#actually here are some notes about my designs for them yay —>

[operationcaked]

twitter really liked this, so i’ll post it here too :))

#*ahem* sorry i meant x really liked this #bob’s burgers #wharf arts center (art tag) #actually here are some notes about my designs for them yay —> #gene’s shorts are frayed because they’re bob’s pants that he cut into shorts #(like he mentioned in either wharf horse or the wharfening) #his pockets are paw-shaped and linda sewed them on for him (they’re paw-kets!) #tina has compression socks on under her regular socks because i headcannon that she has rls and knee pains #< inspired by her thrashing in her sleep but also because i have rls and knee pain and i’m projecting #they each have friendship bracelets that tina made in tina tailor soldier spy (pretend she made one for gene too) #i’ve posted louise in my design before but i’ll explain hers too #added a brown undershirt and purple striped socks because i love how the colors go with her color scheme #also gave her socks because i hate the feeling of wearing mary janes without socks and she deserves comfort #the other bracelet louise has is one that millie made for her louise and rudy #that's all really any other changes were made just cause i think they look nice ^^ #gene belcher #tina belcher #louise belcher

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Fantasy v. Reality: The Sign, Episode 7

Phaya. 

Tharn.

Anyway, I wrote this post a couple days before Episode 7 aired talking about how Phaya romantic feelings are portrayed with bokeh effect and Tharn’s romantic feelings are portrayed with colored lighting, and how we’ve only gotten one or the other effect up until this point. In that post I posited that once they fucked for real, Phaya and Tharn would have both their effects in play at the same time and well…

So yay, I was right or whatever. 

Before the action really even begins, I noticed a really interesting design choice. In my previous post I mentioned that they’ve been using string lights a lot in a way that to me appears like an attempt at some real-life version of a bokeh effect when the light reflections get large and translucent. And they utilize that effect very heavily during the conversation Phaya and Tharn have out by the pool. Also in my previous post, I noted that outside of Tharn’s fantasies when there are romantic feelings, we get some type of more realistic unnatural lighting: in the bar bathroom, at the hot pot place, etc. and that trend continues here.

If you look at the lights behind Tharn and compare them to the lights behind Phaya, you will notice the top half of the lights behind Tharn have a light green color to them, and the bottom half of the lights behind Tharn has a pink tint to them. So that’s cool! Their effects are starting to come together before they kiss, and then we transition in to the sex scene and we are absolutely rich in color and bokeh effect the whole way through. 

But! While watching the scene I noticed something else, which I know others have as well (hey @chicademartinica) but I’ll talk about it anyway, and that’s how similar to reality Phaya and Tharn’s fantasies are. So, I guess it’s time for a scene breakdown (of sorts!)

Tharn’s Fantasy v. Tharn’s Reality

In Tharn’s dream, Phaya enters the bathroom and puts a hand around Tharn’s neck. In reality, they initiate at the pool and then bring it in to the bathroom, but worry not! Tharn still gets a hand at or near his throat multiple times in their first round.

In Tharn’s dream he and Phaya have their first sexual encounter in Tharn’s shower. Same thing happens in reality.

In Tharn’s dream, Phaya pins Tharn’s arm (and Tharn himself) against the glass, kissing his neck and shoulder. In reality, Phaya is facing a different direction but their arms are in almost exactly the same position.

And similarly, it may not be up against the glass like he did in his dream but, I’d say his first sexual encounter with Phaya is playing out surprisingly close to what he was hoping for.

Phaya’s Fantasy v. Reality

Where Tharn seeks more aggression, Phaya seeks more tenderness, and we see Phaya get that during his actual sexual encounter with Tharn. 

In Phaya’s dream, we see Tharn’s fingers curl slightly (like a claw) and drag down Phaya’s shoulder. In reality, we see Tharn’s fingers curl slightly (like a claw) and drag down Phaya’s back.

In Phaya’s dream, we get him sitting on Tharn’s lap so he is towering over Tharn, and Tharn’s face is closer to his dick. Tharn’s hand trails down Phaya’s side. What do we get in the real sex scene? Something extremely similar, but with Tharn a second away from having Phaya’s dick in his mouth.

In Phaya’s fantasy we get a great close up of Tharn’s hand on Phaya’s shoulder, with his fingers just meeting the edge of Phaya’s wing tattoo while Phaya kisses Tharn’s neck. What do we get in reality? Almost exactly the same action.

And I know we were all taking notes about how often Phaya’s hand went to the back of Tharn’s neck during the fantasy scene, but don’t worry, he does that in his actual sex scene with Tharn as well!

Now I don’t have time to look through all the gifs, or screenshot all the moments, but there is also a lot to be said for the way they kiss each other, the way they hold each other, and the areas of the body that Phaya and Tharn focus on that does seem to translate directly from both of their fantasies and ends up in their actual evening together. 

Which I absolutely love because of what it says about Tharn and Phaya’s connection to one another. To be fair, I haven’t paid all that much attention to the similarities and differences in fake out make outs before this show, and that’s probably because there haven’t always been stark/obvious similarities. I would typically assume though that if we saw a fantasy and then a reality that were incredibly balanced, obviously paralleled moments, that some sort of conversation would have to have been had about what people like, what they want, etc. (It isn’t a fantasy, but the FWB Negotiations in Bed Friend, Episode 3 come to mind when I think about Uea verbalizing that he doesn’t want hickies after King sucks on his thigh hard.) So we could sit here and claim that these two were vocal about what they wanted/what felt good in the moments in between cuts, the parts of this encounter that we as an audience aren’t seeing. But, I like my theory better. 

My theory, and this is almost certainly an extremely obvious theory and something they aren’t going to explicitly confirm, is that Phaya was able to fulfill Tharn’s fantasy, and Tharn was able to fulfill Phaya’s fantasy when they finally, actually fucked, because they are reincarnated lovers. This cannot possibly be the first time these two souls have um…come together as it were. I don’t remember if I said it in a post or not, but something I absolutely love about the way that Phaya and Tharn interact in their softer moments, is that so much of their physical interactions feel familiar yet unconscious. Tharn is trying not to fall for Phaya, yet his hand will immediately come up to stroke Phaya’s wrist when Phaya touches his cheek because they were lovers in another life. Tharn is trying not to fall for Phaya, yet he fits himself so easily in to Phaya’s arms when he’s asleep and his hand trails towards where it shouldn’t be, because they were lovers in another life. Tharn and Phaya are able to picture exactly what they’d get out of sleeping together and nail (haha) it immediately, because they were lovers in another life, they already knew what their partner wanted. 

#the sign #the sign the series #the sign ep 7 #phaya x tharn #tharn x phaya #phayatharn #tharnphaya #billybabe #idol factory #thai bl

[m-jelly]

hey! hope ure doing well!

can i get a fic where reader is a very well know supermodel, is maybe even in VS, and is like considered very badass and iconic...and shes dating levi, and shes in rwality, compared to how others see her (alluring, confident, etc...) is actually just a sweetheart and is very shy and kind?

(also! absolutely adore ur account and work, truly! i hope u continue doing what u do, whenever u post something, it instantly brightens up my day, believe it or not💕 ur work is a huge comfort for me and im sure it also is for many others🫂 u deserve every last bit of recognition, jelly!)

Thank you so much anon. I've been feeling very negative these days, so it means a lot to know you're enjoying what I make.

Behind the camera

Levi x fem!reader

Modern AU, fluff, romance, being a couple, model reader, no body specific reader.

Levi is a fashion designer and you are his personal model.

@ladycheesington @levisbrat25 @nyxiieluna @li-anne @galactict3a @youre-ackermine @thebobaprincess @2moth-anon2 @cypidity @nbinairyn @bts-spnlvr12 @darkstarlight82 @emilyyyy-08 @notgoodforlife @demonic-bird

Confidence rolled off you as you posed for the cameras. People commented that the clothes were just made for you, which they would be very right. Levi was the designer and every single thing on your body was made just for you.

You had started off as Levi's assistant, then he asked you to model his clothes because you inspired him and then he realised that you were so inspiring because he was madly in love with you. Levi confessed his love and you became a couple. Most would be shocked at Levi because it took you two about four months to become a couple.

Levi had moved fast, which wasn't like him. However, he knew he wanted you, he knew he loved you, he knew you were his forever and he wasn't just gonna let that slip through his fingers. Now you were a year into your love and he had already picked out a ring for your engagement, he just needed to set up a perfect day.

He made a few notes on your outfit and thought about something else he could dress you up in. He gave you a gentle smile as you posed in such an alluring way, it just drove him crazy with love. He could see you were enjoying yourself as you worked.

The photographer ended the shoot and showered you with praise. As soon as he started talking to you your true adorable nature came out. He shook your hand. "Thank you so much. It's been a joy working for you."

You felt your heart race. "R-Really? You're too kind. Umm. It was an honour to have you as a photographer. You're incredible. You make anything look beautiful." You fidgetted a little. "C-can I get you a drink or something to eat? You must be so tired."

He blushed at your words. "Oh, I'm okay, don't worry."

You hurried over to the small fridge. "I've got an ice cold water here or a diet coke?"

He chuckled. "A coke would do great."

You opened it and handed it over. "You should get some sugar in you too. Have a cookie."

"You are so sweet."

Levi made his way over to you and called your name. "Don't forget about yourself."

You gasped in shock. "Oh! You're right."

He opened a can for you and handed it over. "Drink this. You should also take a seat as well, okay?"

"Ah, but everyone..."

He ushered you to a comfy seat. "Focus on yourself, okay?" He knelt and slipped your heels off. "You're important." He massaged your feet. "It's a good job I'm very focused on you, otherwise you'd be very sick."

You hummed a laugh. "You care so much about me."

He leaned up and kissed you. "Of course. You're my world."

"You're mine. I wouldn't be doing this job if it weren't for you. I count my blessings every day."

He glided his hands up your leg. "Darling, you are more magical than you think." He smiled a little at you. "We're going out for dinner tonight. I'm going to take you to the place we went to on our first date."

You squeaked. "Yay! I love that place."

Levi took your hands and showered them with kisses. "I love it too. We'll make tonight special." Tonight was the night, he was going to ask you to marry him.

#levi ackerman #levi #aot levi #snk levi #aot fanfiction #fanfic #levi x y/n #levi fanfiction #levi x you #levi x reader #jelly fanfics #levi x yn #levi ackerman x y/n #levi ackerman x you #levi ackerman x female reader #levi ackerman x reader

[roodles03]

Hunter's Room (Fan Design)

It is about time I finally did this, now I can make so many drawing ideas come true with a room for Hunter designed. Also, for those who read my "Timeskip Watching and Dreaming AU" series of fanfics on A03, this is what Hunter's room looks like. This room is a room in Darius' house, so yippie Dadrius.

Alright, I know the doors can be confusing to let me break this down.

The door on the south wall with the small cuckoo clock like doors is the door to exit the room. I put cuckoo doors on the door because it's for Waffles.

The door that's on the wall that's jetting out is the door to the walk-in closet

And the the door on the west wall is the door to Hunter's private bathroom.

I originally wanted to do the entire Deamonne household at once, but, no way that would take forever. Maybe I'll do parts of it in the future but for right now, NO. If I did, I'd probably do Darius' room next and the living room after that.

This took such a long time to design, and it was my first time ever designing a background completely on my own. I needed to take off the training wheels and design my own background for once, and for my first attempt, I think I did a decent job.

The only thing that I couldn't add is a ceiling fan, but that was only because of the angles I had. I'm sure I could've if I had a different angle. Im going to have to design that separately.

This took since October 20th to finish, I probably could've got it done faster, but uni kept me busy and such. Either way, now that I've finished this, I can't wait to make drawings with this room. Yay!

Alright so: Tumblr exclusive content from here on out since insta has a stupid character limit, and their cropping system sucks

I'm gonna go on an infodump to why I decided to put almost everything here in Hunter's room.

North Wall:

Bed: I decided to make the headboard and footboard a cherry colored wood because Hunter would definitely like cherry wood because it's reddish. Referencing Willow's headboard that has a flower, I changed that into a bird for Hunter. I gave him a blue blanket in reference to Waffles. I headcannon that Hunter LOVES plushies, so I gave him some plushies I'd think he'd like. He'd definitely like squishmallows, so I gave him a blue-jay, cardinal, and wolf squishmellow. I also gave him a small wolf plush, as well as a small parrot plush and a peacock plush. The Sprig plushie is special, as it's not the same one as he had in the castle. It's a life-sized one Willow won him at a carnvial. (Reference to one of my fics).

Nightable: Nothing much to say here outside of the fact that I felt like Hunter would need one. I gave him a crystal ball because I felt like he'd like one.

Desk: This is where Hunter does work, from designing clothes to sew to studying for school. He has a log of regluar wood to practice carving on. (This room is set when Hunter is still a kid early during the WAD timeskip) He also has a punch a pencils, a desk lamp, and some books on there.

Corkboard: Hunter keeps notes for his school studies, and personal projects here. Sometimes he doodles things and puts them up there, such as the wolf and birds doodles.

Wall: Hunter would 100% be that person to have a trillion posters. I gave him a Flyer Derby poster, and a hummingbird poster. The Ruler's Reach poster is actually signed by King himself. Here's also a wolf calender, since I'd figured he'd like that, and a cuckoo clock that I headcannon Hunter and Dell carved together.

Bookshelf: On the bottom shelf, Hunter keeps a bunch of random books he likes.

On the second shelf, he has a photo of Flapjack, textbooks for his abominations and potions classes, and a photo of Willow

On the third shelf, he has textbooks for his illusions, construction, wild magic, plants, beastkeeping, and runes classes.

On the forth shelf, he has a photo of Darius, textbooks for his bard, oracle, and healing classes, and a photo of Waffles.

On the top shelf, he has his two favorite books of all time, Cosmic Frontier and Ruler's Reach, specially displayed with them propped up.

Jesus, that was by far the longest description we'll have.

East Wall:

Window: Hunter has a basic window with blue curtains. I originally wanted to make the curtains space themed for Cosmic Frontier, but then realized that would be a pain to draw over and over again, so I kept it blue. Maybe I can make Hunter's shower curtain space themed instead.

Other then that, there is nothing new on this wall that I'd like to cover. (I'd rather cover things that appear on other walls in their sections)

South Wall:

Wall: Hunter has two more posters on this wall. A Cosmic Frontier Poster. This is a reference in itself, where in Star Trek, the equivalent of O'Bailey has an asian wife that is a Bontonist, and that is sorta a parrel to Huntlow. So I decided to make a headcannon design for both O'Bailey, and the Bontonist I decided to rename to Aiko. So boom. Huntlow reference. The other poster is simply a wolf poster.

Box: This is pretty self explanatory. Its a box with sewing supplies.

Mannequin: Since Hunter sews, I'd imagine he'd like to have a mannequin to help make the clothing design process easier.

Table: This is the same sewing Machine from Thanks to Them, as Camila gave it to Hunter as a gift.

West Wall:

Outside of the door of the bathroom, there is nothing new on the west wall that I haven't already covered.

Bonus:

Here is the original blueprint for the entire Deamonne household. I could go from here and design every last aspect of the house, but that would take ages. I'd definitely like to, but its just so much work. Like I said, the next two rooms I'd design are Darius' room and the living room. Plus, Hunter's room was by definition going to he the hardest, since he has the most stuff and therefore detail in his room.

For when I wanted to focus solely on Hunter's room, I referenced the upstairs blueprint snd made a more detailed blueprint just for his room. As you can see, A LOT ended up changing from this to the final version.

#the owl house #the owl house fanart #the owl house hunter #hunter the owl house #hunter toh #toh hunter #hunter deamonne #hunter park #hunter noceda #dadrius #darius deamonne #Deamonne Household #Darius toh #toh darius #the owl house darius #darius the owl house #toh fanart

[pikahlua]

Pika Rambles about the new OP because why not

If there’s anything I’ve learned from season 6 of MHA, it’s that whatever Twitter’s reaction is to something, I’m likely to have the opposite reaction.

I’m not often one to go into my opinions on things in MHA I feel are “good” or “bad.” Sometimes it happens, but just generally I’ve been trained to read and analyze a lot of things without respect to whether or not I like them or agree with their philosophies. I’m usually trying to understand a story more than anything.

But OPs are a different matter.

I have a weird thing for OPs. I’ve watched many over the years, and in some cases even decided whether or not I would watch an anime based on its OPs. (I’ve also...made a lot of AMVs.) OPs are supplementary material that are opportunities for animators to showcase their creativity and their understanding of the story’s themes. For that reason, I’ll happily ramble about my love for MHA OPs 1-4 and 7 anytime (god, especially 7; I’ll never get over the candy apple sakuga).

This time, OP 11, the ramble isn’t a good one. “What? Really? But everyone agrees it’s the shiniest one yet! Is it just that weird Ochako shit they threw in there?” No, stock anon. It’s so much more than that.

I have opinions.

If you like OP 11...you may not want to read my thoughts under the cut.

I’m just gonna complain in list form from here have fun.

1. First, all the good: I like the song. I realize not everyone’s gonna like the song, but I happen to like it. I also like some of the OP, particularly the first bits of it before the title card drops. I think it’s a good use of some of the cover/non-story artwork Horikoshi drew during this arc. Except already saying that, I can’t help but notice a huge missed opportunity. This cover art would’ve made for an EXCELLENT theme in the OP:

It would’ve made up for the egregious lack of All Might too.

2. That title card is awful. Come on. They used to do fun things with the design or colors or something. This is just...weird effects that maybe will cause someone a seizure. It’s certainly not pleasing to the eye.

3. I don’t have a problem with the split screen bit. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible. Except the animation they give Ochako was basically already used in OP 8 so I don’t know what that’s all about.

4. All the Lady Nagant art is super lame sorry why do they repeat the same angle and pose twice? They could have used other camera angles at least, or even do something more with her younger self and angst? This is about as one-note as her actual role in the story (okay maybe it fits then).

5. I don’t need to complain about the weird ship bait that is the Ochako scene in the way everyone else already has done for me. I have a pressing urge to bring up though that Bones once again shows their lack of creativity here, and it feels like they have a vendetta against Ochako too. Where is her action shot? Her sakuga? There are plenty of moments from this arc that could’ve made a much nicer action shot here. Her smile is so weird because this whole arc she’s getting serious for Izuku’s sake and frowns at him a lot and stands up to him essentially. This feels like heroine-ization and it’s awful. Ochako does much more impactful and moving shit this arc than whatever the hell this is.

6. How dare you cheapen the hand-holding symbol of this series do you even know what the fuck is happening in this manga??? [clings to Iida’s leg]

7. The sakuga of Izuku swinging around is okay, probably the best part of the OP--except then we run into the Lady Nagant issue again

8. What the fuck is the weird white corpse from AoT doing here? What? What is that? Hello?

9. It needs to be said: the sakuga of Iida et. al. looks like absolute ass. I’m sick of fandom just salivating for nothing but sakuga while having absolutely no standards. “Action lines? Cool angles? Speedy animation? Yay it’s perfect!” No, seriously, if everyone’s gonna be so critical of the story and animation and pacing all the time, where’s your criticism of the actual sakuga? This shot looks awful and no one is talking about it. Not only do all the characters involved move awkwardly, you can’t even tell who they are. I wish we could have seen better highlights of the characters themselves, their faces even, including Shigaraki’s. YEAH THAT’S RIGHT. THEY’RE FIGHTING SHIGARAKI IN THAT SHOT. DID YOU EVEN NOTICE? YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT IT WAS IZUKU, RIGHT? SEE HOW DUMB THIS IS? IT MAKES NO SENSE FOR THAT TO BE SHIGARAKI EITHER, BUT IT IS. GO PAUSE A FRAME AND CHECK IT OUT. The special effects of their super attacks at the end also look like ass. This was the worst sakuga we’ve seen since the third movie and I am not impressed and I’m mad other people are.

10. Epilepsy colors Izuku is also terrible sakuga he’s so off-model it hurts I can’t stand watching this bit.

11. The Izuku+Tenko sequence is nice and a good show of creativity, and yet Izuku also looks off-model and I can’t stand how this is NOT the right season for this imagery. So that makes this a spoiler, basically? It doesn’t belong here. I like the subtle hint at the OFA star with the sun glare behind Izuku’s offered hand, but still this feels like they have no idea what this arc is about.

12. Exhibit #999999 that it feels like the animators have no idea what’s up with this arc: the ending image of Izuku doing the All Might fist in the air pose. Like, maybe it works if you read it as “he’s able to represent All Might because everyone else is there with him,” but it just doesn’t...feel right. It’s not earned based on the rest of the OP. Why couldn’t we just have them all be around the All Might statue? I don’t know what are you all even thinking when you draw this shit

#where is the consistency #the coherency #the actual themes of the arc #where is everything #ughhhh #anime only friendly #pika has opinions

[malicedafirenze]

so I finally got done watching S5 of The Dragon Prince and ghgnghghggngh why do I have such a mixed bag love hate relationship with this show (spoilers)

I want to love this show but there's so many things that just don't land and don't work, and yet here I am, hooked once again, because after 8 episodes of cringe humor and weird dialogue it fed me some crumbs of delicious Aaravos content.

I find so many of the accents so goddamn stilted and awkward. The french sun fire elves are the worst. I don't object to french-sounding elves in principle but dear lord does it sound unnatural and strained

SO much of the humor just does not land and the pacing of individual scenes is just ??? ATLA had some very kiddie humor here or there too, and I love the somewhat darker and more mature tone of TDP but jfc it feels like they need to hammer every joke home with so much time that you'd think they were planning for a laugh track

ep 8 and 9 were so much better than the whole rest of the season because once this show lets itself focus on action and drama, it's actually pretty fucking good, but for some reason you need to get through a first half season of awkward goofs.

Terry annoys me so much. Yay trans rep, but why the utterly random coming out out of nowhere (that was S04 I know but I watched it very recently okay) and his whole sounding like a therapist shit towards Claudia, like yes, it could be funny that this random wood elf does aroma therapy on his dark mage gf but everything somehow turns awkward in the execution

The library showdown was generally cool but the framing for why Amaya told them to leave without her was so fucking weird: you have this moment of Dragon Ex Machina, Zubeia wiping away the demon bears with ease, and then suddenly when Amaya is back in the frey after grabbing Bait, they're suddenly out of time and need to leave that instant??? Like I see what they were going for, obviously Zubeia was under real threat from the demon bears, but imo the framing/visualization of that threat did not work at all and I audibly went "WHY" at my screen at the random "you have to leave without me" thing.

That being said there's some shit that goes extremely hard and I'm here for it:

Rayla just fucking dismembering Claudia apparently wtf??

I enjoyed the sexy fish pirate man, I hope he survived getting eaten

I am an utter addict for Aaravos' voice and even the flashback repetitions in Janai's nightmares were legit enough to get my attention again

I am very excited for how someone is going to end up saving Viren's life against his will and I will gladly read fanfic of it

I had the 'our child' thing spoiled by being careless on tumblr but seeing it actually on screen was better than expected, love that for my OTP, toxic af parenthood is just what they needed

I really expected there to be more Aaravos since this show got renamed to Mystery of Aaravos false advertising smh.

They got creative with Dragon designs this season and I support that

out of all the things I found weird and cringe, I am 100% here for Zubaia getting randomly healed by a funky little gnome that calls himself the mushroom mage, 10/10 no notes

young viren hot

Rayla and Callum worked much better for me towards the end of the season when they got more comfortable with each other, love that for them, some delicious drama when the sexy fish man tortures them in front of each other, good for them, that's my shit

Considering all the things I liked about the last 2-3 episodes I feel nitpicky and weird for complaining about the first 7 or so but UGH it was a bit of a pain to get through them tbh. There is so much I deeply, deeply appreciate about what this show tries to do, as a high fantasy kids show with an overarching story, gorgeous visuals and explicit lgbtq and disability rep that I feel like an ass for complaining about it so much, but god damn there are so many things that are just unbearably cringe about it and OH MY GOD I just remembered the god damn "maybe you should express your love like a bee, here just move your tushy like that" scene holy FUCK can someone please give me an edit of this show with about three times the Aaravos screentime and all this second hand embarassment removed

#the dragon prince #tdp season 5 #tdp spoilers #tdp rant #viravos

[if-music-be-the-food-of-love]

Rewatching Kinnporsche is like:

First time: ew Vegas.

Second time: ooooh he’s pretty. I love him. I want him to run off into the sunset with Pete. He deserves his happy little family and a partner who’s into his kinks.

***

First time: Pete is such a goofy weirdo. I love him tho.

Second time: He’s a badass, omg. Pete sees things. He owns the bodyguard shared brain cell and only lends it out when necessary.

***

First time: vegaspete? wtf? this makes no sense. When?

Second time: ohhh Pete’s been fighting his attraction for awhile. Shiiiiiit. I mean. He almost melted into a puddle when Vegas touched his clothed back. And some of those looks he flashes Vegas in ep 10? Damn.

***

First time: vegaspete. I don’t get it. I don’t get it. But I don’t have to get it. That’s okay. I love them.

Second time: I still don’t get it, but I can see how it works now. I love them so much, and when they’re soft together, I fall to pieces. Pete’s afterglow smile, istg, how are we supposed to survive that? I’m melting.

This is some fucking romance right here.

***

First time: Vegas is evil and manipulative (and yes, much of that is caused by his father and the animosity between the families, but it’s not an excuse).

Second time: He’s much more complicated than that. It’s still not okay, but there’s so much more depth and nuance there than I originally thought. He’s trying to please an unpleasable father in a situation that is designed to make him fail, and somehow, somehow, this is his fault. He can’t win. No one expects him to win. No one wants him to win. No one has ever supported him. No one sees him. No one sees how he’s been formed by this toxicity. No one recognizes that he is also a victim.

Except Pete. And that leads to…

***

First time: Does Vegas actually care about Pete? After hitting on/trying to seduce everyone else, how genuine are his feelings? Can we trust this?

Of course, it’s answered in ep 14, especially when he turns around…his face, wow. Yay for genuine, but—

Second Time: It was obvious much sooner than that. He’s so vulnerable around Pete. He lets his guard down, which is why Pete can see through the bullshit. The soft smiles when no one is looking (that one when he’s reading while Pete eats his noodles, just damn. That smile is for himself alone. There’s no one to impress or convince or manipulate. It’s fucking real. MY HEART).

Cooking for Pete. Listening to him, actually hearing his words and taking them to heart. Allowing Pete to comfort him. It’s so obvious in the journey of his facial expressions. Vegas is IN LOVE, and (the part that makes me lose my mind)—

It’s bc Pete doesn’t want anything from him. He’s literally powerless, and he asks for nothing. Everyone needs/uses Vegas for their owns means. He’s a weapon, a tool for others, someone expendable. Pete wants nothing and yet HE OFFERS COMFORT ANYWAY. Pete’s actions are so selfless that they take Vegas so completely by surprise he doesn’t know what to do with himself. Vegas has found someone he can trust, who loves him, and is into his kinks. With that onslaught, he doesn’t stand a chance.

And that’s why this moment is so huge!

Bc once again, EVERYONE wants something from him. He has nothing left to give. He’s willing to let Pete go bc he loves him, BUT Pete, who has never wanted anything from him, doesn’t give a shit about that. He wants Vegas. That’s all. That’s enough.

And I’m so emotional about it, omfg. Never gonna recover from this. THE ROMANCE. screaming crying throwing up. tears everywhere.

(Side note: just what a master class of acting these episodes are for Bible, geez).

***

First time: Vegas better be the bestest best boyfriend to ever boyfriend or the combined major and minor family (and me) will be coming after him. Pete deserves the world.

Second time: still same, haha. (Only perhaps even more vehemently)

***

Is it too much to ask for domestic, happy vegaspete with no violence or manipulation in season 2?

#well this got out of control and is significantly longer and less funny than I planned #oops my emotion ran away with me but seriously how can they not? #kinnporsche #vegaspete #soft vegaspete makes me melt #kinnporsche rewatch #I’m probably gonna do a kinnporsche one bc I love those romcom idiots so much

[mediocre-daydreams]

(ch. 1) wild heart | bucky barnes x reader

dreams unwind

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

summary: bucky barnes isn’t sure what to think of you. all he knows is that he can’t stop thinking about you. his heart beats a little faster, his breathing does a double take, and he can’t resist the urge to flirt. still, he has to swallow down his nerves—a woman hasn’t made him nervous in years. now that you’re moving in, he’ll have much more time to figure out his feelings.

warnings: a few swears, bucky being an indecisive fuck, a lot of establishing storyline (i swear things pick up FAST after this and there’s so much more bucky x reader)

w/c: 2.3k

all your life, you’ve never seen a woman

taken by the wind

would you stay if she promised you heaven?

will you ever win?

tony stark’s office was eccentric, to say the least. you’d walked in and seen him laying on his stomach atop an expensive looking rug, rubbing his temple and immediately after, downing a redbull. when he heard you and wanda enter, he jumped from his position to come shake your hand. he had a firm grip, the kind that only people who are completely assured in themselves have.

“so! you’ve made it to our abode without anybody dying!” tony threw up jazz hands. “yay!” wanda smiled awkwardly and patted your shoulder, whispering “good luck” before stranding you with the unpredictable billionaire. tony motioned to a couple of brightly colored beanbag chairs in a corner of the office, and you took a seat across from him. you wondered how much they cost.

“with all due respect—which i know sounds like i’m discrediting how much respect you deserve and that’s not my intention at all; i just can’t think of a better phrasing on the spot—” you fumbled, feeling a pit of anxiety building in your stomach as you looked past tony’s tinted glasses into his emotionless eyes. “why am i even here? i mean, your driver cheery-”

“happy.”

“-your driver happy kind of just told me to get in and then flashed me a business card and then i was semi-kidnapped to somewhere on the outskirts of the state and you have to admit, that’s pretty creepy.”

tony finally cracked a smile, pushing his glasses down his nose and making eye contact with you over the frames. “i see… yeah, i didn’t think about that one. FRIDAY! make a note that next time we try and contact someone, don’t have happy pick them up in a black limo. try… uh, an ice cream truck?” he looked back at you after finishing his request. “so yeah, about this whole thing.

“i’m not really sure why you’re here either. don’t get me wrong, i’m sure you’re super cool and stuff, and i’m already loving your vibes—nice shirt, by the way—but one of our agents noticed a strange pattern in… how should i say this… accidents, where the only constant factor was you. don’t worry, we weren’t stalking you or anything. i mean, we didn’t go as far as investigating your social security number, but yeah, we’ve got quite a bit of dirt on ‘ya.”

at the sight of your face and your slightly opened mouth, tony backtracked. “i’m kidding! totally joking. we did track your life all the way from your hometown, though. i’m sure you’re sick of people coming at you with stuff like this, but i promise you, we’re not here to interrogate or arrest you or anything like that. fuck the police.

you might know this guy, bruce banner? tall, green, the hulk?” you nodded, still shellshocked, and tony continued. “yeah, well sometimes he’s also dr. banner, a scrawny, nerdy dude with lab goggles. he’s actually been studying the balance of chance; why are some people born into power and some into poverty, or if somebody is predisposed to have a preference for pineapple on pizza, etc. to be honest, i don’t really get it, but he’s fascinated by your life. he said something like ‘genetically designed’ and then ‘reciprocity of circumstance’ and yada yada yada. so, what i’m trying to say is, do you want to stay with us for a bit? banner swears there’s something more to you than just ‘bad luck,’ and i’m inclined to believe the same. if you don’t have enough incentive, i can pay you! obviously, i wouldn’t make you pay rent, but i’m sure we could figure out an interest rate for some sort of allowance. or, if you’d prefer, i can do a single deposit, but i’m sure pepper can figure out a steady payment system or-”

“yes.” you interrupt. “yes, i’ll do it. you don’t have to convince me. it’s a win-win. i get to live in a billionaire-funded complex and you get to run your little theories by me. i do have one request though: can i have toasted almond ice cream? that’s my one demand. other than that, when can i move in?”

tony stares at you for half a second and blinks incredulously. then, he laughs. “i like you! oh, i like you a lot. everyone in this tower needs to loosen up a bit. it’s been forever since someone’s come to me with a demand like that. you know, the last person i spoke with tried to get me to sign a multi-million dollar contract? it was 8 in the morning! they scheduled to meet so early and then they expected me to read all those words? puh-lease. they’re already lucky i hit the snooze button once.”

tony cleared his throat, tapping around on his watch. he swiped until making a final definitive tap which called up a translucent projection in front of him. zooming in and reading and doing things outside of your technological understanding, he nodded with satisfaction.

“right! you can move in, like, right now if you want. i can send happy to get whatever stuff you want, and i’m sure wanda or someone else would be more than happy to give you a tour. FRIDAY? make sure wanda’s still available. if not, pester steve next.” tony tilted his head towards you, examining the newest resident of the avengers compound. “welcome home. we’re doing game night at 9 today, if you want to join. dress code is patterned pajama pants.”

with that, he ushered you out of his office towards the elevator that you had originally taken. wanda was nowhere in sight, and you cursed yourself for not establishing a clearer plan with her. where the fuck were you supposed to go? sure, you were technically part of the compound now, but nobody else knew that. you prayed that you wouldn’t be shot by some SHIELD agent or avenger who thought you were an intruder.

the elevator ride was much shorter than you had hoped, and once the doors opened, you were no longer safe and hidden in your bubble. the floor that you had been on previously, with the gym, was deserted. after exploring, you found that it was mostly comprised of spare training equipment, a couple of changing rooms and showers, and a kitchenette stocked with things like protein powder and kale and things you’d never eat.

the next few floors yielded little promise. there were a couple of trainees who looked at you funny and then a conference room where people in business clothes were aggressively “negotiating” across a table. it took four floors before you found wanda.

“wanda! holy shit, where were you? i just met tony and he’s… so wow, and i’m so confused and lost and-”

wanda flipped around, abandoning her conversation with a silver-haired man who looked at the new interrupter as well. she beamed at the sight of you.

“you’re back! FRIDAY told me how it went; i’m so happy for you! i wish—and i mean i really, really wish—i could finish that tour, but pietro and i—he’s my brother,” wanda stopped and shoved pietro’s head playfully. “—are going to pick up a present for steve. it’s his 108th birthday next week and we’re throwing him a surprise party, and now that you’re here, you can totally help out! it’ll be so great. don’t mention it to him, though!”

you chewed your lip nervously. knowing your luck, if the surprise party managed to stay a surprise at all, the candles would probably explode or the presents would go missing or some other very unfortunate event. you didn’t tell that to wanda though.

“anyways, steve knows you’re here and he’ll probably come around in a few min- oh, there he is!” wanda waved energetically to the smiling supersoldier, who stuck out a hand. unlike tony, steve’s handshake was strong, but it was a comforting squeeze as he shook your hand a few times with respect.

“hi. steve rogers. it’s nice to meet you; you’re our new resident, right?” steve’s smile was bright and comforting, and you quickly fell into a comfortable conversation with him.

“that’s me! honestly, i- well, this is all so… new? terrifying? potentially a horrible idea?” you shook your head with a breathless laugh. “but i’m so grateful for this opportunity. i’m not totally sure what opportunity that is, actually, but i figure there must be something special going on if i’ve been invited here.”

steve laughed. “you know, i think you’re going to fit right in. we could use a fresh face and some new perspective around here; there haven’t been many global level threats recently and we’re all getting bored.”

you looked at him, perplexed.

“just kidding.” he sighed, surveying the room before looking back at you. “i’m supposed to give you a tour, right? i’m thinking we can check out the rooms first, before everyone gets back from training and starts getting cranky.”

steve’s bedroom was one of the neatest you’d ever seen. well, it was pretty simple in the first place, but his sheets were well tucked and his desk organized, with small books lined neatly on the shelf above and paintbrushes displayed in an orderly fashion on the wall.

“i’m gonna be honest, it looks like a display house in here.” you took a couple tentative steps around the room as steve pointed out some of the standard amenities.

“we’ve all got these bathrooms; they’re not anything fancy, but there’s a shower—the water pressure’s good, if i do say so—and you can find bigger things on the 10th floor where the gym is; there’s a spa-like place there. it’s got a great hot tub.

“i get pretty good sunlight but most rooms have at least one window, and technically there’s ‘standard furniture’ but basically everyone replaces it with their own-”

a loud crashing of steve’s bedroom door made you jump and steve froze mid-monologue.

“it’s you!” you met the same blue eyes from the gym, the eyes that were full of apology after slamming you into a wall—which you were still sore from, thank you very much.

“me? what’s- oh. yeah, it’s me,” the man scratched his neck shyly. “yeah, i’m bucky. barnes. sorry about that, again.”

steve looked at bucky with a hint of annoyance, but couldn’t help but brighten at his friend’s appearance. “bucky, we’re kind of in the middle of something.”

bucky raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. he cracked his neck, and it was as if that flipped a switch into an entirely new persona. “is that so? you bringing home girls this early now?” bucky chuckled, a deep, rich sound. “i hope i didn’t interrupt anything… intimate.” he smirked, watching a sly stretch of pink paint itself across steve’s cheeks. that’s what you get for your comment at the gym.

“n-no, we’re not- no, i’m just giving a tour. this is our new compound resident, so behave yourself, buck.” steve shot bucky a warning look, not interested in throwing you headfirst into bucky’s antics after you’d just absorbed the news.

“can’t i tag along, stevie?” bucky drawled, stalking closer to you. far gone was the man you’d met at the gym, flustered and off-guard. this bucky barnes was cocky, seductive, and straightforward. his chest was only a few inches from yours and he looked down upon your confused expression with amusement. “i can’t let a pretty bird like this get away from me, can i?” bucky broke his gaze and his attention snapped back to steve, where they exchanged a silent conversation you couldn’t understand.

“alright, bucky. you can join us, but no distractions, okay? i want to be done before dinner.”

she is like a cat in the dark

and then she is the darkness

she rules her life like a fine skylark

when the sky is starless

“so what’s up with barnes?” natasha was leaned over the counter gossiping with steve.

“i don’t know, he’s been so out of sorts today. you know how he can be around women, but it’s kind of like whiplash. you should’ve seen him this morning, nat. he slammed the gym door on her and freaked out, but then all of a sudden he’s hitting on her in my own bedroom!” steve groaned, hiding his face in his hands. “i mean, she is quite attractive, but-”

“but what, steve?” bucky had snuck in just in time to hear the end of steve’s declaration. “but you want me to stop? you’re the one who encouraged this.”

steve sighed. “i wasn’t expecting you to go ‘all out.’ you seemed to like her, that’s all. but i don’t understand why you jump between personalities around her; it’s a little unnerving, buck.”

“i’m not- what are you talking about? she just caught me off guard a couple of times, that’s all. it’s not as if i like her, or anything. she’s just… interesting, that’s all. i mean, apart from tony, we know nothing about her. am i not allowed to be curious?”

natasha snorted. “you’re not curious, bucky. you’re into her. there’s a clear difference, and you know it. drop the whole ‘you’re so mysterious and i want to get to know you’ act. that’s you. she’s adjusting to living with the most infuriating people on this planet, and i don’t care if you’re going through a personality crisis right now, but she doesn’t need to be pestered by your womanizing.”

“natasha’s right, bucky. you have every right to feel how you do, but right now she needs consistency. you have to make up your mind about her. are you curious, or are you willing to commit to really liking her?”

bucky examined steve’s face but found no trace of humor. consistency? i can do consistency.

❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

lyric explanation:

all your life, you’ve never seen a woman taken by the wind

the goddess rhiannon rides a white horse with such speed that nobody can catch up to her. a prince falls in love with her and chases her for days, before calling out and asking her to stop. rhiannon stops and tells him “gladly, and it would’ve been much easier if you had asked sooner.”

would you stay if she promised you heaven? will you ever win?

in celtic mythology, a god cannot marry a human or they will lose their supernatural powers. (will reader sacrifice her independence and comfort to embrace an unknown and a relationship with bucky?)

she is like a cat in the dark, and then she is the darkness

a black cat, associated with bad luck, is almost invisible in the dark. but black cats are not always a negative association; cats are also a symbol of the goddess and represent independence. the blackness of the cat bleeds into the darkness of the night; even unintentionally, the cat cannot help but influence the world around it.

❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

comment to be added to my taglist!

series masterlist | main masterlist

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky fic #bucky imagine #bucky x reader #bucky x female reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fluff

[cooltrainererika]

I drew Alt-talia Japan, China, and Father Korea

I decided I should start redesigning how I draw the characters, taking into account facial features from the countries in question; while I’ve done this before with my previous redesigns, I’ve looked more into it, took note of more stuff, and I wanted to see what the Asians would look like with this in mind too. It would help give the characters more distinct faces and all that, helping alleviate Hima’s Same Face Syndrome a bit. So almost all art I’ve done so far is now out of date lol. Also I wanted to see how short-haired modern Alt-talia China might actually look like, and I wanted to give Father Korea a design already. I maybe I should have drawn this in time for @hwsasiaweek , but whoops… Maybe I’ll submit it next year.

Despite me giving them these unique traits though, I wanted most of all to keep the resemblance to the original. Hence why I keep the anime pseudo-Hima style; if I deviated from the style too much they might be unrecognizable, I’d have to remove iconic parts of their design. Maybe it might clash with some of the subject matter I tackle, but whatever.

I’m most proud of Japan here! I was worried if changing his eyes, an iconic part of his design, would change him a bit too much, but I was able to keep them big and weird-looking. He looks almost cat-like for some reason. I wanna pinch his cheeks, he’s so cute. Pretty fitting for modern Japan’s image I must say.

I read somewhere that tareme eyes may be more common in Japanese people than other East Asians, and while idk if that’s true, it definitely fit Japan for him to be the only Eastern Asian with tareme eyes, counteracting the sharper effect more upward slanted eyes give, though them being more big and round definitely help too.

China… I fixed and adjusted him possibly the most, and I had many versions of him. I changed so much about him, the eye shape, the hair, even the eye color. Though I did heavily reference that one pic Hima drew of short-haired China. So I was worried if he still resembled China, but according to a lot of my friends he still does, so woo! The other thing I paid attention to was his androgyny; it’s a bit important to his character, so I wanted to keep it even with his shorter hair. I was also worried if he looked too “white” but my mother suggested that was just the suit. I tried a lot to keep these aspects in mind, and finally came up with a result I was somewhat satisfied with.

I drew him in a suit because I write Modern!China as a pragmatic businessman type; though I might draw him in something more traditional sometimes, I’d probably be drawing Modern!China like this often. The tsurime eyes definitely compliment the personality I give him. I debated letting him keep his amber eyes, and I darkened them, but they still look amber. Amber eyes apparently exist in East Asia and golden eyes could represent how special he was back in the day, so it fits I guess, so he still has sort of amber eyes.

Still, something feels missing without the ponytail…

Father Korea/Goryeo/Joseon/Korean Empire (though this is him during the Joseon era in particular) finally has a design! Yay! So people who read Student of China can finally have a face to put on him. Though he’d usually have his hair up, so he’d actually rarely be seen like this unless he’s going to bed or is about to take a bath or something. I’ll draw him with his hair up and hat on later.

I was split between giving him facial hair or nah, I just wasn’t quite sure on his age; but because a friend told me to keep the version with facial hair, I chose this one and to make him older. Pretty much all the Joseon reenactors aged, like, 30-50 I saw seemed to have this same exact mustache and beard, so I only assumed it was a thing. I was going for a DILF with this design and from the feedback I got it looks like I succeeded lol. I also tried copying South Korea’s face shape exactly, and had to use quite a bit of Photoshop to get it just right because my initial line work wasn’t quite right.

The stray hair may curl up or down depending on his mood; if he’s very excited for example it may curl up like South Korea’s hair curl, and if he’s depressed it may curl down like North Korea’s. I’m not exactly sure on this detail though because it might come across as Narm-y in serious scenes.

#hetalia redesign #hws japan #hws China #hws Korea #hws Joseon #alt-talia #alttalia

[writing-with-gremworm]

Train Wreck Pup, Adopted

Here's a little thing I wrote based on a TikTok I saw a while back. Crewel was the first character I thought of, so I decided to make a very indulgent fanfic chapter based on the concept. It's a modern AU and Ren, the Insert/reader, meets him on a train. This is probably the longest piece of singular writing I'll post for a long time, but oh well.

Notes:

Crewel is a platonic/filial Soft!Yandere

Epel, Vil, and Neige show up in the latter half.

Non-Canon characters feature prominently.

This follows Indulgent FanFic tropes

Non-Canon Yanderes are included

This Universe has a fairly high density of Yanderes even if they don't showcase such features in the segment of the story.

Inclusion of a character sibling

TW: Yandere (In the latter half), Swearing, Mild Violence

“An E-Mail? Was I denied entry into the event? … Woah, Woah! I got in!! I still need a few more designs, but I can start actually putting some of these looks together in the frenzy! This is so cool.” I hop up from my chair and twirl around a few times, stopping and excitedly shaking my hands. “Yay! Oh, shoot- I need to leave tonight- Thank you organizers for the free ticket. But aaaahhh rushed prep time!” I add after glancing back at the E-mail.

Before long I’m out the door with a suitcase in one hand and my sketchbook in the other ready to board the train. While waiting for the train I open my phone and glance at the rules for the Flash Forward Frenzy fashion event

“Oh right, I should message Vera later. I can do that on the train. Rules first.” I mumble.

The event surrounded using old materials to create new looks. Clothes that were maybe used once and thrown away were collected to be used and made into outfits we could wear. The event itself was a massive hit, it was always fun to watch people create incredible things out of the most unexpected materials. But it was an even more exciting time this year since the esteemed Divus Crewel, Vil Shoenheit, and Neige LeBlanche were going to be there as guest stars designing alongside smaller names like myself.

I am well aware of the fact that I’m unlikely to run into big-name figures like Divus or Vil, but I’m excited to see their works regardless. Vil is also a prominent actor, so I’m certain that his presentation of works will have an air of drama and intrigue. My designs aren’t going to be as glamorous, but they will be different and interesting. I’m confident that they’ll fill in someone else’s niche desires if nothing else. Luckily the rules don’t say anything again the use of magic to process fabrics. Given this, I can use my ability to create a base from the drawings I’ve already made and the necessary fabrics and thread, which are provided for the event. I can only do this once or twice per day for extremely complex ideas due to the amount of magic it takes. I don’t want to risk an over-blot from excess magic use on stage, so I’ll save magic for my most intricate piece.

My thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of the train. The ride is twelve hours with various stops between here and the Glamour Isle. Needless to say, I have plenty of time to work on more concepts while I’m on the train. After about two hours someone sits next to me, but I don’t look at them since I’m busy and that could be rude. At some point in time, I hear a familiar disapproving sigh from their general direction. I ignore it at first to finish my sketches and notes for a piece from my fantasy set.

“Why does it sound so familiar though?” I mumble to myself before glancing over to where I heard the sigh. It feels like my face should contort in surprise when I realize who it is, but surprisingly I just stare blankly for a moment before shaking my head.

“Ah sorry for staring.” I quickly mumble as Divus Crewel of all people looks back at me and smiles with a tinge of concern, “You must be on your way to Glamour Isle too then?” I mumble awkwardly. I already knew that he was going in that direction, but I didn’t know what else to say since I had already begun to engage in a, perhaps one-sided, conversation.

“You don’t plan on wearing something like that in Glamour Isle do you?” Divus asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah, I mean I think this is fine? My work is going to be center stage with everyone else’s, I don’t really need to stand out, just my work does.”

“My my, and you have such an interesting design palette too. A pup like you would do well with proper grooming. No show dog looks scruffy on stage my dear, and neither should you.” Did he compare me to a show dog? Wait, he’s actually talking to me? I mean he’s belittling my pathetic messy dad aesthetic, but like, he’s talking to me?

“Ah- well. Yes. You’re correct, but in the case of show dogs, the stage is set for them to display their obedience, finesse, and beauty. I don’t see how this correlates to me specifically when a fashion show is about fashion and its resonance with the models and crowd. But I appreciate the compliment. I’m quite proud of my capabilities and I’m excited to share them.” I start a little nervous before settling into a matter-of-fact tone.

“Little pup, fashion is about far more than just aesthetics. Appearance has a larger impact than you may realize. As an aspiring designer, it’s important to note the politics as well.”

“I suppose that makes sense. Thank you for the advice. I’ll make sure to keep it in mind.” I say with a small smile. I look back at my work and sketch for a bit longer before giving my hands a break and doing quick hand exercises. I can’t help but glance over at Divus a couple of times after that just to see if he’s still judging my fashion or whatever caught his attention before. This was starting to feel like a dream. For one, no one was approaching Divus Crewel which is unusual, but he was sitting next to me to attend the same event which meant he might take a closer look at my work. Around the four-hour mark, Divus spoke to me again.

“It’s good to be serious about your work, but you still have a couple of days until the event takes full swing. For now, you should rest or you’ll be exhausted when you reach the Isle. Pups that exhaust themselves needlessly miss playing with their owners.” He chimes leaning back leisurely but still exuding elegance and an air of authority.

“I’ll be fine. But thank you for your concern.” I say after a small pause allowing me to process what just happened.

“There aren’t going to be many passengers in this train car. That can quell your concerns about taking up space or being a bother if that is what holds you back.” Divus states confidently.

“Ah, well that is one thing. But I’ve always had difficulties sleeping in moving vehicles. I can close my eyes and drift a bit, but any unusual movement or stop will jolt me awake. I’m not sure how much that little bit of rest would help haha.” I explain after a few moments of silence. I didn’t want to lie to him or come up with something that he could feasibly change for me that I just didn’t realize. I already felt like I was accruing debt by talking to him quite frankly.

“Have you ever ridden this train before? I think you’ll find that you can hardly tell when it has stopped.” I think back to earlier when the train stopped and Divus walked onto the train. He was right, it had not been super noticeable. In fact, it was so difficult to tell that I almost didn’t realize anyone got on until he sat next to me.

“Huh, I guess you’re right. I didn’t really notice when the train stopped to let you on. I mean, of course, the sound stopped, but there was enough other white noise from the lights and other cars that it didn’t register.” Though of course now I was far more worried about bothering the Divus Crewel rather than actually being tired. Naturally, I didn’t want to say that out loud though, it might be irritating. He must have noticed somehow though because his next words were:

“Don’t concern yourself with bothering me. I was the one who suggested you rest. You should simply follow my instructions like an obedient pup. I’ll even set an alarm for you if you’re a good boy.” What followed was an amused chuckle as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. I open my mouth to speak but instead let out a sigh and mumble a small thank you and smile before placing my sketchbook on my lap and leaning back in my seat. Divus stifles another laugh but the tapping indicates he really did set a timer for me. It’s strange to be so pampered by a celebrity. Though honestly, I doubt we’ll chat much after this, I didn’t even give him my name.

– Somehow I manage to fall asleep. I even begin to dream. Once in a while, I have vivid dreams that I recall after waking up. This already felt like one of them because I knew I was dreaming. “Oh good boy, you’re here on time. I wanted to introduce you to one of my students. I’m sure you’re well aware of who he is so there is no need for me to elaborate.” Divus states with a flourish of his hand gesturing to the Vil Shoenheit. “Ah, Vil Shoenheit, of course, why wouldn’t it be? It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Ren.” I mumble tiredly with a little wave. Vil crosses his arms and places a hand on his chin thoughtfully. “I see, I can salvage this, no, I will polish it into a diamond.” Vil nods lightly with an expression revealing he is already planning my demise. I mean my prettification. “Salvage? Polish? Wait- Divus- Sorry Crewel, did you want me to meet him to fix my wardrobe?” “You catch on quite quickly. But there’s a bit more to it than that. You’ll be working together on a project I have in mind. I expect only the best from you pups.” “Wait what?” Vil and I ask at the same time. Then the dream just ends. –

I wake up to the sound of quiet chatter and the alarm.

“Good evening,” I mumble groggily before sitting up. It takes me a moment to realize that sitting up means I either fell over or leaned over in my sleep, “Ah I’m sorry, I usually don’t move much in my sleep so I didn’t expect to fall over or anything.” I mumble apologetically.

“Perhaps you should have laid down from the beginning. You’d be less likely to hit your head that way. But you did sleep, so good boy. We’ll be arriving at the next stop in about half an hour.” Crewel informs me.

“Haha, yeah maybe. Ah, thank you.” I mumble before noticing my sketchbook isn’t in my hands, “Wait where did it go?” I mumble looking around before noticing that Crewel was holding it. I feel my face flush out of embarrassment. I doubt he looked through it, but I can’t help but feel a little bit flustered that he could have.

“I did look through a couple of designs,” Oh no, “They’re quite intriguing. I expect only the best from you during the event.” Oh no he looked through them. But he liked them so that’s good. But also why did he look through them? “I don’t think I caught your name earlier.” He adds with an expectant smile.

“Oh um- I’m Ren. I’m already familiar with you and your designs, it would be more surprising if I wasn’t. I’m glad you have such high expectations for me, it’s quite the compliment. Though I’m not sure I’ll match them. Thank you Crewel.” I say quickly, stumbling over my words a few times and rubbing the back of my neck.

“So that’s how you gathered I would be going to Glamour Isle as well. I’m a little surprised you didn’t ask for my autograph or bombard me with questions considering you ended up in my train car.”

“Wait- your train car?” I mumble before thinking things over, “Oh, OH, that’s why you said no one else would be here, no one else was supposed to be here. I can’t believe I just barged in I’m so sorry, you could have asked me to leave. I didn’t mean to invade your personal space.”

“Calm down little pup. Had I wanted you to leave I would have instructed you to do so. If you weren’t obedient I would have gotten them to take the rabid pup away.” Crewel states a bit amused, gesturing to the other figures in the train car.

“Ah right, they must have been your people then, or otherwise people with the association running the event to ensure your comfort. But I was here for two hours before you. Why didn’t they just ask me to leave then?”

“You’re not exactly intimidating, you’re also a child are you not?”

“Um … I’m not a child, actually I’m 20.”

“You are? Then you’re a bit older than most of my other pups, though your height wouldn’t give that away. You may be even shorter than Riddle. No matter, you weren’t a threat, and it’s clear you’re more interested in work than causing trouble.”

“Still though …” I start before thinking it over. Had they wanted me to leave this car they’d have taken me out. So I guess I had accidentally gotten permission to be here. Additionally, this chance encounter was going to be one of the most memorable meetings, so I’m not really upset about being here.

“Well since you were fine with it, thank you for letting me stay. It’s a lot quieter than the other cars would have been I’m sure.” I mumble with a small smile before opening my phone to review the E-Mail again. The organizers had established a room I would be staying in as well, which was awesome and unlike any other event I had attended.

“Do you know where the Glamrock Hotel is?” Crewel asks before I can look it up.

“Ah, no I’ve never been to Glamour Isle for an event before, so I don’t know where anything is actually,” I admit rubbing my neck again.

“Well as a teacher I suppose I should guide you,” Crewel states a bit amused with the strange logic he’d presented me.

“Uh- well I guess technically that would be accurate. You’re being quite generous. Hm, you said earlier to think about politics, what exactly do you gain from helping me? Not that there has to be an ulterior motive, but I am curious.”

“You catch on quite quickly little pup. Though I’m not asking for anything but your time at this moment. Additionally, If you meet my expectations like a well-trained pup, I’ll be in touch after the event.” Crewel says with an amused grin. I wasn’t sure why he was so amused, but I was certainly pumped to make the most beautiful set of outfits I could muster. The last half an hour felt like it flew by. Somehow I was making small talk with Divus Crewel in what I now knew was technically his private train car with trained mages around us. It was fantastical in nature and my heart was beating like crazy.

After we arrived on the Isle, Crewel accompanied me to the hotel because we were going to stay at the same hotel. It was strange but so cool. Admittedly if he was anyone else I would be wondering if he was trying to groom me, the negative kind, not taking care of myself grooming. But Crewel is well known to be skilled and generous, and his gestures were by no means romantic or sexual in nature, if anything it was like he was going to adopt a new puppy. Also, he had set up a number of events and attended even more as a guest and he did not tolerate nonsense. Had I bothered him, it’s possible I wouldn’t be in Glamour Isle, I’d be home.

Either way, when I made it to my room I smooshed my face into a pillow and let out sounds of pure excitement before pacing around my room and flapping my hands in excitement.

“Aaaahhh, I can’t believe the Divus Crewel spoke to me. This is awesome, I’m so nervous but excited for how this event is going to turn out oh my god.”

Since I slept on the train I wasn’t very tired so I decided to work on my designs a bit more and do some extra research before going to bed. When I did sleep I ended up having the same dream as before. I woke up early and reviewed the E-Mail again to make sure that I was keeping the dates organized in my head.

After taking a shower and changing into something slightly less dad-core, but still technically awful, I hear a knock on my door. I blink a few times before checking the peephole.

“!” I silently scream seeing the Divus Crewel on the other side. I quickly open the door before he knocks again and he grimaces upon seeing me.

“I couldn’t erase your disaster of a wardrobe from my mind, We’re going to fix … this. At least temporarily.” Crewel motions to all of me.

“Oh thanks, I’m so glad you remembered me for dressing like an unfashionable dad. But this is about the best I have in my suitcase. Wait, is this what you meant by asking for my time?” I admitted frowning a bit and looking over my outfit. It really wasn’t that bad, even normal one might say. Despite the dad-core vibes, it was definitely wearable.

“How astute an observation. Grab some of the clothes you aren’t attached to and come along little pup, this is going to be a very busy day.”

He was right of course. As soon as I followed him out of my hotel room I could tell he would be. He listed the plans for the day in order. It was kind of nice to be doted on in a weird sort of way. Though I was confused as to why I had Crewel’s attention at this point. There was no way he would actually keep in contact and introduce me to Vil Shoenheit after the event. It was just a weirdly realistic dream after all. Things are just weirdly lining up like that might be at all possible when I’m sure it is just Crewel being kind. Yes, just kindness.

Following that, our busy day started by heading to breakfast followed by a trip to the hair salon. After my hair was tidied up, though still the same hairstyle, we went to a number of different stores. All of them were sustainable and gave store credit for every item you traded in. Once he’s established the style I was comfortable with we found a few different outfits that looked good scattered throughout various stores. Each of the pieces could be rearranged, but they were notable on their own. Each pairing made a different feeling and it was very clear that some enhanced aesthetic while others undermined it. Some of the dark academia and cottage core pieces did not work well together.

After finding outfits and trading away my old clothes he took me to find accessories. I insisted that I should pay for everything, but he refused and simply stated that I can bring my ideas into reality well to pay him back. I can’t tell if that feels more like a compliment or a threat, but it’s certainly flattering. Somehow we fit all of that in before lunch and there was still more to do. By the end of everything I was exhausted, though extremely grateful.

“I’ll make the best version of my designs possible. That’s what you’re asking for in return right?” I ask on the trip back to the hotel.

“Good boy, you listen well. I’ll see what you can do in two days when it begins.” Crewel responds with a nod and a slight smile. – It's time for the event. We have two days to complete four outfits as a complete set using the magic tools and our own abilities to complete them as quickly but skillfully as possible. It's a challenge that many enjoy watching and admire. I’m a little nervous to be on TV, but I think that if I focus solely on my craft I can make it. Especially since I can essentially focus on one and use magic to create another since it's two separate days and I only need four outfits.

Now that I reviewed the game plan it feels less intimidating. The curtain opens to reveal the piles of clothes and materials we have access to before letting up find what we need. A few of the others sort through the pile with magic to locate exactly what they need. I sort through them by hand and feel the fabric textures before taking them back to my station where my assigned tools sit.

At the six-hour mark, we’re given an hour-long lunch and bathroom break. I definitely needed the food since I skipped breakfast. After the break, we get immediately back into work for the remaining six hours of that day. I finish the first piece two hours into the second half and use magic to form most of the second one before detailing it during the four remaining hours. By the time the timer goes off, I have two of the four outfits complete even. Additionally, I still have more fabric that can be used for parts of the first outfit for the next day set up at my station.

The next day I arrive early and notice that something is wrong with the more complicated outfit. Someone had cut it up. It was like a nightmare. It completely ruined my plan to make the clothes as efficiently as possible. Frustrated and upset I wanted to cry, but instead, I decided to improvise and alter the design slightly to include the visualization of the cuts rather than attempt careful and seamless mending. It takes two hours and I lose another hour finding more fabrics. So I decided to reorganize my magic use and create two bases with as much detail as I can manage before reaching my magic limit.

But the half point of the second day I’m exhausted but I manage to gain enough energy to finish and add the final details to the four outfits before the timer runs out. I stumble a bit feeling a bit nauseous now that the magic use and intense focus for twenty-four hours total were exhausting. After the timer goes off I sit down and wait for almost everyone else to leave before one of the people associated with the event walks over to me. I ask them to make sure that no one tampers with my outfits again overnight since someone had cut up mine and perhaps other people’s outfits the night before. They agree to tighten security and make sure that it was impossible for it to happen again. A bit uncertain of how successful they would be I start thinking of ways to justify asking to fix my outfits quickly before the show if I had to.

Using my magic to its fullest two days in a row was really pushing it. If I did so again I might end up sick. I don’t think that over-blots are supposed to make you sick. But it is convenient that I don’t go into a destructive frenzy overtaken by magic when I over-blot at least. I just almost die instead. Which I guess may be technically worse for me, but it is less awful for everyone else.

“Are you alright? I saw how tired you were earlier. I can get someone to help you back to your room, or you could stay in mine since it is on the first floor.” A familiar soft and slightly high-pitched voice asks. Looking at him I see it’s Neige LeBlanche.

“Ah I’m fine, thank you for your concern.” Why were all these celebrities so nice to me? I mean it has only been two so far, but that’s still a lot for me.

“Can I at least escort you to your room? You look a bit unsteady and I don’t want you to fall.” Neige voices his concern with a worried smile.

“There’s no need to go that far. I’m only on the second floor, so I’ll manage.” I say, though admittedly I was less confident about actually getting to the hotel than walking up a set of stairs.

“Then I’ll at least help you get to the hotel.” Neige insists.

“While that’s kind of you Neige, you don’t need to be concerned with them. I was already going to escort this pup back.” Crewel steps in unexpectedly. There’s no way that Crewel just told Neige LeBlanche that we were going to head back to the hotel together. It feels like a dad trying to keep a romantic interest away from his child. Which is funny because if anything he’s like a little brother. Well younger brother, he’s definitely a little taller than me.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were acquainted with Divus.” Neige comments a little surprised.

“Crewel.” Crewel corrects.

“Crewel. But were you really planning on walking back with him?” Neige asks with doubt lingering over his words.

“Yes, we agreed to meet after the event since we had a chance encounter before this,” I explain, technically not lying, though assuming that since he came to find me he was impressed with my work.

“Oh, if that’s the case then we should meet again at some point too. I really admire your ability to work through challenges. Here, one moment.” Neige takes out his business card and hands it to me, “I hope you rest well tonight. You were Ren, right? I heard your conversation with the security personnel before.” That definitely sounded like an excuse, though I guess it’s possible for Neige to admire me. Just unlikely.

“Ah- yes my name is Ren. Well-”

“Well thank you Neige, but we should probably head back since the reveals and show are tomorrow. We wouldn’t want to be too tired now would we?”

“Ah yes of course. Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Ren, call the number on that card when you get the chance, I’ll see you around!” Neige leaves with his manager and a few guards.

“That was unexpected,” I mumble with a light sigh before remembering who was standing next to me.

“It was. Though I suppose he was right, you don’t look well. Perhaps I should carry you back.” Crewel muses.

“What? No there’s no need to carry me, I’ll be fi-” I begin before nearly falling over after another wave of exhaustion hits me. Crewel catches me.

“You’re small enough it won’t be an issue little pup. Besides which you look like you’re about to fall asleep. It would be unwise to travel on your own feet in that state. Tsk tsk, you really need to learn to take care of yourself.” He states picking me up bridal style.

“I- Thank you.” I conceded. I could tell he was right, I was exhausted. Even still I wanted to protest about how I didn’t want to owe him more, or how I didn’t think it was necessary. Despite those thoughts, my eyes were having trouble even staying open so I just closed them. – Before I knew it I was awake in my hotel bed, slightly disheveled and wearing my clothes from the night before.

“Oh. My. God. Did I fall asleep on Crewel again? Well I mean it wasn’t confirmed the first time but aaaahhh.” I immediately panic and place my hands over my face before realizing I need to get ready and look presentable for the showcase. “Ah, I don’t have time to panic,” I mumble before showering, dressing up, and eating an apple that was left on my bedside table with a small note not to skip breakfast in Crewel’s handwriting.

“Geeze, he really is like a dad at this point. It’s not like he adopted me as a pu- child though. It’s weirdly nice how comfortable he is to be around though.” I mumbled looking at the note with a bit of warmth filling my chest. It was nice to feel cared about.

With one big breath, I turn towards the door and head out. Though I had a weird feeling that something went wrong so I hurried to the venue where our outfits should be. I ask if I can check over my outfits quickly because they had been sabotaged before. Luckily I was let in since my outfits were all damaged in some way. It was devastating, and there wasn’t any fabric to fix them. Except for what I was wearing.

“I could use my coat and undershirt and still look mostly presentable while fixing them,” I mumble quietly, my voice shaking more than I wanted it to. Despite still feeling drained, I used my magic again, allowing it to flow through my fingertips to mend the fabric to the shape I desired it to with the fabric I was using in hand. It was a different colour, but the colour matched well enough that it looked intentional. Reaching the fourth outfit I could feel the strength in my legs waning, but I had to fix it.

Even if Crewel was already impressed, I wanted to fix this. To not let the stranger tampering with my work win. I needed to make them feel their efforts were wasted, that after everything I was fine. As my hands glided over the last portion that needed to be fixed a few people started coming in to check their outfits as well. Only mine had been tampered with. I felt my hands shaking as they let go of the now-mended fabric.

“Tsk tsk. What did I say regarding work and rest? Bad boy. You should ask for help if you’re in trouble.” Crewel scolds me before complimenting my handi-work, “It is well done, it looks intentional even. However, I can not condone overworking yourself because of the security’s lack of competence.”

“Haha, I remember. But I didn’t want to let whoever did this feel as if they’d won. I can’t let them feel like they’ve won. I don’t even know why they could be so upset with me.” Unless it is one of my old friends. They seemed to think the worst of me. But they wouldn’t do anything this devastating, would they? Well, Rachel might, but shockingly I didn’t see her here. I would have noticed someone I actively avoid.

“Hm, well your determination is a valuable asset. I suppose it’s a good thing I’m also a potions master. This will sustain you for the duration of the showcase, however, you must rest for the next couple of days.” Crewel states handing me a potion he had on hand, “Sigh. I can’t believe you used some of your only decent clothes because of this. I’ll have to start from square one training this pup. Don’t make this a habit.”

“Wait training?” I ask after downing the potion in one gulp.

“Yes, I’ll be taking you under my wing little pup. As you may have surmised you have impressed me. Though this still needs fixing.” Crewel again motioned to all of me. Suddenly I was reminded of my dream from the past few nights.

“Hey, this may sound weird. But by any chance is Vil Shoenheit also one of your pupils who happens to be the one who may or may not be responsible for fixing my self-care habits and everyday wear?” I ask before the potion fully kicks in.

“Oh? So the little pup is already aware. He must have spoiled the surprise, I’ll have to punish him later.”

“Ah, no, I’ve just had this weird recurring dream about meeting Vil Shoenheit under your tutelage. I wasn’t going to ask initially, I guess being tired made me voice my thoughts. But I haven’t actually met Vil yet.” I explain quickly. Crewel furrows his brows for a moment before an expression of realization covers the confusion.

“Ah, so you’re good at pattern recognition. It’s not uncommon knowledge that Vil is one of my pupils, and you took note of the fact I was treating you well. You’ll be an excellent student. If you pick up on things this quickly anyways. I expect only good things from you.” Crewel states with an almost proud smile before motioning me to come with him to his waiting room where a screen displaying the showcase was attached to the wall.

He discusses specifics with me while we wait for the showcase to reach the point where we all enter the stage and talk about our work and inspirations. Excluding Vil, Neige, and Crewel, the rest of us attending the event are lined up in order to head out second. The three notable guests head out to speak first.

“Sustainability in fashion is one of the greatest difficulties of this industry. But with the systems set up here in Glamour Isle, fashion waste is dwindling away and instead becoming fashion fuel. Isn’t that just incredible? Imagine all of the incredible things you can curate with such an array of fabrics, Imagine how much you can do exchanging materials and creating your personalized unique looks!” Neige starts, excitedly chattering about the benefits of sustainable fashion. Crewel and Vil both elaborate on this to varying degrees before everyone else is brought out and stood next to the models wearing their outfits.

I don’t notice the concerned look that Neige gives me. But I notice the fury of a familiar contestant near me. It was Dev-Ay. One of my ex-friends that happens to despise me. It shouldn’t be surprising that they’re here, they’ve always been skilled. But it does sting to think that they might have been so certain I was worth tormenting that they cut up my outfits. It also tells me that I probably didn’t notice people as much as I thought I would.

“I agree that sustainability and curating styles in this way are essential to bettering our society. It’s one of the reasons I was so excited to be a part of this project. Despite the unlikely mishaps, I had a blast creating designs influenced by the types of sustainable fabrics already being developed. It’s fascinating how through the use of orange peels or kelp beautiful sustainable fabrics can be created. My theme was Future Fantasy. Playing off of the alliteration of the event title, I wanted to curate looks that inspired the fantastical embrace of the future and the stories that such a future can hold. Imagine a sustainable world with glorious personalized fashion made for you. Fashion that makes you feel good and can aptly aid in your self-expression.” I begin as coherently as I can manage. Somehow my voice remains steady. Perhaps it is the desire to show Dev-Ay I am unaffected, or perhaps it was because I wanted to impress Crewel. But either way, I seemed to speak with a charisma I didn’t think I had. There was a prolonged moment of silence after I finished speaking before finally the live audience began to clap following Crewel’s and Neige’s examples. Their applause felt louder than any I had heard for me before and more impactful as it addressed my creations, it validated my ideas not some lame school speech. It was unexpected. Especially since afterward, the applause was noticeably quieter for the now flustered and disorganized Dev-Ay.

After the showcase, I felt my energy start to deplete rapidly. I figured that the potion was starting to wear off. Hopefully, I wouldn’t fall in front of Dev-Ay, I don’t want to give him fuel to berate me. While everyone else was chatting as the audience left and the models change, Dev-Ay approached me.

“Why? Why is it that you of all people did so well? Why couldn’t you just fold as you used to? Are you so proud now? Are you so proud after falsely accusing the one person that I love? You’ll never be anything but a pathetic liar who tears down other people. Are you upset because at least she liked being a girl? Were you mad that you couldn’t escape something that she accepted? Fuck you, fuck your whole fake-ass messaging. I despise you. I wish you would take a dive off the roof like you so badly wanted to before we were friends.” It took me a while to find the words I wanted to say. I didn’t know exactly what to say honestly. If he blamed me, then was there any way he would listen to me? Would he believe I was making excuses simply because I wanted to look good? Did he really want me to die because of this? Regardless I found my mouth moving before I could stop it.

“I don’t understand what my gender identity has to do with my distaste for Rachel. I was never upset at Rachel because she was cisgender. I think you of all people should understand that. Why are you so convinced that I lied to you? Do you love her so much you couldn’t see what she did to me? Has she never crossed your boundaries as she did to me? Or did you believe I actually withheld the information she conveniently forgot? That she claimed she forgot. I could be wrong. There is always the chance I misread her, but she hurt me and crossed my boundaries. I won’t go into the specifics again because you stopped listening to me years ago. But there’s no reason you should be this upset with me. The only way I hurt her was by telling her exactly what she had done and telling her that I couldn’t stay friends with her. I wasn’t wrong for standing up for myself like you never did for me. Your ability to trust seems like a blessing, but it may be a curse.” I respond with quiet, seething frustration, trying to remain as calm as possible but inevitably speaking poisonously. Before I know it I’m on the ground with blood pouring from my nose and a sore jaw. It takes me a moment to register what just happened. I try to get back up to my feet, but I can’t even move my legs to stand.

“Ren!” Neige called out with concern causing all eyes to turn toward Dev-Ay, Neige, and me. I bite my lip before trying desperately to tell my legs to move, but they simply shake beneath me on the floor as if they’re too scared to move. Too afraid that maybe they’re going to be hit next rather than my face.

“Dev-Ay. I was sincere when I told you I enjoyed being your friend and I was grateful for everything you had done for me.” I start, looking up at Dev-Ay who is clenching his hands into fists, “I don’t regret being friends with you, or stopping our friendship. I know that it was the right thing for me to do. I understand your anger. No, I understand that you are angry because you believe something I can not possibly fathom. But I never hated you. All I ask is that you let what happened to us remain in the past, it doesn’t benefit anyone to retain anger built on, at best, miscommunication.” I manage to say, smiling at Dev-Ay knowing it would make him angrier. Before he can respond Crewel and a few security officers walk over. The officers detain Dev-Ay who screams about how vile I truly am.

“That looks really bad Ren. Oh no, let me get some help.” Neige states with worry.

“I’ll take them to the nearest medic. You should calm the onlookers down.” Crewel states before picking me up again.

“Hah, I feel like a kid who got in a fight, and their overprotective dad came to pick them up,” I mumble in my exhausted delirium. The pain wasn’t even present anymore, I was just tired and numb.

“Haha, well I’ve taken a liking to you. Though next time someone punches you, bite back. Especially if it’s going to impact your precious face. You certainly have the charisma to back it up.”

“Aw, dad called me precious hehe. Thank you, you’ve really pampered me like a lil’ puppy while I was here. I feel weirdly comfortable with you. Man, I don’t want to fall asleep for a third time on you. It’s rude to use a celebrity like a pillow. And I’m not that charismatic, I’m just a bit silly.” I mumble with a yawn.

“You can fall asleep. You need it, and that potion, while good for a short time, does make you even more tired than before you use it. You did well, little pup. Though we have some training to do so you can do better in the future.”

“… Thank you,” I mumble quietly, avoiding leaning on Crewel with my bloody face as much as possible. I suppose he didn’t want the incompetent security to carry me this time, though I don’t know why he was compelled to carry me before. He really is like a father figure. I wish that I’d met him sooner. Maybe I wouldn’t have run into Rachel then. But I guess if I met him earlier I may have just been another kid, not someone of note.

The rest of the trip to a medic is in silence. When we get there the lady is nice and heals me with the stipulation that I rest for a solid two days to regain my energy. She asks if I have a guardian, to which I say of course, and that I will be fine under their care. Though how much of that will be true when I go back home is left to be decided. I don’t stay awake for too much longer, though I do hear a vague murmur of Crewel’s voice and phone chatter before I drift off to sleep.

– “Oh wow! This is amazing. Ren, you have to work with me on the next partner event that comes up. I would love to work with you!” Neige states as the dream fades into view. “Thank you. I’m quite flattered. Your designs are excellent as well.” I comment with a small smile before explaining that while it would be nice to work together I had already promised to work with someone else for the next event. Before I hear Neige’s reaction the dream shifts suddenly and I am in a cage. “I still love you you know. I was really hurt that you lied to Dev-Ya like that my sweet, adorable, Renny bird.” Rachel states with a certain sadness before reaching into the birdcage and caressing my face with her cold bony hands. “Why am I here?” I ask shakily before coughing a bit. My throat feels dry and my body feels cold. “Oh Renny, you know I can’t have you run away again. You’ll spread more lies and hurt more people. Unless I help you. Let me help you, I know I can fix you. Piece together the shattered pieces of you. Come here, I’ll give you a hug, just like before. We can make everything okay again.” Rachel says, her sickly sweet voice bouncing between the bars of the birdcage. I can’t say anything, I just stare at her as her arms elongate and weave through the bars to reach me. To touch me. To keep me trapped in this birdcage. –

I wake up with a start and sit up quickly before someone pushes me back into bed.

“What happened to you? Did you trip over the stairs? I warned you those long pants would make you fall dummy.” My sister Vera comments before sitting back down next to me, “Seriously though I was worried when I got a call to home about you being sick again. Did you overuse your magic?”

“Like you’re any better. Who are you to ask if I tripped on the stairs, didn’t you fall up a ramp that one time?”

“Oh shush you. You didn’t answer my question. What happened?”

“Dev-Ya punched me. I don’t know if he tried to sabotage my outfits yet, but I strongly suspect he was related to that too. Sorry I didn’t tell you about getting into the fashion thing. You weren’t home for a while anyways right?” I justify just recalling the fact I was planning on messaging her before and just didn’t.

“Ren, I wasn’t home sure, but you still should have told me! I would have come to see your work if it lined up with my work schedule.”

“Oh Vera, you’ll never guess who I met.”

“Oh really? Try me.”

“I met Divus Crewel.”

“Yeah I know that much, he was the one who called me. Imagine my surprise when the Divus Crewel was calling about my older sibling needing someone to drive them home. Bro, he asked if I was your older sister, how goofy were you to warrant that question?”

“Bro- It’s not my fault though. I just accidentally didn’t realize I got on the wrong train car and dressed enough like a hobo that he assumed I was a child.”

“Bro.”

“I know bro.”

“Going back a bit, I thought Dev-ya cut contact with you after that gross nasty did the bad thing I shall not name.”

“Oh yes, thank you for not naming the bad thing. But yeah, I thought nothing would come of it, but apparently, he was really mad at me. I wonder if Rachel encouraged this. I don’t think he would have acted as extreme otherwise.”

“I mean yeah maybe. But he was always kind of ick though.”

“I know, you were right. You’re always right when it comes to people.”

“Damn right I am.”

“Hey Vera, can you hand me my phone?”

“No, I can’t.” They say handing me the phone anyways. I smile at them lightly and open up my phone to check a few things. Firstly, if I had been contacted by Crewel since apparently he had found out my sibling’s number he may have found my contacts. Specifically “home” or otherwise Vera called my phone, but I couldn’t pick up because I was deliriously exhausted.

“Oh right, I was supposed to tell the Crewel you woke up. He acts more like your dad than our actual dad did haha.”

“Yeah, right? I was thinking the same thing. If he was still alive I wonder if that would have changed at all. I mean, it was really mom who was the worse parent, at least dad had an excuse.”

“I guess. But whatever, not the time. Time to message your ‘new dad’ since you seemed to have picked one up out of nowhere. You better not abandon me for another family.” Vera states rolling her eyes.

“Thanks, dad, and of course I won’t, you’re the only blood-related family I want to stay in contact with at the moment,” I say playfully rolling my eyes back at her.

Vera messages Crewel and much more quickly than I had anticipated he is in the room with us. We talked about a few things. Who Dev-Ya was, why he was so upset, what relation it had to my outfits, and why I lied about having a parental figure at home.

“Come to think of it. You’re a celebrity designer, you’re quite busy. Why did you come here directly to talk to us?” Vera asks.

“Well, while Ren is a student of mine, I was thinking that I could provide you with a better job as well and a place much closer to my design studio. If you’re all the other has, it would be rather cruel for me to separate you for a lengthy period of time. Despite how my name sounds, I’m not unreasonable.”

“Okay dad, sure thing. You’ve been really soft with me though. I don’t see how you would be. You just have high expectations right?”

“Say what you will little pup. I’m sure you’ll find I’m not as lenient as you seem to think I am. Also, Ren. How is it that your sister dresses so fashionably and you dressed as you called it in ‘an unfashionable dad aesthetic’?” Crewel asks, raising a brow.

“I uh, make their clothes and they take care of their skin better than I do,” I mumble slowly looking away from Crewel.

“I told them I don’t need to look nice either, but they insist that I should wear nicer clothes. I’m not a seamstress like them, I’m a watercolour painter. So I can’t just make them nice clothes to wear as they do for me.”

“But you look so pretty though, you definitely deserve all the nice things.”

“No, I don’t, you do.”

“No, I refuse, you do.”

“It looks like two little pups in need of some retraining.” Crewel breaks up what was about to become a battle of the no-yous, “Anyways, after Ren fully recovers, I’ll take you to your new home and explain the job I have for you in greater detail. That should be suitable for you I presume?”

“Excuse me, but why would you help us? Did you just adopt my sibling and say I could tag along?” Vera asks a little skeptical about this sudden favor toward us.

“I mean it’s not like he doesn’t gain anything. We’re both skilled artists who could contribute to his business and we’re in a position where it would be best if we joined him to gain the benefits we would from this.”

“Okay, I get that, but I still don’t understand why us.”

“While I don’t need a reason and this little gremlin child would technically owe me under other circumstances, I have my personal reasons for this predicament. Also, I am deeply concerned by the fact you trusted me so quickly. I will tell you the rest eventually, but for the moment I’m sure good pups won’t question me further.”

“Oh, you’ve yet to see gremlin Ren my newly adopted father figure. Now that I’ve fallen asleep near you like three times, I think it’s safe to say you’ll see weirdness soon. You don’t seem like a bad person though? I mean, you’ve had plenty of chances to make my life significantly worse, but you didn’t.” I laugh a bit. Vera raises a brow at me like they were saying, ‘Do you have no sense of danger child?’

“Gremlin Ren? Like when you said ‘Aw, dad called me precious’? I suppose you may simply be a good judge of character, though I’d still be more careful.”

“Hebba debba ha- Shoosh, we don’t talk about deliriously tired Ren, and sure, I could be more careful I guess,” I respond quickly, waving my arms vaguely in his direction.

“Bro.” Vera vocalizes her surprise, crossing her arms and shaking her head.

“Since we haven’t yet, Ren, let us exchange numbers so that I can contact both of you if need be. I’d rather not call your sister every time.”

“Oh alright, yeah that’d be good, we won’t always be together, so that wouldn’t have worked out every time anyways,” I respond before remembering I had Neige’s number somewhere too. I completely forgot to mention him to Vera before, oh well I can bring him up later. For some reason, I don’t feel like I should mention him in front of Dadus Crewel.

We exchange numbers and chat a bit about my health, fashion, and my sibling’s art. Vera ends up being quite flustered but flattered by the compliments she receives. It’s quite cute actually. Eventually, Crewel leaves and I’m left to rest with Vera making sure that I don’t skip any meals. She knows that I won’t eat if I don’t feel like getting up.

There was a lot to think about laying down. What was going to happen with Dev-Ya and Rachel? Would I have to tell Crewel about Rachel? How was it going to be learning under Crewel? Would Vera finally meet her Idol since we were going to be in the fashion industry? What did the dream with Neige and Rachel mean? I could probably figure out a couple of them. My dreams tend to be tied to reality, though upsetting things always end up more abstracted or represented by different characters. The thing with Neige may actually happen, or something similar will occur if I don’t spoil the surprise again. The more abstract representation of Rachel means I might meet her again. There’s no way that I would actually be trapped in a birdcage right? That seems quite unlikely despite how unhinged Rachel can be. I’ll probably have to tell Crewel about Rachel if I notice anything off like with the outfits. Though given his resources I may not be the first one of us to bring it up. Maybe I’ll wait until he asks me about it.

Two days pass slowly with the occasional conversation with my sister and her excitement about having a potentially less dull job soon. We vaguely touch on the fact she might meet her idol and then she wonders if she’ll have to hide her fanart of him before remembering that the only art she gets is of fictional characters so it's fine. Besides which there’s no way that Epel Felmier would ever see her room anyways right? By the end of the second day, I feel energized enough to start packing things up. Though I take care to pack my clothes separately from everything else just in case they’ll be confiscated for use as scrap materials. Not that they would, but considering Crewel’s judgemental glances, I have a feeling it isn’t an unreasonable concern.

Vera convinces me to call Crewel this time since she had to do so last time and he arrives equally as quickly as before with a few people to help us pack up. He motions for us to follow him while the movers grab all of our stuff in storage containers of various sizes and random boxes. On the way, Crewel discusses Vera’s position on the creative team designated to Epel and she literally gasps.

That evening when Crewel isn’t within earshot Vera tells me they hope he doesn’t notice them because they would never be able to talk to him well and might even accidentally refer to him as “baby girl” which they know he doesn’t like.

Unexpectedly our conversation takes a pause when I receive a message from Dev-Ya. He had been the one to block me initially, so I couldn’t imagine anything good would come out of whatever message he sent me. Especially since the last time we spoke, he punched my face. I didn’t open the message, but I read the first bit of it that was displayed on my phone screen from the notification.

[I want to meet up to apologize to you properly.] It began. I had a feeling that he didn’t actually want to apologize. Though I could be wrong, it doesn’t feel like something he would do.

“What’cha lookin’ at?” Vera asks, breaking the silence.

“An unexpected message.” I say vaguely frowning at my phone before shutting it off entirely for the moment, “I don’t really want to look at it though.”

“Oh, did Elliot message you again?”

“Not this time, no. Also, I blocked Elliot, I won’t be receiving his messages unless he does something to get around being blocked.”

“You seem to have a lot of enemies,” Crewel adds walking into the room with a pointer that has two collars attached to the other end of it. He was usually depicted with it, so it’s weird he didn’t have it at the event.

“Well, when you’re a doormat you tend to attract people who want to use you. Not that I am as much anymore, but it does sometimes feel like it would be easier to be one again.”

“That’s why I told you not to deal with them in the first place dummy,” Vera mutters.

“Are you sure you’re not the older sibling Vera?”

“Oh come on. Besides Vera is taller than me which automatically makes her the younger sibling.” I say playfully gesturing dramatically to Vera.

“That was because you were malnourished, you’re taller than me now,” Vera comments in turn with a small frown.

“Well I was going to get right to business, but I have a feeling we should discuss what happened with Dev-Ya on Glamour Isle.”

“I would be totally cool with skipping over that for now. Business stuff ooh.” I point finger guns in Crewel’s general direction.

“Oh wait, was that who messaged you?” Vera cuts in.

“What lead you to that conclusion? But yes, Dev-Ya texted me.” I sigh lightly rubbing the back of my neck anxiously.

“Well, that is concerning. What did he say?” Crewel asks, looking at me pointedly.

“I didn’t want it to pop up read so I only looked at the part that popped up in the notification. I don’t know what the rest says, but apparently, he wants to apologize. I doubt he means to apologize given how volatile our last meeting was.” I explain tiredly, rubbing my eyes and sighing.

“Bro block him. Gross. I bet Rachel told him to apologize so she can try to get back on your good side after ‘that’.”

“I figured much the same … I guess I should tell you who Rachel is now that we’re staying in your care huh? You certainly picked a puppy with a lot of problems.” I say with a small laugh before taking a deep breath and thinking about how to start.

“You are by no means obligated to give me your life story simply because I’ve brought you here. Though it would be helpful to identify people to avoid or deal with later.” Crewel responds, mumbling the last part and hitting his pointer against his hand.

“I didn’t catch that last bit, but I still feel like I should anyways. I won’t go into specifics, but essentially I was in a relationship where I would give as much as I could to make Rachel happy, but she never listened to me or returned the affection I gave. It got particularly bad at one point, but I won’t get into that. It messed with a lot of my friendships though since that became my standard. Elliot, who was mentioned earlier, is similar, but worse in some ways. I’m lucky I found out who he was before I met him in person though.” I explain vaguely, pausing a few times, wondering if I should be telling Crewel all of this. He practically adopted us, I’m not even sure how things worked out this well, but I couldn’t help but feel like as soon as he knew more he was going to throw me away.

“It looks like you were surrounded by some pathetic mutts. I’ll make sure they don’t show up around you. For now, you should probably block any of them you’ve yet to and stay focused on something that won’t keep your anxiety up. I’m sure that all deeply impacted you. No one goes through upsetting events unscathed. I don’t really do hugs, but you two can speak to me about anything that is troubling you. It’s one of the responsibilities I signed up for taking you in as my students. A teacher's job is to make sure his students thrive in the learning environment.”

“You’re definitely acting like a dad now. You don’t do hugs? What's with carrying me to a medic instead of letting someone else do it?”

“I’m not sure actually.”

“Oh? You’re not sure? Sounds likely fatherly instincts ooh.”

“…” Crewel doesn’t reply, he simply places a hand to his chin thoughtfully, placing the hand with the pointer in it against his elbow.

“Hey, Ren you should block those nasties.” Vera points out before I can react to Crewel’s silence. I had already forgotten that blocking people was mentioned so my mouth forms an ‘oh yeah’ before I turn my phone back on. It flashes on a full brightness before returning to the lowest setting where I usually have it.

“Ow, my eyes,” I grumble before going through and blocking the numbers I had yet to block. It was Dev-Ya’s and some guy named Teiran I didn’t remember but had a negative feeling about for some reason. Rachel and Elliot were already blocked before so I didn’t have to worry about them for now.

“You came in here to talk business initially right? Let’s do that.” Vera states, taking a lead in the conversation. Probably in hopes that Crewel would leave as soon as he said what he planned to.

“Right, business. First of all, excuse me for barging in earlier. I can assure you this will not become a habit. I live separately from you and I’ll make sure to inform you if I need to speak with you both prior to my visits unless it's an emergency of course. Onto business, there is a large event surrounding new fashion coming up in six months, the Summer Unlimited Fibers Fresh and Economic Revolution annual event. You’ll be put into teams of at least three. Though these teams can be sorted out beforehand which is what we’re going to do. As you may have already guessed, I plan to assign you two to a team with Vil Shoenheit and Epel Felmier. Until then, however, we need to increase your prestige and credibility.”

“I’m mildly concerned by the fact it spells the out ‘suffer’ as the acronym, but I digress. So you mean you’ll be making sure we get into events to showcase our abilities? If this goes well, we’ll be working on one of the biggest events in the fashion world with some of the most well know fashion-related celebrities. But if you have other pupils, then why did you select us?”

“Oh, I suppose I should have specified. I’m also a teacher at Night Raven College. The students there are probably who you mean by my ‘other pupils’. As for why I chose you two, there are a few reasons. Most obviously, it brings diversity to the group. A non-binary gremlin with dark-academia vibes and a lady steeped in Ouji fashion pair well with the adorable Epel and glamorous monarch-esque Vil. It’s like a set of fantasy villains. Quite an eye-catching arrangement no? Additionally, you already work well together, I’m afraid some of my other students are too much like divas to work well as a group. Individually they all have strengths, but until they mesh, they’re like oil and water. While you have yet to work with Epel and Vil, you will be more willing to compromise with them when necessary.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense. Diversity is an important note for intrigue. However, I’m under the impression that this is in part because of Neige’s potential group. Either they’re also trying to be diverse, or that group is going to essentially be a boy band right?”

“Correct. Given the previous year, it’s likely that Neige’s group is going to be more diverse. There was a lot of discourse surrounding some of the former members, though somehow that discourse gave Neige a popularity boost.” Crewel states, his voice dripping with annoyance.

“Right, weren’t Neige and Vil placed on the same team as two newbies who ended up being a mess all things considered?”

“Unfortunately.”

“So you don’t want the hosts to make Neige and Vil part of the same team again? But you don’t have much time to locate some new talents, and those you could reach out to would make things more difficult.”

“Essentially.”

“Considering that you came here almost immediately. You have something in mind to get us started right?”

“Very good. Yes, I have a few events lined up for you. I’ll handle getting you in, you are going to need to focus on curating new designs. I have more for you after this event, so don’t burn yourself out like last time. Since security was so lax at the last location, I can promise you I’ll ensure more reliable security this time.”

“Can you tell us the specifics like dates and themes?”

“I’ll go over it with you another day, but for now I’ll be E-Mailing you all of the relevant information. Though I’ll need to give you your company E-Mails and their passwords before you can use them.”

“Company E-Mails? Wow- that’s fancy.”

“Oh, we had those at my previous job.” Vera mumbles.

“Good, then you should be familiar with professional E-Mail etiquette.”

“E-Mails have etiquette?”

“…” Vera and Crewel look at each other, perhaps wondering how I had made it this far without knowing that there was such a thing as E-Mail etiquette. Crewel ends up discussing specifics with us anyways before handing us our company E-Mail information. After he leaves Vera and I unpack a few more things while bouncing ideas off of each other for the first event.

We head to bed soon after and both wake up early. Getting used to a new space was going to take a little bit. Everything was so much cleaner than it ever had been. There’s only so much progress we were able to make at the old house with my studies and Vera’s work. Regardless, we had things to do and not much time to dilly-dally about new surroundings.

The next few days raced by and before we knew it we were presenting in front of a crowd. Though this one was notably smaller than the one from the Flash Forward Frenzy. Unexpectedly, Neige was one of the guest judges alongside Vil. After the show is over Neige approaches us.

“I didn’t expect to see you here! Wow, your designs are still so impressive. Oh, a pleasure to meet you, Vera, I’m Neige LeBlanche!” Neige starts excitedly grasping my hands, acknowledging my sister after a moment's pause.

“It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Vera, Ren’s sister.” Vera introduces, looking at Neige’s hands and then back to me with a raised eyebrow.

“Hello again! Also, I’m sorry, I completely misplaced your business card, so I wasn’t able to add your number to my contacts after everything.” I apologize, wondering if he was under the impression that I just didn’t like him.

“Oh no, well I suppose it’s not unexpected. You were in really bad shape after the Frenzy. I’m surprised you were on your feet this quickly. Hmm, why don’t I just add my number to your phone this time? There’s no way you’ll lose it that way!” He states with a wide smile befitting a prince.

“Sure! That would probably be better.” I reply before pulling out my phone. Vera blinks at me, ‘Seriously? You know that Vil and Neige are rivals, you really want to die on the hill of befriending everyone until you get hurt?’ I hand Neige my phone and he quickly types in his number. I stifle a laugh when I see that he’s oh-so graciously nicknamed himself for future reference.

“Do people call you Neggy?” I ask curiously, looking at the little heart emote he’d added at the end too. I mean it was distinct, I’d give him that, but it felt a little unnecessary.

“Only friends do. I’d like to think we’ll be friends though so you can call me Neggy too!” Neige explains still just as bubbly and excited as before.

“Okay, but I’ll still refer to you as Neige in public.” I smile a bit. He was cute if nothing else. It was like finding a little brother. Though Vera would always be my favorite sibling. Before I can give Neige my number in turn Vil joins us.

“Hello, Neige. Sorry to cut your conversation short, but these two have a prior engagement.” Vil states with a practiced smile, elegantly placing a hand on his chin. I wonder how much of the conversation he heard when walking over. Regardless Vera’s assessment that being friendly toward Neige would give me problems was probably going to be a little too accurate. Vil was already displeased, I couldn’t imagine that our trip to the meeting room with Crewel and Epel was going to be comfortable.

“Yes, unfortunately, we do have something else to tend to. I’m sure we’ll meet again given the industry. Let’s head out.” I add, looking at Vera who rolls her eyes at me and also confirms that we should leave.

“Ah, goodbye Ren. I hope we have a chance to talk more next time. Safe travels!” Neige says before saying farewell to Vera and Vil collectively. We walk in silence until we reach our transportation. After the door shuts Vil starts to speak.

“So you’re friendly with Neige LeBlanche?” He asks with a smile that conveyed his displeasure.

“Well, I don’t have a negative opinion of him as of the moment. But we’ve only spoken a few times so it’s difficult to say if I’d ever give him preference. Though to be frank, my main concern is being polite since unlike you, my clout isn’t very good.” I explain. It was true that I was fairly neutral towards Neige, he may be cute, but he’s not very memorable for anything but that. Given the choice, I’d rather be friends with Vil since that would make things less complicated and Vil is also more interesting. The media is divided on how to depict Vil as his fashion sense and acting career have cast him as a villain. Do they show him as tragic, cruel, or even secretly good?

“I see. I suppose that makes sense. Though I will remind you to avoid being too friendly with him. Even if you’re just being polite others will take your politeness as affection and twist your image.” Vil explains, a bit softer and less peeved than earlier. Was he worried about me? “I have to agree with Vil. Ren, you’re too careless with people.” Vera adds quietly, glancing at Vil before looking at me, “You shouldn’t have let Neige grab your hands either, what if there were paparazzi? Neige has the barrier of being the highest-ranking celebrity, you’re not safe from being slandered and defamed.” Vera adds with concern, her voice shaking.

“Vera- I know. I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the media is going to depict me as a playboy at this point. I mean, there’s no way that there aren’t pictures of Crewel carrying me circulating at the moment. With that, if there also end up being pictures of Neige holding my hands then I’ll be in trouble.” I apologize, sorting out my thoughts and realizing all at once just the predicament I had been put in.

“Usually Crewel is so careful about his image. But I suppose he has always had a soft spot for his students. Though he would never admit that.” Vil muses, “If you understand all of that, why aren’t you more guarded?” Vil adds with added annoyance.

“I- don’t have anything to say for myself. It’s just stupid.” I state looking down at my feet.

“We’ll discuss this with Crewel later. Vera, you weren’t at the Frenzy so I didn’t get to see your abilities in action before. I’m excited to see what you’ll do in the future. You seem quite promising, and perhaps wise.” Vil compliments Vera who smiles a bit before thanking Vil for his compliments. Eventually, it reaches the topic of understanding why Crewel said he’d need to fix my wardrobe.

“We already have plans to curate your wardrobe, unfortunately, there simply wasn’t time before this event, so you had to wear the ones from Glamour Isle. But no more. I shall make you shine like a diamond. And perhaps blind Neige.”

“What is it with people mumbling the last part of their sentences? I’m grateful for your time and efforts in this. I’ll try not to undermine your expectations.”

Eventually, we make our way to the meeting room where a few unfamiliar faces sit with Crewel and Epel. Most of them are dressed in business attire with some notes, but one of them looks completely different from the rest. Dressed in a dark feathered cloak with a crow mask and cane, the fae lounges at the head of the table. This also implies that he has a higher position than Crewel. Who is this guy?

“Ah! You’re all here. Yes, it is I. Crowley your beloved CEO and headmaster at NRC.” Yeah, I still have no idea who Crowley is.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Crowley,” I say with a polite smile.

“Yes, it’s lovely to meet you, Mr. Crowley,” Vera says in turn.

“It’s a pleasant surprise to see you attend the meeting CEO,” Vil states with an elegant practiced smile.

“There is no need to be so formal with me! Just call me Crowley. After all, you all are important assets to our company.” Crowley states in a sing-song tone, “Oh right, feel free to sit anywhere, there’s no need to stand so stiffly.” He adds with the motion of his hand.

“Thank you, sir,” I say before sitting one seat away from Crewel so that Vera can be seated beside two people she knows. Vil sits beside Epel on the other side of the table and introductions of everyone at the table begin. The table consists of Crowley, Crewel, Epel, Vera, Vil, Trein, Vanrouge, and I. The meeting covers schedules, the clean up for Crewel’s sudden dadittude, and current media standings. Admittedly during the more budget-oriented pieces of the conversation, I was completely lost.

After the meeting ends Crowley leaves immediately followed by Vanrouge. Epel and Vil head out after speaking briefly to Crewel. Vera and I decide to follow Vil out for the moment. We weren’t stopped so we left the room. Vil notices us and motions for us to walk a bit closer to the two of them. I can almost hear Vera internally screaming being so close to Epel.

“We have more to discuss outside of the meeting since they didn’t cover everything. You’re probably wondering who Lillia Vanrouge and Mozus Trein are. They’re investors in the company that happen to be on good terms with most of us. Since they have such a big say in our company, they tend to appear in official meetings discussing budgets and plans for the company's future.”

“You realize that Crewel probably would have explained all of that to them right?”

“Yes, but the conversations between Trein and Crewel tend to be lengthy. We have to wait anyways, it makes for better discussion if the other parties aren’t preoccupied with something else.” Vil says motioning for everyone to sit down in what is probably a waiting room or lounge of some sort.

“Eh- Yeah okay. Ahem. Hello again, I’m Epel. It’s nice to meet you both.” Epel says with a sparkly smile.

“Wow, I didn’t realize that people could literally sparkle,” I mumble thoughtlessly. Vera covers my mouth before I finish.

“The pleasure is all mine,” Vera states simply, smiling politely but definitely freaking out internally. After a bit, she uncovers my mouth and I am free to speak again.

“I guess we’ll be seeing each other a lot more frequently right? So wouldn’t it be a good idea to figure out some baseline things to avoid doing? For example, eating sounds really bother me. If I dine with others, it is usually in a noisy place so I’m less overwhelmed by the eating noises but rather the environment.”

“Ah, I suppose you’re right. Then I’ll state the obvious. Be more careful about your image and who you associate with. Additionally, do not needless contact Neige LeBlanche as that too could become problematic.”

“Ah, I get it, if anyone sees either party text the other, a deeper relationship will be assumed because it makes for a better story and more interesting gossip.”

“Exactly. I suppose that means you had no intentions of actually contacting him then?”

“Well, I was undecided initially, which is why I even mentioned the number again in the first place, but given this, it’s better to avoid contacting him. He’s been at the center of enough drama where everyone else ended up looking bad that I don’t really want to chance an ‘Oops, I didn’t realize they could see my screen lol’ moment.”

“I’m glad you’ve come to your senses.”

“I suppose if it's just us, avoid calling me cute or referring to me too fondly. I’d rather not be bombarded with those things outside of work too.” Epel adds, still sounding soft and polite.

“Ah, alright. If I had to add something, it would probably be along the lines of wariness around group chats or anything. I’ve had a friend or two in ‘secret’ group chats that were too careless about ensuring the excluded parties weren’t aware they were excluded.” Vera mentions with a brief explanation.

Before we could continue the conversation an announcement was made over the loudspeakers to find a place to hide while a situation was being dealt with.

“Well, that is concerning,” I mumble.

“What in tarnation? Concerning? That’s downright mortifying. What could possibly be happening?” Epel replies with a panicked expression.

“Let’s go into the nearest room. Now.” Vil states staying composed and ushering us all into a room that has a door that locks.

“It’s our first day here and something went wrong,” Vera mumbles, leaning on me and clutching their arms tightly.

“I’m not sure what’s happening, but it will be alright, we’ll just stay quiet. I’m right here.” I whisper as quietly as I can, placing a hand on Vera’s shoulder. The room stays silent after that. Outside of the room, we hear footsteps and a knock of metal on the floor.

Clack clack, clang, clack clack, clang

The person outside calls a name I don’t recognize, but Vil’s expression shifts into one of disturbed understanding.

“I know you’re here my love. Just come out and we can talk.” The voice calls out with a deranged laugh. ‘Ah, it’s someone’s crazy fan or ex.’ I think frowning a bit.

Clack clack, clang, clack clack BANG

The door shudders as a dent forms in it. It takes a moment to process that it was our door that had been hit until I see Epel standing before the door, magic circling his hands while he stands in front of us.

“Oh? Are those frightened breaths I hear? My my, you always were such a delicate thing weren’t you?” The voice exclaims, excitement dripping over their words as something crashes into the door again. I find myself wondering how this guy got here, how they possibly managed to get past security in this place.

BANG

The dent grows as the hinges cry out in pain.

BANG

The door squeals in agony.

BANG … Thonk

The door falls down slowly as an unfamiliar grinning figure peers into the room.

“Oh Icy, there you are!” The intruder exclaims looking at Vera. Vera looks confused and frightened. I find myself moving before I can think about it. I crash through the door we locked to get in here, pulling Vera behind me.

“GET BACK HERE!” They scream followed by the sound of fire crackling through the air followed by the whip of vines.

“Who the fuck is that?” Vera whisper screams, grabbing my hand tightly.

“I don’t know. But we need you to get out of here, or hide really well.” I say in reply, my voice sounding much calmer than the heart beating in my chest. My shoulder starts to throb.

“I-I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know who that is.” She says panicked.

“I know, I know, it’s not your fault, they’re just a creep.” I console them, starting to lead them toward another exit from the waiting room.

“Eugh- I won’t let you pass through here!” Epel shouts after a sound of pain. Before I can stop her, Vera barrels back into the previous room and punches the creepy stranger back through the doorway.

“No one hurts my friends,” Even she must not have known what came over her, but hearing her idol cry out in pain led her to punch the intruder with a force even she didn’t know she had. They fly through the doorway and crash through the door across the hallways.

“Agh- My sweet- why do you pain me so? I came all this way for you.” The stranger pleads. I feel useless as I watch Vil, Epel, and Vera.

“She wants nothing to do with you. Get that through your head or you won’t be left with just a few burns and scars.” Vil states with a venomous smile spreading over his lips.

“How did they get here? I don’t think they should have been able to. Is there anyone who would want to hurt Vera maybe? … Could it be Rachel again? Is she trying to destroy what I have left so I fall back into her arms?” I mumble to myself before hearing another crash. Vil had thrown the stranger through another door.

“That’s going to be a pain to replace.” Crowley comments walking towards the stranger, “Sorry, but who are you? And why are you bothering us on such an important day?” He adds with a certain detached annoyance like he was talking to a bug. It was then that I managed to walk back toward everyone to see what was happening.

“I’m just here to see my dearly beloved!” The intruder insists.

“That creep has nothing to do with my sister. But he thinks he is.” I state walking over, my heart beating loudly in my chest, “I was trying to be nice earlier.” I add with a practiced smile.

“How is taking my sweet Ice rose away from me a kindness? You just wanted her for yourself.” As they argue I catch a glance at their eyes, they’re cloudy. I stare at them for a moment before something clicks.

“You drank it,” I mutter.

“It’s a miracle thing, isn’t it? Oh, I was so close to holding my love. If you weren’t here- if I get rid of you-” The stranger realizes, rising despite their disfigured form.

“I don’t think so.” Crowley states bonking the stranger on the head with his hand knocking the fool out cold, “Now, I trust you’ll explain what you meant by ‘you drank it?’” Crowley asks motioning for some personnel to get rid of the creep.

“No, you mean they drank that?” Vera cuts in, “It’s- it’s a monstrous potion. It relieves you of all worldly pain, but you lose your ability to perceive right and wrong, as it eats away at you you start to decay and you’re susceptible to others' intentions. If they really drank that- then that means Rachel is involved.” She explains, rushing over as I lose my balance.

“This Rachel is going to be a much larger problem than I initially assumed.” Crewel comments, supporting me from behind as well, “But that doesn’t explain how that mangy mutt got in here in the first place.”

“If the only benefit of that potion was the elimination of pain it wouldn’t be as tempting. If you know which one it is you can probably piece together what happened. But one of the things the potion does is amplify your magic until you overblot. You either decay or overblot, and neither is a pleasant end.” I explain further, scratching at my arms as the ickiness settles into my skin.

“Why exactly do you know all of this?” Trein asks, walking over with a tap of his cane announcing his presence.

“… That’s how my best friend died,” I whisper with a small, pained, laugh.

“I’m sorry for your loss Ren. It is never easy to lose someone. I am too old now to guarantee your safety under my watch. But I will support you the best I can in other ways.” Trein states, looking between Vera and me.

“Hm, well given the dire circumstances I think I could keep an eye on them. Besides, it would be like adopting wor- children.” Crowley states, absolutely about to say workers instead of children before he corrected himself.

“There’s no need for that Crowley, I’m already taking care of their housing, so I’ll be the one to settle them into a safer space if need be,” Crewel states in turn.

“Hahahaha,” Vera starts laughing.

“I hardly think this is the time to be laughing child,” Crowley states.

“I know, I’m sorry, it’s just- you all barely know us but you’ve already accepted us more than our family ever did. It’s just kind of funny you know? Maybe I’m tired.” Vera states laughing a bit more while tearing up. She sniffles and tries to calm down her tears but Epel hugs her.

“There there.” He states, patting their back.

Crewel notices before I do that I’m crying too. He wipes away my tears with a handkerchief and sighs.

“You always seem to get hurt when something happens.” He says, placing a hand lightly on my injured shoulder causing me to flinch, “Let’s get you patched up, we’ll discuss what to do about your safety after that at least.” He adds.

Vil looks at Crewel as though he’d grown a second head.

“You’re not going to pick me up again are you?” I ask with a sniffle before turning my head to look up at Crewel. He smiles a bit.

“That depends, can you walk this time?” He asks though the answer was quickly found to be no, “Hm, well I’m afraid you’re going to have to sit still and be carried this time as well little pup.” He muses. I sigh and just let him carry me. Crowley joins Vil in his baffled stare at Crewel.

“What- is happening,” Vil asks furrowing his brows and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Dad instincts,” Vera mumbles through sniffles.

“I suppose he does have a habit of adopting promising children, or ‘pups’ as he calls you.” Trein muses, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Hah, this really is going to be quite expensive. You’ll need to deal with that Rachel person sooner rather than later.” Crowley comments before he takes his leave.

“Unfortunately I can’t stay for too much longer either. However, Vil, you have my number. I ask that you update me on the situation when you can.” Trein states leaving as well.

“I’m sorry, your jacket is soaked with tears,” Vera says seeing Epel’s now wet jacket.

“It’s fine. I don’t get the whole unsupportive family bit, but I’m all too familiar with being in an unexpected fight with someone you don’t know. NRC isn’t exactly full of friendly faces. ‘Sides, you were really something. I didn’t expect ya ta smack the bastard in gob like that.” Epel states, slipping into an unfamiliar accent. Usually, he sounds like a well-read nobleman.

“I just heard you get hurt and my body was already moving on its own. I can’t take too much credit for that. I’m not nearly as brave as it seems.” Vera explains quickly.

“Not many have such noble intentions. Well, I suppose you won’t be a burden despite the issues that seem to surround your sibling. Though my opinion is subject to change should you prove to be loutish.” Vil comments.

– “Ow- I didn’t think I’d dislocated it, it just felt numb at first,” I grumble, rubbing the arm where healing magic was applied.

“In an ideal world, you’d have time to rest, but for the moment we should discuss safety. Previously you would not be living with anyone but your sibling. Given the circumstances would you be more comfortable living in my house? Given my status, I have trained guards to deal with intruders like that person.”

“It would probably be safer to stay somewhere that secure. It’ll be a pain, yes, but I’m not going to deny any greater level of protection. Though I have my reservations about hired guards at this point.”

“That’s understandable. I can assure you, however, that my hired personnel will be much more reliable. Crowley and the owner of the organization that hosted the Frenzy prefer cost effectiveness to function.” Crewel grumbles.

“Da- Crewel! You shouldn’t say that in the building, slander the man later.”

“Pfft, but you don’t disagree.”

“Of course not, I’ve seen what happened- dude I was there. I mean last time was like two minutes ago. Eugh, I’m so tired now too.”

“You should get some rest here then. Would you prefer I stay here, or leave?”

“Thanks for that, do what you think is best.” I didn’t want to make him stay when there was going to be a lot of aftermath to sort out, and it was very unlikely that something would happen immediately after the last incident. Rachel doesn’t work like that, she eats away at you slowly until you give in to her.

Crewel ended up staying in the room, at least until I fell asleep.

– “Oh Ren, did you enjoy our game of hide and seek? I had so much fun finding you.” ‘No, I recognize that voice.’ “You were so difficult to get a hold of. Were you that confused my dear? It’s okay, I can help you now. Just trust in me.” ‘No. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be with her here.’ “Come closer, little Ren. I’ll make sure you’re safe in my arms.” Rachel’s arms wrap around me and begin to constrict me, suffocating me. It feels like all of the air is being pushed out of my lungs as the cold arms continue to snake around me and hold me closer. “My adorable dear.”

–

TL;DR: Ren meets Crewel on a train after accidentally entering the wrong car and Crewel notices their distinct lack of fashion. From there Ren participates in a Speed Fashion contest with an unreasonable time limit and manages to prove their worth. Given this, Crewel takes in both Ren and their sister Vera to contribute to his team starring Vil and Epel. In the midst of this an old 'friend' from Ren's past resurfaces as an adversary.

#twisted wonderland #writing #fanfiction #divus crewel #twst crewel #We love the trope where someone just decides “You see this gremlin? This is my child now” #first post #It feels like I'm committing a crime. #I'm so sorry for this #Look #I know It's long #But It's fine #I'm totally mentally healthy #And not at all trying to escape reality #You should drink water #Also hi #Do you like it? #self indulgent

[v-tired-queer]

I have been awake for twenty straight hours now, so as I lay here upside down on my bed, here's a list of things I've learned and done in that time, in no particular order:

Got jazzed on some energy drinks

Got my bangs cut (I can see now! 😃)

Brought in a bed

Assembled the bed hours after bringing it in

Went through two storage boxes and tossed what I no longer need or want

Found a lot of condoms and dental dams that are still within the expiration date but I don't need (1. virgin 2. ttc next year 3. high school me really thought I'd be getting some but the only thing I got was depression RIP 4. on the asexual spectrum)

Reorganized my jewelry

Ate some ice cream (it was neopolitan 🤍🤎🩷)

Reorganized my books

Watched some YouTube videos

Watched some funny animal videos on TikTok

Wondered if he actually thinks I'm pretty

Wondered what his voice sounds like

Questioned my romantic orientation

Missed a call from Social Security Administration (gotta call them back on Monday)

Downloaded an important document from the Social Security website and learned that you can adopt a kid while on disability which was something I didn't know

Designated a whole notebook to adulting notes (it's essentially a whole notebook dedicated to that moment when you're frantically looking for a peice of paper to write this very important thing down) (I now carry it in my purse)

Cleaned out my purse

Got sad when I discovered that my hand sanitizer is too big for my jack-o-lantern hand sanitizer holder keychain

Got annoyed with That Aunt who decided to spend the night

Pet my mom's dog (x100)

Had some pretty good macaroni and cheese

Had some more ice cream

Was in pain because I'm lactose intolerance

Maintained annoyance with That Aunt

Greatly missed my dad's side of the family and then my dad but then his side even more

Cleaned out my closet

Organized my clothes

Set up my altar for the autumn season and added a picture of Mother Mary and Baby Jesus

Took my medication a half hour late but hey I still took it so yay!

Checked my email (nothing fun or important)

Swept my floor

Made my bed

Accidentally drank more caffeine without realizing it

Listened to country songs

Moved some wall decor to a different wall in my bedroom

Stretched

Switched to water

Took an ovulation test (I think it was positive but it was hard to tell--the lines looked almost the same but maybe not quite enough to be positive)

Took out the trash

Daydreampt about being a parent and picking my kids up from school and helping them with their homework at the kitchen table with a snack of homemade chocolate chip cookies

Craved chocolate chip cookies

Did not get any chocolate chip cookies

Hung out with my mom

Thought about how cute his smile is

Thought about how cute her smile is

Accidentally broke my glasses (again) (big oopsie) (they were cheaters from the dollar store so no big deal but still)

Decided what I want done with my body in the event that I die (context: I broke a tombstone Halloween decoration that I had and it made me think of cemeteries and then I thought of my local cemetery aka my Happy Place and thus, the I Wanna Be Cremated and Then Have My Ashes Burried There thoughts commenced)

Decided that it would be really cute if my mom, my brother and I all had matching sashes for my baby shower (mine--Mommy to Be; my mom's--Nana to Be; my brother's--Uncle to Be)

Found my military coin from when I was in JROTC in high school and put it back in my wallet for the ✨️nostalgia✨️

Got hungry but forgot to eat (oops)

Hung up my clothes in the closet

Learned how to clean the silver earring holder that my mom gave me years ago (so shiny now!)

Filled up my box of crystals and rocks (!!!)

Was genuinely not depressed or anxious for the first time in weeks

Accidentally said I don't drink coffee when actually I love coffee but only if it's iced and doused in sugar but I've had enough caffeine and it was to That Aunt so actually it's fine

Stayed hydrated after I switched to water

Checked the weather forecast

Swore a lot (fuck was my favorite word)

Made a shopping list

#how the fuck do i tag this #turns out i do and think a lot when i'm not depressed #who would have guessed #lmfao #what i did today #no sleep #i did not sleep last night #insomnia #insomniac #kit's diary 7 🖊 #i am very tired

[cosmically-powered-starscream]

Front and Center

Notes: I can’t write x readers to save my life, I always end up with creating an OC as a stand-in... and it goes downhill from there. Also this is what happens when you only write the parts of the fic you actually want to write and nothing else. Yay!

Pairing: IDW Starscream x OC (gn, sfw)

Word count: 1.1K

[AO3 link]

* * *

“You know, if this goes through as planned, everyone will know.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that.”

Two seekers stood on the habsuite balcony, overlooking a late sunset over Cybertron. The night was slowly falling and another public speech from the planet’s new ruler, Starscream, was just behind the corner. A gathering like many others before, yet there was some strange buzzing going on in the darker back alleys, out of the presumed reach of Cybertron’s higher-ups. But Starscream had ears everywhere and Stormchaser was very aware of that. They’d known him for a very long time.

“So, you really want to go through with this.”

“Are you worried about me or about your public image?” Starscream chuckled.

Stormchaser scoffed. “Public image, obviously. I better go settle my tab to Maccadam’s now because I doubt Blurr will be happy to see me afterwards.”

* * *

Spotlights at the hall were almost as bright as the future Starscream was describing in his speech to the attending citizens. The new paint on his latest frame glistened in the lights as he moved in grand gestures, promising new ways of bettering the life on their war-stricken planet now the battles have ceased and it was time for rebuilding the society.

And when for a moment it looked like the public may even stop and consider his words this time, a deafening noise interrupted everyone’s thought process. Rumble and screams filled the hall and the podium fell under a thick veil of smoke.

* * *

“How is he?” Stormchaser almost kicked the door open to the hospital hallway where mere moments ago they wheeled Starscream in, covered in dents and scratches, unconscious and holding on by a thread. Just a few steps behind them ran Windblade, unable to stop them. “Stormchaser, wait!”

Everyone at the hospital had their servos full with light injuries and distressed citizens after the explosion but a young medic, visibly annoyed turned to Stormchaser as they paced fast towards him. “I’m sorry, we’re not authorized to give information about patient’s medical condition to anyone who just walks in here.”

“Well since I’m the one in charge of his consent in case of an emergency, you definitely should be authorized to tell me.”

That rendered the medic silent. “I’m sorry?”

Stormchaser took out a datapad and handed it over to the medic. “You should check your patient’s files when tending to them.” They weren’t even trying to hide their stress and anger now.

“I’m his Conjunx Endura.”

* * *

When Starscream came to, the amount of ache his entire being was in was indescribable. The throbbing pain that felt like it was coming from his very core made even opening his optics a painful chore. But still, even in the haze of dizziness, he could make out the only sensation that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. A servo in another servo and a familiar looking shape by the berth.

“Sentimental, aren’t we?”

The blurry shape jolted up, as if suddenly awoken by the sound of his strangled voice.

“You’re awake!”

“I… don’t even know what happened.”

“Wheeljack said it was an experimental charge. A frequency bomb, designed to take out a spark with an incredible accuracy. Almost like Tarn’s outlier ability, compressed into an explosive.”

A small nervous laugh. “So, you’re saying the DJD themselves came for me.”

“No. But I think it’s not surprising to see where the perpetrator’s inspiration came from. Your spark needed a lot of juice to stabilize.”

“So that’s why you look like slag.” The servo on his servo tightened its grip.

“Shut up,” Stormchaser whispered, putting their helm to Starscream’s, forehelms touching. He smiled weakly.

“Are we alone?” Starscream asked almost inaudibly.

“Yes.”

“Do they think I staged it? That we staged it?”

“Hard to tell so far. The explosion? Only time will tell when news coverage starts coming out. The public opinion is definitely going to be divided. The Conjunx bond? Yes, they do think so.”

“They don’t believe there are people I can genuinely trust with my life. Of course.”

“You didn’t know what was going to hit you. You didn’t know what they had planned. You only knew it’s going to happen but you had no idea how.”

Starscream heard that hint of anger seeping into his Conjunx’s voice. “It was necessary to let it happen in the long run.”

“You had no idea what your odds were against.”

“Neither did I in the last few millions of years.”

“Star…”

“Okay, fair, that’s not true. I knew too well what I was against in the last few millions of years.”

Stormchaser exvented with a low rumble of their engines. The concern was real and Starscream knew it.

“It’s true. Besides. I knew I could rely on you to prevent any further vendetta against me when I’m out cold. I trust you.”

A moment of silence with nothing but a buzz and beeps of the health monitors. There were very few people Starscream ever trusted in his life, the number of those who he could say actually cared for him even lower. People he knew wouldn’t stab him in the back at the first chance they got, just like he did to others countless times before. And if there was a chance to strike, it wouldn’t get any better than him unconscious and vulnerable.

That’s why he had Stormchaser by his side. Trustworthy even in the most difficult situations, stubborn enough to tell him off when his strategies were getting more, as they put it, outlandish. What would he do without them.

“And even if you couldn’t prevent my demise, well…” he brought a heavy servo to Stormchaser’s faceplate. “There are backup plans.”

“Backup plans you know I don’t agree with.”

“I know. Well, no need for them so far, right?”

He brought their lips together for a tired but tender kiss. “I still think you’d be a good ruler of Cybertron.”

Stormchaser grinned. “I think I’d leave that position to Windblade.”

“I should watch my back for both of you then. I look away for a moment and suddenly, you form an alliance against me,” he laughed weakly.

“Well, at this point who knows, my friendship with her may as well be over. She looked very distraught when I announced our bond to the medics.”

“Oh, I’m sorry my charming personality and shiny reputation is ruining yours in turn,” he said dramatically. Stormchaser sighed but with a smile. They knew he’s going to be fine.

“Just go back to recharge, you need it,” Stormchaser gently stroke his cheek before placing a kiss on his forehelm.

“M-hm,” he hummed contently before closing his optics. Even a heavy head can try to have a peaceful night it seems. “Storm?”

“Yeah?”

His voice got weaker and his optics remained closed as recharge was slowly taking over him but Stormchaser knew exactly what was said.

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too, Star.”

#starscream #idw starscream #starscream x oc #transformers x oc #tf oc #transformers oc #idw transformers #my writing #chasing stars series #chasing stars fic series

[slyfire]

FE: Engage - Prologue + Chapter 1

It begins.

Went with M!Alear, since I really dislike F!Alear's look + I kinda fine M!Alear...really cute?? Ever since the first trailer, I just liked his expressions. I would even say his silly hair adds to the appeal.

The first cutscene looks great. Im happy how pretty the game's graphics are. Seems like a premonition of some kind? reminds me of awakening.

Woah, hello. I'm like, 99% sure this guy's Alear's father. I'm just also gonna note here that I'm pretty leak free story wise, so any theories or speculation I have are genuine. Though I have kept up on pre-release information (like trailers, jpn twitter posts, etc).

"My prayers are with you!" IDK why, I just like that line

I wonder... This can't be a flashback, since we saw 'present day' characters in the fight cutscene. Unless we're getting a wacky reincarnation plotline (Someone call Kiria!). Probably a premonition then? Premonition stuff can be a little strange. made sense in awakening, because it was a look into the original timeline, and I know Alear won't remember anything, so...what? Maybe just something for the player to chew on.

omg Alear's eyes flicking between Framme & Clanne 😭😭. HE'S CUTE IM SORRY.

nothing to say, just that it's pretty <3

Wait, this is so funny

First actual battle. Not much to say, since it's mostly a tutorial battle still (so it's pretty standard stuff). It feels good to play, and the graphics are great. ...wow Vander's personal skill kinda sucks. Yay, Alear remembers Marth! Another simple battle that gives us another taste of the engage mechanic. I'll probably have more thoughts when we have more then just Marth.

LUMERA! I just really like her design.

aww, that CG. Waiting for 1,000 years for your child to wake is pretty sad. Though this interaction makes me think on how we didn't get any info regarding an Alear dragon form. can Alear just...not transform? I'm sure we'll find out more about it later.

Hmm, 'Terrible wound'... I wouldn't be shocked is Lumera's lying (or not telling the whole truth), since we know that Alear goes full red at some point, and putting them to sleep was the best way to fix that.

There's some bird on the map, but I can't seem to adopt it smh. That will prob unlock with Somniel tbh

Lumera ride lets goo

methinks this was a pretty good start!

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #fe17 #fe17 spoilers #SlyEngaged #my post

[iron-touch]

Author's Notes: Chapter 32 (The Man in the Picture)

Yay, another chapter with a short turnaround! Don't expect this trend to continue, as I have just enrolled in full time college again and am still getting used to it.

I was very cautious with the opening of Michelle in the changing room. That scene could get very, very creepy with the wrong prose, but I think I managed to make it more endearing than "male gazey."

Speaking of male gaze, Boney! Boney's back. My original plan for Chapter 31 was to end on the scene of Michelle seeing Boney in One Size Fits All, but I decided to change it in order to avoid feeling too similar to Chapter 18 (where the chapter ends with Michelle finding Boney's dead body on the plane). That worked out for the best, too, considering Chapter 31's length.

Reread the phone call Boney has with the Grand Marshal in Chapter 30; this is where he was sent to go. I think you should have an easier time filling in the blanks now.

Michelle having a panic attack and running away was one of the easiest I've ever written in my two years of Iron Touch. I don't know what that says about me.

Midler's back! Remember, High Priestess' user? No? Too bad. My original original outline called for Mariah here instead of Midler, and she would've walked with a gimp as a result of permanent damage she received from her fight with Joseph and Avdol. I changed this for a couple reasons: first of all, I would have had to rework/add onto Bastet in order for her to work in this arc, which I didn't think a lot of people would like. Also, Demonic Heartbreak used her already, so. Y'know. I think Midler fits better in Chicago IX as a SEES member anyways.

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Cascada wasn't a part of the original outline, either. High Priestess was originally going to be the "main" enemy Stand of this arc, but I changed that. I cannot stress enough that readers from Fanworks have been really rallying for more original Stands in Iron Touch. This is the best of both worlds—I get my canon characters and you get your OC. Hooray! I like Cascada and Moon River's aesthetics, if nothing else.

I did look it up and yes, bees are native to Egypt.

I feel like it should be pretty obvious what SEES is and how it works by now. If not, please let me know in some way and I can give a more detailed explanation in a future chapter.

In case you didn't know: a green room is an area backstage where actors wait for their cues to go onstage. I've heard different reasons for why they're called that; sometimes it's a simplified English pronunciation of a foreign word, other times it's because actors would throw up there, and I don't know which is accurate. They're not actually green. In smaller theaters (like an amphitheater), green rooms can double as hair and makeup rooms, like what we see here.

I feel like giving Moon River a mermaid theme is a bit of a cop out, but @simpingforcreamsoda said he really liked the design, so I hope you guys do too.

Music references:

Ok so I didn't originally intend for this to be a music reference, but there is a song called The Man in the Picture by The Bobkatz. I chose the title just based on it being a double reference to both Polnareff and Boney. But I listened to the song and I think it fits pretty well so I'm adding it to the playlist. Why not.

Cascada is named after a German dance music act of the same name. (I actually didn't know Cascada was German until now, the more you know)

Cascada's beta name was Moon River at one point, but that honestly did not last long. I'm trying to avoid making OCs with two word names, because having them be one word names is so much easier to write.

Moon River gets its name from a song originally sung by Audrey Hepburn for the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. The song is so famous and has enough covers that I feel comfortable breaking my "no licensed music" rule (as in, no music originating from other media like video games or musicals) for it. The version I'm using on all the music reference playlists isn't the original Audrey Hepburn version, but rather the Andy Williams cover. I think that version specifically should give some insight as to why I chose this song. If you know, you know ;)

As a side note, "Tiffany Amphitheater" was named after Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Moon River's beta name was Hips Don't Lie, and the Stand's ability was going to be more tied to Cascada's dancing. As the ability changed, I changed the reference as well.

Not a music reference, but Midler's appearance here (specifically the buck teeth) were based off of Winifred Sanderson (played by Bette Midler) from the movie Hocus Pocus. IRL Midler has gone on record to say that this is her favorite film role of all time and she is the only reason that the sequel came out even remotely like it did, so I'm not just arbitrarily choosing a random movie reference here.

#iron touch #author’s notes

[catgirlwheels]

I posted 14,473 times in 2022

That's 2,616 more posts than 2021!

95 posts created (1%)

14,378 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mossy-scaled-dragon

@astralwasteland

@birdfuckeronline

@natalieironside

@drippity

I tagged 10,566 of my posts in 2022

Only 27% of my posts had no tags

#friend - 2,814 posts

#oh dear - 781 posts

#oh no lol - 722 posts

#oh neat - 624 posts

#oooh pretty - 597 posts

#lol - 586 posts

#awwwww - 514 posts

#pfft lol - 467 posts

#🤣 - 418 posts

#paws.txt - 378 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#does the right thing when it counts but they're a social outcast/grumpy asshole/antivillain/etc because of trauma or repeated rejection

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Oh whatever, tumblr search is useless. Excuses to take new pictures! Yay!

Can't see much of the white in the middle and the pockets are kinda useless this way but WHATEVER I'm gay as fuck ^.^

19 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

#4

Why is she like this with these treats we have no idea. But she loves them lol

24 notes - Posted August 20, 2022

#3

I am grateful to the writers of game mods. I used to do that, I know how hard it is. Whether you're doing what the devs should've done in the first place or adding things of your own, I appreciate the heck out of you. Thank you for making our games better.

38 notes - Posted January 31, 2022

#2

I call this a bag plan.

It hacks my brain, disregards rules, breaks blocks, and helps me think about multiple things at once without losing track.

One time in school I needed a break from banging my head against a programming assignment and I went to the only place I ever went off campus: Chipotle. Got my burrito in my paper bag and for whatever reason I decided to dismantle the bag while I ate. Might've just been a little destruction as a treat, idk. Got to the end of my burrito and decided I couldn't avoid thinking about the assignment forever.

I had this nice big paper in front of me that was definitely trash and I couldn't possibly write anything wrong on it because it was already trash, and it was big and there were no lines and no start and I just picked a spot and started writing. Had a different thought and started writing somewhere else. Broke my block, fixed 3/4 of the programming problems without a computer in front of me, moved from the end of the world in my head to a solid idea of what I needed to do in a couple hours and a paper bag.

After acing that group project I got myself a roll of craft paper and just started doing this regularly. I've done this for story scenes, working out different people's needs, designing game levels, shopping lists, whatever.

I used to just keep one of these folded up in my pocket as a notepad (gods I miss clothes with pockets), but it unfolds so I can dump my brain into it if I need to. It's great and I love it.

See the full post

78 notes - Posted March 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Things I would like non-wheelchair people to know

Do not touch my chair. Unless I've lost control of my chair and am rolling into traffic, if I have not given you explicit permission, that is a huge violation of my personal space. Think of grabbing my push handles like grabbing someone's shoulders. That's not a thing you just do to people.

If I don't know you, nothing about my chair, my body, my situation, or what I'm doing is any of your gods damned business. Think of commenting on these things to a stranger like catcalling. (If I know you it's probably fine, as long as you're respectful. Just like any other personal topic you might ask someone about.)

If I decline an offer of help, do not insist. I know what things I need help with a lot better than you do. (Nothing wrong with offering, help is definitely welcome sometimes, just respect my response.)

Okay, things that should be obvious out of the way, here's what the post is actually about:

I still prefer the terms "walking" and "running" for the ways I get around. I might say "rolling" or "wheeling" if the distinction is relevant for some reason, since I am ambulatory some of the time, but in general I prefer the same words as you tall people.

I need a much wider space to turn, or especially to turn around, than I do just to pass through a space.

Ask me, rather than assuming you know whether or not I can do something. I would love to go hiking with you, actually, if the trail is light and friendly enough to wheels. No, I can't ice skate, but I'd still rather you ask if I want to come along than assume I don't want to be included.

Which activities are notably more difficult is often not obvious. Popping a wheelie to get over a small amount of difficult terrain or even climbing a single step (if I have something to pull myself up with) can actually be pretty easy. A long stretch of ground tilted slightly to the left or right takes a ton of effort. Carrying anything that fits in my lap is trivially easy, but transporting anything that doesn't fit in my lap is quite hard (though I recently discovered my vacuum fits nicely on my footplate if I wrap my legs around it a little which is cool.) I am constantly surprised by little things that are or aren't harder than I thought they'd be, or are actually easier than before because I'm sitting.

If you are in my path, you moving suddenly is actually really unpleasant for me. I know you're there, I'm not going to run you over. If you're in my way, please do move! But jerking suddenly makes you unpredictable and I might have to stop suddenly to be certain everyone is safe while I process the change, just like if I were driving a car. Also like driving a car, stopping suddenly is unpleasant and a lot of effort, but the small adjustment to my direction I was planning to make is very easy. (Same goes for bikes honestly, or any other vehicle. That's what the chair is, a vehicle.)

If we're walking around together and need to get past some stairs, it's nice if you come with me on the ramp, especially if that ramp is out of the way. It can be really isolating to have to go a different way than everyone else.

If we need to walk close together for whatever reason, you walking directly in front of me is best avoided if possible. Bumping into your heel with my metal footplate is going to be a lot more unpleasant for both of us than it would be if I were on my feet.

In general, you should let me speak for myself. It's my joints that don't work, not my brain or my voice. But. If someone else is being disrespectful, your voice is likely much more impactful than mine in that situation. Use it.

I'm not expecting anyone to memorize these things; as long as you're treating disabled people like people, that's enough. And if you want to do more than that but don't know how, respectful questions are generally welcome. I just wanted to share these thoughts, for people who don't live with them all the time. There are a lot of little differences to being seated all the time that you just don’t think about until you’re there.

Also, while I think most of this is generally true for anyone in a wheelchair, obligatory reminder that I speak only for myself.

3,127 notes - Posted March 6, 2022

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#lol #No surprises here #long post #paws.txt #year in review #friend

[mouseratz]

so since I'm a little further in and I think I've met most if not just about all of the main cast. here's some character thoughts:

-i like Alfred's personality just fine and was an early favorite but god his design is BLAND! he's literally just a blonde twink. otherwise he's pretty pleasant.

- timera is my favorite lord/primary character so far. she's so cute and actually funny and feels a little more fleshed out than a lot of the others (although it's still fire emblem, so that's not saying much...). she's a joy to have around!

-one of her retainers (planchette I think?) is also pretty cool. She likes the spooky things in life and she has a huge fucking axe. she's pretty one note but I like the one note.

-cant really stand diamante and alcryst. I thought I'd like alcryst bc his opening scene was funny but his personality is as flat as could be, reusing the same joke over and over and over, and it is SO grating. his gimmick begins to feel like he was pulled out of long stale self deprecation humor, unburied from 2014 or something.

- hortensia and ivy aren't that interesting on their own but I actually really love them as a pair, their sibling bond is really interesting because it's not free of tension (they're apparently half sisters!), but you can still tell they really care about each other, and you had to work to rejoin them in the plot. so I'm like yay the goth kids family :)

#fire emblem engage #engageposting