A Few Days After A SLARPG fancomic

minor SLARPG spoilers contained within

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

Chapter 16 (18 Pages)

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Nia spends time with Xander’s team, learning more about aura in the process.

 -

Nia yawns, finally giving up on her book for today and slipping a furret bookmark that Maggie had given her between the pages. No matter how hard Nia tries to focus on the words about different types of Pokémon evolution, the sentences are starting to blur and jumble before her eyes, so she figures it’s time to give it a rest.

She looks up at the two Pokemon lying a few feet away on a mossy rug, comfortably sprawled out in Xander’s team quarters. The luxio and his wartortle partner are playing some sort of game with dice-like stones. Felix is clearly losing, his fluffy ears twitching as he grumbles under his breath. Xander’s cat-like face is smug with victory, his tail flicking side to side with lazy patience.

Avery is sitting at Nia’s side, the two of them relaxing back against the wooden wall on a bed of straw and moss. Nia doesn’t want to disrupt the kirlia’s concentration as they focus on their own book, but the atmosphere is so peaceful and relaxed, bathed in the warm evening sunlight coming through the lattice window, and she can’t help but feel comfortable enough to speak up.

“Can I ask you guys something?”

All three Pokemon look up, faces open and curious.

“‘Course,” Felix says.

Nia smiles, a little embarrassed. “I know your team is just as busy as ours, if not more so. How are you not, like...exhausted? Literally all the time?”

Xander looks back to the game, laughter in his voice as he responds, “Oh trust me, we are. It used to be worse, before we got used to the job and the demanding work hours.”

“Naps help a lot, when you can manage ‘em,” Felix adds, frowning as he rolls the dice. He’s had horrible luck this whole game. At least, that’s what he’s been saying. Nia still hasn’t quite picked up the rules from watching. “You feeling worn down?”

Nia leans back against the wood of the tree. The bark making up the architecture of the tree is smooth, and thanks to her fur it isn’t even uncomfortable to lean against. She closes her eyes and hums.

“Yeah, I guess.  I know I’ve been here a few weeks, but I think I’m just not used to everything yet.”

“I’ll never get used to waking up so early,” Felix grumbles. “Mornings are suffering.”

Nia laughs. “Actually, that part’s not too bad. It’s more the battling, I think. And just...I dunno, emotional stuff.”

“Mental exhaustion can take a big toll,” Avery says at her side, voice soft. They close their own book to turn their full attention to the conversation.

“I’d be exhausted too if I had Tobias for a partner,” Felix says. He’s clearly teasing, but Nia knows that on some level the wartortle actually means it. “I don’t know how you put up with him every day, Nia.”

Nia’s torn between a laugh and the urge to roll her eyes. She settles on a light tone to match the wartortle’s. “Come on, I told you we worked everything out the other day. He’s trying harder to be nice.”

Felix and Xander both make a doubtful noise.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Xander says.

“Well, I think it’s great that Tobias is trying to grow,” Avery says, giving Nia a soft smile.

Nia smiles back and leans forward to watch the boys’ game again, cupping her chin in her hands.

“He’s been really patient with all of my questions since we talked,” Nia says, feeling like she should defend her partner somehow. It’s clear that he’s been trying hard to reign in his temper and be more considerate the last few days, even if he still struggles with it. “When we cleaned out the guild’s food storage this morning, he didn’t even snap at me when I bumped into some shelves and buried us in rice.”

Xander snorts. “That’s called being a decent Pokémon, Nia. Don’t give him too much credit.”

“I’m not! I’m just saying he’s doing better, y’know?”

Felix gives Nia a grin, tilting his head in consideration. “You’re too sweet, ya know that?”

Nia doesn’t know what to say to that, so she blushes under her fur and makes a show of moving her book to her side with a quiet word of thanks.

“Yo! I’m back. Did Felix get whooped yet?”

Nia jumps and looks up to see that Kry has returned from her trip to the cafeteria to find a snack. The dinosaur-like pokemon is munching on an apple as she plops down next to Felix and Xander.

“Hey, I could still win,” Felix protests.

“Ha! Yeah, and bagon can fly.”

“You do know they can fly when they evolve, right?”

“Not anymore, genius! No evolution, no wings!”

Felix deflates and grumbles to himself as he goes back to the game. Nia tilts her head and leans closer to Avery.

“S-Sorry. Uh, what kind of Pokémon is Kry again?”

“A fraxure. Dragon type, middle evolution like the rest of us.”

Nia nods. Right. Fraxure. It certainly looks like the aggressive Pokémon could live up to her name and fracture some bones, from the brief interactions Nia’s seen. Kry’s a bit...rough around the edges. But it’s clear she fits right in with the rest of Xander’s team. Somehow.

“What have you been reading, if you don’t mind me asking?” Avery asks, polite as ever.

Nia shakes herself out of her thoughts. “No, of course I don’t mind!” She holds up the book. “It’s about different kinds of evolution? I still don’t exactly, uh. Get it. As a process. But it’s fascinating to learn about all the different ways it’s triggered.”

Avery tilts their head, looking at Nia with thoughtful consideration. “You don’t understand evolution?”

Nia’s ears flatten. “W-Well, uh, no, but—“

“Does evolution not happen to humans?”

It’s clear that Avery isn’t judging Nia’s confusion, just curious in return. Still, Nia is thankful that they keep their voice hushed.

“N-No, definitely not,” Nia says. “At least, not in the same way? I think? When Pokémon evolve, they change...suddenly, right? Like, Xander used to look like Luca and then he suddenly turned into a luxio?”

Avery hums. “More or less, yes.”

“Is...Is that...how Pokémon grow up, uh...physically? By evolving?”

The kirlia shakes their head, eyes softening into something almost sad. “No. If that were the case we’d all be in danger of dying out, with how Pokemon can no longer evolve. Don’t worry, you’re an adult by Pokémon standards, even as a riolu.”

Nia relaxes at the confirmation. With the way everyone has been treating her, she was pretty sure they’d been seeing her as the adult she felt she was in the human world, but it’s still nice to know for sure.

“Pokemon can stay unevolved forever,” Avery goes on. “They’ll grow larger than a child Pokémon of the same species, though, and physically mature. Their...statures would simply be smaller than if they evolved. Weaker.”

Nia nods. That...makes some sense, in a way. Even with humans, there were grown women who ended up much shorter than some teenage boys. Different statures among the same species.

“Humans don’t ever...change so radically. So suddenly. At least not naturally.”

Avery turns curious eyes onto Nia, so the riolu continues.

“We start out tiny, and then just grow gradually until we reach adulthood. We can change parts of ourselves, of course—darken our skin, cut our hair, change our clothes or our entire style. But...that’s not what evolution is for, right? Aesthetics, individuality? Comfort?”

The kirlia hums. “No. Evolution is typically for...strength, I suppose. Increased speed, strength, defense, sheer size.”

“So for battling?” Nia asks, confusion edging into her voice. She knew that Pokémon were more biologically geared towards fighting, with their toughened defense and incredible healing capabilities, but she also knows that most Pokémon don’t seem to prefer fighting aside from playful battles. At least, not anymore. Now they’re bakers, florists, carvers and artisans. A society.

Maybe Avery understands what Nia’s getting at, because the kirlia looks thoughtful. “There’s a reason so many Pokémon evolve through battling experience and so few from exposure to stones, or travel. Most Pokémon evolve by training themselves and growing stronger. Legends say that Pokémon used to be more...primitive. Less civilized. I believe it used to be less about strength and more about survival.”

Nia watches as Felix tries to creep his hand over the dice to cheat a turn of the stones. Xander, discussing strategies in-depth with Kry, doesn’t even look before batting the turtle’s hand away with a paw. Felix yelps, and Nia giggles.

“Maybe that’s why evolution stopped working?” Nia suggests. “Maybe Pokémon have just...evolved to the point that strength evolution isn’t necessary anymore. You’re a society now, after all. You didn’t need to be physically strong to have a lot of power or be successful in the human world. We have systems, laws, protectors. Technology and weapons. Maybe you’ve just reached a point in society where that changed enough for you guys, too.”

Avery suddenly laughs, tinkling and light. Nia isn’t sure whether to feel happy at the sound or embarrassed that she’d apparently said something stupid. She settles for staring at the kirlia with wide eyes and heated fur.

“Apologies,” Avery says, meeting Nia’s eyes, ruby to ruby. “It wasn’t a stupid thought at all. Fascinating, actually. I was just...struck. By finding such a kindred spirit in you. Xander’s the only one who even tries to humor my philosophical ramblings.”

Nia feels herself relax, and laughs as well. “Two curious souls, huh?”

Avery just smiles, warm and soft.

“What’re you two nerds laughing about?” Kry asks.

Nia looks up to see the other three Pokémon staring at them.

Avery waves their hand in a dismissive motion. “My usual ramblings, Kry. Don’t mind us.”

“Talking about evolution!” Nia adds.

At that, Xander and Felix go back to their game with amused smirks. Kry, however, rolls her eyes. “Why? We can’t evolve anyways.”

“But maybe it could be fixed?” Nia suggests. When Kry turns a doubtful look on her, the riolu shrinks back. “I-I mean, maybe not, but...”

“No harm in discussing it, right?” Avery says.

Kry snorts and goes back to the game. “Guess not.”

Nia relaxes. She knows there’s no reason for Kry to put her on edge, but she just has such a...strong personality. Nia’s become more used to Tobias’ sharp attitude, but Kry? Not so much.

“Would you evolve? If you could?”

Nia blinks and turns to Avery at the unexpected question. “W-What?”

"Would you like to evolve if it were possible?” Avery repeats. Maybe this is a normal question for most Pokémon. Or for their teammates and friends, at least.

“U-Um. I don’t know? Maybe?” Nia flicks her tail into her lap, trying to sound confident. “I mean, it doesn’t really matter much to me, since I’m going back to the human world as soon as I can find a way to return, s-so...”

Avery doesn’t respond aside from a soft sound that Nia can’t quite decipher. She’s too afraid to look at the kirlia’s expression, too scared of seeing the pity or doubt she might find there, so she deflects. “Besides, to evolve I’d have to form an affection, um...”

“Bond?”

“Yeah! An affection bond with someone. And from what I’ve read, that doesn’t seem to mean just a casual friendship.”

Avery nods, eyeing their teammates. “Correct. An affection bond that can lead to evolution only occurs between Pokemon who trust each other with anything. Who see each other as they truly are and would likely die for each other.”

Nia flicks her ear, nervously. “Th-That’s a bit, uh. Extreme.”

Avery laughs lightly under their breath. “Indeed. It’s simply how we tend to describe it. It’s...the deepest form of love, whether platonic or romantic.”

Nia nods, shifting uncomfortably. “Yeah, so...I mean, don’t get me wrong! I’m really glad I met you guys and Andyn’s group and Maggie and, uh, even Tobias, in a weird way. But...”

“You don’t think you’ll ever have that sort of bond with us,” Avery guesses.

Nia flinches. The psychic type’s words aren’t cold or insulted, but it still sounds...harsh.

“Yeah, I guess,” Nia rasps, pulling her knees up to her chest. “It’s just...I’m planning on leaving, you know? I don’t wanna get too close to anyone just to leave us both heartbroken when I go.”

Avery doesn’t answer, but the silence doesn’t feel heavy. Still, Nia rests her chin on her hands, sighing. She wants to go home, nice as it is here, but she still feels bad just leaving these people behind after their kindness.

She’ll miss them.

Maybe Avery picks up on Nia’s mood change, because they turn to the riolu with an encouraging smile. “Xander mentioned that you can read the aura of other Pokemon now. Would you like to try it on me, if it’s not too much strain?”

Nia recognizes the distraction technique, but can’t help feeling grateful for it. She lifts her head, blinking. “R-Really?”

“I’m a psychic type. I know how exciting it is to try out a new mental technique with someone willing.”

Nia straightens up and turns to the kirlia, feeling a smile edge at her lips. It’s not every day she gets to test her aura abilities on someone new! So far she’s only felt Val and Maggie’s auras, and Amani’s blossoming pink during a different training session. “O-Okay. You know it’s pretty, uh…personal, though, right? Like, I’m kind looking at your soul, I think?”

Avery nods with a smile. “I’m aware.”

“J-Just let me know if you want me to stop, okay? I’ll need your hand, though.”

Avery offers a delicate hand.

Nia takes it and closes her eyes, summoning her aura (it gets easier every time she does it!), pouring it down her arm and into her hand, brushing it against the kirlia’s skin to find their aura. When Avery’s silhouette sparks to life behind Nia’s eyes, she laughs. Even without looking deeper towards the core of Avery’s aura, Nia can feel the prickle of their curiosity.

“Your aura’s blue like mine!” Nia explains.

The kirlia laughs too, quietly. “Kindred spirits indeed.”

Nia nods. “Your aura is more of a...purpley-blue, though. Deeper. Kind of indigo.” It feels...serene. Filled with a boundless curiosity and something deeply wise. It’s a dusk sky just as stars begin to shine, a calm evening full of possibilities. It’s actually a little difficult to put her finger on, to interpret the color into a personality, more difficult than it has been so far. Before Nia can go on, Felix’s hushed voice breaks through her concentration.

“That’s so cool!”

Nia jumps, yanking her hand back as the tear drops at her head drop lightly to the collar of fur around her neck. Nia turns to find Xander, Felix, and even Kry sitting close to her and Avery and watching the whole ordeal with fascination.

“Ooh! Can you do me next?” Felix asks excitedly, scooting closer as if she won’t see him there, practically bouncing in his seat.

Xander gives Felix a reprimanding look. “Dude, chill, she might need to rest or something. You know how Avery gets when they’re overworked.”

Before Felix can deflate under the scolding, Nia smiles. “N-No, I can do it, don’t worry. Just give me a second. I’m still learning so it kind of wipes me out, but that’s why I need to practice. You don’t mind me reading your aura? It’s kind of, um. Personal.”

Felix grins at her with shining eyes. “Nah, I don’t mind if it’s not too exhausting for you.”

Nia exchanges an amused look with Avery, then turns her body to Felix. She closes her eyes, holds out her hand for him to take, and then repeats the process of finding her aura, and sending it to where she’s touching the wartortle’s skin.

Felix’s aura flares to life behind Nia’s eyes, and she feels her face drop slack in surprise as the color registers. “Oh. Felix, you’re green.”

The turtle sounds as surprised as his aura feels, the green energy jumping in intensity. “Really?”

“Yeah. Like...a calm, leafy sort of green.” Not calm in the typical sense because the wartortle is certainly not that, but…flexible, she supposes. Purposefully not anxious. Like the changing seasons and the trees that follow them, very go-with-the-flow and easygoing. As unexpectedly sturdy as an oak tree, too. Comforting. It does make sense for the wartortle, in a way, but she has to admit she’s surprised by how deep into his very being his instincts to comfort amuse stabilize go. Oh, he is a very kind soul. A very open, alive soul.

Kry snorts. “Calm. Sure. Clearly you’ve never seen him after being rejected by someone.”

“Hey!” Felix says, indignant.

Nia’s concentration is broken again, and Felix’s hand is yanked away. She blinks back into reality only to sees Kry and Felix play wrestling. Xander rolls his eyes at them, but then looks back at Nia, ears swiveling forward and his brow furrowing with concern. “You okay?”

Oh, she’s breathing harder as her powers take a toll on her. But she doesn’t feel nauseous yet, which must mean she’s getting better! She gives Xander a smile. “I’m fine. This is already leagues better than I was a few days ago! Want me to check your aura, too?”

Xander blinks, exchanging a glance with Avery. Just as Nia’s about to reassure him he doesn’t have to agree, he nods. “You sure you’re okay? I don’t want you to push yourself too hard.”

For a moment, Nia’s thrown by the obvious concern in the luxio’s voice, and her heart squeezes with something fond—

(She said she wasn’t going to make strong friendships here, she can’t, she’s leaving, but—)

—but then she just laughs it off, shaking her head. “N-No, I’m fine. Really.”

Xander looks at her face a moment longer, as if he’s worried she’s lying to him and about to pass out. But then he nods and lifts a paw for her to take.

Nia smiles and closes her eyes, curious despite herself. She’s only known Xander for a couple of weeks, but the more auras that Nia reads the more interesting they become, the more exciting it is to reconcile them with a person’s outward personality. So she reaches out eagerly with her aura, ignoring the strain that she’d just reassured she wasn’t feeling, and nearly recoils in surprise when Xander’s silhouette lights up in a very distinct color. It’s not a deep, protective blue, as she would have guessed, or really any color that she would have predicted.

It’s bright red.

Red, like blood pulsing from a wound, but it doesn’t bring to mind pain or aggression. It’s the blood of a beating heart, it’s the red of passion and emotion, almost too bright in its intensity, almost volatile, and oh, she never would have guessed that this was such an integral part of cool and collected Xander, that he would feel emotions so strongly they hurt. His aura is the blood of a fierce battle, of a pulse pounding away to act, to protect. It’s the red of a heart willing to bleed out before losing those close to him.

A surge of what Nia now recognizes as concern flows through his aura and slams into her like a tidal wave. Nia feels herself physically knocked back from the strength of it, pulling her hands away to catch herself. She snaps back to reality, breathing hard and loud in the quiet of the room, her heart pounding.

Xander is watching her with wide eyes, one paw lifted as if he’d reached out to help but then feared making things worse. Avery is watching her too. The sounds of Kry and Felix’s tussling have stopped.

“Nia? Are you all right?” Avery finally asks, voice soft and level.

Nia swallows hard, her own heart just starting to slow from the overwhelming intensity of Xander’s aura. She looks at the luxio again, and that’s what finally prompts her to pant, “I-I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Xander asks. “I didn’t hurt you?”

“Y-Yeah, no, sorry, that was just, uh. Unexpected? You’re red, by the way.” Just saying Xander’s aura is red is the understatement of the century, but how is she supposed to explain what she just felt?

“Red?” Xander echoes, his stiff posture finally starting to relax again. Kry and Felix move closer to listen.

Avery hums. “Interesting. And that means?”

Nia fiddles with the collar of fur around her neck, gaze flicking up to the sun-washed ceiling as she thinks. “W-Well...I’m not sure how good I am at explaining it...”

“Wait, but you said green meant calm, right?” Felix asks. “Isn’t there like...a color cheat sheet or something? Like a list of what each color means?”

“Your green is calm,” Nia corrects. “The colors sort of tell me about someone’s personality and who they are, but I don’t think there’s like...a strict color-code?”

Nia looks to Avery for help, but the kirlia only offers a sympathetic shrug. Oh. Apparently their psychic powers don’t work the same way.

“U-Um. Okay. So for example, my aura is sort of a turquoise blue, but Avery’s is more purple, like a royal blue or indigo. Their aura feels...calmer than mine does, I guess? And Felix, yours is green because you’re so adaptable, like the trees. Very go-with-the-flow, but still sturdy and reliable. Someone else’s aura might be green too but feel super different to me.”

There’s a moment of quiet as they all digest that information, and Nia cringes. “...At least, I think that’s how it works.”

“So what did my aura feel like?” Xander finally asks. “Mine seemed to…affect you differently than the others’ did.”

Nia hesitates, still fiddling with her fur. How does she describe this? “Yours is red, but it’s red like…passion, I guess would be the word. It’s just really emotional? Kind of intense, actually. I’ve never felt someone’s emotions as strongly as I did yours. They kind of swept me away and knocked me right out of my aura state.”

When Nia looks away from the ceiling to gauge the others’ reaction to that, her stomach drops. Xander is staring at her in something close to horror, his fur lifting like a startled cat. She catches Felix shooting Xander a worried look. Wait, what…what happened? She just described his aura to him. Why does he look so upset?

Before the silence can grow too tense, Kry snorts and crosses her arms, apparently tone-deaf to the sudden shift of the room’s mood. “That’s a load of crap. Xander’s the most level-headed one here. Do mine next.”

Nia opens her mouth to say no, watching Xander back away with a gaze like he isn’t totally here. Avery and Felix exchange a concerned look before the kirlia moves to follow the luxio, approaching him with soft words and a hand soothing the spiked fur along his spine.

“Well?” Kry grunts, shifting to cut into Nia’s line of sight.

“W-Wait, Xander—”

“You admittin’ you were wrong?” Kry says, almost like a challenge. “Too afraid to read mine?”

Nia focuses on the fraxure, huffing in irritation. She just upset Xander—and something in her recoils at that thought, already flooded with guilt—and Kry hasn’t even noticed? Fine, if reading Kry’s aura will get her to shut up and move so Nia can check on Xander, she’ll do it. Nia closes her eyes and touches Kry’s open palm. She shoots her aura down her arm and into her paw almost angrily, and Kry’s energy flares to life. Once again, the color that she finds there isn’t quite what she’s expecting.

“You’re…gold,” Nia says. It’s the gold shine of priceless treasure, something proud and hard-fought. But it’s also the gold of armor, of a shield, determined and immovable. Protective. She feels the fraxure’s emotions shift too rapidly for her to catch, but she doesn’t really care too much anyways, with what’s happening to Xander three feet away. Nia pulls back and opens her eyes, meeting Kry’s hard stare with her own.

“So what’s gold mean?”

Nia frowns. “It feels...determined. Proud, I guess. I dunno, I’m not very good at this yet.” Nia’s attention is elsewhere, and she leans past the dinosaur to see Xander, only to find that Xander and Avery have disappeared from the room entirely. Felix meets her panicked gaze with a sad, soothing smile.

“Sorry, Nia, Xander just…had to get some air. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.”

“Wait, what…what happened?” Nia rasps. “Is Xander okay? He looked...”

Felix and Kry exchange a meaningful look. The wartortle nods, and Kry moves to start cleaning up the game abandoned on the rug a few feet away, completely silent. It’s such a shift from her aggressive prodding moments before that Nia wonders if the fraxure wasn’t as oblivious to Xander’s sudden emotional turn as she thought.

Was Kry distracting her?

“Nia,” Felix says, catching her attention again. He gives her a small smile. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Just…accidentally brought up some unhappy memories for Xander.”

Nia wilts, her heart sinking in her chest. She really likes Xander—she didn’t mean to upset him! Why would learning about his aura have upset him so much? Is this what Val was warning her about, about using her powers responsibly? But she didn’t do it without asking. He wanted to know! Should she have not told him what she saw? But then she would have had to lie to him!

“I didn’t mean to upset him,” Nia whimpers.

Felix’s expression softens. “I know you didn’t. And he does too, don’t worry. But maybe for tonight you should head back to Maggie’s. C’mon, I’ll walk with you.”

Nia opens her mouth to protest—she doesn’t want to just leave without talking to Xander or at least apologizing to him! But Felix is already at the doorway to the hall, beckoning her with a twitch of his fluffy tail. He doesn’t seem angry with her, but it’s clear that he’s nudging her to leave for today. Feeling upset and a lot less proud of her aura abilities, Nia grabs her book and follows him out the door, shuffling up the guild’s stairs and hoping Maggie doesn’t ask her what’s wrong.

Ducktales Comics: Spies Like Us and Dime after Dime or Weblena: The Preschool Days (Lena Retrospective) (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to Shadow Into Light, My Lena Retrospective, which fittingly has now come to Women’s History Month! I sadly do not have anything besides this arc prepared for the month. This month is pretty packed for me with two shows a week to cover, as while there’s only two weeks of Ducktales left final space starts up right after to take it’s spot, two arcs to cover, and two time specific movie reviews: animal crossing the movie and the 1990 TMNT film. I will try to get more than the currently planned top 12 superheroines list out there... but this month is very tight as is, so if I do not I deeply apologize.

Now that’s out of the way, it’s appropriate we start Women’s history month on some likely lesser known parts of Lena’s history, with some comics stories focusing on our faviorite emo lesbian duck and her 87 counterpart. Before I get started on that though Kev my patreon pointed out something intresting a few weeks back i’ve been forgetting to get to and since we’re looking into Minima, I felt this was the perfect time to do so: Lena’s Concept art. 

There’s quite a few things to gleam from this. For starters as pointed out in the reddit thread I got the image as a whole from this was made in 2015, meaning Lena was one of the first new characters designed for the series and was part of it from the VERY early stages, as evidenced by the fact that despite clearly having their new personalities established, Beakly and Webby still had the old designs. 

The other notable change is that her first design was way more like both Magica nad Minima, a bit more modern, but clearly far more obvious who she was related to. She also had all black feathers making the shadow twist a bit more obvious and was likely done away with both to avoid giving that twist away, the same reason for the fake lestrange name, and to avoid accidently black coding her, as while Lena being black would’ve been intersting, it also would’ve invited a firestorm of controversy given that their one black character in season 1.. woul’dve started off as a homeless, manipulative antagonist, and none of that would play well nor was it something the progressive crew of this show couldn’t spot from a mile away.  And even this early on they have an almost final design ready, simply changing the shirt to fit her personality more, and her hair to be pink because it honestly looked better She also had green eyes throughout, but for whatever reason they phased them out. That part I don’t quite get as they look nice but probably they were hard to translate to the reboot style once they settled on their own. Her purple eyeshadow and haircut though have stuck since and were good calls. 

One last VERY obvious note.. Webby was gay for Lena from minute one. While Dana helped it is now VERY obvious they gay coded this relationship from the design phase, and the crew was entirely aware the whole time and I gave them less credit than I should have. They clearly had this in mind, and it’s very likely ONLY subtext because Disney, while making more and more progress, is very reluctant to have queer characters as Owl House was a struggle and since they have a tighter leash on properites based on the sensational 6, that means Frank knew they had the same odds of making Webby or Della queer in anything but subtext that a pig has of suviving in a slaughterhouse. I bring this up because I fear the series getting accused of queerbaiting somewhere down the road instead of doing what they could with a bad hand and hoping they could make the show as gay as they could. Penny is as out as they posisbly could get her, and Violet and Lena’s dad’s got a full apperance, if no speaking role that made it obvious beyond a shadow of a doubt their gay and did it in a plot important episode. So they did their best and I want them to get credit for that. 

But while this is all intresting stuff, join me under the cut for the meat of today’s review as I dig into Lena’s only apperance in the tie-in comic that was never punished here, and the only apperance of her protoype Minima.

Spies Like Us:  As I mentioned this comic was never published here which is doubly weird to me because of how I knew this story existed. Since I follow comics weekly and buy trades reguarly, I read the solicits companies put out eveyr month to see what new series are coming, what the ones i’m currently reading are doing, and what trades are coming out. That sort of thing, and it’s something I love. I know their basically adds.. but their well put together adds that really pull you into the books you like. The big two and the indies are all very good at it and sometimes i’ts the only way to know a comic is coming if the company dosen’t make a press release for it ahead of time. 

So naturally given there are several comics I follow at idw, paticuarlly the TMNT comics, I read those solicits and found they were going to do an issue with Webby and Lena becoming spies, and was excited about it. I ended up forgetting about it and never really followed the Ducktales comic as it came out, and upon reading an issue or two recently, one for another comission by kev as one story, happy happy valley, was particularly terrible. For those who haven’t read the story or my review, it involved the family getting stranded on an island where their forced to partake in activites and smile..that somehow turned into an aseop about Louie wanting to be rich. It ended with this

Yes.. really. That actually happened. But even with this, I fully planned to cover the issue when I covered Lena, and brought it up to Kev when he commissioned the retrospective. He gave me the discord equilvent of a blank stare and had never heard of it. I soon found out why: the story was replaced as, and fair play to disney, it spoiled Beakly’s past from the agent 23 episode which wasn’t going to air in time.  What dosen’t work is they never reprinted the story in The US.. didn’t put it in a future issue and just swap it’s place didn’t put it in the nothing. And the story was fully complete as we’ll see, with a cover and everything so they had no excuse whatsoever to NEVER use it, even with what happened to Lena in the season finale, this clearly took place before that and it was weird to just shelve it because of that. But thankfully when a bunch of the stories were reprinted overseas, this and another one, also webby centric got published overseas. But not in english.

Lucky for me, I was able to find an english translation of an english story which you can read RIGHT HERE. It was translated by @neopuff and I thank them for it as without them this review would not be possible and want to give them all the credit. So was it worth all their hard work translating it? Well let’s take a look. 

We begin at the Manor where Lena is skulking around suspiciously.. though it turns out she and Webby are just playing hide and seek. Though Lena accuses cheating. The dialouge here is pretty flat though that’s not Neopuff’s fault at all. As I can attest from reading other stories a lot of the early IDW comics are just this flat in dialoguge no matter the writer as they were likely given character descriptions and basic info about the show they likely had written up for merchandising and Frank and Co were given no involvement and likely weren’t made avaliable to consult on the comics to help them be a bit more fleshed out. It’s very obvious to me Disney just tried to get these pumped out so they’d have a series in stores to tie in without carring about qualities and given Scrooge debuted in comics, their lack of care toward that side of things in general, but especially in the first american published original duck comics in a while, bothers me a lot. It’s inexcusable. 

That being said the story isn’t half bad nor is the setup as the two hear a beeping and find it’s Beakly’s phone going off with a mysterious message from Q, Webby thinks she’s been reactivated, and is encouraged by Lena to go look after her while she stays along. While Webby says in response

It just feels grossly out of character for both. Lena is far more subtle about manipulation as shown five minutes ago and Webby blindly trusts her. Because she has a massive crush on her and is naïve about how the world works. It just seems very odd of her to get suspicious as she never does on screen, and again it comes off as Disney having barely given the writers any materials on them when i’m sure Frank or Matt would’ve been happy to write up a thing for them to help outside of the usual press materials they were given. 

Though hte last line isn’t all that out of character and has an obvious answer as within a jumpcut Launchpad’s taking them to London and is told to blend in.. which he does with an australian flag and accent.. good gag. 

So our heroines do some heroic breaking and entering and look for the package, but soon find while hiding it’s already in transit.. and had obvious bows on int. Whoops. Our heroes trie the old follow tha tcar bit and refreshingly, it dosen’t pan out as the guy stops and tells them to get out. A nice twist. Unable to follow, our heroes instead find launchpad lost, as his map is upside down

So Lena dares him if he can follow that plane, a nice bit of character for both. I will give Joe credit. While the dialouge’s a bit flat and there was that out of character moment.. for the most part he does nail the actual character down and does use it decently enough. He’s just not given enough page room or actual details to work  with is all. 

So while our heroes follow they end up having to crash as they run out of fuel.. lucky their with the expert but end up near home where the package is delivered to. Turns out this wasn’t a spy thing, this was just a thing with her aunt. That’s fine and a nice gag.. it’s just ruined by just sorta.. ending. Lena leaves disapointed and Beakly scolds webby for “playing spy” and she’s sad. That’s it that’s how it ends. Which dosen’t fit the characters, as while Beakly would defintely scold her, it just dosen’t FIT that she’d be that tearse or not appricate the effort or give her an actual lecture and it feels like Joe had no idea how to end this after the gag and just.. ended it. 

Final Thoughts for Spies Likes Us: This was okay.  It is a bit of a disappointment as for the only story not available.. i’ts just okay and not really above an average Ducktales comics story, with some nice character bits but feeling a bit weak overall, as do at least the first half of the idw comics. I haven’t read the later stuff to see if it got better. It’s worth a read if you like Webby and Lena as characters and it’s not BAD, it’s just not anything impressive and is a simple hyjinks filled misunderstanding story. 

Dime After Dime:

So now  we go back a bit to the original. I didn’t do these in chronological order because frankly, Dime after Dime is the better story of the two and the bigger one at that, so I have more to work with here. But the original also had comics and honestly from the few i’ve read much BETTER comics. I chalk this up to two things: The Ducktales 87 comics seem to have come out AFTER the series was already a hit, and since Ducktales is pretty close to the original uncle scrooge comics minus it’s own tweaks here and there, it’s easy enough to just write the stories like you would a regular uncle scrooge story, just with Webby and Launchpad added, whereas the idw writers were staffed with writing for all new versions of the characters with noticable differences without much to go on.  It’s why to me with tie in comics you have two options: Wait long enough so you can put your story inbtween the episodes like the Steven Universe and Regular Show comics did or just make your own continuity entirely like the Adventure Time Comics and the Archie TMNT Adventures series did. The ONLY time i’ve seen a comic work like this is the Bravest Warriors comic, which had a talented writer and fit well enough in the margins until it sadly ended.. and honestly is BETTER in some cases than the series. I might get to it someday. The point is this comic shows why you need to have a deft hand adapting something instead of just falling your arms about and hoping it’ll work. 

So today’s comic was part of some Disney Series called cartoon tales, which clearly repackaged comic stories from wherever, and put them together. I don’t know much about it and the only other issue avaliable collects the disney adventures adaptation of “Just Us Justice Ducks”, which I might cover at some point. This book does have two other stories which i’d be happy to do on comission or on my own at some point, one involving gladstone the other gizmoduck, but for now, i’m just sticking to the title story and the reason you all came here. 

So we open with Magica gazing into her crystal ball from her Mt. Vesuvies base saying that Scrooge will never know what hit him I know exactly what and who wiil hit him thank you very much. 

Scrooge is seeing Webby off to her first day of day camp, getting all teary eyed which is touching. Beakly apparently goes with her as the story never SAYS Sshe does but she’s not also not around when the story moves on, as Launchpad says it looks like rain. Scrooge dismisses him, though Launchpad turns out to be right. Scrooge had good reason for once though, instead of just being a dick good on you comic for making me not want to punch him in the face, trust me that is a high bar to clear with the scrooge comics, as the weather was fine just a minute ago. Naturally it was Magica All Along! Nothing scrooge can do now that eveyrthing has gone wrong! Her entrance though is sadly not a catchy earwormy tune, but .. this confusing line

I think your thinking of Gladstone. And he’s still single so.. have at that but no Scrooge is the one who values hard work over anything else and brags about THAT or being rich. I .. I don’t get this line and frankly I don’t want to. Even in stories where the dime is supernaturally lucky and the source of his wealth he dosen’t boast about it because he’s not stupid and dosen’t want everyone knowing how to bankrupt him instantly. This line will baffle me until I die, presumably, given my life’s tragetctory, after reviewing an episode of mighty ducks and slipping on some a jerky wrapper. 

Scrooge asks what she wants... 

No this isn’t that kind of story sadly. Her plan is to.. zap the bin with lightning and take the dime. Really just went with your first draft didn’t you magica? But as stupid as this plan is Scrooge has prepared for it. He installed a lightning rod on the bin to save on power, and to power his new super soaker traps. So all Magica did was save him money. She flies off and nothing is acomplished. 

So we get back to Webby at the Teenie Weenie Day Camp.. and just so you don’t think that was a terrible joke on my part...

My theory for how this name got approved at all is the editor KNEW how that sounded and just wanted to see if Disney would actually print a comic with the phrase Teenie Weenie without getting what it means in slang or how hilariously inapproriate it is to namme a children’s camp after it. 

Your probably wondering who that grown woman calling Webby a dweeb is. Well story wise, she’s SUPPOSED to be another kid at the camp around Webby’s age. In practice, she looks like THIS in closeup

So it looks and plays like a 30 year old woman snuck into the day camp and no one’s noticed she’s not actually a children. Or their just humoring her because she had a week to live. I don’t know. I do know she doesn’t get to judge on names. 

Snippy Von Glitz, proof rich people really do hate their kids and this this comic is trying personally to give me material. Snippy is your average alpha bitch, taking a chair from Minma and being obnoxious and classist and all that jazz. Minima gets hers back by making the chair bouncy then returning it to normal so Snippy gets in trouble when she makes up things about the chair, with the lady in charge getting ready to call her Dad. You cannot convince me that her “Dad” is just what she calls her husband, this is how they both get off, and that the lady at the preschool only tolerates it because they pay her a lot and so far the kids haven’t noticed Snippy is 30. Webby likes minima finding her name pretty, proving that the ho yay is alive no matter the webby and magica relative, and Minma returns the favor by saving her from a block. 

Minma is reluctant to make an actual friend, finding they aren’t worth anything and given most of the kids here apparently pick on her and her aunt is well.. Magica, it’s understandable why she’d be so cold. But Webby presses on and says something from Scrooge about friends. Which given Ducktales scrooge has none goes weird but it gets Minma to find out she knows and lives with Scrooge, so she cons webby into taking the dime for show and tell, showing that she can manipulate them with her powers, and that he won’t notice it’s missing, getting her with “I thought you wanted to be friends” 

So let’s pause for a second and compare and contrast the two: Both are the niece, or at least sorta in Lena’s case, of Magica, both manipulate webby, and both are her first real friend: The 87 boys are little monsters and I don’t consider them friends or even brothers, while the 2017 ones are just that: brothers. Their her siblings in all but blood, not friends and have hteir own long complicated history. 

But otherwise the two are vastly different. Lena is a far more complex character as she’s been abused her whole life, is a rebel because Magica hardly gave her agency, and while she starts wooing webby out of self interest it’s clear even as far as the first episode she cares. Lena would gladly be part of the world if she could and this whole scheme is to gain that choice. 

Minma is still sympathetic but very different: She walls herself off because the other kids laugh and mock her for being herself and lashes out at them.. not unreasonably mind , but still feeling she needs no one else.. but as we’ll learn later she’s only helping Magica to finally feel accepted, to get all the fancy clothes and stuff that will make her popular instead of that grown woman masquerading as a kid for disturbing reasons. Minma is at her heart just a hurt kid desperate to fit in. And while Lena shares the desire for a place to belong.. it’s at it’s core much sadder. Lena.. wants a family. Someone to love her and to care about her and actually look after her. Minma has that she just wants to be loved. it’s similar but very diffrent and I can see why Lena evolved into what she did, as Frank and Matt ended up going in a far darker but ultimately more interesting direction. Minima is not a bad character at all though and without her I don’t think we would’ve had Lena, but at the end of the day the 87verse is just not that complicated, so the reboot needed something more and that more evolved into who we have now. 

Both kids excitedly talk about their new friends, with their respective guardians being distracted. Scrooge is distracted by the fact his car is a bit bumpy and Launchpad offers to fix it up for free with some parts from a buddy, which given the sentence “This won’t cost you anything” makes him erect, Scrooge agrees. Magica meanwhile, whose watching Minima while her mom is away which raises a LOT of questions we don’t have time for like who she is, is she’s poes wife or does Magica have other siblings... it’s a lot of questions we’re never going to get answers to. 

The next day Webby got the dime easy as Scrooge was distracted. so Minima swaps them while she’s distracted. But while swiping it was easy, which to be fair Webby is likely approved in his security so it woudln’t match her.. or the story just needed to progress. You make the call. 

Magica does the logical thing and goes and get sthe dime and the story ends there.. and i’m shitting you, she of course brags to scrooge, reveals minima as her spy, and offers to RACE him for it shortly after he realizes he has a fake.

The only major flaw in this story is Magica’s overconfdience, which isn’t BAD persay, but here has gotten to dumbass proportions. She just can’t plan for anything and a CHILD has a better plan than her that only dosen’t work for reasons we’ll get to. And that plan is almost ruined by Magica taunting scrooge!

So a race is on but Launchpad has transformed Scrooge’s old Model T into this

Damn that’s cool. Scrooge of course dosen’t like it, but honestly you get what you paid for. Oh that’s right you paid nothing for something you NEED to use every day for transportation. 

At  the rickity thickity bridge, Steve Buschemi’s worst roll and her minion ask Webby to roll with them and Minima mistakes this for betrayal planning to soak them all.. only for Webby to DEFEND HER, pointing out minma’s her friend, how she dresses is fine and she loves her no matter what.. the last part’s implied. The 30-year old asshole and her minon leave Webby and Minma is genuinely touched, as no one’s done that for her before. She put up so many walls... she didn’t realize someone could ACTUALLY care about her, so obessed with thinking she had to be like that soccer mom in preschoolers clothing, she just had to be herself: kinda werid but in that fun adams family way. Webby says she knows Minma would do the same.. so while she prepares to let’s get back to the race. Magica realizes Launchpad’s roadster is actually gaining and spreads some tacks, but Scrooge counters with some money.. because of course he has a lot of money in the trunk. But Magica takes out the bridge and while scrooge awesomely JUMPS IT... he’s still too late. 

As you probably guess though, Minima had a change of heart, and gave Webby the real dime back, and Scrooge confirms it. Minima TRIES to tell Magica, and Magica is horrified her niece is a goody goody “I”ll never hear the end of it at my astral aerobics class”.. I.. I want to see that. Let’s raise those spirit ladies and kick kick that soul, doge that shadow king punch them in the soul. Yes! Now eat it eat it and absorb it’s power!

We end on a button joke as Webby apologizes for taking the dime., Scrooge accepts it and Webby tells them magica learned to carpet and they gulp for some reason. 

Final Thoughts on Dime after Dime: This story was decent. It has problems, some jokes don’t land and Magica is made horribly incompetent, but minima’s character arc is endearing, and Webby herself is precious as always and her winning Minima over feels genuine. And Scrooge is in prime adoring uncle mode with her and i’ts just so cute. And the roadster race is pretty awesome to watch honestly. It’s an exceptional and enjoyable tie in story.. and not the last ducktales 87 story we’ll be covering here. Wink wonk. 

Next Time: Things get DARK as Lena and Webby head into the depths of Scrooge’s hidden bin and Lena heads into the depths of her own soul. 

Tommorow: Woo-Ooo mofos as we go back to the very beginning of the reboot! A family restored, a lost city to explore, and a glomgold rises! Be here or be square. 

Amend., v. 

[Then]

"A bet's a bet, dearest bestie of mine," Minor singsonged as he wagged his finger at her, tutting at her pathetic excuse to back out. "Don't tell me you're going to chicken out of this."

Why is she friends with this guy again? If she had known this cruel side of his, she would've never took pity on him during Chemistry class. Now, she's regretting sharing her famous noodle recipe with him.

She shot daggers at him, hoping she'd get lucky and manage to kill him by staring. "When I said let's motivate each other to get passing grades, it doesn't mean that you'll cheat your way through the top."

Minor shrugged, waving his pride and joy- the only exam he managed to get a perfect score to. "All is fair in difficult subjects and terrible teachers, my friend." he beamed as she rolled her eyes at him good-naturedly. "Now, are you ready to hear what I have in mind?"

Her small smile dropped as she watched his face morph into a more sinister looking one.

Is it too late to unfriend this dork?

[Now]

"Well this brings back so many memories," Minor commented as they were ushered by Mr. Keller into the gymnasium where all the students of all year levels gathered, cheering their hearts out for their favorite team.

"Tell me about it," she murmured as she looked around, onslaught of memories came rushing back to her. "Remember the time where you almost hit me with a basketball?"

Minor looked at her, scandalized. "That was one time, boss!" he defended himself. "Out of all the things you can remember, that's the one thing you focused on?" he asked her in disbelief to which she laughed at.

"How can I forget, you're the one who always gets us in trouble." she chuckled, punching his arm slightly.

Just as he was about to retort, Mr. Keller directed them to the nearest empty space which happened to be near the announcer's box making Minor perk up, turning back to his boss, eyes twinkling in mischief.

"What?"

"Boss, do you remember the bet we had?"

[Then]

"You want me to what?" she hissed out, her eyes bulging out of their sockets as Minor rummaged his backpack for a roll of paper. "Minor, you said nothing too humiliating for a bet!" she said as Minor grinned at her.

"Oh please," he waved at her, dismissing her protests. "You didn't hesitate when you told me I should wear a skirt last week. Did you even hear me complain? No." he said, unrolling the poster for her.

"How could you complain when we both know you secretly loved it?"

"Besides!" He continued, ignoring her comment. "I already made you a banner and a cheer! All you just need to do is show up to the tournament, cheer for dreamy senior Gavin. With you being there, I have a great feeling about the match."

One look at the banner had all the color drained from her face.

[Now]

She blinked at his cheshire grin, turning away as her eyes search the gymnasium. "Where's Gavin?" she asked instead in hopes to change the subject.

"Mr. Keller asked him to substitute for a student who had just injured himself earlier this morning." Minor informed all too nonchalant, scooting over to her with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "You know what this means boss?"

"H-hang on, why are you so-"

"You get to redeem yourself! You get to play cheerleader again and you can't back out of this!" Minor singsonged, pulling a rolled paper out of nowhere, her eyes widening at the sight of the familiar poster. "Get your banner waving skills ready, boss! The match's about to start!"

[Then]

She can't do it.

Not when the whole school is gathered in the gymnasium. Not when Minor gave her a speech of encouragement (that ended up giving her all the reasons to back out from this bet). And definitely not when she had this huge crush on "dreamy senior Gavin".

Nope. She can't do it.

This is once in a lifetime opportunity! Your chance in making yourself known!

Screw Minor. He sucked at giving encouragement. Frustratingly, she blew on the stray strand in front of her eyes, slumping beneath the bench as she drowned down the noise as the basketball match intensified.

Gathering a small piece of courage, she peeked over the slits of the bench just in time to see Gavin looking over the crowd, distressed and distracted.

Was he looking for someone? She thought as butterflies swarmed her gut with a stray thought crossing her mind, unknowingly clutching the poster in her hand tightly. Is he... looking for me?

But that couldn't be. He didn't know who she was, and he couldn't be bothered knowing a pesky freshman like her. He's got tons of admirers, right?

So a girl like her can't be too important for him. He'd be fine without her.

Turning her heel, she flashed a smile- albeit a fake, cheery one- silently giving her own cheer for him.

Score for us, senior.

[Now]

This is humiliating, she thought as she unrolled the banner, the huge letters glaring as the sunlight hit the red glitters.  

The words: Shoot it like you mean it Senior Gavin! is enough to attract everyone's attention- even those who were sitting across the court.

"Alright, that's the spirit boss!" Minor whispered encouragingly, flashing her a thumbs up and a wink. "Now for the cheer!"

There's no way she'll use the cheer Minor wrote for her. Not when her dignity's at stake.

"Remind me to cut your salary after this, Minor." she hissed, ignoring Minor's protests as she watched Gavin look around the crowd just like what he did a few years back, as if he's searching for something.

When his eyes landed on her and the ridiculously large banner that Minor had kept for her all these years, he couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows at the banner she's waving but everyone could tell that his mood has been uplifted by something-or someone. She took this opportunity to let out a shuddering breath before chanting the cheer she had for him all those years back.

Having attended both tournaments, Minor bit back the grin that’s been threatening to come out ever since his boss started cheering. Whereas Gavin’s team lost horribly last time, he knew this time is gonna be different.

[Bonus]

“Boss, why the hell didn’t you use the cheer I wrote for you?”

“Your cheer sucked.”

“I beg to differ. That cheer is a masterpiece!”

“What are you two talking about? What cheer?”

“You don’t wanna know-” “Gooooooo Gavin! Go Gavin! My smexy officer! I changed the last part since you’re a police officer now so it’s only appropriate-ow!”

Calling that anon who requested a high school fluff! Calling that anon who requested a high school fluff! If anyone’s curious why I’m calling out to that specific anon, it’s because I wasn’t really satisfied with the high school prompt one since I wrote that when I was freaking sleep deprived- curse you past self. 

So to compensate, I wrote a whooping 1k plus prompt. I really wanted to adapt the writing style I used for once upon a time fandom where past meets present but it’s a bit complicated to use in dictionary prompt since I strictly told myself not to use too much of page breaks. So I figured this is the best I can come up with. 

I don’t know why but whenever I write fluff, the idea always slips away from me- unlike angst where I write it in one day for a few hours, fluff takes me days. Gosh. Anon, I do hope you like this one. Writing what could’ve beens- especially High School! Gavin and MC are always a joy. 

Send me some prompts! (Yes, I still do this thing so don’t worry about me closing this game. I plan on writing for this prompt game and fandom for a long time)

MLQC Dictionary; Masterlist

Robron Week 2021 - Day 1

Meet-Ugly + "That's not an explanation."

New Beginnings

(ao3 link)

Aaron’s eyelids fluttered like a candle in the wind, the hustle and bustle of the city pecking away at his head with a sledgehammer. The bitter taste of ale, the fruity taste of wine and all the combined spices of every spirit known to man were stagnant on his tongue as he peeled his damp limbs off the leather sofa beneath him.

He let out a dry cough and it felt like someone had shot him in the brain during his sleep. But other than that, he was as right as rain.

It took him longer than he would care to admit to remember that he did, in fact, not own a single item of furniture that had even an inch of leather on it, and he lived in the in the middle of bloody nowhere where the only thing (apart from his mother) that made him shake a leg in the morning was the bellows of Moira’s cows when their troughs were being topped up.

So, there’s that.

His brain caught up and he bolted upright, his whole face moulding into a sculpture of what, where, when, how and why. He took in his brand-spanking-new surroundings; a lavish penthouse overlooking London’s skyline, decked out from head to toe in a fusion of ultra modern and industrial pieces. Not really his style, to put it nicely. It looked like something straight off the front page of one of those overpriced interior design magazines on the top shelf of David’s shop that no one ever bought.

Aaron could only hope that whoever lived here was some bloke he’d pulled in the haze of last night, if it wasn’t then… what the actual fuck was he doing here?

When the room had stopped spinning on all its axis and Aaron was eighty-nine percent sure that he would be able to hold his vomit in if necessary, he braved the hallways in search of other life. He detoured to stand in front of a back-lit mirror that had beckoned him over, and he was introduced to his reflection. It gawked right back at him, dressed in nothing but a pair of neon yellow boxers and a Scottish flag that he was wearing as a cape. The flag was fastened loosely around his neck with a frayed shoelace and there was a big tear down the centre of it.

Jesus fucking shit. Absurd didn’t even begin to cover it.

Sweat dripped down his top lip when he heard a deep voice through the wall. He teetered around the corner until he was close enough to pick up most of the words.

“I won’t be in today.” There was a pause. “Does it fucking matter?” Nice manners, then. “Look, unless you want me hurling all over the new contact, I suggest you grow a pair and attend the meeting without me.”

Aaron gripped the glossed door frame, his clammy hands squeaking on the wood as he snuck a look at who the voice was coming from. The man was stunning. He was all sun-kissed skin, choppy blond hair, and a gorgeous mouth that dipped dramatically in the corner.

“Shit!” With a jolt, the blond dropped his phone and it landed on his face with a mocking smack.

“Sorry-”

“Why are you in my house?!”

“I’m Aaron.” No shit, Aaron.

“That’s not an explanation!”

“Sorry.”

Aaron cringed. All of a sudden he was big on apologies, apparently. Blondie was now sitting up, scratching the fluff on the nape of his neck as he shuffled out of bed and adjusted his duvet accordingly whenever it slipped below his waistline. He just glared at Aaron, waiting to hear something that made sense.

“I was kinda hoping you could tell me,” Aaron said, using all of his self-control to stop his eyes from drifting downwards. “My head’s mashed. I remember being on the train with Adam and Vic, and then-”

“Vic as in my sister Vic?”

Aaron just stood there, catching flies. “I- I dunno, I think so. Sugden?”

“Uh-huh.”

Ohhhh, Robert Sugden. Aaron finally put a name to the face and felt like giving himself a pat on the back.

…..

“Here you go. Extra strong.”

"Ta."

Aaron warmly accepted the cup of coffee, the steam flying off it and dissolving in his pores. He used the piping hot liquid to swamp down some paracetamol before tightening the strap on the dressing gown that Robert had lent him a little earlier with a side-eye and a grumbled, “Make sure you give it back.”

With the current cycle rumbling the machine into the ground, Aaron glanced at the digital timer displayed on the appliance. Just forty-eight minutes until he could grab his screwed up clothes, slap them on, and leg it to the underground with his tail between his legs. The longest forty-eight minutes of his life, no doubt.

Hoping to make a crack in the ice, Robert led Aaron to the scene of last night’s crime. Through the sliding doors, across the patio and up the spiral stairs, secluded in the corner and illuminated by the steady flicker of the firepit. Robert was surprised that it hadn’t burnt out in the early morning under the April showers.

The rooftop terrace was what sold this place for Robert. It was his haven, complete with everything that made his superficial heart weep. This morning, however, it looked how he felt.

He absorbed the aftershocks of his party (shards of glass littering the outdoor table, remains of finger foods welded to the deck, and a pair of nude stilettos abandoned on the bar) and sagged. Turning thirty was dismal enough without having to clean up after his colleagues. Or, as he liked to call them, a bunch of wound up, hoity-toity pen pushers who didn’t even know his middle name—just a sniff of free booze and they were squeezing into a Ralph Laurent polo that still had the label on, and patting him on back with a bout of boisterous laughter as if they were best mates.

Wow, he was in dire need of some proper friends.

Aaron propped himself up on the bar. “Bet you don’t get tired of this,” he said, looking out at the sparkling city.

“It’s a great hangover cure,” Robert said, nursing his Americano and watching the ripples dance over the surface as he lightly blew it. “It can be lonely, though,” he admitted, unsure as to why. This handsome and hungover stranger was just waiting for his ticket out of here, he didn’t want or need to become Robert’s agony uncle to fill the time, that was for sure.

“Why’s that?”

Oh. Perhaps Aaron, for one reason or another, cared. Or he’s got nowhere else he needs to be and Robert’s left him with no choice but to sit and listen because it's the polite thing to do. Aaron looked at Robert all doe-eyed and Robert wanted to stay here until he’d told Aaron every single intricate detail of his life up until this point. But that seemed a little crass.

“Don’t know, really. I just… don’t like to be alone with my thoughts, I suppose. And being up here, well, it’s a whole lot of that.”

“I know what you mean,” Aaron said. “How long have you lived here?”

"Nearly two years on the whole." Robert calculated, Aaron giving him an amicable nod in response. Robert licked the coffee froth off his lips, clearing his throat. "I've lived in London a while, though. Since I left the village, pretty much."

"And you never thought about going back?"

"I couldn't." That would mean looking back. And after the trail of destruction he'd left in his wake, that was never going to happen. They were better off without him. Or at least his Dad and Andy were. Vic and Dianne never stopped reaching out, however, offering their support through texts and unanswered voicemails.

Aaron changed the topic, sensing that Robert's internal trip down memory lane wasn't a smooth ride. "You heard anything from Vic and Adam?"

"They were both flat out in the spare room last time I checked," Robert answered. He'd been less than pleased to find them entwined together on top of the duvet, dead to the world as Adam slobbered away on the satin pillowcase like an excited dog, and Vic let out a mishmash of unconscious sounds from sniffles to whistles, her makeup crusty and her outfit dishevelled by a night's sleep in it.

"Vic had a whole itinerary planned. Some museum, Leicester Square, and then this ridiculous hipster coffee shop near the station," Aaron said with a dreary eye roll. "Even though our train leaves just after two."

"She's just excited. She doesn't come here often."

"'Suppose not."

"Anyway, I recommended that coffee shop so you better not miss it," Robert said. Aaron snorted because of course he did. "Come on."

Robert rose, perking up a bit as he stretched his arms until they clicked with satisfaction. Aaron followed in his footsteps, literally, but they stopped in their tracks, coming face to face with a rumbled Victoria.

She looked dead and alive all at the same time as she swung her phone about. "There they are, the newly engaged couple."

Robert choked on air and Aaron gave him a splash of side-eye before snatching Vic’s phone. "What are you on about?" And Aaron had to check that the digital date displayed in the top left corner of the screen wasn't April the 1st. Nope, it was indeed the 23rd. And under that was a Facebook post on his profile; a blurry, backlit photo of him and Robert flashing the camera with two rings that didn’t even match, accompanied by a slurred caption.

yayy ENGAAAAAGED! whoop whoop!! hears to many many many many many year <3

Aaron groaned, throwing his head back in sheer embarrassment when Vic grabbed a hold of his and Robert’s left hands. Sure enough, the rings were still there. “Oh my God,” she cackled, her voice like a siren in the middle of the night. “This is brilliant. A few more of those cocktails and you’d be halfway to vegas, ey?”

Robert massaged his temples, kneading roughly at his dry skin. “Whatever’s in them is lethal,” he grumbled, peering over Aaron’s shoulder as he watched him scroll through the comments and squeeze his eyes shut in disbelief at each one.

“It’s your bar, mate. You should know what it’s serving,” Aaron said. He had a point. “Let’s just pray we left it at cheap rings.”

(Aaron couldn’t even begin to fathom at what point during the party he and Robert had fled the penthouse and ended up at a jewellers of all places. Who’d thought a proposal was the perfect end to a not-so-perfect night? Who’d taken that photo? And who in their right mind was selling giant fabric flags in the early hours of the morning? It would be a miracle if he becomes sober enough to answer at least one of those questions.)

Robert pouted. “That’s a shame. I’ll cancel the tickets to Vegas, then,” he teased.

“I dunno, I could do with a holiday just to get over the shame.” Robert grinned at the younger man’s flirty tone.

“Cheers,” Robert scoffed. Aaron handed the phone back to Vic who watched the pair with a knowing glint in her eye, her head bouncing back and forth between them.

“Only joking,” Aaron said. “Could be worse.”

Vic pocketed her mobile with a yawn and tightened her ponytail. “Right, I’m gonna drag my lump of a boyfriend out of bed and start gathering our stuff. I’ll leave you two to plan the wedding of the century, shall I?”

Vic left the rooftop, her flats scuffing all the way down the metal staircase. Robert gulped down the remains of his coffee and turned to Aaron with a smirk.

“So, fiancé,”–Aaron shot Robert a fiery glare which, if Robert didn’t know any better, would leave a bruise on his ego–“I know a great place where we can get some brunch. Why don’t we ditch Vic and Adam and I’ll drop you off at King’s Cross after.”

Aaron pulled a face. “ Brunch? I’m not paying £8.99 for a plain scone.”

“My treat.” Robert offered, hoping that would seal the deal.

“Like a date?”

“If you want it to be.” Aaron paused for a beat, not that there was ever much to contemplate.

“Fine.” Robert didn’t miss the bashful smile taking over Aaron’s face. Robert bit the inside of his cheek when Aaron began to descend the stairs. He crammed his hands in his pockets, his heart going into overdrive as he kicked his feet into gear.

Whoops, didn’t mean to post this so late. Time’s gotten away from me this week, haha. Anyways, a few ask replies are below the cut!

Aw, I’m glad you’re enjoying the comic! It’s the best feeling knowing that folks are liking what I’m putting out. ^^

And yep, bosses are being done in order! I’ll list them out below with how I’m handling each of them for simplicity’s sake:

King Slime -- Will be mentioned, but won’t appear. Probably defeated by a previous hero? I’m not sure, but Chris won’t be fighting it.

Eye of Cthulhu -- The first boss Chris fights.

Eater of Worlds -- Most likely an on-screen boss fight? I’m debating.

Brain of Cthulhu -- This is a Corruption world, so it’s not included.

Queen Bee -- Mentioned, though cut for time.

Skeletron -- Plot important boss battle!

Wall of Flesh -- Also plot important boss battle; actually one of the first scenes I had figured out for the comic, haha.

Mech Bosses/Plantera/Golem -- These most likely will be fought, but I’m not sure how I’ll be handling them. The Mechs at least are plot relevant, we’ll see about the other two.

Optional Hardmode Bosses -- Queen Slime, Duke Fishron, etc. will be cut for time.

Event Bosses -- Things like the Pumpkin/Frost Moon and so on won’t be included.

Other Events -- Solar eclipse, blood moon, etc.; may or may not be included depending on how the story flows with them.

Lunatic Cultist/Celestial Events/Moon Lord -- again, plot important.

Do keep in mind that the above is subject to some change depending on what I want to include, as well as just what I want to be on/off screen. I never really know how I’m going to handle something until I’m actually writing/drafting/sketching that chapter, save for a few scenes that I’ve had planned from the beginning, haha.

Firstly, 🎉🎉🎉 for 200 followers!!!

And as for the question -- it’s a really long story actually, haha. Hence why I’m putting this ask last.

So, I’ve owned a copy of Terraria on Steam since early 2016; I had bought another game and needed something cheap to finish off the gift card. Spent like five minutes on it, said no thanks, and went on. Opened it again a few years later, played for an hour and got frustrated at the controls/opening doors/not understanding tools and put it down again. I only got into it come 1.4 -- having access to journey mode meant I had a lot more freedom to do what I wanted, and since I had previously played a little, I was no longer totally confused by the game.

I went through my first playthrough pretty much blind, and had a lot of fun! I tend to make up little stories while playing open world games, and since I only started playing Terraria after the NPC happiness mechanic came out, I put a lot of effort into getting everyone little houses with their friends and such. I put in a few dozen hours, had a blast, and that was that.

Because it was my first playthrough, I was mostly relying on the Guide and a boss progression list I had pulled up on my phone to get through the game, though to figure out housing I ended up spending a while screwing around on the NPC pages, and realized...hey! Terraria doesn’t have *much* of a story, but it does have enough content to work with.

And then I spent an evening putting together a 20 page document about the game’s lore and characters because I wanted to share my latest fixation with my partner, but didn’t want to annoy them. I don’t recall if they ever did read it -- I think they did? -- but the point is that I had it, and started playing around with the idea of writing a little fanfic based off of it. I planned a few things out, but didn’t end up writing any of it, and then shelved the idea after a little bit.

After that I went through a phase of doing a lot of commissions to get some money for college shopping, then classes started and I was busy, then I got really into HLVRAI, etc. etc. Finally, someone I used to watch years and years ago on youtube posted a Frankenstein: A New Musical animatic. I said “cool!” and then Frankenstein was my latest fixation. I found someone on Tumblr (@/reanimationstation) who draws a lot of Frankenstein art, saw they were doing a cute little gothic lit slice of life comic, and said...hey, comics are pretty neat! What if I did one? I had been recently thinking about my Terraria story, that could be fun to mess with.

So, I drew a two-page comic with the Guide and Old Man talking about their curses, posted it to Reddit, and got tons of nice comments and PMs from people saying that they really liked it and hoped I did some more. I had mentioned it was part of an old fic of mine (I was still debating picking it back up and writing it at the time), and people interpreted that as there being more to the comic. There wasn’t, but I figured: eh, why not? I’ll go for ten pages, enough to squish in a whole first chapter if I keep it short, and if I don’t like it, I’ll stop. I’d always wanted to do a webcomic, after all. This could be fun.

And you know what? It has been fun! I need to get better at managing my time most certainly, since pages take so long, but it’s also serving as a way for me to actually be forced to improve, haha. I can already see how much my style has changed since the first chapter, just from the weekly drawings! Plus, I really do love the characters, haha. It’s been a good while since I’ve been so passionate about stuff like this, and while I don’t post them, I do pretty often write goofy ficlets about the characters just to work on their “voices” and all that. Mostly about Andrew and Chris, since they’ll have the most screen time, so to speak, but overall whatever my latest silly idea is.

So, yeah! Just a bunch of things coming together in such a way that I ended up doing a comic.

Unknown Relationship pt.1

This is that Felix x reader that my friend asked for.

Here you go lily I hope you enjoy

“He’s just so sweet.” Wendy had been talking for twenty minutes straight and I had yet to type even a single word for my book. I’m just sitting there in my plaid widow outfit looking bored out of my mind. then my phone chimed. Thank the gods. It was from Felix. I smiled. “who is it, Y/n?” She asks. “Felix.” I say. “Ooooooo.” She whoops while raising her eyebrows up and down. I laugh and hit her with a pillow. “shut up.” I say. I pick up my phone and read. “Hey, Y/n” I read. “Hey, Felix. What’s up” I replied. Then Wendy starts laughing. “I ship it.” She says. I make a face. “what! Eww! I don’t think of him like that.” I protest. She laughs. “sure,sure.” She answers. Then my phone chimes again. “I’m good. How’s the book coming along so far” he asks. I roll my eyes. “It would be if Wendy would get off my back for two seconds. It Pan this, and Pan that. Pan, Pan, Pan, Pan. I’m sick and tired for hearing how sweet Pan is. If only she actually knew him.” I start venting. I’m about to put my phone down when it chimes again. “That was fast.” Wendy says playfully. “oh shut up.” I say. Then I read his text. “You could come over to my place and we’ll work on the book together.” He suggested. My eyes light up. “really, that would be great. Thanks Felix I’ll be there in five.” I  answer. then I get an immediate response. “no prob. Kay I’ll wait for you.” I read. I smile. “I’m going over to Felix’s place to work on my book so you can spend the rest of your night texting Pan.” I say. She giggled. I get up and grab a backpack and stuff my, phone, laptop, and some cloths in case it gets cold at Felix’s and I can change, and strap my skateboard onto it. Then I point at her with an apple in my hand. “Stay out of my room and behave.” I say. She salutes me. “mam yes mam!” She says. I laugh once and we head out of my room. I close the door and lock it with a key and put the key in my pocket. Then I wave my hand over the door knob and lock it with magic so that she can’t brake in. Then I grab my boots and head out. I get on my black and red motocross bike, and I drive off, and soon I make it to Pan, and Felix’s apartment. I grab my stuff and I chain up my bike. And use magic so no one can steal it. Then I walk over to the huge steel door and press the buzzer for apartment B9. I hear a returning buzz that tells me that I’m being let in, and I open the door and walk in. I go up thirty nine flights of stairs. Luckily I’m on the track team so it doesn’t really bother me. I knock on the door and Peter opens it. “Oh, hey y/n come on in.” He says. “Felix! Y/n is here.” He shouts. “ok!” Felix shouts back. “he’s in his room.” He says. I nod once and head down the hall. I knock on the door. “come in.” I hear Felix say. I open the door and lean against the door frame. He’s sitting in a gaming chair and playing. Game of thrones, with Baelfire, Nibs, and Devin. “Devin to your left.” Felix says. I laugh once and the whole game stops. Devin, Nibs, Baelfire, and Felix’s characters all go still. They all have their cameras on so I can see them. Felix turns and sees me. I wave with my fingers. “so I see you guys have been playing Game Of Thrones without me.” I say. They all look guilty. I smile. “its fine I have a lot to do anyways.” I say. They all look relieved and I go sit with Felix. “we’ll work on the book later.” I say. He nods once. “want to join us?” He asks. I smile. “sure.” I get up and grab a controller and head set. Then I turn on his other game system and login. Then I wait for an invite. Devin sends it, and I join. I take some time to edit my character. Then I click join and I spawn in the world. I turn on my camera and headset. They all unpause their game. And we get back to it. I see an orc about to kill Felix and I know that if I warn him it will only take up more time so I use my bow and one shot him in the head. Then I attack the dark elf that goes at me for killing the Orc. Soon we get rid of most of the enemies, and we move out. We split up into teams. Then Henry logs on and Devin invites him. We all split up into teams of three. Devin, Nibs, and Baelfire are one team and Felix, Henry, and I are on the other team. After a few hours of playing I realized how dark it was outside now. “Crap!” I say. “What is it?” Henry asks. “It’s 10:30 PM. I need to work on my book the last time I took so long to update the story all my followers banned together and started a mob that literally found out where I lived to demanded that I work on the next chapter.” I say. Felix laughs. “ok guys me and Y/n are gonna log off so we can work on her book together.” He says. “Mmhmm... sure.” I flip Nibs off before logging off. They all wish us a good night and then he log off too. I get up and pull out my laptop and in less time than it takes me to get up and walk across the room. I logged into my story account and and get to my recent books. then I get comfortable and Felix sits with me on a large beanbag. He pulls me into his lap so he can see the screen too. Then I immediately type on my forum page. “Sorry guys for making you wait so long but I’m writing the next chapter right now.” I hit send and then I begin typing something else. “you guy remember me talking about my best friend Felix. He is here with me today to help write my story.” I send it and take a picture of us he has his arms around me and I hit the ten second countdown button and right before it takes the picture he starts tickling me and I struggle to get out of his arms, and then it takes a picture of both of us laughing, him tickling me and me trying to escape. “noooooo!” I shout. He laughs and stops. The picture automatically sends instead of making me send it because when I take a picture with the app it automatically sends the message with the picture in it. He laughs as I watch the comments roll in like a flood. “you ass! You knew that was going to happen.” I accuse him. He laughs. “maybe I did maybe I didnt. The world will never know.” He says. I laugh and look at the comments. “@Bagellover65- awwww you guys look so cute together.” I read. “@bookworm39- I ship It.” I read next. “@batcat33- I will dedicate my time to this Ship and together the Y/s/n (your ship name) Fan club with make this ship sail.” I read the last one and laughed. I then type. “how the hell is there already a fan club for me and Felix, and sorry but we are not together he is just an adorable little demon boy that the gods have cursed me with.” I say. Felix shouts. “hay!!” He shouts but its a playful scolding. “That is for vengeance.” I say then I get to work on the book. Felix helps out a lot and sometimes we have to act out scenes so that we can describe them right. Then it gets to an action scene in the book and I focus mainly on picturing the scene playing out in my head so that I can describe them. At the end of the action scene katie’s (the main character) best friend billy dies and then I end the book on a cliffhanger. I smile and write at the bottom of the page in an authors note. “Mwahahahaha thats the end of the story folks your gonna have to wait for the next book in the series.” I write then I publish the story and mark it as a finished story. “wow I did not see that coming.” Felix says. I laugh and stretch. I look outside and see how dark it is. “You could stay here for the night if you want.” He says. “no. Its okay Felix, I’ll can find my way home in the dark.” I say. “wait you didnt bring a car.” He says. “no, I came on my motocross bike, and the lights haven’t been working lately.” I say. “well in that case your staying here tonight there is no way in hell that I’m letting you outside in the dark in this part of town.” He says. I start to protest but he shushes me and I know that I’m not gonna win this argument. “Fine.” I mumble. Then I head down the hall to the bathroom with my clothes and change. I walk back out, and I head back to Felix’s room and flop down on the beanbag. “your a jerk.” I say into the beanbag. “yes, yes I am.” He reply’s. We head into the living room and then I hear my motocross bikes alarm going off. I look out the window. “hay thats my bike!” I shout then I run out of the apartment the boys following Pan with his keys to the apartment so we dont get locked out. I throw myself over the stairwell railing and drop the rest of the way down. Then I land skillfully on my feet and Felix jumps over the railing too landing by my side. I get to the door and open it then I sprint down the side walk with the boys following after me. I see a man trying to use his magic to take down my spell so he can steal my bike. “HAY!! GET AWAY FROM MY BIKE!!!” I yell at him. He looks my way and keeps trying to get at my bike. I get to him and I punch him across the face. He jack knives to his feet and throws a punch at me. I dodge it and he throws another punch I catch it and twist his arm behind his back and slam him against the wall. “stay the hell away from my bike!” I yell. He teleports out of my hold and punches me in the back of my head. I spin around and throw a punch but he dodges this time and punches me so hard across the face that I fall the the floor. Felix and Peter both brake into a sprint and beat the dude senseless. Then I get up and stummble almost loosing my footing due to how dissy I was. Felix rushes to my side and helps me. I use my magic to take the spell off of the bike and unchain it then I wheel it back to the apartment. Felix helping me the whole way there. We head into the cellar of the apartment and put my bike in their storage compartment and we lock it up. Then we head back upstairs. I almost fall again so Felix picks me up bridal style. “Felix put me down. I’m fine.” I protest. “Shut up, Y/n. If I put you down and let you walk up these stairs your gonna fall over the railing and brake your neck.” He says. I huff and cross my arms grumpily. we get back to the apartment and Peter opens the door and lets Felix in first so he can put me down. Felix walks over to the couch and sets me down. He crouches down and looks at my head. “your fine but I suggest that you stay off your feet for a little while. I’ll go get you an ice pack for your head.” He says he says. I nod once.  And he goes to get me an ice pack. Peter walks in and places a hand on my head and uses his magic to heal me but even though that its healed it still hurts a bit. When Felix gets back he hands it to me and sits with me. Later that night I end up sleeping on the couch and even though I had told him that it wasn’t nessary Felix had committed to staying with me in case I needed him I  was snuggled up against his side his arm around me a blanket over us to keep us warm. I woke up with Felix’s arms around me protectively. Both of them wrapped around my waist. I blushed a little at the fact that he was shirtless and in just a pair of black jeans. I managed to get out of his grasp. I took the blanket and covered him with it. For once in his life he looked at peace. Not grumpy or angry or irritated or even bored just peaceful. I smile at this and go to the kitchen. I make myself some breakfast. Bacon and eggs with some sausage as well I made enough for all three of us. Then I make three mugs of coffee. As soon as I pour the first cup Felix walks in sleepily sniffing around. He sees me making pouring coffee and I walk up to him and hand him the mug. “thanks.” He says in a sleepy voice. I nod and try not to look at him because he’s still shirtless. However I did happen notice just how extremely toned his body was. I blush deeply with the thought. Then I turn and make more coffee he sits at the table. Then Peter walks in.... shirtless. “Damn it. Does no one wear clothes around here.” I complain. Both of them burst into laughter. I roll my eyes. Then I remember that I dont have anything to wear today.  “DAMN IT!! Plus I have nothing to wear. And peter before you make a comment on that I would think about weather or not I will strangle you for it.” I say. He closes his mouth instantly. “thats what I thought.” I say. “you can barrow one of my shirts and just where the same pants.” He says. I thank him and he goes to go get me a shirt. He comes back with a white button down shirt and tosses it to me. I catch it and head over to the bathroom. I take a shower and clean up then I change back into my under clothes and shorts and pull on Felix’s shirt and button it up leaving the last button undone because it was broken. I roll up the sleeves and and head out. The shirt is so long that’s it covers up my shorts making it look like the shirt is all I’m wearing, but I dont get self conscious easily. I walk out and grab my bag. “I’ll see you guys later at Wendys party!” I shout. Felix walks me out and I hug him goodbye. Then I climb onto my bike and start it. Me and Felix do our hand shake and then I drive off. ...to be continued

A/n: I apologize for how horrible this was i just edited it so that it at least makes sense. I will be making a part 2 and posting it today thank you

About the frozen fandom ask :

🎨, ✍️, and 👗

P.s remember to get enough sleep~

@like-redhead-probably I got enough sleep I swear ;-; actually I overslept TBH

🎨- Favorite fanart(s)/ artist(s)?

I’m gonna limit my answers to those who are currently active in the fandom otherwise we will be here all day xD. Anyone who has seen my tags knows this  to be true. My favorite fan artists are:

@giuliaciulia89 - because asdfghjklssh have you SEEN her line art?? And her expressions?? And how she does shading and color (with markers!! Traditional Art YO!!) literally is just... takes my breath away. Her recent Hogwarts Elsanna commission was absolutely delightful, but I am always delighted to see her original content as well such as her 101 Dalmatians au and her All For One And All For Love Three Musketeers au. It has so many mysteries, I’m very intrigued. Watching her process is very relaxing as well, like *sketch, sketch, sketch* and suddenly WHOA, there’s like, a whole concept outlines in no time at all. Incredible

@zero-kiba - because while much more active on Deviantart, I am ALWAYS extremely gay for Copper! That’s been going on 5 WHOLE YEARS Y’ALL! I stayed up until the sun started creeping through my windows catching up on every single page that I’d missed out after about 2017 when I started working full time. Zero-kiba’s work is BOMBASTICALLY expressive and really hits that mark between UTTERLY badass and heart-meltingly soft. Also do yourselves a favor and read their other works too! Tip of the Iceberg is Copper characters in a comedy setting, The Realm is 65 pounds of concentrated whoop-ass, and The Whole Shebang?? Gay has hell. Really gay. I cannot stress that enough (also it’s a little self plug - I help make that one alongside Zero-Kiba, daughterofhel and giuliaciulia89)

@ice-bjorn - because like.... do I even need to....expand?? Y’all have seen my tags. Ice-bjorn’s got the kind of content that just pulls you up short. Doing something? Concentrating? Not anymore you’re not! Ice-bjorn posted new art and you’re gonna FEEL ABOUT IT for the current conceivable future! Unbelievably emotive, you can see all the hard work that goes into each piece (including writing!!). I’ve gone OFF in my tags so many times about their stuff and I aLWAYS anticipate doing it again XD I can’t possibly pick a favorite piece, but this one gives me the warm fuzzies (Edit: although I did link another further down)

@jabs-wocks - because they constantly surprise me. One day ADORABLE! Next day ANGSTY. Next time? New style?? New type of coloring?? Always has a great sense of humor and unique ideas. Also, such an enabler xD Always makes me want to make something in turn <3 Like, remember when I went OFF with that angsty piece of Anna drowning after the dam collapses? Or when I nearly ditched my (already very long) project to idea bomb on about their Skadi!Elsa piece? Yeah, I love their work very much

 @gracepago0314 - because I’m a long time fan from when they had a different username! Great style, strong short comics, and WOW have they come a long way! They already had such a strong aesthetic, but seeing their work at the top of 2020 was such a treat because it was SUCH a change! I loved seeing what I recognized about their unique style and getting to see all the ways they’ve improved and expanded! Also that reincarnation au goes straight for the heart ;-;

✍️- Favorite fanfic(s)/ author(s)?

Limiting my answer to the same for the same reasons. Many of my favorite authors are no longer active, but my heart is very big, and I am always making room for new stories and writers to love!

@fruipit - because every time I get an email from ao3 that they’ve updated I go ballistic. Every story I have ever read (or reread... many times) by them is just SO INCREDIBLE. Their writing makes me make bad decisions: like fighting sleep to make it through one last chapter xD Their work makes me ask questions, their stories flows like a needle and thread, their diction makes me believe. I have nothing but the highest praise for Fruipit’s work, they’ve been writing for years and continue to pick at that gentle thing called wonder. Choosing a favorite work of theirs is GENUINELY DIFFICULT, but I love Risky Business, Koselig, and When Spring Comes very much. Tiny Hearts is a riot tho xD Oh wait and Who Dares Wins! .....Look just... go read Fruipit, you won’t regret it xD

@arendellesfirstwinter - because after years and years they just bang out one badass story after another. Their most recent (and with the dawn, what comes then?) has reduced me to tears twice. No. Three times, I reread a chapter. Their writing is exceptionally raw and pointed, but they are never angsty for angst sake. Their prose has the kind of weight one gets from having a huge amount of intent and care for what they create, and the characters they foster along the way <3

@daughterofhel - because I enjoy the simple pleasures of comedy. Literally just makes me laugh. Her dialogue SLAPS. Her world building is effortless (well, it’s not, she works very hard but it FEELS effortless, which is quite the trick xD). Her stories just WORK, her scenes are so alive and colorful and I adore how she makes characters interact even under the most RIDICULOUS prompts xD Exceptionally creative and silly, I guarantee she will surprise you for the better

@themountainsays - because every story idea is completely fascinating. Even if it’s not like, written yet? Just idea bombing or musing? Totally cool, I love reading them because you can feel the excitement behind them. Or the spite xD. Ara’s writing is also almost lyrical, it’s lovely to read, and honestly? Read out loud too! I’m a huge fan of spoken poetry/spoken stories and Ara’s always gives me that vibe. I’m behind (orz) on Creatures of the Arctic, but it’s SO FUN, I’m always keen on updates :D

@theseerasures - because I adore their frohana stuff. So freaking much. Kristanna + Icebros with so much tenderness that I just stare at my screen and go “holy hell someone MADE that.” Reading their work is like... being given a soft blanket to wrap yourself in, receiving a mug of hot chocolate, and then being told “Okay, now here’s a story that’s going to make you feel feelings really hard,” and you kind of nod back like, “Okay, seems fair.” Idk man they just get me real good, every time. For years.

👗- Favorite outfit? One you’d like to see?

Picking a favorite is hard! But please for the love of god: bring Anna’s military-esque jacket/dress to the silver screen. Holy hell. I’m such a sucker for how absolutely DASHING Elsa and Anna look in masculine/military dress. @giuliaciulia89 and @ice-bjorn both here and here get me xD But I also love their highly feminine outfits? Anna’s coronation dress in F1 is a fav and of course Elsa’s ice-dress is iconic, but my absolute favorites? I don’t know, they’re all so beautiful...

Oh! You know what else I’d want? Casual wear. They’re always dressed up for adventure! Or a fancy party! Let the crew relax more! More day-to-day, more cozy pjs! Kristoff in a big oversized shirt, Elsa in Fifth-Spirit inspired sleepwear, Anna in clothes made by their new Northudran family - complete with little hexagons but like, lined with soft reindeer fur <3. I’d love to see them when the world isn’t falling down around their ears, for more than 5 minutes, please ;-;

Thanks again for asking!! I know this is a few days late but I hope my jabbering made up for it ^_^

2020 Art Purge

I had quite a few doodles that I didn’t end up posting ‘cause I ran out of room or they didn’t fit the theme or any number of reasons, so here they are now with a little ramble about what I remember about them

I had a few leftover Camp Camp doodles, especially from earlier on, thus why David can look a little funny and off-model. I very much wanted to see how he’d look in a suit, I got a few different chances to draw him so! I wanted to post the “Break the Cycle” one but never found the opportunity, it was something along the lines of breaking the cycle of abuse, from his relationship with Campbell and Max’s with his parents. And then a moody Max as well hehe, that one was in October so it was the most recent! Just wanted to draw an angry lad

Mostly fanfic or random ZEX doodles leftoever from SCII - DAX’s intimidating figure in one of the fics really stood out to me but I don’t know I fully captured just how freaked out he’d be. I remembering wanting to be very emotive with his pupil, both panicked and high off adrenaline and still maintaining just a bit of his aloofness, it’s hard! And the first draft of YIK throwing down a rope for ZEX from the pirate fic, I liked this one but it wasn’t energetic enough! A quick Captain from the sword fight (still so cool!), and a silly interaction of if Hayes shamed an openly xenophilic Captain lol. I really need to design a Captain myself so I can wander around being obnoxiously alien-loving on main lol

Around the same time smol and I made this beautiful idiot, she proposed the idea of trauma and generational traits affecting bending, which I was all for, and I made a cute little non-bender family with different dominant and recessive traits. They both live in the Earth kingdom, she’s a refugee and he’s been a resident for generations, and they met and fell in love, aw ♥ And then one more Mac n’ Cheese for the road because I drew him once in reaction to drawing the Solitaire crew and then never again

Unposted sona stuff mostly from the beginning of the year and then I posted the rest of it! Sometimes it was just a bad style day, sometimes it didn’t fit or would be very late (cough cough the Valentines’ Day one) or came off as weird (the spare murder was in reference to reading edgy stuff lol - considering I had just come off Put That Kid Down and the Vargas update hadn’t come out yet - phewf! I did get exactly what I asked for, that’s for sure) The daily pages one is especially funny to be because a) it’s true I still do but b) it was immediately before Bar’s redesign and his whole Deal™ changing, so it had to be left out for being too whimsical lol. The last one still makes me laugh, a happy version of “please anticipate my upcoming response”

More sonas! Oh and a Coffee, since he was the only other Just Desserts character to get left out. Well, I guess I had one of Kaiein too, but does he count? Ehh

It was a silly one at least lol.

There wasn’t a whole lot of unpublished AGE this year, or in general, but it’s a shame because they really turned out cute. I remember I was practicing PigPen when I made that Adara, and I just wanted to draw some pretty Zis while I was still working on the animation meme draft. What pretty ladies!

And a couple little doodles of the fantasy duo! They weren’t actually designed as a pair but I can’t stop, so hey why not have them live in the same world. Opal eyes still doesn’t have a name whoops, but their cute little tail pokes out the back of their robe! Lily is a good head and a half shorter, probably about to rib-height on an average human haha

Lots of little and/or original doodles! A lot of these are either original characters, random designs, or brainstorming - there’s the first ever doodle of Marionette! Nice. I also made that lady with the scars and cut sometime around Feb. 2019 but never posted her or her daughter, they are cute tho. The little night and day one was based on a little Insect-based RPG class system I was working on at the time, Butterflies and Moths being Paladins and Warlocks respectively

I’m so sad I didn’t get to post the wives earlier! I love my angels lads, they’re so cute. I went on a bit of an axolotl tangent, the scary one’s name is “J” lol. Lots of silly little things

I also made a bunch of extremely random fanart over the year lol, from Wilbur Soot to Smokey the Bear but On Fire which is a reference to something but I no longer remember what. There’s also Chiffon from Sir Fluff, a Wooper, Barold from the Villager makeover series, CORPSE Husband, ENA from Joel G, and some little Among Us blobs. Fun designs abound!

[PAGES /2 - /84]

So, Vast Error, huh? I’m finally getting around to this thing after being aware of it for many, many years. For a long time I intended to get around to reading it, but it never seemed to happen. For last year I’ve actually been kind of avoiding it for unspecified reasons, but I’m finally ready to give it a shot, and I’m so glad I did. So far, I’m really enjoying myself. I’ve written quite a few notes, so let’s try to convert them into something professional before I pass out at my desk for the night.

Vast Error starts off as any typical fanventure would: an “enter name” gag, and an outline of our protagonist’s interests. Nothing really out of the ordinary. Wriggling days are unsignificant, and the 22nd bi-lunar perigee of the dark season's 3rd blink seems to be Arcjec’s. Oh right, his name is Arcjec Voorat. Moving on. We can tell from the Mountain Dew Code Red cans around the room that he appears to be the Repitonian equivalent of an alcoholic, assuming soda and alcohol have the same parallel on Repiton as on Alternia. So far I have no real way of knowing, but it’s safe to assume I could be wrong here. Just an interesting detail I noticed, because it makes Arcjec out to be even more of a supposed loser than he is already established to be (which I assume is the point, I don’t find his character uncompelling due to these traits).

Skorpe is a pretty obvious take on Skype, which immediately dates this comic to having started back when people still used Skype. I feel so fucking old saying that. Damn. Arcjec’s handle is animatedHumorist, which is funny because this guy seems to not be very animated unless he’s falling out a window. XDXD Also, his quirk is cringe. XDXD

On the subject of windows, some asshole throws a pebble at his. Following is a REALLY nice scrolling panel on page /28. I never get used to smooth scrolling in this art style, but I always absolutely adore it. Even early on, the tech on panels seems to be ahead of what I can imagine was its competition. Arcjec feels pretty certain he’s going to fucking die, so as all brave warriors do, he goes to hide under his desk. Unfortunately his plan is foiled when some asshole messages him. “Blue guy”, or windlessArtificer seems to want Arcjec to play a game, a trope all too common to fanvetures. We need you in the gaaaaame Arcjec. But of course he says no, as his life is in a bit of immediate danger.

It’s at this time I’d like to point out that Skorpe is a horrifying program, and I made a joke about it wanting to kill me in my notes so... maybe there’s something there. I don’t know. Let’s go back to windows, that was a fun subject.

Whoops.

Arcjec falls out of the window, and we move on to a different character. Before we do, though, we get some interesting prose here. It seems to imply that Repiton used to be a different place, or at least that Arcjec used to be in a much different situation. I’m curious how exactly Repiton was different, but it’s not as though there are a lot of clues. Perhaps the violent injustice used to be more comparable to Beforus’ civilization, rather than what appears to be a clear parallel to Alternia? I’m not really sure. Let’s be another character already. Not the blue guy though, because apparently he’s too good for us.

But there’s nothing to worry about apparently, because it’s clown time. I’m sure the audience is ecstatic, but please calm down. I haven’t even hit post yet. I haven’t even pasted the image in yet!

Ok, now you can lose your minds clapping.

That is, if clowns and wrestling are your sort of thing. This is Taz. No full name included here, but that’s alright. Another standard intro plays out, though this time more aggressive. The Merthful Messiahs we’re all so used to from Homestuck seem to be replaced by the much more present and violent Merthamaniacs. This appears to just be Repitonian wrestling, turned into a religion, complete with the violence and death provided by troll societies. Also Hulk Hogan is the twin-president usurper-equivalent on Repiton, I think. I understand what happened, I’m just not sure how to phrase it.

Not a whole lot happens here, though something very noteworthy is that the ocean is totally fucked up. Is this what that prose from earlier was referring to? The oceans are so poisoned and radioactive, that all sealife has become incredibly hostile and cannibalistic. Trolls have naturally evolved to avoid water at all costs. That’s like... a lot of worldbuilding to just casually drop? But I assume it’s going to come in handy for keeping our protagonists from cheesing their way out of predicaments.

I had some notes regarding the ferocity waver and Taz’s Skorpe handle, preniciousOverkill, but I don’t really have anything to say about the subjects. I also wrote “the clown wants to kill me, it’s like Skorpe all over again” in my notes, so if there’s any kind of running joke that would work here, please let me know.

Oh hey, a new Skorpelog. This time it’s with Murrit. I know I haven’t been introduced to him yet, but I’ve known three characters in Vast Error long before I ever started reading: Arcjec, Ellsee, and Murrit. Murrit seems pretty fun. I like how he just seems to streamroll the conversation into his favor. He also talks about that pesky game we heard about before. I smell a SBURB session, but maybe not a SBURB session because honestly anything could happen here. These tropes are all being set up, but will they be subverted? Who knows. Well, you might, if you’re reading this. Is Austin reading this? Hey Austin, how’s it going? Oh shit, sorry, no time to chat, I’ve gotta get back to this blog post.

Cool shot of Murrit. Not much to say here. The fish stuff I mentioned before is actually brought up AFTER this conversation, I kinda fucked up. Anyway, Murrit mentions something about an informant, and based on what little I know about this comic, I’m going to assume it’s the guy we see in a couple pages. Or in this case, the very next section.

Fuck is up with this dude? On the very first sound page, we see Arcjec have some kind of dream about this guy who I’m assuming is Murrit’s mentioned informant. When he wakes up, the narration says it happened “again”, implying skull guy is a regular cast member of Arcjec’s dreams. I don’t have much in the way of wrapping things up, so I’ll end with a random theory I just thought of. Is this guy related to why Repiton’s changed, assuming that’s what the prose meant? Does this guy know a guy who was responsible? Who’s to say?

This has been fun, but it’s 1:30am, and I need to get some sleep. Catch you next time.

The journal.

Summary: After accidently leaving your journal at a cafe, your closest friends can't help themselves and start to read it...a person that you write about in particular the most reads it too.

Warnings: Tiny bit of angst, lots of fluff.

A/N: Y'all I don't know about you but I just needed some John fluff 😫 I hope you enjoy and enjoy the little poem(ish) type bits I've wrote! (They are in bold italics!) 😁💖

You checked your watch and loudly gasped "Oh god! I'm supposed to be having dinner with my mum and dad! I said I'd be there half an hour ago!" You frantically collected your things- a little too fast. Your bag fell and you let out a sigh, you were halfway through fastening your jacket.

"I've got it," John bent down under the table and scooped the contents back into your bag. You really didn't care how messy it was.

"Thanks, Deaks." You quickly pecked his cheek and the cheeks of Brian, Mary and Roger. Freddie had a date with Jim so they both took a rain check to meet up with you all at the cafe for a catch up another day. "See you all soon!" You waved them goodbye and rushed out the door. John's eyes didn't leave your frame until you had completely vanished from sight.

Roger sipped on his coffee then furrowed a brow when he kicked something. He glanced down and spotted a bright yellow notebook.

Your journal.

"Oh! Look what fell out her bag!" Roger grinned and picked it up from the floor. Mary, John and Brian all went wide eyed and held in a breath of air. There was a lot of speculation around the thing now being held by Roger. They had all seen you writing it, they didn't know what you did in it or what you used it for. They just knew it was a sacred object- a piece of you.

"What are you doing?!" Mary snapped and yanked it out of Roger's grasp when he was about to open it. "You can't read her journal!"

"Oh come on, Mary!" Roger grabbed it back off her. "This is the only chance we'll probably ever get! Aren't you just as curious as me to find out what Y/N spends all day writing about?" He asked.

John sighed "Mary's right, Rog. You're invading her privacy. If Y/N wanted us to see what was in it, she would have told us." John was always very protective over you. He had known you since the pair of you started primary school. He was unbelievably shy, standing in the corner clutching on to the straps of his school bag while he watched everyone play. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned. You were there with your hair in bunches with bright yellow ribbons tied into a bow where the bobble was tied around each bunch of hair. You asked him if he was alright, he had no idea what to say so he shyly looked away. You were the only one who had talked to him all day- the only person who had made an effort. You took his hand and introduced yourself as you walked him over to the swing set. You pushed him first and when John finally began adjusting to your company he then offered to push you.

"I like your ribbons," he said.

"Thanks- yellow is my favourite colour!" You grinned, a tooth that had been wobbly for months was missing- you had spent the day before trying to wiggle it out of its spot.

John smiled back. "I like yellow too."

Back in the cafe, Brian disapprovingly sighed at Roger who was acting like a five year old waiting to open a new toy as he tapped the hard cover of your journal like it was a drum kit. "Just one page!" He whined.

"No Roger!" John sternly spoke.

"Fine," Roger held up the journal, ready to pass John the thing so he could return it to you. "Whoops!" He grinned when he let the journal fall to the table, opening at a page with words and little doodles on it.

"You did that on purpose," Brian nudged Roger with his elbow. They all peered at the page, their curiosity getting the better of them. "Stars...?" Brian murmured at the title on the page- there was little drawings of stars surrounding the block of words- not exactly a poem- in the middle of the page.

'Stars-

People say stars are cold and distant- like lovers when love hasn't worked in their favour. I don't see stars like that. I see them as little bursts of delight. Someone's wishes. Someone's plea. People rely too much on them to bring them their dreams I think. But perhaps that's not such a bad thing. Perhaps people should tell stars their dreams more.'

"That is so lovely!" Mary gushed. "So poetic!"

John kept his eyes firmly fixated on the page, in all the years he had known you- he never knew you were that good with words."What about that one?" Roger glanced to the next page, they all now found themselves being pulled into your journal by some kind of invisible string. "It's called 'Sunflower'."

'Sunflower-

My dear darling friend. She reminds me of a sunflower. She shares the names of Queens of past and perhaps future. A partner in crime- she's so pretty it's illegal. She is as precious as the jewels the Queen wears- and yes, I'm thinking more of Fred than her royal highness. But she's a sunflower. Bright. Bold. Beautiful. Radiant. Warm. They're yellow. My favourite. As is she.'

"I think she's talking about you," Roger looked up to Mary who had tears in her eyes.

"Oh that's so beautiful! She's so sweet and talented!" Mary grinned and let Brian flip another page. It was the beginning of another part and the four of them felt a bubble of tension burst. They already knew the words behind the ominous page they were looking at were going to be different to the other things you wrote.

An almost blank page. It had one bold three letter word on it.

HIM.

The words in the next few pages were going to be intimate, they could tell. The group shared a wary glance- well all except John who was glaring at the page. It was only oblivious to you and him that the pair of you were in love each other and had been for a long time- everyone else could see that. Brian noticed the look. "Maybe we should-"

"Let's read it." John gritted out. The very person who was completely opposed to reading your journal was now desperate to. The consequences of doing so could cause irreversible damage.

'His smile-

That smile. Almost infectious. Every single time I see it, I smile myself. Maybe that's why he smiles- because he subconsciously thinks of others and how their day will brighten when he flashes those priceless pearls. Sometimes his nose crinkles when he grins. Canyons of joy making their way to his cheeks and lips before disappearing before they reach there. When he laughs there's usually a smile on his face. It's gorgeous. Someone should paint it and then place in a museum- it is such a work of art. His smile sparks sheer happiness. Especially when it reaches his eyes whenever he is so gleeful. Oh don't get me started on his eyes.'

John swallowed hard, the other three felt compelled to snap shut the journal to stop John from torturing himself by reading your beautiful words. Roger tried to pull away the book from him but John tightened his grip on it and they read the other block of writing on the next page.

'His eyes-

The only place I find myself lost in- even when I'm standing in a familiar spot. It's a good type of lost. The kind where you accidentally find yourself being after turning one too many wrong corners, but you find the most magical of places in the place you eventually end up in. His eyes. Oh...you got me started. They hold hope. They hold dreams. They hold stars. They hold answers to questions you didn't even know you had. I've drowned in them more times than I can count. I don't want rescuing though. Sometimes they'd be covered by his hair. But that's something else to talk about entirely.'

Mary placed a hand on John's arm. "Maybe that's enough." She could see a mix of conflicted feelings on his face.

"One more..." he croaked out. It probably wouldn't be the last one he read.

'His hair-

Change. That's the style. He changes it so often that I couldn't tell you what way he had it last week, or right now, or even next month. He let me braid it once. Hated it. Secretly loved it, of course. I liked wrapping it around my finger when it was long. Then he cut it. It looked lovely. Always does. He'd suit any change.'

There was two on the one page. He felt like he had to read them. He needed to.

'His heart-

Sadly not mine.'

John felt like punching 'HIM'. You had spilled your heart out onto paper for 'HIM' and yet you never got his love in return.

'My heart-

Belongs to HIM. Forever.'

It was like he had looked at your soul. He felt as if he had exposed you. Stripped you bare. "I have to give her this back." John's voice barely raised above a whisper and he shut the bright yellow journal over, protectively wrapping his hands around it but at the same time he felt like he had his hands around the neck of the person who he only knew as 'HIM'. The three of them stood up but he held out his hand. He just needed to be alone at the moment. He slowly made his way down the street, he stopped at a play park halfway between your flat and the cafe. He sat down on one of the swings, his legs couldn't carry him any further. John's heart struggled to beat. He felt jealously fork through his veins. Who was this person? Why did you have to be so vague and call them 'HIM'?

You grabbed your bag after having dinner and your whole body froze. You couldn't see the flash of yellow that you had always seen. You searched through your bag, almost tearing it to shreds as panic set it when you realised that your journal wasn't there. The only place it could be was the cafe. So after bidding a hasty farewell to your parents, you rushed back to the cafe. By the time you got there, it was shutting.

You frantically banged on the glass of the door and one of the waitresses noticed you. She opened the door "I'm sorry but we're shut."

"I know, I just really need to see if I left something here. My bag fell and everything fell out and I've lost my notebook. It's bright yellow. Can I have a look? I swear I'll only be a few minutes!" You cried out and the waitress could see how upset and distressed you were.

"Course," she smiled and let you in "I'll help you look." You walked as fast as you could to the back booth and got on your hands and knees to look under the table. You let out a small groan when you saw nothing there. The waitress frowned and looked over her shoulder. "Hey, Deb?" She called out and another woman popped her head out from behind a doorframe that lead to the kitchen. "Weren't you serving these tables today?"

The woman, Deb, emerged "Yeah I was. I recognise you from earlier!" She grinned at you "Is everything alright?"

"She's lost her journal- a bright yellow one. Have you seen it?" You were full of hope that she had picked it up.

Deb turned to you with a grin "One of the boys you were with took it with him. I noticed him holding it when he left."

You let out a reserved sigh of relief. A part of you was glad that someone had it- the other was worried that they were reading or had read what was inside it. "What did he look like? The blonde one? The one with the black curly hair?"

"No," Deb smiled "The quiet one with the brown hair."

You let out a shaky sigh and nodded. "Okay, thank you both so much." You sent them both a small smile before leaving the cafe and walking home. Then you spotted a figure on the swing set, slowly, almost dismally, using a leg to swing himself. You spotted a flash of yellow. It was like he was holding your heart in his hands. "John!" You called out and jogged to him, his eyes quickly looked up and found you standing in front of him. "You found it." You nodded at the yellow journal. He looked down at it and then held it out for you to take. You did, very carefully before hugging it against your chest. "I thought it was gone for good," John noticed the tears in your eyes.

"I'd help you hunt it down- even if it meant walking the entire earth." He whispered, his own eyes welling up. "I know how much it means to you."

You sat down on the swing beside him, still clutching your journal next to your heart. "Did you read it?" You asked, eyes flashing with bolts of worry and fear- yet still slightly foggy from the tears that had welled up in them.

John opened his mouth and shut it again. He was going to say no but he couldn't lie- not to you. "I did."

You looked to your feet and bit the inside of your cheek. Your heart could put Roger playing his bass drum to shame at the moment it was thumping so hard. "And?" You wanted to know what he thought. His face wasn't giving anything away. "What did you think?" You quietly asked.

John let out a long sigh, it was only then that he realised that he had been holding in a breath. "You're a good writer, Y/N. The person you call," he had to bite down on his tongue and swallow hard "'HIM'...is a lucky guy."

"I'm lucky to have him in my life." You looked at him grinning. He looked sad, disappointed...jealous?

"Who is he?" John almost spat out "Do I know him?"

You furrowed your eyebrow intently "You...you didn't read the last page, did you?" John shook his head, a confused look flickered across his face. You opened the journal and turned to the very last page. "It's called 'John'." You didn't see his eyes shoot open or his jaw drop ever so slightly.

"John-

I'm not sure what I could write that will possibly do him any justice, but I'll try. John. John Richard Deacon. I think the best day to ever exist is the 19th of August 1951. He was born that day. I thank his parents every day for blessing this earth, and me, with him. He wraps gifts he gets me in yellow because he knows how much I love it.'"

You stopped yourself before reading the next line. He had already seen too much of your journal not to hear it. "'But I love him even more.'" You finally admitted and he went wide-eyed finally hearing your voice say those words.

"'He wore yellow trousers once- I secretly hoped he did that for me. Even if he didn't, he perfectly suited them. He's always so kind. He's always so thoughtful. He once took care of me when I was ill. I told him to stay back incase he became unwell but he didn't listen. He's so selfless. I love him. I always have. Even in my past lives, I'm sure. I love him.'" You spoke the last words in a whisper before softly shutting over the bright yellow journal and reaching across to hold his hand that was on the chain of the swing- he had stopped swinging a while ago. "You're 'HIM'."

A tear slipped down his cheek and his face lit up when he happily smiled. "I did wear those trousers for you," he let out a watery chuckle before standing up. You did the same but he pushed down on your shoulder slightly, making you sit on the swing again. "I love you too. So much. God, it killed me thinking that you were writing about someone else." He wiped away the tears on his cheeks with the back of his hand.

You reached your hand up and helped him wipe away his tears of joy. "Why would I write about someone else? It's you, John. Always." He leaned down and finally- after years of practicing on his hand and imagining it was you- kissed you.

He pulled back after a few minutes, both your lips tingling from feeling one another's for the first, of hopefully many, times. "Do you have a pen?" He asked. You nodded and took it out of your handbag. "Can I?" He silently motioned to the notebook and you handed it to him. He flicked to a page near the end and scribbled something before handing you back your yellow journal. He kissed you again with a grin "Hold on tight."

He went behind you and began pushing you on the swing. You opened the book to the page he wrote in.

'His heart-

Sadly not mine. Belongs to HER. Forever.'

———————–————

Tags- (Tag list is open! Just let me know if you want to be tagged or not or if I've forgotten to tag you!)

@rrrogah-tayluhh @rogerofmylife @phantom-fangirl-stuff @pyrotechnic789 @deacytits @mercurys-bike @happy-at-home @mhftrs @dannydelay @queenismylifenow @whitequeen-blackqueen @stateofloveandvedder @blondyfel @mespetitestortues @trickster-may @xtrashmammalstefx @the-garnet-rain @makapaka11 @killerqueenbucky @hodgepodge-of-rog @fredthelegend @killerqueen-gunpowdergelatine @bowiequeen @princessleiaqueen @asgardpapi @mizzallfandomz @fangirlofeverythingme

This took SO LONG thanks @natthisback

1: Name Madison

2: Age 21

3: 3 fears spiders, not becoming a doctor, becoming like my parents

4: 3 things i love marvel movies, my blanket (whoops), and scrunchies

5: 4 turn ons compliment me, be chivalrous, (idk if this means sex turn on too or not but) moaning my n- ANYWHO uh and the last one definitely like showing you want me

6: 4 turn offs someone who only talks about themselves, being like wishy washy, being arrogant/cocky, complaining about the same things

7: my best friend that would be shea @cloversofshea

8: sexual orientation lesbian

9: my best first date okay SO this like isn’t a first date but it was my first like nicer dinner date so I’m gonna count it. It was just this past weekend actually and i just i loved it so much it was amazing

10: how tall am i 5’2

11: what do i miss honestly, feeling like i was good at things

12: what time were i born 11:14am

13: favorite color purple, although it’s slowly been turning to like a baby light pink

14: do i have a crush yes yes i do and i likes her a lot

15: favorite quote “Truth is a matter of circumstance. It’s not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I.”

16: favorite place Chicago or New York City

17: favorite food SALMON

18: do i use sarcasm yes, but i feel like i don’t use it as much as i used to

19: what am i listening to right now Christmas pop playlist on Spotify

20: first thing i notice in new person whether they only talk about themselves

21: shoe size 8 or 8.5

22: eye color blue

23: hair color right now, it’s a brown that goes to blond at my ends

24: favorite style of clothing so if this means like fav style to wear daily, definitely athleisure. If it means in general, i love love love preppy looks? But not super preppy.

25: ever done a prank call? Absolutely, many times

27: meaning behind my url i explain this in my about me page (linked in bio!)

28: favorite movie captain America winter soldier

29: favorite song i don’t really have favorite songs but rn it’s prob December night by Michael buble

30: favorite band i don’t really have fav bands

31: how i feel right now it’s really hot in here, so warm. I feel okay

32: someone i love i love lots of people but ill stick with @cloversofshea

33: my current relationship status I’ve answered this so many times literally just look at the ask game tag

34: my relationship with my parents um yikes

35: favorite holiday Halloween

36: tattoos and piercing i have i have 6 tattoos! “Breathe” on my right inner ankle, a heart on left shoulder, heart w equal sign in it behind right ear, basically an ecg on my left inner ankle, Aquarius symbol on right bicep, and caws 5749 on my left side. And my ears are pierced.

37: tattoos and piercing i want definitely the black widow symbol in the same place Scarlett got her og6 tattoo, an amino acid tattoo that spells out “wah” , definitely more little tattoos! And maybe more ear piercings idk

38: the reason i joined tumblr so, I’ve had a tumblr for many many years. I originally joined bc my best friends at the time had them, and i was like sure! Ive deleted that personal blog since, and started my new personal blog a few years ago. I also have a studyblr that i started i think back in high school, and i just started this blog back in the end of July!

39: do i and my last ex hate each other no, I’d say far from it bc i likes her a lot

40: do i ever get “good morning” or “good night” texts yes from her and i fucking love it, it used to be a bigger thing almost every day and i loved it

41: have i ever kissed the last person i texted lmao no and for those who were wondering it is @cloversofshea

42: when did i last hold hands LMAO WITH @michelinaamour WHEN I WAS STUMBLING HOME DRUNK IN HIGH HEELS

43: how long does it take me to get ready in the morning it depends, anywhere from ten minutes to an hour and a half

44: have you shaved your legs in the past three days no! I am super lucky and have really light colored hairs on my legs and so i dont’ have to shave very often. Also i just want to say that i personally love shaving my legs and it is my choice to do so.. girls, you do not need to shave!!

45: where am i right now so i started answering this in the research lab, but i am currently sitting at one of the dining places on campus finishing it

46: if i were drunk and can’t stand, who’s taking care of me LMAO DEFINITELY @michelinaamour because she’s done it ALREADY FOR ME MULTIPLE TIMES

47: do i like my music loud or at a reasonable level it depends, in car trips, definitely blast it. But just driving around or listening in doors, definitely reasonable level

48: do i live with my mom and dad nope i live with @michelinaamour

49: am i excited for anything yes, I’m excited for lots of things. I get excited easily

50: do i have someone of the opposite sex i can tell everything to no. I used to

51: how often do i wear a fake smile this is a really interesting question. I don’t consider smiles i give to random people like ordering food or something to be fake, so i would say fake smiles are when I’m not okay and trying to hide it. Which happens less often now bc I’m just much happier of a person

52: when was the last time i hugged someone I think it was @michelinaamour two days ago but i think i hugged @cloversofshea that day too so

53: what if the last person i kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me I’d be heartbroken tbh

54: is there anyone i trust even though i should not yes, certain adults in my life

55: what is something i disliked about today my hair won’t do what i want it to :(

56: if i could meet anyone on this earth who would it be probably Chris Evans or Scarlett Johansson

57: what do i think about the most tumblr and everything with that, or probably her or school stuff definitely

58: what’s my strangest talent i don’t think i have any lol

59: do i have any strange phobias yes definitely haha, I’m terrified of stepping on worms

60: do i prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it i think a few years ago i would have said behind, but honestly I think I’d love to be in front of the camera now

61: what was the last lie i told i actually don’t know. Maybe this past weekend as to like the fact that i was going out on a date instead of just going out with a friend

62: do i prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online I’d say talking on the phone bc then they cant’ see me lmao

63: do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? Yes and yes

64: do i believe in magic? Yes, or at least, that’s what i tell myself

65: do i believe in luck yes

66: what’s the weather like right now snowy!

67: what was the last book I’ve ever read The Butchering Art, it’s about the history of surgery

68: do i like the smell of gasoline omg yes yes yes yes yes yes

69: do i have any nicknames yes, madz, madi, girl who lives by the kitchen, queen (a new one) and clown (also a new one) thanks @natthisback

70: what was the worst injury I’ve ever had back in freshman year of college, i did something stupid and my foot swelled up like hell and hurt so bad. There were no fractures detected but the swelling stayed for a really long time, as well as the bruising and pain, and it never returned to normal

71: do i spent my money or save it SPEND IT BABY

72: can i touch my nose w my tongue no I’m not that talented

73: is there anything pink in 10 ft from me. Hmm part of my backpack? And my rings are pinkish bc they are rose gold. Oh and my scrunchie is pink, as well as my iPad

74: favorite animal cat

75: what was i doing last night at 12am i was still at work In the emergency room!

76: what do i think satan’s last name is uh honestly Jim lmao (it’s demons Jim! @cloversofshea )

77: what’s a song that always makes me happy when i hear it so good by dove Cameron

78: how can you win my heart suggest we watch a marvel movie, and I’m prob straight up in love. There are other things too but they’re pretty general, like compliment me, show you want me ya know

79: what would i want to be written on my tombstone haha, as a joke, “so realy its very thing. Just to keep everyone guessing.” But idk something funny

80: what is my favorite word i have no idea, maybe like sophisticated or something like that or aesthetic , champagne is a good one too

81: my top 5 blogs on tumblr ooh! Okay so @markiplier @lesbian-deadpool @americasass-romanoff @lesbianmariahilll @shining-rey-of-sunshine but i love so so so so so many more, and i have a lot of top blogs

82: if the whole world were listening to me right now what would i say fuck trump also I’m gay as hell and I’m growing tired of hiding it from people

83: do i have any relatives in jail not that i know of

84: i accidentally eat some radioactive vegatables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super power of my choice! What is that power lmao this question is great. Prob same powers as Wanda

85: what would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on any weird fetis- JUST KIDDING. Do you still think about them?

86: what is my current desktop picture so on my laptop, it’s fall flowers. But since that’s broken af, i use my iPad and that background is one of the apple ones. It’s just a beach idk why but I’ve never changed it

87: had sex WHY IS THIS IN EVERY SINGLE ASK GAME WTF

88: bought condoms nope i am gay as hell bye

89: gotten pregnant nope i am gay as hell bye

90: failed a class nope, definitely come close though

91: kissed a boy yes

92: kissed a girl yes

93: have i ever kissed somebody in th rain honestly, probably at some point, but I’ve never had one of those romantic kisses in the rain. I really really want to though and i think about it a lot

94: had job yeah, I’ve had three true jobs

95: left the house without my wallet probably

96: bullied someone on the internet no bc I’m not a fucking douche

97: had sex in public not yet

98: played on a sports team yeah, played softball and basketball in middle school

99: smoked weed yeah, but i didn’t get high

100: did drugs nope

101: smoked cigarettes nope, i think i asked drunk once if i could smoke, but my friend was like “really?” And i was like uhhhhhh just kidding haha

102: drank alcohol lmao i drink fucking all the time i mean. I literally have drunk writing nights , I’m drinking tonight too

103: am i a vegetarian/vegan i was a vegetarian for a while, and then an aspiring vegan, and then vegetarian, and then pescatarian now!

104: been overweight no

105: been underweight yes

106: been to a wedding yeah, but like not for a long time. I was like 4 and the flower girl. Oh WAIT. Does playing a wedding count? I played cello at a wedding so i was there???

107: been on the computer for 5 hours straight hell yeah, how would i function not doing this with class and relaxing

108: watched tv for 5 hours straight lmao definitely

109: been outside my home country yeah

110: gotten my heart broken yeah

111: been to a professional sports game yeah. I don’t really do sports though , so when i go it’s usually in suites and I’m just there for the food

112: broken a bone nope!

113: cut myself this is...a. Really deep question but bc i want to be able to speak about mental health on here, the answer is yes.

114: been to prom yes! I went to my junior and senior proms!

115: been in airplane too many times

116: fly by helicopter no, I’m not sure if i want to do this or not

117: what concerts have i been to I’ve been to lots. So first off, I’ve been to hundreds of classical concerts (and performed in them). As for pop, Bruno mars twice, maroon five like three times. Selena Gomez. Josh groban. American authors. Definitely others that i don’t remember

118: had a crush on someone of the same sex yes I’m fucking gay

119: learned another language so if this means fluent, no. I took a decent amount of French and am learning Russian right now!

120: wore make up absolutely. When i choose to wear makeup, its because i fuckign love makeup haha. Most days I’m lazy though and like to let my skin breathe and be natural

121: lost my virginity before I was 18 no

122: had oral sex yeah

123: dyed my hair many times

124: voted in a presidential election okay i think so but honestly can’t remember. But I’m pretty sure i did.

125: rode in an ambulance no and i never want to.

126: had a surgery no and i never want to haha. Well i cant say that. Depending on how my life plays out, I might freeze my eggs or something.

127: met someone famous yes, several I think, but probably Henry winkler was the one I remember most.

128: stalked someone on a social network yeah

129: peed outside nope don’t think so and definitely don’t want to

130: been fishing yes I have been ice fishing and regular fishing

131: helped w charity i have!

132: been rejected by a crush I’ve been not liked back but i don’t think I’ve ever made like a move on a crush and been rejected

133: broken a mirror ooh i don’t think i have actually

134: what do i want for birthday nothing bc i dont’ like my bday

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Two Hundred Twenty-Seven: Miniature ___ ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

If there’s one thing Hinata is a fan of...it’s tiny things. She isn’t even really sure why...she just likes them. Always has. When she was little, she collected the miniature versions of Beanie Babies. Polly Pocket was one of her favorite toys, along with any teeny models of anything she could get her hands on. Little figurines, small animals, tiny dollhouses...the smaller, the better.

Even her handwriting is small. Neat and curvy, she even dots her i’s and j’s with tiny little hearts. During her doodling phase, there would be tiny little drawings along the sides of her assignments and notebooks. Then she got into things like knitting and crochet, and took to creating smaller and smaller versions of the projects she would find in books or online.

Even her height caps out relatively short in high school. By the time she’s a senior, she’s still only five feet four inches. Of course, she also has a rather curvy build, but that doesn’t bother her at all. She’s the shortest of her friend group, and earns herself the nickname pixie.

She loves it.

“So...what are we making today?”

“Huh?” Looking up from the cookbook she’s skimming through, Hinata gives a small start. She...sort of forgot she was in Home Ec class...whoops. They have a bit of a free day, and as always that means cooking with Sasuke. But though she’d started reading with the intention of finding something to make, she got a little...lost. A bit of a daydreamer, her focus isn’t always the best. A sheepish smile pulls at her lips. “Um...I dunno yet. You wanna pick?”

“Eh, I’m no good at it.”

Lips pursing thoughtfully, she absently flips through a few more pages before perking up. “Ooh...what about this?”

“Hm?” Glancing over, Sasuke grimaces just a hair: it’s a dessert. He still doesn’t like sweet things all that much.

“What?”

“Brownies?”

“Mhm! See, they’re supposed to be like, um...s’mores!” She turns the book to him, letting him see the picture right side up. “You make a graham cracker crust first, in the bottom of the pan. Then you make the brownies on top! Once those are done, you put a whole bunch of miniature marshmallows along the top, and broil them so they get browned. Doesn’t it look good?”

“Eh, I guess.”

Hinata gives a pout. “I still can’t believe you don’t like s-sweets.”

“They’re okay, I guess. It’s just easy for something to be too sweet, y’know?”

“No such thing!”

“Says you.”

“Well...we’ll make something savory next time,” she promises, turning the book back around. “I just...really want to use the marshmallows…”

“Oh yeah?”

“They’re so cute and tiny!” Hinata brings hands to her cheeks, smiling and going a bit pink. “Don’t you think?”

That earns a small snort of amusement. “Never really thought of food as cute before, no. But uh...I guess?”

“They are! Fluffy and soft and small…”

A grin softly curls Sasuke’s lips. The more he gets to know Hinata, the more he learns about her little quips and quirks. And so far, they all add up to a sweet, soft girl. Much like the marshmallows she’s so excited about. “All right, you win. They’re cute.” Like you.

...he...he did not just think that.

Jolting a bit as he realizes the thought, it thankfully goes unnoticed as Hinata turns to start gathering ingredients. Gripping over his mouth with a hand, he takes the opportunity to fight back a flustered flush. Darn this girl…!

“So, do you want to make the crust?”

“W-? Huh?”

“The graham cracker crust! It’s super easy,” she assures him, smiling. “You just need to melt some butter, and crush the graham crackers, mix them together...a-and press them in the pan to bake!”

“...sure.” Schooling his expression back to neutral, Sasuke does as asked, referencing the book as he goes. At least she has one thing right, it’s pretty straight forward. Using a ziplock bag, he smooshes the crackers with a rolling pin before mixing them into the butter. It actually...smells pretty good.

All the while, Hinata works on the brownie batter, humming idly to herself. Every so often, Sasuke gives her a glance from the corner of her eye, watching her go. A lot about her reminds him of his mother. Whenever she’s in the kitchen, she gets just as jovial, no matter what she’s making. It’s so boringly domestic, and yet...something about it brings a subconscious smile to his face.

“Ready to put it in the oven?”

“O-oh, uh...yeah.” Hurriedly getting it all packed into place, Sasuke puts the pan in, setting a timer.

“Okay, once that’s done we can do the brownies, and then the marshmallows!”

“So...we have marshmallows?”

“Mhm, right here.” Hinata shows the bag, which is...open. At his perked brow, she goes a little pink. “I...might’ve eaten one. Just to see if they were s-stale!”

“...and?”

“And, um...they’re fine!” She takes out another, squishing it between a thumb and forefinger with a giggle. “Nice and soft!”

Amused, Sasuke takes one as well, giving it a squish before popping it in his mouth. Almost immediately, he cringes at the pure sugary taste.

“W...what’s wrong?”

He shakes his head, forcing himself to swallow. “It’s just, guh...sweet.”

“You’d never survive a week at my house, I’ve always got sweets around,” Hinata laughs, indulging in another marshmallow.

“I dunno how you stand it. It’s just...too much.”

“Well, the taste changes a lot once they’ve been broiled, and along with the brownie and the cracker crust. Maybe that’ll be more your style?”

“Maybe.”

The timer dings, and once Sasuke fetches the pan, Hinata carefully spoons out the batter, smoothing it with a spatula and ensuring it’s nice and flat, with no splatters on the side. “There we go…!”

Then...more waiting.

“Here, you pick something for next time, okay?”

“Uh…” Accepting the book, Sasuke starts idly flipping through the pages. In truth, there’s...not a lot in here that isn’t sweet. “Maybe we need something other than baking, huh?”

Hinata blinks. “...you...probably have a point.” She moves to the little bookcase of cookbooks. “Anything look promising to you?”

He has no idea. Picking one at random, he flips a few pages before coming to a halt, eyes going a little wide. “...that one.”

Looking over his shoulder, Hinata brightens. “Baked Parmesan tomatoes…?” They look really easy to make. “...do you like tomatoes?”

“Yeah, they’re one of my favorite foods.”

“Ooh, aren’t there cherry tomatoes…? The little ones?”

At that, Sasuke gives her a glance. First miniature marshmallows, now little tomatoes? “...you have a thing for small stuff?”

The accusation makes her go pink again. “Well, I...s-sorta. I just think small stuff is...is cute!”

His prior thought nearly comes spilling out, and Sasuke has to clench his jaw shut before it tumbles out of his mouth. “...all tomatoes are good.”

“Then we’ll do this one next time! I’ll bring some fresh tomatoes from the store the next time we have a lighter day. If it was summer break, I could bring you some from my garden!”

“...you grow a garden?”

“A small one, yeah! I love plants, too!”

Is there anything this girl doesn’t love? “I’ve never grown anything...no idea if I’d be any good at it. Mom keeps a flower garden, but nothing you can eat.”

“I’ll have to bring you some!”

“...I’d like that.”

There’s a small, growingly-awkward silence, and then they’re blissfully interrupted by the timer. “...o-oh! Time to, uh...add the marshmallows!”

“...yeah.”

Carefully taking out the pan, they marvel at the two layers they have so far. “Okay, set the oven to broil, and I’ll add the ‘mallows!”

With everything in place, they put the pan back in, door cracked to make sure nothing burns. Soon enough, the smell of caramelized sugar wafts out, and Sasuke surprises himself at finding it pleasant.

“Okay, all done!”

...it looks glorious.

By then, they’ve drawn onlookers, and Hinata doles pieces out for the rest of the class. They take their own last, Sasuke looking at it curiously before taking a bite.

Hinata waits for a verdict.

A few seconds of chewing pass, and then he swallows. “...not bad. I like the bitter brownies, helps balance it out.”

“Yeah, I put in a bit less sugar to try to balance it out!”

“...you did?”

“I thought you’d like them better that way,” she replies, beaming.

He blinks. “...thanks.”

Once all is said and done, they clean up just as the bell rings. “Oh shoot, I need to get to practice, can you…?”

“I got it,” Sasuke assures her. “Get going.”

“Thank youuu!” Taking up her bag, she dashes out of the room with the others.

Left alone, Sasuke considers the bit of a mess, eyes lingering on the mini marshmallows.

...he’ll have to remember that.

                                                           .oOo.

     Back to the Home Ec AU! I...love this one a lot xD It's so gosh darn cute. Give it up, Sasuke - there's no resisting how stinkin' adorable Hinata is. You're as good as gone, my boy. Just give in and submit to the cute!      Anywho, I got more to get done tonight, so...that's all for now! Thanks for reading n_n

The few people that read this blog and also follow my personal Instagram will know I’ve already made this joke once recently, but it brings me joy and I refuse to be ashamed! It’s one of the best one-liners from a character who zings ’em out like no other – and who doesn’t love when Meryl Streep gets to be sassy?

Photo credit to 20th Century Fox via Buzzfeed 🙂

Anywho, on to the main event – I’ve made a thing! And the fabric is an absolute dream. I applied to a call a while back on Instagram for sewists that would like to work with Sitka Fabrics, to be sent fabric in exchange for sewing it up and providing pictures of their stock used in garments that they could use for marketing and social media. Sitka is a Canadian company, but they ship internationally (their About page includes the line “fabrics do not have borders” – love that!) and their fabrics are thoughtfully selected and gorgeous. I was thrilled to be chosen, and even more thrilled when they told us they were stocking a modal rib knit for the fall that they wanted pictures of ASAP! I’ve not worked with modal before, but everyone raves about it, and this was the perfect chance to try some really nice quality stuff. Not to mention, the colors they’re stocking are seriously dreamy.

Receiving the fabric, I instantly saw what everyone was raving about. Modal is so soft, y’all – it’s silky and huggable and has the most luxurious drape. Plus, this rib knit is 10% spandex, so in addition to being silky and utterly stroke-worthy, it’s also got pretty great recovery for such a drapey knit. I got the warm ochre, which is an awesome shade of pumpkin orange – not pumpkin like plastic Halloween decorations, but like an actual pumpkin sitting ripe and warm in the late afternoon sun. When I first chose the color, I’d thought it was more of a golden yellow, but ’twas my screen that deceived me! It’s the same old tale of shopping for fabric on the internet – not all screens are built the same, and colors can show up differently. When in doubt, contact the seller! The team at Sitka has been very prompt and helpful any time I’ve had an issue or question, and if you’re trying to match colors I’m sure they’d be happy to give guidance if you’re unsure. As I wasn’t trying to match colors, and the orange that showed up was every bit as lovely as the yellow I’d expected, I simply kept stroking this ohmigodsosoft fabric and planning the best way to make use of its beauty.

Initially, since I’d never sewn with this fabric before, I was thinking a simple ribbed t-shirt or tank would be a great showcase for it (the Kila Tank by Indiesew looks like an amazing basic tank and I wanna try it soon), but once I had it in my hands I knew it demanded to be something a little more special. More romantic. Plus, the weather has just finally started to turn more towards fall here in NYC, and my mind is kicking into high gear autumn sewing mode. I wanted something that felt autumnal!

That was when I remembered the Seamwork Elmira. A simple ballet-style wrap cardigan with some extreme tie action going on in the front, I’ve had it in my Seamwork pattern library for ages, and actually printed it out months ago with the intention of adding it to my winter wardrobe last year. (Whoops.) I love that instead of huge long ties that wrap all the way around, the innermost front wrap buttons on the inside and the other front is then simply tied across to complete the wrap without the bulk. Plus, I don’t like wrap sweaters that tie in the back – I hate putting on a coat or sitting down and leaning back in a chair, and feeling the hard knot of knit fabric digging into my spine. However, the change in pattern meant I was not going to have enough fabric, especially since the directionality of a rib knit meant I couldn’t throw grainline to the wind and get creative with my cutting layout – I’d only asked for a yard and a half, and the Elmira calls for over two yards, plus I wanted to fully line the back instead of turning and stitching the hem and neck back like in the instructions. I laid out my pattern pieces on the rib knit and determined that I could fit everything except my back lining piece and the second set of ties, which got me thinking – a contrast tie could be a nice look. Did I have anything in my stash that would play nicely with this orange? I did a little digging, and when I found the rest of the Girl Charlee cotton jersey I used to make a Nettie bodysuit in May (on the blog here) I knew that was the winner. The cream ground and coral-and-yellow tones jived nicely with my orange, and the fuchsia and green added a nice pop of contrast. It also felt very summer-to-fall transitional, which is utterly appropriate for how I want to dress right now, and MOST IMPORTANTLY I had tons of it left – more than enough to cut out my additional pattern pieces and get cracking!

I’ve not done a lot of sewing with rib knits, and I was worried the modal would stretch out of shape as I put it through the machine, but it sewed up like a dream – I sewed the whole wrap on my regular machine using a zig-zag stitch and a normal presser foot. After a little internet and Instagram research, I chose to reinforce the seam at the wrap edges with clear elastic, and in the end I think I could have pulled it a little bit tighter – the long edge wants to stretch, and in a knit fabric it’s hard to keep it from doing what it wants! If I make this sweater again, I think I might draft a front band to rein in that wrap a little more.

As I said, I also chose to fully line the bodice, which gave a cleaner finish inside – the only exposed seams are at the armscye and the cuff, and the back neck feels more stable than it would have with just a turned-down hem (although I could probably have used some clear elastic in that seam as well. C’est la vie.) Sizing-wise, I also turned to the internet and determined that I needed to add about two inches of length; the back I simply left long at the bottom with a little extra shaping to accommodate my sway-back, and the front I lengthened two inches just below the armscye, moving the bottom of the wrap over to match the diagonal (and thus adding some length to the wrap itself – I sized down to a Large knowing I’d be doing this, but in the end I probably could have lost some of that extra wrap length). I shortened the sleeves about two inches as well, both because I thought it would look cute with 3/4 length sleeves and because I didn’t have quite enough fabric for full-length.

The finished result is absolutely divine. The modal makes it soft and squishy but still sleek and elegant, and the color is perfect for this time of year, while the pop of floral keeps it from feeling aggressively Halloween-themed. It’s definitely a layering piece, rather than a top in its own right, although I think taking a little length off the front wraps would allow it to pull tight enough for a really pretty top in a lighter-weight fabric. As it is, this beauty is going to see me through the colder weather nicely, just as soon as it actually starts getting cold again – of course, the minute I finished this, temps in New York jumped from the 60s and 70s back up into the 80s! I still wore it around the house for a while with the A/C cranked up, just because I love it so much. Plus, my roommates have already gone all-in on the Halloween decorations, so it’s hard not to feel autumnal no matter the temperature! And I’ve saved every single scrap of the modal rib – I don’t exactly know what I’m going to use it for, but I can’t bear the thought of not using every last bit. Bigger scraps might end up becoming panties or a soft bra, and longer pieces I might try to use as ribbed binding for other projects. We shall see!

Rib knits, for fall? Groundbreaking… The few people that read this blog and also follow my personal Instagram will know I've already made this joke once recently, but it brings me joy and I refuse to be ashamed!

2017 in review

I always say that I’m going to post a “how my year was” at the end of the year, but I have an awful memory so I never remember what happened in each month. This year, I tried to post about each month as it finished- the good and the bad. Under a cut because of course it got long, and I never seem to post about my real life, so this may be boring if you don’t actually know me.

January

Got a snow day after having students for just one day

Accidentially read a book in one night (Perfect) because of aforementioned snow day/borrowing it electronically from the library/not knowing how many pages there were (not that many since it’s YA)

Got two more snow/ice days because my county has mountains in it and we’re in the South, so we’re not prepared for winter

Saw Hidden Figures and cried about how good humanity can be when we actually allow and encourage all people to be their best (black women!!!! they did that!!!!!!!)

Helped my students navigate our county’s program of going one-to-one with Chromebooks (there were many good things, such as getting my kids to play freerice for extra credit; there were many bad things, such as a quiz getting screwed up because I shuffled the questions but had asked my co-teacher to help me by reading the quiz [as she normally does] to a half dozen students...who all had a different order of questions...).

Went to a conference for new teachers and while a lot of the information was repetitive, there were a few things I got from it (such as 6.5 professional development hours aw yis).

Got to see lots of family I don’t usually see on this weekend!

Started reading The Diary of Anne Frank with my students because this country allowed fascism to be A Thing™ and I’m going to resist however I can.

Got two (!!!!!!) days off at the end of January for sick days (apparently other students in the county? not us but we benefitted!!!!)

February

Finally had an entire 5-day week of school

Then got another two days off for sickness (8th grade was doing our part by asking ENTIRE classes “Hey! Anyone feel sick? Anyone want to go get their temp checked???”)

Went to an open house at a local mosque, and y’all, I live in The South™ but their parking lot filled up a good 15 minutes before the event even started and there was an overflow room and so much support for this community during the Muslim Ban and it just filled my heart with joy

Got a haircut (it was literally down to my butt y’all!!!!) and now it’s right below my shoulders

Had pedal extensions installed in my car because I’m 4′9 and would have literally died if the airbags went off.

March

Got my professional teaching license! I’m no longer an apprentice! I don’t have to have 4 observations a year!!! Only 2! And while I’m REALLY good at playing the observation game (and am MUCH better at this than the testing game), it will be nice to not think about it so much.

My mom came to stay for a few days because it was her and my sister’s spring break.

During that week, I had a LONG 4 day week, which included staying at my school until 7:30 for a town hall meeting/carnival/extravaganza. F U N.

My spring break was purposefully low-key. I rested a lot, read books, caught up on Netflix, shopped at Old Navy, and went to the local art museum for the first time (I’ve only been in this city for 8 years...)

April

I found that I actually enjoy teaching how to write an essay. The 5 paragraph essay, while it has many faults, is a really good place for beginning writers (which 8th graders are) to begin. I had a student tell me that she liked how I made each sentence have a specific purpose because she was able to plug in her evidence and thoughts more easily- this honestly made my whole day.

That being said, I HATE teaching essays when students are absent. Trying to get them caught up and keep everyone else on track is SO MUCH WORK. Especially when the absent students don’t come to me during my plan to make up their work...

For two whole days, my last period class was not allowed to use erasers because some people (two boys, as it turned out) were shredding and throwing them at each other.

I turned 26

The Welcome to Night Vale Live Show FINALLY TRAVELED TO TENNESSEE AND Y’ALL CECIL (REAL CECIL NOT THE CHARACTER) IS FROM KNOXVILLE!!!! The weather singer was super fun (she played Rocky Top and we ate that shit up like biscuits and gravy with no shame whatsoever) and the show itself was just so much fun even though I went alone. It was almost an hour of normal segments with the plot of the glow cloud, but they also brought in Steve Carlsburg and Tamika Flynn (I diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied when she walked on stage because I majorly crush on that actress whoops) and watching those actors interact on stage was so much fun.

May

End of the school year is always chaotic and better left forgotten tbh

We took the 8th graders to the local theme park, and it was really good (though my expectations were super low because last year’s trip SUCKED). The weather looked like it might rain, but it was nice all day, the kids were pretty good, and the rides were fun.

There were some really sad community deaths around this time :(

The teacher who normally MCs the 8th grade commencement is now an administrator, so while we still had him open the ceremony, I gave out several of the awards, and I don’t think I did a bad job (two of the other teachers hate public speaking and the last one was new to the team this year, so I was really the only choice).

June

Worked my church’s festival, which is always fun. The crowds are never what they ought to be (due to a combination of rain threats and poor marketing), so a lot of people missed out on some really great food and music.

Great music included a new band- Southern Avenue- that I got to see again later in the year.

I had to miss the third day of the festival because of a friend’s baby shower. I knew a few people (besides the couple), but they left early; luckily, the people throwing it were a lot of fun. We played games (don’t get caught saying “baby”; pin the sperm on the egg; etc) and decorated diapers/onesies/bibs for the baby). The next day, we went to church (IN A MOTHERFUCKING MONSOON) and for Mexican food.

Started my reread of Harry Potter (it had been about 5 years since I’d last read the series). I cried in almost every book, and not always at sad parts. I’ve become very protective of Harry as I’ve gotten older.

My younger brother found an NES, which was the console I grew up with and my parents gave away years ago. They really loved to play on it, so this was a wedding anniversary present for them. The Legend of Zelda is the shit.

July

I finally got a new phone (I’d had mine about 3 years, and it died in May) and I know it’s fun for iphone users to shit on Android users, but I really do love the camera quality on my Samsung.

Rachel came to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We drank wine and went to the zoo and got real bbq and the best donuts in the world

Had a Treat Yo Self Day which included:

WAFFLE HOUSE

BITCH!!!! B I T C H

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU CAN GET AT THE WAFFLE HOUSE

DO

YOU

KNOW

COUNTRY HASHBROWNS!!!!!

aka

biscuits and gravy minus the biscuits plus the hashbrowns

I just had regular biscuits and gravy BUT ALLI HAD THE GLORY

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

McKay’s

I bought Pokemon yellow because I never played/watched it as a kid, and while at my house for the summer, I found the old black & white gameboy an older cousin gave me, so naturally I had to do it.

Pokemon Go

yes still

You know what once I was back in town I went to my favorite library almost every day for an hour or two and read while opening Pokemon Go every few minutes so there

Went with some of my best friends to visit another one of our best friends who lives in the middle of fucking nowhere and had adventures including, but not limited to: getting pizza because we were too weak to change out the gas’s grill, waiting 5ever for food at dinner, and watching the entire Flowers in the Attic series.

August

School started back up, and at the kick-off for all the teachers, I won $500 in a drawing of all the people who hadn’t used a sick day last year!!!!!

And I didn’t even realize that I’d won $200 at the previous school board meeting in the same type drawing!!!!

New class started off with 85 students. It was a DREAM to be able to focus on individuals and not just herd cats.

I actually felt more confident in the classroom with my early units (poetry & our whole class novel).

September

Still felt confident in the classroom!

I got my testing scores back from the previous year (this shit takes 5ever and it’s dumb) and did better in about the only way I could have, so that was good to see.

I had about 10 county people in my classroom (principals, academic coaches, etc) to see a certain style of teaching ELA that the county is working on. It’s basically making sure that teachers keep students engaged in complex text (which is what I do almost every day anyway) and I had been to two of these trainings already, so I knew what sort of lesson worked. Well...they LOVED it!!! The kids were in small groups and did SO GOOD discussing evidence/answering questions (they all got candy afterwards) and I got some good feedback about how I talk to my students. Then that same day the superintendent came in my room (one of several rooms he visited while doing his yearly observation on the principal). That visit was super unannounced, but still fine.

The academic coach got rid of my classroom’s desks and found tables and chairs instead!!!! My classroom is tiny and weird shaped, so this works SO MUCH BETTER.

I help coach volleyball (aka I keep the books) and the girls won district (beating out a team with a redneck grandma in the stands who literally came up to our girls and yelled at them for cheering on their own damn team in the previous game). They didn’t do so well at sectionals, but that’s ok.

October

Holy shit I won another $200 in that drawing!!! And this time my parents let me buy them plane tickets so we could see family over Christmas.

LESLIE ODOM JR CAME TO MY CITY AND HE PERFORMED BEAUTIFUL MUSIC AND I WAS THERE AND I DIED

Got to see a lot of family at my cousin’s ‘wedding party’ (he got married last year in Europe since he met his now wife over there, and wanted to have a family party here). I learned that my uncle and his son dance exactly the same at the same level of alcohol.

November

I should have known something was up when my first 9 weeks went so well. Apparently my county is in the bottom tier for the state, and now everyone is freaking out (never mind that the data to support this was mONTHS LATE AND BASED ON STANDARDIZED TESTS WHICH WERE A CLUSTERFUCK TO BEGIN WITH) so there was a lot of school stress during this time.

Nice things though- got to see friends when their baby was baptized and went home for Thanksgiving, where my dad came into the Catholic Church.

I organized most of the 8th grade field trip for the semester- going to see “A Christmas Carol” put on by my old college’s theatre. I was stressed the entire time because if something went wrong it would be on ME, but it was absolutely wonderful and I cried which honestly surprised me. We went to the local mall for our lunch and it was good to see the kids just relax. It was a great field trip and several people including the principal thanked me for my hard work which felt great after a hard month.

December

School was nothing but survival mode per usual.

Hosted the Christmas party for my friend group at church and it was a lot of fun.

The actual break was fast- we flew to Texas with one of my mom’s sisters and her family to visit their brother and his family. I hadn’t been to Texas since high school, so it was fun to explore and eat good food.

My final count for books was 93 (67 new and 26 reread) (I’m trying to finish an audiobook I’m borrowing from the library but I still have 80 minutes left and literally 4 hours to finish it so we’ll see!!!).

Well... I did finish the second chapter, so I better revise this shit before it gets uploaded to a fitting site...

As for what this is, here, a link for clarification’s sake.

“Sorry again for the inconvenience.” she sighs while awkwardly standing around in the girl's room with Nami, who's been cleared up on the situation a minute ago. Usopp and Chopper, along with Carrot who was with the navigator at the time, are on their way to give a briefing to the rest of the Strawhat crew. She already feels like a burden, and is not even wearing her own face, which makes this already so much easier. Having another body is one thing; being the cause of even the smallest problem is... another animal altogether. A scary, ever-looming nightmare animal that silently bares its teeth all the time, but never gets to bite.

Shachi and Penguin offered her to get Ikkaku's help, but the only women she ever talked to past a 'hello' were Nami and eventually Robin. As such, it would have been especially awkward and uncomfortable to ask elsewhere. Ikkaku also was... a tomboy who partied alongside the guys all the time, and Kat likes her good night's sleep. The submarine manhole as a whole wasn't exactly inviting. The other ship was only one notch better, but she saw enough to know that the guys did not dare to anger the girls, so chances were that it's a quieter place to stay at.

“Never mind, it's not an issue. Nor your fault. Really, though... I can't believe Torao did something stupid like this.“ The other woman answers, pulling out covers from a cabinet for her to take, then proceeds digging into the back for the stray backup pillow they should have.

“Not that I know him that well, but I agree. Didn't think him to be the type to pull stunts like this. Like... if I suck, we could be stuck like this forever.“ She gives the material a quick stroke; a little rough from the sea air, but smells nice enough. She considered going down to the aquarium to sleep, the place was nice and the bench cushioned, after all. But damn if the chances aren't higher to be woken up in the middle of the night. Had enough of that during the brief year spent at college.

Floor of the girls' room it is.

Nami gives a chuckle. “He does have his own brand of dumb, but generally? This is not his style... oh, this should be it.” she murmurs, pulling out a fluffy pillow. And a bunch of other stuff along with it...

“Um... can I help?” If Kat didn't feel out of place till that, she sure as hell does now.

“Yes- you can take this.” Nami says, shoving the pillow into her face, then sticks the bulk of fabric as-is back to where it came from. Kat cracks a half-smile beyond the feathery boundary and feels a little better about the situation. She's also happy that there's no reason to hide it here- keeping a straight face when seeing something she finds amusing is always hard. And because of her sense of humor, sometimes just a wee bit inappropriate.

“I'll just... huddle up in a corner, then.” she states, considering ways to include an armchair into her hopefully short-lived resting place.

“Are you honestly expecting me to be okay with that?” comes the expected question with a side of crossed arms.

She knows what Nami has in mind- they caught up to her and Carrot when latter mentioned being on the lookout for the night. In conclusion, there'd be enough space on the beds, but...

“Not really, but, uh... it would be pretty awkward to sleep right next to you guys like this, right?” She alludes to her “state”, and can see that Nami leans towards agreeing a second later- after a long enough pause Kat assumes that she'll keep that to herself. “If it's any consolation, I haven't slept near another person since I was a baby girl, so I probably wouldn't be able to rest anyway. Actually, sometimes I fall asleep on a single pillow, so it's nothing out of the ordinary.” Apart from, you know, being quite a bit bigger, needing two metaphorical pillows.

A sigh of a small defeat is all the redhead can muster, followed by Kat's suppressed sigh of relief. She wasn't lying about being uncomfortable with the idea, after all. Well, she probably would care much less than Nami and Robin would, even with the high likeliness of her being woken up by their movements. Either way, she's really trying not hide her opinions- less lies just come with less and quicker pain and fewer misunderstandings.

“Let me get that chair out of the way, then,” Nami offers, pulling the object to the side and suspiciously checking the floor for wild dust bunnies. Seems clean enough. She steps aside and Kat plops down the one too many blankets and one pillow into a rather inviting pile. She does like making and sitting around in these, alright.

“This kinda feels like a sleepover.” she states, having nestled herself into her one-pillow-fort. The bag which she brought along today is now behind the closet as to not be in the way of anyone. “Haven't had anything remotely similar since... well, some school excursions.”

Nami sits into the other armchair, in case Kat would consider joining her in the one she just moved. “That sounds nice... our village did not have a school. Me and my sister were taught the basics at home... and most books we had were either ancient scraps, or, well... *cough* stolen.” Kat chuckles. “I was pretty bad at the time and got always caught, though, so they were paid for in the end.”

“All I ever stole was some chewing gum or straight-up change, because mom wouldn't buy us treats... eventually I got found out, too. The shitstorm, man... Anyway, what you had sounds way better to me.” She says, eyes pasting the unidentifiable distance. “I wasn't exactly a fan of school... being bully target extraordinaire and all. Then the one new girl I made friends with in second grade left another two years later.”

“I see... being alone like that is no fun indeed.” She also stares a hole into the wall for a moment. “Meanwhile I was the one to beat up every kid who pissed me or Nojiko off.”

Kat can imagine the scene very well. “Heh, I wish I had a cool friend like you. Wouldn't have helped with the actual problem at home, but it would have been really nice nonetheless.“

Nami raises an eyebrow, and Kat catches the look she's being given.

“Um... how to put it... home wasn't exactly... better, you know. The older I got, the more I realized how much worse it made everything that happened at school. Everybody always screaming... abusing... and being wrecks themselves. At one point... I just stood in the house while everyone was away, and it just hit me. I realized I had no love left for anyone in there. Haven't had an actual conversation with them for years, either... then, after I dropped out of college and got my last load of being a disappointment, I got a job in the cafe. That’s been maybe two years back already... haven't called since. Nor visited.“

Nami stays still for a bit longer than comfortable. Kat thinks back to what she just said, and... whoops, did it again, didn't she.

“Ah, sorry, I... keep getting way too deep into personal stuff when I can relate it to a topic.” she apologizes, red with embarrassment.

“It's fine, I like how honest you are.” Her eyes light up, which makes Kat feel that whatever Nami is saying is as honest as her outbursts. “I can see why your manager keeps you around- talking clear text when something's wrong... that's a healthy business principle, if you ask me. The place is fabulous and comfortable, and I bet you had your hand in quite a few changes since you've been there. The people of Fumei love it, too!”

“Ah... thanks...” She's got another reason for being embarrassed now, and her color shows. “Sometimes I'm really afraid I get obnoxious with that. It adds nothing to the point, after all. The long list of places I didn't get into were on the same page about that.”

“You really shouldn't care.” Nami nods. Then looking at the flustered Kat, she also cracks a big smile. “By the way, you make an extremely adorable Torao.”

“I do?” She asks, squishing her face. This is silly, but that's her middle name- or would be, if she had one. Nami starts laughing and Kat couldn't be happier- that's a success if she's ever heard one.

“I hope it takes a while for him to get his body back... weird fever dream Trafalgar Law won't get old any time soon.”

“Will do, ma'am~” she states proudly. After a minute of silent laughter she gets an idea; “Oh my god, you know what I should do? Law impressions. When people least expect it.”

“... you are an evil mastermind.” Kat almost expects Nami to start rubbing her hands together. “If you can pull it off, that is. Doesn't really make sense otherwise.”

Kat nods. She needs to be seriously serious when the time comes. Only... “Too bad I cannot keep a straight face to save my life.”

“See, that's indeed a problem.” comes her new confidant’s answer. “You almost laughed when dangling in front of the blind guy who had no qualms killing you when his subordinate made that unfortunate pun about eyes, too.”

She shrugs. “Couldn't help it. High quality situational comedy is always a godsens, even if I literally have to stuff my fist into my mouth. Not even the errand guy saw that right hook coming.”

Nami groan-cackles, and Kat starts laughing at her amusement, too, which in turn makes Nami laugh again because of the dissonance between what's the usual Law and this current mess of a not-Law. This self-fueling nonsense goes on for about five minutes, until both of them are out of breath. After another minute, Nami breathes “...you're horrible.” And so was the double pun at the expense of a very seriously injured man.

“I know... phew. And I'm also done for today.” She sighs, then yawns a bit after. “Surely you also wanted to do something else before we stormed you and Carrot?”

“Right...” she says, also with a hint of exhaustion in her voice. She looks at the clock then towards the ceiling. “Wanted to write a log entry before bath... then go to sleep.”

Kat groans, massaging her temples. “If Law keeps to his hissie fit for another day or two, I'll also have to ask you to let me bathe over here.”

“Hey, consider negotiations done.” Nami flaps a hand nonchalantly.

“Thanks. I'll wait the time limit out, though.” With that, she falls to the side and drags out one of the covers from under her. Be it freezing or cooking, can't sleep without a partial blanket at least, this one.

“Whatever you want, Kat. Willing or not, you are the guest here.” With that she stands up, and walks to the exit. “Want me to turn the lights off?”

She hums and the room gets dark. Maybe even half an hour passes as she's listening to the creaking wood, distant shouts, the faint thuds of occasional footsteps and the muffled sound of the sea outside before she drifts into sleep.

Another thirty minutes later Nami tiptoes back and turns on the nightlight. She takes a peek at her, and can't help but breathe a silent 'aww'.

As she's turning around, the door opens with Robin coming through. The navigator starts to point at the corner with great enthusiasm. Taking a look, the other smiles gently.

“Curled up like a kitten.” she states.

“I knew you would appreciate it.”