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#which means i'll probably draw them forever

nocek · 1 year

Text

Alpine really, really, REALLY wants those pancakes.

Since it's new year it's time to clean up the wip folder. Mostly out of things that are like 90% done but the last 10% got stuck in most time consuming procrastination/perfectionism combo.

There is also a second part to this one with them eating takeout supper post mission but it will take some time (keep your fingers crossed, I really want to draw it but I'm having problems with the sketch)

Clean lineart version is here. I's been posted a little over a month ago which means I'm getting better with my timing :D

#winterwidow #buckynat #bucky barnes #winter soldier #natasha romanoff #black widow #liho the cat #alpine the cat #marvel fanart #i'm going to keep going and doing fanarts with those two #till marvel will give us some real content #which means i'll probably draw them forever #but so be it #i'm having fun #and i'm stubborn bastard #your move marvel ;P

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stealingpotatoes · 7 months

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Invitation to talk about Sayuri and Nymie?

:D CAN OF WORMS: OPENED!! i'll tell u abt how they got found as Jedi

ok so Sayuri is one of the students that doesn't rlly go home bc there isn't much to go back to. Basically her parents were Rebellion pilots (or one was a pilot the other a mechanic. kinda unsure) but were both killed in action against the Empire abt 3-4ABY ish. obvs the Rebellion couldn't look after a 7-8yo while fighting the Empire

so the remainder of the squad manage to get her back to her parents' home village/ where she was born. so having like Everything change all at once leaves her pretty ?? and gives her some serious trusting-her-environment issues. her coolgirl "i dont care" persona is very much a result of this bc she's worried abt getting too comfy in smthn. (which is at odds w the OTHER issue she got from this event which is "deathly afraid of flying" an issue not helped if Master "traffic laws are just guidelines" Skywalker is piloting. but she tries 2 act like shes fine)

this is gonna get kinda long so im gonna smack some unposted art here and then go into a readmore

anyway fast forwarding to when Sayuri's abt 13 (roughly 9aby) she's visiting her parent's old squadron on a New Republic bc they'd all come visit whenever she could and after the Empire's fall they did a lot more pick her up and fly her to a base to ALL see her. and they're like omg Sayuri you came at the PERFECT time bc this rlly amazing pilot war hero who's also some like. mystical whatever is here!! he's on his way to some magic place we heard. maybe u can meet him!! which sayuri meets w her usual whatever bc she's not that gassed abt war heroes.

very worth noting that the squad's probably all seen her move shit with her mind, but theyre like oh you know how it is with teenage girls. the "nobody knows what a jedi is" + "the empire existed for a decent bit of her childhood" thing has kept anyone from being like yeahh sayuri should like. talk to someone abt this.

anyway she goes along when the squad are like c'mon let's see if we can see him. ok the only way i can describe this is you know the spiderverse like... spidey-sense recognition thing? that's basically what happens LOL Luke and Sayuri both have a FORCE USER RECOGNISED?? moment and Luke then makes a beeline for her then realises oh shit tiny teenager not jedi. would you LIKE to be a jedi?? and sayuri who hates her village and is feeling the strongest emotional connection she's felt in forever w this stranger she met 2 seconds ago is like okay fuckin sure yeah. and woo jedi!!

i posted my unposted nymie art yesterday but likkeeee pretend theres some here <3

So Sayuri falls into the "one of the Jedi found them thru the force or by chance" category of students who get found. However Nymie very much falls into the second category, which is "CAN SOMEONE DEAL WITH THIS WEIRD SUPERPOWERED CHILD FOR US????"

So 2 things about Nymie: 1. like i've said before, she's from a very rich high class pantoran family. super stuck up, mostly raised by nannies & tutors, but somehow Nymie just didn't get the stuck-up genes like all her (4!!) siblings who are just obsessed w their social standing etc and is instead just :D all the time. 2. her proficiency ig is the living force esp in the 'good at connecting to animals' way (which I think means I legally need to draw her w Ezra).

so the former often led her to escaping her family's stuffy parties and galas or whatever (usually to whoever's house it is' garden or somewhere she wasnt meant to be) to find something interesting. usually a pet <3 one particular time when she was 9 she was following her Pet Sense but couldnt find anything in the house. so she kinda just reached out more and long story short thats how Nymie managed to call this hugemassive beast (i'd tell u what it was if i knew pantoran animals LOL) out of the nearby countryside to her. massively distressing for everyone, all these rich ppl were like "OH MY GOD I NEARLY DIED" (it didnt attack anyone). very funny exciting time for Nymie who was enjoying this new beastie friend til animal control showed up. saddening. everyone is confused bc HOW did that happen

a dude old (and cool) enough to have seen more than one jedi in their heyday (+ idk uni researcher knows his shit) noticed what happened w it going straight to Nymie and overheard her account and realised what happened and was like hi nymie's parents. i think u need to get into contact w the new republic bc thats a jedi right there (which they take and go oo social climbing. we have a jedi child people will think we're cooler. bc theyre assholes)

and yeah im losing steam now but luke shows up and she joins the academyyay!

#i tried to NOT go on a 2000 hour ted talk #bc im pretty sure i could give a solid 5k of meta on top of any explanations of abt... 95% of my OCs lolll #which does mean this comes off as a lil messy but hey #sayuri ireshla #nymie #oc #original characters #luke's students

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preciouslittletoonette · 5 months

Text

I was just thinking about the Wish concept art and the whole worry of "Star being too similar/compared a lot to Genie". I was thinking about all the different ways they could've or even would've like, lessen the comparisons by just changing certain things.

Genie is a zany, verbally loud, fast-talking comedian type wish granter who can immediately summon things with a snap and a point of his finger. He's a cosmically powerful being bound to certain rules and the whims of his master (at least in the first film) along with the restraints the lamp has on him that only allows him to grant three wishes per master. This is the basic layer of what and who Genie is, this is what the least invested audience member would notice.

So with all of this in mind, we can now use this to both deconstruct and reconstruct Star as a character.

Starting with the established thing: Star is verbally mute, that already removes the verbally loud, fast-talking comedian edge Genie is known for. I can even push it and say on a surface level, that's a stark enough of a difference, seeing as Genie's draw was that he was such a zany fast-talker voiced by Robin Williams (RIP King). But I want to go all the way in so I will.

Now for their powers and wish-granting abilities.

Both Star and Genie should be/are cosmically powerful. They are both beings that grant wishes after all. That'll always be something they share as characters. So how do you make it different from each other?

I have a few things in mind. The biggest thing being: what are the limits of their abilities? How do their wish granting powers manifest? What is their attitude and general behavior like when they use magic?

I already mentioned Genie's limits above. I'll get to Star's soon but that's gonna be an entire talk I want to leave for later. For now, I will talk about how do their wish granting powers manifest.

When Genie grants wishes, it's a very instantaneous BOOM in your face kind of deal. He does things dramatically with comedic flair.

I think to make Star different from that, you can draw inspiration from another Disney wish granter that I'm really surprised Disney didn't do more to reference her or the movie she's from: the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio.

So the way Blue Fairy grants wishes for those who haven't seen Pinocchio in forever or haven't seen it at all: the Blue Fairy- rather than instantaneously granting your wish as Genie would- would give you the means and path towards your wish coming true, but in order for your wish to really come true, you yourself gotta have that drive, put in the effort and work towards your wish.

That's how Star's wish magic should work. While, he could still grant impossible, extraordinary wishes like make animals talk and give plants sentience, yeah. But I think it would be interesting along with being meaningful to see Star set up a path for someone's wish to come true. It could spark a small discussion between him and Asha about wishes and how one is to truly go about them. Star gets into the real truth of what his powers are like that basically comes down to:

"My powers will only go as far as the wish maker themselves are willing to go"

Which now brings us to what is Star's limit? Genie is limited by rules of the lamp and the whims of his master. Star has no such thing as he is a free being. He owes no one anything and he's bound to nothing, leaving him with no rules other than the ones he himself placed on himself. So, he's got to be possibly very powerful. And he probably could grant everyone's desires. But he won't/can't. Why?

Because it's your wish. And Star can only go as far as you yourself are willing to go. This isn't a meet half way type of thing either.

This is a "we are travelling to your destination TOGETHER. We are both gonna work on this TOGETHER. You are gonna put the work in from start to finish and I am going to help you get there no matter how long it takes or how much we'll lose along the way".

Because THIS is what classic Disney movies are about!!! THIS IS HOW WISHES WORKED IN THE CLASSIC MOVIES. YOU DIDN'T JUST WISH UPON A STAR AND YOUR WISH WILL COME TRUE, YOU HAD TO GO ON JOURNEYS, PUT IN EFFORT AND MAKE SACRIFICES.

Star would be willing to go the mile to make your wish come true, but you got to be the one to lead him there.

Now for the more fun bit that'll lean in more to what Star's personality might be like. Their behavior as they do magic.

Genie is explosive in such a way that he is constantly buzzing with pent up energy that came from years of imprisonment and isolation and his magic reflects that. It is fast and wild and funny to watch.

I like to think Star's is a more relaxed, ethereal version of that. Not so ethereal, you would think of Blue Fairy when you see it though. But Star's magic gets released in a sparkly, dusty way (like pixie dust almost) as opposed to Genie's zap and puff of smoke.

Another way to differentiate Star from Genie, I think Star's gotta have lower energy than what Genie has. Genie's energy comes from years of imprisonment that bubbled and finally exploded once released. Star, I don't think would have that. Star is a star, it is very likely he could see what was happening in the world below but not really be able to interact with humans. Once he gets down to Rosas, he wants to see and touch everything. He's quietly curious with a child-like spark to him, who keeps dusting his magic with something to see what would happen.

Now for Star's shape-shifting, I think comparisons are more likely to happen with characters like Maui or Camilo because they're more recent. I think this one stands fine alone.

One lil detail I would add to Star is in regards as to how he flies. I've always been in love with how Disney went about Peter Pan flying. Sometimes when Peter lands, he does little pirouette spins which are so so so charming. And just in general, sometimes there's something oddly graceful about how Peter flies that I think would work super well for Star.

So this is my conclusion as to how to mitigate the Star & Genie comparisons by just changing bits of pieces of the surface level traits of him a little.

So Genie is as what I said above: a zany, verbally loud, fast-talking comedian type, shape-shifting wish granter who can immediately summon things with a snap and a point of his finger. He's a cosmically powerful being bound to certain rules and the whims of his master (at least in the first film) along with the restraints the lamp has on him that only allows him to grant three wishes per master.

Whereas Star would be: a verbally mute, gentle & curious type wish granter with a very relaxed, dreamy kind of magic meant to reflect his daydreamer tendencies. Star is a free cosmically powerful being with no limits to what his magic can do, with his only condition for his wish granting magic being that the wish maker themself must meet him from start to finish and put forth the effort and drive in order to make the wish come true with the help he has/will provide.

And those are my thoughts :)

#wish 2023 #disney wish #wish #the star #disney wish star #star boy #long post #wish star

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whumpshaped · 6 months

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I just wanna see Beck turned into Helle’s ‘adoring lil’ vampire servant’…

ok this is finally the twin piece i was talking abt in the notes of this one

masterlist

tw vampire whumper, mind control, conditioned whumpee, conditioning, manipulation, talk of death, wishing for death (to be turned)

Beck couldn't think about much else anymore. Every time Helle bit him, he secretly hoped they wouldn't stop. That they'd drink until he had no blood left to give. That they wouldn't just stake and ditch him afterwards, but instead let him become a vampire, their vampire, so he could be with them forever.

He'd never asked, though. He was too scared of seeming greedy and ungrateful. He'd heard Helle talk about killing their sire, how that was a fairly common thing among vampires, how sired turned on their masters after enduring years of torment.

But Helle wouldn't torture him like that. He would have no reason to hold a grudge.

He whined a little when Helle pulled away, already missing the sharp pain of fangs in his abused neck. "No more?" he asked sheepishly.

"I have already taken more than I probably should have, dear." Helle pushed themself up and got off the bed, leaving him with an ache in his heart he couldn't ignore.

"But you could take more," he offered, the tinge of desperation in his voice barely masked. He sat up, giving Helle his best pleading look. "If you wanted. You, you could... you could take all of it."

Helle raised an eyebrow, looking quite amused by his pathetic act. "I could," they said simply.

"Do you... do you want to?" The area around the fresh bite was still throbbing with pain, yet here he was, inviting more. Inviting more than just pain, even. Inviting death. "I would be good for you, Master," he added, hoping to convince them of his unwavering loyalty that would surely carry on into the afterlife. Or the afterdeath.

"Is that what you want? To be forever good for me, until I decide I have had enough and stake you for the sin of being boring?" This description sounded a little more heartless than the image in his head. It made him reconsider, momentarily, but then he slowly nodded.

"I want to be yours. That's all I want."

Helle walked back over to the bed, and he crawled towards the edge of it, kneeling before them. They cupped his face in their hands, studying his features with a sort of bittersweet smile. "I bet it is," they murmured. "You would be so happy to die for me."

He couldn't just nod while being held like that, nor did he want to reduce his enthusiasm to such a small gesture. But speaking when he was close to them, so close to getting his wish granted, proved to be quite the challenge. He could barely find the words he had uttered so many times before. "Yes, Master." He sounded positively reverent. Good. He felt like it, too.

"You do realise that I would be forced to take another thrall, then, yes? Another pretty thing to drink from."

Beck would've lied if he'd said that didn't sting. He could barely take the nights on which Helle decided to go out and hunt like normal, as if they didn't have an eager little bloodbag at home. "I... I do."

The vampire gave him a smug smile, and Beck knew he was going to be further interrogated on that point. He could already feel the compulsion to vent all his frustration flare up in his chest, Helle's magic drawing it closer and closer to his lips. "How does it make you feel?"

"Hurt," he blurted out. "Jealous. I, I'd like to be your only source of food. And... and I wouldn't be feeding you at all, if... if you turned me. Is it selfish of me? To want to be yours forever and still find it so frustrating that I won't be the only one?" A stray tear trickled down his face, followed by many more as he fully processed what this would mean for him. He had never seen Helle with another vampire. They had even said they didn't have any interest in siring any. "B-but if you don't turn me, then I... I'll just die, eventually. I don't want to– I don't want to die and be apart from you. I'd do anything... I'd rather see you take a thousand more bloodbags over the course of a thousand more years than to die so selfishly. I want to serve you. Whatever that entails."

They leaned down to kiss away a tear, one of their hands sliding from his cheek to his neck, where the freshest marks were. "There would be no more venom. No more magic. I cannot charm another vampire."

"You don't need to," he whispered.

"Is that so?" Their smile turned more bitter than sweet this time, and Beck couldn't have pinpointed why.

"D-do you... not believe me?" he asked carefully, his heart breaking at the notion.

"No, I do. I certainly do." They kissed him on the forehead and let go, and Beck resisted the urge to grab onto their shirt and try to pull them back. He wanted to beg more. He wanted to plead his case and make them see that he could be good, he could be just as fun as a vampire as he was as a human. But in reality, he knew that wasn't the case. "We shall continue this conversation later."

He felt like a kicked puppy. He probably looked like one as well. But he knew what was expected of him, and he wouldn't have dared deviate. "As you wish, Master."

taglist: @whumpsday @the-scrapegoat @hidden-dreamland @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @delicateprincepaper @whumppmuhw @florissimps @nicolepascaline @oliversrarebooks @the-cyrulik @pirefyrelight @there-will-always-be-blood @pigeonwhumps @echo-goes-mmm

#at my beck and call #whump #whump writing #helle #beckett #vampire whumper #mind control #conditioned whumpee #conditioning #manipulation #death mention #death wish

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stupidscav · 4 months

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DNI: zionist, antikin, ableist, lgbtq+ phobic, proshipper, support ai art, general bigotry. sorry once again I am too lazy to make a proper dni

RB > LIKES on art, preferably!

ok new pinned time finally

hello!! I'm fester, awoo, or scav! feel free to alternate names (aka pls pls pls pls/nf)!! I go by it/they/thing, but I'm also okay with he/him. I am neurodivergent (autism, anxiety, probably adhd, I'm a triple a battery) please be clear about things,, my mental health also is not the best currently so I might not be in a stable mood sometimes. i am also a minor, and I love microscopy, indie music, Fe (EA), and Rain World. :3

I am also otherkin/fictionkin, and my identities are here.^^

about my tw tags: I tag the word itself. if "geko" was a trigger, I would simply tag the post "geko". you can always ask me to tag something!

tags + info:

#scavs silly misc: miscellaneous posts/original posts. I upload random shit sometimes🔥

#scav finally draws something: drawing that I'm actually proud of! a good amount of art is in misc though

CHANGED TO: #festers fuckery dont ask/silly

#dark pearls: dark topics, vents. formerly #scav feels shitty.

#happy scav: positive vents mostly

#pearl treasury: asks and polls! formerly #scasks.

#scavs favorite pearls: gifts! at least I think that was the tag

#scav is serious: announcements mostly

#scavcanons: headcanons, ocs maybe

#scav rejects humanity: kin^^

#fester finds: things I find/find to be cool, usually music !

#fester friends: posts w/ friends ^^

alt acc: @scavssupersecretaltacc

spam acc: @i-like-to-explode

fe sideblog: @fe-enjoyer

heavy vent: @d-arkpearls

music sideblog: @woflester

elite rp sideblog: @elited-scavenger

ohh i made a cohost also

old pinned, for more info (outdated kinda)

btw, I love being tagged! I love being asked! I love getting doodle requests, though idk if I'll get them all! these are basically always open!! unfortunately I am a horrible procrastinator so I might not always answer timely :']

probably gonna add more if I forgot, which is very likely. ty!

notes below!!!

NOTES:

-if I change my PFP from your art to something else that doesn't mean I don't love it and cherish it forever!!!!! thank you so fucking much for every gift you make I love them!!!!!! seriously why do people keep making me things helppp/pos

-sorry I haven't been answering asks often:(( still don't mind asks though!

-please don't make jokes on my vent posts or anything unless I say you can btw. should have said that earlier sorry

-also, this explains a lot of why I don't respond sometimes

#scavs silly misc #dark pearls #pearl treasury #scavs favorite pearls #scav is serious #scav rejects humanity #rain world kin #festers fuckery #fester finds

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noroi1000 · 7 months

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❝𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐮-𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐢❞ Chapter 08

Satoru-Sensei | ←Previous chapter • Next Chapter →

Summary: Gojo is old and lonely? That's what Kugisaki thought. But that was the day they found out that Gojo Satoru actually had a girlfriend.

A/n: I just saw in my notebook how many drafts I have completed and I realized that I need to share more often... I also loved writing this because I got into Kugisaki's personality so much lol. I'm always an attention-seeking author... What do you think about this story so far?

"Itadori-senpai, please help." the blue eyed teen whispered into his phone.

He stood in front of the slightly open door to their classroom to see his sensei sitting in his chair with his feet on the desk, smiling as he did something on his phone.. His fingers move on the bottom of the screen, clearly showing that he is typing something on the keyboard.

He waited a moment and then chuckled and started writing again.

He was texting someone. That was for sure.

But it's the first time they see their sensei smiling like that. He's never smiled so much into the phone! At least not in front of them!

"Nantō-kun? What happened?!" His Senpai asked quickly.

"Sensei is texting someone and still smiling! More and more!" He said with a more scared and squealing voice.

"What?! Is this really happening?! What a smile that is?!"

"This is not the smile with which he smiles at us!"

"Huh?!" he groaned. Suddenly the younger boy heard a quieter voice. “Kugisaki, Gojo-sensei is..."

Soft voices could be heard in the room they were in. The teenager waited for his senpai's response.

This is the first time he's seen something like this.

Is it possible that their sensei had a girlfriend?!

"He's acting like he's texting a woman!" Itadori said to the girl.

"Eh? I haven't heard of him having a girlfriend in three years! We have to check that! Where is he?!" He heard her voice closer to his senpai's phone. "Are you talking to Nantō? Nantō! Where are you?! Where is he?!"

"In class... I'm next to him and he's still smiling like that!" He said and hid so that his Sensei wouldn't hear or see him.

Can he really hide from him??

Yes. Because right now he wasn't paying attention to anything else but the phone. Because he was getting messages from you.

A moment later, the two older students ran there and knelt in the corridor, looking at their Sensei's cat-like and goofy smile.

"Oh shit! This smile is really different from the smile he always has! Judging by the smile and the slight color of his cheeks, as well as the speed of his texting, he is texting with a woman!" Kugisaki said, very analyzing his expression.

It seemed as if all his thoughts were humming.

"We have to help him!" she said, turning to the two boys next to her.

"Kugisaki-senpai... How can we help him?" Nantō asked.

"He is almost 30 years old! And he doesn't have a woman! If not now he will be alone forever! We have to help him so he doesn't drive that poor girl away with his weird talk!"

"What should we do? Or maybe Sensei doesn't text with a woman? Maybe he already has a girlfriend?" Itadori said.

"I've never seen this man with a woman! He doesn't have a wedding ring, which means he's not married! For a moment I was disgusted with him because he probably chose women with his appearance! But now I know there's something wrong if he's behaving like this! This is typical behavior of a man who texts with the woman he loves!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Pfff! Years of practice and studying the behavior of lovers! Every woman deserves a guy who has a face like this when he texts her! Even though when I think it's my former teacher it makes me cringe! I'll help this poor guy not destroy his possible love of his life! Sensei!"

She stood up and quickly entered the room, automatically drawing his attention.

"Oh, Nobara. Do you need anything?" He asked and placed the phone on the desk and gave her a small smile.

"Don't write strange jokes to women! And also don't act like a complete macho! You must remember that you cannot lie at all costs! Don't show that stupid side you have right away!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked with a questioning look on his face.

"About the woman you're texting! You finally have a chance to not be old and lonely, so don't ruin it!"

"I'm sorry about her, Sensei! She takes the possibility that you might be texting some woman too seriously!" Itadori said.

"We don't want to interfere in your private matters." Nantō added nervously.

"Ah, do you mean that I'm texting someone?" he asked, pointing to the phone and sitting up straight, taking his feet off the desk.

"It's a woman, right?!" The girl asked.

Her pride will suffer if it turns out that he has not written with a woman. Did her intuition fail?

"Yeah." he said, but before he could continue, she started talking.

"If you don't want to be old and lonely, listen to my advice and she will be yours! With the way you act sometimes, you might just embarrass her! Listen to me and everything will end well! Even a wedding! I know how to give relationship advice!

"So far, she hasn't managed to find a boyfriend and because of her, neither me nor Fushiguro has one." The pink-haired man whispered to the brunette next to him.

"Eeeh? Really? I wanted to ask her for advice, but I think I'll give it up..." he muttered in response.

She heard it.

"You idiots won't have a girlfriend any sooner than I have a boyfriend! There's no way I'd let you do that!" She screamed at them. "But Gojo-san is different! Can't you see this lonely, rejected heart? If I don't help him, he will be lonely for the rest of his life!

"You know... That wasn't nice..." Gojo said, his mouth hanging open in embarrassment.

"So tell me the details! I'll help you! Just trust me!" she said with a big smile and pointed at her with her thumb. "I will do everything to get you married this year!

"Actually, Nobara... She's already my girlfriend." he said calmly and stood up, walking around the desk and leaning against the furniture.

He moved his phone closer, looking at your next message. He left the device and crossed his arms over his chest, watching the girl's facial expressions.

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

"Huuuuh??!!!!! Since when does Sensei have a girlfriend?!" She screamed.

"For two years!" he laughed and waved one hand.

"Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh???!!!!!!!" she screamed loudly, causing the boys behind her to cover their ears.

"Why are you screaming so much?!"

Everyone turned to look at Fushiguro who entered with Nantō's brother.

"He has a girlfriend!" She pointed to the white-haired man and they both stood on the other side of the room.

They started talking. And at that time, Hokusei saw their teacher's phone turn on and vibrate, signaling the arrival of a message.

He turned his head to look at the screen and smiled slightly.

And then he saw his student looking intently at his phone. It was as if he wanted to see who he was texting.

His hand turned off the phone and, looking at him under the blindfold, he hid the phone behind his body, shielding the messages from the teenager's watchful gaze.

To avoid recognition, his face was turned the other way. But his eyes watched carefully as Hokusei's red eyes looked at his hand moving the phone.

So that he doesn't notice anything.

Their sensei is hiding something, isn't he?

Taglist: @mc-reborn ; @yihona-san06 ; @yerinsshi ; @erisfayred ; @tohsri

#gojo satoru #jjk #jjk x you #gojo x reader #gojo x y/n #jjk x reader #gojo #jujutsu kaisen #gojo x you #yandere gojo x reader #yandere gojo satoru #Satoru-Sensei

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nyaskitten · 29 days

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Tell me about your au plz :3

(IMPORTANT NOTE: I REFER TO CHARACTERS BY THEIR ACTUAL NAMES IF I DON'T HAVE A NAME FOR THEM YET, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT I'M NAMING ANYONE NYA OR WYLDFYRE OR ANY OF THAT!!!)

OK !!! So the details are very messy cuz I just came up with this idea last night while drawing my guy the Nightmare King from Dreamzzz... Basically it's this super self-indulgent story where I just mix shit from Dreamzzz/Ninjago/LMK/Chima for the fucken sake of it!!!

In this story, the main characters are a Kai ripoff, Nya ripoff, and a Wyldfyre ripoff!!! Wyldfyre ripoff is Kai's youngest sister (Kai 22, Nya 20, Wyldfyre 8-10, probably 10), and she also has a pet dragon who she found years ago (knockoff Heatwave!!!)

For elemental powers, those are like these magical crystals called Elemental Cores, which you are blessed with (idk how yet) by ancient dragon lords (they all go by kings but they're not all men.) Kai has his Core somehow, and same for Nya! Unfortunately, Wyldfyre doesn't yet, either due to being too young or not proven herself yet! She doesn't let it bum her out too much because her epic dragon can grant her sort of temporary Core powers (kinda like Chi from Chima). Unbeknownst to them there's a special reason Wyldfyre and the others can accept powerups like this without detrimental side effects (I won't tell.)

The story goes something like this, a few years ago (probably between 3-5) Kai's parents and uncles (in this story Wu and Garmadon are his uncles) mysteriously go missing, and in present day he hears rumors of an ancient dragon king (Overlord) whose darkness has slowly been festering and increasing greatly. Initially, Kai doesn't care, "Surely if this nonsense were to be true, the great Dragon Knights (he doesn't know it, but they're his dad and uncles) will find out about and stop it!" Idk WHY he decides to go yet, but he takes Nya and the dragon, and leaves Wyldfyre with the others... but she does her own thing and follows. It's too late to turn back now, so reluctantly, Kai has to keep his baby sister out of trouble!

For characters, I'm not too sure how many I'm taking from which series' yet...

I know I have Kai, Nya, Wyldfyre, a Lloyd/Arin combo possibly, Jay, Ray, Maya, Wu, Garmadon, the Overlord, and Misako. I'm ALSO taking Lord Ras for self-indulgence reasons, and renaming naming him Korros (for fun and maybe Wu/Korros exes yaoi!) I also know I wanna get some Monkie Kid inspiration, so I'm thinking of the Lady Bone Demon, but crossed with fanon interpretations of the Preeminent as well! Also, again self-indulgence, Nightmare King from Dreamzzz, and also totally Cinder come the fuck on I need Cinder.

I dunno if I'll add Zane or Cole tho... part of me wants to do a Kalmaar knockoff just for one hyperspecific joke of like, Korros is taking forever to find some hidden mechanism in a wall, and Kalmaar goes "you know, i wouldnt have killed my father if i knew what followed would be so boring."

I have many other thoughts brewing in my brain but WHEW thats the gist of it.

PLEASE ASK ME MORE!!!

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #<- kind of ...#ninjago au #raine's rambles #asks #froggityboingerrr

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bellaxgiornata · 1 year

Text

Below the cut is an unedited and very rough excerpt from chapter one of yet another side project I'm currently working on. It is a Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader story where Reader can travel the multiverse and is being hunted because of that ability. It is tentatively titled Keep Coming Back to You. There's also a world of intelligent zombies Reader gets pulled into whenever she really panics which she calls Nightmare 1. In the story, she starts out meeting college Matt and Foggy but because of her ability and her need to hide, she obviously disappears often. So she eventually meets a slightly older Matt (season 1?) as time passes. And this story will be an angsty slowburn after some initial romance (all thanks to you Elektra).

This is a very, very rough concept I'm still working on which will also probably involve Doctor Strange at some point. And I'm going to say it's 18+ for some smut (because we all know I write smut) and violence/gore (I mean...there's zombies). Just curious who is even interested before I invest too much time in this one.

Anyway, below the cut is a raw snippet from the middle of chapter one!

_________

"You can't hide forever, girl," they called out again.

You tried to ignore them, your eyes searching for the thread that you had always felt a slight draw towards, though lately it was getting harder and harder to find through the multitudes of universes. Home–that thread meant Home to you. Or at least lately it had become something like Home. You figured you’d jump there and then quickly find somewhere else to jump to lose them for good for a while.

"The others couldn't hide from me either," they told you, their voice closer.

Their words caused you to pause, momentarily distracted as the threads glittered before you, varying shades of colors and lights softly reflecting along your jeans.

"You’re not the only one, Serena," they continued, smug satisfaction in their tone. "And I know that's not your real name, girl."

Your head snapped to your left. They were standing at the bottom of the playset’s slide now, staring right at you through the dark with a menacing smile. The teeth of the young man they were currently possessing flashed at you like a warning. A terrified shiver ran down your spine at the sight.

"I always get them eventually," they called up to you. "Just like I'll get you."

Ice cold fear shot its way through your veins. Before you could control it, something was tugging sharply at your body. That horrifyingly familiar feel of cold hands gripping your shoulders and yanking you forcefully backwards hit you hard.

And then you were falling.

Your stomach felt like it was flying up into your throat, your organs shifting and squeezing unpleasantly inside of you as you were pulled–the second worst possible thing that could have happened to you in that moment.

Just as fast as it had started the sensation stopped. You landed hard on your knees along cracked pavement, wincing in pain at the rough drop. Your hands instinctively flew forward, scratching roughly along the broken cement as you tried to steady yourself on all fours. Panting hard, you looked up and surveyed your surroundings while hoping against all hope you weren’t where you thought you were. But your heart fell to the demolished road beside you the moment you took in the sight of the plant life overtaking the decrepit houses around you. Eyes closing, you tried to fight back the sting of tears.

Not here again.

A fresh wave of panic rolled through you as you quickly and quietly rose to your feet. It had been awhile since you’d been to this world, but you remembered exactly what you needed to do. You needed to be silent. You needed to remain calm. And you needed to get the fuck out of here as fast as you possibly could. Before one of those things found you. You just needed a second to catch your breath and scan your surroundings to make sure you were safe and alone. Then you would find a safe universe and jump again.

That's it, you told yourself. Just calm down. I'll get out of here, I always do. Just need to stay calm.

You tried to take a steady breath, keeping your eyes open while you scanned the area around you. Carefully you expelled the breath as gently as you could, your eyes taking in the sight of the apocalyptic neighborhood. There was a gaping hole in the roof of the house just in front of you, the front door entirely missing. Both houses beside it had broken windows and ivy snaking its way up the front of them. The exterior paint had long since faded and the mailboxes out front were rusted and tipped to the side. But at least you didn't see any movement. As you observed your surroundings, you kept an ear out and listened to every single noise around you. For now, the soft whistle of wind through the copse of trees nearby was thankfully all you could hear. Everything else was quiet.

Good. Silence was good here. Silence met one of those things weren't about to jump out and try to savagely rip you to shreds and eat you like you were their last meal.

Or infect you.

Fuck, I hate this place.

Cautiously you made your way through the tall grass as it brushed against your jeans, the soft swish of it hitting your ears. The overcast light from the sun sneaking through the cloud cover overhead was a sharp contrast to the dark night you'd just been running through moments ago.

Traveling through worlds was incredibly strange. It could be broad daylight in one place, but then you could jump and end up somewhere where it was pitch black seconds later. Same with the weather–it could be springtime somewhere, with birds chirping and flowers blooming, and then another moment you were landing in three feet of freezing cold snow in a pair of shorts.

Your concept of time was entirely fucked at this point.

Moving on the front of your feet, you tried to make as little sound as possible as you walked. It was difficult to catch your breath, trying in vain to keep your labored breathing steady and quiet after that chase you’d barely escaped. You just wanted to get your back against something solid and search the threads for a universe that felt safe to jump to. That was your focus right now.

You moved slowly, careful to be as soundless as you could and grimacing at the stains of old blood you saw splattered along the panels of the house as you walked. You crept your way gradually around to the side of the house, glad that it was windowless. Very carefully you turned, stepping backwards until your back hit the wall. At least nothing could sneak up behind you while you worked now.

With a sharp exhale through your nose you tried to focus on the space before you yet again. Gradually the threads of multiple universes appeared, shimmering in the overcast light of the day. This time there was a rush of blues and purples that came forward. You squinted, reaching two fingers tentatively out and trying to get a feel for a few threads of light.

Maybe you needed to find somewhere new. Somewhere that they wouldn't easily think to find you. But you hated finding new worlds. You never knew what you would be walking into every time you jumped. Though usually if you trusted your instincts you would end up in a world similar to your Home. Right now that's what you needed to find.

A noise came from not too far away, cutting through the silence. You froze instantly at the sound, your fingers holding onto a thread as your eyes darted to the side. And then the jarring, guttural, screeching noise that plagued your nightmares rang out through the trees nearby. The hair along your arms instantly rose, a prickling feeling growing at the base of your skull.

Your jaw clenched, your heart rate rising again. Time was up. You needed to get out of here now. You didn't need to encounter one of those again. You had nothing to fight it with and you sure as shit wouldn't manage to outrun it.

As the terrifying, rasping growl cut through the air around you yet again, you knew exactly what that sound meant from the time you’d spent here before. It was searching, probably having caught onto the fresh scent of the blood on your scraped hands. But before you could pull the thread of light between your fingers and jump, it disappeared. All of the colorful lights before you suddenly vanished.

"Shit," you whispered.

That loud, rasping roar reverberated through the air again and shot another spike of fear and adrenaline through you.

It had gotten closer.

As you turned, trying to remain calm, you prepared to hide in the house behind you. But that’s when you heard it. Something like a high-pitched shriek in response. There was a second one. And they were communicating with each other. You knew what that sound meant.

They knew something was here.

#excerpt #matt murdock x female reader #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x you #matt murdock series

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todayisyourturntolose · 7 months

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Share pdude hcs??? 😈

ok soooo. idk if you mean one pdude in particular sooo imma do the basic ones! (p1,p2,p3,p4)

good lord it has been forever since ive been able to write down my hcs for these sillies, and i have a whole bunch so i'll put it under le cut :)

-well versed in ASL, uses it in overwhelming situations

-sunglasses double as prescription lenses (i give this hc to basically all of the other dudes, but i think p1 would need glasses more than any of them)

-probably the smartest of the other dudes. essentially a polymath. if you ask him a question about almost anything, he'd probably give you a reasonable answer

-surprisingly good at drawing. does better with drawing portraits rather than full body. has a very scratchy and rough looking art style

-(technically canon bcuz of like, the war journal) writes in a journal (essentially a diary, but he'd rather die than call it that), mainly writes about his emotions and internal struggles, but sometimes writes about the other dudes and his experiences with them

-cannot go to sleep in silence. he's gotta have music on or some sort of background noise or else his mind starts to wander

-physically can't stay in one place without moving. whether it be rocking in place, tapping his foot, or shifting his weight from one foot to the other, he's always making some sort of movement.

-actually pretty friendly to those around him. he just has a pretty short temper, getting easily agitated by things (or people) around him

-besides p1, probably the skinniest of all the dudes. mans is all bones compared to say p4 or p3

-champ is his emotional support animal. he's been through a lot, and champ is basically his only refresher from the hell he lives in

-strangely flexible...can slip through fairly small cracks and corners easily

-has a LOT of vocal stims. this mf meows whenever he sees a cat. he makes random noises to himself. he repeats things that he hears others say

-got a surprisingly good amount of muscle on him. goes to the gym pretty often. definitely flexes whenever he gets the chance

-slight southern accent. very noticeable when he gets angry or when he talks fast. if you point it out to him, he'd probably get really embarrassed

-average r&b enjoyer. out of the blue, p1 once asked who luther vandross was, to which p3 gave an almost hour long lecture about the importance of r&b and why it's one of the best genres to date, why old r&b is miles better than new r&b, quizzing p1 on different artists, etc

-also an unironic country music enjoyer. he begs and pleads the other dudes to let him play just a little bit of johnny cash whenever he's offered the aux cord. maybe a bit of dolly parton. hell, probably some shania twain, if he's feeling bold.

-a fairly good singer. he's no freddie mercury, but to say he's horrible would be an overstatement. knows what songs are in his range, and which ones aren't. isn't really one to sing out loud in front of a lot of people, though. (one time, he sang to p1 in an attempt to calm him down during one of his moments. it worked, surprisingly :0)

-one of the happiest dudes. at this point in his life, he's not nearly as violent as the others (he still has his moments, of course, but he's not one to just spontaneously go ham) and just sorta accepts things as they are

-a genre GOD. this man listens to pretty much everything. his favorite genres are funk, nu-metal (or metal in general), pop, and r&b (he and p3 bond over their fav artists)

-while champ is basically an emotional support animal to p2, to p4, champ is more of a service dog. he's getting older, which means he isn't able to do things as easily as he used to, so champ is there to fetch things for him and in general, just help him with daily tasks

-very confident with who he is. he isn't embarrassed by the things he does. he takes pride in being different.

-doesn't give himself labels when it comes to sexuality or gender. it's not that he's against it, he just prefers the idea of being unlabeled. (though, i personally hc him as being pansexual and transmasc. you go grandpa.)

-DAD BOD. a fair bita muscle, though. he's pretty strong compared to the other dudes.

-has an array of random talents. one day he'll just start juggling randomly and be like "oh, this? yeah, i picked it up a few years ago. nothing to write home about, to be honest."

aaaaand that's all! sorry if it's a lot, i just rlly have a lot to say abt these goobers (and even more to say abt the dudes i didn't include!)

#postal #postal dude #postal 1 #postal 2 #postal 3 #postal 4

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weepingfromacedartree · 7 months

Text

Ten Milestones: First Pet

Hi friends! The first chapter of my new fic is now ready for anybody interested.

Hope you enjoy! I'll be posting chapters every Friday (and sometimes Tuesday).

Chapter 1: First Pet

Today: April 29th, 2023

Relationship Status: Dating

꙳

“Gregory just texted me to ask if we’re dating. I didn’t think he had my number.”

“That little arsehole probably sent it to himself when he stole my phone.”

It’s Saturday, 7:02 PM. Penelope and Colin are sitting on the floor of his flat, a few containers of Chinese food littered between them. It’s not a particularly unusual setting to find either one of them in on a Saturday evening. However, some things are different now.

Two weeks ago, they would not have been playing footsie. Not this shamelessly, at least.

“I assumed that Eloise’s ‘vow of secrecy’ would involve her immediately telling Benedict… And that Benedict would tell Anthony… And that Anthony would tell Kate… But I don’t know how the rumour managed to spread to Cambridge in…” She glances down to her phone again. “Six hours flat.”

“‘Rumour?’” Colin echoes, a smirk on his face. “Surely, you’re not trying to keep this sordid love affair hidden from me as well.”

“‘Sordid?’ God, Colin. You make us sound so dirty.” She kicks his foot away, then picks up her container of shrimp fried rice. “And I’m not trying to keep it from anyone. We both knew what was going to happen when I told El.”

“Frankly, I’m surprised Greg didn’t text you sooner.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Penelope watches as Colin uses his chopsticks to play around with his chicken dish, never actually putting a piece in his mouth. She can tell there’s something brewing in his mind.

“So… What are you gonna tell him?” he eventually asks.

“Well… I was going to leave him in suspense a little while longer. Maybe take the ‘no comment’ approach at first. Then, I don’t know… the truth?”

“Which is?”

Before answering, Penelope takes a moment to study the look on her supposed boyfriend’s face. She wonders if he’s playing dumb as a joke, or if there has been a miscommunication of monumental proportions between them. Judging from the expression on his face alone…

Neither option seems to be the correct one.

“Yes?”

She hadn’t intended for her answer to sound like a question, but her voice squeaked upward at the end, nonetheless. Colin doesn’t appear at all phased by her uncertainty, though. He looks quite calm and collected, placing his takeaway container on the coffee table and leaning further into the big blue couch behind him.

“‘Dating’ is a bit too casual a word for us, I think.”

“Okay…” Penelope draws those two syllables out as long as her breath allows her. She’s stalling for time, trying to sort out what it is that Colin is getting at. Still, she comes up empty.

“It’s only been a week. What do you suggest we call —”

“We should get married.”

“What!?”

He’s joking. He’s teasing. He’s —

“I said we should get married.”

Before she can yelp out another barely intelligible sound, Penelope bites her tongue. Literally. She watches his face, remaining quiet, waiting for him to expand on this insane, out-of-nowhere proposal. In the end, all she gets is a smug little smirk.

“What do you mean, ‘We should get married?’”

“I thought it was a rather self-explanatory proposition.”

“Col—”

“Why does anyone get married? I love you. I wish to continue loving you forever and ever. Ergo, marriage.”

“This isn’t funny.”

“It wasn’t a joke.”

“It —”

“It was a proposal.”

“Colin,” she scolds, using the sternest tone she can manage to muster up — which, at the moment, happens to be about an octave higher than her typical speaking voice.

If nothing else, at least he has the decency to drop that stupid smirk from his face in response to her apparent anxious state.

“Pen,” he murmurs, leaning forward to place his left hand on her right knee. “Just think about it. We didn’t meet a week ago, we just finally admitted what we should have told each other years ago. I’ve known you my entire life, and I spent most of that time either too oblivious to realise how in love with you I was, or too scared to do anything about it. Dating just seems… unnecessary. We know what comes next — why delay it any longer?”

Sitting stunned, eyes wide-open and fixed on the thumb currently tracing circles across her bare knee, Penelope attempts to make sense of what Colin just said. But the longer she sits there silent, the more divided her mind becomes.

On one hand, at her core, Penelope is sensible. Reasonable. Logical. That part of her is sounding alarm bells, insisting his proposition is irrational and goes against everything she knows about marriages and engagements and proposals altogether. After all, plenty of people go from friends to lovers and don’t jump directly to marriage.

On the other hand, also at her core, Penelope is a romantic. A willing fool. An idealist against her better judgement. That part of her is susceptible to Colin’s sweet, silly, and perhaps not so irrational words. She has been in love with him her entire life. Would it really be so crazy to —

Shaking her head ever so slightly, Penelope tentatively, regretfully brushes his hand off her knee. At the loss of her touch, Colin’s bottom lip juts out in a pout.

“Dating isn’t casual, necessarily… It’s important. It’s like a — like a test run for marriage and —”

“Well —”

“And it’s different from friendship. It puts you through different tests and trials than you go through with someone when you’re just friends.”

Colin appears to think over her words for a moment, squinting at her in that way that makes his blue eyes look grey.

“Friendship is not so different from dating,” he argues, eyes wide and blue again. “At least, not the way we did it.”

“Col —”

“You’re right about one thing, though.”

“Oh. Is that so?” she asks, unable to contain her sarcasm, even now.

“Dating is like a trial period. It’s when you figure out if your relationship is strong enough to last through all of the bullshit life can throw your way.”

“That’s not exactly what I said.”

“Do you disagree with my summarisation?” His lips form a smirk that tells her that he already knows her answer. Still, she shakes her head.

“Okay,” he chuckles, leaning in an inch closer to her. “And after the mountains of bullshit we went through during the course of our friendship, do you have any doubt about our ability to stick with each other through everything? Is there anything holding you back, Pen?”

No. Nothing.

That’s the truth. There isn’t a single thing about Colin that she feels unsure of. Not anymore.

But still…

Even if there has been love between them for decades, they couldn’t admit that to each other until a week ago. That assuredness — that knowing — is still so new. She’s spent more time deciding whether or not to cut bangs, and the answer always ends up being not.

Still…

“Let’s consult the experts.”

Those four words break Penelope out of a daze she hadn’t realised she had fallen into.

At some point in the last few seconds, Colin had pulled out his phone. Now, he’s typing away at the keyboard with alarming urgency.

“What are you doing?”

With his phone screen mostly out of her view, Colin taps it one final time before looking up to meet her curious eye. Then, he clears his throat.

“Ten Milestones Every Couple Should Celebrate Before Walking Down the Aisle,” he reads aloud. “Number One: Sharing Your First —”

“What are you doing?” Penelope asks again. This time, a laugh escapes her lips as she does so. Something about the seriousness on Colin’s face reminds her of the absurdity of this situation. That it is a joke, whether or not he had intended it as such.

“I know you think this is all very funny, but I’m serious,” Colin contends. “Everything a couple needs to go through in order to be prepared for marriage, we have surely gone through at some point over the last twenty years. We’ve wasted enough time as it is — why was even more of it by delaying the inevitable? It just seems silly.”

Penelope has a bad habit of getting lost in Colin. In his words, in his voice, in his eyes… All of which seem to be pulling her in with a force that could rival anything she’s felt in the last twenty years. So when he stops talking, presumably offering her the space to get in her latest rebuttal, she remains silent.

With the smirk back on his face, he continues, “And while I know part of you is very tempted to agree with me and run down to the courthouse right now, I know the inherent skeptic in you needs some convincing.”

He briefly pauses again, this time to hold up his phone and display the article he had just been urgently searching for.

“So we will go through this list, which details every milestone a couple must accomplish before they get married. At the end, if we find that we checked off every single to-do item while we were just friends, we will make the reasonable decision and get married.”

If there’s one thing Colin Bridgerton is unnervingly good at, it’s making a convincing argument. The realist and the romantic on Penelope’s shoulders suddenly go quiet.

“And where exactly did you find this scholarly article — the one you are basing such a life-altering decision on?”

He looks down.

“TheMarriageExpert.com”

“Colin!”

“They’re an expert, Pen!”

Penelope giggles, for as often as Colin provokes her, his charm always gets her in the end. Once her laughter lets up, she thinks over his slightly altered proposal.

He’s convinced me to play more tedious games before…

“Fine. I agree to your terms. What’s first on that list of yours?”

Any seriousness left on Colin’s face quickly melts away. He grins at her in that way that always makes her stomach flutter.

“Number One: Sharing Your First Pet,” he reads aloud. “During the course of your marriage, you and your partner will share many things together. Finances, homes, memories, and a million other things you cannot even begin to fathom now. A pet will help you prepare for those shared responsibilities. It will teach you both about the importance of…”

As Colin continues reading, Penelope feels a frown pulling down on her lips. When he finishes, she attempts to cover her disappointment with a shallow laugh.

“Game over, I guess.”

His eyebrow arches. “Pardon?”

“We’ve never shared a pet, so…”

Colin’s mouth falls wide open. He pulls his free hand to his chest, as if the aghast look on his face wasn’t enough.

“Pen… Did Mr. Whiskers mean nothing to you?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Twenty Years Earlier: July 21st, 2003

Relationship Status: Sister’s Best Friend // Best Friend’s Brother

꙳

How did I end up here?

Today is Monday. Today also happens to be the first real day of summer holiday for children all across London. For most kids, that means the start of freedom — six weeks of fun, followed by real life crashing down on them when the fall term begins. But for Penelope Featherington, it marks the start of something different.

The loss of structure.

For the next six weeks, it is up to Penelope to determine how — and more importantly, where — she spends the majority of her time. She didn’t want to spend it at home. Not this morning, at least.

That was how she ended up in Grosvenor Square.

At just eight years old, there aren’t many places she can run off to unaccompanied. Even the park, just two blocks away from her home, is hard to get away with. Her mum only allowed it because she was under the impression that Eloise would be joining her — that between Penelope’s sense and Eloise’s toughness, the two girls would be safe in the nearby park. But when Penelope ran across the street to request her best friend’s company, Anthony informed her that Eloise was not available for a morning stroll in the square.

She could have gone back home, but she really didn’t want to. That was how she ended up in Grosvenor Square alone.

While walking around the park’s perimeter, she kept her eyes down, careful not to step on any cracks in the pavement. She kept her shoulders hunched, trying her best to blend in with the other park-goers. She kept her ears pointed outward, picking up every little sound that surrounded her.

She listened. To the birds chirping. To the wind rustling. To the rumbling engines of nearby traffic. Mostly, she listened to the people.

Two teenagers were fighting. She was mad. He was sorry. She said something about him cheating, then their shouts turned to whispers and Penelope couldn’t make out the rest. As she walked out of earshot, she couldn’t help but wonder what sort of exam he could have cheated on that would warrant such a reaction.

A man with a big yellow dog was flirting with a woman. Though Penelope couldn’t make out much of what he was saying, she could tell just from the look on her face that she wasn’t particularly liking what she was hearing. When Penelope got a little closer, the yellow dog started barking. By the time the man got his pet to settle down, the woman had disappeared.

A neighbour from down the street walked past, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and pushing a stroller with the other. As Mrs. Abernathy walked closer, Penelope briefly considered hiding behind the nearest tree, certain that the woman would recognise her and ask where her mum was. But before Penelope could turn and run in the opposite direction, the little blonde baby started crying and distracted the woman.

Just as she was about to turn the corner and listen into the teenage couple’s fight again, Penelope heard something new.

“Meow.”

At first, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. But no. When she walked to the bush that the noise had originated from, two round green eyes stared back at her.

Oh, right.

Penelope looks down at the little grey ball of fur currently nestled in her arms.

After approaching him in the park, the second thing she noticed was the kitten’s whiskers. They were so long — so disproportionate to how small everything else about him looked. He was so scrawny that Penelope couldn’t tell if he was actually a kitten, or just an older cat who had spent too much time with too little food in his stomach.

She spent an hour searching Grosvenor Square and the surrounding area for his family. But with no collar and evidently no family in sight, Penelope decided to take her new friend home.

Penelope and the cat spent approximately 20 minutes walking the 10-minute route home; she slowed her steps, took unnecessary turns, and waited longer than needed at crosswalks. During all of that time, she held the cat tightly to her chest, shielding him from the rest of the world with the nest she made out of her yellow cardigan. Also during that time, she practised what she would say to her mum once she and her hopeful pet arrived back at home.

“Penelope. Anne. Featherington. Get that rodent out of my house!”

It had not gone well. But in truth, Penelope knew long before she landed back on her doorstep that this was all a lost cause. That there was nothing in the world she could have said to convince her mother to let her keep the cat.

Penelope had followed her mother’s instructions, fleeing from their home as quickly as her feet would allow. She didn’t have much of a plan once she hit the pavement outside, but like they so often do, her feet automatically started walking in the direction of the home across the street; they stopped short before she could reach it.

Mr. Bridgerton died last summer. Ever since that morning in August when they learned of the awful news, Penelope’s mum has incessantly warned her against showing up at their door unannounced. After all, there are eight fatherless children in that house now — the youngest of which never even got to meet her father. They have enough going on as it is.

They have enough going on as it is, Penelope repeats again and again and again.

That’s how she got here. Sitting on the curb outside the Bridgerton household, a cat sleeping soundly in her lap.

“It’s all gonna be okay,” she whispers to herself more than she does to him.

Silently, Penelope wonders what the right thing to do is. Where the right place to go is.

The first place she thinks of is an animal shelter. Surely, that is the most logical place to bring a lost kitten to. The people there would know how to take care of him — how to find him a home with people who will love him and keep him safe. The only problem: Penelope does not know of any actual animal shelters in Mayfair.

The second place she thinks of is the fire station down the street. Firefighters save cats, don’t they? Or was that —

“Pen?”

Colin, her mind registers before she even has the chance to turn and look at him. Before she does so, she shifts in her spot and attempts to hide the contraband currently sleeping in her arms. And when she finally does set her eyes on him, her stomach starts to flutter; it always does when he smiles at her.

“Hi,” she squeaks out. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to —”

“What’s that?” he asks, nodding to the kitten she clearly failed at concealing away from him. Before she has the chance to answer, he sits down beside her on the curb.

“Oh, I, uh — I found him in Grosvenor Square. He was all alone and I didn’t know where else to go…”

Her voice trails off, once again contemplating what a responsible person would do next in this situation.

“Are you gonna keep him?”

“No,” she answers, disappointment leaking through to her voice. “Mum won’t let me. She hates cats.”

Penelope takes her eyes off the kitten to look up at Colin. While he may only be two years older, he stands nearly a head above her (he’s tall for his age — she’s short for hers). Even sitting right beside him, she has to tilt her head up just to look him in the eye. As usual, his mop of hair hangs so low that it nearly covers both his eyes, but still, Penelope can see little glimpses of blue shining through strands of brown.

She’s always quite liked that shade of blue.

“I’d take him,” Colin says, raising his hand to pet the cat behind his ears. “But mum and Daph are both allergic.”

Any butterflies left in Penelope’s stomach are quickly replaced by a new sensation. This one, not so pleasant.

Mr. Bridgerton was allergic to hornets…

“Not that kind of allergic,” he reassures her, seemingly reading her mind. “They won’t, like, die or anything. Their skin will just get all red and scratchy if he gets anywhere near them.”

“Oh, uh — sorry,” she stutters out, barely comprehending his last few sentences. “I should just go.”

Pulling the kitten away from Colin, Penelope stands. She starts to turn in another direction, but is once again reminded that she has no idea where she is supposed to go.

“Stop,” Colin orders, gently. He stands too. “Where are you gonna take him?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “Where are you supposed to take stray cats?”

He shrugs.

“Dunno.”

“Okay. Well —”

“But I have an idea.”

꙳ ꙳ ꙳

The Bridgertons live on a gold mine. Metaphorically. Literally, they live on nearly an acre of land in the middle of Mayfair.

The Bridgertons’ home has been in their family for several generations. This is the primary reason why they’re able to hold on to so much land in London’s bloodthirsty real estate market. If they ever were to sell, a row of flats would be built up in the back garden within a fortnight.

(Inheritance is the same reason why Penelope is able to remain in her own home on Grosvenor Street, despite her father’s tendency to dwindle away all of their other assets. The Featheringtons’ garden is not nearly this sprawling, though.)

“Where are we going?”

She and Colin hadn’t gone through his house. Rather, they went around it. They’re currently walking along the wall towards the back of the estate. Colin is a few steps ahead of her, tracing the cracks in the stones with his index finger.

“Have some patience, Pen.”

“I — I do.” And she does. Usually.

Usually, Penelope is a remarkably patient girl. Well-mannered. Quiet. She usually wears those attributes on her shoulders like a uniform. But for some reason, they tend to slip away from her whenever Colin is near.

She looks over her shoulder, towards the massive house behind them. It’s purposeful, she suddenly realises, that they’re walking along the shadows of this wall.

“Is Eloise home yet?” she asks, for no other reason than to fill the silence between them.

Usually, Penelope doesn’t feel the need to fill silences like these. She usually feels quite comfortable in them.

“Uh, no. Ben took her into the city for her, uh… Her doctor’s appointment. They’ll probably get back around supper time.”

Out of Colin’s view, Penelope nods.

For the past year — ever since her father died — Eloise has been seeing a doctor in the city pretty regularly. Penelope’s mum told her to never ask any follow up questions about these visits, but in her own head, she’s always wondered what type of doctor is able to fix an ailment such as heartbreak.

“Are you leaving London for the summer holiday?” she asks, another attempt to fill the void. She already knows the answer. The Bridgertons always travel up to Aubrey Hall this time of year. Always.

“No. Just staying here, I guess.”

Dread appears suddenly and sits heavily in Penelope’s stomach.

Mr. Bridgerton died at Aubrey Hall last summer. Of course they’re not eager to return.

“Oh, uh,” she eventually mumbles, her mind desperately searching for any route this conversation could take that would land them back in safe territory. “Us too,” is all she manages to say.

“Cool. I’ll see you around then.”

She feels her cheeks instantly flush. “Yeah. Cool,” she says, hoping her voice does not expose the growing warmth on her skin.

Without another word, Colin breaks away from the stone wall and walks towards a particularly dense cluster of trees at the edge of the property. He leads them to a spot that, despite spending so much of her childhood playing in this very garden, she has never seen before. It’s a little wooden shed, wide and about as tall as Penelope.

“What is that?”

“A shed,” he answers, shrugging his shoulders. “I think they used to store firewood in here — you know, back in the olden times.” Walking up next to it, he undoes the little metal latch with a flick of his index finger. “Empty now, though. I don’t think anyone remembers it’s here.”

“So…”

“So, your cat could live here.”

Penelope looks down. At some point in the last few minutes, she had somehow forgotten about the creature held tightly against her chest. She had forgotten her whole point in being here.

“Oh! Right. That’s, um…”

She steals another glance at the shed. It certainly looks like it hasn’t been used since the “olden times.”

“That’s nice of you to offer. But how would he — how would that work?”

“I know it seems bare now, but we get him a bed, milk, food — everything a cat needs to survive — and he’ll be happy here.”

Bed. Milk. Food.

“Those things cost money. I —”

Colin shrugs. “I’ll steal a tenner out of Anthony’s wallet,” he says casually.

When Penelope’s face is overtaken by shock, a cheeky smile erupts on his.

“Kidding! I’ll just tell him I’m sad. He’ll hand me some cash and tell me to go fix my feelings with ice cream.”

“Oh, okay. But…” Her mind stalls, searching for another flaw in his logic to voice aloud. The problem is, there are just so many to choose from.

“My mum always says we can’t get a pet because they’re too much responsibility. You have to take care of them. You have to feed them, make sure they —”

“Hey,” he interrupts, smile still hanging on his lips. “We’re both very responsible people. I help keep Greg alive, and that kid thinks licking an electrical socket is a fun hobby. If I can do that, keeping a cat alive will be nothing.”

“So we would, um…” She steals yet another glance at the shed in front of them; she can’t help but look at it and see a cage. “We would just keep him locked up in there all day?”

“No,” he reassures her. “We’ll keep the door open — or I could even cut a cat-sized hole in the side. You know, so he can come and go as he pleases.”

“But if he’s able to leave that easily… Won’t he get lost again?”

Colin shakes his head.

“If I know anything about cats it’s that if you feed them, they’ll always find their way back to you. And since you found him hanging out in Grosvenor Square, clearly he’s an outside cat, not an inside cat.”

Penelope looks down at the little grey cat in her arms. His attention is no longer on her, his round eyes darting wildly as he takes in the space around them.

“I thought only strays went outside.”

“No. A cat can have a home and not want to be cooped up in it all day long.” Colin takes a few steps towards her, raising his hand and scratching behind the kitten’s little ears. The cat seems to like it, as he starts purring immediately. “Clearly, this little guy wants to roam free.”

Yet again, Penelope feels her cheeks burn pink. She isn’t used to this — being so close to him. In fact, she can’t think of a single time when the two of them have ever been so close and so alone together. After all, Colin is her best friend’s brother — a friend of sorts, but tangentially so. Until today, he has only ever been in Penelope’s company through her friendship with Eloise.

She isn’t used to having this much of his attention on her.

“Here.” After what feels like hours, she pulls the kitten away from her chest and nearly shoves him into Colin’s. “He seems to really like you.”

Annoyingly quickly, the creature settles soundly into his arms. Clearly, Colin’s natural charm works just as well on animals as it does on human beings.

When Colin turns his back and his gaze falls on something other than her, Penelope’s mind flushes with panic. She rethinks words she had mostly brushed off just moments before.

Colin offering to spend his own money. To cut a hole in the shed. To take care of this little creature she found in a bush.

He has enough going on as it is.

When she looks to where he now stands, Penelope spots Colin setting the cat down in his prospective home. The cat takes two tiny steps across the wooden beams before Penelope walks over and hastily takes him into her arms again.

“I’m sorry, Colin. I didn’t mean to get you wrapped up in this.” She turns away, pulling the kitten even closer into her chest. “I’ll drop him off at the fire —”

“Pen, stop.”

Before she can step away, Colin’s hand falls on her shoulder. He squeezes it once before letting it drop back to his side. Although Penelope is not very experienced in receiving small physical gestures such as this, she can tell he had meant for it to be reassuring.

“He’ll be fine here. I promise.”

She turns slowly.

“Are you sure it’s not too much?”

“No,” he laughs. “Of course not. How could this little guy ever be ‘too much?’”

Pushing away all the alarm bells blaring in her head, informing her that this is a bad idea, Penelope pushes her shoulders back. She stands tall — metaphorically, of course.

“I’ll do half the work,” she tells him. “At least. I can check on his bowl every morning — make sure he has water and food and whatever else he needs. Maybe you can do the same at night. And if you ever can’t, just tell me and I’ll help. And if it ever does become too much, I can find him somewhere else to live.”

When she finally stops rambling and closes her mouth, Colin smiles again. Then, he extends his right hand towards her.

“You got yourself a deal, Featherington.”

Tentatively, Penelope raises her arm to seal said deal. But before she can make contact, Colin’s hand moves again. He turns his palm towards her, as if to signal “stop.”

“One ground rule before we make it official: let’s keep this whole thing between the two of us. Cause if Anthony finds out… he’ll send me and the cat to the nearest shelter.”

“Colin! I —”

“Kidding!” He laughs again, which has a shockingly effective influence on Penelope’s nerves.

“But really… It’s simpler if we don’t tell anyone else. Not even Eloise — she can’t keep a secret for her life.”

While thinking over his words, Penelope tilts her head upwards. She steals a not-so-quick glance at his eyes — at the little bits of blue shining through the brown.

For as long as she can remember, Penelope has always wanted more of Colin. Though she won’t be able to fully understand or define this feeling for several more years, it burns in her heart, even now. She wants to be closer to him. To make him laugh. To be his friend. To share a secret with him — even if she knows that it could very well end badly for everyone involved.

“Deal.”

With that, Penelope shakes Colin’s hand and seals their fate forever.

꙳ ꙳ ꙳

August 5th, 2003

Their secret turned out to be a rather easy one to keep.

Penelope was good at going unseen. Every morning at approximately 7:00, she snuck into the Bridgerton back garden, walking along the shadows of the east-facing wall. At approximately 7:10 every morning, she snuck out without being noticed by anyone except Colin, who always kept an eye out for her from his bedroom window. If his mum or siblings ever were to catch her back there, he highly doubts they would care or even bat an eye; before this past year, Penelope seemed to spend more time in their home than she did her own.

Colin was also good at escaping notice on his daily task. Every night around dusk, he would sneak into a bathroom, fill a plastic bottle with tap water, hide it in the pocket of whatever hoodie he happened to be wearing that day, and slip out the back door — always unseen by his family members. They keep the cat food in a little locked container in the shed — both of which Colin had bought using money he had stolen from Anthony’s wallet (not that he would admit to following through on the theft “joke” to Penelope).

As the summer droned on, and as dusk came quicker with each passing day, Colin put less and less effort into sneaking out every night. The more time passed, the more obvious it became to him, how easy it is to disappear from a home with so many people — especially when everyone seems to be looking for a person who is no longer around.

The only conspirator that ever put them at risk of being found out was Mr. Whiskers (a name Colin picked after Penelope insisted that they couldn’t just keep calling him “little guy”).

Three times in two weeks, Whiskers had loitered around the Bridgerton’s back steps following his dinner, meowing for someone’s attention. Colin had caught him the first time and shooed him off. Daphne caught him the second time and screamed bloody murder. Anthony caught him the third and nearly called animal control. The only reason he didn’t was because Gregory just so happened to push a vase off a table one room over; the mess had been too distracting.

Thankfully, Whiskers seemed wary of coming close to the Bridgerton household after that last encounter.

A routine formed. Penelope would sneak into the garden in the morning. Colin would sneak out of his home at night. Mr. Whiskers would come and go as he pleased between meals. Their paths rarely ever cross. That is, until tonight.

Tonight — like most nights — Colin can’t sleep. He ran up to his bedroom at 9:16, only after being ordered to do so by Anthony. He’s spent much of the last 145 minutes in bed staring at the ceiling. Now, bored out of his skull and needing any sort of distraction, he jumps up to grab the MP3 player and headphones sitting on the windowsill.

He turns up the volume all the way and, for the next few minutes, does his best to tune out the rest of the world. It’s probably for the best that he fails in doing so, otherwise he wouldn’t have noticed the shadow cutting across the moonlight in his back garden.

Less than five minutes later, Colin cuts along that same path; he’s far less cautious than he ever is at dusk. He knows there’s a chance that someone in the house could still be awake and spot him out here, but that risk feels less worrisome, the closer he gets to his intended destination.

Just as it comes into view, he hears sniffling. The sound is quiet, but persistent.

He sees her before she sees him. She’s sitting with her legs crossed in the shed’s open doorway, Mr. Whiskers curled up in her lap.

Colin had felt uneasy from the very moment he spotted her from his bedroom window, but a distinct wave of dread hits him cold the moment that his eyes meet Penelope’s. Hers go so wide that he swears he can see the moonlight reflecting off of them.

She doesn’t immediately speak; even her crying halts after realising that she is not alone.

“Pen?” he asks, when he can think of nothing else to say. He waits several seconds for her to give some sort of reaction. A word, a nod — anything. But still, she remains frozen in her spot in the doorway, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

“Are you o—”

“Yes,” she shoots out. “Yes, I, uh — I — I’m fine.”

Finally, Penelope moves. She places her hands around the cat’s belly and uncrosses her feet like she’s about to run off into the night. And though her claims of being “fine” offered his mind zero reassurance, Colin nods at her words anyway.

“Yeah,” he breathes out, sitting down beside her before she has the chance to flee. He raises his hand and scratches behind Mr. Whiskers’ ears while the cat remains perched on Penelope’s legs.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he offers, unprompted. “I thought I would see what Whiskers was up to.”

“Oh,” Penelope says. Then, in an even fainter voice, “Same.”

As he continues scratching, the kitten purrs; his soft murmur is the only sound in the air for several long seconds. Just when the silence begins to feel a bit too heavy on his skin, Colin drops his hand and looks up at the scene above them.

“Do you know any constellations?”

After a few more beats of silence, Penelope raises her finger to the sky. “That’s the North Star. And that’s the Little Dipper, connected to it.” She repositions her finger slightly. “And that’s the Big Dipper, right next to it.” She repositions her finger once more before dropping it. “And that’s Aries.”

Though the stars don’t shine as brightly here as they do in the country, Colin’s eyes glaze over the soft specks of light in the sky, searching for something familiar. Specifically, he’s searching for the constellation that Benedict had pointed out to him last summer at Aubrey Hall, just a few nights before their father died.

“That’s Capricorn.” He points his finger towards the sky, to his own star sign. THe snorts. “Do you know what type of creature a Capricorn is?”

Penelope shakes her head.

“Half-goat, half-fish. Like a mermaid with horns and a pair of hooves.”

Then, a miracle happens.

Penelope giggles. The sound is soft, but it cuts right through the darkness.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Not as cool as a ram, but…”

“Are there any cats in the constellations?” Penelope asks once Colin’s voice trails off.

He considers her question for a moment, recalling other star stories Benedict has told him over the years. He looks up to the sky, hoping he can discern an outline of a kitten somewhere between the lights.

“Dunno,” he finally admits. “But there are lots of stars — most of them, we can’t even see. There’s gotta be at least one cat out there. Somewhere.”

Penelope hums in agreement, looking down at her lap. “Mr. Whiskers is a good cat,” she quietly muses.

“Yeah.” Colin reaches over to pet behind his little grey ears. “The best.”

“He keeps trying to follow me home after breakfast.” She giggles softly. “He must not remember meeting my mum, or else he would stay away forever. She thought I was carrying a rat into our house. She shrieked.”

“Oh god,” Colin chuckles, and it’s only a little forced. “He tried sneaking into my house a few times. He met Anthony last time, though, and I don’t think he’s ever gonna forget that.”

She giggles again, her smile lighting up in the moonlight.

“Was he mad?”

“His face went red! Ant is always at least a little bit angry, but this was ridiculous. No normal human could get that mad about a cute little kitten hanging around their back door.”

With her eyes still pointed intently on the cat in her lap, Penelope’s voice lowers to almost a whisper. “I don’t know how people can see something so sweet and get so mad.”

Colin’s eyes don’t leave Penelope when he responds, “Me neither.”

For what feels like an unending moment, the three of them sit there in silence, looking up at the moon and the stars and the darkness all around. The longer the moment holds, the harder it becomes for Colin to push away the worries that had been building inside himself since the moment he spotted Penelope running across his back garden at midnight.

Trying his hardest to keep his tone casual…

“Was there a reason you couldn’t sleep tonight?”

She doesn’t respond right away. She doesn’t attempt to flee, either.

“No. It was…” She pauses for a very long, very quiet moment. “It was nothing.”

“Pen, you —”

“Nothing that isn’t — like — normal, I mean.”

Colin does not know what she means. He can’t imagine a single normal thing that would cause someone to run away crying from their home in the middle of the night. Especially someone as small and defenceless as Penelope.

“My mum and dad were just fighting,” she confesses, only after realising that Colin’s look of concern will not fade until she tells him the truth. “A bit louder than usual, I guess. But it’s not like I haven’t heard them fight a million times before.”

“That’s —” not normal, he almost says, but holds his tongue at the last moment.

He’s suddenly, alarmingly struck by the fact that what he deems “normal” might not be the same for Penelope. That there are “normal” things in his own life that others would say are unimaginable for a kid his age.

That’s not right, would be more accurate. But he doesn’t say that either. Instead, he simply asks, “Do you want to come inside? El is probably asleep, but I could wake her —”

“No,” she answers, looking him in the eye for the first time in what feels like hours. “Thank you, but… It’s really late. I should go back home before someone notices I left.” She lets out one awkward, forced laugh before saying, “Mum will kill me if she realises I slipped out.”

With one quick motion, Penelope scoops up Whiskers, plops him into Colin’s lap, then pushes herself out of the shed and back on solid ground. Just as she looks like she’s about to turn and run, Colin gathers the cat in his arms and stands beside her.

“Are you sure? It’s no bother.”

For the briefest moment, it almost looks like doubt crosses Penelope’s face. But then, just as quickly, she shakes her head.

“I should go home.”

Regretfully, Colin tears his eyes away from hers, turning his head to glance at his own home in the distance. The only light still on comes from his bedroom window.

“Yeah,” he grumbles, turning back to her. “I guess I should too.”

Penelope nods. Just when it looks like she’s about to turn and disappear into the darkness, Colin blurts something out.

“Do you wanna meet here again in the morning? When you feed Mr. Whiskers?”

She seems taken aback by his question. She doesn’t immediately respond to it with words, but with a confused, almost worried expression on her face.

“I —”

“Our system’s efficient and all,” he cuts in, “but we haven’t exactly seen much of each other since we started taking care of him. I dunno, I guess I just thought that we would be hanging out more this summer.”

“Oh!” Her voice suddenly comes out so high that it borders a squeak. “I know what you mean. I…”

Her voice trails off. It remains silent for so long that Colin wonders if it's his turn to speak. But before he can blurt anything else out, she opens her mouth.

“I’d like that.”

“Cool,” he says, lips pulling into a smile. “See you tomorrow.”

꙳ ꙳ ꙳

August 14th, 2003

“I’m not sure I understand the rules of this game.”

“It’s our game. The rules can be whatever we want them to be.”

Penelope stands with the tips of her toes and the palms of her hands pressed neatly against Colin’s matching sets. There’s a piece of cat biscuit placed between her right palm and his left. There’s a tiny grey cat peering up at them from where their shoes connect; he looks just as confused on the parameters of this game as Penelope feels.

The rules, they eventually settle on, are these:

Before getting into position, one person briefly presents a piece of biscuit to Mr. Whiskers. Players must take turns to avoid leading the cat towards favouritism.

On the count of three, one person takes the biscuit into their hands, then both turn around and run in opposite directions.

Mr. Whiskers follows whoever he believes holds his treat.

She ends up with the biscuit three times. He ends up with it five times. It falls to the ground between them eleven times. Each time, without fail, Mr. Whiskers immediately takes off after Penelope.

“This isn’t fair!” Colin calls out from behind a tree on their twentieth attempt at this so-called ‘game.’ “It’s not my fault you bonded with him first.” He points a finger at the cat currently pawing at her ankles. “I feed you just as much as she does — traitor!”

“Shhh, Colin!” Penelope whisper-yells. “Someone might hear you.”

“Oh, who cares?”

I care, Penelope thinks. She doesn’t want Colin’s mum or any one of his many siblings to stumble upon them back here. She’s not ready to give up this secret. She’s not willing to end this game.

Not yet, anyway.

“Mr. Whiskers cares. I doubt he wants to be kicked out of his home just because you’re a sore loser.”

Penelope picks up Whiskers from the patch of dirt he had just been rolling around in. She walks over to the shed where Colin now sits, then gently plops the brown-tinged grey cat in his lap.

“Well, he should have thought about that before picking sides.”

Like she has become accustomed to doing over the past two weeks, Penelope sits down on the other end of the shed’s open doorway. Colin’s body is turned towards her, but she keeps hers positioned outwards, as if to keep watch.

After a moment of quiet, he clears his throat.

“You can come over for dinner tonight. You know, if you want.”

“Oh, no. That’s okay,” Penelope says quickly. Dismissively. “Mum will expect me home soon. I think we’re having stew.”

“Yeah, but what about tomor—”

Colin’s voice stops short before he can get that last word out. Then, he pivots his head so he is no longer facing her.

“Well, maybe not tomorrow,” he eventually mutters, quieter than before. “But another day.”

Tomorrow is the anniversary, Penelope remembers. Along with that sudden, heart-aching reminder comes a little voice in her head that sounds distinctly like her mother.

They have enough going on as it is.

“I — I don’t want to impose.”

“You wouldn’t.” He finally looks her in the eye again. “Trust me, you wouldn’t. When you have eight kids, one more mouth hardly makes a difference.” He nods his head towards the house in the distance, partially obstructed by the scattering of trees they’ve found themselves in.

“Eloise would be happy if you stopped in. Mum too.”

Trying her absolute hardest to ignore that little voice in her head…

“Yeah. Another day. Soon.”

“Good.”

After another moment of quiet, Penelope pushes herself forward and lands with two feet in the grass.

“I really should head back, though.”

“Okay, I’ll —”

“But, Colin?” she interrupts (a truly rare occurrence for Penelope Featherington).

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking and… Maybe I could feed Mr. Whiskers breakfast and dinner tomorrow. I know we have our system, but… I just — you shouldn’t have to deal with taking care of him on top of any… family stuff.”

Colin doesn't respond right away. He spends several seconds looking at her with his brows furrowed; Mr. Whiskers uses that time to settle even deeper into his arms. Finally, his lips part. Penelope expects the first word out of his mouth to be “No,” but it isn’t.

“Sure.” He nods, brows lifting up a bit. “Thanks, Pen. That’s kind of you to offer.”

Penelope is surprised by his words. Not just because she was expecting him to dismiss her offer, but because she had never been thanked for something like this before. Her entire life, kindness was something that had been expected of her, but never really appreciated. She had been rewarded for her kindness in the past, but never thanked for it.

She’s hesitant to accept such thanks — gratitude for something as small as offering up a few minutes of her time for someone who had experienced more grief than she could even begin to imagine. But she can’t bring herself to deny it either. So instead, she simply nods and says, “Goodnight, Colin.”

꙳ ꙳ ꙳

August 25th, 2003

It’s Monday morning, 6:55 AM. Like most mornings around this time, Penelope is walking along the Bridgerton’s east-facing wall, feet stepping in the shadows, one finger tracing the stones beside her. Unlike most mornings, when she steps away from the wall and towards the shed hidden by a cluster of trees, she notices that the door that is always open is suddenly shut tight.

At the beginning of the summer, Penelope had convinced Colin not to cut a cat-sized opening in the side of the shed (he wanted to use a saw from his garage). Instead, they decided to always keep the door open so Mr. Whiskers could come and go as he pleases. Always.

Her feet pace faster with each and every step, intrigue and anxiety building up and piling over the closer she gets to that closed door.

It could not have closed on its own. It wasn’t the wind or gravity or Whiskers himself. The latch is locked. Someone locked it.

Just as she raises her arm to swing the wooden door back open, Penelope hears footsteps. Quick and increasingly loud footsteps. She (literally) jumps around, heat pounding, eyes wide, and sees…

“Colin! Where’s Mr. Whiskers?!”

“In there.”

He points to the shed behind her, still shut tight. Once he gets close enough, he reaches over her shoulder and finally undoes the latch. Just as promised, the cat is there, curiously staring up at them with those round green eyes.

“He keeps trying to follow me back into the house after I feed him at night. Last night, he was scratching at the back door. Thank god I got to him before Anthony did.”

“So he was just locked in there all night?”

She spares another sideways glance at the shed’s interior. It’s not nearly as bare as it had been that first day she looked inside. Now, there are two containers, two bowls, two electric lanterns, a blanket, a few cat toys, and a few human toys she assumes once belonged to Colin.

To an animal as tiny as Mr. Whiskers, this place might seem huge — but to Penelope, it all feels very claustrophobic.

“Yeah,” Colin finally answers, sounding guilty. “But sometimes it’s just safer for him to stay put for a little while. Even outdoor cats need to be reigned in some nights.”

Penelope doesn’t know whether to agree or disagree with his words, so she tries her best to ignore them — for a little while, at least. After climbing into the shed and filling his empty bowl with food, she gives Whiskers an affection bop on the head.

“You’re not wrong,” she belatedly answers. When Mr. Whiskers finishes his meal, Penelope turns and hops back onto the grass. Tilting her head to look Colin in the eye, she says, “But maybe Mr. Whiskers isn’t an outside cat after all. Maybe that’s why he keeps trying to follow us back to our own homes.”

“I thought that was just because he loves us.”

Penelope can’t help but roll her eyes just a little. Leave it to Colin Bridgerton to transform guilt into charm in under 30 seconds.

“Well…” She turns back to Mr. Whiskers again. As usual, he’s peering up at them with a transfixed — maybe even loving — stare. “Maybe you have a point.”

“I usually do —”

“But still… Do you really think this is what’s best for him?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…”

She bites her tongue. Literally.

All of this started because of her own selfish desires. To keep the cat. To occupy Colin’s attention. To possess a reason to get out of her house every morning.

Her selfishness and its inevitable consequences were easy to overlook at the start of the summer. But now…

“The summer is almost over. When we go back to school, we won’t be able to look out for him all day. Then the winter will come and this little shed isn’t going to be very warm.” She stops ranting briefly to glance down at the little grey cat in the doorway. “What if he gets sick? Or needs a vet? I just don’t know if this is really his best option.”

She points both hands towards the shed. Towards the small wooden structure that completely transformed her summer. Towards the only home Mr. Whiskers has ever known — dim and claustrophobic as it may be. She expects Colin’s eyes to follow her lead, but they don’t.

For a moment, it feels as though her presence completely slips from his view. His eyes are fixated on something in the distance. Something in the opposite direction. Something —

“Shite!”

Colin’s arms hastily wrap around Penelope’s waist. It takes everything in her not to shriek in surprise as he practically throws her into the shed. Thankfully, Mr. Whiskers jumps backwards instantly, or else she surely would have crushed him on impact.

“Colin! What —”

“Shh!”

He climbs in and quickly shuts the door behind him. If it were not for the electric lamps in the corner, illuminating the space with what little battery power they have left, Penelope wouldn’t discern him mouthing: “Anthony.”

They sit on opposite sides of the shed, the tips of their toes touching in the limited space. Penelope wonders if Colin can feel her shaking through the rubber edges of her yellow converse. The concerned look he throws her tells her that he must.

“You okay?” he mouths.

She thinks about nodding. She briefly wonders if a nod counts as a lie, or if lies can only be spoken aloud. In the end, she doesn’t do anything — except remain frozen in her spot.

Everything is quiet. For a fleeting moment, Penelope actually believes they may have gone unnoticed. Then, just as Mr. Whiskers decides to move out of the corner and crosses the wooden floor, she remembers that the latch — the flimsy piece of metal that is the only means of securing this thing — is on the other side. And when the cat uses his tiny paw to press against the door’s interior, she barely has time to gasp before it swings open.

The morning light nearly blinds her, but not enough to miss Anthony Bridgerton’s very mad, very red face staring back at her.

“Colin — what the hell?!”

Just as Colin had thrown her into the shed less than a minute ago, Anthony now pulls Penelope out of it by her shoulders. Just like Whiskers, she miraculously manages to land on her feet.

“I knew it! I knew you were irresponsible, but this —” He bends down and grabs Whiskers by the scruff of his neck. “This is insane. Even for you.”

Anthony turns to Penelope, looking as though he only just now discovered her presence here. In mere seconds, she watches his face turn from anger to shock to annoyance. Then, he turns to face his little brother again.

“I will be the responsible adult and make sure this — thing — finds an actual home and doesn’t continue living on the streets.” With a near-growl caught in his throat, he tells Colin, “We will discuss this later.”

Anthony turns to leave, but stops just as quickly.

“And Colin, do not mention this to mum. Or anyone else.”

He starts then stops again.

“And Penelope, please do not let my brother’s bad influence rub off on you. A nice girl like you has enough trouble as it is being friends with Eloise.”

It isn’t until Anthony has stomped out of sight with Mr. Whiskers in tow that Penelope starts to regain control of her body and mind. Slowly, she turns towards Colin. She uses every one of those seconds to begin preparing an apology. For getting him in trouble with his brother. For putting him in this mess to begin with. For being a bad friend. But when their eyes meet… Colin does not look as though he is expecting an apology of any sort.

He laughs.

“Did you see the look on his face?!”

“Uh — I don’t —”

“He looked like a tomato! I swear one day he’s gonna burst and —”

“Colin,” she tries to cut in, to little avail.

“— pasta sauce is gonna go flying ev—”

“Colin!” she says again, a bit louder this time. Thankfully, it seems to get his attention. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have —”

“Oh god, Pen. Don’t be sorry.”

“But your — your brother —”

“I should be apologising on Ant’s behalf. Even if you and him were both right about Whiskers needing somewhere else to live.”

Penelope’s mouth parts, but all she can do is nod in response to those last few words. As much as she will miss her tiny, furry friend, this is for the best. For Whiskers, at least.

“But Anthony was so mad at you. And I —”

“He’ll get over it. That’s the great thing about having seven siblings — wait five minutes and someone will do something ten times stupider. Daphne and Eloise are probably inside getting into a fist fight as we speak.”

The mention of her best friend’s name temporarily draws Penelope’s thoughts away from her internal pity party. While she did hang out with Eloise over the last few weeks, their time together felt far less frequent and more fleeting than it ever had during previous summer holidays. During any time before last August.

“You wanna come over for dinner tonight?” Colin asks, breaking Penelope from her thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“I said,” he smirks, “do you want to come over for dinner tonight?”

“I don’t know… Anthony seemed —”

“Don’t worry about him — he’ll get over it. And you heard him, he’s not even going to rat us out to my mum.” He takes a step forward, then places his hand on Penelope’s shoulder. He squeezes it once. “It’ll be fun. Everyone will be excited to see you.”

Not for the first time — and certainly not the last — Penelope feels at a loss for words. All she can manage is a tiny nod. A nearly imperceptible movement.

Colin smiles.

“Good. Just so you know, the door is always open. Always.”

Finally, little Penelope Featherington finds her voice again.

“I know.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------

There’s a smile pulling apart Penelope’s lips, but she does her best to cover it with another fork full of fried rice. Colin — of course — sees right through her attempt at concealment.

“So…”

“Anthony was right. We were awfully irresponsible that summer. That cat was better off after Danbury took him in and re-named him Lord Whiskers.”

“Hey — give us a little credit! How many 8 or 10-year-olds do you know who could keep a cat alive for an entire summer all by themselves?”

“The only impressive thing we did that summer was keeping our little secret hidden from the rest of your family.”

“What are you talking about?!” Colin practically cries out, unable to keep his ever-charming laugh from escaping his throat as he speaks. “Do not downplay our role in raising Whiskers. You rescued him from the mean streets of London. I —”

“I found him hiding out in a bush in Grosvenor Square!”

“Exactly! And I —”

“Colin!”

“I built him a home,” he barely manages to get out through another round of laughter.

“That’s a bit over-dra—”

“We fed and took care of him for over a month. We were just kids — that’s pretty impressive. That means something.”

In her heart, Penelope knows that — obviously — it means something. But does it mean what Colin wants it to mean? That they should get married?

Even with the rules he set forth, it seems like an insane connection to even consider.

“I don’t know…”

“For five weeks, he was ours. That means a lot.”

For a moment, Penelope does consider it.

She thinks about who Colin was to her before she found that cat. A friend — of sorts. Her best friend’s brother. A neighbour. A crush. Someone she looked at and longed for.

Next, she thinks about who Colin was to her on that morning, when Anthony found them hiding out in a tiny wooden shed. A friend. A fellow kid. A conspirator. Someone who saw her cowering in the dark and asked if she was okay.

So what, if their hypothetical marriage hinges on a technicality? People have married on flimsier grounds before.

“Fine,” she relents. “It counts.”

A moment ago, she wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Colin’s grin grows even wider.

“Of course it does.”

Penelope scoffs, yet another lazy attempt to cover the grin on her own face. Colin makes no attempt to call her out on it, though. He’s too busy scrolling on his phone.

“Let’s see what we have next to cross off…”

#bridgerton #fanfiction #polin #fanfic #weepingfromacedartree #ten milestones #penelope x colin #penelope featherington #colin bridgerton

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papakhan · 7 months

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im really sorry if this question was asked before 😭 but im super interested in khans' relationship with animals. not only like, in the religious way, but with pets and cattle. would love to hear your thoughts on that

Sorry this took me forever to reply I wanted to draw some things for it first but I feel like I'll forget if I don't post now :')

I think the Khans have a lot of different relationships to animals, I think it's pretty interesting how at multiple points they have had some relation to dogs, with their leader even having a guard (who I hc that he considered as his right-hand man, only because there aren't any named New Khans in that role) and in FNV there's cut NCR reports mentioning the Khans hunting dogs (the report actually mentions possible a dozen one group! 12! that's a lot of dogs!)

Personally, I hc that the Khans have their own standard breed of dogs similar to the Legion mongrel that's descendant from Darion's baddog, and you could probably trace its ancestry back to the guard dogs/pets of Vault 15. I think they have a lot of working dogs tho! I already have an oc whos the Khans newest houndmaster, but I think they also have pets, I think working dogs are very valuable to them though

In my story Sun gets given Rex by the King, leading the King to have an unexpected alliance with the Khans because 1. he had no idea who Sun was and just thought Rex seemed happier with him after Sun helped get his brain fixed and 2. Papa was so pleased and IMPRESSED about this other (smaller) gang leader giving his son a working animal/guard dog, I imagine he sent the Kings some real tanners, leather workers and armorers to reinforce their leather jackets or something

Sun also loves his new pubby (and has no idea that he's 200 years old LMAO)

Speaking of dogs, Papa Khan specifically has an association with wolves that isn't really seen anywhere else with the Khans, unless you count Baddog (which the Chosen One isn't even sure IS a dog) which I think is cute and fun for him, the way he calls the courier a cub and the Longhouse the wolf's den. Part of me hcs that it could be something to do with him being a different bloodline to the Death Hand linage but idk I haven't got very far with that. I don't think its a reglious thing, since the Khans have been shown to be areligious from the start, maybe just a splinter group of New Khans he was part of? idk I'm probably overthinking I do think its also interesting that the other 2 raider groups from Vault 15 picked animals to represent themselves and the Khans didnt

I'm gonna write about other animals under the cut because I just rambled about dogs :')

As for other animals, I know its not in game but I think the Khans 100% farm brahmin, at least a little, if only for their dung to make jet. I know the Khans are eating brahmin steak and have brahmin over spits but I think if its their dung specifically that makes jet then they probably would want to avoid killing them just for meat. So maybe brahmin are more like Jack's pets and he names them and loves them so so much. I think the Khans farming bighorners or something would be fun, especially since those are pretty regional to the Mojave so it'd mean that the Khans have picked up on it in the 14 years since they arrived, which is nice for them and something I could totally see them doing

CHICKENS as well this is some really old art I had for fallout chickens and I think the Khans would have them. Maybe not so many though, I think the Khans lost a lot of their animals in Bitter Springs either because they ran off, they got killed or because the Khans had to eat them when they first arrived in Red Rock with no other supplies.

I've also seen some people talk about Khan falconers which I think is SO COOL I'd love them to have that. I know that hunting with eagles is a thing in Mongolia so maybe they could pick it up from the book you get from Ezekiel? Please. I haven't really done anything with it personally but I SHOULD

Last but not least, horses. I think the Khans very much do have horses (because I believe in a horseful fallout) Again, I think a lot of their herd bolted during Bitter Springs but I think the Khans have been working to get them all back. I hc that Khans will insist on a person learning to ride a horse before learning to ride a motorbike because to them it teaches balance (strengthens the right muscles) and co-ordination and also a horse can take you home and bikes use up precious fuel and are usually reserved for the Khans messengers or long distance raiders A lot of the Khan's horses will have NCR branding on their flanks which the Khans usually cover either with their own branding or some other decoration. I think they'd be considered very skilled riders with an average Khan being just as if not more skilled on a horse than an NCR ranger. They do a lot of sport involving horses like their own version of jousting and also shooting on horseback. I hc that a lot of Khans will have their own horse but will also share, the fastest horses are often gifted to people involved in the Khan's communication who need something more subtle then a motorbike, like negotiators or scouts. Horses also pull their carts when the Khans are moving their location. Here's a drawing of Suns other dad Min and his caravan

Thank you for coming to my Khans and animals conference THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

#this was a lot of fun thank you so much #now i need to remember my hc tag #fnv #great khans #my art #headcanons #hcs #txt

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chzdavmpr · 2 months

Text

Delicious in Dungeon Reading Diary Vol 5

Spoilers below, obviously

Oh so we are getting right into Falin weirdness off rip.

I called it that this person was the mad mage.

Hmm. So they recognize Laios, but know it's from within a painting that they recognize him. I'm surprised but I think that actually fully explains how the painting work. I guess it's time for a big rant on my guess as to how living painting work. If you don't care skip this paragraph. Ok so the mad mage made the paintings to trap people and it seems like whenever someone enters them a scene starts playing like a tape, except that people trapped inside can interact with things. These recordings are of things that actually happened, and the people within them act roughly how they actually did. However the mad mage is the exception to this. It seems that they can either perceive through the scenes of their painting counterpart or just know everything that happens in the painting. It also seems that they can choose to override their painting counterpart's recorded actions and take control of them, allowing them to know that laios was in all the paintings. This I'm a bit iffy on because if I recall they seem to think Laios is some kind of kingdom infiltrator in the painting which wouldn't quite line up but it's the best I got. Additionally you can draw/paint extra stuff onto the painting and it will be sentient but won't be in the painting proper, just kinda in a plane on top of the painting, or maybe that's just because Laios drew bad. Either way that is a lot, but hopefully this is the last time I should spend way too long talking about living paintings.

Very funny how the label follows them. I also love Senshi's face of "what the hell man those are my hams"

Oh so since Falin was made with the dragon's flesh and blood she is the dragon. Wait does this mean Falin is dead forever? I sure hope not.

I'm skipping over most of the next 3 chapters, I'll get to them in my final thoughts.

Wow this samurai guy is having just an awful time.

So senshi probably got the cheese from the orcs. But I should mention I've also been watching the anime with some friends as it comes out. And one of them has a huge pet peeve about every time they have oil in the dish, since he says they should've run out forever ago. I'm not bothered by it at all, and find it very funny how he reacts every time oil is on screen. The reason I bring this up now is if this cheese is seen more then just this once he is gonna blow his gourd and it will be very funny.

Senshi giving Chilchuck "the talk" is so funny that I literally got light head from laughing.

It's very cool that Laios is learning magic. I feel a lot of stories wouldn't do that just because he's "the fighter" and Marcille is "the wizard" and they would have to stay as those archetypes.

The art in this whole series is great. I love the way the cockatrice is drawn here.

It may have been fine if it didn't come right after another whole chapter where Chilchuck recaps the story so far like there's been a hiatus and they wanna make sure you remember everything.

Man this chapter is on a roll with these A+ panels

I somehow only just now, while taking the above picture, that the chapter called cleaners has the characters dressed up as cleaners. That's cute and I may be a little stupid.

Ok so I was gonna say this this guy may be Delgal hiding, since we saw that the mad mage is looking for him.

But then I remembered; isn't the whole backstory for the golden city that it's king told of the mad mage and then died? Cause that would make it kinda hard to find him.

But then now when I'm composing this I'm remembering that the dungeon doesn't allow people to die, so either he died right outside or that story was wrong. Hmmm.

Seriously every panel with Shuro has him look like the worlds most depressed man.

He's practically sinking into the earth.

You know in retrospect, if the Dungeon Gormet Guide was a bunch of lies and guesses it's awfully lucky that it's happened to be right about what is and is not poisonous. (Or which tentacles' swelling can be reduced with vinegar)

To conclude my thoughts on this volume, that first chapter is great. I was a little worried about what the next plot hook would be but it delivered. They just show straight up that the elf is the lord of the dungeon. And they introduce the mystery of "what is going on with falin." But then it spends 2 whole chapters just telling us stuff we already know. Like it was kinda cool seeing the B Team piece together who A Team is with limited knowledge, but other then the stuff about Shuro there wasn't much new or interesting.

And then the party is just trapped on the 5th floor the entire volume, I imagine because next volume their plans will change and they won't want to go back to the surface and the author wanted to avoid too much backtracking. Which I get, but it ends up feeling like a bunch of these chapters are just kinda killing time until the B team shows up.

That being said, still a great volume of manga. Probably the weakest so far, but only because it's a like a 4.5 instead of a 4.75 or 5.

#chz reads #manga #reading diary #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi

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