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fatuismooches · 24 days

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Sobbing rn I just got hit with the cutest hurt/comfort idea for fragile!reader and Dottore

(The hurt in this instance is just fragile!reader's self deprecating inner monologue 😭)

What if reader was the sort who fussed over their appearance a lot? In the Akademiya they wouldn't be caught dead with dark circles under their eyes or having their hair messy.

Even if they did pull all nighters for a project, they always found time to put just a little bit of make-up on to lighten up their eyebags, and always had a simple yet neat hairstyle in mind in times they're in a rush.

They might be perishing from all the studies and assignments but they're going to look good doing it!

This made Reader and Zandik an even odder pair in the Akademiya. Reader who is always neat and in style, versus Zandik who just spent the whole night taking apart a ruin guard somewhere in Avidya Forest until the sun rose and he showed up as is.

That was one of the features Zandik found 'annoying' about Reader before they got together. Like - ugh they're so bubbly and energetic! They're running around everywhere and they're so chatty! Them with their— nice hair! And— pretty eyes, and those robes that actually fit them as if they were tailored! How pretentious of them— (he was down bad. Bro was coping with anger to bat away the feels)

But of course, that was all in the past. In the present, Reader can't take care of their appearance anymore. They couldn't even pick up a hairbrush, their joints ached horribly, they don't have the strength to hold something so light, they don't have the energy to do the basic care of untangling the strands of hair either.

They can't stand looking at their own reflection. That sense of 'wrongness' they couldn't fix, what they couldn't hide. How desperately they wanted to put just a little bit of blush at least, to give their skin some life with how sickeningly pale it was, no longer warm and saturated as it used to be.

They can't look at their eyes either. The greying, sagging bags beneath their lids was a taunt. No amount of sleep would get rid of them.

They can't wear outfits that were too elaborate. Their temperature fluctuated too much, a deathly cold beneath their skin, then a sudden spike in heat as if they were being scorched by the desert sun. They have to wear basic garments, comfortable without hindering layers to slow down their daily check-ups.

Reader is thankful for the segments caring for them, they really are. A segment brushing their hair while talking to them is a highlight of their day.

But... it wasn't the same.

Of course it wouldn't be, the segments were carers, nor stylists.

Still, the fact that they had no control over their appearance and presentation had their mental state withering.

Dottore noticed this. How withdrawn his dear had become. They had their days of silence, yes... but this was more sombre than usual.

He concludes that their illness was flaring up again, and that they were masking their pain instead of consulting with him. He comes to their room of course, his current duties be damned (not that he could've been productive even if he had wanted to, the Segments were restless and shrinking away from their tasks, their darling's current disposition bothered them.)

Opening the door slightly to enter, he sees them blankly staring at their reflection, prodding a finger on their prominent eyebags, rubbing their cheek to see if it would redden.

Ah... how could he had forgotten that. They were once very particular of how they looked. He should have known this possibility, witnessing their own sickly reflection would be distressing...

[The Crow visits a certain Dove. Despite how stiff and vague the Doctor had been with his words, the Damsalette only tittered in understanding, and imparted the knowledge he was seeking.]

The next day, Reader is sat on their vanity, waiting for a Segment to tend to them (always with a little bit of struggle to walk in the morning, but it's the least they could do to be less of an inconvenience already.)

The minutes tick by... he's late. Did something happen?

More time goes by, and they become more worried. They were about to get up and search before the door creaks open.

Zandik...? And he's carrying a... why does he have a bag?

They have plenty of questions. Why the late arrival? What was in the bag? Why was Zandik himself here?

Before they could ask all of this, however, he sets the small bag down on the vanity. He riffles through it... are those make-up brushes?

Wait, make-up?

The next half-hour was spent in stunned silence for Reader's part, Zandik was silent as well out of careful concentration. Gently applying everything, his touch on the brush strokes and blending soft... applying gloss on their lips.

Once Zandik moves on to their hair, they finally catch a glimpse of their reflection. Their cheeks were rosey, the dark circles under their eyes concealed, their lips no longer appearing dry, and instead plump and shimmering.

Oh.

... they almost looked like the way they were before their illness.

Almost.

But it was enough.

(Reader tries so hard not to cry. Fighting back tears, not wanting to ruin the make-up Zandik so diligently applied. Once Zandik was finished with their hair... they may have hiccuped a little bit.)

They may no longer have that upbeat energy they once boasted... but it was comforting to see their old reflection once again. It had been far too long.

You know, I really love this ask because my whole life I've pretty much never used make-up even though I want to so having Dottie do it for me heals me a bit. Also, I'm not very knowledgeable on it so apologies if anything is wrong. Okay, I'm done. 🤏

In all honesty, Dottore was never one to care much for outward looks but he has to admit that you still always manage to look good despite all of the work from school plus all of the work you help with for his experiments, plus... literally everything life throws at you. Yet you still bounce back like it was nothing. The scholar still had not discovered your secret to this yet despite observing you for so long, which furthered his interest in you even though he didn't admit it.

Zandik did maintain his appearance, to an extent of course as he didn't go out of his way to look great, but nothing compared to the effort you put in. So while he did look presentable most of the time, there have been quite a few times you made him late to class because there was no way you were going to let him out looking like that. You don't regret it, even when you get weird looks from the other students. Being 'odd' with your equally as odd lover was nothing to worry about, in your humble opinion.

Although Zandik couldn't hope to understand your strange nature, always mumbling under his breath about you while you laughed at his comments, he also couldn't help but enjoy being around you. You kept him on his toes (your words, not his.)

Unfortunately, this nature and style of yours gradually dissipated into nothing when your illness struck. At first, you refused to accept it, pushing yourself to do what you usually did but soon enough you realized that it simply wasn't going to work out. You had all these tools and resources and options in front of you but you couldn't use them anymore. The self-consciousness only grew more and more each day as you struggled to see yourself as beautiful - struggled to see yourself as a person Dottore would find beautiful.

Of course, your gratitude to the segments couldn't be properly expressed or put into words. You quite literally wouldn't be here without them. However, it is still incredibly demoralizing to be unable to do what you once loved. You really did love them, but... it wasn't enough.

Dottore, despite spending much time in his lab or elsewhere, still kept tabs on you of course. Not just as your doctor, but as your lover, it was important. He had seen you at your lowest numerous times before, comforting you through the worst moments, and he was angered - not at you of course, but rather at himself for being unable to do anything that would be enough for you. Yet he continued, even when you hid yourself from him.

This time, however, maybe the scientist could do a bit more. He doesn't particularly... approve of the Third, or your "friend", but she's far more knowledgeable in this area than he'll ever be. Thankfully, she didn't tease him too much, knowing of your current state.

Dottore had never been one to take much interest in your make-up or style, preferring to simply watch as you worked your magic. So seeing him walk in with make-up makes you think you're still dreaming. (You remember laughing at his segment's various fashion tastes when you woke up though.)

The questions die on your lips the moment he lays everything out and the soft brush tickles your face, not to mention how he's obviously inexperienced yet he's still doing a good job. A part of you aren't surprised because of course he'd be skilled at most things, but still, you thought Celestia would sooner fall on Teyvat than Dottore do your make-up for you. Slowly, you watch as he transforms your face into something that was once dearly familiar.

It's not the same. It may never be. But it's more than enough for you, to revisit the old days that you loved so much. You fear you may cry full-on if you speak, so a simple kiss on your husband's face will have to do.

But regardless of what you look like, no matter how much your body and looks will change, Zandik will always view you as the most beautiful creation on this planet.

#smooches talks #dottore love notes <3 #fragile reader <3 #still thanks to my moot for giving me that explanation and advice 😭🙏#maybe during the summer i will try but idk what my mom will say 💀 i am deceased #i personally have pretty long hair and i get overwhelmed with it sometimes so id love to have the segments brush and take care of it for me #zandy would make me braids!!#i will be rereading this anon thx u #also dottore and bina besties so true

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soapywankenopy · 10 days

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SDV car headcannons

[this gets pretty specific because i've had way too much time to think about it]

1. Harvey

Harvey drives an old, beat-up red Ford Ranger. It's a standard transmission, and the clutch is super finicky, so when he tries to drive other cars, he has a bad habit of shoving in the clutch too hard (or if it's an automatic, slamming on the break, thinking it's the clutch). It was a gift from his parents when he started med school. It was old when they bought it, but Harvey does his best to maintain it. He's not a "truck guy," but he changes his own oil and keeps it running well. He would like to buy a Subaru because quote, "they're very safe cars," but he doesn't use his truck a lot as it is, so he doesn't see a need to get a new car.

2. Leah

Leah drives a silver Subaru Baja. You can not convince me otherwise. She views cars as a necessary evil. It wasn't really all that useful in the city, but she's glad to have it now that she lives in Pelican town. It's well-loved, and it's pretty beat-up, but Leah says it works fine for what she needs it for.

3. Shane

He drives a 1999 Ford Taurus in that weird pinky-gold color. It smells like pizza and pepper poppers, and there are feathers in the backseat. Sometimes, he'll let Jas sit on his lap in the driver's seat and let her steer while he works the pedals. Mayor Lewis caught them once and was not happy. Shane does it anyway because it makes Jas happy.

4. Sebastian

He drives a motorcycle, lol. I admittedly do not know very much about motorcycles, but it looks like a blue Kawasaki Vulcan to me, but idk. (If you know more about motorcycles, feel free to give your two cents)

5. Sam

Sam does not have his own car, but he frequently borrows the family van. It's a silver 2003 Honda Oddysey. The van lands him with driver duty for the band and their equipment.

6. Elliott

Elliott disagrees with cars ideologically. He had a grey 2004 Mitsubishi Outlander that he inherited from his aunt. He sold it before he moved to Pelican town. He thinks it's more romantic to walk everywhere, but if you ask him why he walks everywhere, he'll say, "Because of the environment."

7. Penny

Penny doesn't drive. Pam tried a million times to teach her, but Penny just doesn't want to. She doesn't trust herself with such heavy machinery.

8. Maru

Maru does not have a car but will borrow Robin's work truck if she needs to. Sebastian definitely taught her how to ride a motorcycle. One of her many ongoing projects is a custom bike for Sebastian. Demetrius was very insistant that she learned to drive stick.

9. Abigail

Abigail does not know how to drive. Pierre was too busy, and Caroline never felt the need to teach her. She's happy to explore by foot, so it doesn't really bother her.

10 & 11. Emily & Haley

Their parents bought them a 2012 light green Toyota Prius to share. Haley thinks it's cute and Emily likes that it's a hybrid. Haley says eventually she might buy a blue Volkswagen Bug.

12. Alex

Alex doesn't drive and it's a sore subject for him. Don't bring it up. He might end up crying. He's always said that he would want a green Dodge Charger as soon as he learns to drive.

I have more headcannons about the other characters, so I may put them in another post

#sdv headcanons #sdv #stardew #stardew valley #sdv harvey #sdv leah #sdv shane #sdv sam #sdv elliott #sdv penny #sdv maru #sdv sebastian #sdv haley #sdv emily #sdv alex #sdv abigail #why was i thinking about this? idk man #many thanks to my friend for helping out with some of these

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metacrisisdoctor · 1 year

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i think sometimes people have a hard time seeing jackie as an individual person and this leads to them sort of seeing her as a villian in rose's story.

in my opinion it's pretty important that as much as jackie is sometimes wrong about things, she is also right about a lot of things as well.

i do feel like jackie was unintentionally holding rose back out of fear of losing her, hence her "airs and graces" comment etc- but rarely do people think of why jackie feels like this.

think of jackie tyler. in doomsday she is forty. this means when we meet her and rose she is 39, meaning she had rose at age 20, meaning she was pregnant at age 19- the same age rose is when we meet her.

19 is young.

think of jackie tyler, age 21, widowed with an infant daughter, on an estate and looked down upon. in army of ghosts we see that jackie's father passed away years ago, and we never see her mother either.

this is partly why the fandoms universal eyeroll at love and monsters frustrates me. that episode fleshes jackie out and shows us how deeply alone she is, but how loyal she is to rose despite the fact that the only family she has sees her as second best. the tentoo and jackie big finish audios also bring attention to this. jackie is not afraid of rose advancing in life, she is afraid of being left behind. because she has no one.

it pains me that the bf audios with her and tentoo aren't more widely known because they explore jackie and her relationship with both the doctor and rose a lot. we see how much jackie loves, and has always loved, the doctor. how she too missed him after doomsday. how she wants to be close to him again but she's afraid of what him being back in rose's life means as well, because now that the doctor is in their world, what is stopping them from leaving again? and i think it's important that jackie feels that way because it shows that her love for rose isn't just because she was lonely, despite it having had played a large part.

she genuinely loves them both and does not want to be without them, so much so that she says if/when the tardis grows the doctor has to take them all- because he has a family now. this mirrors the doctor telling donna that rose had a family and that they had become his family as well in the runaway bride.

in this sense, we should know that the doctor and jackie are on the same page. we know how much he missed rose and how that extends to the sense of family he found in the christmas invasion. however, jackie's own poor self image leads to her projecting her own fear of being left behind onto tentoo and to his relationship with rose and it causes friction in their relationship until they can both be honest with each other in the climax of the audios when they're about to die together and realize they want to live, which is why rose trapped them into talking in the first place.

jackie struggles because rose was so young when she met the doctor, and she was RIGHTFULLY wary of their relationship considering the last time rose trusted a man he left her behind and took all her money. in the audios we hear jackie say that she was the one who payed off all of rose's debts which is a stark contrast to the idea some people seem to have that jackie didn't have a job and mooches off of rose entirely- which makes no sense anyway because how does she keep the lights on at home when rose is missing for an entire year? it's much more plausible that she and rose both have jobs, and that she was going to look for a second job.

jackie gets everything she wanted in a sense. her husband back, a son, rose is still with her, but her own low sense of self is something that is hard for her to shake off because she has been looked down upon for so long because of who she is and how she was raised, so much so that the thought that rose looks down on her terrifies her. in the end of time flashback we sees jackie say that at that point in her life she isn't gonna do much better; but rose tells her she doesn't know that which speaks volumes. rose is afraid of falling victim to the helplessness jackie has in the last twenty years, but we also see that deep down jackie also wants more to her life as well, she just thinks it's too late.

jackie is proud of rose, she grows to love the doctor, but her fear of rose losing herself entirely is a valid one. just like rose wanting more out of life is valid as well. they're both right and they're both wrong which is why they bicker but also very very clearly absolutely love each other more than anything.

this is why the ending rose gets is perfect for everyone. rose gets to keep defending the earth at unit with the doctor, a life that she always wanted. the doctor gets to, in one life, have a family and be human and jackie gets to find her sense of self again and find "more" in her life, and doesn't lose what makes her who she is at all because people like jackie - working class people - are the ones who make it possible for "bigger" things to happen which is what the purpose of the back and forth between rose and jackie is. rose wanting more from her life is valid, but it's also important to rememeber not to look down on people who you subconsciously see as "less" because "less" is just as valuable.

of course rose leaving helped jackie grow, but sometimes the way people talk about jackie is unintentionally classist while also defending rose from classism.

#rambles #jackie tyler #rose tyler #tenth doctor #tentoo #metacrisis doctor #doctor who #dw #big finish

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sixth-light · 9 months

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ok ok slightly feral post as promised.

first, some context setting: I think it's really interesting to analyse texts in terms of both what the author was trying to do (and whether they succeeded) and what they ended up doing (intentionally or not) and I think their cultural/historical context is vital if you want to do this. I'm not interested in whether Robert Jordan or the Wheel of Time are, like, morally correct in their politics or whatever. I'm interested in what the art is trying to do.

and the thing about Jordan, see, is that he projected this image during his lifetime of a Genial Older Man (see: beard and pipe) but he...wasn't actually that old! He was 42 when EoTW was published. He died at 58. He was a Baby Boomer publishing books at a time when Baby Boomers were the hip young generation taking over from stodgy WWII veterans (Gen Z: It Will Happen To You Too).

What this means is that he was a child and adolescent during the Civil Rights movement, in a then-majority Black city in the Jim Crow South*. He would have gone to segregated schools. The tertiary institutions he attended had only started to desegregate a year or two before he attended each of them. I think his war trauma in Vietnam gets a lot of attention because he did talk about it and also because that's a narrative we understand for white men, but I think we...skim over the impact on white men of growing up at this time because? Civil Rights only happened to Black Americans I guess? but it's his context too. Similarly, he was an adolescent and young man at the time the (white) feminist movement was really kicking off in the US. he was in his mid-20s when banks were first legally *required* to allow women to open accounts and have credit cards in their own names. he went on to marry a woman a decade older than him, who had left her husband to raise her son as a single mother while continuing a professional career in the early 70s; these were issues that must have been incredibly relevant for her.

and what we see in his writing is attempts to grapple with gender and race that are self-evidently of mixed success, but I think have to be contextualised in light of this period of immense change he grew up in. Think about the predominance of women as merchants and bankers in WoT, in the context of how recent their rights to even control their own money were in the US. The...everything...he was trying to do with the Seanchan, making them extra-canonically Southern American-coded. The Whitecloaks as the KKK (among other things, of course).

As an example, I think there's also something probably unintentional but fascinating in the way he presents the pre-Breaking Aiel: bluntly, they are a distinct ethnic group in hereditary servitude (always thinking about how that ancestor of Rand's in the Rhuidean sequence had to get permission from Mierin Sedai to switch to someone else's service so he could marry his girlfriend, this is...uh...super cognate to issues enslaved Black people faced). They're associated with agriculture through the Song sequence. And they're pretty much the ideal of what slave-owning Southern American culture WANTED enslaved Black people to be: completely happy to serve. Then, as the post-breaking Aiel, they become feared as a source of violence, which resonates with the way that enslaved people were feared by their slavers.

I don't think for a second that the intention here was to depict the AoL as a Secret Slavery Dystopia, I think we're meant to take the Rhuidean flashback sections pretty much as they read on the page. But I also think putting Jordan in his historical and cultural context does pose the comparison. Similarly, I find it really interesting that he positions Seanchan as riven by constant revolts and uprisings (because it's a fascist slaver regime) but he never ever goes so far as to link enslaved people in Seanchan (damane and da'covale) to those revolts and uprisings, even though that is fundamentally the deep fear *for real and obvious reasons* of all slavery-based societies.

Or then there's the changes to the Two Rivers in the books - like, both then and now I think it's actually pretty radical to present an influx of Muslim-coded refugees of colour as a thing that enriches the Two Rivers both socially and economically. Various characters are wistful that it's changed, but they don't think it's bad. The text here is really clear that welcoming the Domani and Almoth Plain refugees is both morally right and beneficial. And this is in a book being written and published shortly after the first Gulf War.

There's so many more things like this where I just have no real idea what he was trying to do on purpose and what was accidental and what was fun for him in fiction but did not necessarily link at all to his real-world political beliefs. but gosh it's interesting to turn over and poke at.

#wheel of time #wot book spoilers #robert jordan #and then there's things like...IIRC some stuff about Gareth Bryne is referencing General Lee #and I know a lot of you are Bryne haters but the point here is not #that that means Bryne is bad #it's: how hard was RJ thinking about that and why did he do it at all?

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jq37 · 1 month

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The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 16

Kipperlilly Copperkettle and the World's Smallest Violin

Welcome back to Fantasy High where everyone’s graduating with A pluses and we’re *finally* figuring out what the hell Kipperlilly’s deal is!

But, before we get to that, we have some loose ends to tie up. You’ll remember that the Bad Kids just demolished the Last Stand Exam and dropped Gavin Pundle off at the Council of Chosen office in Bastion City. It’s the day before Spring Break so hypothetically they should be relaxing–they don’t have a Spring Break project like everyone else because of the Last Stand–but these are the Bad Kids. They don’t get breaks.

First order of business when they get back to Elmville is to check the crystal they left recording at the crime scene. They see a massive figure--14 to 15 feet--wearing a hood approaching Buddy with their back to the camera. The stones behind Buddy glow with Ankarna-style light so they check to see if Bakur is escaping the gem he’s trapped in. He isn't but Riz using his spy tie can tell it's def something Ankarna related based on the magical mDNA he's clocking. Based on the footfalls, it seems like something big and humanoid (though not like a tabaxi or dragonborn with their digitigrade feet. Giant is def on the table though).

The figure moves closer to Buddy and Kristen thinks they’re about to slap the symbol on Buddy’s chest but Buddy’s body spasms and blood spatters as his organs seem to crush. He jolts awake with a pained roar and then says in his southern drawl, "Dang, y'all. I worship a nameless god of rage." The figure kneels over Buddy and they both vanish.

So, yeah. Good call setting up some CCTV.

Fig right away speculates that maybe all the Rat Grinders died and were brought back to life in that way. Maybe in the Mountains of Chaos, Fabian adds. Kristen points out that KP has been angry since Freshman Year and they all finally get around to digging into the file that Riz stole. Has she always been a follower of Ankarna or was she scouted at some point because of how insanely aggro she is?

Everyone piles on buffs to Riz’s already stupid Investigation score so he gets a 32. I’m going to bullets to organize all of this info:

Her Freshman and Sophomore Year accomplishments are pretty meh. She was doing quests but pretty low level, easy ones

We find out the reason KP hates Riz so much and it’s his tragic backstory. In a meeting at the top of Sophomore Year, they see KP complaining that it’s so unfair that Kalvaxus killed Riz’s dad. She’s too suburban and normal and she hasn’t been able to find any sordid secrets in her lineage that would make for good plot hooks essentially. Her parents went to *Mumple* for Cassandra’s sake! Over the course of Sophomore year she started having rage outbursts. and saying that kids with tragic backstories had an unfair advantage in adventuring and their grades should reflect that.

She talks about how much she loves her party. The way she speaks, she's def the leader (which we kinda already assumed from the vibes). She seems especially fond of Lucy and says that she's the only one who sort of "gets it". Apparently, KP came up with the name "High 5 Heroes" and Lucy was supportive of that because it meant a lot to KP. Rat Grinders was a name that Ivy and Oisin came up with (they're the other pair of besties in the group which checks out because they were the ones hanging out and playing beer pong together). Ruben voted for the change to piss off KP and Mary Ann voted for it as well and refused to elaborate (on brand).

In her Junior Year she gets even more unhinged. She talks about wanting to straight up murder Kristen. She thinks Kristen is going for President as a joke and won't even do the job when she's elected. And she he hates Fig for boxing her out from confronting Kristen.

There's a note that, for Spring Break, they're going to the Mountains of Chaos for the second time. The last time they went was a week or two after Spring Break last year, right before Lucy died. They had a school chaperone because it was too high an adventure for their abilities in the school’s view and no prizes for guessing who that was: Jace Stardiamond.

As we kind of already know, KP has been gathering Bad Kid info via Jawbone--specifically, stuff about the Prompocalypse/Kalvaxus fight and the Yes! Stuff. These questions are coming Sophomore Year, post the first Mountains of Chaos trip.

With a dirty 20 Insight, Fig sees that, starting at the end of Soph Year, there's a change in KP's language where it goes from, "I don't think X is fair"/"I think they get special treatment" to just straight up, "I hate them."

The group wonders if Jace is the mastermind here and scoped out which of the students were susceptible to rage poisoning or if maybe he died during that mountain trip and got taken over just as much as everyone else. As far as they know, he was super chill prior to this.

They take a brief detour to razz Fabian about The Incident in his dance class with some excellent puns and then another brief detour to IRL razz Murph because he makes the grave mistake of saying the phrase, “honor the cock.” And then, Kristen has a brain blast. She wonders if maybe the difference between someone who gets a crystal put in them and comes back as a rage person (eg: Buddy) vs someone who is left in limbo like Yolanda and Lucy is that you get a choice and you can either come back full of rage or refuse and stay dead with the mark on your chest. Brennan doesn't even make Ally roll for it, Kristen just gets it in one. And everyone realizes it makes sense. Yolanda was super principled and Lucy always stuck to her guns according to Ruben. [Note: This also offers a potential reason that Ivy wasn't shocked to see Lucky at the party–maybe she thought she finally took Ankarna’s deal.]

Another list of info just to keep things neat:

They check the tape from the Coliseum and see that there's a ten minute gap between the Bad Kids leaving and the figure coming to rez Buddy so that’s a bit of a timeline established (assuming no chronomancy BS I suppose).

They also get the thing about digitigrade feet I mentioned earlier at this point but I just thought it fit better with the other tape stuff above.

Ruben has deleted most of his social media presence from a little bit before last year but they can see from photos where he's tagged with his friends that the emo thing started after spring break of Sophomore Year, confirming what we assumed from his old Yearbook photo. Before that his vibe was more soft rock/folk pop (based on the musician they reffed who I've never heard of but just Googled--Jack Johnson).

The Bad Kids think they might have to waste yet another Spring Break, this time chasing the Rat Grinders into the Mountains of Chaos, but before that, they have in-town business and downtime to attend to.

Everyone's parents and guardians are so happy and proud of them for their Last Stand victory.

Sklonda asks Riz if there's anything she can help with and he asks if she can look into Bobby Dawn. She says Bobby used to go to Aguefort (info that has come up before according to Brennan though I don't remember it) and asks if Fig knows he's teaching there. It seems like a non sequitur until she reveals (via Emily figuring it out at the table with very impressive swiftness) that Bobby Dawn was at the center of Sandra Lynn's sordid past! For those of y’all who don’t remember, we learned in Sophomore Year that Sandra Lynn joined a party when she was young as a replacement member. There was a married couple in the group who were older and more powerful than her. She fell in love with one of them and when it all came out, she was kicked out and slandered (even though it takes two minimum to tango, as we all know). She was basically blacklisted from adventuring after that which is why she joined the rangers. Well, now we know who that couple was: Bobby and Pamela Dawn!

Which, ugh what an upgrade Jawbone and honestly even Gilear are from Bobby Dawn.

(Also, as an aside, we learn Pamela is the chief paladin of the church of Sol which, como se dice, yikes. That whole pantheon needs better reps. Tracker is doing all the heavy lifting herself.)

Gavin checks in to say that the Council of Chosen is looking into things but the body is missing. The Bad Kids, who already knew this, share their footage because they have to do EVERYTHING around here. Gavin also lets them know that they’re completely free from academic requirements other than filling out a teacher eval and attending graduation (which is odd considering they aren’t graduating but Aguefort is a weird school and Brennan never went to trad high school so shrug–we’ll see if that’s just a weird Aguefort thing or a something suspicious).

Back to Riz and Sklonda, he asks his mom if she's ever heard of Eugenia Shadow and she tells him that she's a granddaughter of one of the founders of the Society of Shadows (which was named after their last name--it's literal AND a metaphor. She offers to drive him to the cemetery in Ashgrove which is about 90 minutes away.

Wilma and Digby are exuberant as always about Gorgug's success. They’ve finally fixed up the Hangvan for him and give him the keys. He thanks them and then asks about why Frosty Fair picked their tree as the new event site. They think it's just because they're heavily in the Frosty Fair circuit and also someone (who we know is Ruben) vouched for them. But they mention that the FF reps had a lot of questions about their tree including whether the tree was a Root Warden. They don't have a Druid or Ranger who would know but Kristen gets a Nat 20 (and Cass is a sylvan goddess so it checks out that she would know some stuff about trees).

A Root Warden is a tree that is so magical that it's a little more alive than a normal tree (without fully being a treant) and has an Int of like 1 or 2 instead of zero. So it's basically the big, old tree that guards the other trees in the area and tells them when to have their guards up and protects them from general bad mojo. Brennan calls it a sentinel. The Thistlespring tree is the Root Warden for the trees in all of Elmville county. Gorgug rolls too low to tell if the tree is corrupted but his parents do tell them that the people who came by to check on the tree dropped something into the roots with eye droppers that was absorbed. Everyone is worried about rage pollen, especially since it’s the middle of spring. And once he’s looped in, Riz can see on a map that Loam Farm is significantly outside the tree network that Thislespring tree is a part of. It seems clear that they were trying to make sure they were not only operating within the network but poisoning its very heart.

Fabian gets a proud message from his dad now that they’re synced up with infernal/material plane communication. Gilear asks Fabian about baby clothes so, naturally, he burns them all. He also gets another 20k gold allowance because his life is full of intense highs and lows and that’s about it.

Kristen’s parents text her to ask her to make sure Bucky is going to his classes. Suspicious! She agrees to check up on him.

Aelwyn has accepted the job at Leviathan so she starts coming by the mansion again since there's a door/portal to the library which saves her the spell slot. Adaine tells her she can just come back home if she wants and Sandra Lynn agrees. Aelwyn asks if all her cats can come and everyone says yes, even if it means kicking out Kristen (which is a joke…mostly lol). So yay, Aelwyn is back in the bunk beds baybee! And during the month of my birth irl and in canon. Ty Brennan. Kristen tries to verbally spar with her because she knows Aelwyn is uncomfortable with people being too openly nice to her but Aelwyn accidentally claps back too hard and sends Kristen running back to her room near tears. Sorry, K! She’s working on her people skills! Fig of course has her President’s back and gives Aelwyn a wet willy which majorly grosses her out but she doesn’t sling any retaliatory spells. Progress!

Gorthalax makes sure that Fig knows he’s always a resource for any help with anything infernal. Meanwhile, Adaine has a couple of spells she wants to cast. She makes a Simulacrum of Kristen, to make it confusing for anyone who wants to go after Kristen. It’s a clone of her with half her HP which is slightly British and slightly straight. She casts Legend Lore on Kipperlilly and gets no info which means she’s a basic ass bitch. (Riz, in comparison, does get a ping but it’s for being the 5th person to summon the Night Yorb so he is keen to do better than that). Finally, she casts Scry on Kipperlilly and doesn't get anything because she has Nondetection casted on her. She realizes that all of the Rat Grinders do at all times which is 18 third level spells a day which is crazy. Clearly, they’re scared.

Graveyard time! On Saturday, they head to Ashgrove and find the grave of Eugenia Shadow who died at the age of 111. Adaine swaps to Ethereal Vision to try and find her but Riz (with his Blindsense) is the one who finds her (she’s carefully ducking behind Adaine to dodge her line of sight). Eugenia is annoyed to have two students find her in one year but very happy to drink, smoke, and do drugs with the Bad Kids(just go with it).

Despite being dead, Eugenia knows a lot about stuff that's going on and congratulates them on passing their Last Stand. Riz asks her about what "the Rogue teacher found her" re: Kipperlilly means and Eugenia says that KP somehow found out that she was dead (despite the fact that as far as Shadow knows, the only records of her death exists in Aguefort’s office) and showed up at the grave with a rented backhoe, threatening to dig her up unless she showed basically. Which, yes, is grave desecration and messed up but is it any more messed up than the concept of a rogue in general? Like, I hate KP as much as the next person but this feels like normal rogue behavior. As Eugenia says in this very scene, rogues do crimes! Anyway, Eugenia reiterates something we already knew about Kipperlilly: that she's obsessed with technicalities and loopholes. We learn for a fact that she's a Mastermind Rogue and Eugenia says that she's a lot like Riz but walking a darker path.

As they're speculating how KP could have gotten into Aguefort's office (via Jace maybe?) Mazey comes up since she's acting principal and Eugenia reminds them that Aguefort is not a normal school with normal positions. Things are set up so that whoever is VP has to follow whatever the Principal says no matter what since Kalvaxus is supposed to be in that position as a prisoner. Equally importantly, Aguefort is more than a school. It's a hotbed of very important magical threads that Aguefort had going and they'll unravel without someone at the helm. That fact and the fact that killing her would mean chaos and not a simple transfer of power to another party is probably the only reason no one has tried to assassinate her yet. At his friends’ urging, Fabian texts Mazey to hang out, to help keep an eye on her.

Eugenia tells them to keep their guards up and that she expects to see all of them in Rogue classes next year. She gives Riz an eval form and Fig asks about a Landscaping Company that KP contacted (which I think must be in cut footage because this is the first time it comes up in the ep. Eugenia says that the name of the company is Loam Landscaping which gives everyone pause for obvious reasons.

Speaking of the Loams, they're on the same death clock as Lucy since it's been a while since they died and Adaine wonders if they can Plane Shift to where they are if they can figure out where that is. Brennan says that the vibe is that Yolanda and Lucy are probably with Cassandra, wherever Cass is.

Downtime before Spring Break!

Fabian is up first.

He rolls a 27 for Popularity. People are hoping he's gonna keep up lofi study nights over the summer and they're so psyched that his birthday is the same day as the election (the 31st). Adaine realizes that THIS must be the bday party/election victory she keeps having visions about and tells him he has to do it. For his second track, he asks Mazey out on an official date to Krom's Diner. She says yes and, on a 20, we get a very sweet scene where Fabian has a nice normal date with a genuinely nice, down to earth person.

Even though she's not supposed to play favorites, she tells him that Kristen's basically demolishing Kipperlilly in the election so far (which she is impressed by because she didn't think Kristen was going to take it seriously). She also lets them know that technically any place (including a big house party perhaps) can be a polling place as long as someone from the school admin is present (which could potentially be Mazey or Riz).

Mazey gives him a goodnight kiss (getting his kisses in!) and we move on to his third roll which he uses to try and mend fences with Kristen for Gertie’s sake. He offers her any satisfaction she wants from an apology to combat and she chooses combat. With a 30 to her 16, he handily defeats her and she considers her honor satisfied. They'll chill now. And he even gives her some tips on flirting with Kristen. Trying to make sure his girl gets her kisses in too I see.

Corsica and Terpsicore find him to give him eval forms. (Also, on a Nat 20, Fig steals RIz's eval and changes his one negative comment about her doing drugs with her students into a positive one because of course Fig loves her). He just barely gets his Owlbears roll with a bardic and that's his last roll.

Adaine is up next. She uses a portent to get a 29 on mystery to learn about the Astral Plane and figures out that when a god is dead in the Astral Plane there's still some level of intelligence, like how a mortal can die but then have Speak With Dead cast on them and answer questions. She also finds some weird linguistic trickery in a passage about how where gods die, where they go, and where they're borne--not born, borne as in carried. Imagine the laws of the universe hinging on a pun. Wild. They wonder if that's what Bakur was trying to do/if the proper location would have been the Mountains of Chaos.

Brennan also says she gets some interesting stuff about the Mountains of Chaos and its history and is left with the question of, "When Ankarna was said to have 'died' in the Red Waste, what does that mean?" Adaine decides to roll to learn some spells to help her party survive in the Astral Plane if they need to go and on a 29 spell she learns one new spell of each level. She also talks to her teacher (Tiberia Runsetaff) who, in addition to giving her an eval to do, says she's been talking to Aguefort (Chronomancy) and when she mentioned that she was having problem getting supplies for wizarding, Ayda left her a geocache. Runestaff gives Adaine the coordinates and she texts Fig so they can go together because she assumes Ayda left stuff for both of them.

Next, she wants to roll Relationships and throws an ice cream party for the whole manor which everyone really enjoys. She chats with Sandra Lynn who tells her that the Mountains of Chaos have been nuts lately and social animals like wolves have been killing members of their own packs as of the last few weeks. That sounds very rage-y to Adaine so she tells Sandra Lynn everything they know (except for the Bobby Dawn stuff so Fig can be the one to break the news).

Adaine asks if Sandra Lynn will take them to the mountains since she knows the area so well from work and Sandra Lynn says they might have to sign some liability waivers but she's down as long as her bosses are down. They also have a very sweet conversation where Adaine says she’s very grateful to them for taking her in and she admits that she's not very good at being a kid. Sandra Lynn says that she's always available for any conversations that Adaine wanted to have with a mom and couldn't (on account of her mom being a raging bitch and also being chased by the Vands of course). Adaine thinks she's about to give her a talk on periods and dashes away, much to Sandra Lynn's bafflement.

Fig does her evals for her teachers including Lucilla who is weeping over her not remembering her name and just calling her "Attractive bard teacher", Porter who is irked to be sharing a sheet with Zara, and Zara who wants to see Fig because she send her a flap of flayed skin with writing on it (the contract from Bill). Valid concern.

Adaine wraps up her downtime by rolling to Scry on Jace and gives him a 1 to make sure he fails. She sees him sitting quietly working in his office where he's Fantasy Googling the Complicated Women podcast. Adaine doesn't see what else he's working on with a low Luck roll but on a 17 Perception, she sees that he's starting to sweat in his toasty office. He takes off his scarf and, as he does, she catches a glimpse of him in the mirror, revealing a deep ragged scar in his chest. He looks at the scar and, for a moment, his eyes flash red.

Detention

Kipperlilly for All Of That

Girl are you KIDDING ME?

“Oh boo hoo. Riz is so lucky. School is so easy for him because he has a dead dad to avenge. Some people have all the luck.”

Man, kick rocks. And she was like that *before* she got involved with Ankarna.

Also, sidenote, it’s not even like Riz ended up killing Kalvaxus because of his tragic backstory. He didn’t even know there was a connection going in. He just wanted to find his missing babysitter and the other missing girls! You’re a Mastermind Rogue. You want a plot hook? Nancy Drew it up, bitch!

You want Kristen dead? You want her DEAD? You’re jealous of Riz who lives in a household where sometimes you have to eat your cereal with water because there’s not enough milk to go around? Truly, get a grip.

Honor Roll

Kristen for Making a Clutch Connection

This should really go to Ally but yeah. What a great leap figuring out that staying dead is an option and that’s most likely what happened to Yolanda and Lucy.

This very likely explains a longstanding loose end from much earlier in the season. Ivy didn’t look shocked to see “Lucy” (Fig in disguise) at the party even though we know she was dead. With this new info, it seems likely that Ivy assumed that Lucy had finally given in and come back as a rage acolyte.

Anyway, baller connection and she got there before I did. I love it when Brennan is so impressed he doesn't even ask for an Insight roll.

Random Thoughts

Here is a super useful timeline of events Re: the Ratgrinders by @ratgrinders.

I’ve seen a lot of people assume that the RG’s died in the Mountains of Chaos but I’m not convinced that happened. Because that was way before Lucy died and we know that once she died, she refused to come back as a rage person. And we know you can take a rage crystal without having to die first. That happened in the mall fight with the wizards. If they TPK’d there and Ankara offered to bring them back, then they would have come back without Lucy because she would have said no.

Here’s my current theory: They went to the mountains with Jace. They either stumbled into information about Ankarna or were led there by Jace if he’s proper evil and not just taken over. They were offered a deal and everyone went for it but Lucy. KP really wanted Lucy to join them–esp cause she considered Lucy her best friend. She tried to strong arm her into it (maybe even forging her god change form) and, when she stuck to her guns, she organized everyone to kill Lucy, forcing her into a position where she’d have to say yes to Ankarna in order to stay alive. In KP’s head, Lucy would do this and maybe be annoyed for a bit but in the end see it was for the best and forgive her–maybe even thank her. But she miscalculated the strength of Lucy’s conviction and voila. Dead Lucy.

Edit: Wanted to come back and edit to note that it is of course possible that in the mountains everyone died except for Lucy and that's when they took the Ankarna deal, but even if that's the case, the rest of the theory would proceed as written. I was mainly thinking that while what we saw with Buddy is a strong possibility it's not the only possibility. If they died then they're a bit more sympathetic because self preservation is an understandable motivator and taking the deal doesn't make them craven--it just makes Lucy and Yolanda extremely principled. However if they just took the deal because it was offered to them then that's more eyebrow raising. Even though I'm skeptical, I'm kinda hoping their hands were forced because I think that's more interesting and we've had straight up petty power grabbing already from Penelope. But anyway, just being thorough.

"Flash of Stupidity” is so funny.

It's not surprising that Ivy and Oisin are one of the pairs of besties in the RG's--they were introduced playing beer pong together--but I'm super curious about what their dynamic is. And ditto for Lucy and KP. Was it like a high strung one/chilled out one kind of thing? I really wish the Bad Kids had been a bit nosier about their whole deal.

Do we think KP maybe wanted to make sure the BK's died in the last stand alongside Buddy and Pundle so they'd all come back as rage people? Maybe that crossbow bolt was laced with some rage mojo?

KP being mad at Riz for trying to pickpocket Jawbone of her file when (1) she’s literally a rogue as well and (2) she pickpocketed Kristen and Buddy of their revivify diamonds is insane.

I love Lou committing to the bit of being appalled at the thought of half-siblings via Gilear because I know he knows that every time he explodes it becomes even funnier which means it’s more likely to happen but he can’t stop because he’s Committed To The Bit. Classic Lou.

Wizards casting Legend Lore on themselves as the in-universe equivalent of Googling yourself.

I love the detail that Mazey’s family lives in a Labyrinth in the Red Wastes.

Kinda bummed we didn’t get to do more with the Relationship track so the special ability never came up and Brennan had to just reveal it (it can reduce stress but also increase it).

I am so stressed about the bylaws and also Bucky. They keep coming up and then falling off of everyones’ plates and we’re running out of runway here.

Adaine really said, “You didn’t just kill your parents? Skill issue.” She really is Aelwyn’s sister.

The VP has to do anything the Principal says, right? And Mazey is the Principal, right? There’s gotta be a way to exploit that, especially now that Fabian is in her good graces.

When did Aelwyn get FIVE MORE CATS?

Answered and Partially Answered Questions

Last week I made as thorough a list as I could about what info we were missing and I wanted to note the answers we got this week.

1) Why the move to Loam Farm for Frosty Faire? (The Thistlespring tree is a Rootwarden)

2) How is Jace involved? Why is he manipulating Ruben? (We know Jace went w/ them on the trip but that's not a full answer)

3) What were the exact circumstances behind Lucy’s death? Who was able to put the rune on both of their bodies and what exactly was the goal there? (We know the mark is from getting a rage crystal but rejecting it but we don't officially know who did it or what the goal was though you know my guess.)

4) How did KP find the rogue teacher? (Threatened to dig up her grave. Info that she was dead was only in Aguefort's office so maybe got that from Jace?)

5) Also what’s her damage? Why is she obsessed with Riz? What are her anger issues about? (She's a petty basic bitch)

6) Why wasn’t Ivy surprised to see Fig in disguise as Lucy who was at the time fully dead? (Most likely because she thought she finally chose rage zombie resurrection)

7) What’s up with the party vision that Adaine has now had at least twice? (We know this is election night and Fabian's bday now)

8) What made the Rat Grinders become the Rat Grinders when they started as the High Five Heroes? (We know it was a vote led by Ivy and Oisin and joined by Ruben and Mary Ann but not the why behind it)

9) Where exactly is Cass right now? (We still don't know for sure but it seemed like a realm within Ankarna’s dead body which is prob in the Astral Plane. We do know Lucy and Yolanda are prob with her as of this ep.)

As an aside, we still don’t know how Oblivati Mori was broken to write Ankarna’s name before the Bad Kids found it but is it possible that the person who wrote it was Ankarna herself? Because Ankarna is still “dead” right now, right? Because she’s been active all the same. Oblivati Mori disallows others from speaking your name but does it disallow the god themselves from speaking or writing their name if mortals find them somehow? Kind of a stretch but I’m wondering if there’s enough wiggle room there to make something happen, especially since this episode Brennan said that gods retain some intelligence even when they’re dead on Adaine’s high roll. I dunno, just spitballing.

(Also, I don’t remember where I saw this but remember how Aelwyn said KP is randomly loaded? The previous best guess on that was money from Oisin–the boy who was just gonna give Adaine diamonds–but is it possible that she’s spending the embezzled Frosty Fair money? We don’t know much much it was so hard to say if it was enough to be funding whatever this is. But wanted to throw that out there since we’re tying loose ends as much as we can.)

Anyway, can’t wait for next episode which I’ve been told will be more than THREE HOURS LONG and Brennan said in the AP that it’s gonna be a doozy. Excited, trepid, and preemptively bracing for another long haul review. See you then!

#Dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 #d20 spoilers #fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #spoilers #the report card

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pjsk-writin · 1 year

Note

yayyyy requests are open I'm so happy :D!! could i pretty please ask for project sekai boys with a reader who forgets things a lot? like they're not good at remembering dates/names or if they're told something they'll forget it a few hours/a day later? tysm i love your writing <333

ouuu reader just like me fr,, TY IM GLAD U DO and I hope u like this!! <3

♡ FORGETFUL - Akito Shinonome, Toya Aoyagi, Tsukasa Tenma and Rui Kamishiro x Reader

Akito:

Akito is simply bewildered by how forgetful you are. He can't comprehend how you manage to forget things so much-

He'd never make fun of you for it genuinely, although he might make a joke every now and then. He'll stop if you ever get upset by these jokes though!

He starts to carry your things around because he'll know you'll forget. He'll just hold your bag or something out to you before you leave

He also makes sure to remind you of events, dates or names whenever he needs to, simply nudging you and whispering them into your ear with a nod

If worse comes to worse, he'll tag along with you whenever he can, making mental notes of things that are probably important for you to remember <3

Toya:

Toya is also confused by how forgetful you are, but it's not like he hasn't had his moments, so who is he to judge?

He's always very gentle whenever he reminds you of things, he wouldn't dare to ever make fun of you or make you feel bad about it

He makes sure to repeat things to you often, knowing it's more than likely you already forgot so there's no reason he shouldn't remind you again

He has his own systems for remembering things like names and dates and tries to teach you it, but it probably won't work too well-

Whenever he can't be around you, he leaves you little notes. They're usually placed on your notebooks or your important items, always accompanied with a little note <3

Tsukasa:

This is Tsukasa we're talking about. He literally forgot half of his childhood, but if we don't think about that, he probably has a pretty good memory!

Get ready to have your own personal reminder walking around with you, because he'll literally light up and go, "Oh!! Did you remember to?-"

This happens a lot. He'll get a nagging feeling at the back of his mind and then remind you of whatever it was that popped up in his mind-

He's remembered a lot of scripts over his time, so dates and names are no issue for him! He doesn't know how to explain his methods, but he'll try to help you!

It's very unlikely that he won't be by your side to remind you of things, but just in case he isn't, he'll send you a bunch of texts to make sure you remember things <3

Rui:

Rui has a scarily good memory. I mean he taught himself robotics, he probably has the ability to remember things from a first glance-

He would also be the type to tease you about how forgetful you are, but he would always stop if you ever get uncomfortable. Teasing is just in his nature though-

A very normal occurrence is him working through something and casually reminding you of something. He'll grin when your eyes just widen as you remember

He also remembers a ton of scripts, so his ability to remember names and dates is pretty good. When asked how he does it though, he'll shrug and give you a notepad-

Yes, he's making you a drone to remind you of things. That also includes reminding you to use the drone, but it does help once you get used to using it <3

#project sekai x reader #pjsk x reader #akito shinonome x reader #shinonome akito x reader #toya aoyagi x reader #aoyagi toya x reader #tsukasa tenma x reader #tenma tsukasa x reader #rui kamishiro x reader #kamishiro rui x reader

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ren-from-mars · 2 months

Text

Omg hiiii guys look! It’s Becky! I participated in the wonderful @hatchetfield-yearbook-project and got to draw her for the Alumni page <33

Go check out the project, it’s chock full of amazingly talented artists and writers who all captured their characters perfectly! Seriously, reading through some of the club articles I needed to convince myself it wasn’t canon work it’s sososososo good!

Down below are the little details I did while working out how Becky would have been both in highschool as well as how she aged!

I focussed on a lot of lines mentioned in black friday and nightmare time to try and get a grasp on how exactly Becky would have changed over time. Things like “she’s not as hot as she used to be”, how long she was with Stanley, how working at the Hospital is Incredibly Fucking Stressful, and of course her “Rah Rah Team Spirit”! I went a bit overboard in the details but if you’re reading this right now you want them so BAM here it is!

First off, Hatchetfield High Becky!

These are all just my personal headcanons, none of the appearance based details are directly stated as canon and are rather derived from my personal beliefs for her and things stated about her in the show.

Before the list- I put her in the same HFHS cheer team uniform that we see Brenda and Stacy both wear! I like to think that people wearing their cheer uniforms around the school is just. a think the Nighthawks Cheer Team just Do, and have done for years. They're insane like that (and the dark blues really compliment Beck!)

Her Rah Rah Cheer Spirit leaks into everything, and she does her makeup often with a silver and blue eyeshadow. she changes this look up every now and then, but being the cheer captain and dating the star quarterback comes with its own. social expectations on appearance, so Becky regularly goes back to her tried and true method.

star earrings star earrings! blue for the nighthawks, but the star is based on the fact that Becky and Tom would often stargaze on the football field, especially after the big games. Hatchetfield would have been a pretty bright city even back then, but it wasn't nearly as light polluted as it is in the present day. Stargazing together became their way to unwind and talk, without people listening in on every little thing being said and spreading rumours. Not like they would dare do that to two of the most popular people in school.

This is more targeted to her whole face, but this comes back to Beck doing her makeup every day. Obviously that shade of red isn't natural on her, but she would put it on the exact same every day that eventually people forgot about it. This ties into her 'not being as hot as she used to be', because she was always dressed up and wearing makeup. God forbid a woman age and not do things to be performative and appeal to you any more

The locket! This locket was a gift from Tom to Becky when they were together. She chose to put a photo of Tom in it, taken after the Nighthawks had won a big game (he had the biggest goofiest smile on his face). Note that the chain is long enough to fit underneath current Becky's clothes! She kept it all this time, Stanley told her to get rid of it, but she put it under a floorboard in their house in a simple box. When they *cough* broke up, she got the box back out but didn't wear the locket again until her and Tom inevitably meet again and reconnect. Now, she wears the locket every day, and Tom Hates that old photo of him (but in reality, he's touched that she kept it all this time). Despite that, he would never in a million years make her change it. In the worlds where they get to stay together and look after Tim, she adds a photo of Tim to the locket but still doesn't change Tom's photo. Years later Tim hates the old photo but knows how much it means to his mom.

And now for present Becky!

Wrinkles !! because that happens and is very regular ! My only thing with this piece is that I wish I would've made them a bit more prominent. Most of her wrinkles are on her glabella (above the nose, between the eyebrows) because she had them furrowed so often. she also has forehead wrinkles and wrinkles next to her eyes, as well as a permanent slight eye bag. Those sleepless nights never did her any good.

She now rocks simple pearl earrings. They get in the way a whole lot less, and aren't distracting at work. Not much to say about them (but look at how tasty the rendering is on them!!!).

Back to wrinkletown, she only has slight wrinkles on either side of her nose. After cheer, she didn't do a whole lot of smiling.

White hairs! She has gone through so much stress don't you even tell me she wouldn't be slightly greying from that. She killed her husband. Her hair colour is also oh so slightly desaturated because of more natural greying (where the hair just loses pigmentation and goes blonde or white over time, but with no singular grey hairs. man red hair is weird). She also works at the hospital, you cannot tell me she wouldn't have a few unnatural grey hairs from all the shit she's been through.

This is just pointing out the height of her collar, the locket is there :)))))

I also forgot to point out, but her lack of makeup! This absolutely leads certain people to perceive her as ""less hot"" because of how she was constantly dressed up in highschool to maintain status. She was never disingenuous about her care for the Nighthawks and her cheer spirit, but highschool. Does something to people.

And another thing, that goes over both pictures, her hair is shorter! This is to help keep it out of the way easier at work. Her hair is tied into a high pony in highschool (again, think Brenda and Stacy), so letting it down would make it a Heap longer. Now she makes a lot of her hair decisions based on what makes work most convenient.

That's it! Please if you have any questions pester me about it, Becky is my girl i love her so much <33333 and another reminder to go check out the project!!!!!!

#typing mom instead of mum hurt in the soul .. its pretend to be american time #starkid #hatchetfield #hatchetverse #becky barnes #npmd #nerdy prudes must die #hatchetfield yearbook project #hatchetfield high #art #my art #ren from mars #creativity on mars #ren rambles #<- for how many paragraphs of becky hcs there were

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mikagecorp · 1 year

Note

Reaction to seeing their S/O being so distracted by the boys being pretty and walking into a pole lol, for the ones you gave last time I’m too lazy to look for who it was

Love, Me! :)

i shoulda known it would be smth like this coming from you, but i guess i asked for it

it's also funny because my brother did smth like this and ran face-first into a street sign, and the whole pole rung like a damn bell

characters ━ itoshi rin, nagi seishiro, chigiri hyouma, isagi yoichi, bachira meguru, yukimiya kenyu

warnings ━ none

would legitimately leave you on the side of the road

walks off to hide behind a corner and pretend he doesn't know you

absolutely does not want to share the embarrassment with you, and you can't make him

after you pick yourself up off the ground and walk it off, he'll want to check on you to make sure you didn't hurt yourself too terribly

he's not that good at comforting people, but he knows how to take care of himself, so he projects that onto you

brings you ice and buys you a popsicle to take your mind off of the ache

if your face starts to bruise he'll have a panic attack, just saying

nagi legally can't laugh, because he's done this more times than he can count on all twenty of his fingers and toes

either because he was busy playing a game, or he was daydreaming, or because he was staring at his s/o

you might catch a quick smile crossing his face before it drops, but that's about it

if you need to hide your embarrassment from any passers by, he'll gladly hug you and try to soothe you

he will never forget that he saw it happen, though

the only downside is that he couldn't get it on camera

hyouma has one singular outburst before he'a able to control himself

usually he's so put together, but he's the kind of person who thinks that stuff like that only happens in cartoons

and it's not his fault because he was raised to be a reasonably calm person by reasonably calm people

he worries over your poor face, though. he'll be a lot more concerned if there's a lot of bruising from the impact, or if you cut yourself

he's very serious when it comes to injuries, even stuff like that

he might even want you to go to the doctor's office to make sure nothing is fractured in your face - just as a precaution

tries not to laugh

fails miserably

he'll feel bad for laughing (but that won't stop him from laughing regardless)

isagi can very easily soothe your spirits about the mishap - and lets you hide your face in his jacket if you really want

if your head hurts, he probably carries around painkillers and water all the time, so you're covered there

genuinely so refreshing and calm to be around, and the accident is quickly put behind you when he's around

he will undeniably LAUGH in your FACE about it

and he won't feel even the slightest bit bad about it

which only makes it funnier when it eventually happens to him, when he's goofing around and not looking where he's going

it'll likely happen within an hour of your own accident, if not two

and then YOU get to be the one that laughs at him

he's definitely gonna use it for blackmail

now, there's no telling if he's ever going to need it, or use it in any case, but he always wants to make sure

just in case, y'know

you don't even know he has it, tucked away in a photo full of embarrassing photos and text messages that should sooner never see the light of day

but they're there. they're always there

#hubble.txt #blue lock #blue lock headcanons #blue lock x reader #yukimiya kenyu #itoshi rin #bachira meguru #isagi yoichi #chigiri hyouma #nagi seishiro

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justlightlysedated · 26 days

Text

you have set your heart on haunting me forever from the start (it's never silent)

Read on AO3 [HERE]

Edwin remembers not giving much thought to what he was going to do once he escaped hell. The only thought in his head at the moment had just been get out, get out, get out.

And then, after that, Charles happened.

Of all of the things that Edwin had been expecting, Charles was not one of them. And by the time that Charles had taken his last breath, Edwin hadn't known how he was going to spend the rest of his unlife without his presence.

Charles deciding to stay behind never even crossed his mind.

Now thirty years later, he thinks back and realizes that he'd undoubtedly started falling for Charles right then in that moment.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Charles' voice startles him out of his recollection, and he blinks twice quickly before finding Charles sitting on top of the desk, perched on the corner where he always sits, tossing a baseball up and down, as his eyes dart all over Edwin's face as though he'll figure out the answer if he looks enough.

He is both entirely too close and not close enough. It's a thought that's plagued Edwin's mind as of late.

It's almost as though Charles is testing his boundaries, seeing how much Edwin would let him get away with, now that they both knew that Edwin was in love with him.

There isn't a problem with that per se, but what Charles doesn't seem to be aware of is that Edwin would let him get away with a lot.

Charles had become proprietary of his personal space, pretty much from the very beginning. And Edwin hadn't even thought to set up that boundary.

Edwin has never been someone who craved the touch of someone else. Ever since he was a child, he'd learn that touch wasn't something that he was allowed, neither to give nor to receive.

But with Charles it had always been different. Even when Edwin initially flinched away from any and every touch, Charles just became more careful. And much sooner than Edwin would have expected, he didn't have to be.

It had taken barely a year into their partnership for Edwin to become used to having Charles treating Edwin's personal space as though it were his own.

Standing too close to look over Edwin's shoulder at whatever he's holding at the time, wrapping his fingers around Edwin's wrist and tugging him away from his books and to whatever crazy scheme he'd cooked up, tapping Morse code along the inside of Edwin's forearm during cases where they had to be absolutely quiet, draping an arm around Edwin's shoulders while they walked, crashing into him whenever he could convince Edwin to dance with him, dropping to sit down next Edwin on the couch and leaning his head on Edwin's shoulder, during particularly quiet nights, when he was in a particularly quiet mood-

Edwin's train of thought is once again derailed by Charles, who kicks him lightly on the thigh.

He blinks a few times, and realizes that he's been staring at Charles this whole time Charles, who didn't look away, and is staring at Edwin with a soft expression, lips quirked in one corner, eyes bright in the dim lighting. It's the same type of look that he gets whenever Edwin rants about whatever current project he'd been researching.

He blinks a few times, trying to recall what Charles had said.

What are you thinking so hard about?

"You," he says, or more like blurts out, since it had been a while without an answer.

Charles gives him a slightly confused look before he realizes that Edwin was answering his question. The smile on his face grows wider, eyes positively sparkling as he leans down a little, "Oh yeah?"

"Quite," Edwin replies, because he's never actually learned how to successfully lie to Charles about anything.

Charles' smile gets wider, and he slides a bit closer, until he's pressing his leg against Edwin's knee and keeping it there.

Edwin inhales sharply, eyes falling to the space where they're touching.

Touching anyone still alive felt like nothing, and it took a considerable amount of conscious thought to achieve.

Touching other ghosts however felt almost like murky static, a buzzing sensation that felt stronger when the touch was intentional.

Edwin resists the urge to pull away from the touch, but also the urge to push into it.

He looks back up at Charles, who is staring at him with a look on his face that Edwin isn't familiar with, but it's been happening more and more as of late.

His eyes dart all over Edwin's face, before he's moving again, this time to lean back against the desk right in the space left behind when Edwin had pushed the chair back when thinking about Charles had taken priority over his reading.

Their legs are just barely brushing. And when Charles leans down a little, Edwin gasps quietly, eyes widening a little.

Charles just gives him a soft look, "What about me, exactly?"

Edwin opens his mouth to reply, he's not entirely sure what he was going to say when the door to the office opens, and in comes Crystal, already talking.

"I have a case for us, and before you say no it doesn't involve any witches or demons, and they'll pay us in actual cash plus a book all about deadly poisonous plants which has been passed down in our client's family line for generations."

She looks up then, furrowing her brows as she spots them.

"Sorry," she says, slowly, not actually looking sorry at all. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Absolutely not," Edwin says quickly, getting up at the same time that Charles straightens up, so that they're practically pressed close together. Too close, for too long seconds, where Edwin feels like he might actually be lightheaded even though he doesn't need to breathe, and Charles just stares at him with that same unfamiliar expression.

Crystal clears her throat, loudly. "Clearly," she says, and Edwin can hear the amusement in her voice.

Charles moves then, turning to face Crystal and smiling as he makes his way over to her.

He presses his fingers to Edwin's wrist as he goes, a touch that sends sparks down the back of Edwin's hand.

He inhales sharply, and then closes his eyes, breathing more carefully before he turns to face Crystal and Charles who seem to be having a conversation using only their eyebrows and a few head tilts.

"So," Edwin says slowly and deliberately. They both turn to face him. Charles stuffing his hands into his pockets, and Crystal crossing her arms across her chest. "What's the case?"

Crystal tells them all about the ghost she'd heard crying in an alley and how she doesn't know how she died. Crystal had told her that she was part of a detective agency that helped ghosts figure out their unfinished business, and the ghost had offered cash and the book, both which she'd buried in the park a couple of weeks previously, but she wasn't sure why. She would give them the coordinates if they took her case.

"So what do you think?" Crystal asks as soon as she's done. She's got her hands on top of the desk, leaning forward and looking at Edwin seriously. Charles is sitting once again at the corner of the desk, and Edwin is standing right across from Crystal, writing everything that she's said, and jotting down a couple of questions that would need to be answered.

He looks up when he's done, eyes on Crystal, who lifts her eyebrows in question.

"I think that we'll need to talk to the client before I can come to any conclusion."

Crystal smiles, and pushes away from the desk, "Awesome, because she's waiting outside."

She walks to the door, and Edwin looks to Charles, who is grinning as he looks at him.

"What?" Edwin asks, brow furrowed.

"Nothing," he says, standing up and moving to Edwin's side. "Just a couple of weeks ago you were trying to get rid of her, and now you're letting her choose the cases. It took me years to get that privilege."

"Yes well," Edwin says, eyes darting to the closed door and back. "Crystal is clever and discerning. Whereas you see a pretty face and invite them to stay for as long as they want."

"Oi," Charles says, pushing Edwin's shoulder with his and shooting him a quick smile. "Are you ever going to let that go?"

Edwin hums, tapping a finger to his chin like he's thinking about it, before he shakes his head, "No, I don't think so."

Charles laughs at that, turning to fully face Edwin, "Hey, it all turned out alright in the end, didn't it?"

Edwin turns to face Charles at that, reaching out impulsively, and wrapping his fingers around Charles' wrist, carefully but deliberately. "I think it turned out better than alright."

Charles' eyes dart all over his face momentarily, before he smiles, and pulls his hand from Edwin's hold, letting their palms and fingers slide against each other, sending shocks of sensation all the way up Edwin's arm, causing Edwin to inhale sharply.

"Yes," Crystal's voice interrupts the moment. "They are always like that."

They both turn towards her at the same time.

There is a young woman standing next to her. She looked to be about a couple of years older than them. Her hair was pulled away from her face and piled on top of her head, which made the sickening gash on her temple very visible. Most likely the killing blow.

"Alright then." Edwin says, pulling his jacket down. "We are the Dead Boy Detective Agency. How may we help you?"

The ghost tells them that her name is Angela Harrison, but that most people called her Angie. She was nineteen years old when she died, and had been saving up money to leave her house, but she wasn't sure why. She knew that she had lived with her parents, and was going to a local university. She mentions that she doesn't remember much after walking home from her last class of the day. And the most important bit is that she's got a neighbor who had talked to her ghostly form, asking her if she was alright, before realizing that she was dead. He'd ignored her every other attempt to talk to him, so she wasn't sure if he had actually seen her or if it had just been in her imagination.

She'd started to cry towards the end of the interrogation, so Charles herded her over to the couch, to sit next to her and pat her back.

He turns to Crystal who stays where she's leaning against the desk as she turns to Edwin.

"So," she says slowly and deliberately.

"So," Edwin replies, fast and short. "We have to interview the neighbor."

"I agree," Crystal responds, nodding her head. "I've already got the address. It's about a thirty minute bus ride from here."

She pulls out her portable telephone from the pocket of her jeans and taps the screen a few times before turning it to face Edwin to show him the bus schedule.

"The next bus will be at the nearest stop in forty minutes. Should give us enough time to prepare."

Edwin nods his head, opening his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by a peal of giggles.

Both he and Cristal turn towards the sound, to see Angie leaning into Charles while laughing and Charles grinning a charmingly boyish grin.

Edwin taps one finger lightly against the desk, and Charles' head snaps to face them like he'd banged his fist on the wood.

Edwin turns to face Crystal instead of looking back at Charles.

"Did you want me to help you make a list of relevant questions or will you be sticking to your usual tactics?"

Crystal scoffs, "No thank you. I prefer to have some empathy when I'm questioning potential witnesses."

She smiles charmingly at him, and Edwin rolls his eyes, looking away from her to find Charles stopping right next to Crystal.

"What's the plan then?"

The plan goes without a hitch. Mostly.

The hiccup comes when the neighbor, one Turner Smith, turns out to be a psychic. Not as powerful as Crystal, but it was enough that he could see Charles and Edwin.

While Crystal talks, Edwin surveys the room, taking note of the many strange artifacts and more mundane items, like paintings and exquisitely painted vases. Turner is a collector, but he doesn't actually care about the items he owns, which are mostly dusty and in disrepair. If Edwin had to guess, he'd say that this room is used to both impress and intimidate other people.

Turner flirts outrageously with Crystal instead of actually answering any questions. When she shoots him down, he moves to Charles, who doesn't bother to entertain the attention. And then finally to Edwin, who flusters under the attention, since he's not used to it at all. But tries to rally himself immediately.

"We're not here for an afternoon chat, mate," Charles snaps, once Turner places a hand to Edwin's shoulder, and Edwin moves away.

"Are you gonna answer the question or not? There is a dead girl who needs our help," Crystal continues. "And if you're not going to give me the answer. I can just take it."

Edwin knows Crystal enough by now to know that she is bluffing. But he also knows that if she has to, she'll do it.

"You can't get in my head without permission," Turner said, consonants practically disappearing with his nerves.

"Oh trust me, I can, but the real question is what are you hiding in there that you don't want anyone to see?"

She lifts a hand towards him, taking a step closer, and Turner jumps back.

"Fine," he says. "I'll tell you, but it ain't gonna come cheap."

"What do you want in exchange for the information?" Edwin asks, pulling his notebook out of his pocket.

"A kiss?" He says, looking at Edwin both hopefully and salaciously.

Charles lets out a protesting sound, taking a step forward, while Crystal makes a rude sound with her teeth.

Edwin just gives Turner an unimpressed look, "How about something that is actually feasible for you to get? Like the Mona Lisa?"

Crystal snorts at that and Edwin can see Charles relaxing from the corner of his eye.

Turner shrugs, "Can't blame me for trying."

He asks for an occult item, a stone that lights up when ghosts are near that is more of a bauble than an actual threat, and luckily enough they have one lying around in the office, to use as a light source when needed.

Edwin goes to get it while Charles and Crystal stay behind.

When he gets back, Crystal looks pissed off, and Charles looks more murderous than before.

Edwin unilaterally decides that enough is enough, and they need to leave as soon as possible.

"Here we are," he says, stepping forward and holding the stone out. "One wandering stone at your service."

Turner moves closer to him, in a sauntering way, that's meant to be seductive, Edwin thinks.

He grabs the stone with one hand and grabs onto Edwin's hand before he can lower it.

"So that's a definite no to the kiss then?"

Edwin phases his hand away from Turner's hold, taking a step back as Charles moves to step in front of him.

"He already said no once," Charles says, standing between the both of them. "So maybe you should back off, yeah?"

Turner lifts his hands in the air in surrender and takes a step back.

"Okay, okay," he says. "No need for all of that."

"You got what you wanted," Crystal says, stepping up next to Charles. "So tell us, what did you see?"

Turner the psychic turned out not to have any information really. Only that Angie's father was hardly ever around and her mother was not that nice.

They walk to the nearest bus stop, Crystal walking in front of them, doing something on her portable phone while they both walk side by side several steps behind her.

Edwin looks at Charles out of the corner of his eye, and he knows that Charles is putting the same pieces together that he is.

"Can I ask you a question, Charles?"

Charles turns his face towards him incredulously, "You're actually asking for permission."

Edwin just shrugs a little helplessly. Charles shakes his head laughing, "Ask away, mate."

"Do I look like the kind of person that would accept-" he tries to think of an appropriate word, "-physical favors in exchange for information or-"

He cuts himself off, and stops walking at the same time that Charles stops and turns to face him.

"No," Charles says firmly. "That guy was just a loathly wanker, wasn't he?"

Edwin gives him a small smile, "Still. This is the second time that it's happened."

"The second time?" Charles questions, brow furrowed, before it clears up and he gives him a knowing look, "The Cat King?"

Edwin just nods his head, and Charles just gives him an unreadable look for a long second, before shaking his head lightly and looking up to the sky. He takes an exaggerated deep breath, and then looks back to Edwin.

"I should've killed him once when I had the chance," he states, like it's a normal thing to say, and then starts to jog so that he can catch up with Crystal.

Edwin follows after him, reaching out to stop him before he gets too far. Charles stops immediately and turns to face him, raising an eyebrow in question. He looks slightly surprised that Edwin stopped him, but not entirely so.

Edwin just squeezes his fingers around wrist once, before letting go completely.

"Thank you for the offer, but I took care of it, and we left things on good terms. I think using up one of his lives would've gotten us an enemy that could make himself a real nuisance."

Charles shrugs a little, "It would've been worth it."

Edwin shakes his head, smiling, "You do know that I do know how to defend myself right?"

Charles gives him a look, "I've yet to see that actually happening, mate."

"I survived for seventy-"

"Yes, I know," Charles interrupts him. "And that was very cool and brave of you, but who was it that said that they didn't need to learn any self defense since I would be there to protect them?"

He's smiling and leaning into Edwin's space, much closer than is appropriate for the public. Edwin feels a little faint at the closeness, and his head feels like it's swimming.

"Well," Edwin says, swaying just a bit closer, eyes darting from Charles' smiling mouth to his shining eyes. "I've yet to see an occasion where you haven't."

"If you two don't stop flirting you're going to miss the bus," Crystal calls out to them.

Several people look at her like she's crazy, but she gets on the bus like nothing is wrong.

Charles and Edwin turn to look at each other once, before they start running together to get into the bus before it actually pulls away from the curb.

Crystal takes their client aside to ask her the questions about what's going on with her parents. Edwin is in theory supposed to be helping Charles, but instead he's leaning back against his desk and watching as Charles starts to meticulously pack his bag.

Edwin doesn't expect them to actually need to defend themselves against Angie's parents, but he wasn't about to tell Charles that.

Edwin closes his book around one finger so that he doesn't lose his page, and he watches Charles. He remembers the months upon months of work Charles had put into figuring out how the bag worked. How it had been the payment given for a case. Charles had insisted he figure it out, and Edwin had searched through all of the books they had, finding several that were relevant, and leaving them in places where Charles would find them.

The first time that it had come in handy during a case, Edwin hadn't been able to prevent himself from telling him how brilliant it was. A breathless, "That was amazing, Charles!" as they kept running after Charles had thrown a bomb at one of the possessed suits of armor that had been chasing after them.

And a more effervescent, "Seriously Charles, it was aces!" once they'd gotten back to the office.

Charles had smiled, wide and happy both times, and this time he'd reached over and wrapped an arm around Edwin's shoulders, tugging him in close to his side and pressing their temples together for a brief moment.

Edwin remembers gasping in the moment, the touch almost sinking into him, and shuddering a little, before Charles had let him go.

Another instance Edwin can think back on and realize that what he'd been experiencing wasn't just a response to never actually being touched, but a reaction to being in love with Charles.

"I have never seen you this spaced out," Charles says, once again interrupting Edwin's thoughts about him. "Are you still thinking about me?"

Edwin blinks a couple of times. Charles is standing in front of him, another unfamiliar look on his face, eyes shining with something that looked like interest if Edwin didn't know any better.

Edwin looks away from him quickly, clearing his throat and trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't be a complete lie, but also wouldn't be the complete truth.

"Hey," Charles says softly, reaching out a hand to turn Edwin's face back to face him, before dropping his hand back to his side. "There is no need for you to get all poked up about it."

Edwin releases a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, which was a ridiculous thing to do, since he didn't actually need to breathe. But like always, he seems to forget all about that whenever Charles is around.

"You know, I don't mind if you think about me," Charles says, like it's something that he's actually put thought into saying. "It's actually kind of flattering."

Edwin gasps at that as Charles moves closer. "Are you teasing me, Charles?" he asks, voice shaking.

"Depends on what definition of teasing you're ascribing to it," Charles responds. "If you mean, am I making fun of you, then the answer is never."

He moves even closer, hands resting on the desk on either side of Edwin on the desk, and he's so close that if they were alive he'd be able to feel the warmth coming off his skin. As it is, Edwin feels like he's buzzing, like he might just burst into a million tiny atom pieces if Charles moves any closer.

"If you mean am I flirting with you, then the answer is maybe."

Edwin swallows hard, licking his lips, "Maybe?"

"Yeah," Charles responds, leaning in even closer and tilting his head to one side. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about it. About what you said."

"You have?" Edwin questions quietly, eyes fluttering as Charles moves his hands and places them on either side of Edwin's waist.

"I've done nothing but think about it," Charles replies in an equally low voice. "And you know what I think?"

"What?" Edwin breathes, barely audible as Charles lips brush just barely against his cheek, sending sparks of sensation through him.

"That I should pack those books from the list you gave me. Don't want a repeat of what happened with the museum ghost, do we?" he says, pulling away. Edwin follows after him helplessly, not actually hearing what he'd said, until he does.

He stops and gives Charles a look, and Charles, Charles is just grinning at him,

"You, rapscallion," Edwin breathes out, letting himself slump backwards into his desk.

Charles smirks, "It's been a while since you've pulled that one out."

"Yeah, well, it's deserved," Edwin says primly, opening his book again.

He glances up as Charles laughs, almost giggles to himself as he packs the pile of books from the list that Edwin had given him earlier.

Edwin should continue to read his book. But he becomes distracted by Charles once again. The way his face scrunched up as he concentrated on putting away the books in the perfect spot where he'd be able to reach them in a hurry.

Every time he finds himself distracted he wonders how he didn't realize it before.

Why it took an extremely forward Cat King and an ultimately sweet crow turned boy, to help him realize what he was actually feeling, when he can think back on hundreds (on thousands) of moments where he was without a doubt distracted and infatuated.

"I think we should talk after the case is solved," Charles says, and Edwin blinks a couple of times and finds Charles leaning back against one of the glass cases, staring at Edwin like he'd been watching him the entire time that Edwin had been thinking.

"What about exactly?" Edwin asks, even though he already knows what Charles would want to talk about. Edwin has been lost in his thoughts a lot lately. Ever since Port Townsend, and it really doesn't take a genius to figure out why.

"About something that I've been thinking about," Charles responds, stressing the I, like he knows what Edwin had been thinking the conversation had to do with him thinking too much.

Edwin wants to ask, but before he can, Crystal is walking into the office followed by Angie.

"Alright," she says. "I've made sure that both of her parents are going to be at the house tonight. We have less than an hour to get there, so let's just go over the plan one more time."

She looks up from her portable telephone then, and darts a gaze between the two of them, raising her eyebrows pointedly at Charles, who seems to understand what she's trying to say because he shakes his head once, as subtle as he could.

Not subtle enough that Edwin didn't catch it.

While Crystal and Charles go over the plan, he tries not to spiral into what that could mean. Even if Charles is going to tell him that he could never feel anything romantic towards him, Edwin has never been more secure of his place in Charles' life.

Nothing that is coming out of the upcoming conversation is going to have the power to tear them apart. Edwin wouldn't let it, and he knows that Charles wouldn't either.

Edwin walks a few paces behind Charles and Crystal, who are walking arm in arm talking in soft voices. The case is closed. Angie has moved on. And finding out her death was caused by parental neglect and could've been completely unavoidable, had hit a chord within all three of them.

But for Edwin, the neglect of his own parents wasn't something that crippled him anymore, not after the seventy years he spent in hell. He would've given them more privacy, and gone to the office through a mirror, but he didn't exactly want to let either of them out of his sight yet.

So he strolled behind them, while writing in his notebook, finishing up the summary of every time he could recall that he'd been in love with Charles during the last thirty-five years. He'd never planned on giving him the pages after he was done cataloging his memories, but something about the words spat out by Angie's father, about how no one would ever care about a broken child like her, had made Charles so hurt and angry that he'd had to walk out of the house before Crystal was done with her interview. And Edwin had decided that Charles needed to know exactly how much Edwin loved him, despite and inspite of everything.

Every couple of minutes, Charles would glance back towards Edwin, and would nod his head a little, as though Edwin was right where Charles expected him to be, and he was glad that he was there, trailing after them.

They walk to the office, since Crystal had left her bag behind and the keys to her apartment were stuffed in one of the pockets, and Edwin knows that he's not going to follow after them when Charles walks Crystal home. He hasn't before, and he doesn't think that he should now.

It's something that they do on their own. And Edwin won't begrudge that when there are plenty of things that he and Charles share that don't involve Crystal, and the magic lessons he shares with Crystal that they ban Charles from.

Crystal grabs her bag and hugs Edwin goodbye. He pats her back once, and she grins at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Edwin inclines his head, "I hope you sleep well tonight."

She gives him a look, which tells him all he needs to know about how she's going to sleep.

Charles grins, holding the door open for her, and moves to go after her, when Edwin stops him.

"I'll be right back," Charles says. "I did say-"

"No, it's not about that," Edwin says, and then he's pulling his notebook out and finding the correct pages before tearing them out.

"Here," he folds the five pages in half, and hands them to Charles, who takes them carefully, keeping them folded, while giving Edwin a questioning look.

"It's just about a problem I've been working on for a bit," he says carefully. Not wanting to give away what was actually written, so that he wouldn't have to answer any questions until after Charles read everything. "I think I got my answer. And I think that it'll help you tonight."

Charles looks down at the papers in his hand thoughtfully and then back to Edwin, who tries not to look as nervous as he suddenly feels.

"It's just a reminder. Some reminders are good every now and again."

Charles opens his mouth to say something when Crystal's voice sounds from the street entrance.

"Charles, I'm gonna miss the bus if you take any longer!"

"Be right there!" Charles yells back and then sticks the papers into the inside pocket of his jacket.

"All right, I'll be back before you know it."

Edwin just nods his head as Charles turns and leaves.

The door closes behind him with a low click sound. Edwin turns around and walks further into the office where he has a pile of books that need to be sorted.

Edwin doesn't know how long he spends putting books away, but by the time he's done, Charles isn't back yet.

Edwin tries, unsuccessfully, not to read into that, and starts clearing things off his desk, a stack of case files, papers they no longer need, mail that needs to be sorted through, books that he's stopped reading part of the way through, too distracted thinking about Charles to actually finish reading them.

He turns with the mail in his hands, and jumps startled, letting the letters fall to the floor, when Charles walks through the wall that leads into one of the empty rooms that surround their office. Usually, when Edwin can't find him, that's where he is, messing around with the dimension trapped inside of his backpack.

He's got the pages that Edwin had handed him, and brandishes them in Edwin's face as he comes to stop right in front of him.

"Did you mean all of this?" he asks, something frantic in his tone. Like he needs to know the answer to that question more than he needs to know anything else.

"Of course," Edwin says immediately, sliding a step closer.. "It is all I've been thinking about lately."

He puts his hand to his chest, where his heart would be pounding out of his chest if he was still alive, "How this feeling crept up on me unawares. And I've come to the conclusion that it really didn't. It was always there. I just pushed it away, because I thought that that was what I was supposed to do. But it was always there, simmering beneath everything."

Charles stays silent for a long moment, eyes darting all over Edwin's face.

"I'm not expecting anything from this," Edwin feels the need to clarify. "After this last case. I just, really wanted you to know that I care, and that you are loved."

Charles exhales softly at that, and lets his hand drop. Stuffing the folded papers into his pocket before Edwin can think to ask to get them back.

Charles moves closer and anything else that Edwin had been about to say dies in his throat. Charles places his hands on Edwin's shoulders, and Edwin feels the touch sinking through him like a soporific, easing away all of the tension he'd been feeling.

"Edwin Payne," Charles says, the look on his face familiar for the amount of times that Edwin has seen it in the last couple of weeks. "You know I love you."

"I do," Edwin replies, trying very hard not to look away from Charles' face, or let the disappointment he feels show.

Charles exhales again, shaking his head, and moves his hands so that he's cupping Edwin's face, "You say that. But I don't think you do, really."

Edwin opens his mouth to speak, but Charles shakes his head. "Just listen to me, yeah?"

Edwin's dart all over Charles' face before nodding his head slightly.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking about this. Which you know is unusual. But I can't just wing this. You're my best mate. My favorite person in the entire world. It's too important."

Charles' eyes dart away from him, like he's trying to figure out how to put what he's feeling into words, and back again, looking more determined than he'd been earlier. "I've never been in love with anyone. I don't know what that feels like. But I have loved other people. I loved my mom and my friends. I love Crystal. But it's all nothing compared to what I do feel for you."

Edwin gasps at the words, and Charles smiles at him, nodding his head a little, like Edwin is finally getting something that he's been trying to tell him for years. And Edwin is just, trying very hard not to do something utterly ridiculous, like slip into the gap still left between them and fit himself into Charles like they're one being.

"You told me that I had to experience hell in order to actually see it," Charles continues, sliding his hands back down to Edwin's shoulders, and the touch makes Edwin shiver, eyes fluttering. "My hell was losing you. And no afterlife would tempt me if you aren't a part of it. I don't know if that is what being in love is, but I do think it's the closest I'll ever get to that feeling."

Edwin can't help the smile that spreads across his face, Charles isn't looking at him in the eyes, eyes to the top of Edwin's head, like he can't look at him directly, but also can't stop looking at him. And Edwin has never felt like this before, like he's going to buzz apart into tiny atoms.

"And I don't know if that's enough-"

"It's enough," Edwin says, interrupting him. Charles' eyes dart back down. "It is more than enough."

Charles smiles, small and intimate, eyes shining brightly. "Yeah?"

"Yes," Edwin replies immediately.

Charles laughs, and wraps his arms around Edwin's shoulders, pulling him into a full body hug. Edwin wraps his arms around him immediately, digging his fingers into Charles' back, pressing his face into Charles' shoulder and closing his eyes.

This is what he's been wanting. Every time Charles touched him, all he craved was Charles pressed as close to him as possible. Edwin isn't sure how he went on the last thirty years without this. Holding Charles and being held in return was what Edwin would hope the afterlife to feel like, warm and safe.

Charles sighs, melting into the touch, and Edwin just holds on to him tighter.

After a couple of minutes, which Edwin hopes will last forever, Charles turns his head, so that his lips are brushing against Edwin's ear.

"There is one thing that I'm sure about," he says, in a low voice.

Edwin digs his chin into Charles' shoulder, not really wanting to let go. "And what is that?"

Charles moves again, pulling back enough that they're face to face, and Edwin lets it happen a bit reluctantly.

Charles laughs at what must be a ridiculous look on his face, and then he leans back in, knocking their foreheads together gently.

"I want to kiss you," he breathes, and Edwin gasps quietly, eyes falling shut.

"Would you?" Edwin asks, leaning forward a little, just enough that their noses brush together.

Charles breathes out a laugh, and Edwin feels it washing over him like sunshine after being trapped in the dark for days.

"If I had known you'd be interested I would've kissed you thirty years ago."

Edwin gasps again, leaning back a little so that he can look at Charles.

Charles is still smiling, but his eyes are sincere. Edwin can just barely believe that this is actually happening. It seems like something that he's been waiting for for years, but also like something that he didn't even realize he wanted until he got it.

And if it had been anyone else, he would've probably been more nervous, but this was Charles.

Who Edwin trusted implicitly.

So instead of questioning this, Edwin takes a page out of Charles' book and goes with his first instinct.

He tightens his arms around Charles, even though it's practically impossible for them to be any closer, and leans in close, pressing his nose to Charles' cheek.

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Charles huffs put a breath, and his voice sounds rough when he speaks again, "Your explicit permission. Wouldn't want to be a repeat of your first now would I?"

Edwin just shakes his head huffing out a laugh. "You could have a repeat of my second kiss if you want instead?"

Charles makes to move backwards probably to question him, but Edwin just follows after him, and presses a kiss to Charles cheek.

Charles stops speaking, breathing in sharply.

Edwin smiles as he pulls away. Charles' eyes flutter open, and he stares at Edwin, like he can't believe that Edwin is real.

Edwin grins at the look on his face, delighted that he's able to surprise Charles after thirty years.

Charles laughs, shaking his head a little before he's moving again, fitting his hands to either side of Edwin's face as he leans in close.

"I'm going to kiss you now," Charles says, seriously.

"Are you really?" Edwin asks, not sounding as sarcastic as he's going for, leaning into Charles' touch, hands splayed along Charles' back. "Or are you just going to keep talking about it all ni-"

Charles kisses him, mouth pressed to Edwin's bottom lip, and the entire world falls silent.

Edwin can feel the soft, buzzing pressure of Charles' mouth against his own, and he's never felt anything quite like it in all of his years both living and dead.

Charles pulls away, and Edwin follows after him, kissing him again, smothering the soft sound of whatever word Charles was going to say with his mouth. Charles slides his hands to the back of Edwin's neck, and keeps him close as he kisses him back.

Charles pulls away again after a long minute, and Edwin keeps his eyes closed for a moment, before he opens them to see Charles staring at him, eyes darker than he's ever seen.

"Edwin," he breathes out, something almost awed in his tone.

"Charles," Edwin says back in the same tone.

Charles grins, happy and bright and then he's tugging Edwin back in for another kiss.

Edwin falls into the kiss, opening his mouth to Charles and making a low, surprised sound when Charles licks against his lips. He pulls away slightly, and Charles is smiling a little sheepishly. "Too much?"

Edwin doesn't answer him, he just kisses him again open mouthed and possibly too enthusiastic, but Charles takes it all in stride, digging his fingers into Edwin's jaw and tilting his head to the side and kissing him back.

Edwin loses himself in the kiss, following Charles' lead, until he accidentally snags his teeth against Charles' bottom lip, and Charles makes a low sound in the back of his throat, that makes that buzzing feeling in Edwin's throat sink to the pit of his stomach.

He drags his hands from where he'd been clenching the back of Charles' jacket into fists, and wraps his fingers in the open collar of his jacket, pushing him backwards and following after him, barely keeping their mouths pressed together.

Charles stumbles backwards, their mouths sliding apart, and he lands to sit back on the desk, toppling the pile of case files that Edwin had yet to put away to the floor. Edwin just follows after him, dropping his hands to the desk on either side of Charles' hips as he pushes in close and licks back into Charles' open mouth.

Charles' moans and wraps his fingers around the sleeves of Edwin's sweater vest, tugging him closer, parting his knees to make space for Edwin's hips between his thighs.

Edwin slides his arms around Charles' waist, and Charles drags his hands into Edwin's hair, scrubbing his fingers across his perfectly styled hair and messing it up entirely.

Not that Edwin cares, not when Charles bites against his lip, and kisses him hard and fast, like he's been starving this entire time, and Edwin was the first good meal he'd had in decades.

Edwin doesn't know how much time passes, but it feels like no time at all has passed as Charles eases away, pressing shaky fingers to Edwin's face as he does.

He's breathing hard, and Edwin would laugh at the absurdity of a ghost being out of breath, if he wasn't too busy panting as well.

Charles licks his lips and swallows hard. "That was-" he starts, trailing off, as he drags his hands back into Edwin's hair, smiling.

"Yeah," Edwin says absentmindedly, eyes drawn down to Charles' neck as he swallows hard, where the collar of his shirt presses into the skin of his throat.

"We should've done that ages ago," Charles continues, but Edwin really doesn't want to talk right now. He leans down, and presses a kiss Charles' throat, half against the collar of his shirt, and half against his skin.

"Oh, bloody hell," Charles breathes, and Edwin presses another kiss, this one harder. Charles' hands slide back into his hair and he tugs.

Edwin muffles the sound he makes against Charles' throat, and noses the fabric of his collar out of the way to drop a kiss lower on his neck.

"Edwin," Charles whines, hands dragging uselessly though Edwin's hair. "Maybe we should stop, yeah?"

Edwin hums against his skin, and bites him lightly, making Charles jump and curse.

Charles tugs Edwin's head away from his neck, and Edwin goes willingly.

"You've got to stop doing that," Charles says breathlessly as he knocks their foreheads together, gently. "Or else we're going to end up naked, and I really want to take you on a proper date before we shag on top of your desk."

Edwin laughs at that, shaking his head and leaning heavier on Charles. "Think highly of yourself, don't you?"

Charles huffs a little, "You're the one kissing my neck."

"I've never done that before," Edwin admits, "But it's not the first time I've thought about doing it to you."

Charles makes a low sound, and kisses him again, too sweet and too fast.

Edwin chases after his mouth, unwilling to let the kiss be so brief and kisses him again.

They lose long minutes like that, kissing and kissing and touching and kissing again, mouths making slick wet sounds as they kiss sloppy and deep, hands scrambling everywhere, Edwin's hands flat on Charles' back, keeping him close, Charles' hands dragging from Edwin's hair to snag in the collar of his shirt, tugging until his bowtie is undone, and back again to his hair. The edges that make them two separate people blurring until Edwin can't tell them apart, like they're trying to fuse together into the same being.

When they part this time, Edwin takes a step backwards, and Charles' hands catch him before he can get too far, fingers hooking into the sleeves of his vest. Edwin presses a shaky hand to his buzzing mouth, feeling tender and aching.

"I'm afraid," he says, swallowing thickly. "That if we had done that before, we wouldn't have gotten anything else done."

Charles laughs, the sound high and breathy, eyes squinting as he looks at Edwin.

Edwin feels it bubbling inside of him, popping in his chest like champagne bubbles, and he can't help but smile back, swaying forward a bit as he just stares at him, feeling the words he hasn't repeated since hell trapped in his throat.

"What?" Charles asks after a couple of long seconds of silence.

"I love you," Edwin says, the words falling out as easy as anything.

Charles smiles, soft and sweet and tugs him closer, wrapping his arms around Edwin's waist and bumping their foreheads together. "Love you too."

Edwin breathes out a happy sigh, letting his eyes fall shut, and he leans against him, feeling for the very first time in the over 100 years of his existence that he's exactly where he's meant to be.

#dbd fic #dead boy detectives #payneland fic #payneland #hi hello #watched this show and it ate my brain #fundamentally changed me forever #so here you go #there is no plot to be found here just vibes #and some case solving in the background #they said ghost can't feel anything and i said bet #this is like the fifth fic that i started for this show #and i have a list #but if you've followed me for a while then you know what i'm like #thank you for reading 🖤#once i figure out a summary for this i'll post it on ao3

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thelonelyshore-if · 2 months

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weird ask but im projecting so how would ROs (+ Willow but familial) react to an MC who has the most shit sleeping schedule and paces around the room sorting their life out at 4am?

I understand you so deeply Nonnie, considering I was up all night reading about unsolved math problems... ANYWAY, I hope you managed to get some rest!! Answers below <3

Beck: "Do you want something to take your mind off it?" She'd ask suggestively, reclining in bed and watching MC pace, half-asleep herself. She'd rather be sleeping right now, but if that's not an option... they could make out about it. Or more. Or, if that's also not an option, she'd suggest 'doing something fun' aka going for a ride or walking around the woods.

Croft: is used to it. They suffer from a combination of severe night terrors and intense hyperfocus, so being up at odd hours doesn't bother them. "Stop pacing, though, and c'mere. You're stressing me out. Let's talk about it." They'd offer cuddles, or, if MC is super restless, an early-morning walk. Maybe talking about it would help.

Jay: normally is asleep this early, even with MC's sleep schedule the way it is. It's been a bit of an adjustment. They would be pretty groggy, but would get up and wrap their arms around MC from behind. Rest their head on MC's shoulder and kiss their cheek. "Can I help?" they'd mumble, closing their eyes, "Or--let's go back to bed. I miss you."

Perri: is the sovereign of insomnia. Perri doesn't sleep more than a few hours a night, sometimes with an afternoon nap if they're lucky. So they're not bothered at all by MC's sleeping habits. They'd offer to make hot cocoa, grab MC's hand, and lead them up the stairs to their lookout. They'd ask MC to lay on the deck and watch the stars together. It's always been their favorite thing to do when they can't sleep.

Ravi: he's a very light sleeper, and doesn't mind if he doesn't get a lot of sleep, so he'd be perfectly happy to sit up with MC. If it seemed like they were working through something he'd offer his thoughts, but otherwise he'd be content to sit up with them doing his own thing. Reading or knitting or even one of his puzzles. He'd be happy just to spend the time with MC, no matter the hour.

Yasmin: "Again, babe?" She'd be sooo sleepy, but would be amused when she said it. She'd try to pull MC into bed, wanting to help them relax. Lots of kisses, probably offering to give them a massage. If that didn't work she'd suggest they take a bath together. Anything to be intimate and romantic and also to Get Back To Bed lmao. She needs her sleep.

Willow: "I swear you're worse than me sometimes." Willow would shake their head, but they'd also be familiar with the MC's sleeping habits. They used to share a room at the cabin, as kids. They'd probably suggest they do something together that they used to do, like put a dumb movie on the TV to fall asleep to. Willow's is nothing if not nostalgic.

#asks #interactive fiction #loved doing this one #i love romance #(and sibling shenanigans)#sighs #croft #ravi #beck #perri #jay #yasmin #willow

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mksbigg3stfan · 2 months

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yes i would like to hear you talk about radar

When Radar leaves Champion City, he's ashamed and humiliated. He's always liked things organized and neat, for everything to be predictable and manageable. So, he thought that working on Stella's inventory management team would be a good outlet for his stress. However, it was difficult for him to focus when he found Stella so insufferable. Unable to handle her crude behavior and nasty personality, he quit, and turned his back on Champion City.

Radar knows it was a spur of the moment decision, but he really regrets it. So what, she was a jerk? At least he had a job! He expects a life on the streets, foraging in the woods, imagining every worst possible outcome. What he never expected was to stumble into being Jesse, the world-renowned hero, 's intern.

He very clearly idolizes Jesse and The Order, and who wouldn't? They defeated the Witherstorm! A beast from ancient legend, stronger than the Ender Dragon, something not even the old Order of the Stone could defeat! Not only that, but Jesse is the mayor of a prospering town, Olivia is the ruler of Redstonia, Axel leads Boomtown, and Lukas is a famous writer.

Though Radar is good at organizing and utilizing his intelligence, he's a bit insecure of his abilities and projects unto himself due to people not usually trusting him due to his anxiousness. When Jesse puts their trust in him, it motivates him to try and gain a little self-confidence, bringing his strengths to light.

Radar is extremely adaptable, and picks things up quickly. He learns how to use a sword incredibly fast, and adopts a prison persona that's more aggressive to protect himself. His intelligence allows him to easily analyze situations and make quick, well informed decisions.

Jesse encourages him to use his strengths and grow, leading to Radar coming out of his shell and even ending up saving his own hero. By the end of MCSM, Radar is much more adventurous and absolutely in the head space to continue working in Beacontown. I think it's nice no matter which ending you take.

If Jesse leaves, it shows Radar that Jesse puts their trust in him, and knows he will take care of Beacontown while they're away. Besides, Radar has Lukas to help him. Even if Jesse stays, it still shows Radar that they trust him and he is valuable to them.

To be honest, Radar's dynamics with other characters are underrated and pretty much unexplored.

Stella is his ex boss who he hates, Jesse and the Order are his idols, he's weirded out by Xara..

Radar has a lot of potential to be interesting !!

#radar mcsm #mcsm #minecraft story mode #minecraftstorymode

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harrisonbrainrot · 6 months

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S/o that also has similar car mechanic aspirations as Modern!Han?

Possibly could be a hobby or interest of theirs but then don't specifically work in that field, yet when they're free they help out Han in his little personal car/motorcycle projects.

Like s/o teasing and being sarcastic towards han saying hes doing something wrong or using wrong item and him getting annoyed or something. Or just even being helpful by passing tools and parts, or holding things.

Thoughts?

I do have thots on this because I come from a line of mechanics, so here it goes:

At first it starts out as just wanting to spend time with Han while your relationship is new and fresh. Which meant a lot of time spent in his garage, music blasting, him smoking, and Chewie lounging on the cool floor. It slowly turned into a game of twenty questions every time you were in there. 'What does that do?', 'how do you know that's broken?', 'my car makes a clunking noise but it drives just fine.' Han is always amused by your questions, answering them like you were five given the fact that your knowledge was minimal at best. Then that turned into little lessons. How to change and rotate tires. How to change oil. How to check and change your fluids. Flush your lines. Change your brakes. Soon enough, your car is in the garage and he's teaching you how to fix your own.

'Hold the light right there. No, over a little more, over. Okay, stop. Jesus christ, girl..' is a common occurrence. It takes some adjustment, he's completely used to doing this on his own. He knows how to do this all on his own, he doesn't need help. However, he's not going to deny a pretty little thing her wish to get her hands dirty. Learning to hold the light right and pay attention to what he was doing was lesson one, without even knowing it.

'These are your spark plugs, they use electricity to spark the fuel. They basically.. make your car go. If there's somethin' wrong there, car no go. Got it?'

'Car no go, got it.'

'Atta girl.'

It didn't take long before you were handing him tools when he requested them, holding the nuts and bolts, reaching smaller hands into tight to fit spaces on the engine. He couldn't deny that he was thrilled that you were actually into this. He was proud he had taught you what you knew. It didn't take long before he could step back and watch you repair or replace something. He felt his chest tighten with admiration. Your grease stained hands and arms, the smudges on your face, wearing one of his old, tattered shirts. It made him glow with pride. He'd wrap himself around you, grinning into your neck. 'My lil mechanic, look at you. You're doin' so good, sweetheart.' Which would make you almost combust. You were so eager to learn and please him. He loved that about you, your ability to wiggle and worm your way into his heart and life and make him happy.

It didn't take long for you to be able to blindly hand him a tool while you had your nose stuck in one of his old car magazines. He'd stop and stare, watching your eyes as you read. It made him grin like a madman. He'd nudge your foot with his boot until you glanced up. 'Whatcha readin'? Any good?' And you'd flush slightly, paying attention to the pages again with a small nod.

'You know what I'm reading, you know it's good.'

'Yeah, sure.. but I wanna hear ya say it.'

That always earns an eye roll. 'It's so good, baby. Real riveting stuff.' He'd moan softly, tossing his head back as if he was fucking you.

'Don't care the context, hearin' that always gets me goin'...' you'd scoff and kick his leg. He was always trying to find a way to sprinkle his dirty thoughts in as many casual settings as he could. He loved it. He loved you. He knew it. He told you as often as he could. 'Love ya, girl.'

'Love you, too.. stinky.'

'Hey! Stinky? Who, me?' He'd point at himself, a frown and pinched brow directed at you.

'You smell like a guy who has been stuck in an engine in a hot garage all day... wait, that's what you've been doing.'

'Shut up..'

#modern!han #modern!au #modern!han x reader #modern!han imagine #anon ask #this sat in my drafts until i had motivation. i apologize.#han solo x reader #han solo imagines #han solo/reader #han solo imagine #han solo

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collar-shocked · 27 days

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I wanna hear about those strade hc’s (if you haven’t done a post already)

//STRADE TIME?!?! YIPPEEEEEE!!! (obviously, some warnings for this one. gets kinda nasty at the end, kinda fine-line near the midway, etc. normal strade stuff.)

Strade is a monster hidden among the public. The keyword is hidden. He's a totally normal man outside of his home. While he's ending peoples lives, he's simultaneously saving peoples days, whether it be taking on a neighbors flickering porch light just for the challenge, or stopping on a grocery trip to get something off the top shelf for a shortie- he does what he wants. And sometimes, he wants to feel like a good person, too. It brings him a sense of power, knowing to some, he'll simply be a kind man who helped out once- and to others, he will be an unspeakable creature.

Strade is a very educated, calculated, smart man. But he isn't very intelligent. Keeping people in loose binds around mountains of sharp, dangerous tools isn't the smartest idea, but he's too proud to see anything wrong with it. His air alone usually keeps his victims in check, and therefor, he hasn't given himself an opportunity to see how this could be... Not very smart? It's worked so far, so he never changed his routine. Shouldn't have left the screwdriver down there, bud.

He never excuses his behavior. He knows exactly what he is and accepts it. Loves it, even. He never denies the animal he is. And though he never feels self-conscious about it, or carries regret and or remorse, or would ever, ever apologize- it still messes with his head sometimes, in other ways. Reminds him of his own mortality. Reinforces his ego. Oh, poor poor Strade, woe is he, why do these thoughts have to plague him?

Strade does what he wants, when he wants. This means he falls into the very rare phase of wanting to be better. Specifically, towards Ren. He's a good sport. Makes him happy. Sometimes Strade likes making him happy, too. There's no better praise to be had than from the one person who depends on you entirely. To hear he's good, to hear he's so generous, so kind, so beloved- the validation is always unmatched. Every good dog deserves a treat once in a while. His dog just so happens to enjoy those and'knee-may figurines. All the soft pets, warm cuddles, nice words, and vanilla sex only lasts for so long, however. He falls out of these phases quick- though, poor Ren has no idea when it'll happen. He is easily coaxed into traps because of this.

Strade would like to be a content creator someday. NO, not one wrapped up in his unusual hobby, he's already pretty popular in those spaces. But sometimes he wishes he could turn on that stream and just talk. Just have some normal company made up of people who get it to hangout with while getting some household chores done. He does sometimes feel used, the way his audience only wants him to get on with the gutting. Strade is just a man at the end of the day, and all men get lonely.

He doesn't see people any differently than they are. He's aware they're people. Not livestock, not an art project, not a soul to release, not something to dabble with- just people. He sees no spiritual potential in a specific person when he selects his next victim, it's just.. Whoever seems easiest. Whoever seems cute enough for an audience. Whoever looks most lost. With this veiled experience under his belt, he can easily spot a predator in public. And believe it or not- he does his best to come in between a potential danger and their victim of choice. He's protective of his work, but aside from that, he also likes being an asshole. He can read those intentions. He knows how delicious those kinds of evil games are. He loves being able to take that away. Loves being a beacon for a helpless little lamb, all because they're not his first choice.

Strade is considered a good, friendly neighbor! He gets along well with the people he lives next to, does a lot of favors, is nice to the kids running up and down the block- Offers to fix shit for free, offers rides if the distance is short enough, stops to chat when seeing a familiar face- the usual good-guy routine. But he never lets them close enough to know him. He's just a guy with a nice smile and good attitude. In a lot of his deeds, however, small hints and red flags are laced through his behavior, and venom can be found in his words. Putting your hand on a neighbors knee while they're in your car, at your mercy, is kind of a weird thing to do. He loves the way people are always slightly off-put, but since he's so nice, they'd rather be polite and take it.

Strade will often play up his accent in public as a minor safety net, had anyone ever call him out on something weird he said. Can always excuse it as just a slip of foreign tongue.

He makes up a different story for each time he's asked about the scar on his face.

His first few incidents occurred when he was still pretty young. He really did try desperately, at the time, to stray from these acts- but at some point he just accepted the fact that he's kind of weird, and he will keep hurting people. There's no point in beating himself up over it every single time. So now, his low moments are restricted to ending people he became particularly attached to. Note, he isn't sad their life was cut short, he's sad they're not around to play with anymore.

Only Ren could tell you how Strade sounds while singing. He has a lovely humming voice. A very silky, low tone with a bit of gruff as he occupies himself. Anything that's not humming is.. Well, he's having fun!

Strade has his morals in order, funnily enough. Again, he knows the monster he is- doesn't mean he can't be a decent person when being a person. He would absolutely punch a terf. He would also not hesitate to become one if he knew it bothered or distressed a victim, but that doesn't mean he means it. This rule applies for literally anything.

Strade's ego and pride is such a big part of him. However, despite it being rarer than rare, he can, and sometimes does feel shame. Shocker, I know. But had anyone, anyone, even his fox find out about his interest in Sounding, it would be over. He penetrates. He does not get penetrated. Makes him feel weak, and small. But he likes it, and lord knows he can't stop doing anything he likes. (Bonus: Ren knows. He's just afraid of what may happen if Strade knows he knows. He "cleans" the toy for him in his absence as a filter, instead of taking it up with him.)

//I THINK I GOT IT ALL OUT. THANK U, I HOPE U ENJOY.

#Headcanons'#HCs #Muse #Muse Notes

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ciaossu-imagines · 5 months

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I spin off exploring Yamapapa’s past… I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s thought of this before or thought of him extensively in general. He’s such an interesting character and there’s so much to explore there!!! We need more of him 😭

Why/when did he start learning to use the sword? Why did he stop? What was his master like? Why did he become a sushi chef? So! Many! Questions!

-R

Okay, so I struggled a little bit to answer this, but not because I don't have the ideas. I have so, so many ideas and thoughts and love for this man. I actually struggled because, all things willing and if I allow myself the time, not only will you guys all actually see this written as an actual 'light novel' style format (without the pretty pictures, unless I can start affording commissions), but you'll have most of it, if not all of it, by the end of 2025, along with similar 'Secret Bullet' side-novels, all in varying stages of completion, written by me (so not at all officially canon) for Shamal's past, and the Arcobaleno's pasts, the lead up to that fateful day they became Arcobaleno's, and the direct aftermath of that for each of them. Those are all projects, along with some self-indulgent stuff I want to work on with OC's and self-inserts and just fun little things over the next couple years. So when answering this, I kind of wanted to cover everything but also kind of just wanted to go bare basics so you guys wouldn't be too spoiled. I kind of tried to hit a happy medium and hope you enjoy the headcanons I did provide.

First off, let's go with the obvious. For any of you wondering how you should go about picturing younger Tsuyoshi...there's really a huge father-son resemblance. Tsuyoshi looked a lot like Yamamoto does currently, except a little broader and with a bit sharper of features.

That's not the only similarity between father and son though. Tsuyoshi even acts a lot like his son does during the actual manga. Growing up, he was sociable, friendly, good-natured, seemingly laid back with a hidden very serious side, athletic and honestly, he was always popular with not only his peers but the adults around him as well, who always commented on what a nice boy he was.

He comes from a good home, with two happily married parents who love him and support his interests and hobbies. His family isn't rich, but they're not poor either. His love of cooking was actually fostered from a young age. His mother's dream had always been to open a noodle shop of her own and his father also enjoyed cooking, so it became a family affair that Tsuyoshi was allowed to join in on as soon as his little hands were able to actually be put to good. Cooking the family meals together and then sitting down to enjoy their hard work are some of Tsuyoshi's favourite childhood memories, to be honest.

I do think, around the age of five, that Tsuyoshi was blessed with a little sister who he really doted upon. They had a real strong bond and that was, for all extents and purposes, his best friend, even while he had many other friends.

I think Tsuyoshi gained an interest in kendo around that age too and he really threw himself into the sport, practicing and training in it for years. He wasn't fantastic at first but he really pushed himself, much like his son does with baseball, and he genuinely loved doing so. With his hard work, dedication, and natural athleticism, he really did hone his skills and was winning championships within his first couple years of the sport.

This really continued up until he was in middle school, when an incident with his sister being caught up in some bullying Tsuyoshi was receiving from those jealous of his success in a kendo tournament happened. His sister was gravely injured, to the point she was hospitalized with a severe concussion, among some other lighter physical injuries, that resulted in some permanent memory issues and a slight speech impediment. Of course, the speech impediment and memory issues led to her getting bullied by classmates afterwards and moving forward and his formerly super-cheerful and perky sister started to become depressed.

I think that's what really drove Tsuyoshi to want to study the sword more seriously. While he had thought his kendo skills enough to really protect those precious to him, he'd experienced first hand that they really weren't enough. He wanted....no, he needed, to gain enough power to protect those he loved if anything were to ever happen again.

I think it was his former kendo teacher who really introduced Tsuyoshi to the woman who would become his master. The former generation's Shigure Soen Ryu successor and the creator of the Shibuki Ame, she saw Tsuyoshi's earnestness, his resolve, and his good heart and took him into her school.

I think she was a very strict teacher, but also incredibly fair. She did genuinely care for and, in her own way, deeply respect and love every single one of her pupils. While she pushed them hard, wasn't hesitant at all to attack them pretty harshly while training, and demanded improvement and dedication, she also would take extra time to help anyone who was struggling, would offer counsel and words of wisdom. She also didn't mind Tsuyoshi's sister often tagging along to her brother's practice sessions, since Tsuyoshi hoped it would cheer her up.

It's in this school that Tsuyoshi realizes that he's actually incredibly gifted, quite naturally so, in the use of a sword and he quickly makes a name for himself. Not only that, but he quickly finds himself popular among the students. That is, of course, nice, but Tsuyoshi also goes out of his way to befriend the one student nobody else seems to like. The previously best student, the boy is more shy, almost anxious about talking to people, and suffers from some self-esteem issues he hides behind bravado and harsh words. Of course, all that effort to hide those bad feelings behind those kind of things doesn't exactly endear him to the other students, who only see the front he puts on. Tsuyoshi gets to know him better and the two become fast friends and friendly rivals. A girl from the class (who will later on become Tsuyoshi's bride) rounds out the foursome of Tsuyoshi, his sister, his rival, and this girl. They really spend a lot of time together, become the closest friends all the rest have.

That rivalry though...it starts to get less and less friendly as time goes on, especially when the two are chosen as the potential successors to Shigure Soen Ryu. By that time, there are also other bad feelings festering on the side of Tsuyoshi's rival. See, not only is he always feeling inadequate to Tsuyoshi, but Tsuyoshi has started dating the other girl, spending most of his time with her, and his rival and best friend is feeling left out. Add to that the rival's long-standing love for Tsuyoshi's sister, which he has confessed to her numerous times, to always get rebuffed. The rival really blames Tsuyoshi for that too, thinking that he's poisoning his sister against the rival (and in some ways, he's not entirely wrong, as Tsuyoshi is an overly protective big brother and does see some troubling things in his friend that, though he loves the boy like a brother, he doesn't feel would be well suited for a man worthy of dating his sister).

It culminates in Tsuyoshi getting handed his master's Shigure Kintoki before the rival does, getting the chance and the master's confidence in him becoming the official successor.

That's right...while a lot of people have the friend Tsuyoshi is saving during that typhoon as the other potential successor, and I've worked myself with that idea before and see a lot of merit and potential in it, I really see it the opposite. His rival and former best friend is the person he's protecting his friend from during that typhoon.

His best friend. His flesh and blood. And his friend turned more. All three had been coming from the school, located in the mountains and quite the walk for them, when the typhoon really starts to get insanely bad. The rival had been waiting and ambushes them.

I won't go into all the details but I will say Tsuyoshi's sister...she doesn't make it out of that fight and Tsuyoshi walks out of that fight not only knowing that, despite becoming the official successor during it, he had not only failed to save his best friend but he had taken the life of another friend. He'd failed in all his goals in taking up the sword and defiled its purpose to protect by taking a life.

Though Tsuyoshi still holds the sword in high regard and still knows that Shigure Soen Ryu is invincible, flawless, and perfect, he feels he's too dirty in some ways to hold Shigure Kintoki. It rests in a closet in his house for the longest time as he finds other ways to live his life, to continue on. While he battles his own demons, his girlfriend stays by his side, supports him, and her love really does keep him from going too off the rails. She gives him something to initially live for.

After graduating middle school, he gets a job in a sushi restaurant instead of going into high school where he really finds a new interest and passion for making sushi. He studies under the restaurant's itamae until he reaches that rank too. By that time, his girlfriend has become his bride.

Tsuyoshi opens his own restaurant on the same day he finds out he's going to become a father.

#replies #katekyo hitman reborn #khr #tsuyoshi yamamoto #i loved writing this #so happy #i love this man so much #also yeah #it is impossible for me to write something and not introduce all the angst and tragedy #sorry!

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