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ievaxol · 3 months
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Portrait of a woman, dated sometime during the 8th Umbral Calamity.
A half-finished charcoal sketch found amid the personal affects of one Alphinaud Leveilleur by looters. Through a series of events it eventually reached the hands of the New Dawn Order; a splinter off of Garlond Ironworks working to carry on the legacy of the late Scions of the Seventh Dawn.
The sketch depicts a Hyur woman suspected to be the Warrior of Light, famously known to travel by Alphinaud's side. The subject is sketched from the bust up, with the right half roughly outlined and the left half presumed complete with shading.
Wild, dark hair is laid down with thick strokes of charcoal; a contrast to the delicate lines Alphinaud chose to capture the facial features. The woman in the sketch is facing the viewer, brows furrowed and lips slightly pursed. She is depicted in armor typical of the Seventh Astral Era, with bruising across her cheek.
Though most known for his work as a Scion, Alphinaud became appreciated in his later years for his many works depicting Eorzea post the destruction wrought by Black Rose. Although not everything survived, the ones that did gives a valuable insight into the the events taking place after the battle of Ghimlyt Dark.
Among all of Alphinaud's art, Portrait of a woman is perhaps his most beloved, despite being unfinished. It stands out among his body of work because of the eyes; despite being known for his great attention to detail in all other things, the eyes in the sketch are a simple flat and dull black.
Many who visit our collection of Scion artifacts here at the Waking Sands Museum report feeling drawn in by the piercing gaze, unable to shake it even weeks afterward.
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mashriqiyyah · 5 days
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Parallel lines don't meet, they just walk together, they say. Not us, but me and you, were parallel lines. I thought. But, we aren't. We are parallel universe. Dynamic. Spontaneous, not plain and straight. We're the same old souls, wounded in the same battles, stabbed with the same daggers. If only you knew. I smile the way you smile, only one corner of your lips twitching, both eyes crinkilng,like a fresh drizzle of rain, half blooming flowers. I close my ears when I silence my sobs, only to hear your muffled cries. You watch the Moon with longing, and me..? you're the one I see in the Moon. The touching of tendrils, the golden flakes of our orbs, the rigidity of our heart because of our circumstances, the vulnerability we never show the world, the words we like to keep hushed yet hear it unsaid, the nostalgia warming us when it rains, the sky being our constant friend, the night a mix of agony, solitude and relief for you and me. You see the world as I see, fencing ourselves with the harshness, hearts as that of birds, fragile and tender.
I know the way your curious sight searches for the odds in things. Forgotten diaries, scribbled notes from strangers. I've found myself slipping in their shoes too. If only you knew.
If the Rabb of all the universes allows, I'd like our universes to be merged. You'd love that too. I know. You and Me to Us. But you and me, do know, it's just the Dua that one can always render to. And then, you too are uncared to pronounce it, and I too am tired to mention it. For, we're the Parallel Universe. Side by side, confined in our own self, some embankment of world separating You and Me, not Us. If only you knew, dear soulmate..oh, now a stranger.
- 8th July 2021
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lgvalenzuela · 1 year
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Lonely bed
Dorian stretched looking at the candle next to him, he promised himself he would finally go to sleep when the wick was dying, using candles for this sort of thing, surely another habit he picked up during his time in the South.
He opened the case to his crystal again, some lucky nights he would hear him sing, sweet little lullabies he kept close to his heart, but this was not such a lucky night. It was too late for such matters anyway, he wouldn't pine like a maiden on a book, not when he had to catch Up on his beauty sleep. But sometimes he just had to catch up on work, maybe that way he'll be able to go to sleep every night to the arms of the man he loved (well…arm)
He flickered a flame into existence on the palm of his hand and finally blew the candle to rest. Walking to his lonely bed.
Or that's what he thought until he saw Leah, laying on a window frame…quietly crying, probably trying not to wake Kaira up. When she saw him she quickly got up with an apologetic bow she tugged her pajamas with shame:
"I'm sorry master Pavus I was just…"
"Such formalities we're not even on one of our lessons, or an event we need to save face in…" maybe he'd need to use some other night to catch up on that sleep of his "Follow me"
She did as she was told, quite the rebellious kind she was but not with him. She followed him to the kitchen where he lit the room and walked to get utensils, some black tea, milk, spices…
"Are you making-?" she started asking
"No, no, no, you go sit and we'll talk"
Once again she did as told, got a little comfortable and looked at her mentor as he made some tea for her. She chuckled slightly:
"You remind me of my zaza" she said with a little smile "They also did that for me when I was feeling moody"
"Oh do I? Well I'll take it as a compliment, Ryann is a good parent"
"Did you learn this from your mom too?"
"Well…more or less, I got it from my mother in law…my mother, she would make the sl- the servants do it, if at all…"
He placed the tea in front of her, and got some for himself too while they were at it:
"But we're not here to talk about me starlight, won't you tell me why you were crying your little heart out?"
"It's…it's really not important…"
"It's important to me"
She blew onto her cup pouting, she wanted to be strong, she really did, but her mentor already knew her way too well. Also he probably got tips from her parents:
"Last visit to Ferelden I noticed how big my sister was getting…and that I couldn't hold her anymore…" she said
"Go on"
"And I…realized I'm going to lose all of her life…and my brothers too…and…"
"And your parents…"
"On everything I knew before I came here…Ferelden seems more and more like a distant memory every time I go…and I recognize less and less of it…
And there's so much I miss…I miss the mountains, and the cold, and the snow…
And sometimes I just get like this…"
"I see"
"I know it's stupid"
"My dear do you really think I of all people will judge you for missing?" he fiddled with his wedding ring
"Sorry I didn't mean to-"
"Non taken starlight" he rested his face on his hand "So tell me, what do you want to do?"
"I…I just don't know! Because even though I miss it I don't want to leave! When I'm there I'm so happy to be with my family but I miss the hot, and the fruit and you and Kaira"
"Oh I'm honored" she pouted at him "Sorry, sorry, go on"
"I'm happy here, I want to keep studying, I want to make a place with you and the rest that won't hurt people like my uncle Fenris, or Aeryn, or Kaira anymore…"
"Yes…me too…And you starlight, are such a brilliant young lady, I know with the right education you'll be one of the best mages of your generation"
She blushed from her mentor's compliment and sipped on her tea:
"This is really good"
"Well thank you, Adaar family recipe" he winked and she giggled
She bounced her legs a bit:
"Sometimes…the letters are just not enough…and I'm sure it's like that for them too…"
He thought of Anders and Ryann Hawke, waiting anxiously for their daughter's letters, how they ran to her every time they went to Ferelden. And his mind went to Vaelaan, when he hunched down to let their daughter run straight into his chest so he could hold her, and their late night talks speaking of how much of their lives were passing by without each other.
And what to tell this little girl when he was much older than her and still as lost as she was? Was she still young enough to believe adults had all the answers? Was she old enough to learn that life isn't always fair?
He was circling back through these conflicts until she just hugged him, he hugged her back, still a little confused:
"Thank you…I needed to talk"
"Oh yes, of course" well maybe in a way he dodged a spell, raising kids was hard
"Can I sleep with you tonight?"
"I don't know…" she looked at him with puppy eyes "Agh, not that…well fine, but only because you're feeling blue"
"Okay I'll call Kaira"
"Wait wh-"
But she was already gone, ten minutes later he was sleeping (well, trying) with two girls, a cat and a mabari. He opened the case of his crystal one last time and left it on the table. Still no luck, no noise, no voice…but maybe he'd wake up to it and that was still a blessing.
As much as the family he had with him at times like that, when he felt like he was going to a lonely room, and a lonely bed.
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i-amtransexual · 1 year
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HELLO HI FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELLO.
It's finished I am done I am so tired and so so happy about this fic. Happy new year's @finalcontrolroom you were my gift recipient, i hope you like it! This is my gift fic as a part of the @mcytblrholidayexchange ! Tumblr version below :D
"Oh trust me," they snarled, finally standing up from where she had been sitting, xer cheeks slowly starting to return back to their normal temperature, "If I had wings I would be significantly more proficient in using them than you ever could be."
"If an incompetent as shit twat like you ever gets wings, I'll do whatever you want for a day." Tubbo said, glaring.
Ranboo scoffed. "Oh bee boy, don't go promising me something so tempting so easily," she snarked, leaning in real close and failing to notice Tubbo's shortening of breath. "I'd find far too many ways to ruin your life for good."
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Ranboo is so whipped for Tubbo, except she isn't, she really isn't, xe definitely hates him. Tubbo is head over heels in love but has to play along, because at least that way he gets to talk to her. Also, it’s new years and Ranboo has no idea what that is! Shenanigans shall ensue.
Author Note.
Heyyyyy sooooo *looks at that romance tag* gotta be honest not at all where I was heading with this. Was just gonna have o!Ranboo going on some silly little adventures with the theme of new years, do a bit of worldbuilding and maybe have a little bit of o!beeduo/r in the background, as a treat. However, as always, they have taken over my brain and o!Ranboo the glorious light of my life that she is, is now gonna be going on a  little trip down romance lane. Did I manage enemies to lovers? Probably not, never written it before! Hope it kinda applies though? This is getting very long, down to the point.
Hello my giftee here is the fic i have written for you. Mainly o!beeduo, i too adore o!sneeg but i could not do him justice as the main character so he had to have a smaller role i’m afraid. To make it clear, Ranboo is transfem, uses she/xer/they,  and i love xer.  Tommy uses she/him, Tubbo uses he/him, him and Tommy are both transmasc, because wahoo why not.
Hope you enjoy!
It was Sunday, and Ranboo was having a nice catnap in the sun, her tail lazily swinging back and forth as she leant against the entrance of xer cave. She heard the glow berry vines rustle above them as the wind breezed lightly into her home, and a berry fell into their claw. Surprised, xe examined it. It was a perfect specimen, skin firm, yet not tough, glowing a soft gold as all glowberries do, and with the scent of the sparkling alcoholic drink Phil was so fond of. She popped it into her mouth and let the flavour of sweet and sour wash over xer, as a popping feeling enveloped her tongue.  Their eyes were closed, and they let out a contented sigh as she savoured the smell and the taste of a glowberry perfectly in season. It is a truly wonderful moment in a lovely day, and nothing could possibly ruin it. 
Ranboo's lovely day was immediately put to a halt as she heard the frantic buzzing of wings quickly grow louder, and she opened her eyes just in time to see a panicked bee hybrid crash into her, xer crown toppling off and his goggles clattering to the ground. The both of them groaned from the collision, Ranboo attempting to raise a claw to rub her sore head, before finding to their annoyance it was tangled up in the arms of the incredibly beloathed Tubbo.
"You absolute imbecile!" she said to him angrily, arm stuck wiggling as Tubbo tried and failed to stand, before he fell onto xer again. "What good are those wings if you cannot even use them?!"
Tubbo frowned angrily back at her, his face a furious red as he tried to untangle himself from the glow berry vines he had crashed into, causing fruit to rain onto the two of them. 
"Don't fucking blame me, 'princess' " he said in a mocking tone, causing Ranboo's own face to heat angrily. "The wind changed and it being a bitch is hardly my fault. Not like you could use wings better than I could, dickhead."
Ranboo chose not to take offence to that last insult, instead preferring to fixate on Tubbo’s challenge, not that he meant to frame it as one. 
"Oh trust me," they snarled, finally standing up from where she had been sitting, xer cheeks slowly starting to return back to their normal temperature, "If I had wings I would be significantly more proficient in using them than you ever could be."
Tubbo, kneeling on the ground, still goggleless as Ranboo fixed her crown with a huff, ignored the redness of his cheeks and the pain his knees were in and simply shot back with,
"If an incompetent as shit twat like you ever gets wings, I'll do whatever you want for a day."
Ranboo scoffed. "Oh bee boy, don't go promising me something so tempting so easily," she snarked, leaning in real close and failing to notice Tubbo's shortening of breath. "I'd find far too many ways to ruin your life for good."
At a standstill, Ranboo finally noticed the now rather crushed flower garlands Tubbo had been carrying.
"What are those and why did you decide to come break them in my cave?" xe said, trying to keep her tone annoyed but accidentally letting a bit of curiosity seep through.
Tubbo looked down and cursed the strangest string of words Ranboo had ever heard, leaving her to decide it must have been a word in Apiarian, rather than Universal or Ender.
"Pissine n shettning n böllez," Tubbo muttered under his breath, gathering the broken garlands in his arms. As he used his left arm to fix his goggles back on his head, he searched with his other three to find a specific garland.
Hesitantly, almost shyly, Ranboo thought, he held out one of the garlands to xer, one that was mostly intact ,with alliums, white roses and pink tulips being held together by twine.
"Phil suggested I give you one, it wasn't my idea" Tubbo made sure to blurt out first, and Ranboo rolled her eyes as she reached and plucked it out of his arms. They spun it around, viewing it from every angle, yet for the life of her xe couldn't figure out what it was. 
"It's to celebrate for new years," Tubbo said, one hand rapidly fidgeting with his belt, the others straightening the garlands out. "Since you're new, Phil knew that you wouldn't know about our tradition in the valley, so he told me to make one for you."
Strangely touched, Ranboo tried to say thank you. However, it got over-thought about a billion times before it reached their mouth so instead the question of "What’s new years?" came out instead.
Tubbo stared at xer for a while, thoroughly puzzled before she snapped at him, embarrassed,
"Look, if you're too unknowledgeable to tell me I'll just go ask Tommy instead, since clearly she's smarter than you."
Whether Tubbo was offended by the insult of Tommy being smarter than him, or if it was the (unlikely) fact that he knew Tommy would tease her much more for it than he would, he answered her. 
"Well, we celebrate the end of this year, and the start of the new one. We all kinda have our own personal traditions around it, and Tommy at least is very serious about his week of worshipping prime, but it's mostly just about reminiscing and looking forward to things."
Before Ranboo could ask more about why the year was ending so quickly, or what Tommy's week of prime worship was about, Tubbo flew off and she was left with more questions unanswered.
Just out of listening distance, Tubbo collapsed to his knees out of breath, and cursed Wilbur to the top of the mountains and back for pushing him into the north wind and in the direction of one very pretty, and very scary, Ender princess. 
----------
"Tooommmyyyy" Ranboo called, her voice echoing off of the marble walls, as they carefully avoided the water rushing down from the ceiling. Xe was met with Wilbur, who silently and violently shushed her, before he turned back to his place in his seat and folded his wings out, keeping his eyes closed and hands held out in front of him. 
"What scam is this weirdo trying to trick me into today?" she thought, before his tail pulled her into the seat next to him. About to shout at him, Ranboo was stopped by Wilbur whispering "Just copy my posture and I'll explain once we get outside."
Very, very, hesitant, Ranboo followed suit nonetheless, and slowly xe became attuned to every noise in the building. The rushing of the waterfall was now less deafening, as each breath she and Wilbur took whispered through the room. The sound of feathers took them by surprise, and she quickly squinted one eye open to see Tommy emerging from the door at the side of the very front of the room. Feeling Wilbur's presence next to her, they shut xer eyes tightly and waited. 
Tommy, with much pomp and ceremony, looked around the room and was absolutely delighted to see a whole second person in her church to prime. Barely containing a squeal, he rushed back into the sideroom, and picking up two more of his grandchildren, she returned to her slow walk down the aisle to the only two people attending his ceremony. 
Ranboo was told she could "Open your eyes under the blessing of prime, hi Ranboo you lanky bitch hurry up hurry up hurry up look at this," and was greeted with a chicken wiggling in one claw, and a warm egg in the other.
Wilbur nudged her, with a chicken and an egg also struggling to balance themselves in his hands, and confused, she nodded at Tommy and said her thanks in time with a smirking Wilbur. Beaming, Tommy bent to kiss both the eggs, before grabbing the two chickens and stuffing both of them under each arm. She waddled up to the front of the room, and holding on to the prime symbol around her neck, he began his speech.
"Today, on the first day of the last week of a year graced by the presence of me, and blessed by many subscriptions with prime, every person is granted An Egg." Tommy's grin was stretched wide, and would have been contagious had Ranboo not been wondering why he had capitalized those last two words in speech.
"I thank you for your promise to subscribe with prime, as you all have, by volunteering yourself to care for this egg until it's last moments. Your newfound parenthood is a symbol of the birth of the new year that is to come, and I hope you are as excited to look after this child as you are for the new year. Gertude and her many grandchildren thank you for this service, and I thank you for your forever promise to care for my great grandchildren. I hope you all make me a very proud grandfather, little ones!" Tommy called, face filled with joyous rapture, before she turned heel and strode out the side door. Ranboo sat with the egg in her claw dumbfounded, before Wilbur rolled her eyes and pulled xer outside.
"That," Wilbur said to answer her as yet unasked question, "Was the first day of twitch prime week. It's Tommy's thing she does during our new years celebrations, and i'm normally the only one that goes along with it." Wilbur smiled at her, and Ranboo was struck by how genuine it seemed to be. 
"I think he was really pleased there was a second person actually there today, even if I did force you to be there." Ranboo nodded, looking closely at the egg in xer hand. 
"What is this for, exactly?" they said, gesturing to it. Wilbur laughed. "Weren't you listening?"
She bristled, ready to insult him into the next week, (or rather next year, at this point in time) but he saw the look in xer eyes and hurried along.
"It's from one of Tommy's chicken in the fucking army she seems to have bred them into. We're supposed to look after the chicken until the end of the first week of next year, then we give it back to Tommy so he can continue to have a ridiculous amount of chickens. It’s not at all a traditional prime thing, but seeing as Tommy is the only person who believes in prime that i know it’s not like i’m the expert"
Ranboo was absolutely terrified at suddenly having to care for a new life, but Wilbur was completely fine. "You don't really have to worry about it though, most of the eggs Tommy's chickens lay end up as the eggs for cooking. See?" Wilbur held his out into the sun, his hand still in the shade,  and Ranboo could see the faintest shine of yellow on the edge of the shell. "Yellow means it has a yolk, not a chicken, inside. Almost all the eggs are yellow."
Ranboo seemed torn between asking what colour her egg was, and waiting to see what Wilbur would do with his egg. She didn't have to wait long, as Jack Manifold was seen cresting over the hill and Wilbur took the chance to fade into the ground.
"Ayup Ranboo!" Jack called, and Ranboo raised a claw in greeting.
"Good noon, Jack," they said, deciding to stow the egg in her inventory for the moment. Jack nodded at her. 
"How's your new years coming along?" he asked good naturedly, planting his feet firmly in the ground, a well enough distance away that his blaze rods wouldn't accidentally catch xer hair on fire, again.
Once more, here was this unknown and terrifying "new years" that Ranboo did not at all understand. Tommy had prime, Tubbo had his weird flower things and yet neither of those explained to her what this one cohesive new years thing was at all. And, well, when xe didn't understand something, she had to fake it till she made it.
"My new year's is coming along perfectly, and far better than yours ever will," they sniffed haughtily, and internally breathed a sigh of relief when Jack seemed to take no outward offence.
"Perfect, ay? Already? You better look out for when it goes wrong, because perfect is a hard place to fall from," he said good naturedly.
"I'm gonna go drop by Niki's for a bit in the afternoon, but otherwise let me know if you need help recovering from your "perfect" new years," he laughed, giving them a wave and walking off.
Ranboo stayed just long enough to watch Wilbur pop out of a tree and crack his egg over Jack's head, where it began to sizzle and burn ferociously, before they teleported back to their cave to find a warm, safe place for their egg.
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"Ranboo!!! What's up!" A new day, a new morning had passed, and now at 12pm Ranboo was greeted with a very loud, and a very tipsy, Sneegsnag right in her ear. Wincing, she plucked him off her shoulder and unceremoniously dropped him to the floor, after she had properly ascended the ladder and crouched through the doorway.
"Good to see you Sneeg," she replied, sitting on the ground next to the tiny table that he had set up.
"Raaaaaaanboo!! Helo!" Fundy also greeted xer, a jug of mead in hand and his cheeks somehow redder than usual.
Ranboo, though still unsure why any being with a brain would choose to intoxicate themselves in such a way that their body and brain were poisoned, for fun,  was glad that they had chosen mead to drink, as it had the least unpleasant smell of all the alcohols she had thus far encountered.
"So since everyone here seems to be carried away with this “new years” thing" xe said, shaking a few leaves out of her hair and barely avoiding hitting her head on a lower hanging branch, "Will the two of you care to explain what tradition this is?"
"Well," Sneeg and Fundy began, before they both glanced at each other and burst into drunken laughter. As Sneeg’s fork accidently got flung against the room and planted itself into the trunk near her head, Ranboo wondered why she had bothered to come over.
"There was a realm i came from" Sneeg started, before snorting and having to start again. "Called RLcraft, and Fundyyyyyy, joined me once or twice."
"You were bigger then," Fundy shouted, for some reason, even though he was but a few feet away, "Old age has made him shrink already, itty little bug boy."
"Dude, shut the fuck up."
Ranboo sniffed, pretending to turn up her nose at the unsightly behavior of the two, but secretly they found it very entertaining, and were planning to take notes. For completely innocent purposes of course.
"Hey RANboo, did sneeg ever tell you, about the time we fought a… a what was, a tower guardian?" Fundy was thoroughly drunk, making his words slurry and blurred together but this question intrigued Ranboo.
"We were drunkasshit, then too," Sneeg remarked, the middle of his sentence an incoherent mess of sounds.
Ranboo decided to simply watch the two as they bantered back and forth, listening with great interest as they reminisced. Sneeg, for all she knew was a capable and devious little guy, apparently also had a lot of experience surviving in one the most dangerous servers known, or "realm" as he incorrectly labled it.
"Youknow," sneeg yawned, "I used to do this every year with my buddy Union, before i fucked off to here."
"The blue guy?" Fundy asked, barely awke.
"Bitch, I'm the blue guy. But yeahhhh," a large yawn, "it'sa pretty good newyeard tradition. Always fun tryig to fight a sea serpent when you’re not so-” a giant yawn,”sober."
"Raaahn… boo. what're you do for new year's?" Fundy's question shook Ranboo out of the quiet contentment she had been sitting in, and she pondered the query for a while.
"I guess the closest ender holiday that's equivalent to the "new years" celebration, is The Great Sleep," Ranboo said, eyes taking on a far away look. "A year in the end seemed to last about 7 or so of the years here, so I guess that's why I was so surprised when it was drawing so close so early."
Tubbo, who had been heading to Sneeg's to ask if he had any wax he could use, slowed down as he heard her voice and quietened his footsteps, before he paused just outside the entrance.
"It sounds kind of ominous, but it wasn't, really." She said, with intense longing in her voice. "After 7 years guarding us, well, the current dragon always got very tired, you know, and they deserved a break. So, a long time ago, we established The Great Sleep. The ruler would announce that The End was to go into a period of rest, and that they would begin the Change Over, and once they awoke, the year would begin once more."
"So, the dragon would go to sleep, in a special area where time was frozen for them, and the ruler, in my case my mother, would take their place for at least 7 days, but normally no longer than a month.  We would always hope against hope that, of course, no overworlders would try to come and challenge us during that time, but the void always seemed on our side during The Great Sleep."
"Since coming up here, I have heard tales, at least from Phil, of the luck for an end raid always being especially bad every 7 years or so, of ender eyes breaking at an alarming rate, the stronghold being deep underwater, or surrounded by lava, of having no eyes at all left in the portal, of the room being nigh impossible to find. During The Great Sleep, I could never stay at rest for longer than a day or two, so I would spend every night watching through the portal in the temple, my mother circling the portal to the overworld, looping through the towers and I watched in fascination. For there are no other endariens or endermen on that island during The Great Sleep, and she would always seem so very alone."
Ranboo sighed, and Tubbo wished that he could give her a hug, but fear of being found out held him back.
"Normally by day 6 or 7 or so, the rest of my family had joined me, and at least by the 10th day most of the rest of the empire would have woken. But we weren't allowed to leave our homes to see others, or to party or celebrate or worship even. We could do all that in our own homes, with family and friends that lived with us, but it was truly a period of, just resting."
Xe leant her head back against the tree trunk, deep in thought. 
"I suppose it has something to do with the fact that endermen and endariens don't sleep." And, far quieter than before, they admitted, "And, I suppose, I'm not really a proper one of either of them, so that's why I am so weak and have to sleep every few days, rather than months."
"But there's still a part of me that deeply misses it," she said, "We would have Chorus fruit juice on the first day of the ruler's return, and then there would be a party during however long the ruler's rest period was." Xe grew quiet, and Tubbo could hear her fiddling with her bracelets, the gold and iron clinking in the relative silence. "It's funny to think it's stuck with me for so long but," they gave out a little laugh, "I still know how to make the banners, and the recipe to make the chorus juice fizz. That was my favourite trick that mother taught me."
Xe was interrupted by a colossal snore from Sneeg, followed by a quieter "snork… mimimimimi…." from Fundy, who had curled up on his chair, hat having fallen to the ground. 
"So neither of you two were even listening. Wonderful." She got up, brushed a few leaves from xer dress and teleported outside, not irritated to bother with the ladder. They then immediately fell onto Tubbo, for the second time in two days.
“URGH!” she cried, incredibly irritated as she stood up and smoothed out her dress, ears hot from embarrassment, (nothing else) “What is with you always being in my way, you idiot!’
“H-hey!” Tubbo replied angrily, face flushed and fists balled up, “You're the one who teleported into me this time, so that’s not fair.”
“W-well,” they stuttered, cheeks growing as warm as their ears, “It’s not my fault you’re so easy to miss! You should just get taller.”
Instead of continuing to argue, Tubbo froze for a moment before he burst into laughter. “Y-you” he laughed so much his hand swerve holding his stomach, “you sound j-just like Tommy, ha!”
“Well,” xe sniffed, ‘perhaps Tommy is right for once. If you were taller, t-then it would be much more difficult o run into you.”
Suddenly, Tubbo was hovering in front of her face grinning, his wing s a blur this close to them. “Awww,” he cooed as her face finally started to turn a dark shade of purple, “You almost sound like you’d miss running into me.”
They both stayed there for a moment, Tubbo grinning triumphantly at her and Ranboo completely and utterly flustered, before they squeaked out a “shut up!” and pushed his face away with her claw.
Before Tubbo could reply. she teleported away, pulse racing, but only because he had now seen her in an unseemly situation twice, not because his face was so very close to xer’s, o-or because he smelt like the beginning of spring and new flowers, or because his laugh sounded like the bells that rung out with a sweet tune every hour. C-certainly not that at all.
---------
Very pleased with the outcome of their conversation, Tubbo made his way into Sneeg’s tree, to find both him and Fundy passed out. Shrugging, tubbo rumaged through the chests, found what he needed and left Sneeg a sign with 
“took some wax and strinf, thabk’s bossman!” 
before he flew up and off to the Pub(e).
He dumped the resources in the nearest chest before he quickly went on the hunt for Phil, an idea in his head and a nervous feeling in his heart.
‘Phil? You here?” he called, and received an
“In here, mate!” from Phil’s office in the Pub(e). 
Taking a deep breath, he whispered to himself “This isn’t for her, because I don't care about her, i-it’s just cause she seemed sad, and it’d be kind to do this. “ Knocking on the door, he opened it wide and strode in.
----------
It was the third day of prime week, and Ranboo had managed to avoid Tommy’s latest service with a warning from Wilbur on xer communicator.
Wilbur whispered to you: I know I said Tommy would appreciate you coming to all of his service but do not fucking come today. She’s planning to make us make hats out of all the feathers his chickens shed, and we have to wear them all. Fucking. Day. Or he’ll cry and then Phil will get involved so just don’t. Plus he wants a diamond for entry so save your money and go see Niki or smth.
You whispered to Wilbur: Noted.
You whispered to Wilbur: …. Thanks
Ranboo had finished doing her hair, and she decided agasint wearing any of her horn jewllrey for the day. Xe was going to see Niki, and if she had to take a water resistant potion every 8 minutes that she was there, she wasn’t going to bother with a lot of fancy clothes. Just about to teleport down the mountain, her eye caught on the garland Tubbo had given her, now lying on top of her chest. They didn’t know why, but they decided to take it with xer when she went to see Niki.
“Hello Ranboo!” Niki called cheerfully, her hand waving above the water. Ranboo raised and a claw in greeting back and replied 
“Good afternoon Niki. How has your day been?”
‘How nice of you to ask!” Niki said brightly, swimming a little closer to the dock. “I saw the sunrise this morning, and it was very lovely. Jack also stopped by to hand me the wreath Tubbo had made me.”
Ranboo was very thankful xe had brought her own “wreath” as Niki had called it, with her. 
‘I received one of those from Tubbo as well,” she said, sitting cross legged at the end of the wooden dock. “A-and, I was wondering if perhaps you knew why he gives these out?’
Before Niki could reply Ranboo added “He told me it was Phil’s idea, but i have a feeling that it’s not.”
Niki laughed at that. 
“What a weird thing to say. No, Tubbo has done that every year we’ve been here. It’s an Apian thing, something about flowers symbolising their love to carry you through to the next year. Apian culture is very romantic.”
“L-love?” Ranboo squeaked, thoroughly surprised, her ears flushing. “B-ut why would T-Tubbo give me-”
“Oh no no, don’t worry” Niki laughed, “Tubbo told us when he first gave them out that everyone gives them to eveyrone, romantic or family or friends. Besides, there’s only certain kinds of flowers that are romantic, you know? They all have different meanings. I’ll go get mine to show you.”
Niki dove underwater, a large splash making the dock rock slightly and spattered Ranboo with water. She gave a small yelp at the coldness of it, but was very glad she had had a water resistant potion before she had come down to see Niki.
There was a disruption in the water and Niki’s head popped back up above the surface, grinning widely with all her pointed teeth on display.
“Sorry,” she grinned cheekily as Ranboo glared at her, trying their best to intimidate Niki, for all that xe looked like a bedraggled cat. “I knew you had taken a potion, and I just couldn't resist the opportunity.”
“So did you find your wreath or was that just an excuse to get me soggy?” Ranboo snapped, very displeased.
Niki giggled. “It’s right here.”
She held up a wreath that shone with an enchantment, most certainly a water resistant charm, made up of orange and white tulips, also held together with twine, with glow berries dispersed throughout.  
“You know, it’s quite funny,” she said laying it down on the edge of the dock as Ranboo marvelled at craftmenship of the wreath. 
“Phil got me a book of flower meanings for my birthday last year becuase i had started to get into gardening,” she said, her tail lazily swishing from side to side and creating ripples. 
“And I remembered it this year when Tubbo gave me my wreath, but it was so strange. “
“What was?” Ranboo asked, starting to get a little impatient with how long Niki was taking to get to her point.
“Well, flowers are a huge part of Apian culture, and when I asked him once Tubbo told me that flower meanings were a very prominent too. So I’m sure he used that when making the wreaths, but I don’t really understand what he’s trying to say.”
“Well, what’s so confusing about your wreath?” Ranboo asked, “It certainly looks very nice.”
“Yes,” Niki nodded in agreement, as she pulled a small book out from seemingly thin air, “But the white tulips mean forgiveness and purity,” she said as she flipped ot a page, “And for one i don’t know whether he’s asking me to forgive him for something, or saying i’m very pure? One is confusing and the other just feels quite insulting.”
Ranboo agreed.
“As for the orange tulips, it says here that they mean “a sense of understanding between two people”, which makes me think the white are for forgiveness. But i have just no clue what I’m supposed to be forgiving him for!”
Her tail thwacked the surface of the lake with that and sprayed over Ranboo’s hair, leaving xer soggier than before. Ranboo’s sputters going unnoticed, Niki went on.
“And with glowberries meaning excitement, but not celebration, which would make sense for new years, i’m stumped on what he trying to tell me.”
Attempting to shake some of her hair dry, Ranboo asked, “I did come to ask if you might know what my wreath meant, but it seems i will end up with just as puzzling an outcome as you did.”
“Well,” Niki said brightly, “If it’s not insulting, hopefully it will end up being rather funny instead. Bring it out here.”
A little shyly, Ranboo retrieved her wreath from xer inventory, and held it gently in her claws.
“Oooh, that one’s really nice!” Niki said, reaching out for it, until Ranboo held it back, her cheeks flushing with heat. “It’s, ah, just a little broken is all. It fell a few times.”
Niki nodded, and had a good look from a distance away. '`I'm very surprised though, II’ve never seen him use any of those flowers in his wreaths before!’
Ranboo’s heart skipped a beat at that, but their brain turned to reason and xe scoffed. 
“He’s probably insulted me in a million different ways then,” She snapped, with a toss of her hair, attempting to show indifference. But Niki watched how tightly xe held on to the flowers, and with a knowing smile decided to keep her comments to herself.
“Pink tulips are a symbol of good luck, and white roses signify loyalty.”
The two sat in silence for a moment as they stewed it over. 
‘That’s not quite insulting or a complement” Niki said, re reading over the page.
“I suppose good luck could be an insult, but what is he saying I’m bad at?” Ranboo furrowed her brow, “ And as for loyalty, it sounds like a compliment, but even if I were to take it as an insult it just doesn’t make sense at all! I feel like he has to be insulting me, somehow.”
Niki interjected “Well,  if i can find the page with alliums, perhaps we can figure this out.”
Ranboo sat in tense silence as Niki flipped through the pages. Why did this matter so much to xer? It was only Tubbo, after all, a-and she hated him anyway, so why should it matter what he thought of her? Why should it matter that he had spent the time to create something that looked so beautiful and must have taken a lot of effort, especially for them? Why did the thought of him, carefully growing and picking flowers with her in mind bring such a flush to her face, the image of his eyes, bright and concentrated and blue as the sky on her favourite days of winter, make her ears go hot and her heart race?  I-if he hated xer as much as she really, really definitely hated him, then why would he-
“Ah, here it says alliums mean patience and humility.”
Ranboo bristled, gripping the wreath a lot more angrily than before. “That self absorbed, donkey brained, smart aleck little twit!” She shouted, jumping to her feet, casting the wreath to the dock.  
“How, how dare he tell me, that I need patience? That I need humility?” Xe was breathing heavily, feeling her ears heat with anger now, fists balled up tight. 
“What kind of a pathetic snivelling coward is he that he can’t even look me in the eyes and say it to my face! The utter arrogance he has, to think he is so above me that he, h-he’s probably laughing at me now,  th-thinking he’s won!” She paced back and forth, incensed. 
“Ohhhhh, I should have crushed that stupid wreath the moment he gave it to me, that prick. I’m going to put that complete asshole in his place, ahole in the ground like the peasant he is. FLACS LEN!,  he just makes me want to scream, that- that utter dickhead!”
“Ayup Niki! Hiya Ranboo!” Jack Manifold’s voice made it’s way to the two of them, and Ranboo, now having to try her best to calm down, turned to him trying to keep a “glower off of her face, shoving her wreath into her inventory and sitting down grumpily.
“Hi Jack!” Niki replied brightly. Jack made his way over to them and sat down a little ways away from them both.
“What’ve you two been up to this fine summer's day?” He said good naturedly.
“Oh, we were just discussing the wreaths Tubbo made us.” Niki said, holding hers up, the scent of the tulips carrying on the breeze.
Jack gave a low whistle as he saw Niki’s wreath. “Gee, that’s a much nicer one than what he gave me!” he said, admiring the blooms.
“Oh, was yours made with wither roses?” Niki joked.
Jack laughed. “Oh no, I mean he made it well! It’s just that it’s meaning was essentially “you have forgotten how to be humble. Get better.” I have a feeling Tommy was part of that. I was reading between the lines a bit but when I asked he told me as such to my face.”
Niki laughed whilst Ranboo fumed inside. If Tubbo could be bothered to insult Jack Manifold and tell him upfront, why couldn’t he show the same base level of respect to xer? 
“But really Niki, he’s given yours such a nice meaning, I didn’t think he had it in him. “ Jack remarked.
As Niki and Ranboo looked very confused at this statement, Jack continued hurriedly, “ The orange tulips mean good fortune, right? And the white ones mean wisdom, and the glow berries are for cheerfulness. Stop looking at me like that!” He laughed.
“What, are you confused that he gave you a compliment? I mean, I am a bit surprised too-”
‘Oh no no, Jack,” Niki said, shaking her head, passing her book along to Jack. “I’m just really confused as to how you got those meanings! See, i got this book of flower meanings from Phil last year and mine says something quite different.”
“Oh that’s cause your’s isn’t the Apian flower meaning!” Jack said, turning it over carefully. “I got curious about what my wreath meant last year, so i looked up a book in the library about it.”
“How do you still remember all the meanings though?” Ranboo asked, tail swishing in fascination.
“Well, the book was really interesting and had some other stuff about Apian culture and a few other societies from the Northernmost Area, and well, since everyone here is so different, it'd be helpful to know stuff wouldn’t it? I though i should at least memorise the flower stuff as that would be easy and might come in handy, as it has. ” Jack said,handing Niki her book back.
“And since James is still building the library, I thought I’d just keep the book until he noticed it was gone. And he’s a thoroughly shit librarian cause I’ve had it far past it’s return date. I can lend it to you if you want.”
“Awesome!” Niki said, grinning. “Do you think you could tell us what Ranboo’s wreath means?” she continued, angling her head in Ranboo’s direction.
Ranboo snorted. “It’s probably something thoroughly insulting, no doubt,” xe snipped, still very irritated with the whole affair, but she handed her wreath over to Jack anyway.
They turned away, almost scared of what the wreath would mean. After almost a minute of excruciating silence and hushed whispers, they had to look back at the other two, who were both trying very hard to hold back a laugh.
“What!” she snapped, and Niki started giggling. Feeling xer ears heat, she began to think of the worst insults they could use before Jack interrupted.
“No,  really Ranboo, honest, he’s given you a very nice meaning. We were just, um, not quite expecting it.”
“W-well, what is it?” She said, growing impatient.
“Seems Tubbo has given you a love letter with flowers” Niki giggled, and Ranboo’s heart stopped.
“... What?” she said faintly, ears flushing furiously.
“Well,” Jack said, trying not to grin. “He’s given you white roses to mean “new love”,”
Ranboo’s face was ferociously hot, as she tried to not let either of them read her face and failed miserably.
“Alliums mean adoration, gosh he’s such a sap isn’t he?” Jack continued, sending Niki into a fit of giggles.
Ranboo wrapped their tail around her arm as she tried to not let it wave in excitement, and her face felt like it was on fire.
“And finally, pink tulips mean true love and promises.” Jack was fully grinning now, and Niki was beside herself.
Ranboo was blushing a deep purple, and all thoughts of “putting him in his place” had flown far, far away from her mind.
They sat in silence, attempting to come to terms with this new information she had been given.
“W-well,” she stuttered, “th-thats, certainly s-something i suppose..” Xe couldn't even look at the other two because she knew what their expressions would be.
“So, you gonna ask him about it?” Niki teased and Ranboo decided xe had had enough. 
“Well! Th-thank you both very much for helping me, i-i’ve got to be going now. Bye!” 
With that, she stuffed her wreath into their inventory and used what remaining energy they had left to teleport all the way back home.
Jack and Niki took one look at each other before they both burst into a fit of laughter.
“Remember the time Tommy told you to give me a bouquet of roses for Valentines?” Niki giggled. Jack’s face screwed up, before he started laughing.
“Oh yes, because apparently I have the romantic charm of a dead bug, and that I really needed help, as he so kindly put it” Jack said.
Niki burst into peals of laughter. “Oh Jack, “ she sung, “You’re a lovely guy but I'd rather go for a nice long swim in lava than date you.”
Jack held a hand to his heart. “Oh Niki, “ he simpered, “ You flatter me so. I must say, if I ever had to date you I would rather help Charlie clean all the slime out of his tank.”
They both shuddered at that.
“Let’s hope Tommy never forces us to go on a date then,” Niki said.
“That, would probably be best,” Jack agreed.
----------
It was now the last day of the year, the imminent “New years” only a few hours away, and Ranboo had not left their cave since the incident with Jack and Niki at the dock 4 days prior.  A slightly worried Philza had come past, and asked if xe was feeling unwell, but she threw an empty book at him and shouted at him to go away. He had gotten the message.
Ranboo had spent 4 days in her cave, ignoring Wilbur’s messages about Tommy’s week of prime, thankfully not having to dodge any messages or visits from Sneeg or Fundy as the two had decided to go spend a few days back at Sneeg’s old “realm” after getting thoroughly drunk and reminiscing, and Jack and Niki, seeing as they knew what they knew, had thought it best to leave xer alone for a while.
And now it was 8pm on the last day of the year, and Ranboo really couldn't avoid it any longer. “It” being the problem of Tubbo, whom she had found that maybe, awfully, hopefully, she didn’t entirely hate. Oh who was she kidding, he had confessed that he was in love with her and apparently xe had only just realised she felt the same. Now, she held the power in this situation, and yet she was far more afraid. Xe had to go to the celebration tonight, more out of fear of what Tommy and Wilbur would do to her tomorrow if she didn’t, by=ut she desperately didn’t want to face Tubbo.
“Maybe” they thought to themself as they anxiously put the finishing touches on her outfit, “ I can just show up, exchange whatever gifts I need to and leave before he notices me.”
During their 4 days of alone time, they had written up a formidable list of “new years” gifts they had to get, and had decided to get everyone the same thing, with variations for each person’s own style.
As she looked in the mirror, xe froze and her cheeks flushed. When had they decided to wear that dress? Definitely not because Tubbo had complimented it once. She pushed that thought to the back of xer mind and checked their invitation again.
'`PARTY AT THE PUB(E)!’ it said, scrawled in Tommy’s handwriting. “BE THERE OR BE A BITCH!” Underneath, in a much neater font, Wilbur had written. “The celebrations will go on for god knows how long, but please try to arrive from 7 - 8:30 so everyone can exchange gifts, and those who need to sleep can join in on time for their sleep schedules.”
Checking the clock, which read 8:25 now, Ranboo took a deep breath to still xer racing heart, and teleported to the top of the Pub(e). However, instead of being greeted with noise and music and partying and laughter, as she had expected, there was silence.
As xe cautiosuly open her eyes, she was then greeted with a giant shout of “HAPPY END OF THE YEAR!” and was then barrelled over by a very excited Tommy.
‘RANBOO MY FAVOURITE STUCK UP DICKHEAD! Look at the decorations we did, I helped the most, do you really like that juice stuff that much? I tried some and it sucked balls-” 
Tommy was rambling very excitedly, her feathers all puffed up and her eyes bright with what Ranboo guessed was sugar.
“Yes yes Tommy, good to see you too-” She began, not having listened to his previous rambling, when she stood up and was shocked by what she saw.  
Garlands of various shades and patterns in purple were strung across the beams that were built into the roof of the Pub(e), and small lanterns with Ender symbols on them were hanging about the room. There was a large bowl of punch that had the soft, sour scent of chorus fruit, and the fruit itself garnished cupcakes that sat on the table. At the very centre of the roof, there hung a paper ender dragon, with glitter on it’s wings and two small amethyst shards for it’s eyes. In the centre of the room, the tree of prime had an enderman sitting atop it, and it was adorned with all things purple. 
“Sooo…,” Phil said, his eyes wrinkling in that way they did when he was trying not to smile because he was very pleased with himself.
“A little bee told me about some celebrations you have in The End, and although I know it’s not quite the right time for you, I thought you might appreciate something more familiar this year, seeing as it’s your first time celebrating  new years with us.”
Everyone else had already started the celebrations, conversations being loud and rambunctious, with a few people drifting over to the food table, and a couple more adding their presents under the prime tree.
“What do you think?” Phil said, smiling at her.
In a strangled voice she replied “I-it’s… nice.”
Phil grinned delightedly. “Do you really think so? We put in so much effort, but I can’t take all the credit. It was Tubbo’s idea after all.”
“...Pardon?” Ranboo croaked, her heart racing at the mention of his name. “What did T-Tubbo do?”
“Oh he told me he heard you talking about this and that about The End and he got a few ideas.. But why don’t you talk to him yourself! Tubbo, mate!” Phil waved Tubbo over, who looked a little nervous but nowhere near close to how Ranboo felt. Xe cursed Phil a million times over in her head, casting as many threats of eternal suffering on him as possible as they glared at his retreating back.
“Uhm, so, hi?” Tubbo said, and Ranboo snapped back to look at him, before she promptly flushed and looked away.
In the continuing silence, Tubbo attempted to fill the awkwardness.
“I hope you don’t mind that I uh, kinda overheard you talking to Sneeg the other day,” Tubbo stumbled over his words. “I really hope you don’t think I’m weird, I just  thought, well, i-it’s your first new years with us, and we’ve done heaps of celebrations from everyone else’s homes, s-so I thought it would be fair?”
Ranboo had yet to reply to him, but xe hadn’t started shouting at him either, so he took it as a good sign.
“But yeah! Tommy and Wilbur especially got really excited when Phil asked them to help out. Techno made the dragon! A-and Phil and Tommy and I made the banners. Beau offered to help make food, and Wilbur made the chorus fruit punch, so if it’s really bad that’s why sorry. I uh, didn’t know much about End customs and the book I got, wasn’t that helpful, but I hope it’s alright? And that I haven’t accidentally offended you?-’ Tubbo’s anxious rambling was cut off as he heard a sizzling sound, and he turned in alarm to see that Ranboo was crying.
“Shi! Fuck, Ranboo I’m so sorry, fuck fuck fuck where are the bandages,” Tubbo grabbed her by the claw and dragged them into the kitchen, and he started rummaging around in the drawers. 
“Here!’ he said as he flung a tea towel at their head, and grabbed the first aid box. “Uh, just hold that to your face, and try to st-stop crying? Sorry.” Seeing as they had grabbed a bit of attention from the other people at the party, Niki and Phil in particular looking on worriedly, Tubbo suggested, “H-how about we head outside?”
Ranboo nodded, and thankful to finally have a response from xer, he once again grabbed their hands and pulled them outside, to sit on a bench overlooking the crater, the music from inside muffled.
Tubbo took his time applying the burn cream to their face and carefully placing the healing enchantments on her skin.
“There, that should be all good,” he said, relieved, and then he noticed how close he was to her face. Ranboo looked him in the eyes, and flushing, they both turned away from each other awkwardly.
Neither of them said a word for a while, listening to the chatter and laughter from inside, the awkward silence slowly being filled in by the music drifting outside on the breeze.
“Thank you,” Ranboo whispered. Surprised Tubbo turned to see them looking right at him, ears a dark purple and clawss fidgeting.
‘God she’s really pretty,” he thought, his own face a bright red.
“It was n-nothing, don’t worry-” he began before they interrupted him.
“It wasn’t nothing,” xe said, her claw finding his hand, and Tubbo’s heart skipped a beat as he zeroed in on every single moment of this conversation. “Obviously, thank you for the bandages,” she said, laughing a little, and oh how his heart fluttered when xe laughed. Her voice was like starlight. And he knew he was down bad when he preferred to hear xer cursing him than to hear nothing at all.
“I, I wanted to say thank you, f-for all this, though” they said quietly.
“It wasn’t anything really-” Tubbo said, laughing awkwardly.
“Shut up.” Ranboo said quietly. “It, it was something, to me. I, just,” And now she was crying again, and fucking hell did it hurt. 
“Here!” Tubbo said, grabbing a towel soaked in healing potion. 
He held it under her eyes as xe tried their best to compose xerself.
“Thank you, Tubbo” she said, as he blushed, still holding her face. 
“I guess I hadn’t quite realised, j-just how much I missed home. And, and the fact th-that you’d put so much effort into th-” a hiccup, “ i-into this, for me, I don’t know what to say, except… thank you.”
The two stared at each other, the music now picking up full swing inside, and they heard a shout and a crash, probably Tommy.
“I found out what the flowers meant,” Ranboo whispered, taking the bandage from xer face and smiling at him.
Tubbo’s heart dropped. ‘Y-you did?” he squeaked, palms sweating,  fingers tightly clutching his shirt, his lower hands now desperately trying not to fidget.
“Yes.” Ranboo smiled and Tubbo hoped, that maybe, maybe maybe maybe, it meant something good.
“It was a very nice wreath. I really liked it.” she remarked.
“I really like you,” Tubbo thought as she leaned in a little closer. “Please, please, don’t let this be her making fun of me. I don’t want to cry in front of xer today.”
“W-well, I did spend a lot of time on it,” Tubbo admitted. Quietly, he added, “And I made sure your’s was the prettiest.”
“I think you’re the prettiest,” Ranboo said, both of xer claws now holding his, and his heart stopped. Ranboo’s face was dark purple, and Tubbo was sure that his was redder than Tommy’s plumage.
“Can I kiss you?” he blurted out.
“Yes” Ranboo whispered, xer clawcradling his cheek.
They both leaned, Tubbo’s hand holding her claw, their eyes slowly closing-
“TUBBO IT’S GIFTING TIME, COME ON HURRY UP” Tommy screeched from inside, and two broke apart.
“U-uh, yeah, we’re coming Tommy!” Tubbo shouted back.
They sat for a moment, until the absolute awful horrible awkwardness of th situation was too much to bear.
Avoiding Ranboo’s gaze Tubbo jerked his thumb in the direction of the doorway as he stood up.  ‘W-well, you heard her, we should probably go-”
Ranboo walked over to him, bent down and kissed him on the cheek, his sentence stopping as his brain short circuited. 
“Come on Tubbo, you wouldn’t want to keep Tommy waiting,” xe grinned at him, before sweeping past him and walking inside.
Tubbo, completely flustered, took a moment to bury his face in his hands, before composing himself and going to join Ranboo in the Pub(e).
----------
“Ranboo! Tubso!” Tommy crowed in delight, running up to the two of them, her wings puffed up in excitement. “You guys were out there for ages, it’s gift giving time! C’mon c’mon!” He then grabbed both of their hands and dragged them towards the prime tree, where they were both roughly shoved to a sitting position on the ground whilst Tommy sat in between them and demanded as much attention as possible.
Phil surveyed the room from the rafters, watching people take their sweet time getting to the gifting circle and decided the hour was near. 
“Techno, ring the bell!” He called, and Techno promptly did as he was ordered,  a clanging ringing out across the room.
“Crowfather is askin’ for attention, an’ I wanna go to sleep, so everyone hurry up!” Techno called, his ears twitching, and anyone who had yet to be seated hurried to the circle. Techno took his place in between Niki and Wilbur, and all was hushed.
Philza swooped down from the rafters to laughter and applause, along with Tommy squeezing both Tubbo and Ranboo’s claws until they went numb.
“Hey mates,” Phil said, having donned a fancier hat for the occasion of New Years, and his homemade “Crow Father” tie made by Tommy when she was young. He held a bright purple shulker box, which he placed on the ground.
“Now, as you all know this is our little tradition, where I give out gifts that are better than all of yours and i do it in a fancier way,” that got  a few laughs, “and this year I just wanted to acknowledge that the celebration we decided to theme this new years after was The Great Sleep, which as one of the major End holidays, I’m sure Ranboo can tell you all about.”
Ranboo, a little embarrassed at now having so many eyes on them, stilled her face and tried to look bored, but Tubbo saw xer tail waving surreptitiously.
“And now with that acknowledged, we go on to my portion of the gift giving!” Phil said with a smile, and he started to hand out a bundle of presents.
Tommy received a specially knitted scarf for his eggs, with warming and protection enchantments sewn in, and he chirped with joy, wigs flapping up and down and banging into Tubbo and Ranboo, feathers going everywhere. Tubbo was handed a new toolset, with a few extra hard to find pieces to build that one specific contraption he’d been rambling to Tommy about for weeks, and the look on his face when he saw it was enough to make Ranboo’s heart explode. 
And finally, Ranboo received a book. The outside was a beautifully dyed leather like material, the colour swirling shades of silver and purple. It had a metal clasp, and the pages were made of the finest, most wonderful paper Ranboo had ever seen. Inside was a quill, the feather one of Tommy’s most beautiful, a bright red with flecks of gold and white edges.
“Even though Will has apologised for the incident with the other book earlier this year,” Phil said, “I thought it was a shame you had to get rid of such a nice book, and I thought you might appreciate a nice replacement.”
Ranboo couldn’t cry again, not after the amount of enchantments that had already been used to heal xer face.
“It is a very suitable replacement” xe said, barely containing their smile. “I would think it of high enough calibre to be better than the old one.”
Phil grinned, and she knew he had understood.
The gifting went on, Ranboo giving each person her gift and receiving a lot in turn. Xe had made everyone a piece of jewellery, some people a bracelet, others a necklace if it suited them, and more specialised pieces for her closer friends. For Wilbur, she had made a hanging charm to attach to his sunhat, and then she had to deal with his blubbering as she patted him on the back and avoided getting burnt. 
For Tommy, there was a specific anklet, that was very, very resistant, and waterproof, and fireproof, and wouldn’t get worn by time as quickly as anything else Tommy wore normally would. For xer efforts she was gifted a faceful of feathers and screeching, but at least they knew that to be signs of their friend’s excitement.
Jack had received some earring studs, which he immediately wore with pride, and began boasting to Niki about how handsome they made him. Niki ignored him in favour of profusely thanking Ranboo for her nose piercing  that had the tiniest, shiniest amethyst shard glimmering in it. Techno received a silver crown with amethysts, to add to his ever growing collection, to which he responded with a tight hug and a “This is nice. Thanks.”
Ranboo had yet to give Tubbo his present, but she had no time to worry on that when she was receiving a hat for her egg from Tommy, a collection of glass bottles with fancy detailing and gems as cork stoppers from Wilbur, a truly glorious collection of (dry) pieces of gold and interesting antiquities Niki had found in an abandoned ship,  soft, knitted socks from Techno, a small lute from Freddy, a basket made of reeds and full of (possibly either burnt or undercooked) muffins from Beau, and a wink and a nudge from Jack as he handed her “The Complete and Utter guide to Apia: all about the customs, language and culture of the Apian Society.”
“You should read chapter 14 first,” He said, grinning. “I think you’ll find it the most interesting.”
(And, if later that night, Ranboo did turn to “Chapter 14: How to win (and be won over) by a member of the most romantic culture in the world” and read that first, well who was to know?)
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Somehow, Ranboo and Tubbo found themselves outside again, all alone, yet to have given each other a present.
“Well,” thought Tubbo, “It’s now or never, or tomorrow when it might be really awkward and  I have ruined things, so best to get it over and done with.”
“Here,” he said, giving her a velvet box. “I, uh hope it’s up to standard.”
Curiously, Ranboo inspected the box. A smooth black velvet on the outside, no clasp and no signs at all of a maker’s signature. Shrugging to themself, xe opened it. Inside was a necklace, made of silver and as thin and fine as cobwebs.  It  looped endlessly, looking like a layer of lace, with small ovals of obsidian in between, polished beyond perfection to make it shine and glimmer in the low light. At it’s centre, there was an oval circled in silver, inside an emerald and a ruby, cut into perfect shape, and both matching the exact shading of her eyes.
“I know you already have a lot of jewellery, but i haven’t seen you wear much silver stuff so...” Tubbo trailed off, his boot scuffing on the ground. 
“I love it,” Ranboo breathed, xer eyes as wide as moonstones. They traced their fingers over each individual loop of silver, each piece of obsidian, the pendant in the centre, the whole thing shimmering with the faintest light of enchantment.
“This is, this isi gorgeous,” she said, absolutely enthralled. “Where did you get it? I have to talk to whoever made this, it-it’s perfect!” xe said, turning to him and leaning in close. Tubbo gulped, leaning back a little as his wings started to flutter. 
“Ah,” he said shyly, hiding behind his fringe. “Uh, I made it.”
“Oh.” Ranboo said, and they blushed, internally cursing herself for xer earnestness.
“W-well, Tubbo, it’s, really lovely.” Xe smiled, and Tubbo couldn’t help himself from grinning, his wings fluttering as he began to float. 
“I’m so glad you like it,” he whispered.
Ranboo smiled, xer pulse racing. He really was so beautiful.
“Oh, uh, your present, I should probably” Ranboo muttered as xe remembered, carefully tucking the box into her inventory, “Uh, where is it,” xe searched through her pockets until they found it.
“This is for you,” Ranboo said, pulling out a bouquet of blooming pink tulips. They were in a wonderfully crafted vase, made of all shades of stained glass, and tied around it was a matching pink bow.
As Tubbo accepted it, his face unreadable, Ranboo nervously added “I put an anti-aging charm on them, s-so they shouldn’t die for quite a while hopefully.”
Tubbo placed the vase on the bench, and hovering a little higher, he held Ranboo’s face in both his hands, his lower pair grabbing her claws. 
Gently, he placed a kiss on her forehead. “I think you figured it out, but in case you couldn’t tell, I really like you,” he whispered, and Ranboo flushed, laughing at the surprise. 
Xe pressed a light kiss to his lips, and he went from pink to red. ‘In case you couldn’t tell,” she teased as he stuttered, “I really like you as well.”
Light exploded in the distance, and they both watched as the fireworks started, a cascade of gold and silver light pouring down the sky.
“How do those work?” Ranboo wondered aloud, as red and purple light flashed up above.
“OH!” Tubbo said excited, “You, see, it’s actually quite interesting, Phil told me about it-” He stopped as xe stared at them
“Wh-why are you looking at me like that?” he laughed.
Ranboo grinned and shook her head. “I love when you get all excited about explaining things.” She said, and xe leaned forwards to kiss him again.
“Thank you for making new years so fun.” Ranboo laughed. 
Tubbo grinned. “I look forward to celebrating it again with you next year.”
The sky was filled with colour, and Ranboo decided that, even if she still didn’t fully get what new years was, xe was so glad she was celebrating it with the people they loved.
End Note.
oogity boogity my computer has been broken since before the last gift exchange bejeezus. Anywho, wrote the last 7k words of this on a keyboard atachted to someone else's computer, so glad i don't have to write on my phone anymore. First fic i've written that has reached over 10k words, wahoo!
if there are any typos don't be rude about it thanking you. I am tired, i hope you enjoy! goodbye
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dreamingisscary · 1 year
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Odiarme es mi nuevo hobbie.
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filiseverus · 9 months
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The Barbie movie reminded me about how when I was little my parents were upset that I kept making my Barbie dolls kiss, so they bought me a Ken doll. The next day they found me having a funeral for poor Ken in the garden, he had died of tuberculosis. All the Barbies were in attendance and I buried him under our rose bush. The Barbies were too poor to afford a headstone (it was 1875) so I didn’t mark where the grave was and I never could find him again. He’s probably still there.
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crimeronan · 4 months
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i think about this tweet Every Time i see people scared to write women with flaws bc they think it'll come off as sexist. cannot believe this is nearly a decade old. Ahead Of Its Time.....
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bebx · 7 months
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just-french-me-up · 7 months
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the urge to write is like a cat meowing for dear life for someone to open the goddamn door, who then shows utter disinterest in said open door
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evidently-endless · 8 days
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i think we should remind musicians they can absolutely make up little stories for their songs btw. it doesn’t have to be about them at all. you can invent a guy and put him in situations to music. time honoured tradition in fact.
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denofdreams-writerblr · 7 months
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ievaxol · 5 months
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no one can unring this bell
on good days, the creaking hardly bothers him.
'tis simply part of the daily routine to draw from the well of his aether and breathe life into his limbs again upon waking, to close his eyes through the initial panic of being pinned to the bed by dead weight and then the secondary, slower burning one of that dead weight being attached to him.
it took a couple of years, but he got the hang of it eventually. for all the theatrics of his youth, g'raha has discovered a pragmatic streak that runs deep within him.
he'll trade an arm for a settlement, half a leg for a child with eyes the color of lakeland -- he'll barter, give and take and move the pieces he has with lips pressed together and eyes cast to a future that may well lay hundreds of years ahead.
his own body is merely another resource at his disposal. he sits down with stacks upon stacks of books on anatomy to find a way to have the aether penetrate all the way out to this fingertips, not for himself but because the dexterity is needed in order to fight.
lyna smothers him in salves and ointments and he lets her, if only so she can feel needed. there is no need to tell of an itch that goes deeper than skin, not when she frowns in determination and sets his heart to bursting with affection.
on bad days, it does bother him.
those days he lets the sleeves drop a little lower and he stays in the tower if he can, both relieved and sickened at the familiar hum of aether that cocoons him.
relief at knowing he'll be able to move the way he wants. that he'll be able to fool himself into thinking there is nothing wrong with him so long as he doesn't look upon himself and see the tattered remains of his dress branded into the mockery of flesh provided by the tower.
nausea at the calculations that perpetually run in the back of his mind, reminding him of the fact that his body is no longer his. how many ilms of skin does it cost to save a life? what limbs would he trade for the crystalline mean? does he have the right to grieve himself?
it would probably do him well to remember that the tower isn't sentient as such, yet he can never shake the feeling that it hungers for more. some days it feels as though he has placed himself in the maw of a starving beast that is simply waiting for him to grow a little more before its jaws snap shut.
and time is notoriously not on his side.
on the worst days, the creaking is all he hears.
when he's called out on extended business, or another summoning attempt falls flat, or someone dies, or, well --
it's so loud those days. the scrape of rock against rock, slow and relentless. it is inescapable, too, as his chest heaves with every breath he takes and the crystal moves with it, groaning and cracking like a live thing.
the warmth is siphoned first out of his skin and then out of the very air, leaving his teeth chattering and lyna's face engraved with a silent worry that he's scared will grow permanent, and he wants to weep at how the one supposed to protect her ends up hurting her the most.
every swallow is a struggle, every step a fight. the seams of his transformation cracks and bleeds pain until he's half delirious with it, overcome by the need to claw his way out, out, out of his own body and the prison it makes.
it's basic survival instinct after all, to run away from what's killing you. and here he is. walking toward it, sprinting some days, as if he truly can't wait.
he has a thousand things to do and a hundred places to be, and yet all he is capable of is humming under his breath to try and drown out the never ending sound of his own corpse being puppeteered.
a small prize to pay on the grand scale of things but gods.
gods does he long for silence.
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fandom-trash-goblin · 2 months
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a girl of fear, a woman of anger— look how we've grown
girls contain multitudes, heather o'neill / king, florence + the machine / The Affront (L'affronto), by Antonio Piatti / In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado / this pin / cassandra, florence + the machine / What If This Were Enough?: Essays by Heather Havrilesky) / crush, richard siken / the closest thing i could find was this soundcloud link / a womans beauty, susan sontag / a vision of fiammetta, dante gabriel rossetti / stop me, natalia kills / fury, yevgeny yevtushenko
everyone say god bless you to @pe4rl-diver for the sources
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lgvalenzuela · 1 year
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Part one…
It had been a week since they found him. No sign of Solas, just the Inquisitor missing a body part, the arm that used to hold the Anchor. Could've been the pain or maybe the shock, but he hadn't awakened since the accident.
So there was no information, just a good excuse to keep postponing the Exalted Council, at least they knew he trusted lady Montiliet to handle such matters, or at least Aeryn and Dorian were quite sure of it.
Cassandra wasn't that sure, Aeryn looked for any excuse to sing praises for her lover. And Dorian saw the Inquisitor screaming in pain while his arm…what would be a good word for it? Disintegrated? He hadn't been the same since then, he barricaded himself in a room with the Inquisitor, only coming out under extreme need, or to send messengers to his homeland, that his arrival would be postponed once more.
So clearly their tevinter companions were quite blinded by love, which was terribly romantic, and horribly misplaced given the circumstances.
Cassandra made her rounds around the palace, walking near the Inquisitor's quarters often enough that she would be the first to have news. Well except for Dorian, obviously.
Who was engaged on a well too known scene once more:
"The Imperium will have me for the rest of my life! They can wait a couple of months until I've made sure the Inquisitor is okay! So you can tell them to shove every other messenger down Corypheus dead arse!" he shouted to a messenger
But this time he wasn't alone, the dwarf put a hand on his arm reassuringly:
"Come on Sparkler" said Varric with a softer tone of voice
Dorian sighed, exhausted, rubbing his eyes:
"That…was uncalled for and I apologize… It's not your fault, but please tell them to stop sending people" he explained apologetically
The messenger bowed and left the scene in a hurry, while Varric rubbed Dorian's arms:
"I did tell you not to get involved with a protagonist" he said, Dorian exhaled a faint laugh
"That you did…"
"He'll be happy to see you there when he wakes up"
"I…don't know if happy would be the word…"
"Yes…the arm, his hand…"
"He'll be glad to see the Anchor gone" said the Seeker, invading the conversation "He seemed… quite uncomfortable since he got it, followed by sporadic bouts of pain in particularly stressful situations…and now…"
Varric rubbed his neck, looking desperately at Dorian, but the mage was just starting furiously at what was once his companion. Varric coughed awkwardly:
"Yes it was…killing him…"
"But Cassandra-" started Dorian, quite visibly trying to calm his nerves "You do notice finding himself one-armed now…will also kill him, right? Maybe not literally but-"
"Will he really be that upset that he won't be able to go close rifts anymore?"
"Oh Seeker…" Varric shook his head disappointedly
"That's all you ever did see, huh?"
Dorian tried to leave, who knows what stopped him in his tracks, maybe he'd been mulling over this feeling for way too long now:
"Do you really think Vaelaan is going to keep the Inquisition running? After everything?"
"Everything?" she asked, she covered her mouth slightly
Remembering the Battle with Corypheus, the shock in his face when he hell his horn in his hand, his face covered in blood:
"Sparkler don't take it there" Varric tried to mediate
"I try to…because it's not my place, it shouldn't be me saying it but…Seeker do you really think we were discussing the ability to close rifts when we talked about the loss of his arm? After all this time…did you understand nothing? It's been two years and you still don't know Vaelaan at all?"
"What-? Of course I-"
"Yes? Did you just remember why Varric calls him Mandolin!?" he looked at her, intently, with his hand still holding tightly on the doorknob "Or did you just care about how he was useful for the Inquisition?"
Varric looked down, heartbroken. While Cassandra stood there in silence. She frowned slightly, couldn't tell if she was disappointed in herself or just angry at the sudden burst of passion:
"Why do you care what happens to him or the Inquisition Pavus? Aren't you going to abandon them both?"
She covered her mouth immediately, but the damage was already done. Couldn't tell if Dorian looked more angry or sad, but he held the doorknob so tightly the palm of his hand was turning red.
Whatever friendship they had gained over the years, gone just like that, in a few seconds.
Could probably say the same for Varric, shaking his head, disappointed…and hurt:
"Playing dirty I see…" said Dorian with a shaky voice "I'll refrain myself because…It still isn't me who needs to have this discussion with you…and the rest…" he explained repressing a quiet sob "Consider yourself lucky I've decided to keep to myself some choice words…"
Whatever else they could've said was interrupted by the sound of a loud crash inside the Inquisitor's chambers. Dorian bursted through the door with Varric and Cassandra following close.
This is precisely the reason Dorian wanted to keep an eye on him, to make sure he would be there when he woke up…
Images flashed through his eyes when he saw the man he loved, tired and defeated. Images of a future he long thought they had avoided, when he met that very same man, this very same moment. And he was different, but so similar…
So young, and still looking so old, so miserable…He wanted to protect him from so many things, but…some things are inevitable…
"Amatus…"
Vaelaan smiled weakly:
"Hey…sorry I worried you Beloved…"
He tried to laugh but…he just stared down, motionless, dead…
With the remains of a broken down mandolin on his hand.
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stanleyscubrick · 7 months
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A Burst of Light, Audre Lorde
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dreamingisscary · 1 year
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Ya estoy cansada ¿cuando terminamos con esto?
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