#so i had to pay homage to that somehow

[bookendsguy]

BUT YOUU DONT LOVE ME THATS NEWS TO ME THATS NEWS TOOO MEEE THATS NEWS TO-

#bruh i love this album so fucking much #its the perfect combination of inspiration #and very clearly paying homage #but somehow so different that it stands out as its own #god i love u foxygen i wish i had found them sooner #but also idk if i woulda appreciated it #this whole album kicks my ass like its my favorite rn #music link tag

[kozachenko]

[Click image for better quality]

I FIGURED OUT A WAY TO FUCKING MAKE THE IMAGE SMALLER FOR POSTING ON TUMBLR WITHOUT SACRIFICING THE ACTUAL QUALITY OF THE IMAGE OH MY GOD

Ok so, what I did is go into the clip studio paint file, make a new file, copy and paste the group in the original file, merge everything, get rid of the extra stuff outside of the canvas, and then make the flattened image smaller and crop the canvas. Once you have that, export it and you're done. This helps maintain the actual quality of the image and also helps shrink the file size down to something actually postable (if anyone has a better way of doing this please tell me)

[Edit]: Ok I guess posting something to Tumblr just naturally compresses the image a bit more somehow because I'm looking at it now and zooming in too much makes it a bit blurry so I'm still gonna have to futz around with image quality for future pieces oof

Artist's Note:

I'm so glad I figured out a way to do this because I like working on a big canvas so I can get as much detail in as I possibly can. Only problems are how laggy it gets while drawing lol.

I had an idea for a drawing with Reimu and Zanmu because I really like thinking about their potential dynamic a lot. I also wanted an excuse to draw Zanmu again but in my normal rendering style because last time I drew her she was in my more sketchy style with generally flat colours so I wanted to draw her again. Speaking of, looking at the sketch for this is a jumpscare that I never enjoy seeing, like, man am I glad I didn't use those for my final piece.

Also about her spear. I was originally gonna make it like the ones she had in game, but it kinda threw off the whole piece. It was too big, too blue, and too flat, so I just went "fuck it" and gave her a different one instead. My headcanon justifying this is that the ones she uses in game are for danmaku battles whereas in any other fight she just uses a proper yari, or she still uses the yari and just makes it all glowy to power it up, maybe both lol. I pulled as much inspiration as I could from Sengoku era spears, and even put in some blue into the decorative part of the spear and also added a little skull to pay tribute to the original spear. Also, in my research I saw some art of izanami and izanagi making japan and saw that the yari izanagi has had a little decorative tassley thingy on it so I took some inspo from that and just made it one of Zanmu's tassles (Idk when that art was from or if the spear was still accurate to Sengoku period Japan but hey, probably the same reasons Eirin puts little bow ties on her arrows, it's just for personalization purposes).

I love rendering hair and clothes so much omg, while I like the super curly hair Zanmu, the longer, wavier hair suits her better for this drawing (I imagine it only does that like how Ghibli characters hair moves when they feel angry lol). I love making Zanmu's hair all messy and crazy, as well as giving her grey hairs, this woman has aged like a fine wine. Also, if the hem on the ends of her sleeves, top of her shirt, and her pants look like gold to you, that's because it is! It's fairly light so she's not collapsing under the weight, but it's gold! (I don't care how impractical it is, it's just cool). Not the undershirt though, it's made of a gold fabric. I had a cute idea with Reimu's hair to make it have a red shine to it. I also changed up Reimu's outfit so it isn't just a blob of red. I like it a lot when Reimu's skirt and outfit is segmented into different layers, so I wanted to incorporate that.

I tried to draw their hands differently as well, but IDK how noticeable that is. Also, I am super happy with how the side profiles for the two of them turned out, I used to struggle a lot with how to make the side profile of a character actually look like the character, so I'm really happy that they actually look like themselves.

Also added in the tree and rocks in the background as an homage to Zanmu's character art in Touhou 19, just because I was getting kinda stumped on what to do with the background lol.

In terms of a story idea with Reimu and Zanmu, idk why but the potential plotline of Zanmu wanting to ascend to godhood is so fascinating to me. Like, it is very possible that if she just convinced everyone she was a god (which would be very easy for her to do), she would become one in a heartbeat. Also, if she were to become a god, with her ability to return stuff to nothing, could she hypothetically get similar abilities to (Jojo Part 5 spoiler btw) GER? Like, idk about the death timeloop stuff, but the concept has been haunting me every night as I have been trying to find loopholes in GER's ability for a while now ( for no reason in particular). Back to the main topic, I imagine that she would probably tell Reimu that if she were to become a god she would take over the Hakurei shrine since the god there might as well be dead, and Reimu just says to her, "Over my dead body bitch." Like, I have no idea how to summarize their dynamic but like, it's the type of hero-villain dynamic where the phrase "We're not so different, you and I" would definitely be a phrase said during a fight. I think that if another IN style game were to release, Reimu and Zanmu would be in a team together. They could also have an interesting mentor and pupil kind of dynamic. Can you tell that Zanmu has been charging my mind rent these part few months? Like, instead of living in my head rent free, she kinda just uno reversed the whole situation and now she's the one charging me rent. What happens if I get evicted from my own brain? Actually, scratch that, I don't think I wanna know.

#touhou project #art #fanart #touhou fanart #touhou 19 #touhou #東方project #zanmu nippaku #unfinished dream of all living ghost #reimu hakurei #東方

[urhoneycombwitch]

lulu idk how to properly explain it but “is that how you usually get out of these situations? by fucking your way out of them?” rly screams reader teasing steve when they’re hooking up post- or mid-s4. something very goofy but also a little angsty abt it… because you both know he shouldn’t have gotten out of these situations but he somehow has. this while they’re having passionate rushed life affirming sex 🫶🏻if that makes any sense hehe xox han

foreword: Han I can’t tell u how perfect this is for the drabble I’ve been planning in my head for days now. paying homage to S4 Steve with this one!!! (4 u my beloved @stevenose )

wc: 1.4k

cw: hurt/comfort, oral (R receiving), description of injuries, lightly unresolved angst

___

Something’s different, this time.

You can feel it in the way Steve touches you, a bit rougher around the edges, crowding you back against your bedroom wall, stealing the breath from your lungs with the force of his kisses.

He’s adhering to the routine, still, can’t really fault him for his hunger- it’s been two weeks since he’s been by; you figured he was busy with trying to find a new job after the mall fire and plus, Steve’s not the calling type. Not with you, at least.

Which is fine. It’s been a cordial friends-with-benefits, emphasis on the benefits, since your collective senior years. After Nancy Wheeler dumped the King of Hawkins High, you were the one to pick up the pieces. It’s been a mutually beneficial arrangement for the last few years, a familiar fling to expend pent-up energy with no strings attached.

Steve’s always been a really attentive sexual partner (has you to thank for that, really- you fucked him when he was still spoilt high school royalty, all bravado but none of the skills to back it up until he was taught), but the way he’s looking at you now, like he’s hungry, has you squirming.

“What?” he asks, between kisses with tongue that part past the seam of your lips. “What’s up, hm?”

Steve’s hands are splayed on the wall at either side of your head, his eyes lust-blown, black nearly overtaking amber irises. You shift against the steady weight of his body against yours, slipping your hand up up up to cup the side of his face.

“This new?” Your thumb catches the white-lined split of his lower lip.

Steve kisses your fingertip, dismissive. “Doesn’t hurt any more. Don’t worry about it.”

“That’s not an answer,” you start, but Steve sighs so piteously and with such conviction that you kiss him again.

It’s not like he hasn’t shown up with minor injuries, before- there was a month straight where he had a new bruise every few day. He was squirrely about their origins and then they faded and you forgot all about them.

You’re finding it hard to hold on to any strand of coherency now as Steve takes the skin of your neck between his teeth, denim-clad knee slotting at the apex of your bare thighs; He’s still fully dressed, while you’re down to just undies and bra.

Half a bra, now, as Steve slips one of the straps from your shoulder to release a breast, dipping down to suck your nipple into his mouth.

You hiss when there’s a flash of teeth, hands shooting to grip Steve by the long strands of his auburn hair. He moans in response, vibrations sending shockwaves to your core, hips bucking to grind into his waiting thigh.

Steve kisses across your chest, hands sliding up your back to undo the bra clasp. He drops it to the floor, then latches on to your other nipple, cheeks hollowing out with the force of his suction.

You can feel the ridge of his split lip. When you tug at his hair, hard enough to tip his head back, he comes off your nipple with a wet pop.

“What?” He whines it, this time, petulant, pawing at your lower back to take more of your weight onto his knee. “Honey, what? Jus’ lemme take care of you, for chrissake.”

Steve buries his grumbling into your clavicle as you pet through his hair, caution in your tone as you say, “Heard about the mall fire last week.”

“Yeah. Crazy news for a small town, huh.” Steve doesn’t even pretend to sound interested, instead sinking to his knees and pressing your hips flat to the wall with his big hands.

“Thought maybe you’d tell me-” sentence bisected by a brief gasp as Steve noses into your clothed pussy, stuttering out the end- “-a-about it.”

“Nothin’ to tell, angel,” Steve says, pulling your underwear down and off your legs before sliding a hand under your knee and slotting it over his shoulder.

He leans in, nose bumping into your aching clit, tongue wet and warm at your entrance.

Any argument that you’d been leading up to is erased from your mind the second he starts sliding his tongue in and out of you, strong and quick, wetness gushing out to greet him.

“Steve-”

He places a hand over your stomach, thumb deftly finding the pulse of your clit and rubbing in tight circles, and you’re gone- thighs trembling around his ears, stomach muscles rippling under his palm as your orgasm curls you inwards.

Steve coaxes you through it with his mouth and fingers, wringing out every last bit of pleasure. He leaves a trail of wet kisses as he ascends your body, a sharp-sweet tang of you as he licks into your mouth again.

“On the bed,” he says, voice low. Half-lidded eyes watch you obey.

In the few seconds that it takes Steve to close the distance, some of the fog clears from your mind, hand at the middle of Steve’s chest before you get flattened on the mattress and really lose all sense of decency. “Hold on. You’re not even gonna take off your shirt?”

He grins, all charm, leaning some weight into your hand- “Could be kinda kinky. See if you can make me cream my jeans. It’s your favorite pastime, after all.”

Your resolve is nearly gone as you pull him in by a fistful of shirt to keep kissing him- but when your other hand trails up his ribs and Steve flinches away, your blood runs cold.

“Steve.” It comes out more authoritative than you mean it, but you figure firmness over fear is preferable right now, so you don’t soften. “Take off your shirt. Now.”

He straightens with an eye roll, but when he sees that you’re not fucking around, he sighs and reaches behind his neck for the collar of his shirt. “Fine. But I’m not too pretty after boxing, last week, you should just know th-”

Steve’s cut off by your sharp intake of breath, your eyes roving over his bare torso for the first time that night.

Even in the soft light of your bedside lamp, it’s bad. The left side of his ribs are mottled with bruising, some areas wine-purple, yellows and greens wisping around his waist.

You shove at his shoulder, and he half-acquiesces, letting you catch sight of a bootprint in the tender flesh of his lower back before knocking your hand away, gently- “Hey- they’re fine now, okay? I’m not hurting any more. Took some Tylenol before this, so I-”

“That is so not the point.” On your feet now, arms crossed over your chest, tears springing to your eyes- “Bullshit you got all that from boxing. These are like- like hospital-grade injuries, Steve.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose, sits on the edge of your bed, still in his jeans- “I know, sweetheart. I got checked out by the paramedics, at the mall- they said there’s nothing to do but wait it out.”

You step closer, until you’re between his parted knees, his hands coming to rest on your bare hips again as you say, quiet and hurt- “You weren’t gonna even tell me? About being in the fire?”

His thumbs stroke hypnotic across your skin. “Didn’t wanna upset you.”

Your head hinges back, eye-roll of your own as you scoff to the ceiling, then back to him, trying to wall in your teary emotions with forced stolidness- “Look, I probably don’t have any right to say this to you, seeing as we’re just fooling around and I’m not your mother, but… I’m worried about you, Steve. You keep showing up on my doorstep more fucked-up than last time and I just…”

Steve pulls you in again, hugging around your middle, side of his face pressed warm to your bare stomach; you continue.

“I don’t want you to just fuck your way out of these situations, any more.”

He kisses just above your navel. “Okay. Deal. From now on… not including tonight.”

You’re going to protest, you really mean to, but then Steve’s kissing his way down again- and your argument melts away with the rest of your night.

#lu’s anons #Steve Harrington #Steve Harrington x reader #Steve Harrington smut

[fadingdaggerr]

would that i

pairing: melissa schemmenti x gn!reader

summary: melissa knew what love should look like, and learned what it shouldn’t be. learning what it actually is takes time | 3.4k

translations: nonna/nonno (grandma/grandpa), t’amu (i love you) | reminder that sicilian is slightly different from italian in dialect

warnings: allusions to cheating (minimal), allusions to unhealthy relationships (minimal), making up my own melissa lore bc i’m so normal about her, kissing/making out

note: a little bit of this was an homage to my grandparents, the people that showed me what love should be. thank u and love u

When Melissa was in sixth grade, her teacher assigned a two-page essay on what they thought of when they pictured love. The moment Mrs. Erikson said this, Melissa knew she was going to write about her Nonna and Nonno.

Every morning, Nonna made breakfast and coffee, she packed Nonno’s lunch, and always left a note that said T’amu in her flowy cursive. Every evening, Nonno brought in the laundry off the line and folded it while Nonna made dinner. Even when they fought, there was never a loss of their kiss good morning, goodbye, and good night. Only on anniversaries was Nonno allowed in the kitchen, and they’d dance while sauce simmered on the stovetop. Love between them seemed easy and gentle. Melissa spent every Saturday night and Sunday morning across the street at their house, and every time she found something to add to her list of what love looked like and how it should be.

Melissa thought she had found love with Tommy Adkins in eighth grade. She’d even bought a new dress to wear to autumn formal, pink and ruffled and perfect. By the time she was ready to leave, her face almost hurt from the amount of times she redid her makeup so that Tommy would call her beautiful instead of bangin’ for once. That night she watched him dance with Jennifer Milano with a half-baked excuse of him “not wanting to kiss a chick with braces.” Melissa cried for two hours while Nonna told her she was better off, a bowl of pastina pushed her way. She forgot about him by the time Monday rolled around.

High school boyfriends came and went, but in college Melissa fell in love for the first time. A true, deep love with a firefighter-in-training that knew her neighbor. Everytime Joe visited Brian, he stopped across the hall to see Melissa, leaned against the doorway with an easy smile. He was charming, respectful, and funny, everything she had been looking for. Two months after she graduated, he dropped to one knee and she jumped into his arms. They moved from their apartment to a home in south Philly. Melissa worked during the day, and Joe started night shifts at the fire station for the extra pay.

Night shifts began to extend, and Melissa never saw him. He’d eat the plate she’d prepared in the fridge and leave the dirty dish on the counter. Dirt and ash from his boots tracked across her rugs and carpets, scuff marks in her living room. What almost killed her was the dirty cast iron skillet left in the sink. When she brought anything up, he’d deflect and leave. Every now and then, he came home with flowers “just because.” But then flowers began to follow every extra long night, and she could smell the floral perfume that didn’t belong to her and didn’t match the flowers. It took her months to say anything, and all she was met with was eyes that couldn’t look at hers.

Melissa began to think that what her grandparents had could never be hers. A loving life was in the cards, and Joe had only solidified this. She stayed at Barbara’s that night.

—

A few years later, her perspective was changed when a new fourth grade teacher joined the staff mid-term. Never in her years had she allowed someone in so easily, allowed them to be her friend and not just a coworker. Somehow, in two years, Melissa realized she’d never felt so cared for and loved by anyone.

—

“Is there a chance I could pour a cup of coffee before you start bursting my ear drums?” Melissa says when Jacob and Janine start babbling behind her about something she didn’t care about at 7:30 on a Friday morning. Ever since she turned onto the street the school is on, a headache had been growing steadily. Staying up late to finish grading was the worst idea she’s had all month. The two teachers cringe slightly, lowering their volume. When the door opened again for you and Barbara to enter chatting with each other, volume lowering at the sight of Melissa sat at the table with fingers pressed to her temples. She hears a bag drop on the table quietly, opening one eye to see you trying to be as quiet as possible as you dig around.

When you finally stop, you pull out a bottle of ibuprofen and pass it to her. She waves it off, muttering a don’t need it. When you don’t reply, she peers up to see you still holding the bottle out with an expectant look on your face. You shake the bottle, “don’t suffer just to look tough.”

“Melissa Ann, take the damn pills,” Barbara orders from her seat, spooning some sugar into her coffee.

“I don’t need ‘em,” she mumbles out again.

You push your hand forward more, “please. If not for yourself, for your students. You’re irritable when you have a headache.” Barbara chuckles and sends a knowing look to Melissa. Janine and Jacob, on the other hand, turn and look at you, fully expecting the red head to make some harsh reply or threat back to you. All she does is puff out a laugh and grab the bottle from your hands. She decided not to remark on the weird looks she was getting from the peanut gallery.

When getting the kids ready for recess, she sees you peering around the corner to the doorway. She holds a finger to ask you to wait, and gets a double thumbs up in return. After zipping many jackets and helping with gloves, she watches the little eagles run outside in the chilly autumn air. As she walks back into her classroom, she sees you sitting in her chair waiting patiently for her. “You know, I don’t let anyone sit in my seat,” she jokes as approaches.

“Good thing I’m not just anyone, now am I?” you joke, standing to meet her.

She fights her smile as she answers quietly, “no, you’re not.” She takes a second to breathe when she sees a grin cross your lips at her comment, “we still on for dinner at mine tonight?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” the grin on your face growing, the giddy feeling in Melissa’s chest with it. You loop your arm with hers and walk towards the lounge.

When Melissa opens the front door, you expect a greeting, but instead you get a groan as she stomps back to the kitchen. Dropping your bag and shrugging off your coat, you walk into the kitchen, placing the box of pastries on the table. Melissa returns to angrily rummaging through the refrigerator, desperately trying to find something. It wasn’t until two hands pulled her back by the shoulders, turning her around. She relaxes into your touch, closing her eyes.

“I’m out of basil,” she says through a sigh.

“Want me to go to the store?” you ask, wanting to remove any stress from her.

“No,” Melissa answers as she opens her eyes, “you just got here, that wouldn’t be fair.”

You laugh, “we could go together. Or we can just be lazy, order a pizza, and not get off the couch.”

“Second one,” she sighs out, pulling away to clean up the dishes she took out. While she’s distracted, you take the time to call in the order, pay, and tip over the phone so that Melissa won’t even have the chance to say herself.

“If there’s pineapple on there, I’m kicking you out,” she yells from the kitchen after she hears you hang up.

“No, veggie. And yes, I asked for no mushrooms. One of these days though, I’ll convert you to being a pineapple woman,” you joke tilting your head back to see her standing behind you, “plus, you wouldn’t dare kick out the person who brought you zeppole.”

She gets closer, leaning over with her hands holding the backrest on either side of your head, “is there chocolate sauce?” The excitement was evident in her tone, bringing butterflies to your stomach. You can’t form words with her standing over you and smiling like that, so you just nod.

Later into the night, the TV played Weeds while you sat in comfortable silence, only breaking it when you both repeated the same joke out loud every now and then. Your legs were thrown over her lap, her fingers playing with the folding fabric of your jeans as she watched the screen. Her subconscious drew her attention toward you, eyes tracing over smile lines and the glowing reflection in your eyes from the TV. She watches you lean forward to grab a zeppole, ready to offer it to her. It’s only then that you catch her stare.

“You okay?” you ask, turning and scooting closer to give her your full attention.

She gives a quick squeeze to your leg, “yeah, hon. I’m better than okay.” She feels even better when you lean into her, placing your head on her shoulder. She drops her head to yours, a deep breath leaving her as she finally relaxes fully for the first time all day.

—

Some time between then and now, things had changed, Melissa wasn’t exactly sure when. At some point the Friday dinners turned into Saturday plans, then Sunday since the farmer’s market was open, no other reason. Breakfast on those days translated to bringing coffee to each other at work, ignoring the questioning gazes of other staff members as she passed you your coffee, despite having never asked how you took it. What had started with you sleeping on the couch when the night grew later, migrated to the spare bedroom.

On a Sunday night, it changed again. You watched the tail end of an Eagles’ game while sitting in her bed after helping grade book reports. As always, your head rested on her shoulder with her own resting on yours. Anytime something that wasn’t a point being scored happened, she explained it to you, though she knew not a thing she said would help make sense of it. It didn’t matter to you, all you wanted was to hear her voice and have her attention.

“Your bed is comfy,” you mutter when the commercials begin before the last quarter.

A smile crosses her lips, “treated myself to a good mattress when I kicked bozo out. Glad you approve.”

“You deserve nice things,” you say as you settle into her more, and through a yawn add, “the best things.”

That night, you’d both fallen asleep slumped against the headboard, leaning into each other for comfort.

Melissa woke up to a rhythmic thumping under her ear and a hand in her hair gently playing with amber waves. The small smile that came to her lips would have been foreign to her if she wasn’t so comfortable, the content feeling in her chest would be almost alarming. When her eyes cracked open, she recognized her bedroom and sheets. She groaned into the cold morning air, and the hand moved from twirling the ends of her hair to scratching her scalp, making her tuck into the warmth beneath her even more.

“Good morning,” you rasp out, having only been awake a little longer, the only response being another groan. She finally rolls off of you, much to your dismay, and sits up on her elbows, looking at you with sleepy, squinted eyes.

“It’s Monday,” she grumbles.

You chuckle, grabbing her glasses off the nightstand for her, “fine, just morning then.”

Something about this morning felt different to Melissa. You’d never spent the night on a school night, let alone sleep in her bed, but that wasn’t what shook her. It wasn’t you making her coffee, sipping it to make sure it tasted right before handing it to her. It also wasn’t that you turned off her alarm and woke her up yourself without making her ears bleed. She thought it could be that you’d opened the door for her on the way out, or how you offered to drive her to and from work to make up for staying late, but not that either.

Maybe it was how she didn’t want to get out of bed, or how her coffee tasted better than any time she’d made it herself. Or how she hadn’t slept that peacefully in twenty years. It could have been how much she enjoyed being driven to work, and having full control of the songs you listened to on the way there, or the fact that she sped ahead to open a door for you this time. She doesn't have time to dwell on it once she gets to her classroom, a knock on the doorframe comes the second to place her purse on the desk.

“I thought you weren’t in today, I didn’t see your car in the parking lot,” Barbara says as she walks in.

Without looking up from her bag as she pulls out folders, Melissa answers, “I got a ride in.”

“Did you now?” Barbara asks with an amused tone. “And would that someone happen to be the fourth grade teacher that practically lives with you?”

“We don’t live together,” Melissa says incredulously, “we just fell asleep, so we drove in together. It’s not a big deal, it’s not like we’re actually together.”

Barbara can’t hide her laugh, “you fell asleep? Both of you? And where was that?” Melissa only mumbles back, so Barbara presses, “where did you both sleep, Melissa?”

“My bed,” Melissa finally says a little louder, but not much. She wants to send her head through a wall knowing that Barb just figured her out.

“Oh, girl. You are in deep,” Barbara says with a smirk. After she leaves the room, the spiral in Melissa’s head goes faster.

Said spiral carries her through lunch, and only stops when you sit across from her and stare at her for a moment. Her face contorts in a what? look before you reach across the table and brush your fingers through her hair. When you pull back, there’s a purple string from the third graders’ projects between your fingers. Barbara kicks her from under the table, and she kicks back with equal force. They both see you look at them weird, before brushing it off and going back to getting your lunch out. Barbara cocks her head to you, staring at the red head, silently telling her to do something. The look the kindergarten teacher gets back replies not now.

When the end of the day rolls around, Melissa is anxious for your eventual arrival in her doorway, keys swinging around your pointer finger. All she could think about since you parted ways this morning was your hands in her hair and your heartbeat under her ear. She hadn’t felt so content and so at peace in so long, the feeling was so new that it almost scared her. Melissa had to remind herself that this was about you, not anyone else. You’d never hurt, belittled, or offended Melissa, you’d never made it your mission to anger or disregard her, nor had you ever tried putting yourself before her. She knew that feeling this way about you shouldn’t scare her, but it did.

The sound of keys and footsteps in the hallways alerted her to your approaching presence, making Melissa quickly rise to her feet and grab her things, realizing she’d been spaced out since the last student left. As she predicted, you stood there spinning your keys, smile growing when she turned toward you. It drops slightly when you see her smile not reach her eyes. “Ready?” you ask.

“Sure, yeah,” she clears her throat, “let’s go.”

You can tell her mind is running into overdrive as you pull onto her street. When you park in the driveway, you unbuckle to turn in your seat and face her.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

She turns to you with a scrunched face, “what are you, 90?”

You shrug and point to her sleeves, “you’re thinking. You play with the thumb holes when you think.” She’d curse you for noticing if it didn’t make her heart clench. “You don’t have to tell me,” you add, “but I’ll listen, if you want.”

She looks at you for a moment, surrendering with a, “wanna come in?” You only answer by taking your keys out of the transmission, hopping out, and opening the door for her.

The discussion gets put on hold while Melissa heats up leftovers from the night before. She carries both bowls out to the living room where you’re turning on the TV back on for background noise. As Melissa sits down, she faces toward you and you mirror her pose. “Sorry I was acting weird,” she mumbles before taking a bite.

You shake your head, “you’re only allowed to apologize when you’ve done something wrong. Thinking isn’t doing something wrong.” When she doesn’t speak again, you offer up something else, “Ava almost had a heart attack over you this morning.”

She looks at you confused, “were we wearing the same shade of green again?”

“No. She thought you didn’t come to work this morning cause your car wasn’t there, was going off about how she was going to have to sub because there’s still a shortage in the area,” you laugh, “I had to tell her I drove you in, which also ended me in a twenty minute interrogation during my prep period.”

“What sort of interrogation?” she asked, already nervous.

You look down the bowl in your lap as you speak, poking the food around, “the kind where she asks for a detailed account of my whole weekend. Weird amounts of detail too, mealtimes, where I slept, where we went, what shows we watched.”

“What’d you tell her?” Melissa can feel fear creeping into her bones.

“That we went to the farmer’s market, watched sitcoms, and I slept in the guest room,” you answer truthfully, “and what did you say to Barbara?” Her head snaps to you, you lean your head to the side, “she stopped by to ask me about my weekend, she seemed a little too excited to see me if you hadn’t spoken to her first.”

Melissa moves to place her bowl on the coffee table before looking back to you, “she asked why we drove in together. I said we fell asleep, and she asked where we fell asleep. Might’ve told her you slept in my bed.”

“It’s impossible to lie to her,” you say as you copy her move. You’re silent for a moment, then finally ask, “what were you thinking about?”

She takes in a deep breath and exhales to calm her nerves, “this morning. This whole weekend, but mostly this morning.” She glances up, and sees your face had dropped, worry setting in, and she’s quick to revise her statement, “in a good way. This morning, this weekend, they meant a lot to me.”

At her words, your lips stretch into a smile, “it meant a lot to me, too.” She can see you internally question saying the next part, “and you. you mean a lot to me, a crazy amount.”

It’s her turn to smile like an idiot now, a pretty blush covering her cheeks, “you mean a crazy amount to me, too. Being around you it’s... It’s easy. I like being with you.”

“I do, too. Sometimes, when I’m here I almost forget I live somewhere else. The second I step inside and I’m with you, I don’t know, leaving just feels wrong,” you say honestly, eyes flickering over her face as you speak, scanning for a rejection you won’t find.

“Waking up to you was nice,” Melissa mumbles, “you’re a pretty good pillow, if I do say so myself.”

Your airy laugh makes her heart race, it goes even faster when you lean in to reply, “I wouldn’t mind waking up that way again... and again, and again.”

She matches you lean in, smiling, “yeah?” Your noses are almost touching, she can feel your breath just barely touching her face. Her eyes flick to yours and see you looking back, faint lines forming as your lips turned upward as her gaze.

“Being with you makes sense,” you say quietly into the space between you, eyes flicking to her lips then back up.

Her hand moves up to your cheek, warm hands and cool rings holding with gentle affection. Olive eyes look into yours for permission, but your answer is closing the space between you. Her other hand flies to hold your neck, your hands holding her wrists. They slide from her arms to her waist, pulling her closer and crawling beneath her shirt to rest on her skin. She takes the chance to straddle your lap as her tongue slides over your bottom lip, asking for the instantly granted entry. Her lips were soft, savoring the feeling of yours against hers, committing it to memory.

Your arms tighten around her, holding her as if she’s this precious thing, and it makes her only give more into you. Her lips slow, and you can almost feel the love she’s trying to convey in her action. But your lungs can only survive so long, and she pulls her lips away, resting her forehead against yours.

“Stay?” she whispers through her breaths as she recovers.

“Wasn’t planning on leaving,” you mumble back, dazed from her kiss. You duck foreward, hugging her as she still sits in your lap. Her arms circle your shoulders, hearing you mumble into her neck, “I love you.”

She presses a kiss to your head, “I love you.”

Melissa’s heart beat against your ear, calm and steady. The smell of her perfume and honey shampoo flooded your senses, making you nudge into her further. You tilted your head, lips pressing softly to the skin of her neck, moving upwards back to her lips, pressing a long, sound kiss there. You pull away to look at her, smoothing back copper strands.

“Is it too early to go lay in bed for the rest of the night?” you ask quietly.

She huffs a laugh, “I was gonna suggest the same thing.”

By the fifth episode of Weeds, Melissa noticed your breathing even out. She peered down at you where you lay curled into her side with your head on her chest, arm slung over her middle, lips slightly parted. She presses a kiss to your head as she shuts the TV off, and lays there to just bask in you being with her. She’d never felt so adored, so cared for, so at ease. This is was it was supposed to be.

feedback appreciated as always <3

title from would that i by hozier (i’m sure everyone knew that. we’re all gay here)

#melissa schemmenti x reader #melissa schemmenti #lisa ann walter #abbott elementary #lgbtq #lgbtq fanfiction #lesbian

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

This is sort of a headcannon post in which I mention my fic but you don't have to read the fic to get the meta. Also I'm gonna talk about ye olde drugs. If you don't like talking about opium, cannabis or tobacco probably not the meta for you

Now, in the next chapter of Don't Hurt Yourself which I'm trying desperately to write as we speak (I'm failing and pitching my drug based headcannons to you on tumblr dot com as a form of procrastination), I'm going to establish that Ed's not really a smoker. This may seem contradictory to canon, which I like to at least move parallel to for the most part in my fic, because when we're introduced to him we see this

and when he's telling the story to the crew he's doing this

But I personally am not convinced it's tobacco in that big ass pipe. I know it doesn't really matter what he's smoking, they just gave him a huge pipe to make him look cool by putting him in a smokey atmosphere, and so Taika could blow smoke rings, but I like pulling this show apart so I'm gonna talk about it.

Hear me out.

Ed's got three substances that I think historically he would have access to that he could be smoking. Those substances are tobacco, which is what most of us probably assumed if we thought about it at all, good old weed, which transcends time barriers it is a plant which is not that hard to turn into drugs, and opium which was both a drug that got you high and is addictive but also was basically the most powerful pain killer they had access to. A lot like opiates today really.

Now Tobacco is a luxury item from the "new world" back then people like smoking it and would pay lots of money for it to be transported across the atlantic ocean. Makes sense that a pirate crew might be stealing it to sell to somebody to make a buck. However Ed canonically does not treat himself which is why Stede and his fine fabrics and his sugar in the tea is so exciting to him. So somehow I don't think in episode 3 he's smoking up the product he's meant to be moving. He could be but I kinda doubt it.

But Opium and Weed both have medicinal benefits, specifically they are pain killers (weed also has benefits as a psychiatric medication for people with ptsd but I want to focus on the pain killer aspect as Ed doesn't really seem to be in mental distress in either of the scenes we see him smoking in)

We know he wears a knee brace, I know this is to pay homage to Mad Max but from a watsonian perspective it means he's got something going on with his knee, potentially chronic pain. And when he's smoking when we first meet him

He has the leg with the brace stretched out with his other foot on the ground. as if he is perhaps giving his knee a rest because it hurts. What I'm proposing is that he is treating chronic joint pain with either weed or opium, and that's what's in that pipe.

Thank you for coming to my obligatory promoting a disabled reading of OFMD post.

#ofmd #our flag means death #edward teach #blackbeard #edward teach ofmd #blackbeard ofmd #ed teach #divorce court au

[bts-siwan]

www.siwan-with-other-idols.com

IU & S!NEA ───── “ she hates it when i call her that. my noona sunbae. ”

they first got to know each other on the set of hotel del luna in which siwan was scheduled to make a cameo appearance in one of the episodes.

jieun quickly grew fond of siwan’s shy and polite nature. their second meeting was during a team dinner that she invited him to where they would exchange numbers.

siwan has always been openly supportive of jieun’s works since then and everyone adores their friendship. there are compilations of tiny crumb interactions between them, for example if jieun wins an award, then siwan is the first one clapping and cheering.

they’ve had many dating rumours spark every time they hang out privately so they stick to meeting up with others present or not at all sometimes.

she was there to say goodbye to siwan on the day of his military enlistment. she even stated that he could always call her up if he needed anything or someone to simply talk to.

DK & S!NEA ───── “ my brother not by blood, but he’s always been my backbone. ”

they met for the first time at an award show. at the time, seokmin greatly admired siwan but found him incredibly intimidating to actually greet and start a conversation with.

they got talking because siwan noticed one of the female idols towards the back feeling uncomfortable and so he asked for a blanket. he then requested seokmin to hand it to her since he was closer which is when seokmin gained the courage to start a conversation.

their friendship easily developed outside of this into a very sibling-like dynamic. he would always be the one to initiate outings and meet-ups to which siwan just went along with.

literally everyone knows about their friendship. seokmin is always able to bring siwan up somehow in every content to do with seventeen to a point that the other members call him the 9th member of bts.

honestly? an amazing wingman. 100/10. if siwan ever shows an interest in someone, seokmin is immediately there to encourage and hype him up to potential suitors. he’ll even set up the dates himself if he needs to. everyone needs a seokmin in their life.

MINHO & S!NEA ───── “ yeah, i bow down to this sunbae, paying homage with my reverence. ”

minho has always been a role model to siwan. he was one of the growing factors in siwan’s life that solidified his stance on becoming an idol within the entertainment industry.

he’d seen minho at award shows but was never able to pluck up the courage to actually start a conversation. he only ended up talking to minho through taehyung during his visit on the set of hwarang.

minho is like siwan’s dad/mentor but also an absolutely bad influence. he’s the little devil on siwan’s shoulder that makes him do things on an impulse (such as dying his hair or getting a perm).

minho is also lowkey a sugar daddy. he’ll just buy things for siwan on a whim especially if they haven’t seen each other in a while, but he’ll go out of his way to buy siwan anything he’s overheard the younger one comment about wanting.

he’s also the person siwan tends to go to when there are actual problems in his life. minho is a great listening ear and tends to have a very mature and unbiased view towards situations so he’s super grateful to have this man in his life.

MARK & S!NEA ───── “ no… mark is not my son. ”

mark has basically glued himself to siwan’s side ever since their first meeting through jeongguk and jaehyun. he’s the little brother figure that siwan never had.

mark loves loves loves piggybacks from siwan. he’s also been a major influence in helping siwan rekindle with family by accompanying him on visits and dinners back home and comforting him immensely.

mark is the reason siwan has stepped out of his comfort zone a lot of the time. mark’s the one to initiate hangouts and book crazy activities for them to try out.

siwan will never tolerate mark being badmouthed by anyone around him. he’s very overprotective and loves to praise and uplift mark’s positive influence in his life. if you’re a fan of siwan, you’re a fan of mark.

they sort of have this telepathic connection where one will get this weird feeling whenever the other is upset. it’s been one too many times where siwan will text mark to ask if he’s doing well and mark replies with a negative.

CHUNGHA DEAN JOY SOGUMM

TAGLIST

@pandorasword , @ateezsora , @anqelws , @kaitieskidmore97 , @vizianary

#( 🕸️ ) ───── siwan’s relationships ! #bts 8th member #bts 8th male member #kpop added member #kpop added male member #kpop addition #kpop male addition #kpop additional member #kpop additional male member #bts additional member #bts additional male member #bts added member #bts added male member #kpop member au #kpop male member au #kpop oc #kpop male oc #bts oc #bts male oc #bts addition #bts male addition

[abyssal-ali]

'tis the damn season

Pairing: Luka Couffaine x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Rating: T | Ao3 | Masterlist

WC: 3.8k

A/N: For my wonderful Twinsie @wildbookcat 💜 Beta'd by @sneksnacc

Tiny flakes of powdery snow danced through the air, carried around by the whims of the wind. Luka envied their carelessness. Somehow, he had ended up at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport, waiting for his high school ex-girlfriend, who was also his little sister’s best friend, and thus someone he couldn’t avoid.

It wasn’t even that he was still heartbroken about the end of their ill-fated relationship (lie), or that they had ended on bad terms (was both parties being broken-hearted and depressed for the next several months ‘bad terms’?), the issue was that he didn’t know how Marinette was going to react.

They were now both adults, had a collective handful of ended relationships under their belts, and were mature enough to look past that summer, right?

Another gust of wind blew through the man-made wind tunnel–aka the main doors exiting the airport–and caused a shiver to go down Luka’s back. He was still affected by his reptilian Miraculous, though he’d returned it after Hawkmoth had been defeated seven years ago. He wondered how Marinette would deal with the snow and chill when she arrived, since she was even more attuned to her Miraculous than he had been, and she continued to wield the gems occasionally. Ladybugs didn’t like the cold either.

The doors slid open, another batch of travellers entering the snowy grey afternoon with a shiver.

A pink pom-pom caught his eye, and Luka stepped out of the car to wave at its owner.

“Marinette!”

Her head turned to him, surprise overtaking her features, before being replaced by a smile. “Luka!”

Her cheeks were already flushing pink, matching her coat and hat, Luka noticed when she stepped back from la bise. He picked up her suitcase, slung her bag over his arm, and motioned towards his blue VW Golf.

“Your parents were busy with the holiday rush, so they asked me to come get you when I was over there saying hi yesterday,” Luka explained, getting into the driver’s seat once he’d stored her things in the hatch.

“Couldn’t stay away from their pain au chocolat, huh?” Marinette teased him easily.

Luka exhaled soundlessly as he pulled away. Maybe this would go okay, after all.

“You know it. So, how long are you here for?”

Marinette settled back in her seat. “I’m not actually sure. I want something new, but old…no, familiar, at the same time.”

Luka hummed. “I hope you find it.”

“Thanks. So, why are you here? It’s been a while since either of us were in Paris,” she commented, blowing hot air on the window and doodling hearts and smiles with her fingertip.

“I thought it was time. Haven’t seen Ma and Juleka in a while, and I have friends here I wanted to catch up with. I’m currently on a break from producing, so I figured now was as good a time as any.”

“Right,” Marinette agreed. “It’s nice to see you again.”

And now the awkwardness was seeping through the car.

“You too; it’s been awhile,” he said softly. “I’m always happy to see you.”

Even if it hurts when I don’t.

Her gaze darted down to her mittenless hands, fidgeting with her short, buffed nails. Luka could see the calluses from being constantly pricked on the pads of her fingers; a thin red scrape on the side of her hand likely came from brushing against a pincushion the wrong way.

The snowflakes had gradually become larger and more frequent, so Luka turned on the wipers.

“So, I saw you snagged the honour of designing Clara’s outfit for the Grammys next year,” he commented to break the silence.

Usually, he was fine with silence, especially around Marinette, who often needed it, but right now he was acting very unlike himself. Coming back to Paris had stirred up all these old feelings and actions, and he cursed it in his mind.

“Yeah. I’m hoping coming back here will provide some inspiration. I want to pay homage to her roots,” Marinette explained. “We could go for a drive around all our old haunts, maybe. Oh, but you’ll probably be busy, sorry. I can drive around.”

“I’m not that busy.” He blurted the words before he thought. “You still don’t have a license, right? I don’t mind being your chauffeur.”

The snowflakes appeared to have come from Marinette’s sparkling eyes. “Thank you, Luka!” She watched him drive in silence for a while. “You haven’t really changed, even though you’re famous.”

He flicked a glance at her, slowing down for a red light. “You think so?”

She nodded. “You look older now, because you are, obviously, and your image-controlling people have changed your appearance somewhat, but at your core you’re still the same Luka I know from seven years ago.”

The light turned green, and Luka wondered if it was a sign for one delusional second before he pressed the gas again.

“Is that a compliment or not, Mari?” he asked, settling for a teasing inquisition instead.

‘It’s a good thing!” she insisted. “Okay, you’ve matured, but your essence is the same. You’re like…like a nice red wine! Aging improves a good thing!”

“Oh, so you’re calling me old now?”

Mari sputtered. “That’s not what I said at all! And men say women take things too seriously! Pfft!”

Luka couldn’t hold back his laugh as Marinette crossed her arms, her puffy jacket turning her into  a cocoon of pink.

“I know what you meant, Mari; thank you for the compliment.”

She sniffed at the traces of humour in his penitent tone, but uncurled her arms.

“There’s the bakery. We should just have missed the closing rush,” Luka glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “Have a good time, Marinette.”

“Thank you, you too! Oh, you can text me when you want to go for a drive. I still use the same number.”

“0-474-152-772?”

A wave of pink coated her cheeks. “You still remember it?”

I stare at it for a good half hour every week debating calling you or not. Of course I know it; it’s seared into my memory.

“Yep. I kept my old number too.” He popped the trunk and lifted her bags out.

“0-516-352-772?”

“Yep. Say hi to your parents for me!” 

He placed her bags just inside the door, and then beat a hasty retreat. Why do you still remember my number? 

~~~

How could she forget his number, when it spelled out her name?

Marinette sighed, waved goodbye at Luka’s car, then shut the door, ready to greet her parents.

“Maman! Papa! Guess who’s home!”

“Marinette! Sweetie, you made it!” Once the overwhelming hugs and bises had been exchanged, her parents looked curiously at the empty space behind her. “Luka got you here safely?” asked Sabine.

Mari nodded. “He was waiting for me at the airport; he asked me to say hi to you for him. He said you were busy with the holiday rush.”

Tom agreed. “We were sorry to miss picking you up, but our seasonal helper was sick, so we weren’t able to close and get you after all. Luka coming by and being free was fortunate.”

“It was nice to catch up with him,” Mari agreed. “I’ll just bring my bags up to my room and then we can catch up while we make dinner?”

“That sounds good,” agreed Sabine. Tom brought the luggage up, then left Mari to settle in after one more hug.

Looking around her room, Mari smiled at the remembrance of all the memories she had made in the pink space. Pictures clothespinned to her wall of fairy lights danced in the breeze as she twirled, releasing a deep breath and closing her eyes at the peace of being home again.

She could feel the ideas coming for Clara’s outfits.

It was a brilliant idea to come back to Paris.

~~~

It was a horrible idea to come back to Paris.

Why had he said yes to picking Marinette up?

Why had he said yes to driving Marinette around?

Why had he answered her text as soon as she sent it, at 2:08 am?

Why had he showed up at her door at 7:30 am, why had he let Tom drag him to the kitchen and feed him pastries (okay, that one was self-explanatory), why had he lingered and chatted, why why why.

The answer to all his questions was sitting in the passenger seat of the car he was borrowing from a friend, looking devastatingly beautiful and chattering away about how things had changed since she had left, a year before he had, and contrasting it to Los Angeles.

If he’d wanted to hear about her failed relationships after she defeated Hawkmoth, broke up with him, and moved away, he would have asked.

Luka was well aware that he was sulking, but he didn’t care at this moment. They were driving by College Francois Dupont, and the memories of that time weren’t the most pleasant.

“Ooh, I have an idea! Can you park here? I want to walk around for a bit.”

Luka dutifully pulled over, parking in an empty space between the school and the Methodist church down the block.

Marinette strolled around the quiet street, the fluffy flakes floating down muffling her footsteps and muttered monologue. 

She returned to him eventually, scribbling away at her sketchbook.

Luka’s hand raised before he realised what he was doing. 

“Luka? What are you doing?”

He blinked down at her, his hand frozen as she glanced up at him from under her bangs.

“You, um, snow-”

Why was he making this awkward? Biting the bullet, he gently brushed the accumulated snow off the top of Marinette’s ponytail.

She flashed him a smile and climbed back into her seat.

“Where to next, Mari?”

~~~

“So, any plans for your break?” Mari clutched a mug of cocoa in her hands, careful not to drop it over the edge of her balcony on the head of some unsuspecting passersby out admiring the lights.

Luka leaned his back against the balcony, blowing on his own mug. “I haven’t made anything firm yet, but I expect my schedule will fill up rather quickly.”

Mari hummed. “I guess I should book our hangouts while you’ve still got room for me then, Mr. Hot-Demand.”

“I’ll always have room for you, Mari.”

She smiled at him before turning back to the cityscape. “I’ve missed this view.”

The real view nudged her shoulder. “Old memories coming back, huh? I’m glad you’re able to miss it, Mar.”

“Did you miss it?” She turned on her back to be companionably side-to-side with him.

“The city? Not so much. The people in it? Yeah, I missed them a lot.”

She nodded in understanding. “Did you miss the people who weren’t in it, too?”

He sipped his cocoa. “Everyday.”

~~~

Marinette opened her eyes, breathing deeply. There was nothing like a full ten hours of sleep in your childhood room, warm and cozy under blankets as the snow drifted by the window hypnotizingly, your secret love snuggled up beside you-

Oh yeah, she’d made Luka stay the night, saying it was too cold to walk back home as her excuse to have him sleep here. Her fingers brushed a teal lock back from his forehead as she took in his peaceful features. Honestly, they weren’t much different from his usual everyday expressions. She envied his calm, never being able to stay still for long. 

Luka shifted, blinking sleepily at her, a sleepy smile curving his lips. “Morning, Mari.”

His arm raised to trace a feather-light path down her cheek to cup her neck and pull her towards him.

She let him guide her closer, her breath catching in her throat.

“Mari, if you’re up, could you help out at the register for a bit?” called Sabine through the door.

Luka jerked away and Mari rolled out of bed with a thump. “Be there in a minute, Maman!”

“Are you okay?” he peeked over the edge of her mattress.

“Just fine,” she rubbed her behind. Luckily, the duvet had cushioned her fall.

“Er, sorry about that,” Luka ran his fingers through his messy locks.

“It’s fine,” she shrugged off the hurt, grabbing a pair of jeans and a flower-embroidered sweater off the back of her chaise. “Want me to save you anything for breakfast when I go down?”

“A quince pastry would be nice.”

“Got it. See you!” She fled down the stairs to the secondary powder room to change and twist her hair into a braid. Ready to suppress the feelings stoked by Luka’s earlier actions, she washed her hands and prepared to face the public.

Luka wandered downstairs a while later, looking neat and as if he hadn’t slept in her bed and almost greeted her with a kiss before they were interrupted and then ignored it. 

She could feel Sabine and Tom pause in their work as they took in the situation and incorrectly interpreted it.

“Oh, I thought we missed you leaving last night, Luka,” smiled Sabine. “Are you-”

“Here’s your pastry,” interrupted Marinette, thrusting the napkin-wrapped goods into Luka’s hand. “You’re lucky I saved you the last one.”

“Er, lucky, yeah. About that. Can I talk to you? Later, I guess, when you’re not busy,” he cast a glance at the blatantly listening bakers. 

“Sure. We can go for another drive in about an hour? Around one?”

“Sounds good, I’ll see you then. Bye, Tom, Sabine.” With a wave, he ducked out the door, leaving a bill in Marinette’s now-empty hands for the pastry.

She turned to her parents. “It’s not what it looks like. It was late and cold and I didn’t want him walking home in the snow-”

“Mhm,” Sabine raised a knowing brow. “Would you like to talk about it?”

Marinette shook her head. “Not yet.”

~~~

Luka shook his head, sending accumulated flurries flying off his hair. He’d had the most lovely dream, waking up to Marinette cosying up to him in his bed, smiling at him lovingly. Except it hadn’t been a dream, and he’d almost kissed her.

He was not going to go down the path they’d travelled in school, with the secrets and barriers between them. She still didn’t know he knew she was Ladybug and the Guardian, and she hadn’t told him. He wasn’t going to lie to himself; it hurt a little.

Realistically, he knew there were several reasons why she wouldn’t bring it up (not the least of which because she didn’t want to dredge up those traumas again) but emotionally, he was simply hurt by her still not trusting him with her identity even though she’d entrusted Sass and literal timelines to him.

Still, his therapist in the States had done him good. 

He was going to tell Marinette he knew on their drive this afternoon, get everything off his chest, and then leave it in her hands while he returned to LA and broke his heart over her for the last time. Yep, sounded like a good plan.

~~~

Marinette climbed into the car. Luka closed her door, crossed the front, and slid into the driver’s seat. 

“Where to?”

“I thought maybe we could just drive around this time, unless there’s somewhere you wanted to go?”

“No, that sounds fine.” He took a sip from the mocha she had supplied them with, humming appreciatively. “This is perfect; thanks, Mari.”

“You’re welcome.”

He started the car and pulled away. 

They drove in silence for a while, occasionally pointing out some place they and their friends had adventures at. 

Luka pointed at the tip of the Eiffel Tower. “That thing was destroyed more times than I can count.”

She made an agreeing noise, thinking back to some of the battles the Tower had seen. 

“Marinette, I need to talk about something with you.”

She nodded, looking at the un-Luka-like tension in his body language. “Okay.”

“I was Viperion, on the Miraculous team. I reset so many timelines. It was impossible not to know who my allies were, with all the mishaps occurring. I’ve known you were Ladybug for years.”

She stilled, breathing stuttering as old trauma resurfaced. Someone knew she was Ladybug, something bad happened.

Reminding herself that Hawkmoth was gone, she wasn’t Ladybug anymore, and she was safe, she regulated her breathing and thoughts. 

“I knew you were Ladybug when we were dating, and that your identity was why you were so hesitant to open up. I thought now would be a good time to tell you that you don’t have to keep that secret alone anymore.”

“Luka, I-”

“It’s okay, Mari. I didn’t hold it against you. After all, we were all kids. Just thought I could even the score before I leave, since we both know each other’s secret,” he muttered. 

“I- you-” she stuttered, falling silent as her thoughts whirled.

“I’m flying out tomorrow afternoon,” he broke the silence after a few minutes. “Don’t worry, I haven’t told another soul and I never will. But, if you ever want to talk about it…you have my number.”

She nodded, still processing. “Thank you, Luka. For- well, everything. I’m sorry for what I put you through.”

He gave her a smile meant to be reassuring and forgiving, but she knew it was fake. “Have a happy new year, Marinette.”

Strangely feeling like she’d been broken up with, she closed the car door and walked into the bakery, where her parents met her.

“Everything okay, sweetie?”

She shook her head. “I think I need to take you up on your offer to talk about it.”

~~~

Luka packed his suitcase methodically, thoughts with one person miles away.

He wasn’t quite sure what he’d expected when he’d told her he knew. 

Maybe for her to ask him out again since they had no secrets between them anymore? Okay, that was his wildest dream, but he supposed she hadn’t changed that much, still taking her time to process things. Not that he blamed her–having a magical emotional terrorist attacking your city didn’t exactly inspire impulsive actions regarding your feelings.

His therapist had told him that there were seasons in one’s life, and sometimes people were only meant to be with you for a season, like a flower. Others were like trees, there no matter the weather. He wanted her to be a tree, but maybe she was only a flower. Whatever she was, he’d always remember the beauty of her blooms and the sweetness of her perfume. 

“‘Tis the damn season,” he mumbled, slinging his guitar case over his back and picking up his suitcase.

He’d left her with a reminder of his phone number. Hoping she’d call him one day, he drove to the airport. He only realised he’d chosen the route that took him by the bakery as he passed it, peering in the window to catch a glimpse of Marinette working the register. 

~~~

Marinette wasn’t having a good day. She’d taken forever to fall asleep, tossing and turning as she stewed over Luka and her parents’ advice.

They’d understandably been surprised by her explanation of the inner workings of her and Luka’s short-lived relationship, but provided some valuable outside-perspective commentary.

After a fitful sleep, she’d been working the register while her parents worked on a rush-order of pastries, her mind consumed by thoughts of Luka.

“Here’s your change, ma’am. Have a happy new year!” Handing the coins over, she wiped her hands on her apron and tidied up the counter space.

Clean up complete, she ran upstairs to change into jeans, boots with Ladybug pom-poms, a turtleneck, and her favourite Viperion hoodie she’d worn thin.

She tossed a quick goodbye over her shoulder to her parents and ran out the door, waving her hand at an approaching taxi. 

“International airport, please,” she huffed, buckling her belt.

“Hope you’re not late for your flight, mademoiselle. The snow is slowing traffic,” said the driver.

Marinette clasped her hands to stop her nervous fidgeting, calling on all of Tikki’s luck that she’d arrive before Luka’s flight left. 

~~~ Luka wasn’t having a good day. He’d slept off and on, was leaving his first love behind, and now he couldn’t even do that because of the sudden snowstorm. All flights were postponed or cancelled for the time being.

So far his flight was only cancelled, so he found a comfortable piece of carpet to claim and began strumming an imaginary guitar while he waited for updates.

Snippets of lyrics floated through his brain as he composed a piece containing his feelings in the moment. 

“I won’t ask you to wait…if you don’t ask me to stay…” He hummed softly.

The sound of running feet made him look up, curious who thought they were late for a flight that wasn’t taking off.

“Marinette?” “Luka?”

She paused in front of him, catching her breath.

“Why are you here?” he asked cautiously, getting to his feet.

“To see you,” she panted. “Didn’t want you to go.”

His heart picked up pace as if he’d been the one running through the airport. “Really?” “Really. I want you. I have for years. Is there any way you can stay?” she asked softly.

“I’ll stay any way I can if you ask, Ma-ma-marinette,” he grinned. “I love you. I never stopped.”

She tiptoed to be face-to-face with him. “I love you too,” she whispered in his ear before greeting him with a soft kiss. It felt like home and the beginning of everything and the end of everything and the past and future all wrapped up into one amazing kiss in the present.

He cupped her face in his hands, resting his forehead on hers.

~~~

Luka drove them back to the bakery, keeping her hand entwined with his. They stepped into the entry, stomping snow off their boots. Sabine and Tom greeted them as if it was an everyday occurrence, though Marinette saw the happy spark in their eyes.

“Just in time for the party!” boomed Tom. “Dinner is ready; let’s sit!”

After a festive new year’s eve dinner and delicious buche, Luka and Marinette carried their flutes of champagne up to Marinette’s balcony to watch the firecrackers and revellers beneath them.

Chanting filled the air, little sparks in the distance showing where firecrackers had been set off.

“10! 9!” The countdown to the new year had begun.

“My new year’s resolution is to have the woman I love become my girlfriend. Will you be my girlfriend?” Luka asked.

“4!”

Marinette nodded vigorously. “Yes!”

“3! 2! 1!” 

Horns sounded, firecrackers popped, and hollers filled the air, but Marinette and Luka heard none of it, too wrapped up in each other. 

“Joyeuse annee, Luka.”

“Bonne annee, Marinette.”

#ali writes #Lukanette #Fic #Marinette dupain cheng x Luka Couffaine

[ilynpilled]

"The world is full of horrors, Tommen. You can fight them, or laugh at them, or look without seeing . . . go away inside."

There was very little that Jaime took seriously. Tyrion knew that about his brother

Jaime never thinks, he laughs at everything and everyone and says whatever comes into his head.

“You should think less about the future and more about the pleasures at hand.” “Stop that!” the woman said. Bran heard the sudden slap of flesh on flesh, then the man's laughter.

Tyrion Lannister was as good as his word. He left the rest unsaid; that King Robert would ignore him, Lord Tywin would ask if he had taken leave of his senses, and Jaime would only laugh.

I stopped in front of the throne, looking up at him. His golden sword was across his legs, its edge red with a king's blood. My men were filling the room behind me. Lannister's men drew back. I never said a word. I looked at him seated there on the throne, and I waited. At last Jaime laughed and got up.

“…and death is all around you but their swords move so slowly, you can dance through them laughing.”

Laughing, he dropped to his knees, plunged his head under the water, and came up drenched and dripping.

"Oh, very good." Jaime laughed. "Your wits are quicker than mine, I confess it. When they found me standing over my dead king, I never thought to say, 'No, no, it wasn't me, it was a shadow, a terrible cold shadow.'" He laughed again.

The pool from which the town took its name, where legend said that Florian the Fool had first glimpsed Jonquil bathing with her sisters, was so choked with rotting corpses that the water had turned into a murky grey-green soup. “Care for a bath, Brienne?” He laughed. “You're a maiden and there's the pool. I'll wash your back.”

Jaime sang "Six Maids in a Pool," and laughed when I begged him to be quiet

Steel met steel with a ringing, bone-jarring clang. Somehow Brienne had gotten her own blade out in time. Jaime laughed.

He laughed a ragged, breathless laugh. “Come on, come on, my sweetling, the music's still playing. Might I have this dance, my lady?”

“No,” she said, “no, you must live.” He wanted to laugh. “Stop telling me what do, wench. I'll die if it pleases me.” “Are you so craven?”

Harrenhal, and remembered that was to be their destination. That made him laugh aloud, and that made Timeon slash his face with a long thin whip. The cut bled, but beside his hand he scarcely felt it. “Why did you laugh?”

“Harrenhal was where they gave me the white cloak,” […] Aerys never let me joust.” He laughed again. “He sent me away. But now I'm coming back.”

Jaime had to laugh, no matter how it hurt.

"The knights of the Kingsguard are sworn to keep the king's secrets. Would you have me break my oath?" Jaime laughed.

Jaime had to laugh.

He turned his head to look, but the sound was only his own laughter coming back at him. He closed his eyes, and just as quickly snapped them open. I must not sleep. If he slept, he might dream.

Every crow in the Seven Kingdoms should pay homage to you, Father. From Castamere to the Blackwater, you fed them well. That notion pleased Lord Tywin; his smile widened further. Bloody hell, he's grinning like a bridegroom at his bedding. That was so grotesque it made Jaime laugh aloud.

Jaime had to laugh.

But when the Piper boy started calling them Honor and Glory, he laughed and let the names stand.

Jaime had to laugh.

“. . . the sight of Brienne naked might have made the bear flee in terror.” Connington laughed. Jaime did not.

Piety and devotion. It was all he could do not to laugh.

Jaime did not know whether to laugh or weep.

For honor, Jaime might have said. For glory. That would have been a lie, though. Honor and glory had played their parts, but most of it had been for Cersei. A laugh escaped his lips.

“Hear us roar.” Jaime grinned. “Next you'll be telling me how much he liked to laugh.” “No. Tywin mistrusted laughter. He heard too many people laughing at your grandsire.”

Jaime had to laugh.

#jaime lannister #asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #me when i joker too hard #overdosing on copium

[n7punk]

"freak occurrence: confluence" Fic Notes

“freak occurrence: confluence” is definitely the most meta (and the most ridiculous) fic I’ve ever done, so I’ve compiled some references, notes, and explanations to act as fic notes. If you’re opening before reading the fic, I recommend reading each scene before checking the references for it and absolutely don’t read anything after this first section before you’ve finished the fic.

Catradoras in order of introduction:

Scene 1: This is actually MToHL!Adora immediately post-canon but they haven’t figured that out because they’re similar enough that nothing has thrown them off.

Scene 2: Teenage Catradora from a canon-divergent reality where they run away from the Horde as teenagers and horses aren’t real.

Scene 3: toht!Adora.

Scene 4: slas!Catradora.

Scene 5: BFM!Adora, looking at slas!Catradora obviously, but the other Catra trying not to laugh is toht!Catra.

Scene 6 has no Catradoras, but the tattoo is from my OotW fic 'her heart on her sleeve.'

Scene 7: of course this has the Lone-Adora that isn’t from any other fic, but it also has another reference to slas and a reference to ISoHM.

Scene 8: strange disease!Catradora with mentions of my very first AU (and one of my first fics period) ‘in thundering realizations’!Catradora.

Scene 9: DITM!Catradora POV and Reflection!Catradora across from them, named for Adora turning into a magicat when she's She-ra (side note: shortly after arriving, Reflection!Catra asked if She-ra was a magicat in this universe specifically because she has always held that was because Adora was gay and when she was told ‘no’ that gave her all the ammo she needed for the next three years).

Scene 10: strange love!Catradora.

Scenes 11 and 12 are the Lone-Catra that isn’t from any fic. Well, I would say this is her origin fic, same for Lone-Adora.

Scene 13: Lone-Catra and LotD!Catradora.

Scene 14: WDtFD!Catradora POV and mentions of Knifepoint!Catradora. It’s very easy to think the couple where Catra’s hand was messed up was from AMLAIT, but I also kind of wanted to include allusions to some Catradoras from other fics, so you could read it as R&B!Catradora if you want. I thought about including an explicit mention of Catra’s boots to make that more clear, but when that ended up being the only pair not from one of my own fics, it felt kind of weird. I wanted to pay homage to some of my favorite AUs others have written in the fandom by including references to other Catradoras that were there, but it’s really hard when most of those fics are just modern AUs without much easily visible about their Catradoras to identify them, and I definitely didn’t want to write any scenes from the perspective of someone else’s version of the character without permission, so I just kind of left it at this ambiguous reference to a friend's fic that I asked them permission for first.

Scene 15: Mentions of catcher!Catradora, Superzero!Catradora, and IHtWCYN!Catradora.

Scene 16: Mentions of TFHFY!Catradora, strange disease!Catradora again, and the Greys!Catradora.

Scene 17: CotC!Catradora (for people following my Tumblr this was the entire scene that was just. missing after all my planning somehow).

Scenes 18 and 19 have nothing new.

Scene 20: SaD!Catradora.

Scene 21: This one is a tease for a future fic :)

And from here on it’s no one new.

Epilogue Life:

Okay I had to cut the fic off there because this could honestly go on forever BUT here’s some stuff about the fallout of this whole event:

This event is, as you would assume, completely non-canon to the rest of my fics. If you want to imagine each couple went back to right around the time they got taken and quickly their memories of the other reality melted away once in their own timeline again, sure, whatever. There are two dimensions permanently affected by all this however, and that’s Lonely-Adora’s and Lonely-Catra’s.

Adora’s universe splits off from canon at the Portal, whereas Catra’s splits off at Princess Prom. I think both universes could survive on their own without Catra or Adora, but there is a reason the couple needs to be in Adora’s universe, and it’s Prime.

Yes, I might be permanently locking one universe in Despondos either way. Oops. Listen, you win some you lose some. This is supposed to be a crack fic at the end of the day (remember that?) and I wasn’t too focused on implications like that. However, Adora’s universe has already signaled Prime thanks to the portal, so without her and Catra they would be locked in a pocket dimension with an apocalypse on its way, no leader in the Rebellion, and Entrapta on Beast Island.

In Catra’s universe, Entrapta never got left behind because the rescue mission went very differently, so Hordak’s portal project is basically doomed, and the Princess Alliance is intact, united, and extremely motivated to crush the Horde after what they did to Adora. They’re in a good position to fight them thanks the Best Friend Squad uniting the Princess Alliance again and the Horde (more specifically, Shadow Weaver) reeling from the loss of Adora and Catra. They’ll take them down in the end and they’ll do it Adora’s name, just like they would have if Catra stayed in their dimension. After having seen the brainwashing the Horde is willing to do, Scorpia eventually defects to join them when Entrapta manages to — completely accidentally — extend a hand to her just by being herself.

Adora’s universe needs Adora’s inside knowledge to save Angella and Entrapta quickly and face down the Heart and Horde Prime. They’ll find their feet, get Entrapta back, start working on their portal technology, and then get the Failsafe before they even get Scorpia and face the Heart. They’ll move Etheria out of Despondos, taunt Horde Prime to the surface as best they can, question their decisions, but ultimately lure him in and set off the Heart faster and with less loss along the way. No one on the Princess Alliance ever gets chipped in this universe and they rescue Angella not long after and reunite Glimmer’s family.

It takes a bit until after the war for Adora and Catra’s relationship to start shifting, but they do eventually get together, there’s just a lot to process first and fighting evil is a good thing to focus on instead while they do that. They need to become each other’s friends before they can become anything else.

Notes:

⦁ I mentioned a disclaimer in the fic end note. To elaborate on that: I first had this idea around August of 2020 (give or take a month) when my friend asked me which of my AU Catras/Adoras would fuck their alternate universe wife. IDK man, her mind is beautiful. Anyway, it gave me this idea, which was a fun crack scenario that I would turn over in my mind occasionally when I came up with a new AU that I thought would have an interesting pair to add to it. I had no intention of writing it, especially back then when I didn’t have enough AUs to fill out the roster. Since then I’ve thought about making a post explaining the idea just to get it off my mind so many times. In that time, a Spiderverse AU for Catradora was written (oh: I also didn’t watch the Spiderverse until 2023, to the point that the outline for this fic was titled “This Fic Is Older Than The Spiderverse” until I looked it up and realized that’s wrong and I’m just late to the party lmao, but I had no idea what the Spiderverse was about other than multiple Spidermans until I watched it so the death plot point really was just me being fucked up) that dealt with some similarities with the deaths between realities. The fic is good, it made me cry, and I actually read that before I watched the Spiderverse because I missed that tag and thought it was some kind of canon AU. I recommend the fic and wanted to acknowledge it since it shares a plot point. Honestly, when I read that fic I was like oh thank god someone did it, now I’ll seem like I’m copying if I do it too and the idea can leave me along, but the idea Did Not Leave Me Alone and I need to end this 🔫

⦁ Because I know someone will ask: This is absolutely crack and not canon to my OotW series at all. I still have no idea where I should really put it. Being in the AU collection makes sense because it’s relevant to a lot of them, being inside the OotW series but non-canon like ‘take care of each other’ and ‘You and I (and Me)’ makes sense, and it not being in any of those things because it kind of isn’t an AU and definitely isn’t canon to OotW makes sense. I still haven’t decided and I’ll probably move it around multiple times lol.

⦁ Ethereal!Catradora are from my upcoming fic "Lightbeam" and are just a fun little teaser because no one was better suited to sussing magic out. It was either her or Glimmer, who was busy laying magic alarm systems all over the castle for the new alternate universe couples to trip into when they arrived so they could be collected. This is how Catra knew to come running when the SLAS couple appeared.

⦁ “The universe is as dumb as it is passionate, apparently.” C’mon Catra you can’t ask finesse from a celestial body that is no thoughts all vibes

⦁ The whole conversation around the cot/bed is just to show that yeah, they’re different Catras and Adoras, but they’re still Catra and Adora in every reality and this will work out eventually.

⦁ I mostly picked Catradoras based off when would be easy to reference or who I thought would be interesting in the scenario and basically nothing else. Making them distinct was the biggest challenge lmao.

⦁ Oh I know SaD!Catradora teleporting back near their original disappearance might make it seem otherwise, but Adora was missing from her reality for as long as she was in the Prime universe for (and yes, I did internally refer to it as the Prime universe, so I had to make jokes about it. And then I made the omegaverse canon - AS FICTION - to a few of the modern universes for a laugh). I think the people from other highly-similar Etheria's were gone for a 1:1 time or close to the same amount of time they were in the other dimension, but the further a dimension was from canon the less time passing in the Prime universe applied to their own. Or something. Again, none of this is canon.

⦁ They go to Lone-Adora's universe because Catra reaches out for Adora, opening herself up to her. They would have gone to Catra's if it happened the other way around.

⦁ Adora's room was a mess because the Princess Alliance kind of tore it up looking for a sign of her but of course found nothing.

⦁ "So even here I'm..." is "So even here I'm a killer."

⦁ I don't think I ever say specifically what Catra's cause of death was in this universe (because I wasn't sure myself for a while) but when the Fright Zone was kind of shaking apart post-Portal Catra fell and Adora wasn't able to stop it.

⦁ Glimmer is emerging from Bow's room because they actually made some progress on Glimmer healing and reaching out for her friends for support when Adora disappeared. Glimmer was afraid it was because of her and it caused her to do a little - a little - self-examining.

⦁ I've mentioned this a couple times but I spent most if not all of last year secretly hoping to get to 1% of the tag. It's a super pointless goal, but it is cool to have done it. This work is also the 50th in my AU collection (at least, as of now since I'm putting it in there for now) so that feels like a fitting number for a special as well.

⦁ This was supposed to be like 7k.

Upcoming:

I might do another OotW fic or two, but right now my plan for the next AU is “the Reverse AU.” Have fun figuring out what I mean by that, you probably won’t :)

#foc #ootw #ficmeta #fic notes #i know what i said about posting tomorrow but instead i stayed up way too late doing this yayyyyyyy #i have work tomorrow

[sitp-recs]

Eager for the Sky by @oknowkiss

Harry/Draco, minor Harry/Ron and Draco/Blaise (2022, Mature, 35k)

It was announced, just as the Triwizard Tournament had been, at the start of term feast. A year-long, international Quidditch varsity match — the inaugural Wizarding Academy Cup. In which Harry is Hogwarts' star Seeker, Draco is on the bench, and they both have a thing or two to learn about playing for the same team.

Draco hated that, the way Potter would sneak up on him, proving he’d been listening. He had always seemed to be caught up in his own head, never paying attention to anything or anyone but himself, but now that Draco was starting to know him, he was beginning to see the truth of Potter.

When I started this blog over two years ago, I’d write (smaller, but still) recs for every fic I liked. At some point I was reccing up to 3 fics a day and started bookmarking them all to keep track of my own recs - maybe that’s why I got more than 600 bookmarks lol - and it was really fun and fulfilling, but it also demanded A LOT of time and energy. As they both became scarce, I changed strategies and decided to only rec fics that touched me in a more personal way. These days I write recs mostly on a whim; it happens less and less because I’m not reading as much, sure, but also because it needs to be a frantic urge, almost like a trance, and it needs to hit me right after I’m finished a fic otherwise it won’t be fresh in my mind.

I’ve wanted to rec something from E for so long and after being left intrigued and impressed by any day now and licence to kill (two solid recs if you haven’t read those yet!) I couldn’t see what was holding me back. Now I ask myself if I had been waiting for Eager for the Sky. And not necessarily because it’s the perfect fit for my tastes - in fact, I barely read or care for 8th year fics nowadays - but because this fic found me at the moment I needed it the most. Coming back from a brief hiatus (that felt longer than life itself) right before Christmas last year, I can say that reading this was a refreshing and lovely experience, but also magical in many ways. And funnily enough, this rec has been sitting in my drafts, half-finished, since January. Once again, something I couldn’t figure out was holding me back until I saw this gorgeous binding post by @a-gay-old-time (go check it right now!!) and I accidentally found out that last week was E’s one year fandomversary! Perfect timing to wrap this up and post it as a humble homage to one of the authors whose talent I’ve enjoyed and admired the most in the past year. What a gift to have you in this fandom, and what a privilege to read this incredible 8th year romance!

Way beyond the delight of watching Draco and Harry fall in love over the course of a (very cool and inventive) Quidditch championship, I was so touched by the amount of tenderness, youth and heart this story coveys. There is something unbearably sweet about an enemies to friends to lovers journey that explores the wonders of being young and free to flirt, experience and discover. I could feel the joy of falling in love all over again through every line here, through every knowing smile and surreptitious touch. The slow burn is masterfully done in a way that never feels empty, boring or dragged. Every little moment brings new discoveries about each other and is important to bring them together as friends, and then as lovers.

It’s worth mentioning that there’s a fair amount of longing, UST and some infuriating delicious cockblocking but somehow the way it’s written and the context it’s given make the experience even sweeter and more rewarding. I was in no rush to see this over and found it very charming that they saw value in wanting, teasing, flirting, chasing. Because I really ready young Drarry I had almost forgotten how fun a pining Draco can be in all his teenage complexity, capable of signaling confidence, vulnerability, inadequacy and tenderness all at once.

His emotions felt so very real I could feel a lump in my throat, and I was especially moved by his genuine response to Harry’s prior involvement with Ron (Be still my Rarry heart!!! For those wondering: this is a minor but significant plot point that made my heart ache and grow twice its size, I’m so soft for this brOTP! By the way - side Rarry & Blaco? A fic after my own heart!). Even more brilliant is the fact that E published Eager for the Sky and July Tree pretty much back to back and these two fantastic 8th year tales complement each other perfectly. They got a very different tone from her usual edgy “mature Drarry” which I also love - and maybe that’s why I was caught off guard by how fast I felt emotionally connected to this softer, more innocent brand of love. Not to mention that superb art by @upthehillart - killing me softly as per usual, with the ultimate teenage Drarry headcanon what a treat!!

This fic was exactly what I needed and it gave me the delicious catharsis I was looking for without really knowing. It pulled me back into the fandom with its light, easy, unpretentious young romance, sprinkled with some excellent dialogue and charming banter that will make you laugh out loud at their sass, plus a sweet and delightful mix of curious, inexperienced but extremely insightful and lovable characters. I’m so happy I found this fic and that I got to write a rec for it! Thank you E for sharing this beauty and so many other fantastic stories with us - I’m delighted to share this space with you and can’t wait to see what comes next 💜

Read on AO3

#drarry fic rec #happy belated fandomversary E! 🎉

[danielfuckingricciardo]

And There Was Only One Bed… - Daniel Ricciardo x Reader

Pairing - Daniel Ricciardo x Reader

Word Count - 3.5k

Content Warning - Swearing, alcohol mention, unprotected sex, oral sex, vaginal sex

Synopsis - The reader and Daniel Ricciardo are forced to share a hotel room after mix up, or so it seems…

Author’s Note - Well, I intended to write something short and sweet and then this happened… It’s been a while since I last posted, had been in a bit of a writing funk again, but now I’m back on my bullshit for however long this lasts. The whole ‘and there was only one bed’ trope has always been one of my favourites so I felt that I had to pay homage to it in some way, after all, it’s a classic! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

And please enjoy the alternate title I gave this one - ‘No Hetero’ I scrapped it for something more on the nose, but this was the working title and is what the document is still called.

“Why do we have to share a room again?” Daniel asks as he throws his suitcase onto the double bed in the middle of the room.

“Because none of the guys wanted to, apparently the powers of saying ‘no homo’ before doing something gay doesn’t cover sharing a bed with a work colleague.” You respond, your frustration evident in your voice despite the chuckle you forced out at the end of your utterance.

You’d worked with McLaren for a few years now, and as soon as he joined the team immediately clicked with one Daniel Ricciardo. You had the same sense of humour, the same crazy work ethic and had somehow discovered you also had the same taste in crappy 80s movies. He trusted you, more than most, and so you ended up spending a lot of time together both in the paddock and out of it. But sharing a room was something you’d never done before, nevermind sharing a bed.

“Don’t they know it’s only gay if your feet touch? They should just wear socks, simple.” Daniel responds, throwing himself onto the white sheets in the same manner as he had his suitcase.

“Are you gonna wear socks in bed? The thought of your be-socked feet brushing up against my own makes me want to dry heave, however, the possibility of your bare feet doing the same also makes me want to barf.” You laugh, before taking a seat beside Daniel on the bed, and kicking his suitcase off onto the floor with a loud bang.

“Hey! What’s wrong with my feet, I have nice feet!” He exclaims, feigning being hurt as he playfully jabs you in the shoulder.

“Feet just gross me out in general, people who wear sandals in public places should be thrown into a volcano or something.” You say, shoving his shoulder back in retaliation.

“So what’s the alternative? Socks and sandals? Nah mate fuck that.” He laughs.

“So you don’t dig my crocs and socks look?” You exclaim, sitting up in faux shock.

“It’s not one of your best.” He laughs, and you chuckle along as you fall back into the fluffy pillows. “Can’t believe they cocked up the whole hotel thing. You’d think by now they’d know how many rooms to book.”

“Yeah, you’d think. Still, it means I get to bug you all weekend by walking around barefoot. Might clean between my toes with your toothbrush too while you’re not looking.” He teases, offering you a cheeky wink.

“Daniel Ricciardo don’t you even fucking dare go anywhere near my toothbrush! Is it too late to switch bedroom buddies?” You exclaim, and Daniel looks at you, a look of hurt on his face, before the two of you collapse into fits of laughter.

“You could always go knock on Lando’s door if you’re that desperate to be rid of me.”

“Oh, yeah, as if sharing a bed with him would be any less of a nightmare. I bet he’s a real duvet hog.” You laugh.

“He is, believe me.” Daniel responds, smirking at you.

“Oh, had a few cozy nights with Mr. Norris have we?” You giggle.

“A couple. And believe me he is a cuddler, much like myself.” “If I wake up and you’re wrapped around me like some kind of Aussie boa constrictor I will not hesitate to kick you.” You respond, raising your eyebrows at him.

“As long as our bare feet don’t touch it’s still covered under no hetero rules, right?”

“Not sure there’s such a thing as no hetero, but sure, I guess.” You respond.

“Then I’m gonna spoon you so hard your eyes pop out of your fucking head.”

“Your mind terrifies me.” You respond, chuckling at him.

“But you still love me.” Daniel responds, reaching across the bed to pull you into a tight hug. You fight to set yourself free but eventually give in, allowing him to envelop you in a bone-crushing hug.

“For some unknown fucking reason, yeah, I do.” You wheeze, and he lets go of you.

“That’s what I like to hear.” He says, before flopping his arms out onto the bed to assume a full starfish position.

The two of you return to your hotel room a few hours later. The sun has long since set and the moonlight blazes in through the glass of the balcony windows. You slip off your heels by the door and steady yourself against the wall.

The evening’s celebrations had ended with everyone heading to some random club and getting very drunk, and the two of you were no exception. You made sure to limit yourself, knowing that it was likely you’d have to carry Daniel back to the room after having a few too many and look after him if the vomit fairy came to bless him in the night.

However, unlike most of your hotel stays together, you wouldn’t be dropping him off and disappearing, leaving a glass of water and some ibuprofen on the bedside table for the following morning. Instead, you were to be climbing beneath the sheets with him, and waking up beside him as the sun streams in through the curtains.

Another thing that had surprised you was how restrained he too had been in his alcohol consumption. He had matched you drink for drink, and so, while both of you were slightly tipsy, your inhibitions lowered considerably, neither of you were blackout drunk.

“You want me to look away while you change? I promise I wont sneak a peek.” He says as he discards his own shoes beside yours.

“As long as you promise not to look.” You say, rifling through your suitcase to find your night dress and make-up remover.

“I swear on my life I won’t look.” He says, before throwing himself face down on the bed.

You unfasten the back of your high-necked dress and reach the zip, which you attempt to pull down but to no avail.

“Fuck” You mutter under your breath as you repeatedly tug at the zipper, willing it to obey you.

“You alright there?” Daniel asks, his voice slightly muffled by the sheets.

“I can’t believe I’m about to ask you this, but, can you help me with my zipper? The fucking thing is stuck.” You say, sighing slightly.

“I’m always happy to help a friend in need. Can I look now?” He says into the sheets.

“Yeah, you won’t be able to do it with your face in the duvet, will ya?” You chuckle as you take a seat on the bed in front of him.

Daniel sits up and shuffles across the bed towards you on his knees, placing one hand on your shoulder to hold the material in its place while the other fights with the zipper. He gives it a rough tug and the metal teeth finally begin to part, exposing the soft skin of your back and the clasp of your bra strap.

“He was a tough bastard, I’ll give him that. Though I am yet to meet a zipper on a woman’s dress that I haven’t been able to defeat.” Daniel responds, his hand still firmly planted on your shoulder.

“Ha ha, I get it, you’ve shagged a load of girls.” You say sarcastically, turning your head to face him, not realising just how close his own head was to the back of yours until your cheeks graze one another.

“Bet you’re glad we’re sharing a room now, or you’d have been stuck in that dress all night.” He says, his voice low.

“Eh, I would have gone to ask Lando.” You say, turning your body to sit facing him on the bed. Daniel’s hand falls from your shoulder to rest gently on your waist.

“Not me?” He asks, his thumb beginning to rub soft circles on your hip over the material of your dress.

“Nah, I feel like you’d probably make some stupid joke about how many girls you’d fucked.” You say, chuckling slightly at your own remark.

“Touché” He replies as he begins to move his hand further down, settling at the point where the slit in your dress ends above your exposed thigh.

“Considering you started the job, it only makes sense that you finish it.” You say, grabbing Daniel’s hands in your own and guiding them to the neckline of the dress. They settle against the material and he begins to pull the dress down off of your shoulders, exposing your chest.

“I did promise that I wouldn’t look at you while you changed.” He says, yet his eyes refuse to leave your body, taking in every inch of your skin.

“Yeah, well, promises are made to be broken, right?” You say, raising your eyebrows at him.

You take his hands in your again and guide them around your chest, settling them against the clasp of your bra. His fingers make quick work of the metal, and you shrug yourself out of the Lacey garment before throwing it onto the floor.

Daniel’s eyes meet with yours, and he gulps loudly. It’s clear he wasn’t expecting something like this to happen between the two of you. You offer him a small smile, and nod to give him permission, and his hands immediately make contact with the soft skin of your breasts.

You lean into him, wrapping your arms around his neck as his hands seek to explore every inch of your skin. His hands reach around your back, pulling you even closer as he dips below the draping fabric of your dress to grab your ass.

“Would you like me to help you get undressed too?” You ask him, pulling away to allow your hands to toy with the buttons of his shirt.

“By all means” he responds, and you begin to fumble with the buttons, separating them one by one to gradually expose his toned chest.

His shirt quickly joins your bra in the pile of clothing on the floor, and you rake your nails down his torso, reaching the waistband of his dress pants. He groans as your hand dips beneath the fabric, caressing his already hardening cock beneath his underwear.

You pull away, standing up from the bed to allow the material of your dress to cascade to the floor, leaving you in nothing but your panties. Daniel looks you up and down, his cock twitching at the very sight of you.

“Your turn” You say, and Daniel stands from his position on the bed. You wrap your arms around his bare shoulders and press soft kisses to his jawline. He removes his dress pants and underwear allowing his cock to spring free.

“Maybe we should have shared a room before now?” He whispers in your ear, and you chuckle.

“Yeah, maybe.” You respond, his eyes making contact with yours before pressing his lips to yours in a passionate kiss.

The kiss was messy as Daniel sought to explore every area of your mouth with his tongue. He tasted sweet, like the cocktails the two of you had been sipping together that evening - just the way you had always imagined him to taste.

Despite trying to deny it, you had often thought to yourself what kissing Daniel would be like. Sometimes your mind would wander at the most random of moments to thoughts of the two of you intertwined in a moment of passion and lust. You had kept it under wraps, of course. You assumed it was just the effect that he had on women, that most of the other ladies in the paddock had also thought the same as you. However, right now, in this very moment, you were the one to be able to experience the real thing. And it was even better than you could have possibly imagined.

Daniel pulls away for air, and the two of you are left panting as your eyes meet once again, a million thoughts and feelings clouding your mind as you wonder what exactly should happen next. However, Daniel takes charge, grabbing you by your hips and throwing you down onto the soft sheets of the bed.

You can’t help but giggle as he kneels down before you on the floor, his grip on your hips becoming firmer as he pulls you in towards his face. He sits there for a moment, his head between your legs, his hands travelling up and down the sides of your body, making every single spot light up at his touch.

“You know I’ve thought about doing this every day since we met.” He says into you, his nose brushing gently against your clit making you squirm on the bed. His hot breath on your cunt only making you wetter, and more desperate for him to touch you where you so desperately needed him to.

“I wanted to have you. To taste you for myself since the day I first laid eyes on you. If you’d given me the chance I would have eaten you out right on the fucking conference room table for everyone to watch.” He says in a low voice, his lips edging ever closer to your dripping folds.

“Then why didn’t you? I’m sure we could have put on quite the show.” You respond, your back arching up off of the bed as you involuntarily buck your hips into his face.

“I had to make sure this was something you wanted too. And I didn’t want you to think I was just some sleazy driver who fucks his way through the team. But then-“ He says, pausing as he slides a finger across your folds, toying with your hole before gently sliding his finger inside. You moan at the sudden contact, the sensation of his thick finger filling you up driving you crazy.

“What?” You manage to say in a breathy voice as you fight to keep control of yourself, despite the sensation of a second finger sliding inside of you sending you into delirium.

“I couldn’t gauge how you felt about me, so I had to take matters into my own hands” Daniel says, as his thumb moves up to rub your clit gently. Your eyes roll back in your head at the sensation, your hands gripping onto the sheets below you for dear life as your body floods with electricity.

“Y-you changed the bookings.” You manage to utter between breathy moans and whines.

“Aren’t you glad I did, babygirl?” He asks, and you nod, unable to even form words due to the pleasure coursing through your body.

“Say the word, babygirl. Don’t you want me to use my mouth on that pretty cunt of yours?” He asks, and you can practically feel his smirk against your bare flesh.

“God, fuck, Daniel yes.” You moan, easily loud enough for those in the neighbouring rooms to hear, but you didn’t care. In that moment, all you wanted was for Daniel to claim your cunt with his tongue.

“That’s what I like to hear.” He says, before removing his thumb from your clit, providing the pressure instead with his tongue while continuing to curl his fingers inside of you.

You instinctively find yourself squeezing your thighs together around his head, seeking to push him deeper and further into you. He grips your soft flesh with his spare hand hard enough to leave a bruise on your thigh as he tries to keep your legs open, allowing him easier access to lick and suck at your clit.

Your hands find his hair, and grip onto his soft curls as you feel yourself edging closer and closer to your climax. The sensation of his fingers inside you, and his tongue on your clit quickly brings you to your undoing, your back arching up off of the bed as you cum on his fingers.

Daniel removes his fingers from your cunt and sucks them both clean, before returning to his position and cleaning you up with his tongue.

“You’re fucking delicious” He says against you, the vibrations of his words against your flesh making you moan in response.

You sit up on the bed, leaning down towards his kneeling position on the floor before you. You run your hand across his cheek, along his jawline and stop below his chin, before pulling his head up to meet yours in a lust-filled kiss.

“I don’t know if I wanna taste you more, of if I want you to fuck me more?” You say as you pull away, your breathing still heavy, breaths short.

“You can suck me off whenever you want, but right now I’m gonna fuck you on our bed.” Daniel responds, standing from his knelt position to tower over you.

You lie back on the sheets and cant help but smirk at Daniel as you raise your finger to beckon him towards you. He follows your every movement, his body hovering above you, his face inches from yours and his cock gently grazing your tender folds.

You wrap your arms around his shoulders as he enters you with a groan, his body tensing as he does so. Despite having already noted his size, and having earlier been stretched by his fingers, the sensation of him inside you, filling you up pulls a deep moan from within you.

“Fuck, Daniel” You say, your voice barely above a whisper as it is all you could possibly muster.

“You’re fucking perfect, you know that?” He says, looking down at you. The tip of his nose brushes your own and you cant help but let out a euphoric laugh at his words.

Looking up at him in that moment, his face sweaty and flushed red, his pupils blown and curly dark hair plastered to his forehead, you’re sure you’ve never seen such a beautiful sight in all your years of living.

“And you’re the most wonderful man I’ve ever met. Even if you are rather devious” You say, eliciting a cheeky smile from Daniel.

As he begins to thrust into you, your grip on his shoulder blades becomes more intense as the sensation within you builds and builds. He quickly falls into a rhythm, and you find yourselves moving together in perfect harmony, your hips rising from the soft sheets as he pushes deeper into your cunt.

You’re certain that no one has ever fucked you like this before. The feeling of euphoria building within you as he fills you up again and again with his cock is something other men would have only dreamed of giving you. In that moment, all you could think of was Daniel - he was all that mattered. The entire world could disappear and you wouldn’t give a fuck, because what was happening in your hotel room was the only thing on your mind. Your brain took his name like a mantra, repeating it over and over again, its volume building as you edged closer to your second orgasm of the night.

As you feel your orgasm building you realise that your internal mantra was being vocalised by yourself, his name dripping off of your tongue with his every movement. His eyes made contact with yours as you looked up at him, moans and grunts leaking from his open mouth, and becoming more and more vocal as he reaches his own undoing.

“Mmm, fuck!” He moans, before cumming inside you. The sensation of Daniel filling you up with his seed causing you to achieve your own end.

Your repetition of his name trails off to barely a whisper, your voice hoarse from moaning and yelling his name as he fucked you.

Daniel collapses on top of you, his arms no longer strong enough to bear his own weight as his orgasm rushes through his body. He pulls out of you and wraps his arms around you, pressing every inch your hot clammy skin to his own.

“You did say you were gonna spoon me till my eyes popped out of my head.” You say, holding his hands that sit across your chest with your own.

“And our feet didn’t touch. No hetero?” He asks, and you giggle turning to look up at him with a smile on your face.

“I really, really don’t think no hetero is a thing.” You laugh as you caress his hand with your thumb.

Daniel reaches past you to grab the sheets from the opposite side of the bed, before wrapping them around the two of you as you both fall asleep together in your shared bed.

#daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo x you #daniel ricciardo one shot #f1 x reader #f1 x you #daniel ricciardo imagine

[meimi-haneoka]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 72: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Hellooo everyone! The plot-train that will bring us to the finale of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc is unstoppable, so here we are once again, at the beginning of another month, for another chapter of the climax of this saga!! April 1st as usual is a very busy and important day in the CLAMP world, as it is not only the so-called "CLAMP Day", but also the birthday of our Sakura Kinomoto (and many other CLAMP characters!)!! Moreover, precisely as I'm writing this post, SakuraFes is being held in Tokyo!! Fans strived hard to get a ticket (I could see the struggle on my TL on Twitter) and while some managed to get one somehow, others were left out....since there's been lots of anticipation for this event, we'll see if it was worth the struggle and if we'll get info about the thing we're all waiting the most for: a second season of the Clear Card anime!! (UPDATE: IT WAS INDEED ANNOUNCED like we all hoped for!! Congratulations to all of us!! 😂)

In the meantime, let's focus on the analysis of chapter 72 because boooooy, it might be one of the shortest chapters ever (I remember chapters this short were released in 2018) but the info that was disclosed in it!!! We're definitely, definitely at the climax and it shows. CLAMP sensei are solving all the mysteries and giving us all the answers one by one. But since this is important info that will help us understanding the story better, let's review this chapter (and its translation) carefully!

And as usual, before diving under the cut and into the chapter, the gif of the month (paying homage to Lilie, lol) !!

The Cover Page

Oooh, what a pretty Sakura we have here!! She looks as if being half-asleep, and judging by the content of the chapter, it kinda makes sense. Sakura stays in a dream for the most of it. The simple dress is very elegant with all those gemstones applied on it. It also looks as if Sakura is creating them? Also, we have once again the black background that's become so common lately in the color pages of Clear Card. With that expression, Sakura looks a little bit more mature, and I really like it. The text in the JP version reminds us again of the last words Lilie said in the previous chapter: "I crossed time and dreams to come to see you".

"I know her very well, and yet I don't know anything about her"

The chapter starts right from where we left off at the end of chapter 71, with our Sakura and Lilie meeting for the first time....or is it?? 😉 Sakura sounds a bit confused at what Lilie said, but as usual (bless her!!!) she's very perceptive and notices that Lilie resembles Akiho a lot, more than actually Sakura herself. Lilie seems delighted and answers "I'm happy to hear that!!" (and not "Thank you!" like she said in the ENG translation). I was all smily when I've read this for the first time, but what came right after threw me in a puddle of sadness, and now you'll understand why. Sakura asks her if she knows Akiho, and Lilie's answer is "I could say I know her very well, and at the same time, that I don't know anything about her. And that makes me terribly sad". That's it. I was all giddy and happy to finally hear Lilie starting to talk, and she had to throw this brick made of sadness at me like that, right in the beginning. 😭😭Because it's clear here she's referring to the fact that despite being her own daughter, she won't survive long enough to see her grow up. Not even long enough to ascertain who she will look more similar to, her mom or her dad. Because Lilie died when Akiho wasn't even 1 year old. She was just a baby. The realization tinted that "I'm so happy to hear that!" we've seen before of the same sad color. ☹️ BUT!! We're not here to get shot down by angst so early in the chapter, so we proceed with Lilie apologizing for making things so confusing for Sakura, and she informs her they're in a dream. Then she finally proceeds to give some explanations on what's she's been trying to do this whole time, at the same time solving one of the BIGGEST mysteries in the Clear Card Arc. The question everyone had ever since chapter 1 was: "who's under the cloak of the Mysterious Cloaked Figure?" And here, my dear readers, we finally get our answer, in the year of the lord 2023, 7 years after the beginning of the manga: MCF WAS LILIE ALL ALONG!!! But let's see her version of the facts. Basically, Lilie in the beginning strived hard to travel through time alone to speak directly with Sakura at the age of 13 years old (HOW F*CKING POWERFUL IS THIS CHILD??), but it wasn't successful because her voice didn't reach our girl. We see a flashback right from chapter 7 with someone dressed with the robe standing right outside Sakura's house. Do you remember that? Yeah, MCF didn't appear only in dreams, but also physically in Sakura's reality. These scenes appeared in the anime as well and in the end we found out that under the cloak there was a sleepwalking Akiho, acting completely unconsciously. As it's typical with CLAMP anime, this turned out to be different in the manga! (But there's still a chance they'll explain that scene of the anime in a different way!) I had the impression, for a long time, that MCF was a different person depending on the dream Sakura had, or depending on whether MCF appeared in a dream or not. Well! Turns out even that intuition was wrong, because MCF was ALWAYS the same person, it's just that...some big mess happened, but let's see how Lilie explained it herself. Since her voice couldn't reach Sakura, and since our girl kept seeing the future ahead in her premonitory dreams, Lilie tried to get in touch with her through the dreams she was having.

But, for a twist of fate (I know you're all laughing right now) Lilie ended up mingling with Sakura's foretelling dreams. Yessir. When we saw MCF apparently "attacking" Sakura, or riding on top of Dragon-chan, she actually didn't have anything to do with it. She just ended up being mixed in the middle of all of that. Sakura sometimes dreamt about a "force" pulling her key away, and Lilie ended up in front of it, thus suggesting that MCF was the one trying to grab it. Turns out, it was Lilie probably trying to talk or communicate with Sakura in some way. But hold on, the revelations aren't over yet, oh no. Lilie explains how that mingling with Sakura's dreams went quite wrong.

Because yes, when one of her premonitory dreams was trying to warn her about Kaito taking the appearance of Syaoran during the play, with the Cat costume...well....Lilie ended up mixing in again, and that's how we got our MCF Syaoran. Hahahahaha! Are you baffled?? 😂Well I have to say I had so many theories as to why Sakura saw Syaoran under the cloak of MCF, some even concerning the psychological side...well, damn. Sakura simply never truly doubted her boyfriend and silly of me for thinking she could 😂 Also, we know now that we can rest assured Syaoran won't turn into an evil pawn or something...it was just a huge misunderstanding. Poor Lilie, I can't really hold it against her even though she ended up making a huge mess, because she really strived hard however she could, and...fate didn't work in her favor, apparently...until the right moment, that is (remember, hitsuzen always knows when it's the right time!) Moreover, Lilie tells Sakura that she already dreamed of this very same meeting they're having now, and guess when that was? Yes, at the end of chapter 6, precisely in the scene I mentioned in my post for chapter 71!!

After the shocking revelation (that made me yell at CLAMP once again for how astutely they FOOLED all of us for 7 years - I'm pretty sure no one thought about this possibility), I started to realize something. Sakura, in her premonitory dreams, pretty much dreamt about things mainly connected to Kaito. The "You won't be able to come back anymore" voice? It was the Association + Squids threatening Kaito with what would've happened if he dared touching the artifact inside Akiho. Dragon-chan? As its shape it's basically the same of the Seal of D that engulfed Kaito right before he disappeared into the artifact book, we can safely say it's strictly connected to him as well. MCF Syaoran? He was actually Kaito himself, disguised as the Syaoran-Cat of the play. I have to admit it, I had started getting signs that one of the MCFs Sakura was talking to during her dreams might have been Kaito, at some point. I knew the height worked against my theory, but when Sakura said "You look....so lonely" in chapter 48, right when Akiho had supposedly the same dream and confessed her love to Kaito through "the moon is beautiful" phrase right after that, I knew the "lonely" one could be none other than Kaito. Maybe Sakura was supposed to see Kaito in her dream, that one time, but Lilie mixed up again. Heh. 😅 And here we get our first serious translation mistake that can easily create confusion. Lilie goes on saying that the Cards Sakura had newly created (thus the Clear Cards) have now disappeared, and her magical powers diminished by an amount corresponding to the power of those Cards. Moreover, the Cards that once were separated from her (the Sakura Cards) are now back with her and their connection to her became stronger than before (well, we have seen it, Sakura now summons Mirror even without a particular reason, just to talk). Here, the ENG translation completely skipped the distinction between the two decks of Cards (in the JP version Lilie clearly talks about "the cards you had newly created" and "the cards that were once separated from you"), making Lilie sound as if she's still talking about the Clear Cards even in the second panel.......when we can clearly see the back of the Sakura Cards there. And right in the next panel, we have yet another translation mistake. They completely made up what the Book did here. ENG: What's more, the book's forbidden magic...can only turn back time so far. It has no power over times before the caster or the target were born. He's younger than me... JP: Moreover, the "forbidden magic" (that originated) after using the Book does not reach further than the (moment in) time when the person who activated it and the target of said magic were born. And "that boy" is younger than me.

Lilie never mentions anything about the Book "turning back time". The "forbidden magic"'s work is to rewrite the memories that were recorded in the Book, it does not turn back time. I wish they made that clearer, it's been messed with even in the previous chapters!

But it's not over, as even the next sentence suggests something that in my opinion is incorrect. Lilie goes on explaining that for this reason, she decided to visit Sakura "now" that she's the same age as hers (she literally says the word 今, which for her is her present), crossing time and dreams to reach her. However, the ENG translation here says "So I've come to you from the time when I was the same age as you", suggesting that adult Lilie went back in time to reach Sakura's age and then went to visit Sakura in a dream. There's nothing that suggests that, in the JP sentence. As she will say herself later, Lilie is capable of seeing the future so much ahead, so it seems convoluted that she'd wait to become an adult, just to go back in time to when she was almost 13 (supposedly Sakura's age) and then cross time again to go see Sakura in the future. It makes more sense for her to attempt this when she was *already* 13 years old. I checked the other translations, and the Portuguese and French seem to agree with me (they translate correctly that 今 with "now that we have the same age").

Anyway. For Lilie it was important to attempt this now, while the Book's power can't reach her and mess with her goal, and while Kaito and Akiho aren't born yet. And she adds "(I've come to see) You, the cute Alice (daughter) of the girl named after a flower who became my friend", and we see a nice flashback of a little Nadeshiko, at the same age when she met Lilie. Sakura in this way understands that Lilie knows her mother. Sakura asks if Lilie came from the past and whether she came to tell her something. Lilie confirms she wants to talk about something that for her will happen in the future, but for Sakura it has already happened. Sakura is unstoppable with her questions (good!) and asks Lilie if she can see the future, to which she replies that yes, she can see the future in her dreams exactly like Sakura. "I can see what will happen just moments from now...what will happen long in the future...and even...what will happen after I've passed on". And here came the other punch in the stomach for me. Because Lilie's expression here is really, really painful. I think I'll do a separate post with all my thoughts on Lilie triggered by this chapter, so maybe check it out later if you're curious.

That's who I am

Sakura asks "Isn't it painful to know plenty of the future ahead?" and Lilie's sorrowful smile is already enough of an answer. But she goes on,

"the things I can do...and even those I can't...make me the person that I am"

I found that extremely beautiful. It is painful, yes, but that's part of herself too. And Lilie seems to be very accepting of her nature and her "gift", as well as her limits. Maybe that's why she's able to remain so positive and strong even in a very difficult situation like hers.

The moment is solemn. Lilie says (lit., JP): "Kinomoto Sakura. Your memories and records have been rewritten". Here the ENG replaced "records" with "life", probably because it doesn't make much sense to include "records" just like that. The Spanish version translated it as something like "(your memories) and the records that keep track of them", and I think that works very well. Sakura is shocked upon hearing that. Lilie here talks in future tense because this is something that for her will happen in the future: "That boy...will lie and tell the guardian of the book, who will one day be named Momo, that his goal is to exchange you with the other Alice". And why will he do that? Apparently, because in this way he won't make Momo think or have any suspicion that he will be the actual target of the exchange magic for the artifact that was inside Akiho. (JP) "Because Momo knows painfully well what will happen if that boy becomes the target, in the state he'll be in at the moment of the exchange". I'm a bit butthurt they removed that "painfully" and went for "all too well", because in the original JP text Lilie uses 痛い程 and its literal translation is "to the point of hurting". And I think that's perfect to describe Momo's feelings. Momo cares about Kaito, a whole lot. And she would've never agreed to a goal like this, endangering his life in that way and ending up carelessly triggering the Seal of D. And this is precisely the reason why Kaito lied to her. Because he knows that. He knows she's a "kind and a bit stubborn" creature. And her kindness towards him would've lead her to stop him, something he couldn't really afford.

Lilie can't help but muttering "blockhead". Yeah, in Japanese it's the same わからずや "insult" that Momo used at the end of chapter 70, precisely as he was disappearing engulfed by the artifact book. (And the ENG should've kept the translation of that term consistent between the two chapters, which was "dolt" in chapter 70 and turned into "hardheaded" in chapter 72). This made me wonder whether Lilie was the first one using that term for him, and so Momo took it after her, or if she simply saw that moment in a dream of the future, and quoted Momo's words. One thing is for sure, the JP fandom used that terms quite a lot after reading chapter 70. 😂 Lilie continues saying (still in future tense) that Momo will want Sakura to stop the forbidden magic, so she will give her a hint, but that will end up being incorrect, precisely because Kaito will lie about his real plan. So, what does this translates to, for us readers? When we were thinking that Kaito wanted to exchange the girls, we weren't completely wrong. Or, rather, we weren't lead to that theory without good foundations. It's just that Kaito lied to Momo and made things seem that way on purpose, so his real goal would've come out only at the last moment, the moment of activation of the forbidden magic. When Momo couldn't do anything about it anymore. He really mislead all of us. Because he wanted things to go this way so badly. Because he wanted to be the one to take into himself the thing he inavertedly caused Akiho to be engraved with, and which was about to kill her soul. I sense a profound, desperate sense of guilt from this. It's no wonder Momo was so mad and ended up crying, at the end of Chapter 70. She did what she could to protect "her children", but she ended up losing one anyway. Because, just like in the most common relationship between a teenager and their parental figure, he deceived her and still had it his way, stubborn and oblivious to how much suffering he would've caused to the people who loved him the most. No wonder CLAMP called him more than once "immature" in their Twitter Spaces. This is the reason why I see Momo as a strong parental figure for both Akiho, but mainly for Kaito too.

What is happiness to you?

So Momo's hint ended up being incorrect (remember the "world where no one remembered Sakura"?). But Lilie says "But even so, it's still the same. What's happiness to you?" Because, as Lilie says, the answer is the same even for the other Alice by Sakura's side. And in this very important moment, there's another difference in translation.

ENG: "Even if it makes someone else happy...imagine living in a world where the people you held most dear are gone. Could you call that happiness?"

JP: "Even if someone told you that's happiness/even if someone told you they're happy like this, can you really call it happiness if they live in a world where they lost what they didn't want to lose?"

It's painfully clear what Lilie is meaning here. Even if Akiho looks (and maybe even affirms to be) happy and cherished in this new arranged world with her memories rewritten, can she really say to be happy if the ONE thing she didn't want to lose the most....is gone? Sakura thinks hard about that. Even if Lilie doesn't mention names specifically. And just as she's thinking hard about the answer, the dream starts to crack. Sakura is about to wake up and Lilie knows it. (JP) "I come from a time where the forbidden magic can't reach. But you're right within its range. Once you wake up from this dream, I guess you will forget about meeting me. But, you have the magic that you've been preparing yourself. You just need to realize about it. I believe...in the two Alice"

And just like that, Sakura wakes up in Syaoran's arms, on the floor of the school grounds. Syaoran is visibly stressed and nervous, so much that when Sakura wakes up with a "Oh..." he goes "Don't "oh" me! You suddenly fainted!!" 😂 although this is a tense moment, I laughed at this scene because the stressful moment made some of the old, "rude" Syaoran come back 😂yes, there isn't any translation mistake this time around. The nervousness made Syaoran a bit snappy with Sakura 😆 Sakura, still in his arms (kyaaa), says that she had a dream, and she had the impression Akiho appeared in it. Syaoran helps her standing up, trying to defuse the situation joking that "that's what they call a sister complex, Sakura", and that Tomoyo told him about this term 😂😂(I've already seen some of my Japanese mutuals on Twitter saying Tomoyo teaches Syaoran stuff she shouldn't teach him 😆) Sakura doesn't really answer the joke, as she's still quite dizzy and confused by the dream. Syaoran goes back to be serious, seeing her like that, and asks if she's ok. Sakura says she is, but she holds her head almost as if she had a headache, so Syaoran asks her if she had a premonitory dream. Sakura isn't sure, you can really see she's trying hard to remember the content of the dream, but she just can't. Although, there's one thing she remembers. That this was a dream telling her something very important, both for her, and for everyone else.

And this, dear readers, is where chapter 72 leaves us, ready to advance the plot once again in the next chapter. As I said in the beginning, this chapter was short but finally explained some important things that were torturing us ever since the beginning. But not only: the just released volume 14 featured a change of script in chapter 70, when Momo is talking to Kaito after the forbidden magic was activated. Instead of asking him "what about you?", she tells him "You even lied to me, the guardian of the book, about the subject of the rewriting" which is directly connected to what Lilie said in this chapter. It was a "last minute change" (that normally happens between the Nakayoshi version and the tankobon version) probably to justify better why we were lead to believe that Kaito wanted to exchange the two girls (and thus not giving the impression CLAMP were playing us for fools completely). Moreover, it sounded strange that Momo would've let Kaito go on with his plan if she knew he would've ended up triggering the Seal of D. It looked pretty OOC for her, so maybe Ohkawa wanted to fix that. I was a bit confused by this change in the beginning, but now I completely understand why she did it.

Furthermore, there's the mention of the "magic Sakura has been preparing" that really intrigued me. Is this about the usual "zettai daijoubu da yo", or is it something more complex? Could Sakura have been preparing a spell that would activate in a certain circumstance before the play happened, in case she needed it later? Of course her memories now have been rewritten, but Lilie's words suggest that she will soon remember about preparing this magic. And I'm super excited to find out what it is. It would give Sakura a really good development, and show she can be planning things too!

At the end of the chapter, Sakura forgets about meeting Lilie. And while that might seem as once again an unnecessary stepback, I don't really think it is. If this was played in this way to give Akiho the agency she needs later, then it makes a lot of sense. Especially when many of us are hoping to see her remembering about Kaito on her own. Because it would be particularly significant. If Sakura remembered this meeting, and the fact that their memories had been rewritten, and about "Momo" and "that boy" who lied about exchanging them, logically the first thing she would do is to inform Akiho about it. But is this how things are supposed to go? Is this how Akiho is supposed to find out a truth that concerns her very closely? If Akiho is meant to remember Kaito on her own, because the void he left in her life will soon feel larger and larger, suggesting her that she's not truly happy and that something/someone is missing, then it makes sense for the narrative to hold things back for a short while. Sakura can always remember about this meeting on her own later on, thanks to her magic. While Akiho will work hard to grasp the true happiness she wants, with the help of the people who care about her. And I suspect that might happen as soon as next chapter. And then it'll be time to understand what to do to bring Kaito back, or to reach him where he is.

While here we keep praying hard for a happy ending in the manga, in the meantime I bask in the happiness of the freshly announced sequel of the Clear Card anime!!

Next release dates for what concerns chapter 73:

April 30th, on CLAMP’s Youtube channel (digital, JP and other languages) May 2nd, on Nakayoshi (paper and digital, JP)

Kodansha announced for May 10th the launch of a new simulpub platform directly managed by them (K-Manga), where it's very likely it'll be possible to read Clear Card in English digitally and simultaneously with the Japanese release. Although, that service will work only in the US (for the moment).

Alright, see you at the end of this month!! 😉

#card captor sakura #cardcaptor sakura #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #clear card arc #kinomoto sakura #lilie (cardcaptor Sakura) #chapter 72 #translation differences

[freebooter4ever]

Geno collection part 2: quick doodles version. I’ve been holding off on posting this one because i wanted to write my usual yearly blurb summary underneath but i’ve been struggling to put it into words which is a new one for loquacious me. What to say about geno…

Normally i’m very logical about my favorites - i know exactly why i picked them and there's a list of reasons. This time left me confused. One minute i’m insisting i’m not going to root for pittsburgh, even though its my city, and i'll only do ONE drawing of sid as a homage. But then there's this photo of some dude sitting on the boards in a blue jersey - you can’t even see his face it’s all about the Attitude and his posture - and it’s the most compelling hockey photo i’ve seen yet. Who is this guy, how the fuck is he so sexy, he's just SITTING, he's not even skating? And then i find out his name (and whoops it’s that guy i already decided to hate, guess i have to rethink my snap decision), and then i start noticing things. And noticing more things, and reading old blogs, and more, and more…

And next thing i know ive got over 271 doodles in my sketchesdone folder, and a favorite that was never supposed to be a favorite, and also a new sculpting project.

So. Why? his expressions are a joy to draw. he looks like he escaped from an animated film. He's got that elusive quality where half of what i want to draw is physical and the other half is in his movements, and body language, and personality. It drives me crazy because i am terrible at capturing that second half so i’m never fully happy with any of my doodles. That glow of personality, the look in his eyes - how the fuck do you draw that? I don’t know.

His body alone is also interesting - unique proportions. He's long, with lots of muscle, but also soft? I could cry over it probably. Actually i just study, and study, and want to throw my computer at the wall when i get it wrong in my art yet again for the thousandth time.

He's funny. But he's sneaky about it. If you dont pay much attention he seems like this kind of slapstick guy. But underneath the surface goofball he almost miserly keeps to himself how sly his humor can be. You get the feeling that he doesn't miss much, even if he doesn't comment on it. Yet even that's hilarious - how in some interviews it's obvious he's mentally checked out. All so you're thrown for a loop when in other interviews he's the most vivacious guy in the room. Which is the real evgeni? only he knows. :P well, and obviously the lucky few who know him personally.

I have a small confession. I’ve been sending him art. Look - the missing the playoffs thing happened - and i was suddenly overcome with concern that they might not get as much fanmail as usual. And that was so sad. And then i realized i had all these drawings. And a printer. I could send fanmail. (i have only sent famail once before. this was a very anxiety inducing undertaking) Normally i don’t like the subject of my art seeing my art, it’s just supposed to be for us. But i carefully picked out each drawing - mostly the ones that were more badass or powerful in the traditionally masculine sports sense. I definitely avoided any of the thirsty ones (duh) and tried not to use any of the more personal ones of his face where it was obvious i was just drawing him instead of him as a hockey star. And tried to be respectful and desperately hoping my art wouldn’t accidentally insult him somehow or be inappropriate. i have zero idea if i succeeded and it only worries me sometimes.

So there you go. The year of geno.  \o/ nothing in this list has any logic to it

#really i have no other excuse it must be magic #this is the gas leak year except it's just me discovering evgeni malkin for the first time despite living in the same city for a decade #2023 #seriously i had SO MANY drawings to choose from this year #and it's all of his face #im gonna get into hockey i said #im gonna use hockey action shots to practice anatomy and gesture i said #and then i go and draw genos face 100 times just so i can learn things like the exact angle of his cheekbones #so useful #his bottom lip is my kryptonite

[sigyns-drafts]

Can you do a reader X Baal X Anat RoR story?

Baal is the Canaanite God of storms, fertility, and harvest (sometimes also being seen as a god of Spring due to him dying to Möt and his rebirth by having Anat (the Canaanite goddess of war) going to Hymr (the Underworld) and saving him.). He's seen as a gentle god to them but can have a bit of a temper if you mess with him, his lover, or his followers.

I'm thinking that the reader, Baal, and Anat are in the temple of Baal ( in Canaanite mythos, the gods lived in their temples and were dressed, fed, and cared for by their priests) when Baal or Anat gets called to fight Alexander the not so Great. You can choose who wins or of its wholesome or a bit of angst

Sorry if this is vague and you can't write it

A/N: Don't worry about it Anon, I usually only write for the characters I know about but this gave me such a great opportunity to learn something new! I just had to take the chance!! I'm sorry I took so long!

I hope I got it right, please enjoy it~♡

The storm gods eternal supporters 💙🌪

➩ Y/N once a worshipper to the god couple Baal and Anat, found themselves to have become their lover!Things were great for them and their relationship thrived while living in Canaan.

But one day their messenger brings serious news about Ragnarok having started, and either Baal or Anat are forced to fight for the gods. Causing disturbance to their peaceful lives!

➩ Reader type: Mortal Gn! Reader x Anat x Baal

⚠: Mild injury, light angst, arguing between couple, death of a character!

In the heart of Canaan, amidst the golden fields of wheat and the roar of distant thunderstorms, stood the grand temple of Baal.

It was a place of reverence and worship, where the Canaanite people gathered to pay homage to their beloved deity, the God of storms, fertility, and harvest.

Within its sacred walls, Baal, alongside his cherished lover Anat, resided, watched over and cared for by their devoted priests.

Y/N, a faithful follower of Baal and Anat, often found solace and guidance within the temple's hallowed halls.

They would offer prayers and sacrifices, seeking the benevolent favor of their gods, to be closer to them somehow.

One fateful day this wish that felt impossible came true, as Y/N was welcomed to become more than a worshipper, a friend, a lover.

All thanks to their endless devotion!

But happiness as it seemed wouldn't last forever once Ragnarok came around and on this particular day, the tranquility of the temple was shattered by urgent whispers and hurried footsteps in the distance.

Y/N looked up, their heart skipping a beat as they saw their loyal messenger before them. Anat and Baal pulls Y/N by their was it, closer to themselves protectingly.

There was a tension in the air, a sense of foreboding that Y/N couldn't shake.

Before Y/N could ask what was even going on, the messenger breathless and wild-eyed, finally spoke about the news he bore.

"My lords," he gasped, "The gods of Valhalla demand one of you to duel against Alexander the Great. Ragnarok it has-"

Anat's eyes blazed with fury, her grip on her spear tightening, she couldn't believe what she was hearing! Baal, usually serene and gentle, puts his hand on Anat's to calm her.

"We must act swiftly then, I will go and fight for us. I'll spare you from another battle my darling Anat.." He declared, his voice resonating with power and love.

Y/N and Anat stared at the god in disbelief, Anat's face tensing up with tears rolling down her face, rather than turning soft like Baal had hoped for.

"Are you out of your mind Baal! I shall confront this so called Alexander the great and protect you and Y/N from harm."

Y/N's heart clenched with fear at the thought of Baal or Anat facing such a formidable foe.

They pleaded silently for both their safety, knowing that with Baal's gentle nature could be overshadowed by his wrath if provoked, as well for Anat, who often could be reckless.

Baal's gaze hardened, something he rarely could do, especially to his lovers.

"As I've said I'll not risk your safety, Anat. This fight is mine to face alone.."

Anat clenched her first, the weight of their decision hanging heavy in the air. But before their debate could escalate further, a voice soft interrupted them.

"I know you want to protect us Baal, but understand where Anat is coming from.." declared Y/N, their voice gentle yet firm.

Baal and Anat turned to regard Y/N, their presence softened the tension between the bickering lovers. Anat's eyes softened as she reached out to caress Y/N's cheek.

Thankful for their understanding.

"Thank you my sweet Y/N, this is exactly why we adore you so~"

Y/N accepts the goddess and her warm caress, letting Anat stroke the side of their face until Y/N let's their hand cover Anat's.

Anat looks confused at her lover.

"But.. I do believe Baal should get the chance to prove himself, Anat."

"No.. No! I cannot bear to see Baal in harm's way! Please understand Baal!!"

Y/N smiled reassuringly at Anat, pulling her into a embrace while she panicked.

"Trust in our bond, Anat. Together, we can weather any storm." Baal spoke reassuringly, joining in on their shared embrace.

With a nod and a few tears, Anat reluctantly agreed to the decision. Baal would be the one to face Alexander, with Anat and Y/N standing vigil at the sidelines watching.

When that day came Anat and Y/N nervously watched, comforting each other.

The battlefield raged with the fury of a thousand storms as Baal clashed with Alexander. Lightning crackled and thunder roared, shaking the very foundations of the cosmos.

Baal fought with all his might, his power unleashed in a torrent of divine wrath. But Alexander proved to be a formidable opponent, his tactics cunning and his resolve unyielding.

Baal found himself gravely wounded, his strength waning with each passing moment.

Anat's cry of anguish pierced the chaos of battle, tears streaming down her cheeks as she watched her beloved falter. Y/N's heart ached at the sight too, their own tears mingling with Anat's.

Baal, battered and bruised, felt the darkness closing in around him. But then, amidst the cacophony of battle, he heard their cries.

The voices of his beloveds reached him, stirring something deep within his soul.

With a roar of defiance, Baal summoned every last ounce of strength within him. With renewed determination, he pressed on, his every strike fueled by the love and devotion of Anat and Y/N.

Finally, the tide of battle turned. Alexander faltered before the might of Baal's fury.

With one final, decisive blow, Baal emerged victorious. As the dust settled, Baal stumbled forward, his wounds still raw and bleeding.

But then, he saw them, his lovers rushing to his side, their arms open wide in welcome. With a grateful yet weak smile, Baal collapsed into their embrace, the weight of his victory and his wounds finally catching up to him.

But in the arms of his beloveds, he found solace and strength, knowing that together, they would weather any storm that came their way.

#writing #record of ragnarok #shuumatsu no valkyrie #reader x canon #ror #snv #ror Baal #ror Anat #baal #Anat #light angst #slight angst #angst #arguing #polyamory #poly couple #gn reader #alexander the great

[the-darklings]

As a life long lover of The Sandman comics, I feel that if Neil Gaiman were to ever have given Dream a happy ending of some sorts, it somehow would have been your Wanderer.

I have never read anything that has come close to how Sandman has made me feel, with the exception now being your Story. In some unexplainable way, you, Dearest Writer, are on the same wavelength as Mr. Gaiman.

(If you were an artist during his Sandman publishing days I just know he would have HOUNDED you to draw an issue, you just radiate the exact vibes)

Thank you so much! That means the world to me 😭

Perhaps ironically, I’ve had quite a few people ask me how I manage to write Dream so well (which is, of course, very subjective, but I deeply appreciate the sentiment all the same) and my half-ironic thought was always: I write like Neil Gaiman himself is standing over my shoulder, keeping me on the straight and narrow. Which is now unironically true by this point. In my mind, I write tibyim as if I had to turn this in to Neil himself as I would an editor. Maybe it’s the fact I work with comics too (albeit digital) but I have a lot of respect for Neil and his work just on author level. He’s actually become a bit of an inpsiration for me which I’m always wary about and rarely have “heroes” since we all know how those tend to go jdfhjdshf.

He created something truly unique with the Sandman, and it feels like the least I can do is pay homage to these characters in a respectful manner.

#honestly writing as if neil was going to read it does wonders (I know he can’t because legal reasons dw) #but could he get through it without wanting to burn it? #that is the question #but thank you so so much i could only HOPE to one day be on his level but something to work towards. #so my ongoing quest to hack neil’s braincell continues #asks

[first-interplanar-bank]

I love Sentinels of the Multiverse. For those unaware, it is a cooperative card game where you play as a team of heroes against a villain who "pilots themself". It's set in the fictional comic universe (as in comics are fictional, and the existence of these comics is also largely fictional, you know, a meta fiction scenario) of Sentinel Comics which comes complete with all the comic book tropes and story lines you can find in Marvel and DC. They have amazing character concepts, each with their unique approach to playing the game. I love everything about it. They ended with a major multiverse threatening story line before calling that the end of the card game. Then, a few years back they announced that they would be re-releasing the game with some streamlined rules and updated illustrations. Okay, cool. I can get behind that. The first set released, not significantly different than how the original game played, but there are a few less ambiguities. That's always nice. Then they announced the first expansion for the definitive edition. This time with a new hero and new villains. I wasn't thrilled that they were adding new content when there was no indication this would be anything but a remaster of the original game, but it was also exciting that we would be getting new content for a game that I believed had ended. So a bit of a wash on that one and the excitement for new stuff won out for me. Now we are in the waiting phase of the second expansion. This one also brings with it a new hero (hero pair to be precise) and new villains. There was something that seemed off to me during the fundraising campaign and then as time went and I couldn't shake that feeling I kept looking at the card and art previews they had given us. That's when it struck me. What was bothering me was in the art. The game has art that pays homage to the general style of comics through time, but what I would describe as the "modern comic" art is where I continue to dwell and think about it. That particular style of art is doing what I can only describe as "homogenizing".

There are two particular characters where this really stands out to me. The first of which is Parse. Here is what she looked like in the original printing of the game.

I like her design, I think she looks super cool! Then in her alt art you can see she's a bit on the fatter side (by comic standards anyway, she realistically just has human proportions there). That's cool to see in a riff on the comic genre. Take some things that aren't seen as much and bring them front and center! I love that. Then there is her new art for the definitive edition.

I feel like her costume really just became "skintight female hero outfit". I think it really detracts from the character of her original costume. I also think she looks on the skinnier side, but the same could be said of her first art from the original game. Then there is the villain character, Apostate.

He's grizzled, he's buff. He looks like you're in for a bad time fighting him. Then updated:

What happened to his wrinkles? What happened to his extreme widows peak? The defining features of his face are gone and replaced with a younger, prettier man. This somehow makes him less sexy. My understanding is it's to display he's more about scheming than kicking your ass directly, but I also can't over the look he's giving the viewer. Now he looks like you would have a bad time fighting off the invitations to the bedroom he's trying to get you into.

These are just the examples that irk me the most. There seems to be a general trend in the game's art that leans into these young, pretty, triangular sexless men and these skin-tight suited, buxom, skinny ladies. It's homogenizing to the worst form of comic art. A style I would describe as "Liefeld-esque" It bugs me that all the character in the designs is being taken out and replaced with such generic "comic art". Anyway, just keep thinking about that and wanted to send it to the void.

#sentinels of the multiverse #parse #apostate #rant #art