#i sketched these on a piece of paper at work earlier and it made me feel better :-)

[squuote]

big fan of when narrator is just a pair of hands. thing addams family style, sit on stanley’s shoulder

#the stanley parable #tspud #tsp stanley #tsp narrator #tsp #crows art #i actually had one more sketch to go here but #i think its funnier with just these two #i sketched these on a piece of paper at work earlier and it made me feel better :-) #i love stanley violence <3

[cranberrymoons]

here you are, standing there

prompt: bakery au (@steddieholidaydrabbles) rated: t word count: 880 tags: flirting, meet cute at the farmer's market, baker steve, writer eddie

There’s a farmer’s market in the park at the end of Eddie’s block which turns into a Christmas market as the weather gets cold.

He likes to bring his coffee there on Saturday mornings and find a seat on his favorite bench, just out of the way enough to be perfect for people watching but still close enough that he feels like part of the action. He brings a notebook with him when he does this, to scribble little thoughts to himself or sketch out an idea if he’s working on a new book, but mostly he just takes in the crowd and the air and the way people talk to each other as they shuffle past.

Like the bakery stall right across from his bench, with the stupid hot booth guy. 

Eddie doesn’t know if he’s the owner or a baker or just some college kid they hired to swipe people’s cards on his little iPad thing, but holy shit. Half the sketches in his book are of this guy's eyes or his hands or the special changing way the sun hits his face in the earlier parts of the morning, when it’s just coming up over the tops of the trees in the park.

It’s not creepy; he’s doing character research. He’s… observing the world around him. He’s a writer. Shut up.

He’s doing exactly this one Saturday morning in mid-November about a week before Thanksgiving when a shadow falls over his book. He glances up slowly, eyes trailing up from Hot Booth Guy’s hands to the sunny pattern of flowers embroidered on his apron and all the way up to his face where he’s standing two paces out of reach and staring down at Eddie with an amused little smile on his face.

And – fuck, he’s even hotter up close; Eddie had sort of hoped, for his own sanity if nothing else, that he’d be one of those people who looked weird on closer inspection, but nope. Here he is in all his square-jawed, golden-tanned Hot Booth Guy glory.

He raises his eyebrows and Eddie clears his throat. 

“Um,” he says intelligently. “Hi.”

Hot Booth Guy’s smile widens, and he lets out a little laugh. 

“Hi.” He holds out a crinkly paper bag, and Eddie blinks down at it. “Thought you might want some breakfast.”

Eddie tilts his head to the side. “But I didn’t buy anything?”

Hot Booth Guy nods. “That’s correct.”

He holds the bag out again and wiggles it at him until Eddie accepts it, narrowing his eyes as he peeks inside at the perfect crackly flaky croissant nestled inside. He rips off a piece of it and pops it in his mouth, and Hot Booth Guy smiles as he watches him eat.

“Thank you,” Eddie says. He takes a breath. “This is… really good. Just – why?”

Hot Booth Guy shrugs a little, shoving his hands in his apron pockets. 

“You’re here every weekend and you never stop by,” he says. “Thought I might lure you in with one of my croissants since nothing else was working.”

Eddie lets out a surprised laugh as he takes another bite of croissant. It really is a fucking great croissant. He squints into the sun as he looks up. 

“Lure me in?” 

“Yeah, gotta –” Hot Booth Guy mimes a lasso, throwing it in Eddie’s direction and using it to pull himself a step closer. “One of us has to make the first move. You obviously weren’t going to, so.”

And Eddie feels his cheeks heat in spite of the slight chill in the air. He raises his eyebrows. “I didn’t realize there were moves to be made.”

Hot Booth Guy just smiles. “What’s your name?”

“Eddie,” Eddie says. “Not – I mean, I am, and… you are, just –” He takes a breath. “I’m a writer. I just like to people watch sometimes? It helps me get dialogue down in my head. The rhythm of the way people talk? Things like that.”

Hot Booth Guy smiles. “So you’re not interested in getting lunch after one of the Saturday markets?”

Eddie raises his eyebrows as he takes a sip of his coffee. “You haven’t even told me your name yet.”

Hot Booth Guy taps his apron, just above the flowers, where Steve is embroidered in sloping pink cursive. 

“Oh,” Eddie says.

“Oh,” Steve repeats. “I’m just saying, if you’d bought a muffin or a cookie or even a bagel at any point this summer, you would have –”

“Okay,” Eddie says, smiling in spite of himself even as he flushes. “I get it.”

“You would’ve gotten my name weeks ago. Probably even my number.”

“Oh, was that embroidered on your hat?”

Steve laughs, and he’s so, so lovely when he laughs, big smile and crinkled eyes, and Eddie feels something fizzy and sweet curl in his chest. He finishes the croissant as Steve’s laugh quiets down, and Eddie smiles up at him as he wads the bag into a ball and tosses it into the trash next to them.

“So?” Steve asks. “Lunch? Preferably today so I can start the wooing process before the Christmas rush really kicks in.”

Eddie nods a little, folding his notebook shut against his knees. “I’d like that,” he says. “The wooing, and also the number.”

[also on ao3]

#steddie #steddie fic #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steddieholidaydrabbles #my fic

[kylobith]

The Languages and Linguistics of Middle Earth

Gin suilannon!

In the context of my minor programme in Celtic studies and languages, I am following a course called From Táin to Tolkien and Beyond, and today, we had a guest lecture about the languages of Middle Earth, more particularly Sindarin. Since it might be useful to some of you (out of curiosity or for your fanfictions), I thought I would share my notes and my conversations with the guest lecturer here. This was a very linguistics-driven lecture, so I will try to add explanations where I can and, hopefully, make the information more accessible. If you have any questions, you can react to this post or DM me! And beware, this is a very long post. So, without further ado, here is what I learnt.

✽ Notes on Historical Linguistics, Manuscript Tradition and the Languages of Tolkien's Middle Earth by Dr. Aaron Griffith

✣ Shared histories of languages and manuscripts are often visualised with tree diagrams to see the evolution and how they branch out

✣ Little material was published about Middle-Earth and the Elves during Tolkien's lifetime -> Most of it is part of the Legendarium -> Main periods of writing (here we only mentioned the writing processes or when a project was finished, not when they were published): - The Lost Tales (1916-1926): infancy of the Elvish languages - Sketch of The Silmarillion (1926-1930): revision of The Lost Tales and some changes brought to Elvish - Quenta Noldorinna (1930): further reworking and significant expansion of the sketch - The Hobbit (1933): originally intended as an unrelated story - Quenta Silmarillion (1937): fullest expansion of The Lost Tales and significant refinement of the languages - The Lord of the Rings (1950s): use of the mythology of all the earlier writings as a basis, reworking of the languages and massive changes in their interrelations - The Silmarillion (post-1948): based on Quenta Silmarillion, which was heavily revised after The Lord of the Rings

✣ Tolkien rarely dated his works and compositions, so it is difficult to establish a precise creative process or linear chronology of the changes brought to Middle Earth. However, he did leave us some clues: - Absolute Dating -> occasionally, Tolkien did attach dates to his manuscripts, but it remained a rare occurrence - Relative Chronology -> some compositions are dependent on changes to earlier works, so a logical chronology can be estimated (this can also be made possible by the scrap papers from Tolkien's personal records and drafts) - Handwriting -> can be misleading, but it can be a helpful tool to date pieces of distinctly different chronological layers - Nomenclature -> Tolkien frequently changed character names, so particular names can be matched with letters and extracts in which they appear - Christopher Tolkien -> his manuscript order from the twelve-volume The History of Middle-Earth series

✣ Critical asymmetry -> languages frequently split into dialects and other languages of their own, but when manuscripts are retraced according to their version of the same text (think of Arthurian romances and oral tradition being recorded at different points in time and therefore presenting different themes or characters), narratives (stories) cannot be regrouped as easily -> However, there are 2 relations between stories and languages: 1. How changes can propagate in a language system or narrative tradition 2. The relations of language families in real- (at the time of composition) or book-time (time as it passes in the stories)

✣ In natural language, change moves forward in time. This is a trend which also applies for errors in manuscript copies (irregularities in tropes, character changes, etc.)

✣ In stories, a plot development can be carried forward just like a sound can evolve in a language. However, change can occur backwards, too. For example, if a character's ancestry is modified, this can change the whole manuscript history of the story being written (by this, understand that the story must be readapted to fit the new information to maintain some consistency).

✣ Historical linguistics is concerned with the study of language change and the formation of language families (Romance languages, Germanic languages, Slavic languages, etc.). It does so by examining and comparing systems from different languages to see if they can be retraced to an original, common system (Welsh and Irish stemming from Proto-Celtic, for instance).

✣ Some of Tolkien's languages were intended to be related. The following languages and dialects are related in a clear, 'historical' structure, which mimics the way that languages evolve in our world: - Quenya - Sindarin - Lindarin - Noldorin - Telerin - Doriathrin - Ilkorin

✣ Elvish languages were constantly revised by Tolkien, making it challenging to determine a single 'history' (or creative process) of Elvish tongues. In their case, it is more accurate to speak of a series of histories or continua, which refer to the times at which Tolkien brought significant changes (often 1916, 1937 and post-1948). A tree diagram is thus no longer fitting to visualise them all. The diagrams overlap in a three-dimensional visualisation instead, with each layer representing the changes of each major revision.

✣ Some changes were brought solely for aesthetic purposes. Tolkien found the phonetics of Welsh and Finnish particularly pleasing to the ear and, therefore, based Sindarin and Quenya on their structures. As you probably already know, these are the two most-developed languages in the lore of Middle Earth, but he fleshed out at least four other Elvish languages (Telerin, Ilkorin, Doriathrin and Danian). There were generally more changes in Quenya (abbreviated Q).

✣ What was originally Noldorin (abbreviated N) in the 1916 and 1937 versions is now Sindarin (abbreviated S). After 1948, Noldorin became a dialect of its own, and its place in the language tree shifted. The terms and grammar remained rather consistent from one version to the next. -> example: 1916: N Balrog 'fire demon' (bal- 'anguish' + -róg 'strong') 1937: N Balrog 'fire demon' (bal- 'torment' + rhaug 'demon') 1948: S Balrog 'demon of might' (bal- 'might' + raug 'demon')

✣ Such modifications reflected the major changes brought to the stories (especially to what we now know as The Silmarillion), but they also mirror the natural linguistics evolution of real-life languages. This causes a problem, namely in the emergence of 'linguistic orphans', or words whose etymology was no longer valid because the linguistic or sound laws that birthed them in the first place were removed. -> example: Eärendil (Q 'lover of the sea', ayar- 'sea' + -ndil 'lover') 1916: eären was the genitive form (or possessive form) of eär, so the compound made sense. 1937: eäron replaced eären, but Tolkien remained particularly attached to the previous version because of the Old English éarendel -> this created a disruption in etymology, so he declared that eär/eären meant 'sea'

✣ Major sound changes introduced with The Lord of the Rings

✣ Tolkien introduced lenition in some grammatical cases. In Celtic languages, it is a rather common occurrence. It consists in the softening of a consonant at the start of a word according to certain rules. For example, the sound [p] is softened into a [b]. My knowledge of Irish is non-existent, but it is something which happens in Middle Welsh (c.1100-c.1400) and Modern Welsh. -> example: before 1972, Tolkien suggested that the name Gil-Galad ('star of brilliance', 'brilliant star') was lenited, which means that the second component of the name stems from the word calad (lenition causes the c to soften into a g). -> However, he stated in a letter in 1972 that lenition no longer occurred if 'the second noun functions as an uninflected genitive' (in other words, that the possessive is not marked with an apostrophe, 'of the', or any other marker that applied in Sindarin). This explains the merging of ost 'start' + giliath 'fortress' into Osgiliath 'fortress of the start'. If giliath was lenited, the name would instead be Osiliath or Ostiliath (when lenited, g disappears at the head of the noun). -> There is one noted inconsistency regarding the 'rule' above, and it is the case of Eryn Vorn 'Dark Forest'/'Forest of Darkness'. Eryn is a plural form of oron 'tree' and morn acts as a noun (but it is usually the adjective for 'black, dark' and morne is the noun referring to 'darkness, blackness'). Due to Welsh vowel change rules in certain plural forms, morn becomes myrn, and this very same plural form should accompany eryn (both adjective and noun adopt a plural form). Instead, we find a singular form of morn which is lenited (m becomes v). This is possibly an error accidentally left in by Tolkien.

✣ The nature of Noldorin/Sindarin makes Elvish languages rather realistic in their evolution compared to real-life languages, because irregularities occur. Dr. Griffith argues that languages naturally show irregularity because of gradual changes and borrowed words, but he acknowledges that accidents are sometimes just that. Accidents.

✽ Notes on the lecture by Dr. Aaron Griffith

✣ A general interest in creating new languages emerged in the 19th century. It was believed to be a tool which could help resolve political conflicts by creating a sense of cohesion and avoiding miscommunication. This is evident in the creation of Esperanto.

✣ In most cases of invented languages, the language was invented first, and the world or context they belonged to was formed from there. Tolkien worked exactly the other way around.

✣ Tolkien aimed to create an English myth, because he considered that England lacked its own mythology. King Arthur is generally considered Celtic in essence (possibly Welsh) and therefore could not apply as an English myth. This could explain why he retained the Gregorian calendar throughout The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It served as a familiar bridge between Middle Earth and England/the real world.

✣ In original maps of Beleriand, there used to be land west of Ered Luin (the Blue Mountains northwest of the Shire). This was changed in later maps, which Tolkien designed and drew himself. Often, Arda was depicted as a globe with several continents. Afterwards, Tolkien decided that Arda was, in fact, flat.

✣ Backstory of the Elves (I have no knowledge of The Silmarillion, so if I did not use the right terms or names, please feel free to correct me!): - Elves first came into existence in Cuiviénen and were invited by the Valar to join them in Valinor, meaning that they had to cross the continent and the ocean - Not all Elves made it to Valinor, however. Some decided to separate from the main group and settled in different areas of Middle Earth, like in Greenwood (later known as Mirkwood). This caused the language they spoke to evolve into different dialects and, sometimes, completely separate languages - Elves returned to Middle Earth after the war against Morgoth (S; Q Melkor), aided by Númenorians - The West was physically separated from the rest of Arda by a 'cut' through the ocean. The gods then shaped Arda into a globe, but once past the portal to the Undying Lands, it was flat again.

✣ Most often, Tolkien did not provide translations of the phrases he peppered into his works, mostly because he believed that nobody would be interested in them. Once he received enthusiastic letters from readers, he decided to attach them to later versions. He did regret publishing the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, however, because the changes felt too 'final' and he felt as though he took away his own liberty to make further revisions to the material (once it's published, you cannot go back).

✣ Tolkien created quite a lot of poetry to match the phonological aesthetics of Sindarin and Quenya.

✣ Outside The Lord of the Rings, the longest source we have in Sindarin is The King's Letter, which was originally supposed to be part of the epilogue in The Return of the King but was not in the final version because he wrote it in the 1970s. In this letter written entirely in Sindarin, Aragorn (then King Elessar) invites Sam, Rosie, and their children to visit him and Arwen in Minas Tirith.

✣ Sindarin grammar is tricky to reconstruct because of the lack of sources on the matter and the complicated grammar revisions that Tolkien brought. However, we do know that it is loosely based on Welsh, which he confirmed in 'English and Welsh' in The Monsters and the Critics (published posthumously in 1983). He aimed to recreate the same 'pleasant' sounds that he found in Welsh for Sindarin. If the reader knows how to pronounce the Welsh alphabet, then they can easily pronounce Sindarin.

✣ Secondary sources on Sindarin: - A Gateway to Sindarin by David Salo. Salo worked as a language consultant on the films, but his book has been criticised by Tolkien scholars because it tends to ignore the changes between 1937 and 1948 and it treats Noldorin as a dialect of Sindarin, which is no longer the case from 1948 onwards. - The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth by Ruth S. Noel

✣ Primary sources are very incomplete, but the main ones we can use to observe the language are the following publications: - The Lord of the Rings - The Lost Road and Other Writings - The War of the Jewels - The Peoples of Middle-Earth

✣ As established in the previous section, Sindarin follows some of the grammatical rules present in Welsh and pre-modern Welsh. We encounter mutations, especially lenition (also called 'soft mutation' because of the sounds becoming softer, e.g. p becoming b), and they play a crucial role in the structure of Sindarin. Below is a comparison of soft mutation/lenition in the context of Welsh and then in Sindarin. -> Welsh: dyn 'man' + teg 'attractive' = dyn teg 'attractive man' merch 'girl' + teg 'attractive' = merch deg 'attractive girl' -> soft mutation after a feminine noun, t is softened into a d -> Sindarin: Perhael 'Samwise' (literally 'half-wise') Berhael 'Samwise' -> lenition when used as a direct object in a clause, p softened into a b Carm Dum 'Red Valley' (capital of Angmar) -> uses tum 'valley', but it is lenited when acting as an adjective or an adverb, t softened into a d

✣ Other forms of mutations exist in Sindarin, but this part of the lecture is quite technical and does require a basic knowledge of Welsh or Middle Welsh to be comprehensible. Feel free to message me if you wish to know more about them.

✣ Mutations arose from sound changes that affected phrases (intonational units). In other words, they are groups of words that have a single principal accent (or stress) to fluidify the manner of speech and convey a sense of emphasis. For instance, not every word is stressed separately in the sentence 'I am going to the supermarket'. The stress is applied by the speaker to highlight their meaning. Is 'I' emphasised to insist that it is 'I' who is going to the supermarket? Is 'supermarket' stressed to insist that it is the supermarket that I am going to, and not another location?

✣ Mutations are inherited from Welsh and its earlier forms. The same is true between Pre-Sindarin (or what Tolkien then referred to as Noldorin) and Sindarin. -> Welsh: atar evolved into adar 'bird' (lenition of t into a d) -> Sindarin: atar evolved into adar 'father' (same pattern)

✣ No cases in Sindarin verbs, unlike in Quenya. This means that there is no Nominative, Genitive, Dative or Accusative.

✣ Like in Welsh, again, some plural forms of nouns involve what we call a vowel change. This means that according to a regular pattern, the vowels contained within a noun are not the same between their singular and their plural forms. In Sindarin, the vowel change and suffixes help to mark plurals. As far as I'm aware, the changes are identical in Welsh, so if you wish to use Sindarin in your own work, have a look at the vowel changes rules and you should be able to form your own plurals. Please note that it occurs with both non-final and final syllables. -> examples: - adan 'man' -> edain 'men' - certh 'rune' -> cirth 'runes' - annon 'gate' -> ennyn 'gates' - amon 'hill' -> emyn 'hills' - mellon 'friend' -> mellyn 'friends' - Dúnadan 'Man of the West' -> Dúnedain (u is not affected)

✣ Suffixes are another way to mark plurals. -> examples: - harad 'south' + rim 'multitude' = Haradrim 'Southrons, Men of the South' - hadhod 'dwarf' + rim 'multitude' = Hadhodrim 'Dwarves (as a race)'

✣ Compounds are common as well. -> example: - morne 'darkness, blackness'/morn 'dark, black' + ia 'pit, gulf' = Moria

✽ Questions I asked Dr. Griffith directly and his answers

✣ Q: In your article and in the PowerPoint presentation, you sometimes mark terms with an asterisk first (e.g. *rokko-khēru-rimbe when you discuss the origin of the term 'Rohirrim'). What does this notation refer to? ✣ A: An asterisk before a form means that it is not actually found anywhere, but we assume it must have existed. In this case, *rokko-khēru-rimbe is the form of Rohirrim as it would have been pronounced in Old Sindarin, but we don't actually have the word anywhere in a written text

✣ Q: For Rohirric/Rohanese, we know that the language that Tolkien based it on was Old English and that terms were directly borrowed from it (e.g. grīma 'mask' or þeoden 'lord, prince, king'), or that names and phrases from Beowulf have been peppered in the lore of Rohan (e.g. Éomer is a character mentioned once, and the first line sung by Miranda Otto in the 'Lament for Théodred' is a line from Beowulf as well). Unfortunately, it seems that the sources on the languages are few, but do we know his reasoning or process in tweaking and applying Old English to create Rohirric/Rohanese? Do we know, perhaps, how the grammar differed from Old English? ✣ A: We don't really know anything about the language of the Rohirrim. Tolkien chose Old English as a sort of cipher. What I mean is: the language of Middle Earth is called Westron, and the Rohirrim spoke a very archaic dialect of it. Tolkien represented this by having them use Old English/archaic forms. He talks about this in one of the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, though I don't remember which one.

✣ Q: In your opinion, is it realistic to compose texts in Quenya or Sindarin, considering that we do not really have a cultural context behind them that is fully explicit? By this, I mean that since idioms and certain concepts are intrinsically tied to their cultural context, is it possible to actually use the Elvish languages to compose new texts altogether? ✣ A: It is possible to compose texts in Quenya and Sindarin. People do it. Obviously, some things are simply impossible to know: how would you say 'computer' or 'shopping mall'? And for other things, we cannot really know since only Tolkien really had the 'true understanding' of Elvish languages and cultures necessary for some text production. That said, people do do it. I don't know much about it, though, I'm afraid.

For those who are interested, I have Dr. Griffith's article, the PowerPoint presentation with sources and vocabulary on it, as well as a handout with Noldorin and Old Noldorin. Dr. Griffith also sent me some extra sources, let me know if you want me to send them to you! If you have questions, I can always try to contact Dr. Griffith again, he is the coordinator of my Middle Welsh course, so I'm bound to bump into him again, and he is genuinely excited to discuss all things Tolkien :) @konartiste @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras @lucifers-legions @emmanuellececchi @hippodameia

#Tolkien #Elvish #Elvish languages #Sindarin #Quenya #Noldorin #linguistics #Middle Earth #Lord of the Rings #LOTR #Tolkien's linguistics #masterpost #reference #lotr ref

[kairiscorner]

ok i have yet to listen to the taylor swift song (i'm sorry) but imagine miles gifting you these :))

(reblogs are greatly appreciated, it helps get my content out there! if you guys like what you see, please reblog it too <:D)

i like shiny things, but i'd marry you with paper rings. – miles 1610 x reader

bored in class and missing you dearly, miles sighs to himself as he fiddles with a loose notebook page he tore from the notebook itself earlier–having leant you his favorite mechanical pencil, he can't really find the motivation to doodle, the back of his notebook already filled to the brim with sketches since he left his sketchbook at his locker.

he sighed again as the words of his teacher entered one ear and exited out of the other. he kept trying to focus, but he ended up fidgeting with the corners of the notebook page he tore–folding it here and there, creasing it in the process. he made a paper boat at first, then a crane, then with another piece of paper, he folded it into a horizontal sheet repeatedly and rolled it up. it crudely resembled a ring to him, and he smiled, remembering a line from a song you really like, and he kept unfolding the paper and refolding it until he found the right design.

he somehow was able to make an amateur paper ring without any tutorial, with just his hands and creativity to work with; it had a small, creased-looking heart on it that he kept trying to give shape to, which he thought to draw the kaomoji you always got reminded of him by. after class, he had wondered whether to give it to you or not, he was anxious if you'd even accept it since it looked pretty messy and amateurish–but nonetheless, what mattered was that he tried, he tried to put all his love for you in this small, trinket of a gift he made for you.

he approached you by the lockers and when you handed him his mechanical pencil back, he smiled and told you that it was a little funny you gave it back now, because now, he has something else to give to you. he shyly showed you the paper ring he made and, with a grin, told you that he tried to make out from scratch. he got a bit sheepish when he asked you if you'd take it, which worsened when you smiled back up at him and told him it was beautiful.

"put it on me?" you asked him in a soft voice as you showed him the back of your hand, almost as if he were to slide that ring on you like it was gonna be your wedding day. that caught miles off guard and his eyes gotten even bigger, with his smile growing broader as his fluster caught up to him. he chuckled and nodded. "ah, sure, sure." he said as he took your hand in his and gently slid it on your middle finger by accident. you laughed aloud as miles fumbled to put it on the conventional ring finger, but you insisted on keeping it there.

"it's my favorite finger, if anyone's gonna ask me if i want anyone else..." you said as you jokingly tried to show him your adorable flip off with your ringed finger as miles stopped you and held your hand in his own with a chuckle. "oh, how adorable. a bit rude, but adorable." he said while you leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, shutting him up and soon making him stutter out something incoherent as you thanked him for the paper ring.

"n-no problem..." he said with a lopsided grin and a flustered face as you took his hand in yours and accompanied him through the bustling halls to his next class, feeling so lucky to have a guy who's expressive with his love for you in such innovative, creative ways that make you fall for him more and more.

tags !! @ii01vq @toneystank-3000 @luvstarrstruck @fiannee @popeheywardssecretgf @onginlove @meowmoraless @solecitoszn @maxoloqy @lovefrominaya @conitagray

#earth 1610 miles morales #earth 1610 miles morales x reader #earth 1610 miles morales x you #earth 1610 miles morales x y/n #earth 1610 miles morales fluff #earth 1610 miles #earth 1610 miles x reader #earth 1610 miles fluff #miles 1610 x reader #atsv #atsv miles #atsv fluff #atsv imagines #atsv x reader #atsv x you #atsv x y/n #spiderverse #across the spiderverse #spiderman across the spiderverse #spiderman across the spiderverse x reader

[furbygoblinxiv]

Ok now to be annoying about a completely different flavor of Zelda: That cartoon from the 80s that has aged so poorly I take psychic damage every time I watch it (which has been multiple times (I have problems)). A few months ago when rewatching and being sick of the Link's personality from the show (his best feature is how funny the "Well excuuuuse me, princess" line is) I was like "I wish the quiet kid from the games/art was here instead" and accidentally thought too hard and made an au/rewrite of the cartoon lmao.

Anyways Zelda cartoon au where cryptid boy Link saves the post apocalyptic Hyrule of loz 1 and chills in the castle with cartoon Zelda to defend the triforce pieces that they have while trying to find the last piece before Ganon can find it, stumbling across the sleeping loz 2 Zelda along the way lol. Hijinks ensue as he teaches Zelda the brawns to back up her girlboss and he gets an adventure buddy because its dangerous to go alone and Zelda with her boomerang and crossbow goes hard. I think a monster of the week style plot works for the earlier Zelda games, but an overarching plot could coexist with that since that is kinda how games work lol.

As per usual here are a bunch of slapdash barely related sketches of my ideas with my expanded thoughts below bc I think it'd be fun to share:

I look at the official art of Link being a quiet determined little dude with a backpack of tools and wish that that was represented more. Like look at him! What a guy! Imagine giving a quiet puzzle solving 14 year old a sword, lethal magical weapons, and a wasteland to explore! I would love a show about that! In terms of other characters, swap out that annoying fairy character, put in a Navi clone, at least Navi didn't have a crush on Link🤮. Ganon can stay the same so long as he was always a demon pig and was never a Gerudo man because unlike Nintendo, I do not want to imply that the only prominent man of color in the series has only one big braincell thats just screaming "EVIL" on loop. But! Keep Zelda the same, I love her so much in the cartoon, she's obnoxious in a slay girlboss way, maximum vibes. By virtue of not having a paper thin plot, most other characters that were fine get fixed by proxy.

I think plot wise? It takes place a few years after the first game. Initially, Link saved the royal family and they started rebuilding that area of Hyrule, and Link traveled around to help people. One day, Ganon's minions start making attacks on the castle to steal the triforce pieces back to revive him fully, and a Zelda who greatly admires Links steps up to defend the place. Eventually, Zelda requests Link return to help defend the castle while they search for the mysterious hidden third triforce piece in order to combine the full thing and wish for peace in Hyrule. Link agrees and the hyjinks begin.

IIRC the og Link backstory was that he was the son of the hyrulean queen and the elf king or smth? In the manga? I didn't want him to be hylian royalty but I wanted to keep that cryptid vibe, hence why I have him related instead to the great fairy and the kokiri. He just leaves the forest/cave one day with literally nothing to go save Hyrule, what a chad. I think it'd be funny if people describe Zelda as feral due to how boisterous and headstrong she is, especially out on the field, but Link is the quiet version of wild that you don't notice at first. She is openly intelligent and snarky in comparison to "says 3 lines a day, bombs first and asks questions later, explore under every rock and bush" forest kid Link.

It would be fun though if "rushes into danger" Zelda resonated more with the triforce of power and "solves dungeon puzzles for funsies" Link with the triforce of wisdom, then they both resonated with the triforce of courage upon finding it. idk tho lol

I also think two different young Zeldas coexisting with each other after one awoke from a cursed slumber would be really funny. Like that's gotta be so awkward, especially if one has the fighter girlboss slay up to 11 and the other just woke up from a coma to her family gone and her kingdom destroyed and just kinda wants to read books and drink tea in peace. Imagine being the same age or older than your great (great?) aunt. Or imagine if the old lady Impa nursemaid to Zelda 1 Zelda was the young Impa nursemaid to the Zelda 2 Zelda. Wild.

If I wasn't incapable of remembering to finish writing wips I'd write that series lol. Alas, this is all I can pull for now.

I'd love to call this propaganda to go watch the show but maybe don't because its yikes. This is moreso propaganda for someone to make a Zelda cartoon show instead of the movie that I sense Nintendo is plotting to make. Also, if you've read this far, I should mention I also will probably be posting art from some of my actual long term Zelda aus beyond just expanding on the cartoon, though I may continue to do that if my train of thought continues on these tracks.

#legend of zelda #loz #zelda cartoon #legend of zelda au #loz au #zelda cartoon au #zelda au #my art tag #actually yeah i think i WILL post more of my aus actually #to free myself from the shackles of cringe and also to do something with these huge documents sitting dormant on my drawing app

[liminalmemories21]

Through the Looking Glass

In preparation - because I'm posting Knave-3 this week if it kills me - recap of the Through the Looking Glass-verse.

Exceedingly loosely inspired by rewatching White Collar and going, hey what if TK was a (alleged) retired high end art thief, and Carlos was a detective and they worked together on a case.

The Knave of Hearts, he stole the tarts

"TK Strand is presumed to be responsible for a string of high end art thefts over the last seven years. He's considered a person of interest in at least eight states, and three countries. We lost track of him a few months ago, and this is the first we've learned that he's relocated to Austin."

Carlos thinks about the guy he'd seen earlier that day who'd seemed shaken by the robbery at gunpoint, but more concerned for the cashier who'd gotten grazed by a stray bullet than he had been for himself. "Art thief? Are you sure?"

Tulson's voice is dry, "Am I sure that he stole the Caravaggio from the cathedral in Malta? Yes. Can I prove it? No. If I could, it'd make my career."

The Knave of Hearts . . . he said he'd steal no more

"Do you know where Tyler was the night of the 10th?"

"TK," he repeats stubbornly.

Mattheson looks up. "What?"

"His name is TK. Nobody calls him Tyler except his mother.”

Mattheson makes an ostentatious show of noting the correction in the file, although it hasn’t made a difference the last seven times Carlos has said it. "So, the night of the 10th, do you know where Mr. Strand was?"

(Coming Soon) The Knave of Hearts . . . brought back the tarts

It starts so innocuously that it’s hard to pinpoint, even in hindsight.  But he thinks that maybe it was his father’s birthday, sitting on the porch waiting to digest lunch before they embark on cake.  TK is sketching a line of Steinlen style cats to march along the walls of Marisol’s bedroom.  She clutches the piece of paper when he hands it to her and runs off to show her mom.  Carlos can hear her inside, gabbling to his cousin Lorena that, “Tio TK promised he’d paint them for me if you say it’s okay.  Please please please say it’s okay Mama.”

He gives TK an amused look.  “You know that if you do it for Marisol all the kids will want you to paint their bedrooms too.”

TK grins lazily.  “Gonna report me to the FBI for forging a Steinlen?”

His father snorts.  “Careful, mijo, if you take TK in for painting on Marisol’s walls you will definitely lose your position as favorite tio.”

TK kicks at his feet.  “Looks like I’m safe for another day, then.”

His father laughs at the two of them.  “That reminds me actually, a friend of yours stopped by to visit me the other day."  TK freezes in reaching for his ice tea, and Carlos’s father arches an eyebrow.  "Tulson.  Agent Tulson stopped by my office.  Who did you think I meant?”

#knave-verse #tarlos #911 lonestar #au

[ash-whimsicalfanfic]

Serendipity (CH 5)

Leroy Jethro Gibbs X Fem OC/Reader

Word Count: 2586

Warning: Mild language, fluff, smut, angst, graphic scenes, death, murder, gore, violence, mature material…

Prompt: You have a major crush on Gibbs, however you choose to push it away as you fear he doesn’t feel the same way. Suddenly there is a bunch of chances that lead to a happy ending…

I was calm now and Abby fixed my makeup for me. She had an extra shirt for me to borrow. It was a black crop top with a plunge neckline. I had more chest area than Abby so I pulled at the shirt trying to cover it some. It had some chains criss-crossing across it and there was a skull with a bow on the shirt.

"You look great! Now go kick some ass...and save that camera and sketchbook." She says.

I laugh, hugging her before taking the stairs. It goes silent in the bullpen as they look at me. I shift uncomfortably.

"I-I didn't have an extra shirt. A-Abby lent me one of hers." I mumble.

Gibbs walks to my desk, grabbing my blazer as he throws it at me. Tony catches it before it could hit me in the face like it would have. He gives me a small smile, handing it to me. I nod slightly, shrugging it on as I go to my desk.

I open my sketchbook, grabbing tissues to soak up some of the coffee. It was effortless, but it kept me distracted. I grab my camera, pulling out cleaning wipes to clean it up. I turn it on and was relieved to see that it worked. I move the pictures over to my laptop before sending them to Tim and Abby.

I open my sketchbook and work away at it in silence despite the tension I felt. I could feel his eyes on me and it made me want to shrink away and disappear.

I start pulling the sketches out, pinning them to my empty bulletin board. I study them, trying to ignore the coffee stain. I grab the sketchbook and throw it in the bin.

"Problem, Y/L/N?" Gibbs asks.

"Boss, she has to have clear paper. It bothers her if it isn't. I think the coffee is making her upset." Tim says quietly.

"Y/N/N, don't you have an extra in your drawer?" Ziva asks softly.

I hated this. I was being treated like a baby since this stupid accident. I pull the sketches down, shoving them in a drawer as I grab my keys and my phone, jogging towards the elevator.

I was in the closet art store within minutes. I stood in the sketchbook aisle for a good twenty minutes, just staring.

"Ziva said you'd be here." Gibbs mumbles, moving to stand beside me.

I continue staring at the sketchbooks. I was kind of mental over my sketchbooks. I knew I was. But, I've never experienced something this bad before. Not to mention on top of this last week.

Gibbs stands next to me silently, observing me. I tried to keep my cards close to my chest, not wanting him to figure me out. I was falling to pieces and the only person who knew was Abby.

I step forward, grabbing a pile of sketchbooks and adding them to the cart. I got three different sizes, all the same color. I got like ten of each one. Hopefully it'll be awhile until I need more. I push the cart to the pencil aisle with Gibbs silently following behind me.

"Your trying to find a sense of control." He murmurs from behind me.

I keep silent. Maybe he was right. Maybe he was wrong. Either way, I found myself angered that he was trying to profile me. I reach out, grabbing a pack of sketching pencils to read the back. It's the brand I always get, but I found peace in reading the description on the back before tossing a bunch of packs of pencils in my cart. I found myself drifting through the aisles, tossing random stuff in my cart before paying.

I get to my car, ignoring Gibbs. I drive back, aware that he was right there behind me. I grab the bags and head towards the building. I try going for the stairs, but he grabs my arm and pulls me into the elevator. I stay silent, even when he presses the emergency stop button.

"I shouldn't of snapped at you earlier." He admits.

"Rule six." I mutter.

"I didn't say I was sorry. I just admitted I was in the wrong earlier." He says, quirking a brow at me.

"Sounded like an apology." I mutter.

"Maybe it was. Look, I shouldn't of snapped. I had no right. Your right though. I was jealous. It's hard not to be jealous though. The thought of losing you...it's a hard one to grasp." He admits quietly.

"Your the one who said we can't do this and I should just lose my feelings for you. Your the one who said I should find someone else. All because of your stupid rules." I snap.

"I know...can we talk after this case is done? At my house over some steak and beer. Please." He asks.

I stare at him for a moment before nodding slowly. I wasn't sure if this was a good idea. It probably wasn't. He probably was going to explain how we couldn't be together and why. Did I want to hear anymore bullshit? No. I didn't.

The elevator doors opening snap me out of my thoughts. Gibbs walks out, stopping as he waits for me to step out. I ignore the teams concerned stares as I walk to my desk. I sit on the ground, opening the drawer as I pull the coffee-stained drawings out.

"Next time I see that asshole, I'm going to deck him." I say.

"What?" Tim asks horrified from behind me as Gibbs chuckles.

"Who is she talking about?" Ziva asks surprised.

"Where has our innocent baby Y/N gone?" Tony asks.

I wasn't one for violence. I looked at the upside of...well everything. Even if someone made me upset, I tried to keep it together. I run out of room for my sketchbooks and sigh.

I look up when Gibbs grabs a pile. I was confused as he puts a pile in his bottom desk drawer before handing a pile to Ziva, Tony and Tim.

"There. You have plenty on hand and now everyone has them on stock in case you run out." He says, patting my head since he could ruffle it since it was up.

I pull out a new sketchbook, taking the plastic off it. I grab a pencil and start sketching the crime scenes away. I didn't like to redraw. It threw me off. It didn't feel right having to do it a second time.

Nonetheless, I finish them and hang them back on the bulletin board, tossing the other ones in the trash. I study the drawings, my pen between my teeth and my notepad rested against my knee.

I start writing away, glancing up at the pictures occasionally.

"Y/N?" I hear.

I look up and see the shrink. I let a puff of air out, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"Yes?" I ask.

"I don't think we are done talking. You dodged all my questions. I won't let up until I get answers." She says.

"I died. Then Gibbs brought me back. I died again on the ambulance. They brought me back. Then I was in a hospital for two days. Alone on one. Talked to the shrink there. Went home. Dreaded not being able to work a week, but now I'm here. I'm fine. Can you please leave me alone now?" I ask.

"I talked to the therapist at the hospital. Who said you also dodged their questions. You never should have been discharged until you properly answered the questions. That is why I'm not letting up." She says.

"I'm this bloody close to decking you. Your really starting to piss me off." I grumble.

Thankfully, Tim only heard me and he slowly turned to me with wide eyes. I tilt my head at him, narrowing my eyes, daring him to say something.

"She's great! She's just a little grumpy from her run in with this guy earlier. He spilt coffee on her." Tim says.

"Your intimidated by her. From what I gather, she's typically happy and bubbly. However, she seems to be quiet, distant, agitated, on edge and even a bit angry. None of you are use to this side of her." She says.

I take a deep breath in before slowly letting it out. My phone rings and I give her one final glare before answering my phone.

"Hey Abs, what's up?" I ask.

"The shrink lady is coming to talk to you! She wouldn't stop asking questions and more questions and I snapped! But I was trying to understand why she won't stop prying because she doesn't even do that on Ziva or Gibbs! So I did some digging! She's the wife of the get-away unsub who tried to kill you!" Abby exclaims.

"Thanks Abs. I'll be down here in a bit. Relay the message to Gibbs." I say.

I smile, hanging up the phone as I look at the shrink. She taps her clipboard as Gibbs' phone rings. I stand, walking towards her. I heard Gibbs set the phone down and I pull my fist back, hitting her in the nose.

She sways before falling back. I look down at her before heading back to my desk. It was quiet and I look up, smiling.

"Boss!" Tim exclaims.

"The man who tried to kill Y/N...that's his wife. She wanted to see if she remembered her husband or not." Gibbs says, shrugging.

"Did you know? Is that why you said you wanted to deck her earlier?" Tim asks.

"I didn't know then. She was making me mad. I feel better now. A lot better. I think I just needed to hit someone!" I say, smiling.

"Let's not make this our way of letting our anger out." Gibbs says, giving me a lopsided smirk and I shrug. 

"You can always come with me to the gym. They have some punching bags there." Ziva offers.

"I'll take you up on that." I say.

"There is also other ways to let your anger out, Y/N. It can be with a lover, between the sheets, hot...passionate and anger. Ah! I'll stop boss! Please don't hit me!" Tony pleads as Gibbs slowly stands.

"I don't have a lover, Tony. So a punching bag will do." I say.

"You gonna fill us in on what you know, Y/L/N?" Gibbs asks.

"On what?" I ask.

"The case of course." He says in a duh tone.

I scramble up, my cheeks flushing red as he chuckles. I grab a random clear board we keep nearby just because I do my sketches and hang them up before putting them at the front of the bullpen. I stand, staring at the board from the end of the bullpen.

"Alright, the unsub stood between two big oak trees for awhile. I'd say he's been watching out victims the past two to three days at most from the cigarettes on the ground. He had perfect view through the window and the sliding doors. Through the window, he could see the kitchen and living room. Through the sliding doors, he could see the hallway. Our unsub slips in, walks to the living room, pulls the gun out, bam. Husband is dead. The wife was the target." I say, the scene unfolding around me once again.

"How do you know that?" Tim asks.

"The husband was shot execution style. However, the wife underwent extensive pain. She was stabbed in the chest several times, each wound reaching her heart. Maybe a way of communicating his heartbreak or jealousy. Then postmortem he went to overkill by one shot to the head, bam. He took his time with the wife from the report I gathered from Ducky. She went through tremendous pain and was awake." I say.

"Why was the living room trashed then?" Tony asks.

"Well, earlier that night before the couple was murdered, the neighbors filed a noise complaint which then turned to a domestic violence call once the dispatcher gathered that there was screaming and some furniture could be heard breaking. The officers came and went, hesitant. The fight picked back up after, before the two went to separate rooms. From what I could gather, they seem to be on rocky terms. Her ring was in the sock drawer and she had the bedroom. He was sleeping in the living room." I say.

"So, what about the unsub in all of this?" Tim asks.

"I'm going to say that it's safe to assume that the wife walks to her room to take a breather, maybe go to the master bath and splash some water on her face. Then the unsub comes in from the sliding doors. The husband, our marine sergeant, wasn't paying attention. He was trying to cool down himself and get a grasp on his temper. There's a painting above the fireplace. It's of their wedding venue. He was staring at it when he heard a noise. He turns around, bam. The unsub fires of a shot before he could fight. Unsub hides around the corner as the wife comes to investigate when she hears a big thump and finds her husband dead. Then the unsub attacks her." I say.

"I like it. Now, we need to determine who our unsub is." Gibbs says.

"I've narrowed it down a bit. I found a boot print and a bunch of cigarettes between the trees. Abby is still running some tests on the cigarette buds. However, the boot print is a size thirteen marine boot. The pattern is one to the marine boots. Could be a buddy of the husbands maybe. I'm going to estimate that he's about six two with a heavy build or he's heavier set because the weight left behind on the boot print." I explain.

"Any profile?" Ziva asks.

"Again, I think it's safe to assume the wife was the target. The couple is our only murder so far and hopefully it stays that way. So, it's kind of set it in stone that the unsub is more than likely an ex-lover, the baby daddy, a jealous friend of the husbands friend who wanted the wife, or maybe this man knew something we didn't and thought he was protecting the husband. However, that's a leap as he did kill the husband. The wife was the target. She was overkill. I'd suggest that it stems from betrayal, jealously and definitely anger. With how motivated he was for the murders, I'd also like to suggest that he's going to be quite cool and laxed about this. He's probably narcissistic, has strong views on a woman's role, temper-issues and I'd say even paranoid. However, I don't have enough to build on the profile so it very well could be wrong." I say.

"What does your gut say?" Gibbs asks.

"That I'm hungry." I say and everyone chuckles, including Gibbs.

"We will go get lunch soon." He says.

"Okay. However, aside from being hungry, I feel pretty confident about the case built and the profile I presented." I say.

"Then we will go with your word." He says.

I sit, feeling relieved we were closer to the end of this case. However, it did make me nervous at the thought of the end of the case. That meant I'd have dinner with Gibbs and I was dreading it. I knew how it'd go.

#gibbs #gibbs imagine #gibbs x reader #jethro gibbs #jethro gibbs imagine #jethro gibbs x reader #leroy jethro gibbs #ncis fandom #ncis gibbs #ncis imagine #leroy jethro gibbs x reader #ncis #ncis fanfiction #ncis mcgee #ncis team #ncis tony #ncis x reader #ncis ziva #gibbs smut #ncisedit #leroy jethro gibbs imagine #writers on tumblr #ncis reader insert #ncis fic #ncis smut #ncis series #ncisverse #miniseries #ncisminiseries

[crystallinestars]

Happy Birthday, Kaveh!

Kaveh birthday scenario because I love this man a ridiculous amount. Happy Birthday to one of my favorite Genshin boys!!!

Once again, this is self indulgent and also not proofread, so excuse any spelling/grammar errors.

Contains: Modern AU. Pure fluff and lots of physical affection

Once the clock struck twelve, you carefully lit up the candles on the red velvet cake you had made a couple days prior and lifted the tray to carry it to Kaveh’s office.

Cracking open the door, you spot him sitting hunched over his desk, blueprints and drawing tools scattered haphazardly all around him. A lone lamp lights up the room in a dim, yellow glow, casting long shadows on the walls.

Kaveh scratches his head with a groan, mussing up his pretty hairstyle as he discards another blueprint aside.

Deciding to intervene before the architect loses himself in another sketch for the next few hours, you clear your throat to get his attention.

Kaveh lifts his head and looks in your direction, carmine eyes zeroing in on the cake in your hands.

“Y/N?”

“Happy Birthday, Kaveh!” you say with a smile and present your handmade cake to him. It was a simply but tastefully decorated cake, with the words ‘Happy Birthday Kaveh!’ written in red icing and topped with fresh fruit. Several small candles were arranged in a circle, their flames flickering softly.

Kaveh’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Birthday…?” Kaveh blinked and glanced at the clock. “Oh. Oh! I completely forgot!” he chuckled and shook his head.

“I figured you lost track of time again, which is why I’m here to be the first one to celebrate your birthday with you, and to get you to take a break,” you say with a wry smile.

The blond stood up and made his way over to you, looking sheepish.

“You’re right. I got so lost in my work that I completely lost track of time. I just can’t get the design for this commission right,” he sighed and followed after you towards the kitchen.

“Take a break. Maybe you’ll get better results with a fresher mind,” you coax him to sit on the couch.

Kaveh complies, and his eyes light up when you place the cake in front of him on the coffee table.

“Why don’t you make a wish and blow out the candles? Maybe it will come true.” Smiling, you take a seat next to him.

Kaveh chuckles but does as you say, and closes his eyes to make a wish before blowing out the candles.

“Happy Birthday!” you say again and clap. “Do you want to have some cake now or later?”

“Now, actually. I’m pretty hungry, and I think the boost of sugar will help me get those sketches done,” Kaveh replies.

You take a knife and cut a slice of the red velvet cake before plating it and sliding it over to him. Kaveh gratefully accepts the slice and digs in.

“Mmm, this is so good! Did you make this?”

“Yeah. I made it while you were away for a business meeting with a client. It took a lot of work to keep it a secret,” you say and break off a small piece of his slice, spearing it on a fork. You hold the fork up to Kaveh’s mouth, indicating you want to feed him.

Kaveh blushes and shoots you a look. “I can feed myself, you know.”

“I know. I just want to pamper you on your special day,” you smile at him.

Kaveh is unable to resist your adorable smile, so he caves in and lets you feed him the cake. He grumbles a bit and looks flustered, but ultimately can’t deny that having you feed him warmed his heart. Your care and affection were just what he needed after a grueling day of work.

After feeding him the slice of cake, you clean up the plate and bring over a gift bag that you had prepared earlier for this specific occasion.

“I got some gifts for you, as well. Would you like to open them now?”

Kaveh glances at the bag in your hand curiously.

“You got me gifts too? You didn’t have to, really. But thank you.” He takes the bag from your hands. He lowers his hand into it and fishes out a rectangular object wrapped in red and gold wrapping paper.

“What’s this?” he asks. The architect carefully unwraps the gift, revealing a prettily decorated scrapbook. His fingers trace over the intricate golden patterns hand-drawn on the front cover that remind him of the patterns on the protractor he uses when drawing his architectural designs. The front cover was also decorated with red, green, and gold gems as well as turquoise feathers that matched the earrings and feather he usually wore.

“Did you make this?” he asks in awe.

“Ah, yeah. I had some help from your friends in making it. I know my artistic skills pale in comparison to yours, but I still hope you like it,” you chuckle, feeling nervous about whether he likes the design of the scrapbook or not. You spent a lot of time trying to make it look nice, and you hoped it was satisfactory for your artistic boyfriend’s tastes.

“Don’t worry, it looks beautiful. I love it,” Kaveh grins and eases your concerns.

He carefully opens the book and feels his breath hitch. Inside are photos of him and the people he loves framed by colorful paper flowers, ribbons, and multicolored gems. Every page he flips to has a photo of himself or someone he’s close with, captioned with what the photo is depicting and when it was taken.

There’s a photo of Kaveh grinning cheerfully while raising a glass of wine as if celebrating something. Kaveh remembers that this was taken when he was celebrating moving out of Alhaitham’s house because he found a place to live in together with you.

Another photo was of Cyno doing another one of his dramatic poses while holding some TCG cards, engaged in a TCG battle against Kaveh. One photo was taken when he and Faruzan were tinkering on a gadget for a contest, and he smiles as the image reminds him of how he and his professor won first place because of their invention. Some photos on the following page were of Tighnari teaching Collei about botany, and Alhaitham reading in the library, seemingly not noticing his picture being taken, or pretending not to.

There were many photos of him and his friends in the scrapbook, ranging from pretty to silly, but each and every one made Kaveh smile at the happy memories they conjured up.

Flipping towards the end of the book, Kaveh found pictures of you and him together. There was one taken by Collei while the two of you were slow dancing at the tavern, and another you took as a selfie where you had suddenly kissed his cheek, effectively capturing his surprised face. He swore you looked ethereal in every one of the photos, and his heart raced as he remembered each of the romantic moments shared between you captured on these photographs.

“Y/N… this is the most wonderful gift I’ve ever received. Thank you, I love this so much. I promise I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life,” he said as he pressed the book to his heart, indicating he truly did cherish your gift.

You smile, pleased that he liked the scrapbook you spent at least two months working on.

“I’m glad you like it. There’s one more gift for you in bag.”

As if just remembering about the bag, Kaveh sets the scrapbook aside before taking out the second gift. It was a clear glass jar topped with a cork and a golden ribbon. Inside it seemed to be multicolored paper slips that filled the whole jar to the brim in a pretty pastel rainbow. You feel your heart rate grow faster as nerves set in. You put your whole heart into this gift, and you really hoped Kaveh would like it.

Kaveh inspects the content of the jar, noticing that the paper slips were folded into small squares, and guesses that they must contain some kind of message or drawing. He uncorks the jar and takes out a random slip before unfolding it. Inside it was a neatly written message:

You have the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen. It never fails to brighten up my day and make my heart skip a beat for you.

Kaveh blinks in surprise, not quite sure what to think of the message, but it undoubtedly filled him with happiness. He fished out another slip and opened it.

I love how creative you are. Your mind comes up with so many unique and wonderful ideas, and you have the determination and talent to turn them into reality. I admire you for that. All your creations are so beautiful— just like you.

Kaveh felt his eyes water as he read the message but blinked away the tears. He realized that these messages were your heartfelt thoughts and feelings about him, and it made his breath hitch. Swallowing thickly, he took a deep breath before opening another colored paper.

I love you with my whole heart, and I will never stop loving you. I will be there for you through all the good and bad times, I promise.

You hear Kaveh sniffle and notice his shoulders shake as he tried to control his overwhelming emotions. This gift touched his heart deeply, and he felt so loved and appreciated that he didn’t know what to do with himself.

“Y/N…” he croaks out, and you gently wrap him up in an embrace.

“Thank you. I love you. I love you so much,” he whispered as he returned the hug and buried his face in your shoulder.

“I love you too, Kaveh. I always will,” you whisper back just as softly and kiss his temple. Kaveh tightens his arms around you and exhales a shuddering breath. After a few moments he pulls away and wipes at his reddened eyes, but he otherwise looks composed.

“Sorry for this. I just… I’ve never felt so loved before. This gift… it means more to me than you will ever know,” he says softly, a tender yet sad look in his eye as he glances down at the jar.

“I’m glad you like it. I wrote down all my thoughts and feelings about you on those slips with the intention of having you look at a few of them whenever you feel down. I know you go through a lot of struggles, so I wanted to give you something that would hopefully cheer you up. Even if you feel like the world is against you, know that I will always be there for you,” you say with a smile.

“Truly, I can’t thank you enough. Your gifts are so thoughtful and touching. I promise to treasure them forever. And if I thought I loved you before, I now admit that you somehow managed to make me fall for you all over again,” Kaveh says and pulls you into another hug before giving you a kiss and resting his forehead against yours.

You giggle and smile at him warmly. “Good. I’m glad I still have that effect on you,” you tease, causing both of you to laugh.

The architect presses his lips to your face, peppering kisses to your cheeks, nose, and forehead, saying words of thanks and love before taking a moment to just hold you in his arms.

You smile, feeling your heart grow warm from his affections, and let yourself relax in his embrace. You hold him tightly in return, basking in his warmth and pleasant scent.

“Happy Birthday, Kaveh. I hope all your wishes come true,” you say quietly.

Kaveh lets out a soft hum and kisses your temple before resting his cheek on the top of your head. He has many wishes. Dealing with his debt, wanting to see his parents again and have a whole family, for art and artists to be given the due importance and respect that they deserve… the list goes on.

However, one of his wishes did come true. It was right here in his arms, giving him all the love and comfort he desperately needed. The guiding light in this dark world that saved him in more ways than he can recount.

It was you, his darling love.

#genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #kaveh x reader #kaveh x you #genshin impact scenarios #genshin impact fluff

[undiscovered-horizon]

Author's note: I modelled for the first time. My lower back is dead.

Imagine sketching Peter for class.

The afternoon was a perfect time to sit in the studio: sunlight barged into the room through the wide windows, warming up the hardwood floor scattered with paint splashes. Canvases were stacked against the walls - an unseen collection of the only painter he ever cared about. Hesitantly, Peter sat in a chair a few feet away from the easel.

"So, uh... Do I just sit here?"

He looked curiously small on the chair; anxious that he might disturb the artistic sanctity of the studio. Peter's eyes glazed over the random pots, vases and rocks scattered around the room - it didn't come to him at first that they were props for putting up still nature. The aforementioned canvases, as much as he could see, all had your name written on their backs and Peter began to wonder whether all of them were a breathtaking show of your artistry.

Peter loved your paintings and not only because they were yours - it felt as if, for a moment, he got to see the world through your eyes and the sight he was presented had never been short of wonderful. Anytime you showed him your newest piece, he fantasised what it would be like to be the subject of your art: did you see him as equally beautiful as you did the rest of the world? But now that the moment of truth came a-knocking at his door, Peter felt uneasy. He wasn't sure whether his lovesick heart could take so much of your undivided attention.

"Yeah, pretty much," you shrugged. It escaped your attention that reddish bashfulness crept unto his face seeing you in the baggy shirt. The once white material was wrinkly, dirtied with various paints, glue, charcoal and spray paint. Peter found it endearing that you carried a tortillon and a piece of chalk in the chest pocket. "Whatever's comfortable for you. We'll take a break after every forty-five minutes but if you need one earlier just say so."

"Alright," he answered with a slight nod.

The smaller, less precise, sketch you began making on a smaller piece of paper was coming together a little too fast to simply be a drawing of a silhouette you were portraying for the very first time. Maybe Peter's lovelorn anxiety would ease if he was to see all of the sketches of him you had already made - each one more secretive than the other, drawn with passion but quite a little time, using up all the minutes you could spare during class.

"Let me just mark where your feet are," you said while stretching a long piece of tape. "And we can start."

Except for the creaking floorboard and the sounds of traffic outside, the studio was silent. With utmost loving fascination, Peter watched you working. Each of the quick and ever-so-frequent glances you spared him, were piercing through his body. Sitting there, although he was fully clothed, Peter felt naked under your focused gaze; there wasn't a wrinkle on his clothes or a freckle on his skin that could escape the eagle eyes of an artist committing a masterpiece. He knew that he wasn't supposed to move around a lot and, to be frank, didn't want to disturb you but there was a thought he couldn't quite let go.

"Can I ask you something?" he interrupted the pleasant silence.

"What's up?" You appeared greatly unbothered by the disturbance, still sketching and checking proportions with your pencil.

"Why did you choose me?" he asked in a quiet hesitation. Partially, he expected a completely mundane answer regarding availability. The more naive part of him, however, clung to the delusion that there was a different, less platonic, reason.

Upon hearing the question, you stopped drawing. Peter caught your gaze but not for long - you went back to sketching but in a visibly less relaxed manner. Noticing your sudden, unexpected uneasiness, Peter wanted to apologize but your answer came sooner:

"Well..." you trailed off, thinking about what to say for a moment. "We were drawing poem titles from a hat. I got 'When' by Lang Leav."

"Don't know it." Peter slightly shook his head but stopped nearly right away, remembering that he was supposed to sit still.

"It ends beautifully," you told him. Peter noticed the softness of your voice along with the gentle smile that appeared on your face as if at that moment you were reliving those last words from a poem. Standing there, with afternoon sunlight brightening up your tender joy, Peter suddenly knew everything he needed to about art. "Remember this and only this, if nothing else you can recall. There was a life a girl once led where you were loved the most of all."

You quoted the poem with such ease as if a garden of blooming roses didn't just rip his chest open.

#tasm!peter parker #spiderman #peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker imagine #peter parker fic #peter parker fluff #peter parker x y/n #mcu spiderman #mcu peter parker #peter parker oneshot #tasm!peter x you #tasm!spiderman #tasm!peter parker x reader #tasm!peter parker imagine #tasm #andrew!peter fluff #andrew!peter parker #andrew!peter fanfiction #andrew!spiderman #andrew!peter x you #spiderman fluff #spiderman x reader #spiderman imagine #spiderman x you #marvel imagine #marvel #marvel fanfiction

[phoenix-manga]

Hunter in NRC Pt. 2

Divus leads her to the clinic where he pulls out a measuring tape along with a sketchbook. Her companions settle on the nearby beds and chairs.

“I must say, I thought that old crow was hit on the head when he contacted us about a young lady with a big dog and a talking cat that came from somewhere unknown… I almost called in the asylum to throw him into a padded cell but looking at you and your companions… I can’t deny that it’s convincing enough.”

He signals her to drop her weapon and do a “T” pose so that he may take her measurements properly.

She placed her weapon down on the floor with a loud thud. Divus can’t help but flinch slightly when he heard just how heavy it was when it made an impact.

Honestly, he didn’t expect this young lady to be capable of wielding such… outrageous weapon.

The colors are quite gorgeous though he has to admit. The craftsmanship on the mechanism was delicately placed yet they looked sturdy to last and cause a lot of damage.

If he were to describe her image in one word, it’s valiant.

Her gaze held the experience from many life or death scenarios no doubt. Very much like a soldier…

Divus gets to work on taking down her measurements. He can’t help but be intrigued at the armor she wore.

It certainly had a style that was not familiar to him, those tribal patterns on her skin make the outfit look quite chic along with the armor pieces covering her shoulders and knees.

But those armor pieces clearly aren’t meant for aesthetic purposes entirely, he can see that there were scales upon closer inspection.

Meant to protect the wearer’s joints as she swings that outrageously large weapon around. A “gunlance” she calls it.

Speaking of joints, he felt a bit of muscle when he adjusted her shoulders. She was suited for bodybuilding than modeling with a figure like hers.

‘I’m sure Vargas would be over the fence if he ever sees her muscles. Though, it makes sense from what she just told us before… Still, for a world filled with monsters, she sure made the effort to dress up her furry companions’

Looking at her mutt and feline companions who also wore armor/outfits of their own, Divus applauds whoever came up with such a design.

Talk about being stylish on the battlefield.

As soon as he was done, he sits down on an empty chair and takes out a sketchbook to jot down her measurements, and immediately started sketching ideas of a suitable outfit.

While he sketched, he figures he should get to know her better since he’ll be seeing her every now and then as a teacher’s assistant.

“By the way, that crow was supposed to find you accommodations but he suggested moving you to a dilapidated dorm without even trying to fix it BEFORE you move in. Honestly, this is why he’s never taken seriously…”

“Wow…” Fraena looks unimpressed at the mention of where she’ll be staying.

Divus flicked his wrist as he continued to drag his pencil across the white surface of the paper.

“Take my word for it, don’t try to buy into his gracious act. He may wear a literal mask but he’s quite terrible at facades”

Divus huffs as his hand swished dramatically as he dusted off bits of eraser.

Giving Fraena a glance, she looked stoic but he can see from her tapping foot that she was nervous.

“So, care to enlighten me on how your world works?” he asked casually.

“Huh”

Fraena wasn’t expecting that. He seemed like someone who wouldn’t be interested in small talk.

“What would you want to know about?” she figured to just answer his inquiries.

Awkward silence makes her nervous anyway.

“How about telling me if you bring your companions in battle, I know the cat doesn’t do fighting from what you said earlier, your canine on the other hand… I’ve seen dog owners teach their pets tricks but nothing comes close to having them face a hulking beast”

Divus looks at Draken who is being brushed by Meowdame while they wait.

Fraena took notice of how his gaze lingered on them.

One can assume that he has quite the obsession with dogs, actually, obsession is an understatement… he’s a total maniac about dogs.

Divus has seen a fair share of dogs and almost every single breed, he adores all of them. His favorite is the Dalmatian breed, of course!

But the one a few feet from him was larger than a wolf and had a lovely shade of scarlet. The armor the dog wore was also exceptional, it gave off a militaristic vibe.

He’s tempted to dress models' dogs the same way in his next fashion show.

“It’s normal for hunters to bring Palicoes into battle, they’re quite capable of combat despite their small size. But Meowdame is retired and assists at camp during a hunt. As for my Palamute, Draken, his breed is used to travel through areas faster but they also provide aid in fighting monsters as well. he has his own weapon.”

Divus could clearly see a small double-sided knife on the belt of the Palamute.

“Oh? Out of context, that seems quite dubious…” the man’s brow raised.

“I… I can’t disagree, but it’s a common misconception to think that hunters force felynes and Palamutes to fight. They are required to be compensated for their hard work. I’ve heard about felynes who hold a high position in the guild…”

“Interesting…”

The conversation went on for half an hour before Divus finally stood up from his seat and showed her his sketch.

“I’ve done your uniform sketch, let me know if there are any adjustments I need to add, there would be no trouble at all I assure you”

He hands her the sketchbook and Fraena’s scans the drawing.

It was a uniform that looked similar to the guildmarms back home but the color palette fits the dark aesthetic of the academy and had more black feathers.

The outfit also had a skirt that wasn’t too long to allow her mobility, though she hopes the outfit comes with shorts because she tends to run around a lot.

Short skirts in a place full of nothing but boys going through puberty are the last place for that type of fashion.

Looking back at the page, she can see that even Draken and Meowdame got new outfits as well.

Though most of it had at least a black feather, obviously to fit the raven logo. And the outfits were not entirely covering them because they’re animals.

In all honesty, it was kind of adorable, what a considerate man, Divus is to make clothes for them too.

“The outfit is fine… though since you did offer to include any changes. Can it be possible to put this symbol on all our clothes?” her hand started to sketch the guild emblem in a blank space.

She presents him with a symbol of the guild’s four swords, Divus looked at the pattern with intrigue.

“This quite an ancient-looking symbol, is this your religion of some sort?”

Divus inspects the emblem with an inspired gleam in his eyes.

“It’s more of a sacred rule, not just for hunters but for everyone. We follow these rules to properly live in harmony with nature, not to take advantage of it”

Divus can tell from her tone that she takes these rules seriously, the puppies could take notes from her and be a little less rowdy in his opinion.

Plus, it was refreshing to have an assistant that wasn’t infatuated with him.

There are two reasons why those who applied for the teacher’s assistant position weren’t able to stay for long in this godforsaken academy.

Firstly, because the workload shoved onto them was too much to handle, it’s all Crowley’s fault by the way, they couldn’t handle the stress and just quit.

Second, those who applied are well aware of the one and only Divus Crewel, Fashion Tyrant who is a very, VERY wealthy man who happens to be single, mind you.

Not to mention his devilishly good looks, he is quite proud of himself for taking care of his appearance, but in this case it was a double-edged sword.

He can’t believe how many applicants had perfected the façade of “professionalism” that dropped quickly once they got accepted.

Skipping assigned work to “chat” or to try and invite him for a coffee. Those previous applicants were dealt with by shoving more of Crowley’s workload onto them or Divus would point out so many flaws in their work performance that their rose-tinted fantasy of an co-worker romance would shatter.

He never felt bad about being brutally honest, and it’s not like they could sue him because he was KNOWN for being harsh.

But Fraena wasn’t like the other assistants, though that may be because she hasn’t heard of him at all.

She was militaristic in her mannerisms and had a no-nonsense attitude about her. Something that Divus wished he could find in the previous ones.

Guess the great seven decided to grant him his wish in the form of a person from another world with a walking cat and a dog with near-human intelligence.

And he wasn't going to reject such an opportunity.

 “I look forward to working with the school’s new teacher’s assistant, Miss Fraena. I hope you can handle that crow’s demands. I would’ve preferred people refer to me as ‘Master Crewel’ but seeing as you are to be my co-worker, you can refer to me as you see fit!”

He holds out his scarlet gloved hand to her, she firmly shakes his hand.

“I look forward to working here as well, Sir Crewel. I’m pretty sure whatever Crowley asks of me, I can handle.”

She says with a steel gaze that made it clear she wasn’t backing down.

This is definitely refreshing, the previous ones who shook his hand had this weird face that looked nearly lewd, Divus may have interests like adults do but he knows there was a time and a place for that!

He is looking forward to teaching in this new school year.

He walked past Draken and Meowdame, Divus didn’t hesitate and brushed his palm on the Palamute’s back, to which Draken responds with a startled yelp.

“Ar!? Grrrr!!!”

Draken growled at Divus who didn’t even flinch and just grinned. Before he exits the door, he looks back to Fraena and company for one last message.

“Now, you are free to use this clinic as temporary accommodation. You’ll move into your new place after I blackmail- I mean, convince Crowley to fix that ramshackle of a dorm… out of his own pocket of course~ Ta-ta, darling~!”

He sounded jovial as he left the clinic with the click of his expensive leather shoes.

Fraena collapsed on the bed as a lot has happened. Draken occupied another bed due to his huge frame.

‘That man certainly was an eccentric character…’ she can’t help but think.

Meowdame plops next to Fraena and unravels the ribbon on her hair. Unweaving it with her dainty paws, Fraena groans either out of mental exhaustion, disbelief, or a combination of both.

“We’ve had quite a day, meowster~ But we shouldn’t take this as a bad o-mew-n, we ought to take this o-paw-rtunity to try something mew. Though we can’t get our answers now, we can still try to adapt, no?”

When she finished untying Fraena’s hair the felyne settles next to Draken who was already asleep.

Giving it some thought, Meowdame had a point. There was no use beating a dead Aptonoth after all.

“You’re… right. It’s just that this is all so sudden and I have no idea what this place even is or what kind of system they have here!” Fraena threw her hands up in the air in defeat.

“All the more reason to observe and study, right? That’s what hunters do after all~”

“…. Hunter, huh…”

Fraena drifted off to sleep with many thoughts in her head. Meowdame did have a point, she can always learn to adapt to this alien-like place. It’s the most basic skill every hunter knows, adaptability.

Yet she feels like she is no longer right for that role. Not after the mixed feelings that continue to haunt her.

The sea of students walked into the main campus building to start the new school year. Though the only thing that was on their minds was about that mysterious woman that appeared during the welcoming ceremony.

Much to their shock, the students encountered the woman in several different places on the campus. Alongside her were that large red wolf-dog and the bipedal cat.

Her armor was now replaced with a custom-fitted uniform that gave off a ‘strict secretary’ image.

The gunlance was propped on her back, making the students gasp in awe as she manages to walk fast despite carrying such a heavy load.

Divus was able to quickly create the uniforms and sent them to her in such fancy packaging, when asked how he managed to make it so quickly he simply replied…

“Magic, of course”

Right, she forgot this place had magic.

It was almost like a cheat code for an easy living. That man had done what could have been two weeks’ worth of sewing overnight.

She patrolled the campus as part of her “morning duty”, or so Crowley says.

“I wonder if this headmeowster didn’t think of hiring an actual guard if this place was so purrs-tigious…” Meowdame spoke what she was thinking while Draken huffs in agreement.

Fraena can’t help but find something fishy with this routine too. She may not have worked as an assistant but she’s been around the guild long enough to know how guildmarms function.

And they certainly did NOT need to do patrolling, those were the guild knight’s jobs!

But she can’t exactly complain when Crowley is the thread that’s keeping her and her entourage from getting sent into an unknown land where she has no identity nor the idea of how their laws work.

No doubt that Zenny can’t be used for purchasing goods here either. For now, she’ll play along with his demands.

She stopped by the statues in the middle of the Main Street, making sure that any tardy students are notified to the staff handling their classes.

Draken yawns and plops himself down next to her.

Meowdame glanced at the statues curious about who these people (and creatures) were. She inspects the one closest to them.

It was a plump woman with her head held high, her hand holding a heart-shaped fan and she wore a dress befitting a ruler.

“Are these their champions, purr-haps? Wonder what kind of meow-gic they have to be great enough to have statues made in their honor?” Meowdame wondered.

Just before Fraena can respond, she heard two voices that called out to them. From the distance, she can see two boys running in her direction.

“That’s the woman from the entrance ceremony! Whoa, they weren’t kidding when the seniors said she had a wolf-dog and a weapon. That’s so badass!” a red-haired boy strode towards them with an eager expression.

“Hey, Ace! You can’t just approach her like that!” a blue-haired boy scolds his companion who pays him no mind as he approached.

Draken stands up immediately and growls at the two boys who are scared stiff when they realized just how big the Palamute really was.

“Draken, heel!” Fraena commands him with a stern tone.

The Palamute ceased his growling and laid down again. The two boys were in awe at the authority the woman held over such a large canine.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to mess with creatures you have no idea of? And why are you wasting time by trying to start small talk with me, you’re not planning on skipping class are you?”

She scolds them with an upset gaze, crossing her arms.

The blue-haired boy bows his head to her immediately.

“We apologize! Ace wanted to see your dog but I tried to stop him, honest!”

She looks to the red-haired boy called, “Ace”, who doesn’t seem apologetic at all, he was pouting at his friend instead.

“Boo, Deuce you’re such a stickler for rules like the dorm leader! Learn to live a little!”

The boy is now known as, “Deuce” shot up and glares at Ace.

“We can’t just approach people like that! She’s one of the staff here and if we get in trouble then…”

The two proceeded to bicker right in front of her.

Good grief, these boys are a handful. Fraena has met boys their age that were the same level of rowdy but at least they got their heads straight sooner or later.

But that’s probably because they were mostly hunters who took the job seriously, maybe that’s why…

“Alright, that’s enough. No need to argue out here… I can’t deny that my Palamute, Draken, here is tempting to pet but he’s not exactly social with strangers. If you guys really just came up to me to pet my companions, then would you be satisfied with shaking hands with a Palico? Would that satisfy you enough to move your butts into class?”

At that, the boys stopped and stared between her and Draken a few times.

‘She named it Draken? That’s really cool! But what the hell is a Palamute and Palico? That a new breed or something?’

Ace thinks to himself as he glanced at the Palamute who was ignoring the boys.

The two students looked confused about the terms used to label a “dog” and “cat”.

But she was right that they, more like Ace, wanted to pet the cool-looking dog.

But since said dog looked ready to munch on their hands if they try, they’ll gladly take her to offer to shake hands with a bipedal cat.

A cat that willingly offers to have its paws squished, who would say no?

“Lovely to meet mew gentlemewn~!”

"I-It talks!?" Deuce gawked.

Meowdame steps forward and shakes Deuce’s hand first. His eyes went wide as he felt the soft beans gripping his palm in her small paws.

“S-so soft!”

Was he crying? Yep, those are tears.

When it was Ace’s turn, he too marveled at the texture of the paw pads.

“You’re right! Aww man, my mom would’ve loved a cat like this!” giving the paw a few squeezes.

“Quite a charmer, aren’t mew? A pleasure to meet such enthusiastic young lads~!”

“All right, you boys had your fun, now get to class before the professor turns you into chow!”

After the handshaking, Fraena ushered the boys to class seeing as how the other students stopped to look while possibly hoping she would invite them to shake hands with Meowdame too.

She sends an ice cold stare at the forming crowd of students.

“The bell’s going to ring soon, you all get moving!”

That got the crowd to disperse quickly. And just as she said, the bell rang moments after.

When there were no students to be found and the area was completely empty, Fraena took that as a sign to head back into the building to start actual teacher’s assistant work.

Meowdame parted ways when they reached the cafeteria because Crowley decided to put her skills as a cook to use in the kitchen. Fraena can’t wait to see how rowdy it will get once they taste the legendary platter.

“These boys may not be hunters but I’ll give them a meal they’ll never fur-get!” she winks at her before heading inside.

Wouldn’t you know it, her first task was to assist Divus with the freshmen in handling potion ingredients. How lucky it was for her that Ace and Deuce were also there for the class as well.

‘It’s her!’

The two thought as Fraena enters the room and stands next to their professor like a soldier with the way her posture is ramrod straight.

Draken stood guard by the door, his back straight and ears twitching for the slightest sound. The students can’t help but divert their attention to him out of curiosity and awe.

“So, you lot are the newest litter of puppies enrolled here… let’s first get introductions in order- hmm?”

Divus paused when he noticed that the students were distracted.

The students were solely focused on Draken and could barely pay attention to their professor until they heard a snap from his teaching stick.

The boys flinched and instinctively fixed their gaze on him.

“You strays will listen when I’m speaking! Any lollygagging will get extra homework as punishment!”

That got them to focus on today’s lecture. While Divus was explaining the hundreds of herbs and fungi, Fraena simply looked at the clipboard of the ingredients the students had on their tables, and to check if they were the correct ones for today’s lesson.

‘There’s plenty of plants I’m not familiar with… But they might seem useful, I wonder if there’s a way to do these recipes without any magic…’ She thought to herself.

Though this world had no large monsters coming for them on a daily basis, she would like to put her skills to use. She’s done a lot of manual combining on and off the battlefield.

And besides, these boys might get into an accident that needed first aid.

Maybe she can bring this new knowledge back home to combat monsters easier too.

Then she hears a loud sizzling, turning around to see one of the cauldrons bubbling with dangerous chemicals overflowing the brim.

Before anyone could start panicking, Fraena whistled to Draken, who immediately dashed to their aid.

“Draken, fetch!”

“Arf!”

The Palamute dashed through the room with agile speed and grabbed the back collar of the two students nearby and dragged them to safety. All while managing to avoid the shelves full of bottled chemicals.

This allowed Divus enough time to cast a bubble spell to keep the explosion contained.

*RUMBLE, RUMBLE!*

There was a rumbling as the concoction exploded in pink and purple foam.

A harsh sizzling can be heard as it slowly dissolved away. When the foam disappeared, the students flinched when they saw the cauldron was partially melted.

They dread to think what would’ve happened had it exploded onto them without the bubble.

Draken lets go of the boys’ coats and returns to his post, Fraena gave him head pats before going to check on the students who were responsible for the disastrous experiment. The two of them seem dazed from what occurred mere seconds ago.

“You boys alright? No burns or cuts?”

She checks if there were any chemical burns on their lab coats or if their goggles were broken, thankfully they weren’t harmed.

The boys blushed when she helped them up from the floor, maybe it’s because Fraena, despite her serious expression, actually has a certain beauty to her (or is that they were being looked over by a female).

Not that she would know because she never pays attention to things like “beauty” when her lifestyle is basically hunting.

She would have no time to look pretty!

Divus walks up to the cauldron, undoing the spell he has cast to inspect the damages. Everyone in the room held their breath as he walks with an agitated gait.

Fraena could hear the students murmuring with a fearful tone.

“Oh shoot… They’re dead”

“It’s only the first day but they’re gonna be slaughtered!”

“I heard from a senior that Professor Crewel is merciless at the slightest mistake…”

He looks in the cauldron for a few seconds before smacking his teaching stick on his gloved hand.

“It seems that a few puppies were too distracted to heed my orders. I said to listen to my instructions carefully, but instead, you lot decided to play around!”

He held, from what Fraena could guess, a melted black mirror with gaudy-looking décor, and one of the students paled at the sight of the object.

So, it was his belonging?

Fraena wondered if the boy was a narcissist and loved to look at himself to bring a mirror to class.

“Ah! M-my phone- eek!”

He shrieks when the professor looms over him with a hardened gaze, clearly displeased after finding out today’s incident happened because of a “phone”.

“Let this be a lesson to you pups… one wrong procedure then you might as well have lost a limb or a chunk of your flesh!”

The students winced at the thought of experiencing something as painful as that. Divus continued on his rant.

“Be thankful, Miss Fraena was here to keep you all safe! You two, sit quietly in the back until the end of class. I’ll give you for punishment later…”

The two gulped anxiously before heading to the seats in the back with their heads hung low.

He tossed the “phone” into a bin and proceeded to continue the lesson. As if he was never furious in the first place.

Fraena has seen quite strict commanders, Divus would’ve been a frightening commander if he was ever in her world.

But why was he so worked up over a black mirror they called, “phone”? Did they hold some kind of magic?

After alchemy class was over and all the students filed out of the classroom, Divus puts a hand on Fraena’s shoulder. A smug grin was present on his handsome face.

“Excellent work today. Despite your canine being bigger than a wolf, I am surprised he was quick enough to get those pups out of danger. He hasn’t bumped into a single shelf either!”

“Oh, that’s because Draken’s quite agile on his feet and he can easily make his way through rough terrain as well as avoid any obstacles...”

At the mention of his capabilities, Draken’s face lights up with pride as he sticks his nose into the air.

Divus grins and proceeds to pet the Palamute who didn’t expect it and yelps before growling with a warning.

The man didn’t seem intimidated and just grinned smugly.

“I usually don’t let animals in the lab but if your mutt can keep these pups in line then I can make an exception. Ah, it really is refreshing to have an assistant that actually does their job~! Your next class is with Trein, isn’t it? You best be going now”

Fraena is escorted out of the room and into the hallway before the professor closed the door. She looks to Draken who wore an annoyed look as he tried to use his paw to fix his ruffled fur.

‘Is he really that relieved? Just how many assistants did he have to go through?’ she wondered.

She has seen a fair share of humans and wyverians with a certain beauty to them, Divus himself could give them a run for their zenny.

A lot of them had to deal with people who liked their looks but they can’t do their job? She’s hardly known about incidents like those.

Guess being attractive can be its own disadvantage huh? She can’t help but feel bad for the guy.

Poor guy was trying to work and someone would be pestering him for attention. If it were her, she’d be annoyed too.

‘I need to get to the next class…’

Not wanting to waste any more time, she heads for Trein’s class.

The man was in another classroom and sat at his desk with his cat, not wanting any trouble she has Draken stand guard at the door.

Palicoes and Palamutes usually get along and if they ever fight it’s usually over little things but they get over it quickly.

Lucius is clearly not happy with Draken if he ever so much as put a paw into the classroom.

“Draken, you can go take a walk in the meantime… I won’t be long”

“Huff…”

Though Draken seems a bit anxious to leave his hunter, he didn’t want to start a fight with the weird Palico hissing in his direction.

So, he obediently heads out to wherever his paws take him as Trein starts the class.

Needless to say, Fraena finds the lesson quite confusing because most of the terms being explained are not familiar to her at all. She merely assisted him in handing out course outlines and reference sheets when he tells her to.

Though she did find it a bit rude for some of the students to be getting drowsy. Though she doesn’t have schools back in her world the information was valuable.

Not to mention it was disrespectful to ignore the person whose job it is to educate.

Lucius made sure to remedy that by swiping at their noses, the students comically flinched at the feline. Barely avoiding the sharp claws that would have made red lines on their skin.

If Lucius was too lazy to swat at the students, Trein’s famous glare can send chills down their spines.

It almost seems like he was cursing them with his eyes.

Fraena did feel a bit of shiver herself, reminds her of the time a newbie screwed up and the Elder Fugen was already having a bad day.

Not a pleasant encounter… for the newbie that is.

It wasn’t a very eventful lesson other than taking notes. Fraena never really needed to go to school.

In a world like hers, “schools” are usually just taught in the village by the veteran hunters and the lessons were mostly about the basics and how to wield weapons, crafting among other survival tactics.

And if they had to take notes, it was usually out in the field. Which is a hard thing to manage if you’re spotted by your target.

Most times it ends up with the hunter kissing the floor after getting tackled by monsters.

Placing schools in another area where kids themselves have to venture to, is dangerous. Considering the kind of ecosystem they have, a school like this would never work out.

Once class was over, she had to stay behind to fix the papers and clean out the board.

While she was putting papers away and cleaning chalkboards, Trein made small talk.

“Most of your duties in my class would be to mark papers but… what extent is your education, if I may ask?”

“Well, mostly anatomy but it’s how to find breakable monster parts. There’s a bit of alchemy but it’s just mixing raw materials to make useful items. That’s about it… I can read and write like everyone else but I doubt I can do that with the different alphabet here…”

Fraena can’t help but feel a bit inadequate, she never had to learn these kinds of subjects before because they weren’t necessary.

“I see, I could teach you a few things if you want…”

“Huh?” she wasn’t expecting that.

Trein’s stern face softened a bit as he pulls out a bunch of handwritten notes and gave them to her. These were all notes on the various subjects!

“I can start tutoring you on weekends if you would like…”

She should take this offer, after all there was no telling when she would be getting back home.

“That would be nice… it’s hard to adjust when everything is so different all of a sudden…”

“You remind me so much of my two daughters, you know” Trein smiles fondly.

“I do?”

She didn’t even know he was married and had children.

“They are strong and proud girls, though they tend to keep their issues to themselves at times, but as a parent I can always tell” he chuckles fondly at the memory.

Seems like his strictness and cold gaze was just his way of showing how he cared about their education, he has a surprisingly soft side to him.

“Though, I am quite curious about your world too. Maybe we could make a deal, in exchange for tutoring you please do tell me about the world you call home. I just find it fascinating that your world has intelligent cats…”

There was a small hint of amusement in his tone, well he is a cat person after all.

Learning about a world where cats can be the perfect company who can do most things a person could, was practically paradise to him.

Fraena agrees to his terms, who is she to deny the man? Hunters can’t help but melt at the sight of Palicoes. She can admit that Palicoes are kind of the best.

Draken would whine if he heard her say that though.

After Trein’s class, she has a PE class that she needs to overlook with Vargas. Though when she got to the field, she could spot Draken who looked like he was ready to kill someone.

No doubt, someone messed with him.

“What’s the matter, boy?”

“*whines*”

Then she noticed that his fur was fluffier in a messy sense like someone had just given him so many pets that it stuck out.

And from the looks of it, he got a whole lot of affection.

Can she blame them? No, because every hunter loves to give affection to their furry companions.

Who can resist? But this may be too many pets.

Then she heard the loud, booming voice of Vargas. What she saw nearly made her have whiplash.

That man was flying… on a broom of all things?! He noticed her stunned expression the moment he landed.

“What’s the matter? Have my outstanding flying skills made you speechless?”

He flexed his muscled arm in pride.

“H-how do you fly… wh-what is happening?!”

“Oh, it’s natural for anyone to fly using a broom, given that they have enough magic and control. Haha! You should close your gaping maw unless you want to eat flies!”

“F-forgive me, I wasn’t trying to be rude it’s just… back home, people usually took flight on a Flying Wyvern and not a tool for cleaning- oh Gogma-dammit…”

She regrets saying that the moment Vargas’ eyes lit up with excitement at the mention of people riding monsters.

Before she could escape, he puts an arm around her shoulder as he gives her a huge grin.

“You mean to tell me that not only do you hunt monsters… but you also ride them into a glorious battle?!” his eyes were practically sparkling.

“W-well, riders are the ones who ride the monsters and hunters do the, you know… hunting…”

Fraena wants to put a boot in her mouth because Vargas won’t pass up on wanting to hear any more stories about “glorious hunts”.

Thankfully, she is spared momentarily when the students started to pile into the field.

She took notice of how some of them had features of animals, she can’t help but stare.

But she soon realized that she gazed at them for too long when a student with dusty blonde hair and hyena ears looked her way.

Vargas blew his whistle and signaled the students to start lining up on the track field for a good 100-meter run.

Fraena watched as the students ran around the large field. Some quickly succumbed after running a short distance and got Vargas shouting for them to regulate their speed.

While there were others who were running quite a distance before they even worked up a sweat. The majority of those were beastmen, she can guess why.

Even wyverians tend to be more athletic and have better endurance compared to humans.

Vargas calls out to her holding a thermal bag filled to the brim with cold water bottles.

“Hand these out to the kids struggling to run, they look dehydrated. Tsk, tsk, those boys ought to work their muscles more! A little bit of exercise won’t hurt every now and again!”

He flexes his muscles to prove a point, Fraena admits that he’s as buff as Elder Fugen. Just not able to match the height… that little detail is kept to herself.

She motions to Draken who immediately figures out what she needed him to do. Fraena rides on his back as the Palamute ran to the students at the far end of the field.

The same hyena boy was sweating quite a lot after running around almost half of the field, he hears rustling grass nearby and he nearly stumbled at the sight of the Palamute.

He looks to the rider to see it was the lady who was standing next to Vargas earlier.

She tossed him a cold bottle which he immediately takes to drinking about a half-full of its contents before dumping it on himself.

“Man that hits the spot! Nothing beats a cold drink on a hot day, shi shi!”

He turns his attention to the lady and his nose catches a confusing array of scents, he can smell some form of an animal? Or at least he thinks is an animal on her.

But also a bit of blood. Ruggie didn’t realize that he was backing away the moment he got a whiff of it. Fraena thought he was afraid of her Palamute and tried to remedy the awkward situation.

“Oh, no need to be tense. Draken’s just not used to strangers…”

“Grrr….”

“Ah! T-that’s not what I was…”

Before he could try to come up with an explanation, she was already running off to another student who was suffering from this sweltering heat.

Ruggie kept his gaze on her, he’s met his fair share of people who smelled like blood. Usually, they’re troublemakers and street thugs who had a history of violence.

Of course, he and his fellow hyenas fought back with their bone-crushing teeth.

But the thing is... the smell of blood on those thugs can always be traced back to other people.

But this lady… the blood smelled close to a beast of some kind. Nothing like he’s ever smelled before.

It was like the scent of an untamed jungle. Where everything is out to get you and won’t spare you any mercy.

And he can tell just by the way she carries herself that she’s not someone who hunts for the trophy.

More like she was the prey and she fought back whatever tried to devour her.

He felt his fur stand on end at the thought. Seems like the new teacher’s assistant wasn’t someone who lived their version of a “normal” life.

‘That headmaster hired another eccentric one, huh?’ he thought to himself.

He goes back to running his laps, trying to shake the lingering scent off his nose.

A few students got distracted by Fraena riding Draken all over the place which caused Vargas to add pushups to their exercise when they bumped into each other.

He thought they were being ungentlemanly and were gawking at the only female staff in this school.

Vargas won’t allow these boys to disrespect the lady who gained his respect!

After the period ended and almost all of the students were gasping for air while feeling the ache of their sore muscles, Vargas dismissed them. Stating how only a few were able to keep up with the assigned exercises.

This is unacceptable in his view, he reminds the boys that he’ll make sure they’re almost as good as he is so they won’t fall back next time. Most of them shuddered at the thought of having more than just the torment they experienced today.

“Those youngsters think that sitting on the couch and scrolling through their phone is all they need. I’ll show them the awe-inspiring revelation of muscles soon!”

He turns to Fraena with an expression that clearly states that she’ll be held here for more chit-chat.

“By the way, Fraena... I noticed you’re quite muscular yourself though. Considering that you carry around that huge weapon and the fact you hunt down behemoths on the daily…”

‘Oh no… please don’t tell me what I think you’re about to tell me!’

She pleaded to whomever deity was sympathetic enough to hear her cry for help.

But alas… no one answered.

“You’ve got to show me some of those moves, little miss! I’m always open to spar you know, no need to worry about hurting me! I’m built like a tank!”

“A-ah… fine… someday”

Not like she had a choice in the matter. She never really liked sticking around people for too long. She found it awkward despite the reputation she got back in Kamura.

Unfortunately, her small talk and distant attitude contributed to her “coolness” or so the rumor goes.

The moment Vargas gave them an out, the two booked it out of the field faster than a sliding Lagombi.

“Ugh, could this place get any weirder?”

*GRUMBLE*

She paused when her stomach growled, at least she’ll have some sort of familiarity once she goes to the cafeteria. Knowing Meowdame, she’ll whip up some home cooking.

“Let’s go see Meowdame for now…”

“Arf, arf!”

Draken couldn’t agree more, this strange place was starting to stress them out. Some food would remedy that.

Little did she know, that the day was about to get weirder once a certain fire-breathing melynx managed to sneak into campus and is now being chased by two first years, Ace and Deuce.

END

#mhs2 x twisted wonderland #monster hunter stories 2 x twisted wonderland #monster hunter stories 2 #fanfiction #dire crowley #mozus trein #divus crewel #ashton vargas #sam #twisted wonderland crossover #ace trappola #deuce spade #ruggie bucchi

[that-one-gay-writer1227]

30-Day Writing Challenge day Three: Texting/Messaging/Letters (Xiao x Reader)

Sumeru city. You were commissioned all the way to Sumeru city for your job as a sketch artist for clothes designs. You worked for a small shop in liyue harbor that took jobs from all over Teyvat. Given your position of a much higher rank, your boss Mr. Lei preferred to keep you and your team on base but as of recently, things have been shorthanded; thus why you got the notification earlier this morning.

You were at your smaller apartment, packing a few small bags you'd set on your bed so that you could fill whatever you could. You've never been to Sumeru, what were you supposed to pack? Is it hot, cold, wet, or dry? As you were doing your best to keep your clothing folded but moving hurriedly to make the trip in time, you hadn't even noticed a certain yaksha appear right behind you. You went to turn around, running directly into him.

You looked up to meet his ever-golden eyes with a wide smile, "Hey Xiao, I didn't notice you were there. what brings you here?" He didn't answer for a moment as he looked at your luggage confused.

"Why are you packing?" Was all he asked monotonously. Underneath his tone was a hint of anxiety, but he was so damn good at masking it that anyone that didn't know him would've missed it. You looked back at your bed and then at him once more realizing he was focused on.

"Oh...I have a commission in Sumeru that I can't turn down. The Akademiya is hosting a gala, and they hired me to make some of the girls' designs and to send them in. It'll only be a couple of weeks I promise." Despite your explanation he still seemed to be upset at your response.

For the past nine months, you and Xiao have been friends. After meeting one day when you found yourself late for work, he saved you and your job. Little did you know, your tardiness would be the spark that started this newfound friendship, and 'something more one day' you hoped.

Not many people got to befriend this adepti, and you knew that. Something about him was sad underneath his cold exterior. You could tell that there was more to the surface and that you wanted to be the one he let his walls down for. That's why you hated the idea of leaving like this. You'd just finally got to the point where he felt comfortable with you, and it made you feel guilty.

"It can't be helped. You have to fulfill your duties, though I will miss our talks," He responded after a moment of silence. His face broke your heart. You didn't want to hurt him, so you came up with a solution.

~~~~~~~~

The first letter you received from Xiao wasn't exactly a long one, that's for sure.

You took the single sheet from its envelope, noticing that it was only a few paragraphs long. Xiao's handwriting was incredible, maybe that's just part of living for thousands of years. You learn how to write so beautifully.

A small smile breached your face as you read the first paragraph. His wording and conversation felt a little shy and awkward. He stumbled over himself a few times and the letter felt a little dry, but his message was still there. Hidden, but there.

The bottom line is that he was thinking of you, and he cared. you set your sketchbook and bag down on the table of the inn you were staying at and grabbed a few pieces of paper to write your reply.

The reply was simple. You explained how you were, and about our day. Archons how your day had been shit. You were feeling self-conscious about your work and underestimated the number of people that were wanting a design. You wrote down about how you spilled some of your drink on some of the older designs and how you had to redo them by the next day.

You didn't want the letter to be all bad, so you wrote about how you saw this really pretty bird. It had landed on your book while you were finishing one of your sketches. The birdie had jade green feathers, a few black feathers, and some blue. You wrote about how it had reminded you a little of xiao. You were sure he'd find a bit of humor in that, and if not then oh well. You wrote about how you missed him and couldn't wait to come home to see him again.

Sealing the envelope you walked down the hall and dropped the paper down the mail chute, closing the door with a thump.

~~~~~~~

The 8th day was a little better than the last few had been. You had gotten all the designs remade and got through a sturdy handful of clients.

Once again it was evening time and you went back to your room at the inn. Seeing another letter from your favorite Adeptus. You opened the much larger envelope and took out what seemed to be about four pages and a flower that was preserved.

reading through the letter, Xiao mentioned that the flower reminded him of you, and he asked Zhongli if Ms. Hu Tao would have anything that would preserve the plant. Much to his surprise they did, and Ms. Tao had the flower preserved and packed away for you.

In this much longer letter, Xiao wrote about missing you, and how he wanted to see you the moment you got back to liyue.

Today's letter felt much more relaxed and genuine. You could tell he was significantly more comfortable with writing nightly messages as you call them.

This was letter number 7, and you felt thrilled that you and he could share the letter-exchanging experience. You knew you were going to keep your letters until the day you left this existence since they reminded you just how much he cared when so many others didn't.

You took a seat at your desk and began writing, as you did so routinely and as you would for the following week until you returned to the one you hoped felt just the same for you.

#xiao x reader #xiao x reader fluff #genshin fluff #genshin impact #xiao fluff #xiao x you #xiao needs a hug #genshin boys #xiao #yn #fluff #idk what to tag this as #lol

[quandaryqueen]

Since ur requests r still open here's a lil smth : imagine the riddlers(YJ, BTAS, whoever) working, right? Watching them work on whatever project they have at the moment - and painting them. Quietly, while watching them work. And then giving it to them when they're done. I think that'd be cute as hell :D

Artful Endeavour

Edward Nygma X Artist Reader

At hours of working on your own projects, both of you had headphones on as to not disrupt one another-- with Eddie in his recent mayhems for Gotham while you were simply lounging around, art supplies in hand. Eddie didn't like it when you dub his brilliant as simply mayhem, but he does see why, but still. It's called 'plans' not mayhem. If you weren't cute, you wouldn't have gotten away with it.

Noticing how the shade of green of his clothes matched with your paint, you absent-mindedly sketch him for a moment... Until then you find yourself concentrating to draw him. You've finished your painting of him whilst he still wasn't done with his work, he seemed to have been frustrated with that glare on his face. Wanting to cheer him up for a moment, you stood from your seat and presented it to him.

💚 Young Justice

Due to the headphones, he didn't hear you calling his name. Lowering your headphones to your neck, you approached Edward with a kiss on the cheek, making him slightly jump. The tense frustration in his countenance dissipating exponentially from your sweet attention when he realises it was you. By this he finally takes his headphones off and eagerly attempts to return the kiss you gave him, when you handed him a watercolour painting of him.

"Whoa..." A smile break from his features, further pushing the tense emotion he has been feeling earlier at the least of his worries.

He is beyond flattered that you'd go out of your time and effort to paint him like this and depict him in a way he will never thought he will ever be, a certain beauty translated in paper and ethereal colours. By this he only have one word for it that's best suited to describe your work, no matter how fucking cliché it is;

"It's beautiful... Thank you."

💚 Batman Unburied

💚 Batman the animated series

When you tried to call for his attention, he heard you through the cluster of instrumentals and vocals in his headphones and immediately lifts an earpiece.

"Yes, my dear?" Though he was frustrated with himself, he cannot bring himself to use you as an outlet of his rage, though you can certainly pick up the edge of his tone. He may be a criminal, but this is a crime he will not forgive himself if he ever committed it.

"I made you something." Snatching the piece from your desk, you merrily walked over to present it to him.

Traces of tension from his face fades as his eyes soften at the sight of him drawn in watercolour. His lips pull up, along with his besotted gaze aligning with your cheerful ones.

"Soooo, how is it?"

God he fucking loves you. "Priceless."

Tapping on the top of his headphones, Edward pulls it down, hang it around his neck before glancing at you with a raised brow. Without a word, you handed his the piece of paper you have been working on with intricate watercolour painting of him. You can see amusement brimming his eyes as he analyses the piece then glances at you.

"What, do you want me to put it on my fridge or something?" He chuckles. Don't let his nonchalance fool you, he is melting inside.

"Oh I don't know, whatever you want with it I guess." You handed him the paper with a shrug.

"To the fridge it is." He jests, before tucking it between the pages of his priced journal, noting to himself to buy a frame to hang it on his bedroom wall later.

#edward nygma #riddler x reader #edward nygma x reader #dc x reader #dc x you #edward nigma #request #young justice riddler #young justice riddler x reader #btas riddler x reader #btas riddler #batman unburied riddler x reader #batman unburied riddler #bemymeal

[panandinpain0]

I would looove a second part to the Old D&D buddies with Munson. Maybe Ed and the reader meet up to talk about some of Eddie’s NPCs from the campaign? Sketching and fluff??

Sketches (Old D&D Buddies Part 2)

Part One

Requested by/people I want to @: @teplejtrouba @mistonk @bangfinch24

Eddie Munson x Male!Byers!Reader

Warnings: Swearing

I really hope this lives up to the first part, and I hope ya'll like it!

(also may or may not be restarting my other Eddie Munson series 👀)

Enjoy!

--

"Jonathan, (Y/N)?" Joyce shouted from down the hall.

"Yeah, Mom?" (Y/N) shouted back, Jonathan perking up from his spot on the couch in attention.

"Can one of you go pick up Will from school? I thought I'd be able to but I need to take this call!" Joyce shouted again.

Jonathan looked over the couch at (Y/N), waiting to see what he'd say. (Y/N) pulled his work bag over his shoulder and grabbed the keys from the table next to the door.

"I've got to run by work so I can pick him up and take him with me," (Y/N) responded, trying to be loud enough for her to hear.

"Thanks, honey!"

"No problem!"

Jonathan waved from his spot on the couch and (Y/N) smiled and nodded back.

"Bye Jonathan."

"Be safe."

"Always am." (Y/N) winked and left the house, getting into the car and making his way to the Hawkins High.

Driving up and slowly stopping behind some other parent's, (Y/N) rolled the windows down and turned up the music a little bit. He and Jonathan always did this when picking Will up as a sign that it wasn't their mom. Seeing as he had a little while, (Y/N) pulled out his sketchbook and pencil, adding some finishing touches to a character sketch he had made earlier.

It was one of Dustin's, and the character was a beefy Viking. As (Y/N) was making the thick curls under the helmet more dramatic, something knocked on the car roof right above him.

Jumping in fright, (Y/N) gasped and looked to the side with wide eyes. After seeing who it was he sighed and turned down the music a bit, turning back to the person.

"Hey, man. You scared the shit out of me," (Y/N) breathed out, laughing at it.

"I can see that!" Eddie nodded with a smirk, bending halfway to fit his arms and head through the window.

"What's up?" (Y/N) asked, tapping his pencil on the side of the paper in his lap.

"I saw you chillin' out here, thought I'd crash the party," Eddie explained, observing the interior of the car.

"Don't you have a few more minutes until school is out?" (Y/N) asked, checking his watch just to be sure.

"Yeah," Eddie confirmed, but he made no move to elaborate or walk away.

Raising an eyebrow at Eddie, (Y/N) let out an exasperated sigh.

"Well, come in, then." (Y/N) motioned to the passengers seat, soon to be Will's place.

Eddie smiled and bit his lip, walking around the car and sliding into the seat, playing with a piece of his hair. (Y/N) rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing his forearms. Eddie couldn't tear his eyes from the movement, mesmerized. He was finally knocked out of his daze when (Y/N) shifted to sit closer to Eddie, bringing the sketchbook into the gaze.

"How's this for Dustin's?" (Y/N) asked, showing Eddie the sketchbook.

"Woah!" Eddie gasped and took the sketchbook into his own hands, running his finger gently over the graphite lines.

"Will and I will color it in later, I just bought these new colored pencils that are so high quality. I'm going to surprise him with them later," (Y/N) explained, chewing at his lip and gesturing to take it back.

Eddie laughed nervously and handed it back.

"Sorry."

"Oh, don't be! Just, don't want any incidents like last time." (Y/N) laughed and nodded.

"About last time-"

"(Y/N)!" Will shouted, him and his friends waving to him. (Y/N) smiled and waved back, ducking his head down to see them all better.

"What were you saying?" (Y/N) asked as Eddie got out, allowing Will to climb in.

"Oh, nothing!" Eddie shrugged and smiled. "Hey, Byers-" both of them looked at Eddie- "if the other characters look like that I might just have to ask you to draw the NPC's too."

Will's eyes lit up and he smiled widely, "Thanks! (Y/N) did Dustin's and I'm working on Mike's right now. We have family night every Tuesday so we can work on it during that tonight, right?" Will turned to (Y/N) with that last question.

"Of course we can!" (Y/N) nodded and smiled at his brother and then Eddie. "We'll see you on Thursday, Eddie?"

Eddie's cheeks dusted pink, making him look at his feet and sway back a little.

"Of course. Bye, Byers'." He waved as the brother's drove off, Will basically buzzing as he listed off ideas to (Y/N).

Sighing, Eddie watched after the car, backpack still hung over his shoulder. Gareth came up behind him, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Man, you're just as smitten as Lorena is to Yorland," he teased, laughing at the reference he had made to their current love struck characters in the campaign.

Not responding, Eddie just let his smile grow, fiddling with the guitar pick around his neck.

End

--

Okay, this was short, but I'm going through a rut right now and wanted to get something for this done.

Hope it was okay?

I love coming up with fake campaign characters, I've gotta tell you-

-Author Max <3

#fluff #fanfiction #writer #x reader #reader insert #fandoms #oneshot #x male reader #stranger things #gay mlm #eddie x you #eddie munson x male!reader #eddie stranger things #eddie x reader #eddie munson

[seawing-vibes]

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYPONY ! ! Here’s some art summary thangs <3 ! Template is by Mintcokev on DeviantArt !! I did one of full pieces and one of Sillay Doodles

Explanations of every piece & stuff is below read the readmore ! + links to the full work if its posed online !

First Template:

January -> This Sora Piece ! I am honestly still super proud of how it turned out , it was fun to work on and looking at it still gives me that nice vibe I was in while drawing it

February -> This headshot of my OC Elk! I developed and expanded on her story this year and did some headshots for their TH, still super proud of how the shading came out here ,,

March -> lmao nothin , not sure what happened in March but I dont have anything there aside from sillay Doodles

April -> This design of Blaze! One of my fav designs I’ve done recently .. shes just so sillay To Me

May -> This piece of my friend and I’s cat ocs ! Stickpaw & Frostclaw, two silly fellas <3 something possessed me here I’ve never drawn a kibby this well since and Im still super proud of this

June -> This reference of my oc Dee!!!! ITS DEE ! ! EVERYONE SAY HI TO DEE <3 ! ! ! ! ! I was so happy to finally give her a proper ref , shes one of my favorite ocs of all time and this came out so well , it looks so much like her!!!!

July -> This artfight attack! This piece was honestly just a blast to work on, the background and frame design and expression were all fun to illustrate

August -> These refs of my lomp ocs! Lomps are fictional guys made by my good friend and August was just the Month for them. These guys are (bottom to top) Fizz, Roe, and Skipper! They’re . Normal <3

September -> This piece of my fursona Kenny ! ! Just a fun piece to work on again, the colors came together way better than I thought they would

October -> This piece of my oc Houndcall! They’re feeling normal about their leader being possessed! This was like a weird experimental painted piece and ou .. I really loved working on it I wanna do more things with that method

November -> Not posed online! Surprisingly, this is a wip of a self-portrait I’m doing for class! Fathead Minnows and Rainbow Trout !! This canvas is massive (taller than me ,, which aint much but still!!) and I’ve been cracking at it for a while but hammered out the details of the trout in November so! It’s acrylic but I really wish I could’ve done oil instead .. acrylic dont blend well

December -> The final fella ! My idiot son ! Also not posed online , this is a linocut printed on hand-made paper! Fun fact, I make my own paper and my own Lino cuts as my main medium, I just cant afford the proper transfer ink, but I got some from school to use so ! My idiot dragon linocut son was born ! I hate him because he wont print proper but this piece ended up working out. Its lino-ink on handmade paper with red micron pen over it

Second Template:

January -> DNA Helicase

February -> Valentine’s Day Gift <3 !

March -> Not (publicly) posted online doodle of my epic oc Anton Bayheart giving his grandson a thumbs up :)

April -> Not (publicly) posted doodles of my ocs Sebastian (left) and Dee (right) (you saw her ref earlier <33) having a normal convo !

May -> A shot from This video of my friends ocs … the one depicted is Quickpaw <3

June -> Not posted doodle of Breezewhipser giving Rippletooth some good advice (it was not good advice) (ripple just learns hes aro)

July -> Not (publicly) posed doodle of my Oc’s Garret (BALD) and Benny (TIRED) . Also just two normal guys (they’re divorced) (and obsessed with eachother)

August -> This doodle of my ocs Savi & Skipper (Skip’s ref is in August first template <3) . Music taste

September -> a small part of this cat sketch page ! Beetlekit getting bullied by his cousins

October -> This doodle of Skipper . I appreciate him

November -> I dont know where this came from actually. Its my friends oc’s Redstone and Bumblebuzz staring kitty-like at my oc Specklestep (she is married to Red and Bumble is their daughter)

December -> Doodle of Tide from this whiteboard ! !

Have a great new year everyone ! ! ! Thanks for reading through all that if you did lmao

#Its new years in Germany so uh . hiiii ! ! ! happy ‘24 !!! thank you to everyone whos been fallowing me despite the lack of art !! ! im #super greatful to have met and interacted with so many amazing artists and people through this account ! ! ! !! hope everyone has a lovely #new year ! ! #HAPPY YEAR OF THE DRAGON RAHHHHH #tideart

[illiath-the-fae]

Art Screed...

I love seeing stuff about learning to draw/paint/whatever from published artists, always makes me think "what-if?" about my own skills.

In my case, in the dim-dark early days of the pre-public-internet era, I took some university-level art courses. During one of them, I asked the professor about using a computer for some of the work (this was waaaaaayyyy back btw, think "Commodore Amiga, the powerhouse of animation!"). Her response was simple "none of the finalists for the end-of-year art judging have been on a computer, maybe it'll happen in the future, but not now". So I went back to my 8'x3' (yes, feet) canvas and continued working on my final piece.

Fast forward until around 2021, and I finally buy myself an inexpensive (for me... around $200USD) screen-based art tablet. I wish I had tried it far earlier as I had the money to buy even a really nice one since around 2005-2006, and it's really helped me rediscover my interest in art. In the early years there, I was too poor for art supplies. Even buying a sketchbook would have meant I could not afford to eat for a week, so I stopped doing art, even sketches, because doing so would waste paper I might need for something my other skills did that put food on my table, or keep the roof over my head. So I basically didn't do art at all for most of those 30 years, other than CAD, or fixing stuff that marketing sent over for websites, or fixing fricked up websites.

However, I have a grounding in colour theory. I learnt how to draw using charcoal and paper. I learnt how to sculpt. How to work with clay and fire in a kiln, work with glass and create stained glass using lead linings, and more. I had all those skills, and I just didn't do art, at all, because I was stuck in a mindset of "I need these tools to do art and they're expensive", but today, there are inexpensive screen tablets that let me do drawing, and even some limited (to me) painting.

This sort of ends with an interesting point. With modern electronics, it's possible to make drawing and painting accessible to far more people, however there much to be said about using whatever materials you can to just do art, for your own sake, that it's hard to put it into words. But don't define yourself, or your art, or others art, by the medium, art has throughout history been done with what's on hand, because the artist felt a need to create and used whatever they could to get it done.

I guess, if I wanted to put a TLDR on this... When created by a mind, there is only "True Art".

And yes, even if it's a traced image, or photo that's been modified by an algorithm at the direction of a person, or a banana taped to a wall, a play put on by four years olds, or music made with bottles and rocks in a parking lot, or the finest piano concerto in a large performance venue, it's all art.

#art is art #mindless drivel from an old fart

[nadiajustbe]

Lots of ideas for AU for your attention

(I'm going crazy.)

Okay, you should know that I really love AU. The characters in the Trilogy are so complex and interesting that I just love introducing them in different roles, spelling out a character depending on the changing world/situation/position in society. I don't think all of them are entirely original, as I am inspired by my favorite fanfics or posts in one way or another from time to time. In any situation, there are so many that I just don't think I could write even some small pieces on all of them, but I want to show them to you anyway. You can use my ideas however you want, get inspired by them and stuff like that, because I've done the same thing with some of them. SO THAT....

1. Modern AU, in which Nat is still the same ambitious little kid, but since we don't have magic he uses more "realistic" ways to get revenge or even kill Lovelace. Bartimeus is either a detective, an assassin, or both, who Nathaniel hires by paying a considerable sum from Underwood's purse for Bart to find out more about Simon Lovelace, his papers, and in the end the strange magical, obviously nonfunctioning trinkets like the Amulet that the professor is so fond of. I started to write it, and there, from the beginning, Bartimaeus was pointing a gun at his "master," because "his working hours were up. But I don't know if I'll ever finish it.

2. The AU with Bartimaeus the cat I mentioned earlier. I think a short sketch or comic book format would work well here.

3. an AU in which Bartimaeus is a guy from some rich family and Nath is his regular servant, who Bart just likes to piss off because he acts like he's in charge and not Barty himself. (I saw a short snippet of this concept in some fanfic and I was eager to develop it, but just to warn you, the idea isn't really mine.)

4. Dark!Nathaniel AU, because I was just wondering if Nathaniel could be made even more horrible than he was in book 3. I mean... Bartimeus, who once again is threatened by his master with a punishment like Flame, but Bart thinks that's just empty words, because this kid just isn't capable of it. But he is. He is capable, and capable of much more for the sake of his career path. This isn't Nathaniel or even John Mandrake anymore. It's something Bart doesn't even want to think about. Not even human.

5. It's also Dark!Bartimaeus because yes. I imagine the fact that Bartimaeus is an unreliable narrator, but just elevated to an absolute. That is, the concept that he whitewashed himself and his personality as much as he could, but in fact turned out to be an unbelievable monster with no morals, and who inflicts creepiness on everyone he can. In such a concept, both the idea of Ptolemy seems rather absurd (we're only talking about this AU now, no more, which is not particularly connected to canon) and Mandrake's actions to protect himself are not so bloodthirsty.

6. Or maybe just give me the darc BartNats and I'll be free (Yes, I really love this kind of thing, I'm speaking as the author of the only Darkfik in a small fandom of one russian author)

7. Of the already released ideas, but the ones I want to talk about anyway, (also I would be incredibly happy if you take it or some others as a basis for anything) I have a kind of modern AU in which Nathaniel is something like a Satanist or black mage, since in this concept it's our world, in which summoning a demon is something sinful and wrong, with all the traditions of summoning and all the rules. And Bartimaeus is the devil or demon (call it what you want) he summoned. In my fanfiction, instead of selling his soul to the demon for coins and eternal life, Nat asked to be possessed and share his body, because he was interested in the benefits of that state. But to see other ideas coming from this concept is very curious.

8. Lite High School AU, in which Nat asked Bartimaeus to help him with his homework at home because he was too tired of this life. Out of curiosity - in my head so into all these runes and invocations, but more as a false science and absolutely not telling anyone about it because it would ruin his reputation as the most arrogant best student in school.

(This was also written, but I only posted it on the Ukrainian fanfiction site. However, if you're interested in it, I might somehow show those two works to you)

9. Aladdin AU because it looks incredibly cool. This despite the fact that I haven't seen the Disney movie and I only know the plot in general terms. But still, we at least already have a genie.

10. If we're already talking about genies, it would be interesting to see the characters in the cast of a regular genie story. Bart as the genie who is obliged to grant the three wishes of that silly beleaguered guy who pulled him out of the bottle drifting quietly by the waters of the Thames. I think Kitty would eventually like to relieve him of all these responsibilities, but Nathaniel, as the only one capable of making a wish, would be too frightened by the consequences of such a decision.

11. a race-changing AU that I started to write, but haven't had a chance to finish yet. It's not my concept, but I love it too much not to mention it.

12. Harry Potter Au and again because it's cool and because I've seen the drawings but haven't seen much fanfiction, so can I remind you of that in this post?

13. The typical "what-if-it-would-be-all-it-is-just-films" of many fandoms, inspired by an incredible drawing from @pompomoo. I have so many headcanons to this that it would be easier to do a separate post if you like this one.

14. Slavic (Ukrainian) AU because it's just beautiful and because Slavic mythology is incredibly diverse and fulfilling. (And I also like to imagine everyone in vyshyvankas and national clothes, which, by the way vary depending on the region, so it is also very interesting). I'll be sure to do it a little later, because I need to dig through a lot of material, but for now I'll throw it to you.

15. And the last thing for today, if I don't have a hundred more ideas. An AU in which Nathaniel and Bartimaeus are forced to live in adjoining apartments. And while Nat is trying to study and also, at least occasionally, rest, Bart seems determined to give him hell. He makes a lot of noise, tries to learn to play guitar on his own because he doesn't want to go to special school but thinks it's cool, puts music like rock, rap or heavy metal on the speakers at the highest volume (especially at three in the morning) and plays console with his best friend Kitty, clearly and loudly commenting on every move of the character (Kitty ALWAYS wins). Nathaniel just wants to S L E E P, but, Bartimaeus doesn't want that. Especially after Nat makes himself known by banging on the wall and the closed doors of his neighbor's apartment, asking him to shut up just for a second. Bart hears this, answers something like, "Yeah," waits for Nat to be quiet, and then turns the music up twice as loud as it was.

#bartimaeus #the bartimaeus trilogy #bartimaeus sequence #bartimaeustrilogy #nathaniel #bartimaeus trilogy #au #nathaniel bartimaeus trilogy #kitty jones