage, Maven began distributing their cards, and the ones that were left she put to the side.

“In the end I’m glad, you know.” Johanna said after they began their match, making the librarian frown at her. “For the storm. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t even see you today, let alone spend some time with you.”

“Me too, Anna.” Maven smiled. “Me too.”

#fic: silver lining #my fic #sketchbook ship #sketchbook ship hilda #sketchbook ship fanfic #the hilda librarian fanfic #hilda johanna fanfic

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jaehyun-eclipsed · 4 years

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Before I Met You | Ten

Updates: Sundays, ~8 PM EST

Pairing: NCT (Jaehyun, Lucas, Mark, Jaemin, Johnny) X Reader/OC

Genre: Romance, Angst, Coming of Age

Summary: Four. There were four people before I fell in love with you… Here are their stories.

Before I Met You Masterlist

Prev | Next

“What are you doing?” Jaehyun asks.

He looks down at me as I sit on the floor, boxes and papers scattered around me. A smirk slowly forms on his face, the scene in front of him clearly amusing.

“I’m just going through some of the old papers I’ve saved.” I chuck a stack of papers into a cardboard box. “There’s a lot of stuff from my college days that I haven’t touched in years so I figure I can throw it out.”

Jaehyun’s eyebrows raise in curiosity. He bends down to pick up something that catches his eye. “What are these?”

“Oh! Those are a bunch of polaroids we’ve taken together. I put them in a box each time we took them and since I’m cleaning up and redecorating, I thought I’d make a photo garland with them above my desk.”

“That would be nice – oh! This is from our first date!” He flips to the next photo. “Oh and this was the first night you came over and we watched Before Sunrise together!”

I stand up and lightly grip onto his forearm, leaning my head against him as he continues looking through the photos. “You know, I was quite surprised you suggested we watch that movie.”

“Oh really? Why?”

“It’s an unusual style for a movie; it’s not something everyone would necessarily appreciate,” I say. “I was pretty excited you wanted to watch it though!” I grin up at him. “It’s one of my favorite movies. I watched it for the first time when I was a sophomore in college.”

“I really liked it. It was really interesting and I was impressed at how it kept you focused the entire time even though it was so simple.”

I let go of his arm as he hands me back all the photos.

“I have a couple emails I need to send, but for dinner I was thinking we could make some pizza? I bought sourdough,” he says.

“Yeah, that sounds great! Let me know when you’re ready!”

He smiles and gives me a light peck on the lips. “I love you.”

I lift my hand to gently caress his cheek before bringing it to the back of his neck to pull him down for another kiss. “I love you, too.”

As Jaehyun leaves the room, I look down at the floor again, spotting my chemistry lab notebook from freshman year. I pick it up and flip through it, seeing that there are still a significant number of blank pages that can still be used. Perhaps I’ll keep it. When I reach the back cover, a sense of nostalgia overcomes me as I scan the many sticky notes containing various equations and important points I needed to memorize for the final. I briefly quirk an eyebrow before breaking out into a smile when I see the light green sticky note at the bottom with a doodle of a smiling watermelon with arms and legs. Mark had drawn it for me when we were studying and hid it in my notebook when I left to use the restroom.

I actually haven’t spoken to Mark in a while. He’s difficult to get a hold of. Last I had heard was that he was doing some service work and traveling. Occasionally, he’d post a picture of himself playing the guitar wherever he was – usually on a beach or for an audience of small children.

Mark will always hold a special place in my heart. My time with him was very limited, but he’s a fond memory I’ll always hold dear. He was the first real friend I had in college – the first person away from home I ever felt comfortable speaking to. For me, he was the sign that things were going to be okay.

He was right though. Things did get better as I progressed through college. I moved out of the dorms and found a better roommate. I made some new friends that I could call up and hang out with. Studying was still difficult, but I did figure out what worked in order for me to be successful. It’s still not a place I miss, but I do appreciate all of the opportunities I had. And on the rare occasion I had the chance to talk to Mark, he was always so excited to hear that things were going relatively well. He ended up being someone I told a lot of my boy problems to, and though he didn’t have a ton of advice every time, he was always amused by my stories.

However, there was one time – the summer before I graduated college – where he did have some advice that really helped me. That was the last time I saw him in person.

I do miss him.

Sadly, we didn’t contact each other that much after he went to London. The time difference made it a challenge and whenever one of us was available, the other wasn’t. I felt like the universe was trying to tell me something.

I do remember one phone call we had though. That call broke my heart.

Is it even possible to have your heart broken by someone who was just a friend?

Because Mark was the first person to ever break my heart… and break it twice.

“Hey! I went to Derbyshire the other day. You’d love it! It’s so beautiful!” he said. “And Chatsworth House is gorgeous. No wonder you like that movie so much. They chose some good filming sites.”

“It’s a very aesthetically pleasing movie!” I remarked. “I’m so jealous though. You got to live my Elizabeth Bennet dreams.”

“Yeah! You should come visit considering I’m going to be staying here for two more years.”

“Wh – what?”

“Yeah! Shortly after I got here, I was looking into transferring and college here is usually three years so the timing kinda works out. The UK normally doesn’t like transfers, but since I’m here, I figured some stuff out with their counselors.”

I was happy for him, truly. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want him to come back considering our time together was so short. There was so much more I wanted to talk to him about. He was different and he embraced being different. He was always so comfortable in his own skin and had a carefree spirit that was easy to be around. Mark truly enjoyed life – with all of its complexities and particularly its simple pleasures.

Honestly, I didn’t think Mark could say anything else that would have been as devastating as when he told first told me he was leaving.

But I was wrong. Hearing him decide to stay there for longer than he had originally planned was equally heartbreaking. It’s hard when you’re waiting for someone to come back and they don’t when you expect them to. I even get a little disappointed when Jaehyun says a business trip has to be extended for a couple days. But that’s nothing compared to two years.

Timing.

The timing was never right for us.

But one thing’s for sure: Mark kept his original promise.

Dear Y/N,

Hello! I’m so sorry it has taken me so long to write to you! Life just gets so busy sometimes! I wanted to thank you again for the journal you gave me. Your note was so sweet! I don’t know if you noticed, but I was trying not to cry when you gave it to me haha. I also added the pictures we took together. You know, we look pretty cute in them haha!

I hope you know that I live vicariously through you. London is great, but I do miss California! I like hearing about all of the different aspects of your life, especially your boy drama (because who doesn’t like a little gossip) so keep it up! I just wanna let you know that even though I’m 5,000 miles away, I’m always a call/email/letter away! If you need me, I’m here!

I’m really grateful I got to know you, even if it was only for a little bit. I do wish we had met earlier, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to remain friends even after I return! Once you become friends with me, you’re stuck with me forever haha :) But please stay in contact with me! Sincerely, I think you’re incredible.

I hope everything this semester is going swell for you! Sounds like you’re taking on a lot, but I know you can do it! As you know, I’m not the most gifted in chemistry, but if you need anything else, just let me know!

One last thing: Keep up being amazing! Good luck trying to keep all these boys off you, but I’m sure they know when they’ve met an incredible find. It’s not often you meet a girl who is kind, pretty, smart, and funny; so I doubt you’ll be able to keep them away for too long!

Anyway, I hope you continue to write me letters sometimes! Isn’t it fun to have a pen pal?! I love hearing about what you’re up to! So keep me posted!

Love, Mark

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Before I Met You Masterlist Masterlist

#nct #nct 127 #nct u #wayv #jaehyun #jung jaehyun #jung yoonoh #nct jaehyun #nct lucas #lucas wong #wong yukhei #mark lee #nct mark #superm #nct x reader #nct fluff #nct angst #before i met you

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stygiantarot · 5 years

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Everyday Witchcraft

Taught on The Alexandria Archives, 7/1/19  ~~~~ I have been incorporating witchcraft and magic into my daily routine for over a decade now. Some of my personal favorite ways are enchanting daily objects like wallets, keys, phones; simple daily kitchen witchcraft like morning cups of tea or coffee, toast/bagels, cereal; and using a shower to do more intensive cleansing and energy work than a simple rinsing of your skin and hair. ~~~~

Why is everyday witchcraft important?

Connection to the world around you: the very central commonality amongst witches and practitioners of varying types and paths is connection. We are connected more than the average person. Connected to life, to love, to death, to the Earth, to the cosmos, to our ancestors, entities, spirits, deities. We are those that understand the sum is greater than the parts deeply. It’s important to maintain that connection. 

Connection to spirits: this can be any type of entity- ancestor, astral, nature, guides, familiars, etc. Being able to regularly communicate with these entities requires upkeep and practice- just like playing an instrument or participating in a sport or exercise activity. It’s a muscle! 

Connection to Deity: If you are theistic, daily connection to your deities is important to keep that relationship meaningful and rewarding for you. It can not only help deepen your direct connection with the deity, but it also helps you steer clear of feeling negative about yourself for “falling behind” or becoming “fractured” in your worship. Worship does not have to be time consuming or costly. It can be done in a daily fashion. It’s all about building habits and routines. 

Connection to Self: As I’ve said in past lessons, you are the absolutely most important tool at your disposal. You need special time daily to help hone that tool and take care of it. There are likely things you already do self-care wise that you haven’t counted as “witchcraft”- guess what? It is! Witchcraft isn’t just the casting of spells, crafting of rituals and worship, imbuing of objects and charms. It’s taking care of your tools; yourself included! 

~~~~~

Creating a schedule

Your life is your own, and only you know how much time, effort, and energy you can put into things. Take a moment to think about your daily schedule and routine and where there are moments of pause and when there are moments of stress and movement.  Don’t beat yourself up or force yourself to be the perfect witch - they don’t exist.  

Take it slow, instead of trying to add a million habits at once. The way a habit is formed is step-by-step. You want to start with something easy. I’m going to use offerings as an example (who the offering is for doesn’t matter). Start with water. You have a single specific cup or vessel that you have set aside. Fill it with water once a day at a certain time of day (close to the same time, but some fluctuation is fine) and leave it out as an offering. Do this daily until it becomes almost like second nature. You pass the cup at a certain time and you automatically take it to the sink to fill. Then you can build on it! Add a cracker or piece of candy- or light some incense or a candle. Do it multiple times a day. Add additional offerings for other entities. Alter it the way that works for you but that foundation is there. That is the heart of making a routine without it feeling like a “job”. Utilize energy and time when you have it. If you can’t do the same routine seven days a week- that is completely normal. I don’t do the same witchy routine all seven days a week! Plot out the best times you have that extra bit of time or usually have a little bit more energy or focus. Work around those times. Start out small; only add to it if you feel you haven’t hit your comfort level yet. If you’re there with only a couple small things a week, that is absolutely fine! ~~~~

Magic throughout the day

Morning:

Write down any dream notes or thoughts you remember. Even just a flash or emotion you have without clear memory.

Open your curtains. Look outside. Absorb the day’s energy into you; let it temper you for your day’s needs. 

Infuse your morning drink with intent by stirring or adding certain flavors 

Draw simple sigils on toast/bagels with toppings or with a bowl of cereal

Take a moment for some daily divination (using an app counts!)

Light a candle or incense burning for a brief moment of focused meditation/relaxation

Leave your morning offerings

Create a glamour when doing your morning bathroom routine (doesn’t have to involve makeup- you can use water, soap, lotion, sunscreen, or just your fingers! 

Take a moment to enchant your “daily pocket/purse items” (wallet, keys, phone, etc.) with intention needed for the day 

Select or create a special “witchy” playlist or podcast to play during your morning, something with the energy you need to push along! 

On your commute, take a moment to bond/communicate with your deities or spirit companions

Create a personal hydrosol scent and have a small spray bottle of it near your door or in your car. Spritz yourself gently before leaving your home. 

Take a moment when starting your car or get ready to take transportation to charge a safe travel charm (should be actually created in advance, the morning action is only for charging it) 

Drink water, refuel, be gentle with yourself. The morning can be intense.

At school:

Doodle sigils on your books and folders

Charge your pencil and pens to let words flow easily

Carry a focus stone or object with you and rub it during lectures to help focus. Then rub it again later while studying the same information.

Swirl a bottle of water before drinking to draw energy to you or banish negativity away. Flavor the water with intention.

Recharge a glamour by playing with hair, clothes, jewelry, accessories  -Stretch when you need to! Take your time walking to a class when you can. Notice the world around you. Reflect.

Practice reading energy fields and other clairsentience types things with fellow classmates or teachers (respect passive boundaries)

Sigils and enchantments on your laptops and phones related to classwork

Dedicating study sessions to your deities

Color correspondences for supplies or clothing

Bring a snack that imbues needed intent

At work:

Enchant your work clothes with intention you feel you need (communication, patience, efficiency, luck, etc.)

Use a specific sigil-based home or lock screen on your phone while at work for additional intention.

Take any moment you can to observe something outside; even through a window or door on your way in or out. Remember that though you may not be amongst it for a chunk of the day, it remains there. Waiting.

If you’re on a break, take an extra minute or two to just close your eyes and recharge. Commune with spirits or deities. Feel yourself piece by piece and think about what your body does for you during the day while you are focused elsewhere.

Bring a plant or crystals into your workspace

Ward and cleanse your workspace

Charm your phone with a sweet talking spell or other action needed for work

  Evening:

Take a moment to decompress. Do not think about plans or the rest of the week. Just look outside and think about how the sun is leaving the sky and soon the moon will appear. Stars will wink at us from that black tapestry. The ground below you and nature around you is cooling off for the day, settling down with the murmur of nocturnal creatures.

Greet any housemates, physical or not and notice their energy and how it might mingle with yours briefly upon your arrival. Notice if you or your housemates energy behaves any differently if you mood is different; whether you directly tell them or not.  

Do some simple kitchen witchcraft for dinner (stirring and basic seasoning is intent!)

Take a moment to research a correspondence or other witchy aspect you’ve been curious about. Write it down on a note in your phone or a prepared scrap sheet for your grimoire/journal.

Write down any thoughts or ideas of a more intensive spell or ritual you’d like to try when you have some time. Write the supplies and time you’d need for it. Think about the ideal way to accomplish it.

Do some meditation, or commune with deity/entities, or do some shadow work (this is a good time to charge your phone as well; a little ways away)

Turn household tasks and chores witchy. Cleanse your dishes energy-wise and recharge them for health and prosperity while you put them away in the cupboards. Sprinkle spell powders on the floor right before vacuuming to release their intent while sucking up some dirt. Sweep away negative energy. Enchant your washer and dryer to do more than just clean your clothes.

Enjoy some hobby, crafting, binging time! You can incorporate some witchy stuff like knot magic, enchanting, spirit companion bonding, etc or you can just recharge yourself!

Work on a witch talent you enjoy for a little while (divination, spellwork, spirit work, crystals, astrology, kitchen witchcraft, etc.) 

Use your nighttime bathroom routine to deepen your cleansing and grounding before bed. Focus on washing your skin not just removing surface dirt and oil but sloughing off the energy that snagged on you during the day like a stray hair. The worries you focused on. The stress you lingered on.

Draw sigils of peaceful sleep and happy dreams, healing, luck on you with lotion or creams.

Brush your teeth in counterclockwise circles to banish negativity

Splash your face with some water playfully. Remember what it is to feel, to touch, to enjoy the simple things. Let yourself chuckle or giggle.

Make sure you drink water!

Have a “sweet dreams” hydrosol by your bedside to spritz on your sheets before lying down.

Arrange your favorite bedside crystals. Touch them, recognize them, greet them.

Say hello to the moon. Share your secrets and worries. Let the moon keep them.

Say goodnight to your deities and spirit companions

#Witchcraft 101 #Everyday witchcraft #basic witchcraft #simple witchcraft #beginner witchcraft #witchy #TAA #stygian original #witchblr #witch tips

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loyalflutist · 5 years

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Birthday Gift (F!Byleth x Edelgard)

Rating: Teen and Up Audience Archive Warning: N/A Word: 1,452 Summary: Byleth is a wonderful professor thanks to her past occupation as a mercenary. However, every Sunday, she's always seen holed up in her private quarter. Today is her birthday, and she has yet to take a step out of the room! That's when Edelgard comes in and coerce her with a simple gift.

A/N: This is a birthday fiction for one of my longtime writing colleague and friend. Happy Birthday, Kate! Let’s continue to gush over Dorothea and Edelgard together.

---

Byleth was inside of the dormitory room, shut inside for this Sunday, and scratching on a scroll with a feather pen. The black ink made choppy movements, triangles, squares, and arrows recreated on the durable surface. A bead of sweat crawled down at a snail-like pace on the side of her face as the teal-haired narrowed her eyes. One glance over her shoulders showcased a sheet littered with mishaps. It was difficult to draw any correlations with the drawings and notes.

‘ What in Fodlan is she doing? ‘

That’s the sort of thought that immediately came to most anyone’s mind. Not even Edelgard was immune to it when she barged into the room and, with occupied hands behind her back, looked over her teacher’s shoulders.

Although it was made clear that Byleth forbade those to enter her closed bedroom without permission, this noble was an exception. It would be wrong to treat your significant other this way, right? Rules are meant to be broken at times with those you love.

Feeling the 18-year-old gaze poke and prod at her work, Byleth paused. There was no way she’s able to concentrate under these circumstances. She raised her head and blinked. Edelgard didn’t wait for her girlfriend to turn around, a peck placed on the teacher’s cheek.

“Professor, I—”

“…want to ask for help on an assignment, yes?”

“Yes… How did you know what I wanted to ask?”

“It was a guess.”

“That didn’t seem like a guess.”

“You’re right. Let me correct myself: It was an EDUCATED guess.”

“Professor, really?”

“Really.”

That was a bit on the creepy side. It even made the great Adrestian Empire’s princess hitch her breath and heart thump harder against her chest! How Byleth’s reasons boiled down to this educated guess is up for speculations. Not that Edelgard wants to argue with her instructor about it. Byleth was known for being a good guesser. Probably a bit too good. Maybe human reasoning will not suffice. She shook off the itchy curiosity.

“Anyway, now that you know my reason for being here, would it be fine if you can take a look at this?”

Edelgard’s hands behind her back parted and extended forward. A small, red box tied with a yellow ribbon was presented. That’s clearly a present. The question is… for what occasion? Byleth reached for the object in question. Its size fits on her palm and it was light as if it held nothing. She raised an eyebrow.

"Edelgard, what is this?”

“That’s what I want to ask you. Can you open it, please?”

Did… the noble look a bit giddy? Byleth knew this was a present, but she wasn’t sure what could be in it that made Edelgard look like an animated puppy. As per request, the older female cautiously pulled apart the ribbons. It untangled itself with a single motion and left the box to be opened. The spirit of inquiry gnawed at her consciousness as she lifted the lid.

“A necklace?”

The Adrestian Empire’s princess nodded. Then, she swung her arms around to keep Byleth from rising. Fingers interlocked with each other, Edelgard nestled her chin near her professor’s head and watched the woman observe the silver ornament. This necklace was unlike any other. Compared to the more decorated ones, this one was plain and simple, the silver chains connected to one another. What stood out was a small, teardrop-shaped ruby encased in the precious metal. Byleth allowed a thumb to gently rub on the stone’s surface.

“This is really beautiful… I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It took some time to find a jewelry maker who would allow me to take part in the process. I have to admit, I have the utmost respect for those who make these crafts.”

Byleth faintly hummed.

“Are you bribing me, El?”

“Why in Fodlan would I bribe you?”

“For you to pass next week’s class.”

Edelgard puffed her cheeks. “Very funny, Professor. If I wanted to, I would’ve done something more than give you a gift.”

“So… it’ll be more gold.”

“NO!”

“Diamonds?”

“Professor, could you please take this seriously?”

“Sorry. I know you don’t mean materialistic gifts.”

“Sometimes I don’t even know why I’m in love with you—”

“It’s sex, isn’t it.”

“…”

Edelgard’s jawlines became prominent as waves of heat scrambled up to her head. There goes that cheeky attitude from her professor. Had Edelgard’s arms not been occupied by hugging the older woman, she would have stretched Byleth’s cheeks. Actually— that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. The girl’s fingers tugged at her face. This caused Byleth to showcase the rare yelp and multiple “ow!” tumbling out of her mouth. Compared to the first time they’ve met, this usually stoic (and sometimes sarcastic) woman is on a whole new league of embarrassment when they’re privately together. She really needs to work on her social etiquettes.

Not that Edelgard hated that, mind you. This part of Byleth was cute.

When she released her pinch, she added,

“Happy Birthday, Byleth.”

That froze the adult in her chair. Birthday… That’s right… Today was that day.

There were many things Byleth didn’t know about herself, but Jeralt confirmed that the day she was born was the day he would never forget. After all, it was the same day that her mother and his wife died giving birth to the child. It just appears that today, Byleth was so engrossed with holing up inside her private quarter just like every other weekend, this important occasion flew over her head.

The teal-haired shifted her gaze over to Edelgard nearby. She was greeted with the signature smile that would swoon everyone in the room, male and female. Byleth glanced downward at the present again. She squeezed her eyes shut. When she reopened them, the necklace was still in her grasp. She was never one to celebrate birthdays, but the fact that Edelgard took the time out of her day to get her something… Byleth’s eyes moistened.

‘ No matter how many times this happens, I will never get used to it. ‘

She rapidly blinked, successful at keeping the dam from cracking.

“Thank you, El.”

Edelgard broke her hold on the older woman. She used this time to place and adjust the necklace around her girlfriend’s neck as asked. Once the ex-mercenary rose up from her seat and turned around for another thankful gesture, a quick kiss was stolen. Byleth blinked as the young lady threw strands of white hair from behind with a flick of her wrist.

“Let’s get lunch. I assume you have yet to eat anything?”

“I haven’t.”

“Perfect. Everyone is waiting for you at the cafeteria.”

It was the perfect plan for the day. So far, it was all according to the noble’s schedule. There would be a birthday celebration in the cafeteria with everyone from all three Houses, soldiers, and staffs to commemorate the important day. A big feast waits for them for lunch and dinner. Afterward, Edelgard hopes for the two to stargaze and think about their future together. Topics about becoming an emperor and the burden of politics would be off-limit, of course. The last thing she needs is to sour their entire evening.

As the two approached the closed, wooden barrier, Edelgard glanced over at the desk. Although this was not the time, she had to ask. Otherwise, it would nag her for the rest of the week.

“By the way, what were you writing earlier? There’s something about the Divine Pulse written on there—”

Byleth captured the student’s lips once more. This time, it was with even more vigor than usual. It forced Edelgard to squeeze her eyes shut and whimper once she felt the other’s teeth graze upon her lower flesh. Byleth’s hands immediately supported the noble as they backed into the bed. They both barely parted before the older went in for another round. This time, her hands touched, pressed, strummed, massaged, swiped, and fingered the eventual half-naked Edelgard. The professor’s weary eyes were fixated upon the now-groaning girl.

“Change of plan. I think I’ll have a snack first.”

Lunch and dinner can come afterward. There’s nothing wrong with a quickie. Besides, Byleth felt restless this entire morning. Edelgard only furthered it after mentioning the scroll.

“B-Byleth!” she gasped in-between the hot sensations. “You— You still didn’t answer my question.”

That was right. The reason why she doodled and wrote on the scroll like a madwoman… Her features hardened as she buried her face into Edelgard’s shoulder. Flashbacks flickered through her mind, its imagery and auditory aspects dangerously vivid. She picked up the pace in showering love to the white-haired as she grumbled,

‘ I wanted to save you. ‘

“It’s for tomorrow’s lesson plan.”

#loyalflutist #one shot #os #fan fiction #fan fic #f!byleth x edelgard #edelgard #byleth #fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #;alskdjf;alsjkdf #happy birthdayyyy katey the perry #ps you better be uploading those edelgard/byleth and dorothea/byleth pieces soon #edeleth

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houseofvans · 6 years

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ART SCHOOL | INTERVIEW WITH LITTLE MADI | FRANCE

Paintings by the artist known as Little Madi is filled with a surreal and dream-like pastel landscapes filled with symbols and chimeras. Not only one thing, this freelance artist, painter and illustrator is also a tattoo artist who will be opening a tattoo studio in September! Let’s find out more about Madi – her artistic journey, her inspirations, and her work . . .

Photograph courtesy of the artist | Portrait by Boris Frantz.

Introduce yourself? My name is Madi. I’m an artist currently living in Biarritz. I have an art studio there and I feel really lucky because I get to see the ocean everyday. :)

Tell us a little about your artistic journey. How did you start from doodling and drawing to what you do now? I draw all the time, I always carry a notebook that I fill with notes, quotes, sketches and ideas. This is the starting point of all my work. For a canvas, I prepare a sketch from which I start my background. I try to work in layers; I spend a lot of time looking at my work; I analyze it and then I add some details step by step. I love to get lost in this process– It gives me the feeling that the composition is created by itself. I’m constantly searching for the best balance between colors, harmony and details.

How would you describe your work to someone who is just coming across it? My work is surreal and dreamlike inspired by my emotions and how I feel. I create an imaginary world filled with female characters, scenes involving animals, humans, chimeras, flowers and natural elements. My painting is both singular, intimate and endearing. I paint because I need to. It’s a private universe free from any boundaries. I always have trouble to define my style of painting because I constantly have the need to make it evolve and to give it a style of its own.

Who and what were some of your early artistic influences? What artists inspire you these days? I’m inspired by everything that surrounds me, the people I see, a landscape, a precise moment, a sensation, a song, a memory … I’m in love with artistic movements like the surrealism & dadaism. I’m also really inspired by Picasso, Matisse, Henri Rousseau, Jean Cocteau, André Breton & Jerôme Bosch ( to name a few :) I also love different cultures and civilizations: the Mayans, Egypt, Mexico, African art ...

How has your style of drawing changed or evolved? What lead and allowed you to grow artistically? My style of drawing has evolved from a very detailed black & white style towards more colorful paintings. My work logic stays the same, but I visualize my ideas in colors and shapes in a different pictorial movement. I think that it is a logical evolution I grow, I learn, I change and my style evolves with me. What pushes me to evolve is my will of authenticity and sincerity. I try to be guided by my instincts. I am lucky to be surrounded by other artists it is a really positive energy: we share our thoughts, exchange ideas and listen to each other.

You’ve been working more with color and paints vs. drawing or working in black and white. When did you start working with paints and what do you enjoy about it that you might not have gotten from working with pen on paper? I started to paint when I was at the school of La Cambre in Brussels. Once I graduated, I worked as a freelance artist, and I did a lot of black & white illustrations. When I started my tattoo apprenticeship, a strong will for color and painting came back to me. It was like an evidence that I had to be more spontaneous– to get out of a frame and to escape. I always followed my instincts when I started a black & white drawing. I never had a clear idea of the result. It is the same thing now with my paintings, but the working process and the path I have to follow give me a more intense satisfaction. This new medium gave me the possibility to work on a bigger scale and to accept mural projects in different cities like: Biarritz, Toulouse, Paris, Montpellier, Cape Town, Los Angeles, San Clemente…

Not only do you make paintings and drawings, but you also do tattoo work. How did this first start for you and what do you enjoy so much about it that is different from what make, if at all? It’s my friend Supakitch who gave me the tattoo virus. At first, I was terrified, but he encouraged me a lot to keep going on. Tattooing is a difficult but very rewarding practice. It brings me rigor and discipline and especially an intense production of drawings.

Take us through your artistic process? What’s a typical day in the studio like? In general, my daily studio routine starts with a chat with my friend Koralie. Beyond the fact that she is an artist that I admire, we share our workplace, our everyday life our doubts, fears, laughs and joys. Then I take a dive in my notebook with a cup of coffee, and I look for a new idea to start with. I prepare different mediums and canvas in that way that I can go back and forth between them. I can give myself breaks between the different ideas and drawings. Being in the studio is one of my favorite feelings. It’s a place where I can lose track of time and easily escape in my mind.

What are your essential art tools and materials? Pencils, brushes and acrylic paints.

How has this environment or that city influenced the work you create? What’s your favorite thing about residing there? Living in Biarritz brings me stability. It’s a caring, quiet and resourceful environment. It’s also a perfect starting point for all my travels, and I can still find a balance of nature, ocean, and friends.

What has been the most challenging project you’ve worked on? How did you overcome those obstacles and what did you take away from it? Tattooing has been one of the most challenging projects because you have to start all over again by learning a new technique that needs a lot of training. Once you have started you want to get better, and it can get pretty obsessive. It helped me to have more discipline in my artistic work, and it also gave me the opportunity to encounter a lot of interesting people.

What was your last adventure that showed up in one of your illustrations, thematically or just visually? My latest inspiration was my California trip in May. It shows up in my work through color inspirations, shapes and culture: palm trees, the sunlight, the people, music, mid-century design, the landscape …I was there with my best friend Marynn. We did two amazing murals together–one in San Clemente at the Stance office and another one at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in Lemoore.

What advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps and pursue art? Be motivated, passionate and don’t be afraid to work a lot.

What’s your best Art School tip that you want to share with folks? One really important thing that I remember is that making mistakes always leads to new possibilities. And it’s important to take a step back from your work and keep an open minded spirit.

What’s been the largest thing you’ve painted on? How long did that take and what were some of the most challenging and rewarding parts of that project? The largest art work I did was a 26m long and 6m high mural in Montpellier at the Marché du Lez. I worked together with Koralie, Supakitch and Frank Pellegrino and the most challenging part for me was to be good enough because they all are really talented artists. The reward was to spend a week with my friends laughing and painting and the result was beautiful.

What are your favorite style of VANS? Slip-Ons and Old Skools.

Anything you can share that is coming up? I’m opening a tattoo studio with my friend Supakitch. It’s a super exciting project called “En Plein Coeur” . The adventure will officially start in September, and we plan to do a walk-in for the opening on the 1st. I can’t wait !! :)

FOLLOW MADI | Instagram | Tattoo | Website

#Art #Vans #Vans Art #Vans Girls #Art School #Little Madi #Interview #Tattoo #painting

110 notes · View notes

numbur129 · 5 years

Text

Hey there boys, girls, mutants, martians, monsters, monkeys who've advanced to shaving their body's, and occasionally smoking a cigar. And lastly, but not leastly (And it's funny, cuz they are short nd stupid!!) "The self proclaimed most magical of the freaked-up-fuck-faces Tour" MIDGETS MAC DADDY & DA GooooBLER!!! "LETS FUCKING HEAR IT FOR EM!!!" KABOOM!! "Hahaha.... Yeahhh!"

(A random selection of what most would call, "lame-ass" fire works began hissing, zooming away, popping off. Squealing guitar licks echoed off into the distances, whilst confetti fell freely from out the top the menacing skyscrapers above, and then quickly down to the bottom of an "overly-polished, brilliantly made elf-lookin boots of the pointed toe end persuasion", as if the fuck-add purposely looked like some strange mix between a gay leprechaun, and a violently-intoxicated pimp.

And like,honestly, twas abit obvious thuh'olde "Sun Bleached Tur'blumken" whood seent far from eh'z "D'eh-BuhstahhDazes." Though the tiny, little person was dressed impeccably, and had quite thee odd shape T'emm!?. He'd constantly be fucking smirkn to those around him, as if too stupid to realize he was way too flippin deep in, and had ta show off for just a wee bit longer. Then'd be recorded into the record books, for reasons I dont know of. One the weird-fuckers front golden teeths gleamed as the sudden change of lighting bent around his bulbous head. In one, overwhelmingly "gay", awkward, and un-planned, mess'ughz "jig" dance. He land atop his ol single knee, whilst simultaneously tipping his "stupid-fucking" hat, and puffing his dirty, drug crusted, wooden "J00B" brand, "Dooble-Tube!" He let out a uncomfortable giggle of sorts (as if in pain, perhaps out of breathe, or even just a series of grumbles, and tis burr'bn), then horked up a nice, fur-fuckled looger carelessly onto the nights then carpet covered dance floor. Then leaned back into a "hero like stance", then stood motionless, twisting the end of the other side dove-izz long white stache!

For reasons unknown to the me; "The Author" of said spoken story, has somehow unintentionally, spent the last 45 minutes of this on some weird-oh, nd his unbreakable-focus-like trance on this creepy, little old dude. And decide that, shit was now to change up, move round, and really start "fuckn about". Ta really get a sense of what it's like to initiate sex with an neighbors dog; as well as what it is to get right back inta that, Good ol Gangsta Bap. Sha- "Sell that, Flip this! Kill Cops, work tricks" shits f'all-the bitchasses, and the wheelchair trapped tard-asses egh-duhhh Werld! Suh grab glasses, and do a doo'ler, and t'all-duh too, every one-uh "Little Dee, 'N Uh-Stinky-Dink's" multiple MILLION-DALLOR-DEAL!!! MUH-FUKN, READY-KNO, THATS-FLIPPN-RIGHT, RAVING Fans. And once again, done a doodle dang-diddle-dooper. And has fucked the faces ugh many men, women, and other freak of nature wheww dont do it; "Fuck'd my baby's face!" LP, and the all too well known remix, "Uncle Daddy's Creepy Play Pen & The Funkie-Unkie Petting Zoo Bananzah!" Thaz right! Yall heard theh shit hear firsd, y'unn-grateful, dustiedup, dunger-dooz & dunger-duntz!!

So any-fucking-ways, "The fuck it is?!" Lol, word. Shit man... this past, ummm.. started after morning appointment, so 8am to.. what's its about to be? 3:38am?! Holy Mother of a Holy Father?! Darr't, darr't!! Haha, yeah! Honestly, that wasnt all that bad. Gotta say...

But I've recently come to the conclusion that I've really got to work on being a more truthful, helpful, and as knowledgeable a person inside-ugh-muh friend groups, as to the outside stranger. And all the caring family's, and other random gathering meat, bone, and the occasional positive "kitty-poster", frum time-duh, time!!

Word. To be honest, I've really got to just not fuckn lie to myself. Put myself down, really wanta start them out with those few first lil changes, choices, and ultimately improvements towards bettering the life around me, that I want. And tah make meaningful advancements in my current personal recovery program. Z'well as workn on, and becoming a completely content, productive member of the community we lives in. To work daily, towards a fulfilling place of residence; stabal positioning within the buisness feild of choice, and the hard-earn'd respect of others I'd goften to know, and eventually wholeheartedly, "really cared for" people, nd one day; maybe sooner then way, way muh'Fukhn away. And some day will actually be able to like the person I had fought to became.

A promise; To better my overall health; both physically, mentally, at someday in the future, "OMEGA-SPIRIT ENERGY VF."

Ughnd juz-wanna hangle out, and really getta Blubber-Vuk; not to those whom Weiner iz-ugh wigglin. But to the proud, and brave. The few, the reasonable.. "They"MAKE, AND STAY ugh-WIGGLIN THE WEENURD, AND NOTHING BUT THAT THERE WEEN!!!

...Hey, yeah it's really me. Lol, sorry bout that. If it was far from your norm; and this kinda just, HAPPENED TO YOU. Lol, seriously though. I've been working, writing currently. In my newest addition to my many ways of approach: I've started experimenting with "stream of conciousness" writing. Where you record your minds thoughts, and without any choice, second thought, er really anything other then the ability to open flood gates. I allow my mind to organically grow ideas, thoughts, things, and then let them out on there own and watch the streams mix, flood, destroy. Play with one another, create a new, and in the end; am left with.. ugh? Sheesh, who's really knows, ya know? Kinda attribute this overall vibe, strange choice of dream like situations, and the incorporation of weird-oh, "Alien-like" Pseudo-Town Drunkard. And really, if you havent noticed the influence yet, lol, maybe it's nothing alike. But would just like to shout out one of my all time favorite books, "Naked Lunch", and honestly, just kinda wanna leave this ever so strange complement here with it, "I love you. So dream-like. Surreal, yet disturbingly diffrent. Mr. William S. Burroughs: You really, truly are... a stranger lost within a strange land."

❤The Bizarre... & "BEYOND!"❤

☮❤😄☮❤😄☮❤😄

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raediation · 6 years

Text

Get to Know the Writer

tagged by @party-with-books

1. Pen or Pencil?

I always journal with my Piolet pens. I like decorating the pages and doodling with my entries and pens are so much fun.

2. Have you ever drawn your OCs?

In high school they were all I drew, I have stacks of notebook paper in my closet covered in doodles of them. It’s been a year or so since I’ve drawn any of them, though, you can find them on my tumblr.

3. Does your writing ever make you cry?

My narratives don’t usually go that deep, but I cry a lot when I journal hahahaha

4. If your muse was a person, what would they look like?

hmm... what an odd thing to ask, but let’s give it a go... My muse is a total flake, long hair, flower crown, bare feet, and just runs wild all day. I can’t pin her down to save my life, but sometimes I’ll be minding my own business and suddenly she’ll walk up and hand me a random "treasure” she found.

5. Which of your pieces would you choose to be remembered for?

I haven’t written anything worth remembering yet.

6. How much have you written or worked on your WIP so far today?

None at all, I don’t really have any "half done” works right now... I need to finish Trail of Red eventually and video editing-wise I still need to track down male voice actors for the dub, nearly all the guys i’ve casted ghosted...

7. Have you ever based a piece or a portion of a piece on a dream?

I have a few OCs based on people I’ve met in dreams, I’ve drawn them, but I haven’t written them yet.

8. Do you prefer silence, a little noise (music, ambient noises, fan, etc.) or a lot of noise when you are writing?

I went through a phase last year of working in silence, or at least having white noise (like wind, rain, or train tracks) to drown anything else out. I started doing that because of this video... At some point these last few months I started listening to stuff in the background again, but remembering this video makes me want to go back to silence.

9. Do you have any routines before you sit down to write?

Zero... I usually procrastinate by cleaning my room and my desk, but that’s me being stubborn, not a ritual.

10. Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo or a Camp?

No and I don’t ever plan to. It sounds like too much and there are other ways to write a novel. My muse is too much of a free spirit hahaha, but I do respect the self discipline it takes. I could really stand to learn some.

#writer's meme

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animationnut · 7 years

Text

To Gravity Falls, From Piedmont: Chapter 21

Summary: It’s a long way until next summer. Until then, Dipper and Mabel share their daily antics and life problems with their lifelong friends and attentive great-uncles through an endless string of e-mails. Distance makes the heart grow fonder after all, and there’s no place Dipper and Mabel love more than Gravity Falls.

Chapter List

To: Mabel Pines (ShootingStarRainbowUnicorn); Dipper Pines (GhostHarasserfan); Stanford Pines (Highsixer); Stanley Pines (StantheMan); Soos Ramirez (QuestionMarkDude)

From: Wendy Corduroy (Lumberchick)

Subject: Greatest snowman to ever exist

1 Attachment (Photo File)

This wicked snowstorm means no school, and no school means complete freedom. My brothers and I worked together to build this snowman, which is totally the best snowman ever created and you can't tell me otherwise.

See all messages in this thread (Expand)

Mabel Pines: Oh my gosh! It's amazing! How much tape did you need to use to get it to hold up the axe?

Wendy Corduroy: About two rolls. But it's okay. They look like bandages covering a really nasty wound.

Dipper Pines: Whose ushanka did you steal to give it a hat?

Wendy Corduroy: My brothers had to draw straws. Glen lost.

Stanley Pines: You don't know how much I wish I was in Gravity Falls right now. Soos, take a baseball bat to it!

Soos Ramirez: No way, Mr. Pines. Snowmen have a right to exist too.

Wendy Corduroy: Don't be jealous just because you know you could never craft a good a snowman as mine.

Stanford Pines: I suppose you know what you're about to start with a comment like that.

Stanley Pines: It's on, Missy. I'll make a snowman that'll kick yours to the curb and steal its wallet.

Stanford Pines: I'll admit you've always been creative, but your crafting skills have never been up to par.

Soos Ramirez: Mr. Pines made all the exhibits at the gift shop. He's the best crafter there is.

Stanley Pines: You tell him, Soos. Poindexter may be able to invent weird gadgets, but he knows nothing about artsmanship.

Stanford Pines: First of all, that's not a word. Second of all, you don't need to be a genius (which I am) to beat you in a snowman building contest.

Wendy Corduroy: Ah yeah! Here comes the smack-down! My entry is already done. Feel free tearing each other apart for my entertainment. I've clearly won.

Soos Ramirez: Your lumberjack snowman is pretty rad, but I've been building snowmen for years. Abuelita said I was the best at it. Dunno if you can beat that.

Stanley Pines: All right Ford, looks like we're making a detour to a wintry place. I've got some hopeful souls to crush. Especially yours.

Mabel Pines: Woo-hoo! Let the games begin!

School bag slung over one shoulder, Dipper entered the kitchen to retrieve a can of soda from the fridge. He popped the tab with one hand while he used the other to dig his phone out of his pocket. He read through Wendy's email to see the comments made after his, eyebrow raising.

"Mabel, encouraging them makes it worse!"

His sister appeared in the entryway, Waddles skittering behind her on the hardwood floor. "They would have turned it into a competition anyway. I'm just showing my support."

Dipper sat down at the kitchen table and dropped his bag to rest by his sock-clad feet. He studied the picture Wendy had attached to her e-mail again, grinning at the ice and snow creation that loomed a head taller than the redheaded female. There was a dark brown ushanka pulled over the top, smallest snowball, a pair of acorns for eyes, a broken handle of a pick for a nose and the metal handle (from what Dipper assumed to be the same pick) for the mouth. There was a red plaid wool jacket shrugged over the middle snowball and through the arms of the jacket were two thick pieces of chopped wood. At the ends of the wood were frayed white work gloves. Attached to the right glove was an axe, held in place by black tape.

"Isn't it cool?" sighed Mabel wistfully, peering over her brother's shoulder. "I like California, but the problem is that we don't get snow days. While we were doing math Wendy was making a snowman."

"How cruel life can be," quipped Dipper.

Mabel poked the back of his neck. "Come on. As much as you love school you'd love a snow day."

"I would," Dipper failed to deny. "But that's not going to happen. We'll just have admire the snowmen from afar and be with them in spirit."

Propping her chin against the top of Dipper's head, Mabel wondered, "What do you think Grunkle Ford will build?"

"Probably something to do with his research. If he doesn't do a life-size sculpture of the abominable snowman I am going to be rather disappointed."

"Grunkle Stan?"

The two fell into a thoughtful silence for a moment. After a while, Dipper replied, "I honestly couldn't begin to imagine. But I doubt it'll be appropriate."

To: Wendy Corduroy (Lumberchick); Dipper Pines (GhostHarasserfan); Mabel Pines (ShootingStarRainbowUnicorn); Stanley Pines (StantheMan); Stanford Pines (Highsixer)

From: Soos Ramirez (QuestionMarkDude)

Subject: Behold the beauty

1 Attachment (Photo File)

Yo, dudes.

No offense, Wendy, your snowman was super cool, but mine's super cooler. It sparkles and it has some oomph to it. I just wanna thank my inspiration for motivating my creativity. Couldn't have done it without you.

Soos out!

Lying on her back in the soft grass, Mabel splayed out, absorbing the sun's rays. Waddle laid across her stomach, nibbling at the hem of her light blue fleece sweater. Dipper was beside her, reclining against a looming oak tree, nose buried in a book. They were both distracted from their peaceful relaxing as their phones beeped in unison, alerting them to a notification.

Mabel grunted as she sat up, careful not to dislodge Waddles completely. She moved her sunglasses to rest on top of her head so she could get a better look at the screen. Her eyes lit up when she realized Soos had completed his entry in the impromptu snowman contest and eagerly clicked the attachment.

Positioned in front of the icicle-covered Mystery Shack was a life-size sculpture of Melody. The hair was made of strands of hay, packed closely together so that it seemed like it had density to it. A pair of sapphire-coloured plastic gems were used for eyes. A purple jacket hung on its arms and torso and somehow Soos had managed to attach a pair of jeans.

"Wow," said Dipper, eyes wide. "Abuelita was right. Soos is pretty dang good at building snowmen."

"You can't call this a snowman," protested Mabel. "It's a snow sculpture! It's gorgeous!"

"This is definitely going to be hard to beat," said Dipper with a grin.

Wendy Corduroy: Well dang.

Stanford Pines: That has more than just oomph, Soos. Melody must be very proud of this.

Soos Ramirez: Thanks, Mr. Pines! She loved it. But she wishes I would've asked before borrowing her clothes.

Mabel Pines: How did you get the jeans on?

Soos Ramirez: I built the legs first and then had to cut the jeans to fit them on properly. Figured it out after three tries.

Dipper Pines: Uh…does Melody know you ruined her jeans?

Soos Ramirez: Do you think she'll notice?

Stanley Pines: Eh. It's not bad.

Mabel Pines: Are you crazy? It's fantastic!

Wendy Corduroy: Like you can do any better, Mr. Pines.

Stanley Pines: Don't take your bitterness out on me because you so clearly lost. Of course I can do better. Who do you think taught Soos everything he knows?

Stanford Pines: Which probably wasn't very much to begin with.

Stanley Pines: Sure, make fun. I'll be the one laughing when I cream the lot of you.

Dipper Pines: He's got a plan. Those never turn out well.

Mabel Pines: But they're always entertaining!

Soos Ramirez: Good luck Mr. Pines! And Mr. Pines!

Wendy Corduroy: Yeah. This is going to end in disaster—and hilarity.

The voice of her teacher droning in her ears, Mabel's pen scrawled against her paper as she took notes. The shooting star charm of her bracelet clattered softly against the surface of her desk as she moved her wrist back and forth. Heaving a quiet sigh, she shifted her gaze to the clock hanging above the door. There was still an hour before school let out and her brain had already decided to quit for the day.

Mabel paused halfway through her writing of science notes when she felt her cellphone vibrate in her pocket. She peeked over at the teacher, who was facing the chalkboard as he lectured. She positioned her textbook so that it was blocking most of her desk from his sight. She slipped out her cell and held it behind her makeshift barricade, tapping on the e-mail icon.

She grinned widely when she discovered the sender of the e-mail and looked over at her brother, who sat diagonally from her. Dipper gave her a side glance of disapproval, which evaporated when she mouthed 'Grunkle Stan'. His curiosity too great, he did the rare act of taking out his cell in class, tucking his textbook into his lap and keeping the device cloaked behind it.

Stan had sent the e-mail a couple of class periods ago, meaning that they must have missed the initial notification and succeeding ones as their friends commented. The latest remark on Stan's snowman entry finally caught their attention and Mabel could not stop the burst of surprised laughter from escaping.

Turning around, her teacher said sharply, "Do you have something funny to share with the rest of the class, Miss Pines?"

Mabel shook her head, cheeks red not from embarrassment but suppressed mirth. "No sir," she managed to choke out. "Sorry. Just thinking to myself."

Eyes narrowing slightly, he returned to the lesson as their peers gave her odd, sneering looks before going back to their own work, whether it be meticulous notetaking or lazy doodling. Dipper's shoulders were shaking from laughter, his head ducked down as he pretended to focus on the text in their science book. Mabel bit down on her bottom lip and glanced at her phone, staring at the snowman Stan had constructed.

It was a replica of himself made out of snow, wearing his wool beanie, what looked to be grey cloth from a mop making up his hair. Apart from that, the only other article of clothing this Stan snowman was wearing was a speedo. The snowman itself was positioned in the pose of the Thinker. Stan left few details out of his wintry work of art.

Mabel rested her head on the surface of her desk, silent tears of laughter trailing down her cheeks.

To: Mabel Pines (ShootingStarRainbowUnicorn); Soos Ramirez (QuestionMarkDude); Dipper Pines (GhostHarasserfan); Wendy Corduroy (Lumberchick); Stanford Pines (Highsixer)

From: Stanley Pines (StantheMan)

Subject: Now THIS is beauty

1 Attachment (Photo File)

Soos making a snow sculpture of Melody is sweet and all, sure. And let's not even get to Wendy's mundane attempt. I present to you the greatest snowman (and snow sculpture) ever created. Bask in his glory.

See all messages in this thread (Expand)

Wendy Corduroy: Oh. My. Gosh.

Soos Ramirez: Wow. It's a great likeness!

Wendy Corduroy: No. Do not support him with this one. He's a lunatic.

Stanford Pines: I promise you I had no idea what he was up to. If I had the slightest inkling, I would have knocked him out.

Stanley Pines: What's wrong with him?

Stanford Pines: IT, Stanley. A snowman is an 'it'.

Stanley Pines: Then why do they call them snowmen?

Wendy Corduroy: We're not getting off-topic this time. Why, for the love of everything, did you build a snowman of yourself without a shirt, pants, and too-small underwear?

Stanley Pines: It's artistic! Like those life painting classes or whatever. Besides, there's no greater beauty than myself.

Soos Ramirez: It's really detailed.

Wendy Corduroy: Way too detailed. And I've seen this guy in his boxers multiple times. I've seen Soos in his underwear for crying out loud. But this is way more traumatizing.

Stanley Pines: Keep on talking. I've spent my life dealing with jealousy. It just rolls of my shoulders now.

Wendy Corduroy: You are so full of it.

Stanford Pines: Right. I'm off to destroy it.

Stanley Pines: DON'T YOU DARE.

Dipper Pines: I can't believe we're related.

Mabel Pines: No offense, Grunkle Stan, but the only bathing suit I ever wanted to see you in was your old man one-piece.

Soos Ramirez: I didn't know he owned a speedo.

Wendy Corduroy: Now we all know, unfortunately.

Dipper Pines: I thought I was traumatized before. I was wrong. My consolation is that at least it's just a snow-version of him.

Soos Ramirez: It's a good ice model, though.

Wendy Corduroy: If you can look past all of…that, then I guess that it's okay. Explains where Mabel gets her artistic skills, in any case. But seriously, when did this snowman contest become an intricately-carved snow/ice sculpture contest?

Dipper Pines: Well, Soos took it up to the next level, and I think Grunkle Stan would have done this regardless. Wished you hadn't started this whole thing now?

Wendy Corduroy: Nah. I still think my snowman is the best. It's a twist on a classic.

Soos Ramirez: I think mine is the best. But that's just me, dude.

Mabel Pines: Yours is really good. But Grunkle Stan added moles to his snowman.

Wendy Corduroy: What? Like the mole he has on—?

Wendy Corduroy: OH MY GOSH HE DID HE MANAGED TO INCLUDE THE MOLE!

Dipper Pines: Mabel stop laughing! You're going to get us in trouble!

Dipper Pines: Too late.

Mabel Pines: Delete all evidence! Teacher incoming!

To: Dipper Pines (GhostHarasserfan); Mabel Pines (ShootingStarRainbowUnicorn); Stanley Pines (StantheMan); Wendy Corduroy (Lumberchick); Soos Ramirez (QuestionMarkDude)

From: Stanford Pines (Highsixer)

Subject: The original snowman

1 Attachment (Photo File)

Wendy's snowman was certainly a childhood classic, and Soos' was a touching tribute to his girlfriend, I have crafted the original snowman. It is a replica of the creature that roams mountains, causing mysterious disappearances of hikers and skiers. Its existence dates long before the discovery of the recreational activity of building figures out of snow.

See all messages in this thread (Expand)

Stanley Pines: You didn't mention my snowman.

Stanford Pines: Obviously.

Stanley Pines: Hmph. At least I know how to have fun without turning everything into some boring lesson. Seriously, the abominable snowman?

Dipper Pines: Called it. Very good choice, by the way.

Mabel Pines: You made it really tall!

Stanford Pines: Yes, I tried to make it as life-like as possible. It was difficult using a ladder in this icy climate.

Stanley Pines: He fell off of it at least three times. You should see the black eye he got.

Wendy Corduroy: Wow. Is that actual hair you used?

Stanford Pines: You'd be surprised by how much llama hair is shed.

Wendy Corduroy: I'd ask where you are but it would probably be best if I didn't know.

Soos Ramirez: Dude. That's pretty scary.

Dipper Pines: It is pretty realistic. Have you ever seen the abominable snowman, Grunkle Ford?

Stanford Pines: Not yet, but I hope to encounter it soon. However, I've done quite a bit of research and come to the conclusion that this is an accurate representation.

Mabel Pines: You guys are really great when it comes to snowman.

Wendy Corduroy: I could argue with that, but I won't. So which one of us wins?

Stanley Pines: Isn't it obvious?

Mabel Pines: How about we take a vote?

Dipper Pines: Where you have to vote for someone else. You can't vote for yourself.

Wendy Corduroy: I guess that works.

Soos Ramirez: I'm in. But do I have to vote now? This is kinda a tough decision.

Stanford Pines: We can cast our votes tomorrow morning at ten o'clock.

Wendy Corduroy: Our time zone or yours? Wherever you are.

Stanford Pines: Yours.

Stanley Pines: Deal.

Dipper Pines: Then we'll find out the winner tomorrow.

Mabel Pines: May the best snow creation win!

Dipper shook his head in amusement as he set his phone on the coffee table situated in front of the couch. "I have a feeling it might be between Soos and Grunkle Ford. Those two took it up a notch."

"I love Grunkle Stan, but I don't think anyone is going to be able to get rid of that mental image," said Mabel with a giggle.

She studied the picture of Ford's snowman, a towering mass of snow carved in the shape of the yeti. Llama hair covered every inch of the creature, black coals acting as eyes, peering ominously from a curtain of white hair. Icicles hung from the armpits and arms, the hands and feet massive in order to be in proportion to the body.

"It's not fair," she lamented, getting to her knees so she could look over the edge of the couch through the living room window. "They can play in the snow and we just got a rainstorm last night."

"It's a mud wonderland," agreed Dipper. Their entire front yard was damp and soft, the grass nearly swallowed by the thick brown mud. "Too bad there's no such thing as a mudman."

There was a pause as the twins were struck by the same idea. With a beaming smile, Mabel jumped to the floor and declared, "Let's go, brother of mine!"

"We'll make the greatest mudmen in history!" cheered Dipper.

They spared a moment to shrug on their boots and rain slickers before charging out into the misty afternoon. It took a half hour to decide what they should craft and they soon got to work. They gathered piles of mud with shovels and packed it together with their bare hands. For two hours they sloshed about in the mud, hair sticking to their foreheads and boots caking with dirt and grass.

"There!" exclaimed Mabel, wiping droplets of water from her skin and leaving a streak of mud. "It's brilliant!"

Dipper removed his phone from his pants pocket and snapped a picture of the scene. There were seven mud figures rising from the ground, and though they weren't perfect they were identifiable. There was Wendy with her ushanka, which Dipper had removed from his head temporarily, Ford with a long beige jacket, which Mabel had dug from their father's closet, Stan with his tuxedo jacket, tie and eyepatch that Dipper found from their old Halloween costumes, Soos with his green T-shirt and a question mark drawn on it, Waddles in the middle, and on either side of the mud-pig were sculptures of Dipper and Mabel. Dipper had found one of his old hats and vests to use on his mud counterpart, and Mabel had managed to affix a knit jacket and sparkly headband to hers.

"Who says we need snow to have fun?" laughed Dipper. He then looked around the yard, which now bore holes and dips from their effort to gather as much mud as possible. "Uh…as great as this is, we better put the mud back before Mom and Dad come home to find the yard torn up."

To: Mabel Pines (ShootingStarRainbowUnicorn); Grunkle Stan (StantheMan); Grunkle Ford (Highsixer); Soos Ramirez (QuestionMarkDude); Wendy Corduroy (Lumberchick)

From: Dipper Pines (GhostHarasserfan)

Subject: Mud Shack crew

1 Attachment (Photo File)

It's almost time to vote! But before the inevitable fight begins about who deserves to win, Mabel and I make our unofficial contribution with our mudmen. I present the Mud Shack crew, complete with a mud version of Waddles. We may not have snow, but we learn to work with what we have.

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Soos Ramirez: Mud looks pretty good on me.

Wendy Corduroy: Dudes. That's pretty sweet. But yo, you're gonna wash my hat, right?

Dipper Pines: Maybe.

Grunkle Ford: I don't think I've seen soil used in such a way before.

Grunkle Stan: Talk about making the most of your environment.

Mabel Pines: I'm going to have mud in my ears for weeks, but it was worth it!

Grunkle Ford: How exactly did you manage to get mud in your ears?

Mabel Pines: I slipped and fell. A few dozen times.

Dipper Pines: We are hopelessly snowless, so we found our own way to contribute to the contest—just for fun, anyway. Are you guys ready to vote?

Wendy Corduroy: Yup.

Soos Ramirez: Totally.

Grunkle Stan: Let's start it, then.

Grunkle Ford: Why don't you kids start?

Dipper Pines: Sure. I vote for Wendy. Her snowman may not be extravagant, but it's a classic snowman, which I think was sort of the point before Soos took it to the next level.

Mabel Pines: And that's why I'm voting for Soos! His snow sculpture of Melody was really sweet and pretty, and I like that he took a different route.

Wendy Corduroy: I vote for Dipper and Mabel, because I look pretty rad as a mud sculpture.

Dipper Pines: Wait, what?

Soos Ramirez: I vote for the little dudes. It was hard making a snow sculpture, so it must have been twice as hard to make what they did.

Mabel Pines: But this is a snowman contest. We didn't make ours out of snow.

Grunkle Stan: Who listens to the rules? Not me. You get my vote, kiddos. I think I look even better made out of mud.

Grunkle Ford: It's settled, then. Including my vote, that makes you the clear winners. Substituting mud for snow is allowed, since there is a lack of snow available to you and you used alternative resources.

Grunkle Stan: But next time we have a contest you can't participate so that I get a shot at participating.

Soos Ramirez: Next year we could have a snow fort building contest!

Wendy Corduroy: I don't think so. I thought I was competitive but ya'll take it to the extreme.

Grunkle Ford: Runs in the family.

Grunkle Stan: I'll annihilate you next time.

Mabel Pines: Sweet! We won, bro! We're champions of mudmen!

Dipper Pines: Not bad for the tender age of thirteen.

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfiction #byanimationnut #to gravity falls from piedmont #dipper pines #mabel pines #Stanford pines #Grunkle ford #Stanley pines #Grunkle stan #wendy corduroy #soos ramirez

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sunriseoverastorea · 6 years

Text

Hunger

♬ Jeremy Soule - Secunda

Rajya Sleekfur grew up in the copper valleys of Ascalon. The lake near her fahrar was tainted, turned shifting shades of oily incandescence, so she didn't learn to swim as a cub. It wasn't until she became a full-fledged soldier, when a superior pushed her into a river because she had sneaked away to read a book, that she miraculously, by virtue of necessity, figured out how to keep her massive weight from sinking like an anvil into the murky depths of the water. The book had been ruined, swept away and soaked. The Priory forgave her for the loss. They never hesitated to loan her books.

Now, Rajya Sleekfur finds herself on the sea. She can't feel the waves, the swell of the ocean. Nor can she feel the sun, the blessed, blinding sun, or the sharp, salty wind that cuts through the ship's sails and sends sailors running about the deck, yanking on ropes and shouting orders to each other. She cannot feel, but she can hear, and see, as if in a dream.

The Unending Sea is bigger than she ever could have imagined. Of course she understood the concept of a sea, a huge body of water spanning hundreds of miles, if not thousands. If not millions. After all, it is called 'unending.' Is it simply due to Tyria's limitations, or could it go on forever and ever? Her chest tightens at the thought of such a thing. Sucked into the depths of an ancient, unknown world. All it would take is one storm, one undetected leak, one small mistake.

Pen Yfan pats her own shoulder, shaking her head as she turns away from the sea. “Do not be afraid. Nothing can happen to us, not as long as I am in charge of my body. You understand? No more screaming at the captain. He thinks sylvari are strange as it is. We will find her, wherever this ship takes us. I am sure of it.” She speaks softly, as if to a child. Rajya is conscious of this, on some level—condescension. She should be insulted. A seasoned scholar of her years. But she is not who she once was. A shadow of a creature, reduced to basic instincts—fear, brooding, longing, and love. She clings to Pen's words as to the hand of a mother, and knows that Pen would do the same with her.

The sylvari makes her way to the captain's quarters, dodging a scampering young deckhand as she slips through the swinging door into the cabin. Typhon Bashere sits at his desk, a large map spread before him, covered in scribbles of coordinates and notes. He holds his weathered head in his hands, deep in thought.

“Captain Bashere,” chimes Pen, sitting on the little stool in front of the desk. She pushes her fronds back from her face, and smiles warmly, trying to seem approachable. “Any news on the search? I see you have made some additions to the map. Perhaps I could look over them again?”

Bashere glances up at her with eyes sunken into sun-baked wrinkles. “Aye. That seems a fine idea. Though I do dislike having a talking tree upstage my own plans. There's no denying that you earn your stay on this ship with that intellect of yours.” He relaxes, sinking back into his threadbare armchair, and crossing his arms over his chest. “We detected tremors from the northwest at approximately 6:02. We've been heading in that direction since then, but the wind is fighting us. Perhaps you can discern the trajectory of whatever caused the tremors. Save us some effort.”

Pen bows her head obligingly, ruddy fronds falling about her face once more, and she leans in over the desk. She closes her eyes for a moment. Releases the reigns of her spirit to Rajya. And when she opens her eyes again, they glisten gold as they take in the intricacies of the map. Every minor slash and dot, hastily erased coordinates, frustrated doodles of squids and octopuses, every detail settles into place in Rajya's mind, and a thousand scenarios unfold beside them.

What do you think, Rajya? Are there conclusions to be drawn?

Yes. Unfortunately.

Pen lifts her head, and allows the charr to speak through her lips.

“Captain, I am afraid there is no trajectory. Just as with all of the past tremors, it was extremely powerful, and remained in a fixed point throughout the episode. If it were to have moved, we likely would have suffered from the fallout of such an obstruction in the sea. It also seems unlikely that the source of the episode remains; however, if we can reach the coordinates before nightfall, we may be able to find evidence of the cause.”

“Aye,” Bashere says softly, taking off his glasses to rub at his eyes. “That'd be the closest we've gotten, at least. We should make it in time.”

Rajya lets go, willingly, and Pen has the sudden, jarring sensation of plopping back into her body. She jerks in her seat, as if startled awake, and Bashere raises a tufted eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Pen says with a chuckle, “I had a chill. These ships are awfully drafty, are they not?”

“They can be. Best get you back in the sun, warm your bark, or whatever.”

“Yes, certainly! Thank you for allowing me to assist in your search, Captain. As always, I look forward to the day when we either find my friend, or your enemy.”

She tilts her head back, and smiles at the mural on the ceiling. A pearly white squid, tangled in a mess of tentacles and indigo ink. A tiny human depicted for scale—merely an ant beside the primal, otherworldly beast. She waves to the depiction, and then turns on her heel, making her way back to the hectic, frenetic world of the deck, where she sits in the sun, and tells Rajya of the warmth on her back.

Hundreds of miles away, Marea descends from the sky. She breathes deeply as the ley lines streak past her ship. She can feel them, buzzing in her blood. The air is alive with magic, intoxicating, sending the automated controls on her ship into a frantic beeping frenzy. She performs the landing unaided, coming to a smooth stop in the shallows of the ocean, and drifting forward a few more feet until the bottom of the ship becomes lodged in the sand. She quickly fills a small pack with rations and ammunition, hands shaking with anticipation, and then she's out on the deck, leaping into the water and wading the rest of the way to the beach.

As her feet connect with solid, dry ground, she drops to her knees. A smile of pleasure tugs at her lips, fills her eyes with a manic light as she swivels her gaze from side to side. The beach is small, only a couple miles long, before it meets the bulk of the island—those spire-like cliffs, pirouetting high into the sky, almost high enough to touch the clouds. Fairy tale towers with a dense network of pulsing rainbow light weaving through them.

“This is fucking crazy,” she says aloud, cackling lightly. “How has nobody found this yet?”

In her ecstatic state, she spares little thought for how she found it herself—there were no changes in the readings, no warning bells, not a single telltale ley line that she could've followed from farther back in her journey. It was as simple as nothing, becoming something.

She gets to her feet, and makes her way up the beach, to where the cliffs begin, their foothold shrouded by sparse, wiry jungle plants. Lush and green, she plucks a leaf from one, and experimentally shoves it in her mouth, chewing loudly. It tastes like shit, but she keeps at it anyway, never one to waste 'food,' and presses on past the trees and bushes.

The foliage only lasts for a moment. Soon she stands in a sandy valley of spires, and she cranes her head back, eyes straining to find their tops up in the violet sky. Down on the ground, the spires are far wider than they appeared, each one at least twice as wide as she can hug—and hug them she does. She wraps her arms around the base of one, pressing her face to the cool gray stone, flecked with a slightly porous pattern. A surge of energy flickers through her bones, and she imagines she could kill the birds in the sky with so much power. Though it occurs to her suddenly that there are no birds. She pulls back from the spire, and her eyes slowly scan the valley floor. Not a single sign of the smallest lizard, or even a fly. Just a few plants, like a rudimentary shield against the ocean, protecting their rocky friends from the water.

Despite the lack of life in a place so teeming with energy, she is unperturbed. She forms a metal fist and knocks on a spire experimentally—a hollow, deep chime echoes through the valley, bouncing from spire to spire until it fades into the distance. The ley lines high above seem to tremble from the vibrations. She feels each knock like a heartbeat, pulsing against her skin, trying to burst forth from her pathetic, mortal body. So weak, flesh and bone. So sad, a human form. Her teeth suddenly ache. She pushes the feeling away, and strides deeper into the forest of stone, footprints absorbed by the sand as soon as she leaves them.

The sky fluctuates softly, shifting from violet to indigo to deep blue and back again. The light here feels strange—there is no warmth to it. It comes from nowhere, and fills everywhere. Still, the island is comfortable, not cold or hot; in fact, she came to realize a short while ago that she could feel no temperature, as if the air was constantly adjusting to her body heat. Soothing her senses. There are no smells, either, except for the faint hint of steel on the breeze, like pavement after the rain. She sees an oily puddle in her mind's eye. With tiny bare feet, she splashes into it, splattering her pale legs with mud. An older child's hand grips her shoulder roughly, wrenching her away from the water, steering her into a dark alley, and putting a finger to her lips. “Shhhh,” she whispers. Marea stares at the girl's face, and after a moment, she realizes it's Winnie. Deep, cool brown skin, a round face, and rattlesnake braids that hang loosely over her shoulders. She stumbles along beside her guardian, the alleyway swimming before her eyes. She feels something, in the pit of her stomach—hunger. But so great that it spreads to her chest, and she struggles to breathe. Suffocated by it. Her ankle twists, and she crashes to the ground, not even a peep escaping her lips.

“Come on, Marea,” Winnie snaps, fingers gripping her wrist and yanking at her, to little effect. Winnie was always rather weak. Not in Marea's way, where she could have been more, had more, if only someone had bothered to notice her. For Winnie, it was ingrained in her being. A part of who she was. Physically and emotionally, the girl had little to offer. But if she picked on her baby doll, the infant she found abandoned in the trash and chose to tote around like an accessory at the ripe old age of five, she could be powerful. Everyone in the family picked on her doll, her stupid, tiny 'Rea, and the doll would come to her for comfort. Which she would give to her, for a time. A few minutes, perhaps. Before she found more interesting things to do.

Winnie yanks at Marea's wrist, and her stomach drops as she realizes the girl isn't getting up. She falls on her butt, shell-shocked, and begins to cry, holding the cold hand of her charge, stricken with the fear.

Marea awakens with a shout. Her head bangs into one of the spires, and she squeezes her eyes shut in pain as the echoing stone chorus rebounds through the valley once more. The eerie sound reverberates in her eardrums, increasing with intensity, until suddenly, without preamble, it stops. Blissful silence once again sits upon the island.

She slowly looks around her, eyelids heavy with weariness. She had been meditating—but at some point she must have fallen asleep. She remains where she was before, deep in the sea of spires, stretching up like pillars to support the ripening sky. It must be morning, of a new day. Surely not that much time has passed? Yet there it is, the sunrise. Without a sun. The sky only goes through the motions, here.

She gets to her feet, and reaches into her bag. She makes grabbing motions—unable to feel with her prosthetic appendages, she simply digs in and hopes to pull out what she needs. But this time, she grasps nothing. She upends the bag. Flattens it on the ground. The rations are gone. When did she eat them?

With an irritated huff, she turns back the way she came. She squints at the stone spires ahead of her. They fade into the distance, becoming a mist-like blur the farther off they get. She whips her head around, looking in the opposite direction.

Endless spire forests, in every direction. The sand unmarred by her passing—wherever she passed from. Her stomach grumbles, and with sudden urgency, she reaches for a lone bramble sprouting from the ground, stuffing it in her mouth, stems and all. The leaves are sweet, but the stem is bitter. It reminds her of Winnie—a strange person to recall, at a time like this, or any time. She tries not to remember her. She tries not to remember anything of her life before Rajya. Even without thinking about it, the lingering effects of that time cling to her like poison.

She chooses a direction, and she walks.

Winnie digs her fingers into a cake. An entire chocolate sheet cake, stolen from a bakery window. She pulls out filthy handfuls and stuffs them in her mouth, then offers the bits that cling to her skin to Darius, who drags his tongue over them slowly. Winnie giggles wildly, swinging her legs. Marea also swings her legs, wanting them to be like Winnie's. Skinny but pretty. They sit atop a crumbling wall in the courtyard of an abandoned townhouse, shadows of the towers of Divinity's Reach stretching across them in the afternoon sun.

Marea watches her companions. Darius is slightly older than Winnie, with a classic Krytan look, bronzed skin and brown hair, long and unkempt in a way he thinks is dashing. The rest of the family agrees with him. Their mop-headed savior. He knows the routes the Seraph will take before the Seraph themselves do. He has informants, real adult ones, leaders of gangs. Sometimes, when Winnie and Marea are out walking, gathering food or medicine, Winnie gushes about marrying him.

“One day, Darius will be the greatest crime lord in the whole city. We will live in a mansion with silk curtains and Elonian antiques, as my mom always wanted, and we'll eat the finest food, drink as much alcohol as we can without dying, and have lots of pets. I want five cats, personally. Darius will probably want something nastier, like a drake.”

Marea spots an apple in the gutter, likely fallen from someone's shopping bag, and snatches it up, promptly biting into it. It hurts her teeth.

“What about me?” she says softly, but with an edge to her voice, unable to keep the bitterness from surfacing. Some days are like that. Days of clarity, awareness. Few and far between.

“Marea!” Winnie snaps, whapping the apple out of her hand. It rolls right back into the gutter, and seems content to stay there. “You do not eat first! I don't know how many times we have to go over this. You get what's left. And now nobody gets the apple, because you've ruined it. Wasted it.”

“Wh—what about me?” Marea asks again, unfazed, until Winnie's hand cracks across her face, and her spindly legs topple over.

“You!” Winnie hisses, sticking a foot on her head to keep her down on the cobblestones. The street is suddenly empty. Marea imagines she can hear the sounds of doors and windows locking, curtains being drawn. “You might get to stay with me and Darius, if you're very good, but I wouldn't count on it. Selfish and inconsiderate. I regret the day I ever took you in. You know that?” She shouts down at her, wild, sudden rage filling her voice. “You would be dead if it weren't for us! Show a little gratitude!”

With that final note, her foot connects with Marea's face, and the world goes dark.

The three of them sit on the wall in the townhouse courtyard, and Marea watches chocolate cake crumbs tumble into the grass. Ants have already assembled for the feast, picking up bits five times their size and marching off towards their fortress. Marea hops down from the wall, and crushes them beneath her bare feet.

The awakening is worse this time. She gasps so hard her chest cramps, and the pain is piercing. She grits her teeth and waits for it to subside. And as soon as it has, she rolls over onto her stomach, face to face with lush green moss. She digs into it without hesitation, teeth tearing up greenery and sand alike. She sighs, she laughs, and at the end of it, when the binge seems to be over, she presses her face to the ground and begins to sob. The magic is everywhere. When she looks at her hands, they seem to vibrate before her very eyes. She has to get out. Has to—eat. No, she is a human, not a cow. She doesn't eat moss and leaves. She hates vegetables. Hates them, hates them. Even so, she finds herself digging up clumps of moss a moment later, and sticking them in her mouth.

“What the fuck is this?” she whispers through her mouthful, green juices dripping onto her chin. “Ship. Ship is that—that way. Because the stars, no stars, right. Okay. So the ship is, it's gotta be that way, because that feels right, and, and--”

“And you wouldn't want me to get hurt, would you?” Darius says gently, though not without a hint of warning. Of consequences for Marea's that don't put the needs of others before themselves. “You're a big girl now. I just need you to keep watch, and make your best judgment if anything goes wrong. Got it?”

Marea shakes her head. She's not a big girl. Winnie told her that she just turned five. She gave her a gift—a small knife, though not small enough for a five year old's hands. Grape vines decorate the handle, and her own name has been sloppily scraped into the blade. She's never seen it spelled before. It looks strange to her.

Darius gives her a hug, too tight, the touch of his hands filling her with a feeling she can't yet place—revulsion. And he rolls his eyes as lets her go and starts away. “You better not fuck this up.”

Marea slinks behind a pile of crates, peering out attentively, though she trembles like a frightened rabbit. After only a minute, a man in fine clothes, perhaps a merchant, appears at the end of the alleyway. He storms toward Darius, furious, counting something off on his hands as he attempts to lord over the younger boy. Marea hears his exclamations, but the words don't add up in her head. Too many, too fast, and with so much anger. She picks out the letters of the alphabet as she listens, and they spin about and tangle in her mind like an alien language.

The merchant draws a pistol. He backs Darius into a corner. Marea hears Darius call her name, and the reaction is automatic—she lifts her dress, taking her knife from the holster on her thigh. She walks into the open. Her hand moves. There is resistance. She struggles to plunge the blade into the merchant man's waist. Her appearance alone buys her enough time, as the man stares at her, dumbfounded, by the skeletal little girl that just appeared from the shadows with intent to kill.

As the man falls, her knife slips out from his flesh. She grips it tightly in her hand, and watches as thick drops of blood dribble down the blade. It reminds her of icing. Or ketchup. Or the sweet sauce that the butcher's wife puts on her homemade meatloaf.

Darius wraps his arms around Marea and spins her through the air, clutching her tight to his chest. “Nice work, kiddo! Wasn't expecting the man to pull a gun on a kid like me, but hey, you were there to save the day.” Her plops her back down on the ground, and wipes at a bit of blood on her cheek, where she was sprayed from the dying man's wound. “I'm proud of you, 'Rea. And I know Winnie will be, too. Hey, what's the matter? Don't get all teary eyed on me. This is exciting! Come on, I know you're a little brat, but you can do better than this.”

She stares at the merchant's lifeless body, a crimson pool spreading beneath his hips. She wipes at her eyes, but the tears just replenish themselves, hot against her chilly skin.

“What's, wr—wr--wrong?” She whispers, vision blurring.

Darius looks from her to the man, and back again, an eyebrow playfully raised. “Well, he's bleeding out on the ground. You killed him. That's the magic of knives.”

Marea shakes her head.

Darius nods.

Marea looks up at the sky, pure and blue across the low rooftops of the Commons. It sickens her.

She sits up, and before she can grab the nearest flora and begin ingesting it by the handful, she turns to the nearest spire and bangs her head against it, as hard as she can. The valley echoes like thunder, and she screams in pain at the sound, ears ringing, warm blood dripping down her neck. She gets to her feet and she runs, footsteps light as a child's upon the smooth sand.

She runs, and she runs, and soon she sees the faint outlines of bushes on the horizon, sprinkled amongst the misty gray spires. A flurry of memories fight for dominance in her mind, but she forces them away, she thinks only of her ship, of her friends, her cat and her books, she thinks of what she left behind, good and bad, old and new. She thinks of what she has learned to live for. She thinks of Rajya's burnt remains, Kaylee's crushed face, Noctis appearing behind her as if he were her shadow; and she thinks of her first kiss, with an uncouth, juvenile sylvari. She hasn't seen him in a long time. She tossed him aside, and he made certain that he would never feel anything but disappointment towards her, ever again.

She thinks of Raigar and Geneva. She thinks of the world, and how wrong it feels. Of how it has always felt wrong, since Darius swept her off her feet and twirled her around with joy. How dare he? How dare Tyria? How dare they allow her to be made like this? How dare they allow her to remember a world in which she wasn't the monster—everyone else was. She clings to memories of Raigar and Gen, sitting with them in the Sun, flying with them on the Rogue and lounging with them in the refuge. She clutches tight to Raigar's face in her minds eye. With the hands of a frightened little girl, who hasn't yet learned how to be empty.

She breaks through the foliage. Collapses to her knees in the sand, right where she knelt some time ago. Perhaps one day, perhaps several. After a minute spent catching her breath, she realizes the buzzing is gone. The humming in her veins, pulsing in her bones. She looks over her shoulder. And the island is only a patch of sand, perhaps a mile long. There are no bushes or trees. No spires, not even rocks. The ley lines are gone, and even as she stares, the far shore is growing closer, the relentless waves of the ocean eating it up and turning it to no more than particles, drifting in the endless abyss of the sea.

She is back in her ship, her eyes to the sky. It is black, now, just as it should be. The stars are all in their places. They fill her with hope. She munches on jerky from a large bowl, several day's servings within. She remembers little from the island. But whatever happened, it left her starving.

#marea the silent #pen yfan #rajya sleekfur #rp post #when i was writing this it was a massive trash can fire #it still is #but in a good way #chasing arcadia

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toomanysurveys9 · 6 years

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Do you like the name Skylar? i do, although i probably wouldn’t choose the name myself for my children.

Are you allergic to any dogs? nope.

What’s your favorite type of smoothie? probably raspberry banana.

Do you go out to eat often? more often than i should. vanessa has given us zero room in the kitchen for food, so we never have much here. plus the kitchen is so small, you can barely cook and vanessa has the counters covered in all sorts of random shit.

Have you ever touched a plant and had hives shoot up your arm? nope.

Do you own a shirt with a reindeer on it? i do not.

Have you ever used an Epi Pen? no. i’ve never had to.

What is the meaning of your first name? i’d have to look again.

Do you enjoy snow? i’m pretty much over it now.

Do you think dragonflies are cool? they look cool, sure. but i’m not really a fan of bugs..

What’s your favorite thing to draw? just little doodles. like hearts and stuff.

Do you sketch in the margins of your notebooks? i used to.. or write random quotes and song lyrics.

Do you read the Bible regularly? nope. don’t believe in all that.

What’s a game that you play often? cards against humanity.

Do you try to avoid stress? If so, how? i try and fail. haha. i mostly try to ignore it exists but that never gets me far.

Is Halloween your favorite holiday? one of them, yes.

Do you get complimented or insulted more? insulted probably. cos of jake.

Do you make bucket lists? i had a mental one for awhile..

Have you crossed any times off your bucket list yet this year?

no longer have a bucket list.

Do you have allergies? grass. which sucks cos we’re surrounded by it... so i mostly ignore the allergy. ha.

What’s your favorite store to shop at? i guess walmart because that is where i get to go most often.

Do you ever shop online?: occasionally.

Do fairytales interest you at all? more as a child than now, but sure.

What decade were you born in? 90′s.

What was your favorite dress up day during Homecoming Week? i didn’t participate once i got to high school. we had spirit weeks in elementary school and i liked the crazy hair day ones.

Did you toss your hat in the air at graduation? a little. i didn’t want to lose it though.

Does it usually take you awhile to recover from illnesses? not really.

Do you pray a lot? i never pray..

Do you believe you have angels watching over you? no.

Have you ever had a doctor hug you and pray for you? not hug me. the doctor that did my gallbladder removal surgery prayed with me before he did it though.

Have you ever had a doctor be rude to you? not that i recall.

What’s your favorite way to relax? read. listen to music.

Do you enjoy writing? i do. but i don’t really get to anymore. i’m not sure what i’d write any ways.

Do you ever multi-task? technically, you can’t really multi-task exactly.... but yeah. sure.

Do you try to avoid conflict? well, yeah. i hate conflict. the only time i won’t avoid it is when people want to talk shit about my almost 1 year old, or my parenting. when i know i am a damn good mom.

Do you wish you had someone to talk to? eh. i think i do have people i could talk to if i wanted...

How are you making the most of your life? i probably am not doing that.

Are you happy with your life right now? yes and no.

Do you dwell more on the negative or the positive? probably the negative, although i’m trying to be more positive for wyatt’s sake.

Do you believe things are going to get better? they have to. they can’t keep being bad all the time.

Are you a world changer? nope. i wish. i would love to. but no.

Do you believe in the quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”? well sure.

Do you love camping? i’ve never really got to do the whole camping thing. i would love to eventually with jacob and our kiddos. but we’ll see.

Would you rather get married outside or inside? we got married inside which was fine with me.

Would you live in a castle if you could? i mean.. at least we’d have plenty of room. so why not.

Do you make the most of your life? ....

Are you happy? i mean.. yes and no.

How many people do you have who care about you? there’s quite a few..

Do you miss being young and having someone to care for you when you’re sick? eh. not really.

What’s your favorite flavor of soup? i’m not really a fan of soup generally... unless it’s my mom’s homemade chicken and noodle. i could eat that for days.

Do you buy souvenirs? yeah. i plan to buy wyatt a souvenir from every place we travel to.

Do you like fudge? not really. never really been a fan.

Do you have new health problems now that you didn’t as a kid? nope.

How old are you? twenty-four.

How old do you look? people mistake me for 16-18 all the time... -_-

Do you like the way you look? not even a little.

Do you eat healthy and exercise? not like i should. something i need to work on.

What’s a magazine that you enjoy reading? i don’t read any magazines.

Do you read novels regularly? it’s been way too long since i’ve read an actual book.

#survey #surveys #personal #question #questions #random

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pristinepastel · 7 years

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5 Things About Me Meme!

Tagged by @awakaru ! This time i’ll tag the last few people in my activity- @robtari , @tavros-tardis , and @boundtoanandroid ! 5 Things You’ll Find In My Bag: -My sketchbooks(two of them. same kind but one is vertical and the other is horizontal) -My art supply box, which is pink and glittery and used to be a makeup box that i got for christmas one year -This probly counts as two things, but my plusle and minun plushies! i also have a plusle keychain. -I have a calligraphy pen w/ multiple nibs that I haven’t used very much yet. I’ll hopefully start using it and improving when i start college this fall! -And finally, my tablet with bluetooth keyboard. No mouse or pen for it but that’s fine for now. One day though… 5 Things You’ll Find in My Bedroom: Too many things;; -I have a book bag that I only use when I travel. When I’m at home though, it holds most of my plushies! Including a pachirisu that lost an ear. Which I. Kiiind of fixed? I tore off a scrap piece of a purple scarf and sewed it over the hole with yarn. Maybe I’ll take a pic later, lollo -I keep a cat cube on my bed near my feet. It’s purple and pink, with a leopard print. The outside is a kind of messy texture, while the inside has a soft carpet on the bottom. The cats don’t normally use it but when they do i try to take pictures! -My favorite blanket! I use it to stim. When I was at high school I’d usually take it with me in my bag, as well as my scarves. It was helpful for taking naps during commons, especially after a bad insomnia bout. Also helpful during my depressive episodes- even if I’d still end up going home early sometimes. -I have various posters put up in my room- including some prints from juicyink on youtube, a kingdom hearts 2 poster i got from when borders was still around, a print of Vincent Valentine that I got in the Artist Alley at colossalcon last year, a print i got from a caricature artist i got on my birthday as well as the caricature he made of me, and some old fashioned prints made on corkbord which kind of remind me of lowbrow fantasy art. I don’t know how old they are, I think my mom got them for me at a flea market? -I also have some old drawings of mine on my walls. I used to have a lot more of my older older pics, but i took them down because I wanted to start fresh. These were from my senior year i think? So far it’s just drawings of Osiria and Dahteste so far lollo -I lastly have my desktop computer! It’s a p big screen. My dad got me a new screen, keyboard, and pc box for my birthday, after I told him I wanted mass effect andromeda once it came out. For the specs he said. He’s very enthusiastic about that sort of thing;; 5 Things I’ve always wanted to do in life: -Become a concept artist/character designer -Write a story/Draw a comic about my characters(sadly my imagination is more abstract and my minds not v suited for concrete scripting lollo) -Somehow meet and help my characters in real life. I know that’s impossible, shoosh -Become a side character in someone else’s story/video game. Not physically of course- I mean I want to play as the sort of character that supports the protagonist and helps them get a good ending. -Become a voice actor! I really enjoy the thought of my voice bringing a character to life. I’ve tried auditioning before, but I’m not very confident in online auditions like that cus my mics not the best;; 5 Things That make me Happy: -Philadelphia roll with smoked salmon, avocado, and cream cheese! My fav sushi yums;; -My cat Molly! her purrs sound like a pigeon or a dove coping and she’s so soft -Comforting and emotional characters!! Like Cole, Sandal, and Dog from Dragon Age, Jaal from me:a, Legion from Mass Effect, Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter, Lee from Naruto, Dogmeat from Fallout, etc. -My Mom gives really good hugs and she’s really good at emotional support! She understands what I go through cus she has depression and anxiety too. We even take some of the same prescription! I like her more than Dad cus he gets angry sometimes and I can’t really predict when that happens. He’s not hurting me or anything, he just gets loud and that makes me a lil nervous is all! -Conventions! I’m not really equipped for big social events usually, but these are usually the exception. You don’t really talk to people one on one, and you don’t have to be afraid of being the center of attention. Even buying stuff is easier cus no ones judging you for how much you’re buying or how long you’re at one booth! 5 Things I’m Currently Into: -My mutuals/followers may or may not have noticed the posts about witchcraft ehe;; It started with me researching stuff that one of my brain friends, Elisa, is into. She started out with just general tarot reading, which then developed into her actually being a witch, which led to me discovering i really enjoyed the subject lollo -Dungeons and Dragons podcasts like The Adventure Zone and Godsfall. that is too many capital letters;;; -Modern Girl In Thedas fanfics. I especially enjoy the ones where the protag discovers no one in thedas speaks english. Sometimes people write it so english is qunlaat, but my fav is that the protag has to work at learning common on their own. -I’ve gotten into playing more mobile games again, now that i have a phone that can support them;; I now have Love Live SIF, Fallen London, and the new ver of Kingdom Hearts X(fyi the x is pronounced cross in english- in japan its pronounce chi!) -I’ve been watching doodle videos lately. They’re vids where the artist just doodles random lines and patterns and shapes to fill an entire page. Sometimes there are mandalas too! Sometimes the artist talks quietly and motivationally during it like Bob Ross. if you’re curious one of the artists i’ve been watching recently is called Peter Draws on youtube! 5 Things on My To-Do List: -Finish prepping all the paperwork for starting college. I’ve been accepted, but there’s still financial paperwork to fill out lollo -Make a grimoire/book of shadows/book of mirrors. Atm, all my witchy notes are in my phone. I plan to make a cutesy decoden grimoire once i’m actually in school! -Start doing physical stuff like yoga and walking. School has a public yoga class available, and the campus has a lot of places where i can take breaks if i start feeling light headed due to the scoliosis. I’ve downloaded pokémon go preemptively to help w that -Prepare for june’s various activities! This year i’m not just going to colossalcon- I’m also going to volunteer at a convention in DC! ooo I’m so excited and i wanna pack immediately even tho i know it’s not for a month yet lollo;; my mom is also in this mood - Mmmaybe get a spirit companion? Dunno for sure yet. Not sure if my social anxiety also applies to the ethereal. A bit nervous about the constant-ness of the interaction. Need to research the subject a bit more lollo 5 Things People May Not Know About Me: -I’m really disorganized. So much so that i can’t close my closet door due to the clutter in front of it;;; -Physically speaking, I am only 5'6", I have a lazy eye, and mild scoliosis. My right canine tooth is broken as well.Im kind of self conscious about my teeth so my smiles are usually closed mouth. I also have problems with hygiene, for various reasons- for general cleanliness i just forget to shower sometimes/don’t have the motivation for it. As for the teeth, my sensory issues make it so i very much hate toothpaste. That’s why my teeth are so bad;; speaking of- -I have various mental issues. I have depression and anxiety, which has been clinically diagnosed. My psychiatrist also suspects i have mild autism or aspergers, but the test people never got back to us so heck if we know for sure. My mom, a couple of my friends, as well as me all agree i seem to have it. I also believe i have maladaptive daydreaming. This is a condition that makes it so I have very detailed imaginary worlds in my head- so detailed in fact that I get very attached to the characters in them, who I call brain friends. The daydreams get so detailed and involved that it’s sometimes hard for me to focus on stuff like reading or sleeping. Which exacerbates the insomnia i already have lollo. It’s easier for me to read fanfics than published stuff as a result, cus fanfics are basically written dreams in that sense? i’m also p bad at explaining myself with words lo l l,o;; -Despite most of my posts being happy ones, i tend to have p bad depressive episodes. I try not to vent on here though cus i’m self conscious about how others interpret that. It makes me feel manipulative. I also have trouble with asking my parents for stuff for the same reason;; -I started the positivity tag on election night. I was really shaky and anxious, but all of that was trapped inside and i couldn’t cry, so i just felt stuck there(i now suspect i was disasociating at the time?). I started reblogging all these happy posts to cheer myself up, and thanking all the people who were putting them on my dash. That’s why my positivity tag is ‘thank you’! :^)

#pristine did a meme #pristine did a personal #hoo wow so many words;;;

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