#it just. returns to this a LOT whoops haha

[snapscube]

you don't have to publish this or whatever but I wanted to say, I'm right there with u on Projects That I Put On A Schedule And Then Couldn't Stick To That Schedule. it kinda sucks (especially, I imagine, if you have an audience asking about the things; being unknown has its pros and cons) but at the end of the day imo trying is the important thing and doing it infrequently is better than not at all. keep doing you and put out what you can and want, when you can and want, and people will enjoy it regardless of frequency or scheduling or whatever

hey i appreciate this a ton <3 admittedly i was very grumpy over the assumption that just because no shame was intended w/ asking me like that about projects i haven't updated in a while that it would mean no shame was caused LOL. it's actually, in a cruel twist of irony, something i have very specifically been insecure about over the past couple of days and i already wasn't having the best morning in general. whoops!

i think a lot of people assume by default i am a much more put-together person than i actually am just because i have some semblance of success haha. truth be told everything that i am able to put out is a god damn miracle in the sense that i am constantly fighting to do so against rampant fatigue and depression. i always always want to do more, and i have every intention to do so. i always assume i can if i just try hard enough since it seems easy enough for other folks, which is why i sometimes over-promise. but i'm still really trying to make things fit every day, and lately i have admittedly not had a lot of success. i have not given up yet tho! i think 2024 is gonna prove to be a year where i have to call on a bit of a hail mary approach because i KNOW there's a better way than what i've been doing. whether that's through a massive output change in terms of schedule, or whether that's a huge break, or whether it's sunsetting certain parts of my online output in the interest of focusing on things i'd rather be using that limited stamina for. feels like SOMETHING's gonna have to give.

anyway, i hope to never come across like i'm taking peoples patience for granted. it always legitimately sucks when people earnestly want to see something return, and i do too, but i have no better answer to where it is aside from just "i couldn't do it"

[loquaciousferret]

Country Lovin’

Summary: Pre-outbreak AU, you let yourself get picked up by a handsome stranger after your set playing at a local country bar. After giving you the night of your life, Joel Miller might just be your new muse.

Pairing: Joel Miller x F!Reader

Content Warnings: 18+ ONLY, smut, alcohol consumption, drink driving. sex whilst intoxicated, use of pet names, unspecified age gap, unprotected sex. As always- maybe more! Read at own risk

A/N: I’m on a roll with Joel content at the minute, I don’t know why this specific scenario came to mind, but reader is a country singer performing at a bar where tommy and joel are drinking and joel flirts his way into bed with you… ahh! It’s also definitely the type of story I could see myself writing a part 2 for…! Enjoy…

P.S. count the Taylor Swift references throughout haha.

You finished your set to a healthy round of applause and a few cheers and whoops from the more intoxicated patrons of the bar. It wasn’t your first time playing in this particular bar, but it was your first time being invited to play a Saturday, and the feeling of playing to such a packed venue was incredible.

You lifted your guitar from your neck by the strap and placed it carefully in it’s case at the side of the small stage, before making your way over to the bar. As you stood there waiting to catch a bartenders attention and order something, you noticed a presence hovering close to your left side. You turned to face it and found yourself looking up into the eyes of a man, a handsome man. One who you had noticed had made eye contact with you numerous times throughout your set, whilst he had been throwing back glasses of scotch with another guy at a table close to the front of the stage.

“I’d hate to be the guy you wrote that last one about.” He smirked. “Sounds like he really fucked it up.”

You smiled, it wasn’t a compliment so you didn’t know what to say in return. Thanks wasn’t the right word. “Uh, yeah, um..” You mumbled, unable to find a suitable response.

“You’re incredible.” He said. “Let me buy you a drink.”

“Oh… Uh.” You blushed, so he had been flirting with his opening line?

“What’s your poison?” He asked, persistent.

“Something fruity.” You said back, which made him roll his eyes.

“Of course.” He remarked, but there was no hint of anything mean behind his words.

He attracted the barkeeps attention faster than you had, “Another scotch,” he pointed at his own glass. “And something fruity for the lady.”

You were distracted, your attention drifting around the bar. It was busy tonight with a crowd of all ages, a few groups of young people roughly your age, the majority middle-aged like the man you stood with, and some even older than that, some real old school guys. Similar to most country bars you would play at, but this one was special, one of the busiest in the city and the previous stomping ground of a number of major stars. Lots of people told you it was a stupid dream, but it was one you were holding onto well into your twenties whilst you finished college.

You realised you might be coming across as rude to the man who had bought you the drink you were waiting for, so you returned your attention to him, and found his gaze had never left you, he was staring down at you intently. You took in his features, a strong brow-bone, nose and sharp jaw. Dark brown messy hair with eyes to match, stubble and a defined moustache to top it off. Handsome in a rugged, properly Southern way.

“I haven’t seen you around.” He says. “I’m Joel.”

“It ain’t my first time, but it’s for sure my busiest night so far.” You said.

“You’re really incredible.” He said, repeating his words from before. Something about his eyes told you that he was genuine in his compliments, and that they weren’t just an attempt at flattery. But you sensed he was working that angle too.

You considered him carefully, and the sight from his perspective of you gazing up at him innocently through thick lashes, plump lips slightly parted, was enough to turn him on.

The bartender interrupted your intense staring contest, sliding you a drink that was a startling shade of crimson, with sugar round the rim, and for him, a rich amber liquid over rocks of ice.

“Cheers,” You offered, holding your glass out to him, and he returned the gesture, clinking the edges of the glasses. Some of the sugar from the edge of your glass transferred onto the rim of his scotch, offending his taste buds when he brought it to his lips, shuddering dramatically.

You giggled at his display and savoured the sweetness as you took your first sip.

“What you need drinks like that for anyway, darlin’? You’re already sweet enough to give some of us guys toothache.”

You rolled your eyes but gave him a laugh. These practiced lines must serve him well with most women in these establishments, and his gorgeous chocolate brown puppy dog eyes that hold your gaze as he delivers them certainly didn’t hurt either.

You found that the conversation flowed easily with Joel. He had the southern gentleman act perfected to a point, flirtation innocent enough to be plausibly deniable but certainly noticeable if you chose to lean into it. And you did find yourself doing so, loosening up with cocktail after cocktail, him knocking back scotches at an equally dizzying pace.

You weren’t sure how long you had been engrossed in his company when eventually you recognised the man he had been with earlier, approaching him from behind and putting a hand on Joel’s shoulder.

“Is that it, have I been subbed out as tonight’s company, Joel?” His cheeky tone suggested to you that Joel made a habit of this.

“Tommy,” Joel put an arm round him. He was a good few inches taller than the other man, Tommy, but they shared facial similarities, the same moustache, and dress sense. “Let me introduce you to my good friend here,” he said, turning to you.

Tommy grasped one of your hands in both of his, shaking it politely. “Pleasure to meet you, how do you do?” He shared Joel’s cheeky grin. “Helluva show you put on tonight.” He praised.

“You’re too kind.” You waved a hand bashfully. Most people assume that performers thrive on attention and praise but you have never quite gotten used to accepting the compliments that came your way during and after your shows, constantly a blushing mess whenever people congratulated you and fussed over how well you did.

“Make sure my brother takes care of you, alright? I’m gonna hit the road.” He said, offering you a wink before turning round to shake Joel’s hand. “I’ll catch you in the morning, buddy.”

A gesture of his head, indicating over his shoulder to a beautiful blonde who was stood a few metres away, twirling her curls between her fingers and watching Tommy with a smile on her face and a set of “Fuck-me” eyes if you had ever seen them. You laughed a little as you watched the brothers exchange a look. Joel’s eyebrows seemed to say well done.

You could tell he was a womaniser, a trait him and his brother clearly shared, and they didn’t mean to conceal it in any way, either. But as he had pointed out so astutely in his opening line, the heartbreak that was the inspiration behind your latest tracks had done quite a number on you, and so whilst it wasn’t in your usual nature… you were considering taking a risk on this devilishly handsome stranger tonight.

You laughed at his jokes and fluttered your eyelashes, more for your own fun as you knew he was already sold on you. But he was trying hard to chat you up and you had to give something in return to let him know he was getting somewhere.

You both kept up the pretence of waiting until it was polite to move closer together, for you to tease a light touch on his bicep and him on your upper thigh in return. His flirtations became more overt and eventually he was whispering them directly into your ear, his hot breath tickling you, his hands playing with your hair and pushing it back behind your shoulders to get a better view of your face.

He timed it perfectly right when you finished your 5th (or was it 6th?) drink, asking, “You got anyone waitin’ up for you at home?”

“No, Sir.” You blushed, happy with the subtext to his question.

“What do ya say you come home with me for a nightcap then, sweetness? Hm?” He brushed your cheek with his thumb and it took concentration to stay upright on your barstool and not melt into a puddle under his touch.

“Y-Yeah.” You stuttered, taking a deep breath as nerves hit despite having known all along the night was leading up to this point.

“I’m just a few blocks away, won’t take us long, beautiful.”

As you stepped out of the still crowded bar into the night air, you felt the alcohol dizzying you more. You stumbled slightly and Joel’s strong arms found their way around your waist, steadying you but then remaining there longer than necessary to guide you down the street, holding you close to his side.

You found yourself giggling at his jokes like a love-struck schoolgirl, constantly bashful under the compliments and affections that rolled off his tongue so naturally. He was certainly a charmer, there was no doubt about that.

After walking about a block, a small breeze hit and you found yourself shivering. He jumped back from you quickly to remove his jacket and drape it over your shoulders before slinging an arm around you again.

“I’m sorry beautiful, forgot to do that sooner.”

“Joel, you certainly have this gentleman act practiced to perfection don’t you now?” You teased.

“It ain’t an act,” He chuckled. “I am a proper southern gentleman.”

“A proper gentleman would never invite a lady home the night they meet.” You joked back.

“And a proper lady wouldn’t say yes.” He raised an eyebrow at you.

You gasped, pretending to be offended before shooting back. “I never claimed to be a proper lady, Joel. Don’t feel the need to treat me like one once you get me home.”

His smirk grew to a full on grin, he seemed pleasantly surprised at the confidence with which you delivered this remark. You had surprised yourself, too. Those drinks were stronger than you thought. Or maybe you were just drunk on him.

Before long you he was leading you up to a nice home, with a perfectly laid path, a well-tended lawn, and a sturdy wrap-around porch. You should have known, Joel was no boy leading you back to a crumby apartment, he was all man.

He fumbled with the keys in the darkness and got the door open after a few seconds, turning a light on and you took in the space. A fairly large open-plan layout, homey decor, family photos on the walls. You noticed lots of photos of a young teenager, a daughter? He hadn’t mentioned it. He followed your gaze and interrupted your thoughts, “Yeah, thats… That’s my daughter, Sarah.”

Your eyes must have widened in surprise and he reassured you, “She’s not here. She’s at my mother’s. And her mother, well… I ain’t seen her for over ten years.”

“O-Oh.” You stuttered, frowning. “I wasn’t- I.”

“No, it’s alright.” He scratched the back of his neck and chuckled awkwardly. “I just usually don’t lead with the fact I’m a single dad. Puts some women off.”

“It would take a good bit more than that to put me off you, Joel.” You stepped towards him, closing the gap between you, and he exhaled in relief.

“You need that nightcap, sweetheart?” He asked, voice low and breathless.

You shook your head slightly and he quickly acted, putting a hand under your chin, tilting your lips up towards his and connecting you in a kiss. It was sweet and gentle for a good few seconds before he reached up and removed his jacket from your shoulders, throwing it onto the kitchen island beside you and deepening the kiss, flicking his tongue against your lips. You opened your mouth and one of his hands held you by the back of the head, the other making its way to your waist.

He pushed you softly, leading you backwards down a corridor, breaking the hungry kiss only a few times to get the lights as you traveled through the house. Your hands explored his broad shoulders, his muscular chest, and his defined back. You wondered what he did for work. You imagined it had to be something physical for his body to be in such good shape, plus he seemed the type.

He reached out to open a door behind you and guided you in, kicking it closed again behind the two of you. He continued to guide you backwards until your legs hit against the foot of the bed and you sat down. He remained standing, his hand cupping your jaw and tilting it upwards to keep eye contact. His eyes were dark with lust and the sight of him above you like this was enough to make you squirm, pressing your thighs together, although the short dress you wore meant there was no friction between your legs to relieve the tension you felt. He smirked, watching you.

“Pretty dress.” He remarked, reaching behind you to unzip it. You reached up to him simultaneously, working at the buttons on his flannel shirt. As you undid them, it revealed tanned skin, a strong chest and core that wasn’t perfectly chiseled, rather he was clearly muscular but still soft. Dark hair trailed from his lower stomach into his jeans and you frantically tried to unbuckle his belt as he slipped the straps of your dress down your shoulders.

You were breathing heavily, the house was silent except for a clock ticking and the bed creaking with every moment.

His fingers toyed with the skirt of your dress and you reached down to grasp the hem, taking the initiative and pulling it over your head, leaving you in a white matching lingerie set. You thanked yourself for your choice of underwear despite it genuinely not having been your intention to put it on display tonight.

“Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes.” He breathed, leaning his head down to kiss you again. You blushed and threw your head back, and he continued to kiss, your throat, your collarbones, and the curve of your cleavage peaking out of your lace bra.

He unzipped his jeans and pushed them down his legs. His erect cock, pressing against his boxers, was level with your face. You made a concentrated effort not to open your mouth involuntarily at the sight. He must have caught the hungry expression in your eyes as he chuckled, “Patience, sweetheart.”

He discarded the jeans on the floor followed by his socks and pushed you until you lay back on his comfortable bed. As you breathed deeply you inhaled his rich musky scent that surrounded you. His mouth found its way to your neck again, peppering it with open mouthed kisses and applying light suction now and then. You rubbed your thighs together again, desperate for attention on the aching that grew in intensity between your legs. He was in tune with your body, noticing this and spreading them with a large, warm hand.

He pressed on you lightly through your underwear, cupping you and squeezing gently. You moaned a little and you could hear him exhale a breath of amusement. He liked the effect he was having on you.

You were fairly experienced but something about this handsome stranger had you writhing under him like a touch-starved virgin. This powerful, commanding, and dominant partner in bed was something you were yet to experience and you knew Joel would provide it.

He put a hand into your underwear and his fingers slipped through your wet folds. He let out a sigh at the sensation, “You’re soaked for me, gorgeous.”

You whined and lightly thrusted your hips up, grinding into his touch. This earned you a chuckle from him. Your eagerness turned him on like nothing else.

His exploration of you was painstakingly slow and you couldn’t help but plead “J-Joel.”

He obliged immediately, thrusting two fingers inside your wet hole. You moaned instantly at the sensation you had been waiting for.

“Y-Yes.” You gasped, and he picked up his speed, thrusting his fingers in and out of you, curling and scissoring inside of you to hit every spot of your tight walls.

“Oh, god. Yes, god, Oh m-“

“That’s not my name, baby.”

Joel and his one liners. You giggled but were quickly cut off into a gasping mess when he began hammering his fingers inside you at speed, inserting a 3rd one too. You felt his large erection pressing into you and felt grateful he wasn’t rushing through the foreplay.

“Will you let me taste you, baby?” He groaned quietly into your ear.

You released a strangled moan, utterly turned on by his request. It felt intimate for a one-night stand but you found yourself nodding eagerly, keen to please him and let him take whatever he likes from your body.

He quickly moves downwards, hooking a finger into each side of your panties and dragging them down your hips. Freeing them from your legs, and reaching up above your head, tucking them safely under the pillow.

He spreads your legs apart with two strong hands and you gasp in anticipation as he closes in on you, connecting his lips to your clit, softly sucking, kissing, dragging his tongue through your folds down to your leaking entrance and back up again to repeat. His stubble and moustache rubbed pleasantly against you, tickling you as he worked at you with his mouth.

After a while, he added his hand, intensifying the sensations he was giving you. He curled his fingers lazily inside of you, slowly torturing your sensitive insides and not reducing any of the attention he was giving your clit, continuing to flick his tongue against it violently, strong hands forcing your hips down to keep still on the bed where your body was naturally writhing and grinding up against him.

As he continued, your string of helpless moans increased in volume and became less words and more garbled curses and sounds.

“Oh, Joel.” A strangled moan left you and he hummed back in response, sending a vibration through your clit where his mouth was attached to you, making you shudder and gasp. The intensity of the pleasure he was giving you had tears welling in the corner of your eyes.

His prowess allowed him to sense when your orgasm was coming when you did, gripping the curls at the back of his head and pulling him closer to you- if that was possible.

“You gonna cum for me, sweetheart?”

You nodded enthusiastically, panting his name and as he increased the pressure on your clit, sucking slightly harder and fucking you with his fingers slightly faster, you felt your orgasm building, hot ropes of tension in your stomach, and down each limb.

After a few more seconds you snapped, practically screaming his name. He slowed down his fingers but didn’t stop as he licked wide stripes up and down your entire pussy as if he was cleaning you up. You shivered as the overstimulation was sending you crazy, his stubble tickling you and giving you goosebumps on your thighs.

“Please,” You begged him, pushing his head away slightly. You looked down at him through hazy eyes and saw something erotic; the sight of his mouth and moustache glistening wet with your juices, and him looking back up at you grinning like a devil.

You had never slept with a man who had prioritised your pleasure in this way, making you orgasm before you had even touched him. This was intoxicating, and you felt as though what should have been a simple one night stand with Joel may lead to you becoming hooked on him.

As your sensitive parts took time to recover, he was slipping out of his boxers. A large and hard erection stood up , slapping his lower stomach and leaking pre-cum from its pinkish red tip. Your jaw dropped at the size.

“Close that mouth sugar before I fill it up.” He growled.

The gentleman act was over. As you had requested, Joel wasn’t going to treat you like a lady in the sheets. Your eyes still widened in surprise and you saw him smirk at the effect his words had on you.

“You ready to take this cock, hm?” He asked, grasping it and dragging the tip through your wet folds, circling your clit before taking it back down to nudge at your entrance.

You nodded and pushed your hips up towards him but this earned you a light slap on your upper thigh. “Uhuh,” He scolded. “Use your words, darlin’. Tell me what you want.”

You moaned as he slowly tortured you by continuing to grind the head of his hard cock against you, giving you pleasurable friction but nothing close to what you desired which was his cock buried deep inside you.

“Please, Joel.” You begged in an erotic tone that you were surprised to hear coming from yourself. It practically sounded fake and exaggerated the way you were panting and pleading for him. “Need you to fuck me Joel need you to fill me up, please, ah-”

He cut off your speech by pressing the tip into your entrance slowly, earning a gasp from you. It hadn’t even been that long since you last got laid but his sheer size would take some getting used to.

“Good girl. Thank you for asking so politely.” He continued to push into you, his own breathing faltering as he did so.

You moaned loudly at the sensation of his wide cock spreading you open, stretching your tight hole around him. “Please, Joel.”

“Jesus christ baby girl,” he groaned. “I’d give you the world if you asked like that.”

You pulled him close to you by wrapping your hands around his back and the back of his neck, kissing him messily as he began to slowly thrust in and out of you. It was a welcome sensation but the aching inside of you was craving more. You wiggled your hips against his to increase the tension and he chuckled.

“So greedy.” He taunted, slapping your breast lightly with a hand he has been using to toy with your nipple.

He gave in to your silent demands, increasing the force of his thrusts, and you moaned loudly every time he bottomed out, reaching the perfect spot inside you and stretching you out so pleasurably. His hands came down to wrap around your hips and, gently at first, he pulled you towards himself in sync with each thrust. This earned louder moans from you, and your expressions as he watched you from above could have made him spill inside you right then and there. You were absolutely gorgeous and the tortured but positively blissed out look on your face as he had his way with you was awakening a primal level of desire inside him.

“Play with those tits for me, gorgeous.” He asked, and you reached out both hands to cup each tit, pinching your nipples between your thumb and forefinger, rolling them. Pushing your tits together and moaning, biting your lip and releasing strangled moans as he fucked you at a relentless pace.

You were certainly a performer, he noted, whilst he was in control here, there was nothing passive about your role, putting on an erotic display for his eyes only. A thought intruded into his mind that he tried hard to push away- I never want any other man to see her like this again.

He pulled out unexpectedly and you looked up at him questioningly, but he quickly answered by grabbing your hips and flipping you onto your front, dragging your body up so you were on your hands and knees. So, he would play dirty. You wiggled your ass for him in anticipation and he groaned at the sight, grasping one cheek hard with his large hand.

He guided his cock into you and wasted no time slamming himself fully in. This angle helped you appreciate his size and was hitting something impossibly deep within you. He set an aggressive pace that had you nearly screaming, and you struggled to keep yourself upright and steady on your hands. Your back arched and his view was perfect of your tanned skin, light tanlines visible on your lower back.

He grunted loudly, the sounds of both of you vocalising, skin slapping, and the bed creaking violently, filled the once silent house.

“I can’t get enough of you, baby.” He praised. You couldn’t respond, intense pleasure rendering you speechless, only able to produce strings of moans.

“I’m gonna come,” He announced, his thrusts remained forceful but his rhythm faltered and with a grunt he pulled out. Your pussy clenched, the feeling of emptiness with the absence of his cock was unwelcome.

With a few strokes of his fist, you heard him groan loudly as he released a warm load of his cum onto your ass and lower back. He stayed still for a moment, catching his breath as well as appreciating the sight of you beneath him, covered in his seed. He let out a loud sigh and you felt him move away from his position behind and eventually, felt the weight on the mattress shift as he stood up. He proceeded to open a door and came out with tissues and a wet towel, cleaning you off with both. You allowed yourself to relax into the intimate moment, the weight of you sinking into the comfortable mattress as he took care of you.

He reached up under the pillow, grabbing your underwear where he had stashed it before and gently lifting your legs to guide it back up your body. He crawled into the bed too, pulling the covers from beneath you and tucking you both in.

“I’d like you to stay.” He whispered into the space between you.

You hummed. He seemed so genuine, it wasn’t an offer he was giving out of obligation, or an I guess you can stay if you have to- Joel was open and honest and told you what he wanted.

“And I’d like it if you would give me your number.” He added.

You nuzzled your face closer into his chest, feeling comforted by his strong, warm body.

“I was afraid you’d never ask.” You muttered, kissing his neck softly as he tightened his grip around you, holding you close to him.

#joel miller fanfiction #joel miller smut #joel miller #tlou show #tlou #the last of us #tlou fanfic #tlou smut #the last of us fanfiction #the last of us fic #the last of us fanfic #joel miller fic #joel miller fanfic #pedro pascal smut #the last of us smut #tlou fanfiction #pedro pascal fanfic #pedro pascal fanfiction

[tmntxthings]

Hi! I really adore your writing!! I was wondering when you’re not busy if you could write a leo x reader oneshot where the reader has been feeling kind of touch starved lately and has resorted to reading fanfics when the turtles are out doing things? I thought it would be a kinda nice hurt(not really)/comfort concept, but I’m not great at writing myself, haha! Thank you for your time!

∑一Fanfic Tease。・゜・

author’s note: anon you are the sweetest, i hope this oneshot finds you well and this is kind of close right? I think I went off the deep end with this one, thank you for your support and request <3

warnings: lots of fluff, cursing, teasing, young love

『 donnie’s 』

—————————————————————————

“Hello hello??” Leonardo said into his phone as he was running with his brothers jumping from rooftop to rooftop. “I’m here!” You said as you scrolled through your tumblr feed, you had put Leo on speaker as soon as he called, trying to find something good to read.

“Sorry I had to portal out like that, all the mutants we’ve faced decided to team up so I don’t think I’ll be back for awhile” you could hear the wind whistling in the background. “I know, you don’t need to apologize Lee, you’re a hero go and defeat the bad guys! And please try not to get hurt,” you added on hopefully. “I’ll come back with a badass scar just for you,” he teased.

“Leo! That’s not what I-“ a loud crash could be heard and then some static. “Hello?!” Your voice raised in worry, “all good!” Leo groaned, “gotta go!” and then the phone call ended. Your heart was pounding and you told yourself that the turtles dealt with all kinds of crazy shit. Loud crashes were normal, yep a normal day in the life of a ninja.

You blew out a breath, hoped for everyone’s safe return, and distracted yourself. Which you had become pretty good at that, reading was your solace, when a story was good enough you could literally read for hours on end. Lately the patrolling and hero duty had taken a lot of time away from you and Leo. He’d get to your place and five minutes later he’d get a call or the voice channel tech on his wrist would blow up with his brother’s voices.

This had been the fourth time this week and Leo usually never called you right after portaling, maybe it had shown on your face how disappointed you were. The plan had been a movie night, and five minutes into the movie, (quite seriously you had paused it to see how far the both of you had gotten) and he was portaling away promising to finish it with you later.

You had just gotten comfortable in each others arms too. Your heart panged, it had been even longer since something like that had happened. Or maybe not, truly you couldn’t remember and yet you felt guilty, guilty for feeling so needy. The only thing that made you feel half better was a good fan fiction and tumblr was usually your go-to. You searched up hurt/comfort fics and got to reading.

You’d start smiling as the characters would be there for each other in the end, show so much passion and love for one another. It warmed your heart and made you feel so so happy, you were kicking your feet at one particular cute scene when a blue circle formed above your bed. “Incoming!!” Leo yelled as he front flipped into his portal and almost crushed you.

“Leo!” You said exasperated falling off your own bed. “Whoops! My bad,” he chuckled as he peered over the edge of your bed to see your fallen figure on the ground. You looked up at him and couldn’t stop the small smile, happy he was back and happy he looked uninjured. You stood up and Leo rolled over, making room for you to get back in bed. “Oh what do we have here?” Leo said as he felt your phone underneath his shell. He picked it up, seeing it was still unlocked and open on a story, he cleared his throat, “My darling, you know that I would cross galaxies if it meant I could be with you, then he leaned in impossibly closer, looking down at your lips asking silently for your permission, you’re eyes said it all as he claimed-“

“LEONARDO STOP IT!” Your skin went a few shades darker with embarrassment as you lunged for your phone. But Leo being the little annoying shit that he is, kept on reading, holding the phone away from you “-your lips in a warm embrace and it was everything you had dreamed it would be, soft and warm yet you could feel his burning passion for you,” Leo looked smugly at you and you decided the time for action was now. You got on top of his plastron effectively stunting his escape and eventually stopped his waving arm as you pried your phone from his three green fingers.

You huffed, locking the phone and shooting Leo the death glare. He was looking up at you, smirking, he was always so freaking cocky! Yet as the two of you had a staring match you could see a slight hint of a blush just underneath his bandana. “Sooo” Leo said looking down at where your legs were straddling him and was it possible to feel even more embarrassed?! You yelped and jumped off of him quickly, accidentally kicking him, “okay, I may have deserved that one,” he sputtered as he tried to regain his composure.

“Oh I’m sorry did I kick you ?” You said looking at his plastron and not seeing any bruises. “It’s fine,” Leo said laughing, “must’ve really embarrassed you huh?” You glowered again, all concern gone, “You think? I climbed all over you with no regard to get you to stop!” and then you sighed, turning away from him. “Aw Y/n I was just teasing, it sounded like a.. great story!” He said enthusiastically. “But isn’t it kinda cheesy?” he added on unable to help his questioning as to why.

“Not to me, it’s so romantic and,” you stopped short feeling your ears warm, “and?” Leo said scooting closer to peer over your shoulder to see your face. “I don’t know, just drop it!” You felt the all consuming blush take over again. “Darling~” Leo cooed and you looked at him to see he was blushing furiously too, “I’d portal across the entire universe if it meant I could be next to you.. watching our favorite movies,” he smiled down at you slightly embarrassed cause it was just so cheesy to him.

But to you it made your heart melt, especially since he said it so seriously. But then he goes on unable to stop himself from ruining a sweet moment, “then he leans closer,” but wait-! He really was leaning closer, your eyes widened and he looked like he was trying to act like he’d done this before, “silently asking for your permission,” but as he looked to your eyes he didn’t know what a ‘yes look’ was so as the seconds ticked on, you initiated despite feeling so flustered,

it was a soft, sweet kiss that was fleeting and chaste. You leaned back and opened your eyes to see Leo grinning, “well I can see the appeal,” he murmured as he leaned back in for one more. Maybe you’d have to leave your fan fiction up and open on your phone more often..

#rise leo x reader #leonardo hamato #oneshot #rottmnt #rise leonardo #rise leo #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #tmnt fandom #teenage mutant ninja turtles #leonardo #leo #tmnt fluff #tmnt 2018 #rise turtles #request #fluff #leo x y/n

[hellishradio]

🦴-

Personal headcanon of mine is Alastor somehow made a deal with an angel of sorts!

My biggest reason is his appearance in general- the cross-like pattern on the inner side of his suit under his bowtie. There's also the fact that he's followed by eyes a lot. Eyes seem to be a big thing in Hazbin, since they appear to be everywhere, and biblical angels are ... Well..flying eyes. Also the lyric "unclip my wings" for a split second made me think he was a fallen angel but it also would help to reference his connection to an angel or something similar.

Also the fact he's a deer, too. Deer are very much perceived as pure, innocent creatures, and we've seen a deer cherub... I dunno, maybe I'm thinking too far into it. It just feels odd that he'd be a deer of all things. I see theories saying he's a deer because he was shot on a hunting ground but that still feels off to me. It makes me wish there was something more... (... Lucifer, if you decide how sinners look or however the hell that system works, I just wanna talk.)

(I like the idea of it being Lilith, but also, I feel like it's so referenced to it being her that they're definitely gonna have a plot twist where it's someone completely different. Biggest thing is what would an angel have to gain from Alastor which is something I can't really answer...)

- 💀 (sorry for the ramble, whoops!)

"Haha, but you're wrong darling, I haven't made a deal for my soul!"

mod : he's lying btw. he definitely has. but oMG that is such a cool headcanon??!?! more people needs to hear this. though i'm not very sure either on how an angel could benefit from it. personally i think alastor has a large connection to lilith but maybe that's just a bit too cliche. in this blog it's canon that he made a deal with lilith since that seems to be the most popular opinion of the fandom

but in a way i also like the idea of him making a deal with roo, aka the 'root of all evil' who is supposedly appearing in hazbin hotel as an important character from what i've heard? perhaps she gains power through the souls alastor collects and in return alastor gets his power. but who knows! i just love all theories

🦴 — reacting to hcsㅤ|ㅤcheck out the event!ㅤ|ㅤ100f event

#ooc : guys SORRY FOR POST SPAM I HAVE SO MUCH IN MY INBOX IM JUST TRYNA GET IT THROUGH HAHA #ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ #alastor #alastor roleplay #alastor rp #hazbin hotel rp #hazbin #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel roleplay #hellishradio!asks #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel #askcount: 151 #hellishradio!💀 #hellishradio!100event

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Episode 51 (final episode!)

Yay! I enjoyed this finale. It was basically like the inverse of Adventure where instead of the kids having to go back to the real world it was the digimon having to return to the digital world. It was probably not as emotional as Adventure because the goodbyes were kind of abrupt, but it was close enough. I feel satisfied :^)

Notes:

Exciting title card is exciting. Gotta love it when the final episode switches up the intro for dramatic effect.

Sakuyamon's armor bursts off and her hair streams out when she gives Cyberdramon her power. I was kind of giggling at how fanservicey that was (I wonder if it awakened anything in anyone), but it was nice to see Ruki and Ryo finally cooperating and Ruki respecting Ryo as a teammate.

Lots of flowing hair in this episode: Sakuyamon, Ruki and Juri all get this treatment. Honestly it kinda made Ruki and Juri look really similar in my screenshots (see below), whoops. Other than that, they looked nice.

They probably just look more similar than normal here because of Juri's serious expression.

Nice of the holy beasts to show up and help, but they barely showed them (you could only see them fading into the distance). I wish they had the budget to animate them more up close because then their heroic moment would have had more oomph.

Why did Juri suddenly have 90s anime eyes in that one scene? She looked so cute lol (Culumon too)

Nice to see the less powerful, more defensive digimon save the day in this with Culumon using a barrier on Juri and then MarineAngemon doing the same for everyone to get them out of the D-Reaper bubble.

I laughed out loud when the goddess monster moaned it's way into the pit. Why was that so goofy sounding? Totally took away any cool-factor for that thing

Now that I think about it, when MarineAngemon saves the day, Hirokazu, Guardromon, and Lopmon did not need to be there. Guess they just wanted to participate haha

Poor Jian and Terriermon have to spin super hard to revert the D-Reapers power. The little "momantai" with swirling eyes was super cute.

It's revealed that part of sealing the digital world and real world connection means that all the partner digimon have to go back to the digital world, but first they revert to babies! Omg the baby digimon were so cuuuute ;w; Guilmon was a lil bean and hearing the super-serious Renamon's baby voice was great too.

We got a cheesy "Primary colors' insert song that I'm guessing was sung by the VAs, looking forward to giving that a closer listen.

It's interesting to think about what having digimon in the real world would even mean if there are no threats. They just hang out slice of life style? Are there any mon shows like that where there's no fighting? Sounds cute but it probably wouldn't sell as many toys lol.

This poor background child with huge ears:

I was like "gah! Why is there an elf in their class??"

Glad they didn't end with a silly "and then 20 years later they had all the babies" epilogue. Open-ended is best. Good for the imagination and good for the franchise if they ever want to do more with these characters.

All in all, this was a good kids show. It didn't blow me away or anything, but it was probably stronger than 02 at least. Since no one talks about the other series I can only assume it's all downhill from here -cries- Nah, JK. I'm looking forward to checking out everything else. But first, video game and manga time baby! :D

#digimon tamers #digimon #anime #spoilers #spoiler

[peterman-spideyparker]

Lol imagine watching Star Wars with Steven and seeing Poe on screen and being like “haha, Steven Poe looks a lot like you.” And Steven, bless his heart, can’t see it

Omg yes yes yes!!!😂😂 He’d be such a sweetheart and listen you you try and prove your point, but he’d still be like “okay, sure.” And whoops my finger slipped and I wrote a little blurb in my notes on my phone and pushed all my other WIPs to the side and am currently posting to post😁😇

I Don’t See It (Steven Grant x Reader One-Shot Drabble)

Steven furrows his brows when he tilts his head to hand you the bowl of popcorn. He had noticed that you had been looking back and forth at him out of the corner of his eye for a while, but your prolonged stare as the television illuminates your face piques his curious mind.

“What is it, love?” he smirks softly, his coffee brown eyes trying to read you.

“What do you mean, ‘what’?” you return, taking a handful of the snack and munching on it. “C’mon, hon. You’re telling me you don’t see it?”

“Don’t see what?” he asks again, lightly licking his lips as his brain works at light speed to try and piece together what you’re trying to get across.

“You look just like Poe!” you giggle.

“Are you having a laugh?”

“I’m serious! You could be twins: the beautiful brown eyes, the strong, handsome jawline, the fluffy hair? I mean, sure, your hair is a bit more curly, but, it looks just as soft as yours is.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you like him just as much as me,” Steven chuckles as you lean forward, running your fingers through his hair to part it like the actor in the film. As your fingers comb though his hair, someone of the more prominent curls on his head become less defined and more like Poe’s. Pulling out your phone, you quickly snap a picture of Steven and pause the film at just the right moment. “C’mon, hon. Tell me now you don’t see it,” you say as he looks between the phone and the screen.

“Sure, he’s a handsome bloke—and I know you think I’m quite dishy—but believe me when I say there is no resemblance between us,” Steven persists with a soft smile. “Marc and Jake say they don’t see it either. We look different and sound different.”

You cheekily shake your head and roll your eyes, clicking the play button on the remote and snuggling down on Steven’s chest. “Whatever you handsome men say,” you breathe, tossing some more popcorn in your mouth. “Whatever you say.”

Permanent Taglist: @majesticavenger​​​​​​​​​ @steampowerednightvaler​​​​​​​​​​ @themusingsofmany​​​​​​​​​​ @just-the-hiddles​​​​​​​​​​ @toozmanykids​​​​​​​ @dangertoozmanykids101​​​​​​ @clints-worldavengers @theburningbookshop​ @itwasthereaminuteago @peter1ismybrother

Marc Spector/Steven Grant Taglist: @spideysimpossiblegirl​ @later-gators12​

#Steven grant #Marc spector #Jake lockley #Steven grant x reader #Steven grant x reader fluff #Steven grant fluff #Marc spector x reader #Marc spector x reader fluff #Marc spector fluff #Jake lockley fluff #Jake lockley x reader #Jake Lockety x reader fluff #moonknight #moon knight #moon knight fluff #moonknight fluff #impulsive Drabble #Steven grant fanfic #Steven grant fanfiction #marvel #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #Marc spector fanfic #Marc spector fanfiction #Jake lockley fanfic #Jake lockely fanfiction

[askbensolo]

Do you still talk to Fannie and Amalia? If so, how are they doing?

I still talk to Amalia, yeah! We don’t talk that often, but we send each other memes and stuff. She lives on Coruscant now, which is where she came from before Luke found her. This is gonna sound weird, but she like, switched religions, kind of. Apparently there’s a religion of non-Force sensitives and semi-Force sensitives who revere the Force, despite not being able to feel it or use it to make things float and all that.

I don’t really get it. I asked her what the difference was, between that and being a Jedi. Or why you’d devote your life to the Force if you weren’t gonna get a lightsaber and mind powers out of it. Or why she’d join a community of non-Force sensitives, when she used to be such a powerful Jedi-in-training.

Amalia said that as a Jedi, she was always focused on how to use the Force, but now, she thinks more about how the Force uses her. The Force, to her, is less of an energy and more of a divine being with its own will, whose will we ought to discern and follow. And then there was some other stuff about how she thinks the light side/dark side balance thing isn’t actually true, that what we call the light side of the Force is really just the Force itself, and…well, it’s way over my head, so don’t ask me.

I don’t know, I guess it’s kinda interesting. But I’m a little more interested in paying my bills and hitting work deadlines right now.

One thing’s clear to me, though. Amalia is way happier than she used to be. More chill. And nicer. Doesn’t stop her from roasting me all the time though—which is good, because I’d hate to lose such an integral part of our friendship.

As for Fannie…well, she and I aren’t really in contact anymore. She went to Ryloth to work with a Twi’lek anti-trafficking organization around the time that I left for college, and things haven’t really been the same between us after that.

Fannie and I used to be real buds. She always saw the best in me (even when I was being a jerk), and showed a lot of care for me that I hadn’t really experienced before. We became even closer after she broke up with her boyfriend Deirak because of their differing plans for the future (she was set on returning to Ryloth, and he wanted to stay with Luke and be a Jedi teacher).

Even though Fannie was the one who ended things with him, it still made her really sad, so after the breakup I spent a lot of time with her and listened to her cry and invited her to hang out with my family and took her on walks a lot. (Looking back, I can see why Deirak stopped being nice to me around then. Whoops. Sorry bro.)

Anyway…after I went to Naboo and she went to Ryloth, being in such different worlds—I mean our lifestyles, not the planets—put kind of a strain on our friendship. I was complaining about writing essays, and cramming for finals, and enduring my stupid stupid stupid Nonhuman Studies courses where everyone was like “Ben is a human so his opinion on Hutt crime lords is invalid”—and Fannie was like, “Oh yeah, I helped deliver a baby today. I went on an undercover mission to help a woman escape her slaver.”

Awkward.

It’s not like we fought over it or anything. But…there was just this…disconnect, and we both were really busy, and eventually we kind of just…stopped talking.

Well…okay, maybe I was the one who stopped replying as much. And then I got anxiety whenever I opened our messages and remembered I hadn’t replied in over a month.

She did reach out to me last summer to ask if I graduated. I was like, “Haha, yeah!” and she was like “Congratulations!” and I was like, “Thanks!” and that was that.

I do think about her a lot though. I think I could have been a better friend to her. I wish that I had supported her more, instead of focusing on myself and feeling self-conscious. Sometimes I think about reaching out again, but…I don’t know. It’s been a long time. I’m still busy, and I’m sure she is too. Maybe that friendship just ran its course…

#askbensolo #written #fannie #amalia #the force #university of naboo #deirak

[mnoxsk]

“Love Me IRL” Idia x Male!Reader Headcannons Pt1

Summary: How you meet, what he does when he’s in love/has a crush on you, what happens when you reciprocate.

Genre: Fluff

-This man rarely goes out so It’s almost impossible to meet him face-to-face. You would most definitely meet him in-game. Bro also probably has a goofy name like “Hade’s Left Hand”, “Walmart Version of Hades”, or a cringe name like “tHe GrIm ReApEr” lol. During one of his boss raids he would immediately be caught glaring at your ass because of how cool he thought your avatar was (AND BRO WAS HE EMBARRASSED). During the boss fight though only 25% of the people still alive and all the healers were dead AND BRO WAS TRYING TO HOLD ONTO DEAR LIFE. As a fatal attack almost hit him you blocked the hit and took the sacrifice, letting your character die. After the boss fight he would thank you for helping him live for a split second and apologize for losing some of your stuff when dying, wanting to at least give in return. You do take up that offer however wanted to become friends with him and he, without a single thought about it, accepted it (like bro is very picky choosy of his friends so for you to get in that friends list is like seeing a unicorn).

-When he started realizing that he has a crush on you was during a 24-hour quest where both of you had to stay online that long to get a ‘special prize’  that was told around the game and wanted to test it. Majority of the time you both went on hidden missions and fought low leveled bosses for the newbies. However during the last couple minutes you both talked more seriously about your lives. 

“I bet you’re real cool irl man. Like every time I can’t help but be amazed of how cool you are!” You announced to him in voice chat. “I’ll be honest with you man, I’m not that amazing you think I am. I can barely go outside without thinking that people will judge me.” “Is that so..? Hmm, well if we meet and hangout a lot will that change?” As you ask that he chuckles before answering. “Haha, maybe.” -Mission is complete- -Here is your reward- “Oh sweet man! Lets see what we got!” As you both check your inventories he realizes that there’s a certain ‘title’ they unlocked but before he can fully inspect it he looks to see you equipped it. -Name: Y/N- -Title: Just Married-  “Like my title man? ;).” Idia freezes before his hair turns pink. “UNEQUIP THAT SH*T RIGHT NOW!” “NO WAY HAHAA!” 

-Bro ran after you in-game for an hour before giving up and honestly after looking at it a couple times more, he honestly likes the idea of you being his husband. After that expect his hair to be a light pink when playing with you and “jokingly” flirting with you. He also eventually equips the title aswell and whoever slanders it will be killed. Not only that but he’ll share his “trash items” when they’re literally the best in game.

-Once he realizes it he’ll pamper you’re ass so much. Need help with commissions? Already did them. Some guy is beating you up? Who are they because they ‘bouta get their ass whooped. He also likes flirt joking with you often and (consentually) grabbing yo male ass for fun when he’s literally head over heels for you BUT WON’T CONFESS (LIKE PLEASE DO IT FOR HIM MAN). Also every time you play with him he’ll have light pink hair and a big goofy smile to chase it. LIKE HE JUST LOVES YOU. 

-If you confess to him in game or chat he will actually stop playing games for the whole day, just thinking about it in his mind while he screams as of why he left you like that. Not only that but he’ll finally take that bath he hasn’t taken ever since he fell in love and waited for your ass to get on to play with him. If he confesses it will probably be in a nature-like area where it sets that romantic mood and is away from people. AND I SWEAR IF YOU TAKE TOO LONG TO ANSWER HIM HE WILL JUST LEAVE THE GAME FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE UNLESS YOU KNOW HIM IRL. :)

-After you reciprocate his hair will just be a whole ass rosy pink with the stupidest yet cutest smile every single time he thinks about you. LIKE HE’S SO IN LOVE WITH YOU MAN. 

Also I would write more but that’s for part 2 SO HA HA >:)

#idia x male reader #fluff #twst x reader #twst headcanons #twst x male reader #mlm #x male reader #twst fluff #idia fluff

[findmeabowlofundertale]

PART 7 IS HERE

[Previous part] [Next]

It might be the longest yet but to be completely honest I have no idea. So uhhhh read it when you have plenty of time bc I thrive on reactions there’s a lot of important stuff in here, just like with part 6.

I took tons of inspiration from many, many sources. I feel like I should have a works cited page or something haha ^^;;

But yeah, as usual there will be notes at the end.

I really wanted to give a better progression of time, but between part 6 and this one, not gonna lie, I got a little mixed up moving things around. So. Sorry, as usual, for the lack of realistic relationship progression. (Though, it has been several weeks for them…) It should be slower, but for one, I’m excited, and for two, when you don’t spend much time around others and then suddenly meet some you really click with, you can get attached pretty fast. I just want them to be good friends already! Realism be darned, this is primarily for myself, so… yeah. Anyway, enjoy(?)

- - - -

Hey! I was just checking if tomorrow was still a good day to meet? <

> HELLO. YES. TOMORROW STILL WORKS FOR ME

> ALPHYS WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US. BUT IS TOO SHY TO ASK.

A new message in a different conversation popped up on Asteri’s phone. It was from Alphys. She opened it.

> HI PLS IGNORE WHATEVER DR G IS SENDIGN

She rolled her eyes with a good-natured sigh.

Alphys chill. You’re welcome to join us if you want. <

Back to Gaster.

I let her know I’d be happy to have her. <

> THANK YOU

> SHE JUST GETS LIKE THIS. SOMETIMES

No problem. See you tomorrow! <

Tomorrow she was finally going to ask him why he texted like that. Her phone dinged. Alphys again.

> If ur like totally sure! I dont wanna impose

You’re not imposing. <

Besides I think I worked out some of the Japanese from the books you guys found. I found a few things in the dump that helped. I wanna run it by you, if you’re free. <

> OMG REALLY?!?

> Ok yeah i’ll totally be there!!

> Happy to help!

Turning it around as an invitation seemed to work well. Asteri smiled. She almost put her phone down, but then an idea struck her.

Can you do me another favor, actually? <

Tell me what you two have eaten lately. <

The typing message came, went away, returned, and went away again several times before Alphys answered.

> well uhh haha so he tried making pasta last week i guess but it didn’t turn out, so he’s just been bringing in the leftovers and “forgetting” them in the break room fridge??

> I was going to eat some so it didn’t go to waste but

> asteri it’s So Bad

> so

> Idk

> but theres been a new box of donuts in here like every day so…

Asteri dragged her wing down her face.

How good of friends do you have to be with someone before you can strangle them <

> LMAO

> u want me to ask him?

Asteri sat up straight in her chair.

DO NOT TELL HIM I SAID THAT <

> LOLLL ok i won’t

Alphys I MEAN IT. <

I don’t want him to take it the wrong way. <

> lmao i won’t tell him don’t worry

> don���t think you can strangle a skeleton anyway

I doubt it. Not when their heads can come off <

> hIS WHAT

Asteri grimaced. Whoops.

My bad I thought you would have known about it considering what happened <

> wHAT DO YOU MEAN CONSIDERING WHAT HAPPENED

She snorted a laugh.

> ASTERI

Apparently skeletons come apart. <

They can move their bodies from their head but if they go too far they lose control of one or the other. And apparently one time he tested that without warning anyone ahead of time and got too far from his head so it was just his body wandering around blind until he ran into someone and freaked them out <

> Oh My God

> I wanna say ur joking but that would literally be just like him

Ask him if he knows he dropped a phalange in the break room and see how long it takes him to tell you that story <

> asdjklf;hsk I can’t just say that!!!!

Trust me he’s way too excited to talk about it. <

If it goes badly you can say I dared you. <

> omg ok i’ll do it

Asteri chuckled and put her phone down. Alphys was a lot of fun to talk to. They had kept in touch since the dump, since she was more adept at texting than Gaster. He absolutely texted like an old man. Which was hilarious considering that he had absolutely no excuse for being out of touch with technology. He quite literally worked with it every single day. Well, who knew? Maybe he just wasn’t one for written communication. After all, people wrote much differently than they spo—

Wait, no, that really didn’t make sense for him.

…Is that how he would talk, if he spoke aloud? Geez.

She shook her head and got up. Not worth thinking about. She should go get her notes on Japanese in order for Alphys.

⁂

Bread was shoved against Gaster’s chest.

“Sandwich.”

He looked down at the plastic baggie-covered-sandwich and took it, then gave a grateful but confused smile. “Thank you, but… why?”

Asteri didn’t have arms to cross, and her wings were too big, but she approximated the gesture well enough and her tail flicking in agitation against the red rock beneath her made her mood clear. “Because I said I would start bringing you food if you didn’t eat.”

A startled, somewhat indignant noise caught in his metaphorical throat as he straightened in mild offense. “I made pasta when I got home last time!”

“Did you eat it?”

The silence and the way his eyelights immediately flitted away were answer enough even if Alphys hadn’t filled her in yesterday.

“Gaster!” she scolded.

He threw his arms in the air and signed with a blue pair of hands that blinked into existence instead. “It was inedible!”

“It can’t have been that bad.” Surely nobody who had been alive this long didn’t have basic cooking skills. No matter what Alphys said.

“H-Hi, um, am- am I interrupting?”

The very same lizard had walked up to them without either of them realizing. Gaster lit up, though more in triumph than delight. “Not at all.”

“Hey! Good to see you again,” Asteri greeted. “You’re just in time to watch me lecture an old man.”

Gaster made another offended noise. “I am not the only monster who fought in the war, you know!”

“Alright, fair enough,” Asteri conceded. “But you’re the only one of my friends who has, so I’m teasing you about it.”

The finger he had held up in anticipation of giving a rebuttal drooped as the indignation melted away, and a slight smile pulled at his expression instead, eyes flicking away with a hint of green. He still wasn’t used to being called anyone’s friend.

Asteri looked down at Alphys. “Did you get some of it?”

The lizard monster nodded and pulled a container out of her bag. Monster food didn’t spoil, so the fact that it was a week and a half old didn’t matter, fortunately. Which was not the case with human food, as Alphys had learned the hard way from scavenging at the dump. She handed the container over. Gaster’s flattered smile immediately disappeared, replaced with dawning horror.

“Asteri.”

She manifested a green hand.

“Asteri, wait.”

She took the lid off. Well… no, it decidedly didn’t smell great, but…

“Asteri, please! Do not eat that. It is inedible.”

She huffed and swung her head back over to look at him in mild annoyance. “It cannot be that bad. Look. I’m a decent cook, so I’ll try it and give you some tips on what could be improved. I’m not going to judge you.”

That was a lie, she had already judged him a little bit.

He looked mortified. “I am begging you.”

Asteri raised an eyebrow and glanced at Alphys for input. She gave an awkward smile, so stretched it was more like a grimace. “I-It’s, um…” The question put her in an uncomfortable position between her two friends.

“Alphys, tell her! It is horrendous! Nobody could eat that!”

“Oh come on! Nobody can be that bad at cooking. It’s PASTA, how bad could it possibly be?”

“BAD! It’s terrible! You will take damage from that penne!”

Asteri scoffed. “You can’t accidentally put malicious intent into food, now I know you’re exaggerating.”

Alphys looked back and forth between them, growing increasingly anxious as they argued, until finally she screwed her eyes shut and clutched her bag and blurted, “Okay, i-it’s awful!”

They both turned to look at her again. There was a beat of silence before Gaster lit up in a triumphant grin.

“See?!”

Asteri made a face. “Hmph. Well, even if it somehow does deal damage, I’ve got plenty of HP.”

A green, drippy hand reached into the container and picked up a fistful of pasta. The two scientists looked on in terror as she opened her mouth and tossed it in. She chewed. They held their breaths. She swallowed.

There was silence at first. The anticipation was tangible. She closed her eyes, took a breath, then opened them again.

“How do you two feel about heading to my place?”

Alphys blinked. “O-Oh! Sure…?? I-I don’t mind the walk.”

“I am not opposed,” Gaster agreed, slightly confused.

“Good. Because I’m teaching you two how to cook. My god, that is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted.”

⁂

The attempt ended four and half hours later with the three of them covered in sauce stains and on the kitchen floor. Asteri held her face in her wings, Gaster was face-down, and Alphys was flopped over onto her side, staring at the various spills and the overturned pan and bowl across the floor from her.

Asteri raised her head and stared upward. There was a splatter of something on the ceiling. She heaved a sigh. “Terrible job everyone. But at least we tried. Let’s get this cleaned up.”

With a grunt, Alphys righted herself. “Okay…”

“Gaster, are you conscious?”

The man didn’t move at all, but a pair of blue hands manifested above him. “Unfortunately.”

“Alright, well, get up. This is no time for embarrassment. You’re helping clean.”

He sighed silently but obeyed, pushing himself up from the ground and onto his knees. His glasses were barely hanging onto his face. He made no effort to correct this. “I am so sorry about this mess. What can I do?”

Asteri stood and dusted herself off with her wings, then gestured upward with her tail. “Help me wipe that splatter off the ceiling.”

He craned his neck to look where she was pointing. “Ah...” How did they even manage that?

She looked around, utterly overwhelmed by the chaos her kitchen had descended into. “Alphys, can you get the dishes in the sink? Then we can collect the rest of the dishes, and… ugh, wait, no. There’s the pans. And I didn’t put away the plates on the drying rack. Uh, okay. I can get the counters, but the leftover ingredients that are still good can… no, um. The rags are… But first, the floor. No.”

There was nowhere to put anything, and stuff was everywhere, and there was ruined food to scoop up, and good food to find containers for, and she needed to find a bucket for the mop, and… This was too overwhelming.

“Th-There’s containers with lids in that cupboard, but the fridge is… If you, uh…”

It was exhausting to even think about. Looking at it just drained her. All she wanted to do was sit back down, but then the spills would just dry and get even harder to clean. She didn’t know how this had even happened. She was exhausted from trying to keep the both of them on track, and as patient as she was, it had run out after two or three hours of damage control. This was so far beyond reckoning, she was beginning to shut down. If she didn’t get a grip, she was going to end up crying in frustration, and nobody needed that right now—

“Asteri.”

She turned her head. Gaster had approached without her having noticed until she saw his hands move. Whatever dismayed look was on her face must have been bad, because he set a hand on the closest thing she had to a shoulder and looked at her with an level of concern she really, really wished she didn’t warrant. He shouldn’t have to worry about her, this was her idea, and… and…

He looked into her eyes, his own flared in a deep blue, almost indigo. She couldn’t seem to look away. They burned like fire magic, warm and captivating. There were shades of blue she didn’t even know existed. The colors danced like flames, swirled like milk in coffee. The stress bled out of her. Her posture relaxed; She felt… calm. Serene.

The color in his eyes slowly faded, and he smiled softly.

“Do not worry about it. Let us clean up our mess.”

“How did you do that?” Asteri asked, a bit hazy, as he steered her to a seat at her kitchen table.

He signed something with his blue hands that she didn’t recognize first, then realized his mistake. “Lighting our eyes with color, or—” He repeated the sign, which she interpreted as “eyeglowing”— “was one way skeletons expressed certain emotions, but it was also how we calmed each other. It was context-sensitive. I was unsure if it would work with you,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his head a bit sheepishly, “but I acted instinctively.”

“It was really nice,” she murmured, leaning forward on the table until her head was resting against her wings. “Made me tired though.”

“It simply calmed you enough to realize that you were already tired.”

“Mm…”

He stepped away. “Just rest.”

“But there’s so much…”

“Alphys and I have cleaned up far worse.” Several more pairs of blue hands manifested around him once he reached the center of her kitchen.

“D-Definitely,” the younger woman chimed in. She wasn’t thrilled to be cleaning up the entire kitchen, but could tell Asteri needed to sit this one out. “Me and Dr. Gaster got this.”

“Technically,” Asteri mumbled into her wing, “‘t’s “Dr. Gaster ‘nd me.””

Alphys stared at her and ignored the correction. “Where are your dish towels, Asteri?” she sighed instead.

The shapeshifter pointed to a drawer with her tail.

She then watched as each of Gaster’s several floating hands went about doing something different, all while he stood in place, real hands folded behind his back except to levitate a few heavier things to different places. Alphys worked on whatever he wasn’t doing at a given moment. They worked in perfect sync, like they had done this dozens of times before. It was fascinating to watch.

They were finished within an hour. It passed in a blur.

“Thank you guys so much,” Asteri said once they finished. “I really appreciate it.”

“It was the least we could do after making such a mess.”

“I know we were going to talk linguistics, Alphys,” she said as she sat up and stretched, “but I don’t think I have the mental energy for it. Do you guys want to watch a movie instead?”

“I can’t remember the last time I watched a film,” Gaster mused. “I would like that.”

“Y-Yeah, a movie sounds nice!”

Asteri stood. “I don’t have much to eat though… I’m sorry.”

“I-I can make sandwiches, if, um, i-if you don’t mind. That’s not really cooking, so…”

“That’s fine with me. Here, I’ll help. I can do that much as a host, at least. Gaster, do you want to look through the movies I’ve got?”

Once they finished making the sandwiches, they met Gaster in the living room. After agreeing on a movie, they sat on the couch, Asteri in the middle. Too tired and distracted with the film starting, she forgot she had wanted to try to watch how Gaster ate. Oh well. She was exhausted. She didn’t last much past the halfway point of the movie, soon thereafter conking out and beginning to slump over. Being much taller than Alphys, the shorter woman had to keep pushing her back up.

“Doctor,” she hissed after the third time. He startled, having been completely engrossed in the film, and looked to his coworker. “Doctor, c-can you help, please?? She keeps falling over.”

“Oh! Yes, my apologies, Alphys.”

It would have been easier to turn her SOUL blue and pull her upright, but this wasn’t a battle, and she wasn’t conscious so he couldn’t ask her if it was alright. So instead, he turned and carefully clasped her not-quite-shoulders, then gently pulled her upright. She started to fall over again as soon as he began to let go, though, so he tilted her towards himself instead. Her head fell limply against his shoulder. She sighed in her sleep, but otherwise did not stir.

Alphys watched the way he smiled down at her before turning his attention back to the movie, noticed the way Asteri settled against him, and she smirked.

The movie ended after midnight, and the two reluctantly woke Asteri up to bid her goodbye. She was only half-awake, but thanked them for coming and told them to be careful on the way home. In the back of her mind, she realized she had ended up leaned on Gaster’s shoulder, but told herself not to think about it too hard and went to bed.

⁂

In lieu of the cooking lesson disaster, Asteri and Alphys met up at the former’s house on a different day to go over Asteri’s notes on Japanese.

“I am s-so sorry about, um, a-about the other day,” Alphys stammered as they approached the house. “I d-didn’t even! I-I didn’t even kn-know cooking c-could go… l-like that.”

“Honestly, neither did I,” Asteri said grimly, holding the door open for her friend. “But it was nice of you two to clean up for me. I appreciate it immensely.”

“I-It was mostly him! Thank goodness f-for blue magic, right?”

“And multiple pairs of hands.”

“O-Oh, r-right!” Alphys chimed as they walked through her front room. “You never saw him with a bunch of hands before, right?”

Asteri led her into a room toward the back of the house, something like an office, where she kept her notes. This room had magical fire burning in a few alcoves to lower the humidity. She flipped the lights on.

“Yeah, I didn’t know he could summon that many,” she mused. “He had three summoned when he showed me green magic, but I assumed that was about the limit. I didn’t expect— what was that? Ten?”

“Y-Yeah, I think ten is- is it. I think he f-felt really bad about the mess, so…”

Asteri gestured to a chair if Alphys wanted to sit, and sighed as she dropped into her own seat at the desk. “Yeah, I know. I told him it was fine, though. I hope he didn’t push himself for my sake.”

The lizard monster plopped into the offered chair and waved a hand. “He’s fine. Just, um, y-y’know, he gets. Self-conscious.”

“I do know that,” Asteri mumbled with a knowing sigh, sitting at her desk.

Alphys’ eyebrows furrowed. “W-Why, um, w-why did he need three extra hands to show you green magic, though?”

The memory of the skeleton shrugging out of his dark coat and yanking his sweater all the way up to his armpits brought heat back to her face. She pushed the feeling down and managed to maintain an otherwise calm expression. “We were discussing SOUL magic, which I wasn’t familiar with since I don’t make a habit of fighting. He said that because we didn’t know each other very well, he didn’t want to use it on me. I didn’t understand, um… turning a SOUL a certain color, so he…” She swallowed, beginning to struggle not to look as embarrassed as she felt by the memory. It wasn’t a big deal, it was educational. Surely it would be more embarrassing to make it a big deal to a scientist of all people. She shrugged as casually as she could manage. “…He showed me.”

Alphys’ eyes turned into dinner plates and she giggled incredulously. “He turned his own SOUL green and SHOWED you?!”

Asteri’s whole face flushed. “I-It stayed in his body!!”

Alphys was grinning, claws over her mouth. “Oh my god.”

“It was purely educational!”

“Did he- D-Did he, like, take his shirt off??”

“He pulled it up,” Asteri muttered. “But it wasn’t a big deal, alright‽”

“You’re preeeeetty defensive f-for it not being a big deal, Asteri,” Alphys teased.

“I-I just didn’t know what to expect! It’s not like I’d seen a skeleton’s body before!”

Alphys wiggled her eyebrows. “Why’re you blushing so hard then?”

“BECAUSE I SAW THE MAN’S SOUL, ALPHYS! That’s not exactly an experience I’m accustomed to having with someone!” She sighed and rubbed her face with her wing, tail reaching over to grab her papers.

Fortunately, Alphys dropped it, though the smirk didn’t quite disappear.

“Here. Look. These are some words I believe I have the meanings of.” Asteri shoved a handful of papers at her with her tail. “But since you’re familiar with the actual speech, I was hoping you could help me by giving me the pronunciation of any words you know. Then, once I know which letters make which sounds, hopefully we can meet again and compare what else I’ve transliterated. The writing has almost no spaces, so I can’t tell where words end and begin. I was hoping you would be able to help with that once we make some progress.”

“A-Ah, okay!” Alphys shuffled through the papers. “Um, so you have the word for “goodbye,” and I know that one!” She held the paper out and pointed to it. “It’s, um, “sayonara.””

Asteri frowned, leaning forward. “That can’t be right. The text is only five letters.”

Alphys’ expression withered into confusion, then uncertainty. “Oh… um, okay, let me look again.” She searched the papers once more. “Okay, here- here’s “yes,” I know that one is- is definitely “hai!” And, um, here, you have a few! A-A few different ones. For “wait.” I’ve heard, uh, “matte o,” uh, th-the most.”

Again, Asteri looked at the papers, and it didn’t make any sense. “None of these have enough letters to be those words… Did I get all of these wrong??”

Both of them stared at the columns of words in silence for at least a solid minute.

“Maybe… M-Maybe you should watch some of, um. Some anime?”

Asteri sighed and flopped back against her seat. “You know, you’re probably right.” Her head turned back to the other woman. “Alright. Hit me. What are we watching?”

Alphys lit up like a lightbulb. Before she could answer, though, Asteri spoke up again.

“Just! Know. That there will be a lot rewinding and pausing.”

“Th-That’s okay! I know exactly what we can watch! And!” Alphys reached into her bag, then pulled out a DVD case and held it aloft. “I always bring my favorite with me in case I meet someone who wants to watch it!”

Asteri squinted at it. “Sailor… Moon?”

It was a lot more productive than Asteri anticipated. Seeing Japanese text in the background occasionally along with hearing the way it was spoken helped her get a better sense of how the language worked. Brief segments of seeing a character write something or sound something out helped immensely. By the time Alphys left, they had tossed around theories ranging from the language not having written vowels to each letter being a word. Some of the words in Japanese that she heard translated to a whole phrase in the subtitles, or vice versa, which fascinated Asteri to no end. She had spent almost the last two decades studying monster languages, but now, to try to puzzle apart a brand new one? Oh, it excited her like nothing else. Words for things that their language didn’t have, entirely different grammar, and most immediately interesting: a new alphabet.

It left her with much to think about. Alphys promised that next time, she would bring some of her other series to pick from. That was great, and Asteri was looking forward to it, but more than anything, this had made her all the more determined to learn more about fonts and speech-based magic from Gaster. The next time they met, she was getting to the bottom of it.

(The next time they met, she did not.)

⁂

This time, their walk was less meandering through Hotland, and more making a beeline for New Home. Gaster had been having actual meals all week, so Asteri agreed that they should get donuts together.

“I feel like you’re the only reason this donut shop is still open, Gaster.”

He grinned, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as they walked in. “They know my orders by heart here…”

That pulled a little snort from her. “Of course they do.”

“Doctor!” greeted the man behind the counter. “Where have you been!? We haven’t seen you all week, we started to worry you tripped and fell into the CORE!”

He laughed humorlessly. “There are safety rails to preventing that, fortunately.” In most areas, anyway. “Asteri here has been trying to get me to eat a more balanced diet.”

“Oho! Good for you! We sell sandwiches too, you know!”

“Perhaps I will try one, sometime. But today I am being rewarded with donuts for eating well all week.”

The man laughed, hearty and loud, and turned to Asteri. “You’re taking good care of the doctor for us all, huh!?”

“I’m certainly trying,” she answered, unable to help her smile. The worker— owner? —knew Gaster well. She was glad he knew that there were other people who cared about him.

“You picked a good one, Doctor! I’m happy for you! It’s about time you settled down!”

Oh.

Both of their faces flushed with magic. “No, no no no, it’s not like that!” she clarified, while Gaster frantically signed more or less the same thing. The monster behind the counter just shrugged and let it go.

“My bad! I’m sorry, I just got excited for ya, Doctor! But still, glad you’ve got a good friend! So! What can I getcha!?”

After they ordered (though Asteri insisted it not be an entire box of donuts this time, just a couple), they found a booth to sit in and made themselves comfortable.

“He seemed very excitable,” she giggled.

“Every one of his sentences has at least one exclamation point,” Gaster informed her with a chuckle. “Even his questions. I have never seen him use a period.”

“Wow, really? Is that tiring to read?”

He picked up a donut and hummed for a moment. “No, not any more than it is to listen to.”

Alright, this was good! This time, she was finding out more about speech and text magic, and she wasn’t going to let anything derail her!

“Speaking of which, Gaster,” she began, looking up from her own plate, “I was going to aaaaaaa….sk…..”

She had looked up in time to see Gaster mid-bite. Yes, that was right: mid-bite. His mouth hung open as their eyes met in mutual confusion. Then, after a split-second, he finished biting the donut and signed while he… chewed, or whatever it was that happened next. “Asteri? What’s wrong?”

She gaped at him. “Your mouth opens‽”

Well, there went tact.

Understandably, he shot her a confused, mildly worried look as he took another bite. “Asteri, we have eaten together several times now.”

She felt her face heat up. This is why tact is important. Good grief Asteri, does all your sense go out the window when you’re around him‽ Pull it together!!

“W-Well, um. I was busy writing notes the first time we met… and the other time, with the pizza, I got distracted… then, um. Last time, we were sitting in the dark and the movie was starting, and I was exhausted. So I. I never… saw you… do that?”

He raised one brow and stared at her in what could only be described as a mixture of skepticism and concern, then opened and closed his mouth a few times as if to show that yes, it really did work that way. His teeth clicked together. Despite her best efforts, she just stared. It definitely made the way his head was shaped make more sense.

“You truly never saw me open my mouth, this entire time?” She shook her head, eyes still glued to his jaw. He breathed a single laugh and took a sip of his drink. “Perhaps I should teach you about skeleton biology, then.”

Her eyes blew wide and immediately flicked up to meet his, incredulous. If her face wasn’t hot before, it was now. For a split second that felt like an eternity, he just looked back at her, not comprehending what he had said that could have elicited such a response. Then it registered and his face turned red, eyelights blazing hot pink.

“I meant explain it!!! Here! In the booth! In an educational and—” He was signing too quickly, she didn’t make the second word out, but she imagined it was probably “professional” or something— “manner!! Obviously I would not…! Make any such advances!!”

“R-Right, yes,” she stammered, looking away. “O-Obviously.” She debated pointing out that he had practically taken his shirt off and showed her his SOUL a couple weeks ago, but decided that what had just happened was enough embarrassment to both of them for one day.

The awkwardness was palpable.

“I’m...” She released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I was already a little flustered, so my mind jumped right to…” God, what was wrong with her?! She rubbed her face with her wing. “Th-That was beyond inappropriate of me, I apologize.”

“I certainly could have worded it better,” Gaster objected on her behalf, still embarrassed but fortunately not upset. “It is not your fault.”

Asteri sighed. “I feel like such a heel, though. I don’t know where my mind is today. God. I shouldn’t have even gone there. You’re my friend. Obviously you wouldn’t suggest that. Especially like… that.”

Yeah, it was way too smooth of a line, he’d never be able to swing tha— what is WRONG with me‽

“No, no, please,” he insisted, “do not berate yourself! I was careless in my wording, and neither gave any consideration that you might have been embarrassed by the misunderstanding at the counter. Forgive me.”

The misunderstanding at the…? Oh! Yes. She was a little frazzled by that. But mostly she had been flustered by…

The realization almost knocked the wind out of her.

It was his mouth. I was watching his MOUTH.

God, should she just tell him that? No, no, it would make things uncomfortable because he would think it was for a way weirder reason than it actually was and then he would never want to eat around her again. She just needed to get a grip. There weren’t a lot of monsters with teeth that weren’t covered by something like skin or a beak. The form she preferred to stay in was a lot like her parents’, and lacked lips. They didn’t kiss each other, they would just gently nibble wherever was convenient: shoulder, cheek, neck. (It was only once she got much older that she had learned that biting someone’s neck or shoulder was not considered an innocent display of affection by most other types of monsters.) She had just gotten caught up with the subconscious realization that he was like her in that regard. Skeletons probably didn’t kiss either. Maybe they bit, like her family. That was all. She was thinking about biting (kissing) and how nobody else did that, and then he said that and it completely threw her.

Shoot, she had been quiet a few seconds too long. “Don’t- Don’t worry about it, Gaster! Really. Um, look, I feel terrible about making you uncomfortable, and you feel bad about making me uncomfortable, so now we both feel bad and are uncomfortable. Let’s just start that conversation over, yeah?”

“Yes. I would like that.” He nodded, sitting up a little bit straighter with a grateful smile.

For a moment she hesitated, but then decided that embarrassment aside, it probably would be good to know. “If… If if isn’t too uncomfortable of a topic after all that,” she started, tentative, “it might be beneficial if you did tell me a little about skeleton… biology. J-Just the basics. So there aren’t any future misunderstandings.”

Gaster nodded once more. “I think that would be wise.” He shifted in his seat, getting more comfortable. “Since it has become relevant, I will start with our jaws. I can open mine, as you saw. However, I do not need to, technically speaking. Neither to vocalize, as you have no doubt noticed, nor to eat. Some skeletons had fused skulls, lacking this hollow here.” He pointed to the space between his back teeth and the hinge of his jaw. “They could not open their mouths, so they ate with magic. Like so.”

Asteri watched in stupor as he held a donut up to his closed mouth and it began to disappear.

“This is fine, and sometimes more convenient, but it takes more concentration for me, personally, so I prefer to simply bite my food.

“Some skeletons appeared to have fused skulls, but were just particularly skilled with distortion magic, and pulled the magic that made up their skulls around their mouths so that they could emote more similarly to monsters with skin, showing more or less teeth depending on their expression. All skeletons use distortion magic naturally, which is how our eye sockets emote and we appear to frown and smile.”

Asteri nodded. “Distortion magic is used by shapeshifters as well, to some extent. Though, our nature is to be able to change forms, so it isn’t what allows us to shift, only what we might use while in a particular form.”

“Then you understand.”

“Yeah. Though you use it so subtly I didn’t place it as distortion magic until you said so.”

He smiled at that. “Thank you. I have a decent amount of skill with it, though I am by no means particularly adept. Generally, skeletons emoted with a mixture of eyeglowing and changes in font. But only other skeletons could see fonts, and eyeglowing required knowledge of what each color meant in each context— something other skeletons knew innately— so when confronted with other monsters, or humans, some skeletons chose to use more distortion magic to make their expressions and emotions clearer.” He paused. “Being… the only skeleton left, I admit I am at times tempted to make more use of distortion magic so that others may better read my expression. But, at the same time, I do not want to act like something I am not.”

“That makes sense,” Asteri murmured. “I can understand the pressure to change in order to be understood, while also feeling like you shouldn’t have to abandon your culture.”

He looked on, waiting for her to continue if she wished. She hadn’t meant to get into it, this was about him, but if wanted to listen…

She took a breath.

“My parents were big on that. Shapeshifters were never especially numerous, even on the surface, I guess. Even so, there were many clans, never a single kingdom like other types of monsters had. The one my family was from didn’t generally take bipedal forms. They were more inclined towards the reptilian, amphibian, and piscine or other aquatics. Legs and tails were prioritized over arms. More legs, stronger tail, easier to run or swim, easier to hunt. As a result, the ability to form arms was slowly lost. I can become a many-legged creature easily enough, even something with grasping forelimbs, like a crustacean. But “humanoid” arms? Those are beyond me, no matter how many times I’ve tried over the years.

“When I was a kid, I shifted a lot more. My parents encouraged me, of course, to experiment until I found a form I was comfortable with. But I knew what came easily, I knew what felt nice to exist as. But… I didn’t like how it looked. I didn’t like that I didn’t have arms like everyone else. Even the dogs in Snowdin were bipedal and used their front legs like arms. I wanted to be solid, all in one piece, like everyone else, and I wanted arms. I was always trying to shift to look more like the other kids, especially the lizard monsters, but whenever I tried to form the arms…”

She held her wings out and focused. They condensed and solidified into two humanoid arms, but rather than finish turning lavender like the rest of her body, they stayed a bluish color. Within a matter of seconds, they started dripping, becoming almost goopy, and it only took a few moments for them to melt back into the semi-transparent cloak of magic that draped around her as “wings.”

“Doesn’t work. I learned how to form hands, like you’ve seen me do, but they’re drippy too, and they’ll fade if I don’t stay focused. I used to be really self-conscious about this form, but my parents reminded me that I didn’t have to pretend to be ‘not a shapeshifter.’ Shifting was for my own comfort, not the comfort of those around me. There was no need to imitate others, only to take inspiration. If I preferred to stay in multiple pieces, then the other kids would learn to just accept that that’s how I looked. I didn’t have to look like other monsters; we had our own culture, our own look. We didn’t have arms, or lips, and we didn’t resemble any particular animal like a lot of the other monsters did, but we were us, you know?”

She smiled, bittersweet for a moment as she remembered them, then looked back to him with a happier smile. “Did you know, the first time I saw you summon extra hands, I felt so validated?”

His eyes widened slightly. “Truly? Even though I have hands naturally?”

“Yeah. I’d never seen anyone need to summon them, so it was kind of nice to see that there are other people who do after all. I-I feel a lot less self-conscious about forming them when I’m with you. O-Or Alphys, I guess.”

He smiled down at the donut on his plate. “I am glad that I helped you in some way. There were… not many skeletons who signed, and as such not much accommodation for someone who needed their hands free. So I understand some of the anxiety that comes with summoning hands. Nowadays, though, nearly everyone understands sign language, and no one has ever questioned my extra hands. So don’t feel self-conscious, I am sure no one questions yours either.”

Asteri’s eyes crinkled in a smile. “You might also not get questioned because you’re a bit eccentric,” she teased.

“Heh.” He hid a smile of his own behind a donut. “Is there anything else you would like to know about skeletons?”

Plenty, like what it was like to grow up signing in a culture where speech was so vital to expression, but she wasn’t about to say that. Instead, she pretended to think about it while she chewed. “What do the colors your eyes turn mean?”

“An excellent question,” Gaster commended her. “It is heavily contextual, though...”

She materialized a hand out of her magic and took out her pen and notebook. “Alright, hit me.”

He chuckled at the fact that that was her immediate response, and launched into the explanation.

“Green is happiness, safety, or contentment. It may also flare up when healing or using green SOUL magic. If I had expended much energy or focus when I explained turning a SOUL green, it may have lit my eyes. Green is rarely seen in a negative context, but it can be associated with hope for change or asking for help from another person, such as healing.

“Pink is surprise, or embarrassment. It may also show hesitation or anxiety.

“Red is associated with physical pain, but may also show up as resilience or fortitude despite injury or impending harm.

“Orange, like it, may show resilience in the face of hardship; a call for bravery. An act of defiance, perhaps. However, that is red-orange. A more neutral orange, or yellow-orange, is typically confusion, puzzlement, or, more rarely, betrayal. Using orange magic extensively may light one’s eyes, as with green. This goes for any colored magic.

“Yellow may show stress, fear, or a feeling of righteous indignation. Other times, however, yellow can convey a sense of absoluteness or surety in one’s actions.

“Violet is associated with need. It can also be fear, when it is less saturated in color, but it is fear more in the sense of helplessness. It more often expresses exhaustion or hunger; a display that one is in need of something in order to go on. It can also convey a frightened anger. Certain shades of violet can show sadness as well. It is one of the more versatile colors, like yellow.

“Blue, specifically light blue, is calm, but not in the sense of contentment, as with green. It is a calm in spite of something. A sense of waiting, of…” Something clicked in his mind. “Patience. A conscious decision to wait, to endure. For this, eyes may also glow light blue when highly stressed as an outlet.”

Asteri wrote as fast as she could to get all of that down. When she was finished, she looked up. “What about dark blue, like the color your eyes turned when you calmed me down in my kitchen?”

“Ah,” he hummed. “That is where context becomes important. A skeleton’s personal magic has its own color, similar to how monsters with flesh may have different color irises, hair, fur, or skin. Mine is the deep blue you saw. That is also why the hands I summon are blue. Contrary to what it may seem, my skill with gravity magic—that is, colored magic of the blue variety— is entirely unrelated. Thus, if I glow my eyes intentionally—” His eyelights lit up blue— “it is this color blue. In terms of meaning, though, it is similar to red in that it is a call to endure, but also to green in that it conveys a sense of calm. It is something akin to wholeness, a feeling of completeness… Importance. Community, perhaps? Deep affection for those around you.”

“Love,” Asteri supplied, the word tumbling out of her mouth before she even gave it a second thought.

Gaster stilled, the simple answer taking him by surprise, then slowly broke into a smile. “Yes, that’s it,” he signed slowly. “It is love. Selfless love, specifically.”

She thought it prudent not to comment on how appropriate that color was for the situation in the kitchen.

“That’s fascinating, Gaster,” she said softly, instead. It was always so enjoyable to listen to him. She always learned so much. Even if, yet again, she hadn’t gotten to talk with him about fonts.

Appropriately, his eyes turned green.

“Colors mixed together, flickering, or alternating can also change the meanings,” he added, “but again, context is necessary. Knowing those basics will allow you to understand the essence of what is being conveyed, even if not all of the nuance.”

“Thank you for the lesson. Mm, I should tell you more about shapeshifters sometime,” mused Asteri once she had finished writing everything down. “Since I’m learning so much about skeletons.”

“I would like that very much,” he agreed, perking up more.

“Well, it’s not like I have to be anywhere, if you want to hear now. Is there anything in particular you want to know?”

Gaster thought for a few moments, and Asteri took the opportunity to finish her second donut. It had a lemon drizzle on it, and it was delicious.

“Can you take any form, disregarding arms?”

She grinned and nodded. “Yeah. Want to see something weird?”

He didn’t say no, so she went ahead. Her features melted away and shifted around, and a moment later Gaster was looking at an almost-mirror image of himself. He made a startled noise.

“Oh, this is really weird,” she said in her own voice. Her jaw— his jaw— moved as she spoke. She wasn’t accustomed to speaking in a form like this so she used distortion magic to enunciate, which looked very strange

He shuddered, grimacing. “Stars above, that is not how teeth work.”

She laughed apologetically and let herself melt into something formless again, then into a familiar yellow lizard. “How’s this?”

“Quite good!” Gaster grinned, a little more relaxed. “Alphys has one more head spine, though.”

“Oh, whoops.” With a little melting, she moved the head spines around and added another one. “Better?”

“Perfect.”

Laughing again, Asteri melted once more and then returned to her regular form. “Good! Alphys is easier, I’ve been different types of lizards before. I’ve never been a skeleton. That was my first attempt.”

His brow bones rose. “That was impressive for a first attempt!” He looked to the side and tilted his head. “Highly unnerving, but impressive.”

“Thanks,” she chuckled, flicking her tail out behind her. “Sorry if that was too strange.”

“It was only a little strange,” Gaster admitted with an awkward smile. “It was odd to see another skeleton— but not bad!” he added quickly when he saw her eyes widen. “I know you are going to apologize, but there is no need. It was not odd in a bad way.”

She rubbed the back of her head with her tail. “Ahah… you know me well.”

He might have puffed up just a little at that. “May I ask more about shapeshifters?”

“Oh! Yeah, go for it.”

“I have two questions. Please answer whichever you like first. Can you become larger or smaller? And when you imitated Alphys and myself, you appeared to have arms. How is that?”

Asteri nodded. “Ah, right. Well, they weren’t real, functional arms. Did you notice how it looked like my clothes changed to look like yours? That was all part of me. The imitations were only that: imitations. I couldn’t walk around like that. Well, maybe as Alphys, but not for long. It was more like I shaped my magic around myself like a shell rather than created an actual, functional form.

“And no, I can’t change sizes… exactly.” She held a wing up. “These “wings” are all of my unused magic. Since I can’t form arms, I keep it wrapped around me like a cloak, and I can use it to grab things or gesture. But in essence, it’s all the bodily magic that isn’t being used as part of my current form. If I used all of what’s available to me, I would be huge. And I’m already pretty tall! So I can get bigger, yes… within reason. Getting smaller is more complicated. It would leave more magic left over, which I would have to do something with, so it would likely end up as part of my wings. I prefer to be bipedal, and I think the size I am now looks best in proportion to my wings, so that’s why I stay like this.”

“Fascinating,” Gaster signed, exhaling as he shook his head slightly in wonder. “May I ask why you chose the colors you did for your form?”

“Sure!” She took a sip of her drink and shifted to get more comfortable. “But you may be surprised how little of it was actually a choice. My parents were usually shades of purple and blue, so it’s sort of a default. Shapeshifters do have “base forms,” so to speak. We’re sort of goopy. Not sticky or anything, but kind of… gelatinous? But not totally transparent; complete colorlessness is super rare, I guess. And just like most other monsters, what your parents look like will affect how you look. My parents’ families tended toward cool colors: greens and blues and grays and purples. So this lavender color is actually more or less the color I am naturally. I did decide to make my hair and a few other features green, because I like the color. Sometimes it changes shades, though. My eyelights are purple too, but that wasn’t actually a conscious decision. It’s difficult to go completely white, but I can if I focus for a second.”

Her eyes turned white instead of their usual heliotrope.

“How does it look?”

“A bit unnerving,” Gaster confessed.

She chuckled and let them return to normal. “Yeah, I bet. I think they’re purple because the rest of me is, too. Maybe I’ll experiment with colors, I haven’t done that in a long time.”

Gaster tilted his head, brow bones furrowing slightly. “You are perfect as you are.”

Asteri’s eyebrows shot up, and she gave him an incredulous smile to hide the blush that crept back up her face. “Alright, Mr. Smooth-talker…. You sure you aren’t flirting with me?” she half-teased.

Watching him get flustered again was funnier when she knew he hadn’t meant it that way. “No! I meant that your form suits you! There is no need to change what is already—” His eyes went pink. “I merely intended to say that you need not worry about how you look! That… That is all. You look… like Asteri.”

“You’re sweet, Gaster,” she cooed, propping her head up on her wing. “I knew what you meant that time. Well. Sort of.”

He covered his face with both hands, then dragged them down his skull. “I apologize. I do not know what is wrong with me today.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’m feeling a little off myself. There’s one last thing, if you’re still interested.”

“Yes, please.” Anything to change the subject.

“So, when I melt, I’m mostly purple still, right? Well, if I melt completely, I’m actually more like a gradient. Purple in the center, around my SOUL, and then it fades to this blue-green the further away it goes. So my working theory is that the more “solid” magic is this lavender color, and the magic that’s easier for me to manipulate is this.” She wiggled her other wing. “So all the easier-to-manipulate magic subconsciously ends up together in my wings, rather than being intermingled with the rest of me. It can become solid, and it turns purple then, or whatever color, but this is sort of the color it is “at rest.” Which is also why the hands I make are green. They’re not “summoned” so much as “materialized,” since most of my extra magic is around me at all times.”

“That is very, very interesting.” Gaster studied her wings from across the table. “I did not know other monsters’ “extra” magic was colored, I thought it was only skeletons.”

“Maybe you should study biology next,” she offered with a snicker.

“Perhaps I should.” He thought for a moment. “That is a good idea, actually. Magical biology has much bearing on what I am working on. I know enough for the project, of course, but studying how various monsters’ magic works may be beneficial.”

“Oh?” She hadn’t expected him to agree. “What, like study their magic compared to their bullets or something?”

He perked up and pointed at her. “That is an excellent idea!” He pulled a pen out of his coat pocket and scribbled something on a napkin. Asteri only got a glimpse before he tucked it away, but she couldn’t read any of it.

“You have terrible handwriting, Gaster, yikes.”

His head snapped up so quickly she thought it would go flying off his neck. He looked mortified. Maybe it was a touchy subject. She immediately tried to backpedal.

“N-Not that there’s anything wrong with that! As long as you can read it, that’s all that matters!!”

His eyelights flicked to the side, pink and yellow magic blurring along with them. After a moment of uncertainty, he answered, “I am… a little self-conscious about it.” His signing was slower, more unsure. “Usually I write more… legibly. But I tend to forego that discipline when writing to myself.”

Discipline? Maybe she misunderstood his signing. Either way, she shook her head. “Uh, hey, don’t sweat it. I’m not judging you. I shouldn’t have commented on it, I’m sorry. Nothing wrong with writing however is quick and easy if it’s just a note to yourself.”

He just nodded.

Well, this was going nowhere. He had all but shut down, his eyes were still pink— she was guessing anxiety and embarrassment— and he was sweating bullets. Ah, bullets. Yes. She should change the subject.

“So, um. How would you compare a monster’s magic to their bullets?” She summoned a small one of her own and let it hover above her held-out wing with a big smile. “I made ones that look like asterisks! Isn’t that fun?”

He looked up at the bullet for a moment, just blinking. “You… made it look like an asterisk?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, I thought it was sort of funny, considering my name and their uses as footnotes, and for marking reconstructed or hypothetical words in linguistics. Though I guess that last part is more of an inside joke—”

“No, I meant: you consciously decided what your bullets would look like?”

Asteri blinked at him, face blank, then slowly her mouth pulled in a sheepish smile and she stared down at her lap, letting the bullet disperse. “Is… Is this one of those things that I think everybody does, like biting each other, but it’s actually just a shapeshifter thing?”

“I—” He squinted at her. “I want to ask about the biting, but we can come back to that. Yes, most monsters do not consciously shape their bullets. Mine, for example, are almost exclusively bones. As were most skeletons’. I can change their size, damage output, and orientation, but I cannot change their shape.”

“Oh…” She frowned in thought. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Huh…”

He pulled the napkin back out and wrote on it again. Though, this time he held a hand between her and it so she couldn’t see. She must have really hurt his feelings. She’d have to figure out how to make it up to him.

“I am curious about what you said about shapeshifters biting each other, though,” Gaster prompted once he had put the napkin away again and moved to stand, one brow bone raised.

Asteri smiled anxiously as she stood to follow him to the door. They waved to the man behind the counter before she responded.

“Well! Um. We don’t— well, my family didn’t have lips. Usually. So I never saw my parents kiss, they always just… you know… bit each other.” She shrugged, still clearly awkward about it with the way she was smiling and looking everywhere but at him. “Like a little nibble! Not a chomp or anything!” That was probably more like bedroom stuff. She shuddered. Gross. The last thing she wanted to think about was her dead parents’ intimate life. “Just wherever was convenient: cheek, shoulder, neck…”

She expected him to look alarmed, like most people (including all two of her past partners, as brief as they had been in her life). Instead, he just nodded thoughtfully, looking off somewhere in the distance. “Biting as kissing. That makes a great deal of sense. I am surprised I did not see more skeletons do that.”

She swallowed. “What… did skeletons do to show affection?”

He looked back to her and smiled, fond memories that she couldn’t see playing in his eyes. “We tapped our skulls together. Romantically, yes, but also between family or friends.”

She wondered who he was remembering. His parents? Siblings, maybe? Dear friends? A partner? It dawned on her then that he might have lost children. God. How awful! She desperately hoped that was not the case.

“That sounds really nice,” she said instead. Bumping heads sounded more than nice, actually. She should focus on that. “I think there’s a shortage of physical affection between friends. As a culture, we should have more of that. Physical displays of affection are not inherently romantic!”

His grin widened. “I agree completely.”

Maybe he was thinking along the same line that she was. “Were there any particulars? Like, facing each other was romantic, but from the side was platonic, for example?”

“No. Though, naturally, facing each other could be more intimate. It was not necessarily though.”

“Was it specifically for greetings or goodbyes, or could it be anytime?”

“Anytime it felt right.”

Asteri smiled lopsidedly and leaned toward him. “May I, then, my friend?”

His eye practically turned into stars and lit up green. He leaned down to meet her. “Please.”

They tapped their heads together, his forehead against the top of hers. It only lasted a second, but both of them felt giddy.

“I have not done that in years,” Gaster confessed with a pleased laugh that squinted his eye sockets shut. “I forgot what a pleasant gesture it is.”

It was, too. Just enough to feel important. Not as impersonal as a handshake, but not as vulnerable as a hug. “I liked it,” Asteri agreed. “We should do it to Alphys.”

He giggled. “Good idea! I hope she will be agreeable to it.”

“I think she will be.”

They had started walking, slowly. Since they were all the way in the capital, she should probably head home soon. But, like always, she didn’t want their time to end yet. She hummed a sigh and swung her wings. “It’s too bad I live so far away. It’s like there’s never enough time.”

Gaster hummed softly, silent in thought for a moment, then seemed to settle on a decision. “Asteri,” he began, uncertain. “If I promise to go home and sleep at a reasonable time, would you mind terribly if I accompanied you on your way home?”

The thought was nice, but… “Gaster, you live right by this shop, I’m in the middle of Waterfall. That’s nice of you, but even with the ferry, that’s just too far. You’d have to turn around as soon as we reached my house if you wanted to get home at a decent time. And I know you work tomorrow.”

“Did you know that collapsed stars are so dense, they are thought to affect the fabric of spacetime?”

She squinted, then broke into a knowing smile. “That’s fascinating, but trying to get me wrapped up in something else so we can start walking in that direction without me noticing won’t work. I’ve got another friend who does that. Nice try.”

“No, I am getting at something,” he insisted. “Truly.”

He looked so unsure, it was a little unsettling. Asteri nodded. “Alright… go on.”

He took a breath. “Objects with large amounts of mass have more gravity. Spacetime is like fabric, and things like planets and stars are like marbles sitting atop it. They dip into it, warp it. A gravity field, ultimately, curves spacetime. So if one were to manipulate gravity just so, one could “fold” the fabric of spacetime and jump to another location.”

She blinked. He waved his hands as if to clear his previous explanation away. “Imagine this instead.” The blue hands appeared and held the edge of his lab coat out taut. He located two stray sprinkles from the donuts and stuck them to his coat a few inches apart. Next, he made a fist and gently pushed against the fabric. “It dips,” he explained with yet another pair of hands. “The pressure of my fist on the fabric is like gravity on spacetime. See those two sprinkles? Watch them.”

“Alright,” Asteri murmured. “I’m watching.”

“If I push harder, it pulls the fabric downward.” He did just that, and when the fabric was too taut to stretch, he moved the edges of it inward with the extra pair of hands. He kept going until his fist was all but enveloped in the fabric. “See how the sprinkles are now closer together?”

She nodded.

“Those are points in spacetime. With enough gravity, they get “closer,” even though there is technically just as much fabric between them.”

“I think I understand,” Asteri said. “What are you getting at, though?”

He smiled, lopsided and still a bit hesitant, and all the blue hands disappeared as he went back to signing regularly. “If one can generate enough gravity, one can affect spacetime. If the gravity is high enough, two points in space can be brought close enough together to travel in less time.”

He watched her for a response, his hesitant smile becoming a nervous grin.

It dawned on her. “And you can manipulate gravity. Hang on—” Asteri held one wing out and dragged the other across her face. “Gaster. Gaster. Are you- Are you implying that you can teleport‽”

He giggled.

“Yes?”

The sheepish look, like he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar rather than had just told her he could do something largely considered impossible, was simultaneously endearing and infuriating.

“You’re offering to TELEPORT me home‽”

Actually he had meant that he would walk with her, and then teleport himself home later, but the excited glimmer in her eyes that she was trying to hide beneath her incredulity was too much. He shrugged one shoulder and let his grin stretch.

“If you would like?”

She had to bite her tongue to not instantly scream yes. “Please,” she said instead, though that barely restrained her excitement. “That would be so cool.”

Her enthusiasm was beyond endearing. “You will have to hold onto me,” he prefaced. “Tightly. The closer we are, the most smoothly it will go.”

“I can flatten, if that’s better?” Asteri offered, already beginning to spread her magic out. She could wrap around him like a piece of paper, if that was what it took. But he stopped her with a shake of his head.

“No, no, that isn’t necessary. I have taken others with me before, there is no need to change shape.”

“Oh, even better.” Within a matter of seconds she reverted to her usual form. “I’ll try to stay solid, though… in case part of me falls off or something.”

Gaster frowned in thought and rubbed his chin. It should be fine, but… “Just in case,” he agreed.

She focused, and her body fused together. She rolled her head on her neck afterward. “It feels so weird to make my actual form this solid. How do you deal with such a limited range of motion?”

He scrunched up his face. “I have never seen you turn your head especially far…”

Asteri smirked. “Would you like to?”

He tilted his head and returned the smirk. “Would you like to see me remove mine?”

She laughed. “Sure. Here, hang on. Let me turn around. Alright, count of three. One, two…”

She let her magic loosen from her neck—

“…Three!”

— and spun her head 180°. Just in time to see Gaster pop his head off and hold it in his hand. She shrieked in a mixture of surprise and amusement, and he gave a startled giggle. Several passersby did spit takes.

They returned their heads to the way they ought to be and laughed.

“Not many people take well to me doing that,” Asteri confessed.

“Not a single person in the underground thinks it funny when I remove my head either.”

“You do it that often?” she asked, snickering.

“Well, no…”

“That may be for the best, actually.”

“I am glad that you, at least, enjoyed it. We should get going, though. This way.” He led her around the side of a building. “It is better to do out of sight; less questions. As you are no doubt aware, this is not a common ability.”

“Ah, right.”

Once they were away from the main thoroughfare, she moved closer. After making sure she was all in once piece, she nodded. “Alright. How close should I be?”

He shuffled closer. And then closer still. “You will have to hang onto me.”

Oh, that was right, he had said that. “Just…?” She held her wings out.

“Yes. And I will hold onto you, also. Just so you are aware.” He looked a little unsure. “We will be very close.”

Was he uncomfortable with it? She hoped not, but maybe she should check. “Well… I don’t mind if you don’t?”

“I do not mind, I just did not want you to be uncomfortable, after the… misunderstanding earlier.”

She almost snorted. “It’s not a problem, Gaster, don’t worry about it.”

He nodded once and took a breath. “Alright then, here we go.”

They pressed their sides together and she wrapped her wings around him, her tail winding around his hips. Both of his arms curled around her torso. He seemed to realize that she didn’t exactly have shoulders that he could hold easily, so he needed to hold around her waist. They ended up mostly facing each other.

It’s not a big deal Asteri, it’s just for safety. …But good lord, when was the last time anyone held me?

“Ready?” A pair of blue hands asked.

“Ready.”

And the world shifted, blurred, darkening until it seemed it couldn’t possibly get any darker yet somehow it did, until was nothing but pitch black. In a matter of seconds, the bright light of New Home had given way to nothingness. It was the deepest, emptiest dark she had ever known. That such nothingness could even exist was beyond her. Asteri couldn’t see anything, anything, not even the glow of her wings. She couldn’t see her own magic! What was happening!? She was alone…! There was nothing. Nothing. It felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her breathing shuddered. She couldn’t breathe! The absolute and perfect darkness panicked her, and she cried out, grip tightening around the only solid thing there was to hold onto.

And then she was held closer in turn. The feeling of arms tightening around her pulled a gasp from her lungs.

“G-G-Gaster? Gaster?? Wh-Where- Where- Where are you‽” She could feel him holding her, still, that hadn’t changed, but in her panic she wasn’t thinking.

She heard a hum. No real melody, just a hum, but it was a familiar voice, close to her head. Close to her. Close to her. A voice, right there. Her breathing evened out, and she relaxed slightly. Gaster was with her. She wasn’t alone.

He tugged her, gently, in a direction, still humming, and they walked— carefully, awkwardly— toward what she soon realized was a teeny, tiny speck of light, very far away. But the darkness gave way to that light far more swiftly than she expected, and soon she could make out the cave that held her house, in Waterfall, within the light. Despite seeing it, she still couldn’t see herself or Gaster, like the light didn’t reach them somehow. But they reached it, and suddenly they were stepping out into the green-blue grass near her house.

She looked around frantically, still clinging to Gaster. The darkness was gone. She looked down. She could see herself. Her eyes flitted upward, and she realized Gaster was looking down at her with immense concern and, it looked like, guilt. His eyes were rapidly flickering between deep blue, yellow, violet, and red-orange. It took another second for her to realize that a pair of blue hands were signing near her.

“—SO sorry, are you alright??”

“I-I’m okay.” Her voice came out weaker than she meant for it to. “I didn’t catch… what you were saying. I’m sorry, um. J-Just give me a second?”

He gave her as long as she needed, which ended up being closer to a solid minute, after which she realized she was still clinging to him for dear life and disentangled herself, embarrassed.

“Are you alright?” he asked again, worry clear on his face.

“Yeah… Just, um. Just a little rattled.” The wording occurred to her only after she said it aloud, and her head snapped up. “UH! Sorry, not sure if that’s, um. O-Offensive??”

He shook an arm back and forth, rattling his bones. “Not at all.” She smiled a little at that, and he relaxed a little in turn.

Still, he practically dripped with guilt. “Asteri, I am so, profusely sorry for not warning you about the dark. I was so preoccupied with explaining how it works that I neglected to mention that strong enough gravity bends light. I am accustomed to it, but I should have warned you.”

“That was scary,” she admitted quietly, and hated how juvenile it sounded. “It was like it got dark, then even darker.” She wrapped her wings around herself. “I’ve never been unable to see my own magic before.”

He met her eyes. “I am sorry for putting you in a situation that made you afraid.”

The urge to deflect was strong, but once again, the look on his face silenced her before she could even speak. His eyes glowed ultramarine for her. Earnest, always. Never a modicum of condescension or mockery. She had been afraid. “Can we go inside?”

He nodded, and they went to the door. It was dark inside when she opened it; she immediately looked down at her wings. Still visible. Thank god. She wanted to cast some kind of fire magic, but she was embarrassed that the darkness of her own home had her so afraid. She knew where the light switch was, could have found it with her eyes closed, so instead of summoning fire, she took a deep breath to steel herself and then made a beeline for it. The lights came on, and she sagged against the wall in relief. Gaster stepped over the threshold and, after slipping his shoes off, approached her and crouched beside her where she had slid down the wall.

“Asteri…”

She looked up at him with some unnamable, weak emotion. “Gaster?” God, her voice sounded so pathetic.

“Let’s get you off the ground.”

He held out his arms, but she shook her head. “I’m too shaky,” she whispered.

“May I lift you then? With blue magic?”

She paused, unsure, then nodded.

“This will probably feel strange.”

There was a ting sound, and suddenly she felt heavy.

“You are blue now. Just relax.”

He stood. Slowly, she lifted off the ground. The whole time, she kept her wide eyes fixed on Gaster’s continually glowing blue ones. He moved her over near her couch, walking as he did so that he was never more than a few feet away. Once there, he lowered her to her feet, holding out his arms. She fell against him once he released her SOUL. This time she didn’t bother with dignity, she just wrapped her wings and tail around him and pressed her face into his shoulder.

She was still shaking, Gaster noted as he brought his arms around her.

He gave her a second, then carefully moved them until they were sitting on the couch. She clung to him like he might disappear if she let go.

“Can you… hum again? It’s okay if you don’t w—”

He didn’t let her finish, just hummed whatever tune he could think of. She relaxed a little. He wished he could offer her more than humming.

“Are your eyes open?” he signed with blue hands behind his shoulder after a minute or two. He wanted to check if she could see him signing before he tried to say anything. She nodded.

“I don’t wanna close them…”

His heart clenched. He supposed some took better to the darkness of tessering (or “teleporting”), but nobody had even been this affected. Then again, the only people he had taken with him before were Alphys, one of his old lab assistants, and… Well, that was it. He really should have thought this through instead of acting on impulse just to spend more time with her.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Not mad at you,” she mumbled into his sweater. “J-Just. Scared. I don’t even know why.”

“You do not need to have an explanation.”

“Gaster?” She hesitated, then asked, “Could you… do that with your eyes again?”

“Of course.”

His eyes actually had never stopped glowing from the moment Asteri had begun to panic during the tesser, but she couldn’t see him then; all light was pulled away. But he knew what she meant in asking him this. She pulled away, but didn’t completely let go of him. He made no move to let go of her, either. He waited until she looked up at him, then flared his eyes even brighter. Deep shades of blue whirled like eddies.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He didn’t sign anything, only nodded and hummed another slow tune and let her watch his eyes as long as she needed.

After a few minutes, she had stopped trembling and seemed to have mostly come back to herself. Once she looked away on her own, he let his magic fade. For a regular skeleton, the whole ordeal would have been exhausting. Using gravity magic to bend spacetime, using it again to lift her so delicately, glowing his eyes so brightly for so long, and summoning hands over and over— those things together expended a lot of energy.

For a regular skeleton.

But she didn’t need to know that.

“You have beautiful magic,” she muttered as she finally relaxed back against the couch. Their shoulders pressed together, but he didn’t mind. It seemed like the contact was helping her.

“Thank you.” His eyes glowed a soft, pale green. “I am quite proud of it.”

“No I mean… the stuff that comes naturally. Your eyes.”

His cheekbones and eyelights dusted with pink and he smiled, unsure what do with such a personal, genuine compliment. “Thank you… very much,” was all he managed to say, along with: “Your wings are quite stunning too.”

That warmed her face along with her heart. After another few minutes, she spoke again. “Gaster, you’re a really good friend.”

“Aha,” he chuckled humorlessly. “I do not feel like it after frightening you like this. But thank you.”

“You are though. You keep taking care of me. C’mere.” She pushed herself upward and managed to tap her head against the side of his. The smile it earned when he turned to meet her eyes again was worth the slight exertion.

“You take care of me too.”

“Bullying someone into eating well and making him sandwiches one or twice a week don’t count as taking care of somebody,” Asteri argued with a little smile that betrayed the way his words had warmed her.

“But creating two disasters and then trying to make up for them does?”

She laughed, and the sound made his SOUL feel lighter. “Well when you say it like that…! Maybe we’re both just a little bit of a mess.”

“Only a little,” he agreed with a quiet laugh.

They leaned back against each other, and the ensuing silence was amicable.

“Really though,” Asteri murmured after another few moments. “Thank you for everything you’ve done to calm me down and reassure me. I don’t even know what it was about the darkness that scared me, really. It was just… all-encompassing. It was darker than dark. I’ve never, ever been in total darkness. Maybe that was it. I always have leftover magic, my wings always glow at least a little. But in that… place, I couldn’t even see my own magic.”

Gaster nodded slowly. ““Darker than dark.” That is a good way to describe it.” He let a moment of stillness pass. “I do not know if it is a comfort or not, but so long as we were touching, you were in no danger.”

She looked up at him.

“It is easier to affect the gravity around a smaller area, which is why I said we needed to be so close. If you had pulled away, though, so long as I could still feel where you were, I could bend it in a larger radius around you. It is merely more effort and concentration, but it would not have hurt you.” He wouldn’t have let it.

“What if… someone stepped outside the radius?” She asked quietly, not sure she wanted to know the answer. “What if someone got lost?”

He shook his head slowly. “In truth, I do not know.”

It was probably best not to dwell on it.

“How do you know where to go if you can’t see anything?”

“Hmm…” How to explain it? “I need to know which two points I am traveling between. I cannot do it without a set destination. Otherwise, I would not know the exact way to manipulate gravity. It is much easier to do when I have already traveled to a specific location.”

“Like creasing paper,” Asteri suggested.

He stilled. Creasing paper. Now there was something he had never considered. “I meant that it was a familiar feeling, a better sense of how much gravity to use. But the notion that repeated travel creases spacetime, creates paths that are easier to follow with each subsequent use… that has fascinating implications.”

“Hopefully good ones,” Asteri murmured. “Creased paper is hard to write on, and you can never quite smooth it out again. Would that be… bad? For spacetime? Like if things got caught in the creases?”

What an intriguing concept. He hummed in thought.

“Because… you said collapsed stars warp spacetime, that things with a lot of gravity dip it. I don’t know much about outer space, but aren’t stars actually really, really big?”

He nodded.

“Then…” She pressed the end of her tail against a couch cushion. “They do something like this, right? Make a curve over a large area?” Another nod from him. “Then isn’t what you’re doing more like pinching spacetime? Not curving it?”

He raised his brows and gave a slow, conceding nod. “That is… not incorrect.”

“Is spacetime like lycra? Or like linen?”

He frowned in confusion and looked to her. “What do you mean?”

“Because stretchy material is hard to crease, it goes back to its shape. But linen wrinkles and creases so easily it’s infuriating.”

“I believe it must be fairly elastic,” he answered after a moment of thought. “Or else the movement of small celestial bodies would create permanent effects.”

“Hmm…”

Then again, smaller objects typically had less gravity. ‘Small (relatively speaking) object with a great deal of gravity’ would be approaching the description of a stellar remnant. But she didn’t need to worry about all that. He would do more research on it when he got the chance. For the time being…

“I think that with as long as I have been doing this, it is reasonable to call it safe for the universe at large. I am not the only monster to ever discover a way to traverse a distance in less time.”

“That does make me feel better,” Asteri admitted.

“Good.” He sat up a little, and she did too. “Have you recovered from our travels?”

She stretched and nodded as she began to yawn. “Yeah. I think so. Thank you. Do you want something more to eat? All we had was donuts.”

He waved his hands, “I don’t want to trouble you after all of that.”

“No, it’s no trouble. I would end up cooking for myself anyway.” She stood up and gestured with her head toward the kitchen. “Come keep me company. But I’m doing the cooking.”

That drew a dry laugh from him. “That is probably for the best. I am sorry I cannot help more.”

“Your company is plenty of help. Come on. I was going to make youvarlakia. It sounds… really nice after everything. It’s a soup. I think you’ll like it.”

Asteri cooked, and Gaster followed her around the kitchen, handing her things and making lighthearted conversation about people at work and silly things that had happened. She told him about some of her friends, in turn, and things they had gotten up to in the past.

“They sound like they are a great deal of fun to be around,” Gaster said as she finished a story about one of their last get-togethers. “I would like to meet them one day.”

She laughed. “They would flip. They still don’t believe that I’m friends with you, they think it’s some kind of drawn-out prank.” Granted, she hadn’t talked with them much in the past month or two, so there hadn’t been much opportunity to tell them more details.

“I still do not understand that,” he said with a huff as he helped set the table. “I am only a person. People speak about meeting the king with more nonchalance than they do me.”

“The king isn’t known as a recluse, or the underground’s most brilliant mind.”

His eyelights flicked away, faintly pink. “Hmph.”

“Alphys has mentioned some of her friends too. We should all meet sometime,” suggested Asteri as she dished out the soup.

He tugged at his turtleneck as the sat down, looking uneasy. “That sounds like a… greater than average number of persons.”

Oh, he didn’t like big groups. That made sense. “It doesn’t have to be everyone at once,” she offered instead. “We could just meet one or two people at a time.” She brought her spoon to her mouth to taste the youvarlakia. Ah, delicious. She loved that lemony tang.

“That would be preferable,” Gaster admitted. Turning his attention to the bowl in front of him, he tried the soup. It was thick, and savory, and warmed him from the inside. He smiled. “This is delicious. I was unsure what it would taste like, but it is wonderful.”

Asteri beamed. “Aww, thank you! I’m glad you think our supper tastes… soup-er.”

He snorted mid-bite and almost choked. She laughed.

“My family used to make it after trips to Snowdin,” she continued once he recovered. “Sometimes I just make it because it sounds good, even though never gets very cold here. It’s better with bread, but I didn’t make any this time.”

“I have not visited Snowdin in a long time…” He took another bite and then set his spoon down to sign. “Mm! If you make this again, may I have some? I can pay you for it—”

She reached around the table with her tail and smacked his hand. “You aren’t paying me for anything. Absolutely not. A meal with a friend is its own reward.”

He giggled sheepishly. “Alright. I admit…” His eyes roamed around the room, took in the light and the warmth and the feeling of being there. “…This is much better than eating alone.”

Asteri laughed in agreement and raised her spoon. “Exactly! That’s the spirit! “Better scraps shared with love than a feast shared with loneliness.””

His smile couldn’t get much wider. “Here we have the best of both: a feast, and good company.”

She beamed and lifted her bowl. “To good friends, and terrible jokes!”

He laughed and lifted his bowl in agreement. “Hear hear!”

- - - -

TADA

So, yeah, I know, kind of a weird place to end, but after putting Asteri through that I wanted to leave it on a high note.

I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD LIST SOME REFERENCES! Number one is Handplates, which is where the concept of bone-rattling, Gaster’s blue magic hands (along with ten being the upper limit of how many he can summon at a time), and eyeglowing is from. Though my take on it is a bit different. Glowing various colors happens more often (at least for Gaster), and I changed the meanings of some of the colors. But I really liked the idea that it helped skeletons who had more fixed features emote. However, I also love the idea of highly expressive skeletons, so I borrowed the idea of distortion magic from @ asktheasterfamily! I loved their Gaster, he’s great. (I should reread that sometime…) “Tessering” is a direct reference to A Wrinkle in Time, one of my favorite books as a kid. If you’re wondering how that kind of gravity doesn’t affect everything else around them, especially in such a small space, the answer is, “don’t worry about it.” Something something magic, [insert explanation.]

Oh, also!! Alphys’ favorite anime is Sailor Moon because Mew Mew Kissy Cutie hasn’t been made/released yet.

I felt like I couldn’t fully express just how much and why Asteri was affected so much by the darkness while tessering, but if you can imagine perfect darkness in every direction with no sense of up and down… yeah. Oh, and now imagine that you’ve never been completely immersed in regular darkness before because you glow naturally. Yeah.

She and Gaster are in that awkward friend stage where you’re not sure if the strong feeling of really really liking someone and wanting to be around them all the time is platonic or romantic. Hence all the awkwardness. I guess that isn’t a universal experience, but it sure has been a consistent thread through most of my friendships. So, yeah, no. No real romance yet!! Just the awkward beginnings of a deep friendship~ (Which is the basis of romance anyway.)

Okay wrapping this up, there’s a lot of stuff in here that sets up future events and plots points!! But it might not be the things you expect… ;)

Thanks for reading!! I absolutely love screaming in the tags or replies (YOU ESPECIALLY BENANA), so if you haven’t commented but feel inclined to, don’t be shy!! Even a “!!!” is appreciated. Maybe I should just post this on ao3 man idk

I’ll be working on part 8 soon!!

#WOO IT’S DONE #But as always I’ll probably edit it later pfft #OH AND PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THE COLORED TEXT IS HARD TO READ AND I’LL CHANGE IT #Asteri backstory #(gonna make another poll for the title soon) #seeker writes #seeker oc #asteri #gaster #⁂ gaster #long post #good lord this is SO long #⁂ fic #⁂

[verdantcrimson]

Lotus and Vows - 2

Writer: Umeda Chitose

Season: Autumn

TL: verdantcrimson

(Unproofread)

1 | 2

Kuro: —Well, she knew she was comin’ to the temple. As expected of the little miss, she didn’t bring her worldly desires here with her ♪

Keito: Kiryu. You- When did you- Anzu, don’t you start nodding your head in agreement over there either. What are you trying to accomplish by admitting to the fact that you’re harboring worldly desires?

Souma: Anzu-dono is quite earnest ♪ Even so, thinking of the ‘Quarrel Festival’ makes me quite nostalgic. That time, with the second half of the-

Keito: Kanzaki, don’t bring that ordeal up again. That one isn’t a flowery memory to be reminiscing about.

Keito: More importantly, now that both of you have returned, I’d like to hear what you two have to say about my ‘Special Outfit.’

Keito: Anzu has provided me with many designs… Honestly, many of them seem appealing, so I’m finding it difficult to settle on just one.

Kuro: Hm, just one… Just one? All of this, from here to here are all costume ideas. Little miss sure wrote down a whole bunch.

Souma: U~umu. All of these costume designs are wonderful indeed, so it is quite troublesome to decide, but if I had to choose just one…

Souma: Judging by Hasumi-dono’s expression, I think that this ‘peiji’ is good.

Kuro: I’m with Kanzaki here. I know ya said you’d listen to our opinion, but ya really like the design on this page the best, don’tcha, danna?

Keito: … How could you tell?

Kuro: Cause, Hasumi, you’re the type to let it show on your face. I could tell you’d pick it by the way you were lookin’ at the sketchbook.

Keito: … Haah. You saw right through me with ease. Clearly, I haven't been training myself enough.

Keito: Both of them were right. I'd like to use this particular design, Anzu.

Keito: Then let's proceed with this, that's right... Anzu, is it alright if I add a few more things to the design I requested?

Keito: That being said, it's difficult to act when being watched so expectantly. Incorrigible...

Souma: Though he says such, Hasumi-dono continues to write with fluid and clean strokes. Such impressive skill is difficult not to admire.

Kuro: Ya did it, little miss. Ya got a note from the 'sensei' you're a big fan of…. ♪

Keito: ... Hm, that's pretty much it. I know I said I'd only add a few more things, but I'm sorry, I ended up asking for a lot more than I had anticipated.

Keito: You say you'll do your best—

Keito: Well, that's a good answer. If you insist that you'll be able to do it all, I'll keep my mouth shut and let you work.

Keito: ... You've always been like that, I think. No matter what I do or say to you, you still maintain the same positive attitude.

Keito: I know it sounds strange hearing it from me, but because I'm such a nag and I drone on and on... To be perceived so positively, it feels odd.

Souma: ? But I feel similarly. I do not dislike Hasumi-dono's lectures.

Souma: To preach is to teach. To a boorish and inexperienced person such as myself, the words of Hasumi-dono, which provide guidance, are nothing but kindness to me.

Souma: Fufu. I am certain Anzu-dono shares the sentiment, correct? Because Hasumi-dono is a kind person.

Keito: .... Is- Is that so...

Kuro: Haha, you feelin' embarrassed cuz of 'em? You're trippin over your words, Danna ♪

Keito: Oh, so you think this is funny, Kiryu? Then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I gave you a long lecture.

Kuro: Whoops, spare me.

Keito: Seriously...

Keito: We've decided on which design proposal to use as a base. Kiryu and Kanzaki are back from their walk too, so they're probably hungry.

Keito: Let's have lunch. I'll prepare it, all of you come help me.

[After lunch]

Keito: —Anzu, a moment please.

Keito: I was telling my parents about why you, the 'Producer' had come to visit. While explaining, I also told them about the 'Special Outfit'.

Keito: They didn't seem to take issue with it, but my parents are allergic to minding their own business, apparently.

Keito: They told me that they had some Kimono lying around that may be of some use. If it interests you, would you like to take a look?

Keito: ... Got it, I'll show you them later. Though you'll likely be receiving more help from my mother than from me, It might be good to have some company.

Keito: …Hm. What, why are you smiling?

Keito: We get along well with eachother...? Well, yes we do. My family is very supportive of my decision to leave the mountain and work on my idol activities.

Keito: Had I remained in the temple, I would have just been a nuisance... I'm grateful to my parents for being understanding of the profession that their child chose.

Keito: I mustn't forget to be thankful to the people in my life that understood and supported me no matter what.

Keito: ... Not just my family, but Kiryu and Kanzaki as well. Being an idol, there have been numerous moments that have made me think to perservere.

Keito: Because the two of them follow me, because they both walk alongside me. I can continue to exist as the leader of 'Akatsuki' without faltering.

Keito: When I look at both of their faces on the stage... When I go home and see the faces of my family...

Keito: I haven't reached this stage by myself. In order to repay the support and encouragement I've received, I must reach higher. Those are my feelings.

Keito: ... Did I catch you off guard by talking like this?

Keito: Anzu, you'll be making my 'Special outfit'. I thought it might be possible to incorporate my personal feelings as an idol into this costume, so I made an attempt to tell them to you.

Keito: When I put my arms through the sleeves of the finished costume... I'd like to reciprocate your support for the same reasons I just mentioned.

Keito: ... Hm? Why are you nervously holding out your sketchbook towards me?

Keito: You came up with a new drawing based on my requests? Fufu, you work quickly.

Keito: (... Hm. This new design proposal is drawn well. It has everything I asked for.)

Keito: ( —And these, Lotus flowers)

Keito: (To be like a lotus that blooms beautifully, even in muddied waters... I know it's ridiculous of me to wish for such a thing.)

Keito: (In this world of showbiz, swirling with conspiracy, I won't be stained. While remaining true to myself, I shall bloom like a flower. As an idol, I shall continue to grow.)

Keito: (Just as I had vowed to Anzu.. For the sake of other people, and by extension, for my own sake. This flower is proof of my wish.)

Keito: ... Ah, sorry. I was just admiring the quality of the work you produced in such a short time.

Keito: Anzu. I look forward to the completion of the 'Special Outfit' that you've created.

[END]

#lotus and vows #Keito Hasumi #Kuro Kiryu #Souma Kanzaki

[bluiex]

Scarian but labyrinth, and like grian would be Sarah, and jareth would be scar. (I mean it coouuuuld work the other way around also but the reason I'm saying scar is jareth 'Cause I notice a lot of people make grian the villain in like any hero vs villain aus and like yeah I can see it but also scar being a villain also 100% works and is slept on a lot, either way)

Grian and pearl are siblings and he just wishes her away, not because he's angry with her or anything but like imagine they just do like kinda bloody Mary thing and haha the goblin king isn't real...oh shoot he's here. And grian is arguing ready to fight back and scar is like. "Nope! No backsies! No returns or refunds! The transaction is complete, you want your sister back you have to make it through my labyrinth!"

And he whisks pearl away with him to the castle. (They totally hangout and just watch grian struggle while they just chat like old friends, pearl totally finds out that scar has a crush on grian and is acting the villain 'cause grian mentioned it once and scar had just been passing by their world, probably as a cat, and saw grian causing mischief and that caught his attention and then whoops emotions! How do I talk to him?? I'm so nervous!) (Also I am not saying all the goblins are cats, but it would actually be really funny if all the goblins are cats and he starts introducing them to pearl and then later grian, and he just has a favorite goblin cat which is jellie)

Grian makes friends along the way like Sarah does (bdubs would be perfect for sir didymus, just sayin') and scar would occasionally pop up and mess with them/flirt with grian. It works, it starts off as banter and now grian is flirting back

Grian makes it to the castle, and scar is like 'oh shoot he got distracted and hasn't prepared yet.' He'll have to pull out his greatest weapon!

Release the cats

Ah shoot now it's a bit of an inconvenience to walk around all these cats, and man they're just so dang cute and friendly and soft.

Grian makes it to the castle goes inside and looks for his sister. Of course scar's castle is amazing looking, and of course he would have an mc escher stairs room. While looking around (each room being fantastical) he just catches a glimpse of pearl exiting and entering another room. Following her and when he thinks he's finally got her, nope! It is infact scar in that room. (Pearl totally lead grian to scar on purpose, I just wanna make that clear)

Scar starts to tell grian that he did all of this for him, he gave him everything he asked for. (Let me just say pearl is in the back watching everything and petting jellie, this is some great telenovela stuff)

And all scar asks is to be able to sit and talk with him. (Which let me also just say, not the best way to get your cursh to talk to you? But he's also alone in a castle with a bunch of cats, soooo)

Grian totally sees her and the situation diffuses, the 'goblin king' infront of him looks so small and shy, of course grian is still upset over how scar went about it. So he gives him an earful, but agrees that after he and his sister return home and rest a bit then maybe they can hangout. The adventure he had was fun, and looking back on it now, he and his sister weren't in any real danger. Pearl totally plays matchmaker with them. Looks she had fun, there was chaos and cats, no one got physically hurt and these dorks are clearly into eachother.

Scar and grian totally just visit eachother constantly, grian has a way of going back and scar tends to visit as well. Hijinks ensue with either of them arriving at inopportune times and they both cause mischief together.

been so many years since I've seen Labyrinth but my god do I love this, I love all of this

Honestly Scar would be Jareth, aint no way he wouldn't be- it fits him perfectly I think

#scarian #scarian labyrinth au #bluie gets an ask poggers #long post

[ask-court-genshin]

> Hello friend!

> I'm sorry for bothering you but, ehm... I'm not sure how to say this actually. A letter addressed to you seems to have been sent to the wrong address! I'm not sure how, but I ended up in my hands before yours. So here I am, giving you your letter instead! I'm sure the mailman messed up addresses, although it remains weird with how far apart our addresses are haha. *You have received the letter with your name from Shiro! The return address on the envelope is not from the person handing you the letter. Furthermore, a name from the actual sender seems to be missing. How strange!

-

Both the envelope and letter are plain white. Though, noticeably, the latter seems to be in a better state compared to the former. It seems that the sender hesitated to part with the letter for quite some time.

When you open it, a delicate and careful handwriting places carefully chosen words onto the parchment. Whoever wrote this did so with care and love. 

"My beloved.

It seems that you've found a place to settle at last. Since the beginning of our time together, I've told you I would understand if you were to lose your faith in our love as time passes, but I never imagined the pain that would come along with it.

My thoughts seem to slip away from the abyss more often, and you consume every waking moment of my life. My heart bleeds for you. I would move mountains just for a mere glimpse of you. 

Is this new man truly capable of protecting you? Does he make you feel more loved than your time spent with me?

(Whoever wrote this letter, seems to have added another paragraph at a later time. The handwriting seems messier compared to the paragraphs before.)

Even if another 500 years were to pass, I am certain that my heart could not forget you.

(The letter ends abruptly, as if the sender didn't write all they had wanted to. Though, upon closer inspection, the letter "D" is signed at the bottom.)"

I'm...definitely being haunted by a ghost aren't I?

Um... Okay, I'll fess something up. I'm a Hydro Eidolon. Shocker, wow, I know– but Hydro Eidolons normally don't have a human shape, you know? We don't normally have names either here in Court Murmure... So, the truth is, my creator– Lumine– just molded my appearance after an ancient photograph she found. I was her first Human-Eidolon and she named me:

"Copy."

Since I was Illiterate, I thought it spelled "Kopi", it was only a year later when she had the heart to correct me. I'm just... A copy of someone else. And I think whoever this letter writer is (????) was reminded of the real "Kopi".

I get these sorts of mails a lot, especially from names like Halfdan and stuff. It's a bit of a pain

BECAUSE I CAN'T READ THEM.

... I'm sorry. I can't even read the contents. I'm afraid I don't know who this letter came from, whoops. Definitely a wrong number situation.

#this is so creepy though.... #» first ebg #» visitor: shiro

[unknownadvisor]

whcih one of ur ocs is the most likely to be like. in an action pose idk how to phrase this

assuming that you either mean which one im most likely to draw in an action pose, or if you were taking their photo who would be most dramatic... (they're practically synonymous)

this is going to be a long post, and probably include some of my oc's that are not up on artfight right now! for those folks I'll tack on a headshot piece. ( it will not include 7 or 8 of my ocs, who i will likely rank seperately later; this is because they're part of a webcomic im in the process of drawing still. after I publish the first chapter publicly, i will return to this. ;) )

Bastard he's dramatic, he's flamboyant, he has lived too long to care. he used to be human, and if he still was, he would have died centuries ago- if not because of old age, then because he's utterly stupid. he knows he's indestructible, so he sits in lava pools for fun. he lives for nothing but a good time. he would dive headfirst into lava to pose, or he'd do something dramatic with a sword or bow.

Lunelle she's also very dramatic! sort of like a cross between cosplayer instagram poses and like. i'm gonna kill you poses. she likes to take photos with her friends and show off her teeth, so she'd be smiling brightly. however, she is a hunter, so as far as action poses go, she could also be in the middle of killing something! so could bastard, but he more lives alone in the woods at this point

AR135 ...yes, he is where the name aries comes from,,, photo at bottom he is a criminal! if his coworkers were to take photos on the scene he's probably strangle them but it'd be really easy to get photos of him locked and loaded, covered in blood, or committing a felony. in his day to day life, he would probably pose really domestically though

Ryn getting into nonfancy territory; this one is not as in he would pose dramatically for a photo, but rather it would be spectacularly easy to get a photo of him fighting for his life or dying. for a normal photo, he would probably set down his clipboard and stand with his hands folded, asking "Is this pose okay? ... Alright, are you done now?" after a minute or so. check his source material! he dies often to 'melting love' if it means anything to you haha

Nala not an oc that's very primary for me; from roughly 4 years ago, so i dont remember everything as well as i should- whoops. her photo will be at the bottom! she lives in a mostly normal world with touches of magic, but she always lands on her feet ( wink wink) so she would likely jump a railing just for a cool photo.

Charlie (photo will be at the bottom!) a s:ctol oc from like 2 years ago. He's not one of my primary oc's and I don't draw him a lot, but he's worth noting here simply because he falls off of islands a lot and it would be terribly easy to catch that on camera.

Marmora marmora doesn't like having his photo taken, so the only reason her pose would be dramatic is because he would either freeze in whatever he was doing, or she would scramble to cover her face and get away. because of how tall he is, it's rather easy to get a photo unnoticed. unless you're trying to take a photo of her face.

Adlon (photo at bottom :] ) he's very stoic, so i imagine it wouldn't be easy to get a super nice or interesting photo. they actually are a lot like vega? star based "of another world" character, but ofc different source material and different history by a long shot. his whole thing is that he was exiled from his own world under suspicion of murder, and they now travels from world to world through doorways. he used to be a noble, so he's used to posing sitting cross legged, looking straight ahead, not interested at all. the only reason he's not at the very bottom is because if he was in the middle of casting a large ritual or even small magic it'd technically be an 'action pose'. he can cast forth 'shadows' of himself too that can help carry things or complete simple tasks, so that might make for something interesting. ive drawn him dancing with one and reminiscing before.. :)

Merlot another one who's not fond of photos, but would pose politely. he would not really ever be in an active pose though, unless maybe he was playing the lyre and really into it, but that's sort of it ... technically that is not all of them but some of the others are almost more minor,,, somehow all of my winged oc's got left out. i would have included one or two but i straight up do not remember their names, therefore theres no way they're major enough to wedge in here haha. all of the drawings for those who aren't on my af are also very old, so please excuse any poor anatomy or roughness! photos (in order of listed) vvv

#advisor speaks #advisor scribbles #yeah. #ocs #i get to tag sources now! #lobcorp oc #<- thats for ryn #minecraft oc #<-for both lunelle and bastard #skycotl oc #<- for charlie #this one im a little embarrassed about but it's not as bad as some others #payday oc #<-for AR135 #dnd oc #<-merlot #aaand thats it i think #asks #im gonna tag all my characters names just for future reference #bastard.char #AR135.char #Ryn.char #Nala.char #Charlie.char #Marmora.char #Adlon.char #Merlot.char #sorry for any main tags those end up in i might adjust the end later and make it like [name].char #actually. live update im doing that now #editing tags is too much power for my little mits

[cheer-soli-art]

It was a good year for art

Commentary for each artwork under the cut :D

February - biblically accurate bam - This was back when the jokes of ‘biblically accurate (insert noun here)’ had really hit mainstream, or maybe I just finally got inspiration to do something about this topic. Since Bam is the night, I added the usual night symbols of moons and stars. The waves at the bottom represent how the tides change with the cycle of the moon, and it ties in well with the idea of Bam being a ‘new wave’ in the Tower.

February - biblically accurate bam - This was back when the jokes of ‘biblically accurate (insert noun here)’ had really hit mainstream, or maybe I just finally got inspiration to do something about this topic. Since Bam is the night, I added the usual night symbols of moons and stars. The waves at the bottom represent how the tides change with the cycle of the moon, and it ties in well with the idea of Bam being a ‘new wave’ in the Tower.

March - double city - An artwork that I haven’t released anywhere on the internet until today, as it was part of a school exhibition. The idea behind it was taking the place I grew up in and the city I lived in at the time and merging them into one location, representing how I am influenced by both cultures.

April - Marpril Colors Series - 17 Azure - This was a series of sketches I did over March and April, as a countdown for my return from Tower’s Tale (TT) hiatus. During these months, I was busy with school stuff and working on TT, so I didn’t have much time or desire to make other artworks.

May - Part 1_Page 201 - I started working on this TT page in December of the previous year, as the scene this page is a part of was important for me (oh, and the plot too). I was still practicing a new style, and though I don’t like it as much now, I still think it was worth the experimentation.

June - yanfei.jpg - This one was part of a Six Fanart Challenge that I never finished. Whoops. Anyways, I drew her because she’s the character that I’ve played with the most. I’m really proud of how I was able to capture most of the details, especially that staff, haha.

July - KBWday5.PNG - Ah, yes. The KhunBam month, where I spend 3 weeks thinking about what to post only for me to procrastinate on it until KhunBam Week arrives. I like this artwork because it’s where I finally started using references (lol), as well as understanding more organic backgrounds.

August - glitterandgold_01 - One of the two artworks I made for a WIP Big Bang. This is also the first artwork of the entire year that I finished on my laptop instead of my phone, as I had lost my stylus and only bought a new one around this time. I like that I was able to carry the dramatic mood from the sketch to the final version.

September - Part 1_Page 237 - There wasn’t a lot of artwork activity this month, apart from TT, so here is another page I’m really proud of. I wanted to communicate the overwhelming difference in power between the characters, so the pages before have a lot of open paneling and negative space that progressively build up to this one, which covers nearly the entire background in green. The frame around Goseng and Bam is actually the same proportions as the usual page border, but shrunken, to make it look like the fire was spreading beyond the edges of the page, to really emphasize the probable helplessness Bam is feeling in the situation… Sometimes, a lot of thought goes into these pages.

October - kitsune khun - This is a drawing I made for a raffle winner on Twitter. I included it here because this and the other artworks I made that week felt like they ‘clicked’. They were the ones that all the process from previous artworks were leading up to - finally I had an artwork that I was very satisfied with, where the process was fun and the final result was pretty to look at too. I’m a huge fan of using complementary colors, especially orange lighting and blue shadows..

November - Snow Study (gasp) - I don’t do studies as often as I should, so this one came as a surprise. I save a lot of images from Bing’s daily wallpaper, and since the cold weather was coming, I painted this chilly town with one as a reference. I also wanted to update my blog so it matched my current style, so this was drawn for that reason too.

December - ‘Polaroid’ mini series - “with hyung.png” - This is one of four artworks I made in a ‘polaroid photo’ style. I really like that aesthetic. There is something very nostalgic and deep about it - capturing a moment you deem important. Taking the context of polaroids and film into account, you don’t have the luxury to take various copies of a moment and pick the right one afterwards like we do nowadays, so ideally you’d want everything to be perfectly in place and extremely important before you press the shutter. And yet, in these ‘photos’, the moments captured are not of grandiose events or life-changing moments, but of casual, daily life. I wanted to appreciate the ordinary in this small series. Maybe I’ll revisit it next year.

Bonus round

There were a few artworks that didn’t make the cut, but I still wanted to talk about them. So here they are.

“A summoning ritual (that worked a little too well)” - This is where I started the habit of drawing genshin characters when I wanted them on my team. Though this one is a little rough around the edges, I still like the colors and texture of the artwork.

“met gala hwar” - I was watching a video talking about how the Gilded Gala was a disaster (unsurprisingly), and one of the looks that went by (as examples of what worked) caught my eye. So I drew Hwaryun in it.

“Part 1_Page 216.PNG” - I have a very consistent system for numbering pages - just thought you might wanna know. I didn’t count this one in the final cut because some of the panels here were from pages drawn last year, so I felt that I was cheating a bit. There is a lot of thought behind this particular panel, but I will discuss that one when I release the full cleaned-up version sometime in the next few months.

“a precious jewel” - This artwork means a lot to me. Though it was rather quick (done under an hour, curse my comic panel habits), a lot of ‘feeling’ went into it. I think that out of all of the artworks, this is the one where I’m pouring what I’m actually feeling at the moment - I can’t quite put it into words here (as it is a little awkward, and I’m afraid of things getting lost in translation too), but I’ll try. I think that for that hour, I understood where Khun was getting at with the jewel metaphor, but rather than wanting to hide someone away, it was more of wanting to keep those feelings close to my heart… that kind of thing.

“Bleak December_07” - My entry for Secret Santa this year. Just thought I’d include it. I signed up to an email address sending Edgar Allen Poe’s works, and was floored by The Raven, so the title and tone of this short comic reflect that too.

“fall for you, fall for me” - i like khunbam. and i like autumn, now. i like coloring khun’s hair, ‘cuz its color can look so different under different lightings. it’s a simple and easygoing artwork. i like simple and easygoing things sometimes too.

#art summary 2022 #art summary #artists on tumblr #my art #digital art #I’ve had to draft this three times thanks tumblr

[vintage-brass-tc]

July TC Challenge Days 8-20

Oh my gosh 😭😭 thought I’d be able to do this daily but time passed! Whoops!

~~

8. would you be willing to become a teacher and teach your tc’s subject if it meant you two could be together?

Yes, of course! I’ve thought about it several times ❤️

9. does your tc drink or smoke?

Not sure. They both drink for sure, especially U, and there used to be rumors of U smoking? No way to know though.

10. name one item that is always on your tc’s desk.

Their laptops, and in M’s case, a little gift I gave him freshman year! ❤️

11. has your tc ever done anything that has either thrown you off, annoyed you, angered you or bothered you in any way? if so, what did they do?

Uhhh yeah, for sure. There have been several situations where M gets onto people for tiny things and makes a big deal out of it, and cases where he doesn’t let things from the past go. It’s quite annoying and I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes every time he gets frustrated, since it would happen so often— especially last concert season.

In U’s case, there are times where he is super caught up with everything he has to do, and he goes silent. I don’t blame him at all for this, as I get overwhelmed too if I have a lot to do, but he’ll be all agitated if I try to interact with him in this state. Understandably so, but I just feel bad for him. Otherwise, nothing else really comes to mind!!

12. does your tc have any past jobs that you know of, before becoming a teacher?

UHH YEAH!!! M worked at Chili’s!! Not sure about U though.

13. does your tc have kids or siblings? if so, how many?

I honestly don’t know about siblings 😭 but M has bright and beautiful kids!!!

14. are you taking your tc’s class next year?

Yessss, they’re stuck with me for a little longer.

15. has your tc ever met your parents? if you were there, what was the meeting like?

Yeah! They’ve volunteered for marching band stuff so they’ve just seen each other around a bunch, but they love my dad!

16. has your tc ever given you detention? if so, what was it like?

I wiiish. No but if they got me in trouble I’d probably cry. Their version of detention is taking someone out of class to have a talk with them in their office. Hasn’t happened to me though— not yet!!

17. has your tc ever failed you? if so, how did you react? if not, how would you react?

No, thank goodness. They’ve always been so kind to me and always use me as a model for others in my section. ❤️

18. what are your tc’s hobbies/interests? are they similar to yours?

Uhhh I don’t know? M watches sports a lot, and I suppose he spends a lot of time listening to band music and stuff. He’s active, he takes walks and maybe still works out? He takes care of his kids and dogs.

U has a cat and takes care of them!!! He also works out a bunch and I believe he looks into band stuff outside of school as well. He uses TikTok.

19. have you ever spoken on the phone with your tc? what did you talk about?

I have, briefly, with M. It was about a 46 second or so call, and the situation was that I was recording an audition video outside with my contra, and had texted M that I was done, thanking him for his patience as he was waiting for me.

When I had gotten to the door, it was locked, so I panicked and called him. He told me, a little panicked, that he had thought I packed up and had already left. He stated that it was too far to turn back so I told him I’d take it home and return it the next day. Kind of embarrassing. Haha.

20. if you had your tc’s class during quarantine, what were your zoom calls like? if not, have you spoken to your tc since quarantine?

M would visit my old band class’ calls sometimes during COVID times. And ummm….I got super excited seeing him but a whole lot of nothing was happening on these calls.

#M #U #personal #teacher crush #teacher crush community #tc community #tc #tcc #tc challenge #tc post #tcc post #tc thoughts #tc stories #tc ramblings #tc feelings #teacher attachment #band tc #director tc #band director tc

[grymmnox]

weekly fic recs #7

haha whoops acting like i totally posted this last night. if this is a lot shorter than usual its cus i went through my bookmarks instead of my history

& = platonic, / = romantic

Oneshots

His dark eyes got a little lighter; BlowingYourMind - bungo stray dogs

general audiences | 2.6k words | chuuya/dazai, chuuya & dazai

summary:

“Welcome to my home” he announced without even looking back to gauge Chuuya’s distressed reaction.

Chuuya followed him in “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

Or

Chuuya learns about Dazai's living conditions and gets him the fuck out of there.

(Russian translation link in notes.)

someone to watch me die; Some_Dead_Guy - bungo stray dogs

teen | 3.3k words | ADA & dazai, dazai & kunikida, dazai & ranpo, dazai & fukuzawa, atsushi & dazai, dazai & yosano | READ TAGS

summary:

He sighs, tapping contemplatively at his phone. He should call someone, he realizes distantly in the back of his head. He doesn’t exactly want to, not when the water looks so inviting, but he should tell someone at least. He probably should say goodbye.

Or, Dazai calls Ranpo.

Why Do You Care?; kwweeb - bungo stray dogs

teen | 12.2k words | chuuya/dazai | READ TAGS

summary:

Chuuya has witnessed a lot of Dazai's suicide attempts over the years. He takes a trip down memory lane as he remembers some of the first and some of the most traumatic attempts he bore witness to from ages fifteen to twenty-two as he races down the deserted nighttime streets of Yokohama to make sure Dazai's still alive after a terrifying voicemail he received while in Germany.

just keep burning, keep me alive; mxlysar - bungo stray dogs

teen | 4.6k words | chuuya/dazai, dazai & ranpo

summary:

The names, the comments, their past—it drudges up something ugly and scarred, and Dazai was slowly retreating into the far reaches of their mind. Chuuya watches the regression, fury boiling beneath his skin.

(Or, the ADA and PM have a truce meeting, and Chuuya is severely pissed)

gathers no moss; bigdamnher0 - bungo stray dogs

mature | 19.2k words | chuuya/dazai, chuuya & dazai, chuuya & yosano

summary:

In ten minutes, Nakahara Chuuya’s first day at the Armed Detective Agency will officially begin.

Except—Chuuya doesn't show. Not even on the next day. Or the next, or the week after that.

And so: Dazai waits. Honestly speaking, he’s no good at it; between the two of them, it’s Chuuya who’s racked up more experience. After all, Dazai leaves people the way Chuuya builds moorings in them.

Or: a god learns to leave his shrine.

you don’t know how loved you are; TalaOfTheValley - my hero academia

general audiences | 7.8k words | dabi/shigaraki, dabi & LOV

summary:

Dabi grits his teeth. “Drop it.”

Toga pouts, resorting to hanging off his arm like a brat. “Tell meeee!”

“Tell you what? Keep it to yourself.”

Toga still hangs stubbornly onto his arm like a koala, digging her heels into the ground and keeping him from going anywhere. "It's Dabi's birthday!"

-

Dabi doesn't celebrate his birthday. In the eyes of his boyfriend and friends, this might as well be a crime.

My Little Mirror; Kiramiel - bsd + mha fusion

mature | 5.2k words | dazai & eri | READ TAGS

summary:

He remembered the bandages covering thin limbs, a mirror of his own. And he remembered when the trembling stopped. When all fight left. He remembered empty red eyes as she returned into the hands of her captor. As she took his hand. As she said, “I‘m okay, mister. I don’t need your help.”

Dazai stared into his own reflection, and for the first time in months—for the first time since he watched the light leave Oda’s eyes—he felt fury roar inside his veins. Dazai burned like he never had before.

Her voice was quiet when she spoke, trembling and weak. “Are you…” she faltered, but swallowed and soldiered on, “are you like me?”

“Yes,” Dazai answered, just as heavy footsteps echoed outside the dark little room, and shouts penetrated the silence, “I’m just like you.”

Complete Fics

The Moon is Beautiful; whatafunnythinglifeis - bungo stray dogs

teen | 2 chapters | 12.2k words | chuuya/dazai, dazai & ranpo, dazai & oda, ADA & dazai, akutagawa/atsushi, fukuzawa & ranpo | READ TAGS

summary:

In which Dazai has spent too much time with bad mental health, so he tries to take his life in earnest this time. Thankfully, there are some people watching out for him, so he doesn't get to see what the afterlife is like, despite Dazai's best attempt.

Please do not read this if you are feeling suicidal. Talk to a friend or call a hotline, or do something to take care of yourself. There is only one of you, no matter how awful you feel and no matter how you feel like you wish to leave behind this world we call reality.

To Give and Take; anonymous - bungo stray dogs

teen | 5 chapters | 14.3k words | chuuya/dazai, dazai & kunikida, dazai & mori, dazai & original female character (dazai’s mother), chuuya & dazai, dazai’s mother & mori

summary:

A woman turned up at the agency asking for assistance to look for a child that might not even exist.

Dazai doubts the world was kind enough to give back when all it ever did was take.

Incomplete Fics

(phone) call for help; RejectsCanon - my hero academia

teen | 9/? chapters | 51.8k words | fuyumi & natsuo & shouto & touya, shouto & touya, touya & todoroki family, hizashi & touya, aizawa & touya, aizawa/hizashi | READ TAGS

summary:

Touya clutches at the phone in his hands like the lifeline it is. If Touya played his cards right, this could be their chance to escape. No more hurt and pain and tears and fear. If Touya did this right they could be safe.

This was do or die.

It rings once. Then twice. Then a click.

“Hellooo, listener! You’re on air! What’s on your mind tonight?”

Or, Touya wants nothing more than to get him and his siblings out of their house and away from their father. To do this, he makes a last-ditch attempt and calls into Present Mic's radio station.

Gun Midoriya; Anna_Hopkins - my hero academia

teen | 5/6 chapters | 5.7k words | all for one & midoriya, class 1-a & midoriya

summary:

It started out as a Saturday like any other.

Then:

"Oh hey, a present from Dad!" Midoriya beamed down at the black-wrapped box on the table. "Sweet!"

...

"Holy shit Deku is that a gun-"

"Deku NO-"

"Deku YES!"

I don’t smoke; Tinfoilhats - bsd + mha fusion

not rated | 27/? chapters | 68.9k words | chuuya & dazai, dazai & oda, aizawa & dazai, aizawa/hizashi, dazai & fyodor | READ TAGS

summary:

“You will both be undertaking long term stealth missions elsewhere, but you won’t be operating together for the most part. Dazai-kun, you’ve heard of UA high school right?”

“Of course I have, it’s like the most popular hero school in Japan or something. And now you’re going to tell me I have to live my dreams and become a hero.” Dazai jokes.

The older man makes no sound, and Dazai turns to look at him.

“Wait. You’re serious?”

Mori sighs, “Dazai-kun, you will be infiltrating UA high school and posing as a student there. You’ve already got experience in stealth training, but it will be a shame to let such a valuable executive go..”

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

Dazai and Chuuya are sent on missions to infiltrate opposite sides of two parties that Mori had deemed a threat to the mafia, and to just gather information from both sides. Is there more to this assignment than what they were informed?

Renewal; Flutterfall - bsd + mha fusion

mature | 2/? chapters | 8.8k words | chuuya/dazai, aizawa/hizashi

summary:

A reckless mistake made on a port mafia mission lands sixteen year old Chuuya in the hands of pro-hero Eraserhead, triggering a chain of events that alter his life entirely.

ALTERNATIVELY

Hero Chuuya, kind of.

#[.grims recs] #[.grims weekly recs] #fic recs #reclist #mha #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha fic recs #bnha fic recs #my hero academia fic recs #boku no hero academia fic recs #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd fic recs #bungo stray dogs fic recs #bungou stray dogs fic recs