#its just!!! its really strange how fitting some of the flower choices are!!

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

looking very closely at the website neighborhood and here's some little things i noticed (plus some overthinking & flower symbolism):

~ the only butterflies on the "map" are the ones outside of Frank's house, and the single one outside of Eddie's.

~~ i think the flowers outside of Eddie's are either hyacinths or lavender. given that the flowers are different colors, they're probably hyacinths. which is a Fascinating choice to me, because hyacinths can symbolize regret, devotion (especially beyond death), love, forgiveness, and jealousy - depending on the flower color. Eddie has light blue, dark blue, and purple. The butterfly is landing on the purple one (sorrow, mourning, forgiveness, regret, devoted love).

~~ its also Fascinating because the myth behinds hyacinths is about the greek god Apollo and his (male) human lover, Hyacinthus. they were playing discus (metal frisbee). Apollo threw the discus too hard, and it bounced back and hit Hyacinthus, killing him. devastated, Apollo grew the hyacinth flower from Hyacinthus' spilled blood. SO THE FACT THAT EDDIE, GAY PUPPET EDDIE, HAS HYACINTH FLOWERS OUTSIDE THE POST OFFICE IS UM. INCH RESTING!

~~ (also also in the myth, Apollo wanted to rescind his immortality to join Hyacinthus in his death. and in an alternate version of the myth, Hyacinthus was technically murdered, because Zephyrus was jealous that Apollo preferred a mortal over him & purposefully blew the discus off course to strike Hyacinthus. things to think about. yes, in this whole myth metaphor im viewing Eddie as Hyacinthus and Frank as Apollo. do with this what you will)

~ All of the trees in the neighborhood are in the same general style, except for the tree outside of Sally's home, which is a pine tree. i wonder why!

~ the only buildings with second floors are Barnaby's, Frank's, Sally's, and Poppy's homes. rip the "wally falls down the stairs" memes

~ there's a teeny tiny Home in the post office display window

~ Julie's house has quite a lot of heart symbolism. like, a weird amount. an amount to the point where i now have an entire theory around what her role and arc might be. i Will talk about it with minimal prompting.

~ one of the swingset balloons has a happy face balloon with its eyes closed, which stands out to me (and fuels my julie theory)

~ the only neighbors who don't have flowers outside of their buildings are Sally, Julie (disregarding decoration), and Howdy.

~ Poppy has daffodils, which symbolize rebirth, new beginnings, resilience, and hope. however, they have a negative side of selfishness.

~ Barnaby has red, yellow, and blue tulips. red means undying love, admiration, and truth. yellow means "there's sunshine in your smile", joy, happiness, friendship - But it can also mean unrequited love or jealousy. Blue means individuality, trust, and good luck

~~ note that there's a dead/trampled white tulip. white tulips symbolize sorrow, "my condolences", apology, honor, purity, faith.

~ Frank has sunflowers, daisies, and some others, but those i think are more generic, unspecific flowers for added decoration. i couldn't find a "red flower on vine" that fits the general look of the ones on his house. now, sunflowers symbolize adoration, loyalty, longevity, happiness (also, might i add that these flowers are from another greek myth about apollo, this one where Apollo turns a jealous nymph into a sunflower for snitching on his mortal lover, which got her (the lover) killed. inch resting indeed.)

~~ also blue daisies, which i am assuming are the blue flowers outside his house, symbolize freedom, trust, loyalty, confidence, and honesty. lots of positivity surrounding Frank's house!

~ Wally has daisies. these symbolize innocence, purity, new beginnings, hope, and affection. it can also symbolize the ability to keep a secret. a fun fact i found interesting is the word daisy comes from an old english word meaning "day's eye."

~~ do i believe these flower choices were purposeful? maybe. probably. it does seem strange that there are specific, distinct flowers drawn in equally specific parts of the "map", while a couple of generic "cartoon" style flowers are sprinkled throughout

~ three green apples are growing on the tree next to Howdy's Place

~ it stands out to me that the bodega window above the fruit stands is completely blacked out. no window shine or nothing

~ Sally's "yard" is weirdly barren. everyone else's buildings (excluding Home) has several things decorating the surrounding area. all she has is a spotlight and a tree.

~ Barnaby's house having paint all over it (and a paintbrush & can next to it) is just cute to me. it makes me think that he wanted to paint like his lil' buddy Wally and just went ham with it. or it was a team effort between them<3

~ it took me a while to notice the tiny "Eddie's" painted above Post Office. it gives the vibe (to me) of him tacking on the "Eddie's" to make the office feel more like his. maybe he saw the sign "Howdy's Place" and decided to paint his name on his building to make himself feel more established and at home

~ there's something on / part of Frank's roof. i don't know what it is. if anyone has an idea please tell me its driving me insane. at first i thought it was a chimney but theres two? making an additional symmetrical structure? idk!!

~ there are only three buildings with straight up rainbows. Eddie's post office (hanging from the roof and in the window), Sally's house (the entire front), and Frank's house (butterfly on the door wreath. i almost didn't catch it, it's a sneaky one!)

#conclusion: i am definitely overthinking but being proven wrong through discovery is half of the fun #(and turning out to be either right on the money or even partially-right is the other half of the fun) #its just!!! its really strange how fitting some of the flower choices are!! #eddie has flowers that are 'from' a greek myth about tragic gay love. #barnaby has a trampled tulip that is often used as a sympathy funeral flower. along with all of his other character references to death #frank has one of the few flowers other than hyacinths that directly links to a greek myth where apollo's mortal lover dies tragically #(which is just a weird coincidence if you ask me. the canon lovers both having greek myth apollo based tragic love flowers) #wally has flowers that symbolize keeping secrets and whos etymology is literally 'days eye'. him. the eye contact connoisseur #who's from something that puts emphasis on daytime while spurning night as something forbidden #ITS JUST!!!! WHY DOES IT FIT SO WELL!!!! #either these are some craaaaazy coinkydinks or this was Purposeful. #my flower-symbolism loving ass is chewing on this like a rabid dog #welcome home #welcome home puppet show #welcome home speculation

[finxwrites]

ladyhawke time

It should have been the other way around. Jaskier was a creature of sunshine, bright as a summer flower and gaudier than a whole circus. Jaskier was all color and light. Jaskier should have gotten the day.

For his own reasons, too, Geralt would have preferred the night. It would be more practical – there were some monsters that only came out under cover of darkness, and he couldn’t hunt them at all now. But, selfishly, he also wished he could have had this excuse to not have to deal with people anymore. To finally just let Jaskier handle it all, start to finish, the way he’d so often insisted he should. 

Usually while insulting Geralt’s ability to communicate in something other than threats and insults, mind, which was rude and uncalled-for. Geralt only communicated in threats and insults maybe half the time. Less, when the bard wasn’t around to get on his nerves.

Though these last few months, he’d been communicating mostly through glares. So maybe that wasn’t entirely true either.

The lark came back, then, putting an end to his wistful musing. It flitted around his head, twittering furiously, until Geralt raised a hand for it to perch on. Then it preened itself, fluffing its breast and poking at its wings in swift, fussy little motions. Geralt had to swallow around a sudden lump in his throat.

It was so small. He didn’t even feel its weight on his hand. It was such a delicate, beautiful thing, with its bright yellow face striped dramatically in black, the gentle blurring of light brown wings to dun-white breast and the black collar round its throat. It had two little black tufts of feathers like fierce little eyebrows, giving it a permanent flair of drama.

Its claws weren’t even long enough to pierce the leather of his gloves. It was so small.

I miss you, he didn’t say. Sometimes it was easier to talk to the bird than it had ever been to talk to the man, but sometimes it wasn’t. I’m sorry. I still don’t know how to fix this.

The bird took off again, chirping up a storm, only to land again at once on Roach’s head. Roach flicked an ear, but otherwise ignored it, plodding staidly on. The bird pulled at the swirl of fur at the top of her mane, preening her too.

Sometimes it would land on Geralt’s shoulder and preen his hair, too. Sometimes it would sidle along his shoulder and hop down past the edge of his pauldron and then nestle there, just beside his ear, peeping softly to itself as it drifted off to sleep. The brush of feathers was so soft against the side of his throat. So fragile, and so warm.

It wasn’t exactly Jaskier in there, Geralt knew. This wasn’t a choice Jaskier was consciously making. Geralt was just familiar, like Roach, and tiny little songbirds need somewhere protected to sleep. It didn’t mean anything, not really.

Geralt wondered, often, what he did during the night. Jaskier left him notes, so he knew he became a wolf – a huge silver-white wolf, which was so fitting it made him want to vomit – and that he’d never yet hurt Jaskier. Wouldn’t, Jaskier insisted, when Geralt had responded to learning this by chaining himself to the nearest tree the following sunset. In the mornings, Geralt remembered strange, stretching dreams of smell and sound and the layered silences of a nighttime wood, and – he never knew if he was just making this part up – he remembered warmth. A gentle hand stroking between his ears. Singing and chatter over the crackling of the campfires he was careful to assemble and light before darkness fell. A body pressed against his, trusting and tired.

The lark took off again, flitting out over the side of the road to swoop joyfully over a meadow of wildflowers. Geralt sighed. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. Roach flicked an ear at him, and he patted the side of her neck.

The road stretched on, endless. The lark soared against the brilliant blue sky, singing without a care in its tiny, delicate heart. Geralt watched, silence clogging his throat, and wished he still believed in promises he didn’t know how to keep. Wished he could promise, even to himself, that he’d see Jaskier again.

#the witcher #we love a good ladyhawke au

[iwander12]

How children and aging are depicted in LittleBigPlanet + Sackboy's canonical age

I've been wanting to write this post for a while now! This topic i find rather interesting as i'm in that turning point in life of being a newborn adult lol

I'm going to apologize beforehand though for my lack of knowledge about LBP PS Vita in case it had some relevancy to this post. It is the only full release i haven't played :( I'd also like the apologize for the strange pacing in this post- there's a lot to go through and otherwise I'd never get it done.

Do sackpeople age?

Yeah!

Perhaps the earliest* and obvious example are the child portrait stickers of the Creator Curators in LBP2. Most of them (aside from Eve) are used in the first proper level Rookie Test, in pictures of Larry giving flowers to Victoria and Avalon, Clive and Higginbotham graduating. In LBP3, there's a sticker of Newton as a baby in Nana Pud's hands. Sackboy: A Big Adventure has a prequel comic called "The Gathering Storm" starring Scarlet which depicts her as a child.

What do sackfolk look like growing up?

Considering baby Newton fit into Nana Pud's already small hands, babies must be really tiny.

SABA has the first example of a child in the games physically with the Death Stranding costume. Baby...

Wait, a baby sackperson is just a tiny sackperson?

*So this means that the Mini Sackboy item from LBP1 is a baby... (Yeah, it's not a plush. It's alive. It blinks.)

It's a fact that sackpeople use their children as fashion accessories. How delightful yet incredibly strange!

Child Scarlet is a little shorter than the shoulders of a standard sackperson. (She's the only example we have, so excuse the brevity... well there's Hildur, but I'm not sure if she counts as a sackling)

What about a teenager?

As previously established, there is a portrait of Avalon, Clive and Higginbotham graduating, though it's not specified whether they're graduating from high school or college, which would make them either roughly teenagers or young adults at that time. Clive is shorter than the other two in the past yet is about their height in-game, so it's more likely they were teenagers and Clive hit his growth spurt after graduation. A series of promotional videos released for LBP1 called "Life in LittleBigPlanet" state that a fully grown Sackperson is 8 centimeters tall.

Newton is said to have flunked out of the Popit Academy after one semester. Completing term 1 of Popit Puzzles will land you this neat graduation outfit.

It's also unspecified in-game whether the Popit Academy is a high school or a college, but considering its logo and what was described of Newton, it's definitely a college. (I am unsure of the system in England, but here in the US if you fail a semester of high school you just continue as usual and make up what you missed as additional work, instead of being kicked or dropped out.)

Newton's insecurities lie in his belief that he'll never live up to his father, and flunking out played into that. This is what led up to him wanting to use the Titans, to prove his potential to the world, and letting Bunkum's residents (including himself) make better use of its creativity. Of course there's no time range or limit to attend college, but most people tend to pursue it directly after high school, and coupled with Newton's bruised pride and desperation, let's assume for the sake of this post that Newton attended college straight away and is a young adult.

Most of the other sackling characters can easily be identified as adults or elders.

But what about .... YOU? Or, well, Sackboy... er...

The player vs. the character

It's a bit hard to define the separation of a character that's intended to be an expression of you versus yourself, because that separation is defined by yourself as well.

Let's say that the aspects of Sackboy that AREN'T decided/customized by the player are what is hard canon about him: This includes the official story levels, as you don't have a choice but to proceed, and less noticable things such as his personality and actions in the tutorial videos+ ads, and what's in his wardrobe (which is every single costume piece in the game. doesn't mean he wears it though. I wonder how cold he usually is).

Now, without you, who is Sackboy? He's a heroic sackling that has gone on many death-defying adventures across the globe and beyond. He's silent, gender non conforming and has a neverending amount of PlayStation cosplays. He goofs around with the narrator and knows how to use all game mechanics.

And, without your input, how old is he?

How old is Sackboy?

We've sorta already answered this question.

Sackboy is a physically fully grown sackling, as he is 8 centimeters tall. This would make him a teenager at the very youngest.

He has attended and graduated from Popit Academy, a college, which edges him into potential young adult or just general adult territory. (Teenagers can also attend college of course, but that's less common)

Having mentioned his wardrobe before, he has a lot of things that children typically wouldn't wear, including the aforementioned graduation outfit, facial hair, wedding outfits, fishnets, a speedo...among more

In SABA, he can wear piercings and a cute choker!

I'm not going to demonstrate this for obvious reasons, but there is even official art of him with genitalia. Go look at Media Molecule's Flickr if you really want to see it. Hell, knowing that and Mm's sense of humor, his name is rather inappropriate too. (I try to ignore this for the sake of my remaining childhood innocence.)

The Twitter is weird

There are a few tweets by the official LittleBigPlanet twitter that "state" Sackboy's age. These are actually referring to the franchise's age at the time they were posted. (Remember that LBP1 was released October 2008 and do some simple math)

(The GIF says "Happy 12th Birthday Sackboy)

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is weird

Sackboy is definitely NOT a child- why, after a decade of this being established, does he sound like one in SABA?

To help explain this decision, this game can be described as a "soft reboot". It doesn't retcon or change anything about the past, but it presents it in a new way for new and/or unfamiliar audiences. (aka marketability.)

Sackboy was completely silent before and now he's shouting "YEAH! WOOHOO!" every 3 seconds. His voice is very high pitched, youthful and would come off to most people as a child's voice.

I tried to look into his voice actor in the past, but the only other thing they are credited for is Tearaway. It's possible they were credited under a pseudonym, but either way we don't know how old they are or how they are typecast.

Why does Sackboy, a grown man with cock and balls, sound so much like a little boy?

THATS BECAUSE SACKBOY IS CANONICALLY TRANSGENDER HAPPY PRIDE MONTH🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

#littlebigplanet #little big planet #sackboy #littlebigplanet lore!!! #i will leave this in the tags since its not relevant to the topic but dont let this stop you from having fun with your headcanons! #sackboy can be a kid for the sole reason that you feel like it. have fun go wild with your imagination #the world is your oyster #thats what this series is about after all :)

[ziteyra]

A fish out of water

A two part Oneshot

Part 1

Aounung X female! Metkayina

🌪️themes: veeeery slowburn, fluff, love, foreign environments, dates, fighting

🌪️ Warnings : none :)

🌪️ Characters: Aounung, little bit of Loak, female Metkayina Tribe Navi

🌪️ Summary: Anoung takes Loak up on a rekless bet on how long he would survive in the jungle. This is where he meets a mysterious forest Navi and slowly (or not) falls for her

🌪️ Wordcount (🥹) : ~ 4k

🐟 Notes: I am so sorry. I went incredibly overboard with this. Like jesususuususus. Don't know if even Eywa can forgive me for this half-finished monstrosity. Anyway, enjoy. Take your time. Have a nice week. Love ya

It all started with a stupid bet. Aou'nung felt remorse even thinking about it.

While beating Loak in of their thousand diving contests he went a bit too far with their banter.

As he usually did he called Loak all kinds of names. Both slow as a stone and as good of a fiber as his I ran. But Instead of playingly fighting the accusations as he always did he proposed something.

"Sure, I might not be fast in the water yet or the best at riding my Ilu but I bet you wouldn't even make it to the forest brother."

Aonung as stubborn as he was took him up on the offer. He fell right into the obvious trap. Telling their parents they wanted to have a tour of the coral reefs both Loak and Aou'nung snuck out without much hustle.

Thinking back at it Aou'nung had to congratulate himself both for his stupidity and bravery.

Loak landed the two of them on the outskirts of the forest just by the edge of the great cliffs that border the Metkayina territories.

"Well then, go on Aou'nung. I'll meet you back right here in three days. And if you swim back or leave in any way I'll tell everyone what a wuss U were." Loak grinned as he took off high above him on his Ikran. Aou'nung never really liked that animal, but now with him standing so close to the edge of the cliff and the forest right in front of him, he had to admit how useful one of them could be.

The first few hours were strange but easy for him. He felt the unknown terrain between his feet and saw many strange but beautiful animals he had only heard his father talk about.

As soon as the night set tho, both his mood and the forest changed completely. He couldn't just walk in a straight line through the forest anymore as he did the hours before neither could he trace back his steps. As beautiful as the big leaves and trees were in the day, they now just blocked every passage and every small ray of light trying to find its way to the ground. Even the calls of the once beautiful birds just echoed from tree to tree as Aoung had never heard it before.

He wasn't ready to admit defeat yet but he also knew that there wasn't much of a different choice for him but to keep going.

Right when the sun was completely gone from the sky and some tiny specs of moonlight could be seen he found a more or less safe and comfortable place to rest.

He had only taken a small woven blanket with him which he laid on the ground and moss beneath him.

Sitting down he realized how unwelcoming the forest truly felt to him. Even the shades of blue both of the sky he had seen during the day and of the flowers and trees seemed to be different from his skin. It seemed way more fitting to the patterns and tones on Kiri's and Loak's bodies now that he could take a closer look.

Although his blue skin seemed unnatural to him, there was still a soft glow coming from the familiar patterns on his body. In a way, he had rarely seen it. While the water usually reflected these lights and made them glow much brighter, here in the forest it seemed much more like small far away stars.

As much as he was fascinated by that it also startled him that there was a comparable glow coming from around him.

As he rubbed his eyes, trying to get them used to the odd lighting, he noticed that all the plants around him and even the tree bark emitted a glow much the same to his skin. Like the plants and corrals of the ocean, there was a glittering coming from almost every corner of the forest. A bit colder, he thought, than under the sea but maybe also not that different.

"Eywa lives and breathes in everything. Both nature and Navi, even if they are as strange as you" Aou'nung heard a voice coming from right above him. He tried his best not to jump to his feet immediately to not show any fear, but instead just turned his head in every possible direction.

"What are you, pale boy ?" the voice asked again, this time with a more fierce tone.

"Why would you care ?" Aou'nung replied. "And if you need to know, I'm the son of OLO'EYKTAN. I'm one of the most feared warriors of our clan and I am here to prove that a forest like yours is no match for me. They are nothing more than our island jungles."

"I see." The voice softened as without a sound a tall and majestic body Fell from the trees above him.

Before Aou'nung a tall Navi spanned her ornated bow a focused on him sharply with both of her yellow eyes. She was much taller than him and had skin as dark as the night sky with a pattern of glowing dots that seemed to hypnotize him the longer he looked at them.

Still, without fear in his voice, he answered: "I'd be grateful if you could help me navigate this forest of yours just for the next two days. I'm here more or less on a bet. With a friend of mine who looks just like you, he was a born Omatecicaya just like you, I suppose."

Her face remained unchanged but her head and long braids tilted a bit to the right. "Of whom do you speak? You surely are no son of our olo'eyktan. And you do not fit in here. You stink of fish."

Again Aou'nung shivered a bit under the harshness of her words, he could feel her judging gaze all over him.

" I come from the Metkayina. We belong to the sea like you to your strange forest. Now would you *please* take down your bow."

She didn't seem to move not even blink as Aou'nung slowly raised his hands and tried to carefully aim the bow away from him. "I am not your enemy, do you hear me?"

"You truly are no threat, fish men." His opponent answered. As quickly as she pulled to bow it disappeared behind her back. "But we can't leave you unsupervised."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aou'nung asked kind of relieved that the bow was gone but still concerned with her ominous answers.

"You will do whatever you need to do and I will keep an eye out for you. Now go!" The Navi snarred and as silent as a bird she disappeared into the tree branches above him.

"I don't even know your name," Aou'nung called out into the leaves above his head, now feeling kind of harmless being dismissed that easily. He at least wanted to make a lasting impression on that woman. And if she was anything like Loak that shouldn't be hard.

"Hey, did you hear me? What's your name? I'm Aou'nung, you know. The fastest diver of my village." He yelled into the night sky. But no one seemed to answer, only rustling leaves

and a little orange-eyed monkey screamed at his question.

Aou'nung squinted his eyes and looked closer at the animal. There seemed to be two or three just sitting in a smaller tree next to him.

An excellent choice to prove himself he thought, and even to gather something to eat.

Quickly brushing away all the smaller and bigger leaves in his path he made his way just under the tree. Securing his dagger on his bag he tried to grab a strong-looking liana and started to mount the tree, pulling himself upward.

It took him longer than expected and the moment he got close to the first real branch he realized that he was almost out of breath. He had no idea how to find a hold on the strong tree bark and even less how to coordinate his feet around the slimly Liana.

As he sat down on the shaky tree branch he couldn't see even a hint of the monkeys. Only the rustling leaves but this time coming from quite a distance beneath him.

A bit concerned with the height and not trusting the branch under him he pulled the remaining Liana up and wound it around his hips. Securing him like they used to secure small children, back in his village, to their parents when they go out onto the greater ocean for their first real swim.

While finishing his last knot, he felt something small pulling on his locks.

"I knew you'd come back eventually. And even if it was only to congratulate me on my climbing skills." he cheekily smiled. However, as an answer, he only got to hear a deafening scream of many small voices. Harshly turning around he found out where those screams were coming from.

He hadn't found the monkeys but much rather had the monkeys found him. More than 20 of them were gathered behind him hanging from branches and grinning their long sharp teeth at him. One of them had mustered up enough strength to sneak up behind him and was now holding multiple curls of his hair.

He only had enough time to pull back his hair as the monkeys unitedly started to jump towards him bringing the all tree branches to a concerning shake.

Even his half-hearted attempt at escape was quickly stopped by his own professionally bound knots which stopped him from even standing up and the monkeys started to gather around and on top of him only preventing him from completely falling off the tree.

It took more than an hour and in Aou'nungs mind more than days when the monkeys finally lost interest in him. He was lucky that he only had a few bite marks on his arms and upper body. The played with his hair tail and even his dagger with him unable to stop the rampaging hoard.

As he hung from his branch and the first small rays of sunlight reached his eyes a familiar face appeared before him.

"I am impressed Aou'nung, son of the olo'eyktan. I have never seen a fish be defeated by Syaksyuk so easily. They normally don't even hunt." She landed smoothly on his branch not even making it swing. Still, this time she got closer to him and inspected his bruises and spots. Aou'nung realized she smelled like the forest around him with a sweet aroma of earth and flowers all mixed like the green nature around him. She reminded him nothing of Kiri or Loak and if at all much more like their mother. As she carefully caressed his wounds he finally found his voice again.

"Couldn't have left me hanging a bit longer could you ?"

She smiled and Aou'nung thought to himself that maybe just for that, hanging around on an old tree branch for hours was worth it.

"You did not attack them, that was very good of you. Eywa says do not attack what you do not need or what doesn't hunt you. One day we all go back to her." she still smiled and her voice sounded like a song Aou'nung hadn't heard since his childhood.

"Again, I still don't know your name. How can I even thank you for your rescue if I don't know it."

"You do not need to, I did not rescue you, Aou'nung," she whispered, continuing to smile.

While Aou'nung tried to process those words she again disappeared into the woods but this time looking back at him with a grin on her face.

Aou'nung knew he shouldn't have been surprised but still, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. Now, a little less hopeless and still with her faint smell in his memory he started to loosen the knot binding him to the tree. He almost forgot about his bet with Loak, now focused on a new mission. To find his secret follower again and at least find out her name.

Still shaking in his legs he managed to balance himself on the branch and look around to fully take in his surroundings. Sadly, he couldn't quite remember which direction she climbed off to but he was sure it couldn't have been far.

Though his eyes weren't even yet comfortable with the night he could already feel the sun rising again under the thick roof of leaves the forest made up above him.

Not risking to climb any higher he decided to make his way downwards again in the hopes of many being able to find some kind of footprint to follow. Although he didn't expect much he still felt disappointed reached the ground. His feet and hand bruised by the climbing, he lay close to the ground like he once saw Loak do it when. Back then he remembered, Loak tried to teach him and his sister about their technics of hunting and gathering by reading the footprints and clues the animals of the forest left behind. And even though he could make out some kind of marks on the ground he could neither identify which animal they belonged to nor which way they were heading.

Laying on the ground, his tail twitching restlessly, he felt like an idiot. A fish out of water he thought. How Loak would laugh at him for being even worse at this than he was at diving. Even while Loak wasn't that bad at it as Aou'nung had to admit to himself.

Words of his father came to his mind back when he thought about talked the always present Way of the water.

Like a river, Aou'nung, finding his way through a mountain, must be ever-changing. Never resting until we can be one with Eywa. All our senses must help us to be like the water.

Aou'nungs stomach clenched together as thought about his father. He had never been this far away from home and the only thing keeping his mind straight was the memory of a Omatecicaya he might never see again.

"All our senses," Aou'nung spoke to himself and closed his eyes. He knew he would never be able to find anything familiar on those strange forest grounds but there was one thing he could recognise again. Both her smell and her step were something he would surely never forget again.

And he knew that she had to be somewhere around him. Watching and waiting for him to perhaps embarrass himself again. He smiled thinking of her many even being truly impressed by his skill and immediately concentrated himself.

Underwater, the smell was not as important but one thing he learned was to recognize even the small ripples and waves animals and Navi made while navigating through it.

Just like that, he spend the next hours rigorously hunting an illusive smell and the image of a Navi that just wouldn't leave his mind. Only did he stop when reaching a great clearing between all the trees and bushes. He didn't know how long he had been walking but he saw the sun standing bright above his head. When he looked around he felt a sense of accomplishment as his search brought him to an arrow garnished with the same ornaments he had seen on her bow a while back.

Pulling out the arrow from the thick tree he saw something behind it that he never expected to see at such an unfamiliar place. A great and running river broad and lively almost like the ones he knew from home.

Walking along the river he recognized a familiar voice, but not in the lovely tones he remembered, much rather screaming and cursing in ways he had rarely heard before. Gripping the arrow tight Aou'nung immediately started sprinting towards the noise.

Arriving at another clearing where his Navi, he had searched for so long was fighting intensity with a big menacingly looking fish.

Not a second went by and Aou'nung immediately jumped here to help. He knew that fish although he had rarely seen it out in the open ocean. It has scales as thick as a stone and if you didn't know where to hurt it you were better of leaving it in peace. But Aou'nung knew exactly where his weakness was, using the arrow he still held in his hands, he rammed it right under the giant fin of the fish hitting it right in the heart. Just in a few seconds The big twitching body Lost all its strength and fell onto the two jamming them together.

"Little fish! What are you doing here, is supposed to be the one guarding you." She gasped out in surprise but quite possibly also because of the fish pressing heavily on her chest.

"Well you kind of neglected your supervision duty and at last, didn't even tell me your name. I had to come and find you."

And there it was again that beautiful smile Aou'nung had hoped to see. "Well then, you did. Aou'nung defeater of the great Syaksyuk's would you know to help me get rid of this big fish?"

Now it was Aou'nung's time to smile as he pushed away the fish from both of the back into the water. "I know these fish," he says, still gasping for air a bit. " But I never expected them to be here, they belong on the islands of my home not in these sweet rivers."

"It's the RDA, they are disturbing Eywas's peace. Fish are where they're not supposed to be and people are fleeing their homes." now stopping to smile and looking at Aou'nung.

"I never thought of that." He replied, now feeling almost nervous, seeing her again all tall and mighty standing before him.

"You said, you are here because of a bet? Well then it is a dangerous bet, these days it is not safe in the forest for fish like you. Please, go home you see what can happen" Even the last bit of Aou'nungs confidence faded as he heard that but he wasn't about to leave. Not until he proved himself, that was his goal.

"Well then, you think a little fish like me can't prove himself worthy of knowing the name of a Syaksyuk like you? Then let me show you." even before she could react to being called a Syaksyuk Aou'nung pulled her close to him and threw himself into the running river. He knew he did more than just surprise her when he saw the astonished look on her face.

Again he couldn't help but smile.

The waters they were in now, although of an unfamiliar river, felt like a piece of the home had found him between all these strange plants and animals. Aou'nung was with that, more than ready to show her a part of his world.

"Aou'nung what are you trying to do ?? Do you want to drown me ?" She screamed at him as they both resurfaced, her gasping for air.

"Well, you never wanted to tell me your name. So, since a little fish out of water isn't probably worthy of hearing it, I wanted to show you what a fish in water can do. Even if it's not the ocean."

To his surprise, he heard her laugh out loud for the first time. "No my little fish. That is now what I meant. But go on." she grinned "Show me what makes you so special, son of the great olo'eyktan."

With the hand of her sentence, she quickly put her hand on his head and pushed him beneath the water's surface.

Satisfied with her approval, Aou'nung wasn't going to come up again that quickly.

He dove around her once or twice as he watched her head over the water follow him.

A bit along the river bed he spotted something. While there weren't any Ilus or coral reefs for him to show of to her he had discovered a little swarm of glowing fish in the distance.

Completely in his element again he gestured her to follow him but waited unsuccessfully for a response.

He reemerged from the water just to have a clear look at her happy but slightly confused face. "You are very quick underwater, that I must admit. But what was it that you wanted to show me Aou'nung? I couldn't hear a thing."

" This is the language of the Metkayina." he moaned. More annoyed by himself than her. How could he have forgotten the countless days he spent teaching Loak and Kiri just the simplest of things? But he knew it wasn't in vain. And it did also make quite an impression.

"I can teach you a few phrases if you like. But first follow me, as quietly as possible. Or just hang onto me if that's easier. " he exclaimed all proudly feeling a bit like his father once teaching him.

"Sure you can little fish, but I want to grab onto your tail no matter how nice you ask" she boldly countered his daydreams and brought him back to the river.

Sighing he dove back under the water with her right at his tail and although she was by far not as good or quiet of a swimmer as him, they did manage to reach the small swarm.

Aou'nung smiled at her astonished face underwater and signed just the word for fish to her.

Slowly and again and again he repeated it until she picked on and started to do it herself.

Looking incredibly proud of herself, Aou'nung pulled her back above the water worried she might forget to breathe as focused as she seemed.

"Look little fish !!! I can understand you." This time not talking to him but the swarm right in front of them. " You couldn't have been a better teacher Aou'nung. But what are those called? I've rarely seen them before."

"They are similar to your Sloapek," Aou'nung responded knowing that he at least managed to show off a bit. " Or pincer fish as the sky people call them. Small and harmless to us, but for little prey it can be quite deadly." Saying that he pinched his fingers together like two big claws and started wandering towards her.

"Although they look quite pretty, especially at night, just one bite and they got their prey caught forever." He says as he now furiously started to tickle her, water splashing all around them and both of them laughing.

Her laugh sounded beautiful to Aou'nung, like the sounds of those many colorful birds he saw on his first morning in the forest.

He couldn't remember if he ever heard anything more calming to him.

Hours passed for what felt like minutes to Aou'nung as they playfully swam and splashed through the river. Only when the sun started to set did they both realize how much time had passed.

"Well, I suppose you did you did keep your promise and continued watching over me. You even continued to hide your name from me."

" That is true little Aou'nung. But I realized I want more than that. Maybe I should have shown you our world from the beginning. Come on, now you can follow me.”

he didn't need to hear that twice. Without a word more spoken the two of them left the water.

Her wet hair gracefully wound along her shoulders and swung in the tact of her steps.

Over and over he was fascinated by this mysterious creature, like fire and rain her mood changed and he was willing to change with it just to be hers.

#avatar 2 #avatar the way of water #aounung #atwow fanfiction #james cameron avatar #aoung x reader #aoung smut #soooooon #im to tired #aounung au #Aounung avatar #avatar ao'nung #avatar twow #fanfic #fan fic writing

[strxnger-things]

Show, don’t tell: Mike and El are not seeing eye-to-eye in S4

I’ve seen many posts about this before, but I just wanted to add my own two cents. 

On my most recent rewatch of S4, it just seemed so obvious that Mike and El are not seeing eye-to-eye with each other. 

Beyond the narrative choices made, the cinematography alone shows it to the audience in such a literal way that I can’t believe it wasn’t an intentional choice.

(Also, this reading of their scenes is irregardless of the opinion of Mike’s sexuality. Even if Mike were straight (he’s not), S4 depicts a couple who are not communicating honestly, and desperately pretending to the other that everything is okay. This season shows the audience that Mike and El are no longer compatible... if they ever were.) 

As a piece of evidence all on its own, I think it’d be easy enough to debunk Mike wearing his sunglasses as having any sort of hidden meaning: he’s on vacation, it was probably really sunny outside, so it makes sense that he put his sunglasses on, right? As a costume choice, it also completes the wacky, adorable, ‘I’m-trying-hard-to-fit-in’ vibe he has going, because he clearly thinks this is how people dress in California. 

However, not only is this not a standalone piece of evidence, it’s also curious to consider that this is the only time throughout the entire season that Mike and El share an inarguably romantic interaction, when they kiss. 

When Mike removes his sunglasses, we only get about 2-3 seconds of what appears to be open, honest interaction between them:

... before El notices the “From, Mike” on the bouquet of flowers. Later, the audience learns that El’s unhappiness with the relationship has been growing for some time, because Mike won’t tell her he loves her - even more mysteriously, he’s never even written “Love, Mike” on any of his letters he sent her. 

With both Mike and El continuing to pretend that all is fine between them, they continue to interact in a strange, phony way that feels over-the-top and false. It sort of feels like we’re watching an imitation of a romance movie airport reunion, rather than seeing any genuine emotion from both of these characters we’ve come to know (the only genuine moment we see is a glimpse of El’s disappointment and weariness when she initially reads ‘From, Mike’ again.) 

More under the cut ‘cos this is probably going to be pretty long. 

As mentioned in this post (watch the video!) Mike just... isn’t really looking at El at any point throughout the remainder of this scene. Instead, there are a lot of quick, furtive glances in her vague direction (and arguably, at Will) that indicate he’s very distracted.  Again, Mike and El are only shown making genuine eye contact for one very brief moment, right at the end of the scene when he kisses her on the forehead (and they’re still playing their Everything Is Fine And We’re So Happy game). 

Next we see Mike and El continuing their strange charade at the roller rink, and still, they’re barely making any eye contact. Not whilst on the rink, not when fetching their skates, not when they’re sat at the table. It’s all quick, emotionless, detached looks, like there’s some weird disconnect between them. 

After El’s lies of the past six months come to light, the charade of the happy couple is finally broken. After this, the camera deliberately shows Mike and El’s mutual refusal to make eye contact with the other. There’s no point in pretending anymore: things are not okay between them. 

At the beginning of the following scene, El’s back is turned. When she finally turns to face Mike so they can look each other in the eye, she’s now standing over him. There’s a visual imbalance; they’re not on the same level (literally and figuratively). 

When we finally get to see genuine eye contact between Mike and El, it’s during a scene that is directly juxtaposed with one between Mike and Will. The difference between the two scenes is stark, as has been pointed out plenty of times (special shoutout to “You never say it / I say it” and “I didn’t say it / You didn’t have to”). 

Beyond the obvious narrative choices (a fight and break up / an apology and reconciliation), we also see how Will initially has his back turned to Mike, but keeps turning to make prolonged eye contact with him. Eventually, he turns his body towards Mike, remaining at a similar eye level.

It’s this deliberate positioning that creates the emotional tension in Mike and Will’s scene: they’re eye-to-eye, on the same level, their eye contact uninterrupted for several long moments. They’re in sync with each other. They’re connected.  (Again, this reading is irregardless of Mike’s sexuality or any preferred ship. I’m just reading what the cinematography and direction is putting down. At this point in the show’s timeline, Mike and Will’s ten year long friendship is blatantly shown as the more compatible bond in comparison to Mike and El’s tumultuous and uncertain relationship.) 

After El and Mike’s fight, El is arrested. Whilst there are honest emotions displayed during the scene where she’s taken away in the police van, there’s still a visual imbalance. Mike stands at the window with the promise to fix the situation, whilst El sits detatched and weary once again, her eye contact hesitant. As the police van retreats, we see the distance physically grow between them. (I personally believe that moment was symbolic of El finally letting go of Mike in a romantic sense, but that’s not what this post is about).  The most genuine shot we get of Mike and El in this entire season is this reunion in the desert: 

In this moment, however brief, Mike and El are on the same page. The relief and love shared between the two is palpable. It’s a deliberate close up shot (just as deliberate as the blocking of Will stood on his marker in the background, but again, that’s not what this post is about). Despite their relationship issues, it’s clear that they care deeply for each other, and Mike is obviously glad to see that El is still alive after learning she was being hunted by the government. 

We get one more visual clue/costume choice that, along with the rest of what I’ve talked about in this post, could be another indication that something is still preventing Mike and El from fully seeing eye-to-eye: 

This is probably my favorite moment between the two, simply because we get to see Mike acting... well, more like himself for the first (and only) time with El this season. He’s allowing himself to be goofy. He wants things to remain light-hearted. He wants to cheer her up, and make her laugh.  However, the air isn’t fully clear between them. Things remain unspoken, unresolved. El smiles fondly, but she knows that, after their fight, it’s finally time to speak openly and honestly with each other.  The cinematography shows that they’re finally on the same level, eye-to-eye, truly looking at the other...

... only, before we get to hear what El actually wanted to discuss with Mike, we’re all interrupted by Argyle.  ^ This is the peak of Mike and El’s mutual understanding this season. 

Because after that, we’re left with the infamous monologue scene. Here, we’re shown a visual imbalance yet again. Instead of an improvement, we’re going backwards. Not only are Mike and El now on different planes of existence, El cannot even see Mike as he gives her his monologue, let alone maintain eye contact. She has her eyes shut, completely blind, trapped, and unable to respond. 

The only reaction we see are her facial expressions, which alone as a storytelling device is a deliberately ambiguous choice of the writers and directors to use. They want the audience to keep guessing how El feels about everything Mike said until the end of this narrative arc (which we’ll get to in the final season). 

To finish up, we see El and Mike sitting apart in the van. There is no interaction between them. The scene in the hospital room briefly shows El placing her head on Mike’s chest, whilst he wraps an arm around her shoulder. They’re comforting each other in their grief, which indicates they’re on good terms - however, it’s important to remember that this entire scene is more about Max’s death than anything else.  We learn through Mike and Will’s shared look that El has not opened up to anyone about restarting Max’s heart. 

We don’t get a single verbal interaction between Mike and El after the monologue, and instead we’re told that El is keeping her distance (“Did she... talk to you at all? / Not much. I mean, a little.”) Again, this is clearly a deliberate choice to keep the audience hooked until the next season. This storyline is not over. It’s one of many cliffhangers written into the show so that we all tune in to Season 5 to see what happens next.  If we pay attention to El’s behavior in the cabin at the end of the season, it’s obvious that she’s displeased with Mike and/or Will. It’s up to us as an audience to speculate why that could be, and try to fill in the gaps.  Bonus last shot:

TL;DR: M*leven is bones

#I don't believe mike is straight but i think it's even more obvious that m*leven is in trouble when you realise #that IF you read these scenes thinking mike was straight (lol) #it doesn't change anything between mike and el #they're unhappy #that monologue didn't magically fix everything #they're incompatible and the show made a lot of effort to show it #st4 thoughts #anti m*leven #byler #<- target audience #long post

[foxboyclit]

reaching up for sunlight

been working on this for a week or so, just a drabble inspired by Moving Feels, feat. fae

Your name is Faeryl Drathir’knif. You were taught there is meaning in a drow’s name-how your ancestors chose their own House name, wrenching free of Lolth’s claws in favor of moonlight. Your name is to honor them- oathbound to the moon’s glow. And it fits, well enough, you guess. You do love Elistraee, but everyone seems to get Her teachings in a way you don’t. Like you have to try harder than everyone else. Oathbound puts a lot of weight on your shoulders.

And for a while, you feel like that debt is unpaid, because you’re not a good priestess. Not compared to your sister, anyway. So you ditch the Shrine. Pick up a lyre instead. You can still honor Her through music, right? 

For a while, your Matrons scoff at the idea of bard college. Nothing’s as good as clerical arts, you should know that. They only let you go because you’re just so miserable when you don’t have an instrument in your hand. And school is fun, you’re really good at it too, if only you were good at keeping friends past the encore. 

And you love your home, you’re proud of your lineage, but this town feels as if a well has dried up and the only thing to retrieve is an empty bucket. You think, maybe there’s work elsewhere. Perhaps this elsewhere has friends waiting to be met, too. The World Above sounds enticing, with its open skies and bright flowers. Your Common isn’t the best, but it’s passable. So you take a leap of faith.

You get up there, and sweet Maiden it’s so fucking bright, and okay your Common’s more than a little rusty, but you can get on with Elvish just fine, and you find a shop selling large hats and tinted spectacles which help with the sun. The local taverns are happy to have you sing, but it’s best you stick to Elvish songs. Drow is a harsh language, they say, even though songs from home are your favorite, your only comfort in this strange new world.

The folks here are friendly, and they love your stories of the Underdark. You even get a few curious scholars who’ll pick your brain over lunch. They just can’t seem to remember your name. They spell it wrong, or stumble over the syllables, so you just go by Fae. Just translate your House name to avoid the trouble. 

You find yourself starting to miss home, but where home is remains unclear. There wasn’t anything down there, why do you crave a place so suffocating? Maybe your lungs weren’t made for this open air, but what were they made for?

Time passes, and you finally start to put roots down. You make some friends, fall in love, get your heart broken, make some utterly stupid choices. You’ve become more of a familiar face than not at this point, the sun becomes a little more bearable, your Common got the practice it desperately needed. Maybe one day someone will embrace your home like you did theirs.

#c: faeryl drathir'knif #fox's writing

[pens-in-a-jam-jar]

As is my tradition for anything I get sufficiently attached to, I've turned the Rolling With Difficulty PCs into magical girls. I picked their shows based on what would best fit their vibes, personalities, and arcs, so if you wanna play a trivially easy game, try figuring out which shows were applied to which crewmember and why, then click 'keep reading'. Tell me your results and what you thought in the tags n' such. (VR-LA's is the hardest one to guess but I feel like that's really not saying much) If you just wanna see my speedpaint, you can skip the game part.

Firstly is VR-LA. His magical girl transformation comes in the form of: Yuki Yuna is a Hero. A show I would never reccomend for someone to watch and is not good to riff on with friends, but I fully unironically loved it a lot when I was in the 7th grade. It's part moe club show, part secret dystopia, part Dark Magical Girl show, all deeply confused about itself its plot and what it's even trying to do, And Also the transformation sequences are So Uncomfortable. But! It has underdeveloped thematic elements of ignorance, discovery, fragility, and protection that fit Real Fuckin' Good for VR-LA, and also it is canon that you can lose your memories as a result of burning yourself out/price for power within the magic system so Bonus Amnesia Powerful Robot Points✨️! Also each girl gets a flower that I have to presume is thematically connected to her character, but I'm not fluent in flower language, so I did some light research and chose yellow begonias for reasons I no longer remember.

Next up is Dani. She's rocking: Revolutionary Girl Utena. I never assign shows I'm not familiar with so I literally picked up watching Revolutionary Girl Utena just to verify my strong hunch that it would make a good pick for Dani, and I was right! The entire first phase of the show revolves around Utena not giving a fuck about everyone else's nonsense as they spout vague jargon she absolutely does not care about or for. The structure of everyone around Utena outwardly caring way more about The Big Existential Questions at the core of the show (power and revolution, secrets lies and the truth, the inevitability of death) while Utena just calls it like she sees it and says 'I don't care about your revolution or the mechanics of this strange mystical nonsense, I care that you people are mistreating Anthy who is Clearly Already Deeply Damaged, and if whatever you chucklefucks are doing necessitates the mistreatment of a woman, I will stand against it.'; that structure fits So Well for Dani who cares only for herself and her closer associates and recklessly chases her gremlin impulses and personal desires no matter where they take her. She cares not for restriction and anything she deems such is violently rejected, 'You can only keep what you can fix and maintain', this absolutely fits the story of a gnc teenager getting wrapped up in a bunch of nonsense who makes her north star in the mire the care and keeping of another damaged girl.

Moving on, we have Finbar. His magical girl show de jour is: Cardcaptor Sakura. Gonna be real, his was the choice I was least confident in because Finbar as a character does not mesh into the magical girl genre easily; he is a primarily contented quiet man in his mid thirties with a storied life history, this is not the archetype that clicks snugly and smoothly into a genre built around self discovery, romance, redemption, and saving the world and your community through the power of love and friendship. But! The sense of comfort, security, and reliability that Finbar so easily embodies is exactly the vibe in Cardcaptor Sakura. It's the way his voice during a nice moment feels like being driven to school or sitting down for a meal, and in a bad situation sounds like someone rushing to your side or smacking away the thing coming to hurt you. It's how Sakura developing her little 'No matter what, I'll be alright' phrase mirrors Finbar's confidence that no matter how rough things get, all wrong things can be made right with a bit of work, grace, and time. It's about me not having to create a transformation outfit for him when I have no ideas that I don't think look stupid. I really loved basing his staff on his moon sickle and fairy theming.

Last but absolutely not least iiiisss Kyana~! Her magical girl show is well and away the easiest to guess since it's right in the name: she's a Pretty Cure. Now, Pretty Cure is massive and I haven't seen all of the shows, so to make her outfit, I cross referenced all the commonalities I noticed between the shows searching for the underlying design philosophy of the franchise and came out the other side with the old version that I fully redid from the ground up because it was incredibly C- and I like all my art to be a B or higher. It's not up there with the others, but you can find it just below this paragraph. At first I thought it was that Kyana fit the vibes, structure, and pathos of Precure, (very upbeat, leans real hard into Power Of Friendship, light and fluffy hand in hand with being sincere and not being shallow like her simplicity may make one assume) but didn't fit the visual design philosophy so it was just some inevitable clash I could do nothing about, but I realized about a month later that no! It was that I never gave her a theme! Each Precure team is variations on a core theme, and all I did was give her an outfit that could be described as Pretty Cure-esque.

I made a whole speedpaint about it, and am much happier with my Star Voyager Themed Kyana.

Here's the aforementioned speedpaint:

If you went thru the trouble of reading my Progressively Longer Paragraphs, you are a gem. Hav day♡

#rolling with difficulty #rwd art #dani rwd #finbar #kyana rwd #yuki yuna is a hero #revolutionary girl utena #cardcaptor sakura #pretty cure #precure #magical girl #mahou shoujo #speedpaint #Youtube #VR-LA #art jar

[edenmemes]

assassin’s creed valhalla starters

words within ‘()’ are additional, optional choices! more maybe to be added at a later date. some n/sfw present. 

❝ you should see the other man. he got the worst of it. ❞   ❝ and who better to lead us to glory than me? ❞ ❝ i am most at home helping others. ❞       ❝ i’ve waited long enough for you, and you for me. ❞   ❝ thank you for not saying anything about my past. ❞       ❝ know that however far away, you’re always in my thoughts. ❞   ❝ when you see your god, tell them i sent you. ❞   ❝ what you make up in muscles, you’re lacking in spine. ❞   ❝ i almost envy you, to see the world through such a muddy glass and live with such petty concerns. ❞   ❝ i smell the stink of a dozen kingdoms in your beard. ❞   ❝ this feud is not yours, yet you fight it all the same. i find that strange. ❞   ❝ by the look on your face, you have lost your will to live. ❞   ❝ my arms are numb from battle. does it need any dressing?    do you think it is a serious wound? ❞   ❝ oh dear. this is not how i foresaw things. not at all! ❞   ❝ should we take this to your chamber? ❞   ❝ i want this. i want you. ❞   ❝ turn around, walk away, and you keep your insides inside. ❞   ❝ stay back! back! i will fight you! ❞   ❝ you look like reddened shit. what happened? ❞   ❝ i have always wanted to experience the world as you do. ❞   ❝ you come like a valkyrie out of a fog. but i have no dead to give you. ❞   ❝ all right, stay close and do as i do. ❞   ❝ home. or...it was home, once. now it is nothing but bone. ❞   ❝ i’ll have no qualms wiping clean your grin. ❞   ❝ just take care. such hatred can make you careless. ❞   ❝ away from your table for a day and you are already lusting for blood. ❞   ❝ if i did not know any better, i would say you are teasing me. ❞   ❝ the dream of new lands is a powerful lure. ❞   ❝ i love climbing up here. makes me feel as high as a raven. ❞   ❝ if i don’t find your horse, i will steal you a new one. ❞   ❝ i feel somewhat trapped. in this room, in this settlement, in this life. ❞   ❝ you are lost in a sea-storm of your own making. ❞   ❝ the poet in you sings once again. ❞   ❝ tonight, we will eat and drink like gods and wake in a kingdom made new. ❞   ❝ i wish i understood you better. for those i do not understand, i do not trust. (and i cannot stomach a lack of trust.) ❞ ❝ i’ve been called worse. ❞   ❝ you have nothing to fear from me. i bear you no ill will. ❞   ❝ you are a shadow of your father. weak and witless. ❞   ❝ what is this? is this...are we in hell? ❞   ❝ keep company with kings and you will soon have a crown of your own. ❞   ❝ a toothless cub may grow to be a dangerous wolf. ❞   ❝ you are far too young to speak so wise. ❞   ❝ i need clear, sound judgement. i need you. ❞   ❝ kind and courageous people live the best lives, but it can be a difficult path to keep. ❞ ❝ i want to say...i love you. and i have for some time. ❞ ❝ you smell that? the stink of jealousy. (of our budding friendship, i think). ❞   ❝ ah, while i have you, i’m reminded...i have this for you. ❞   ❝ your lies are just like you. big and bold. ❞   ❝ don’t excuse yourself. you enjoy this too much. ❞   ❝ you've come back. why are you wasting your time with me? ❞   ❝ care to sing a song? helps me pass the time. ❞   ❝ that is twice you have earned my admiration. ❞   ❝ you have only the setting sun to tell you when to stop. ❞   ❝ i want to know what you know. name your price. ❞   ❝ people like you deserve something worse than death. ❞   ❝ they called me a lout, a disgrace. they were right. ❞   ❝ i will have to get used to watching the sights of war from afar now. ❞   ❝ there’s no other way. fight or hide. it’s up to you. ❞   ❝ do not think me a coward. i am not afraid of war. ❞   ❝ friendships end. often at the point of a spear. ❞ ❝ i will make you beg as your father begged. ❞   ❝ (until that time,) it would be best to keep all discussions about...    about us to yourself. ❞ ❝ without you i would have lost my way a thousand times. ❞   ❝ you have no other friends. so tread lightly here. ❞   ❝ be it a blessing or a curse, family is always first. ❞   ❝ let’s not walk too far with that idea. i need you right where you are. ❞   ❝ you bested me. yet, i’m the one left standing. ❞   ❝ it’s a pleasure to meet you at least. ❞   ❝ you and your people here have done more for me than i could ever repay. ❞   ❝ you have my highest respect, regard, and trust. ❞   ❝ you’re not shy, are you? ❞   ❝ if we do this, you’ll earn the right to call me friend ten-thousand fold. ❞   ❝ does this have the stench of betrayal to you? ❞ ❝ today has meant so much. we rode, we fought, we drank, we laughed. (you showed me your world.) ❞       ❝ your end was written the moment you came for me. ❞   ❝ i am a sellsword. i ask what i please, and i take what i’m owed. ❞ ❝ you move and i will take your eyes. you hear me? ❞   ❝ i will leap first. on my word, you must follow. ❞   ❝ many times i wished to tell you. wished to say what was in my heart and what i desired. (but duty kept me from it.) ❞   ❝ these wounds will heal quickly. you’re lucky. ❞   ❝ anything to help you feel at home. ❞   ❝ our friendship is the best thing to come from this mess. ❞   ❝ you will be remembered for this, for years to come. ❞   ❝ i thought i had lost you. for good this time. ❞   ❝ you have shown me a great kindness. it is only fitting that i do the same. ❞   ❝ the mess you’re in...you don’t know the half of it. ❞   ❝ you have drawn a dark conclusion about me, haven’t you? (that is all well and good. i’ve drawn some about you as well.) ❞   ❝ you seem...strangely familiar. ❞   ❝ here i am, an upright man who never once learned how to bend the knee. and yet...i shall try. ❞ ❝ that’s a bread knife. do you mean to butter me? ❞   ❝ is that not something you worry over? ❞   ❝ a blind pursuit of vengeance has made you predictable. ❞   ❝ no matter where you are, or how far you travel, i will hunt you down. ❞   ❝ i came for you, looking for a friend and ally. ❞   ❝ people change.    it may be that you change with them, or you go your separate ways. ❞   ❝ i wish you whatever peace you may find in this new life you’ve found. ❞   ❝ i want your word: you will follow my orders. ❞   ❝ the day is new, and the air is bracing. are you ready for the fight ahead? ❞   ❝ er...good to meet you as well? ❞   ❝ what riches are worth so much misery, and the deaths of honorable men and women? ❞   ❝ my destiny is mine to weave. ❞   ❝ my road forward has been a muddy one. slick with blood and tears. (but we can reach its end together.) ❞   ❝ it is a wise leader who considers the needs of others. ❞   ❝ i think my mouth has gotten me in enough trouble today. ❞   ❝ at the end of all things, you will find yourself with nothing but your regrets. ❞   ❝ you saw fit to keep me guessing through your fits of madness. ❞   ❝ by all the gods, what was that? ❞   ❝ i was...restless. a quiet walk alone clears the head. ❞   ❝ when winter is past, summer will come and wind you in a flowered skirt, for you are beauty and shall not wither. ❞   ❝ ...unless you had a more interesting day planned for us? ❞   ❝ i do hope you see it now, for all you have done for me. ❞   ❝ your passion, your strength. i have never met such a burning soul. ❞   ❝ i have no guilt nor regret for what we have done, but we should be careful. ❞   ❝ i see before me a person full of passion, vigor, and a love for their people. ❞   ❝ if i wanted to hear you talk shit, i’d cut out your tongue and shove it up your ass. ❞   ❝ you! you look stronger than most of the others. ❞   ❝ your hatred for me burns bright. i could warm my balls on it. ❞   ❝ you’re quite like your arms: incredibly thick. ❞   ❝ i fought as i do, as hard as i do, to survive. (for i know what awaits us in the end. only darkness.) ❞   ❝ a shameful trick. you are your father’s child. ❞   ❝ you destroyed my life. i will take yours. ❞   ❝ you snore a little, like a wounded bear. ❞   ❝ that’s when i knew i would live and die for you. ❞   ❝ i’m going to pretend your last words were taken by the wind. ❞   ❝ i might still kill you yet, if your prattling doesn’t cease. ❞   ❝ you are weak like your father was weak. (you dance better than you fight.) ❞   ❝ have you ever seen muscles as massive as mine? ❞   ❝ i’m honored by your faith in me. and your confidence. ❞   ❝ after my missteps, i worry what you must think of me. ❞   ❝ with so much blood in the water and death in the air, i’d like to know your name and purpose. ❞ ❝ i have a good feeling about this place. ❞   ❝ you helped me reclaim what i had lost in myself. ❞       ❝ you speak of honor. where’s yours? ❞       ❝ you will throw away all reason to defend what you sworn to. ❞       ❝ you really are like a hero out of folk tales. ❞       ❝ how much would you sacrifice to be freed of fate’s shackles? (would you give your tongue, your hand, your sight?) ❞   ❝ there’s no power strong enough to do what you say. ❞       ❝ please, you must fight for me.    who knows what vile people might come to harm me? ❞   ❝ i have no need to count my kills. they number too many. ❞   ❝ i appreciate you for all of your qualities. ❞ ❝ not even the gods can change fate. ❞       ❝ i think it is time i take my leave. ❞ ❝ you really thought my life was in danger? (and you risked your own life...) ❞ ❝ the path ahead is bright, with glory at its end. ❞ ❝ it is easy to lose one's way on the road to glory. do not let false victories blind you to what is true. ❞ ❝ the act of leaving so beloved a home, there is a sadness to it. ❞       ❝ so there’s nowhere...you call home? ❞   ❝ all things end. ruins are not a warning, they are a testament. ❞   ❝ be nice to sleep in a real bed when this is over. ❞   ❝ in my sleep i dream. and in my dreams i see an end to the doom that will grip the earth once again. ❞   ❝ even when we win, we lose. ❞   ❝ i am as good with my lips, as i am with my tongue. ❞   ❝ is this your idea of a pleasant ride through the country? ❞   ❝ no whispering god brought me here. i brought myself. ❞   ❝ i would like very much to pass some time with you. ❞   ❝ ...and that’s how i got that scar. ❞   ❝ do i now haunt your dreams? ❞   ❝ it was never in their character to lead, it was always within yours. ❞   ❝ so easily wounded by words. imagine the ruin my axe would inflict on your flaccid ego. ❞   ❝ i have felt this way for some time now. i care for you. ❞   ❝ i have not felt safe since then. not really. ❞   ❝ how long have you been chasing me? seventeen winters? eighteen? ❞   ❝ you are not always to be trusted. your passions overcome you. ❞   ❝ i like you. you may help me here or step on me...and by the look of you i’d welcome either. ❞   ❝ it is good to have you in this fight. ❞   ❝ you need only know my impressive scale and flawless build. ❞   ❝ i am better than any man here. ❞   ❝ i can tell by looking at you, you are not a great warrior. (you know it too, there is no reason to deny this.) ❞   ❝ i am looking for honor, and have become lost as a result. ❞   ❝ many apologies. you are no child, simply a frail and fully-grown fool. ❞   ❝ i was stupid, selfish, reckless, blind, boneheaded, and i smell like blood and shit. ❞ ❝ anything to say for the mess you led us to? ❞   ❝ how was your...first kill? ❞   ❝ you squirm like that and my axe will miss your neck! unpleasant for both of us. ❞   ❝ i know you would defy me to the death, fighting for a glorious end.     that i will not allow. ❞   ❝ most men choose to be loud or stupid. impressive, that you managed both. ❞   ❝ you are a great warrior. conquerer of this land and that of your birth. ❞   ❝ you’re chasing shadows like a madman howling at the moon! ❞   ❝ quite a hit you took. how many were lost? ❞   ❝ well fought! even if your wits were somewhat rattled. ❞   ❝ we suffered no losses in this fight, and the men who humiliated us are dead. what is there to say? ❞   ❝ i would like to be close to you. ❞   ❝ if you are a warrior with honor running like sunlight in your veins, then you may help me fulfill my destiny. ❞ ❝ you are a long way from any warm hearth, warrior. Is this where you call home? ❞ ❝ am i to go the rest of my days without love or attention? i think not. ❞   ❝ the gods favor you. they always have. ❞   ❝ the others, they are like clubs. blunt and ungainly, you are nimble, like a knife. ❞   ❝ people with eyes that gleam like yours are always up to something more. ❞   ❝ only a fool stays awake all night worrying. you are tired when you get up, and the problem is still not solved. ❞   ❝ i liked you from the first. i saw something in you that captivated me. (as if a forgotten memory of an old friendship had suddenly resurfaced.) ❞   ❝ you've done nothing but give me your blind word! ❞   ❝ did you bring me any treasure? ❞ ❝ the woodsmoke from your firepit does sting the eyes. but the warmth is welcome. ❞ ❝ it is not something i can speak on. or wish to. ❞ ❝ i'm with you. only say the word. ❞ ❝ until we cut off this serpent's head, it will poison us, day by day, drop by drop. ❞ ❝ get some rest and return here at first light. ❞ ❝ i missed having you at my side. how i wished i could have taken you along on my travels. ❞ ❝ i do not like this, but i will not stop you. ❞ ❝ i have waited too many years for this day. when ___ stands before us, give me the final blow. ❞ ❝ why do you carry such a useless burden? let it go. ❞ ❝ i have waited years for this, but i will not risk losing it through rashness. ❞ ❝ i cannot fathom your game. you are either a young fool...or deceptively wise. ❞ ❝ your confidence blinds you to so much in plain sight. ❞   ❝ it’s good to be here, with you and your people. (i feel my life has found a new road.) ❞   ❝ there has always been war, even among the gods. ❞       ❝ my honor has been stained. until it's wiped clean, i want nothing else. ❞ ❝ i lack the patience for pole fishing. i would have better luck with my bow. ❞   ❝ if we tell all our stories, we’ll be here for a week. ❞ ❝ can you teach me the art of archery? ❞   ❝ bury the past. build the future. ❞       ❝ i missed you. your clear head and your courage. (we have not had enough of both in recent months.)   ❞   ❝ i have a good feeling this war is near its end. ❞ ❝ explain in plain words why you have willfully disobeyed my commands. (do you mock me?) ❞   ❝ the gods favor you. they always have. ❞   ❝ my love for you rises tall and strong, like the tree of life. ❞   ❝ the prize is some of my time. (a walk in nature, maybe more if that is where our conversation takes us.) ❞ ❝ together, we are unstoppable. ❞ ❝ it is natural to fear change. to resist it. (but all things change, and all things end.) ❞ ❝ you said nothing of this to me, not a word. ❞ ❝ so long as men and women fight to secure honor and freedom, their allegiance hardly matters to me. ❞ ❝ i care for you. i do not know how to say it any other way. ❞   ❝ love can burn brighter near death. ❞ ❝ i knew this would be difficult, but sometimes the weight bears down heavily. ❞ ❝ you are young and still foolish, so i will spare you your life. (but cross me again or harm anyone i cherish, and you will join your friends in hell.)   ❞ ❝ if you are as brave as you appear, you will come. ❞ ❝ this is not a natural quiet. it's as if a curse has befallen this place. ❞ ❝ there was a curse here long before i came along. ❞ ❝ we’ll forge a warrior from your softness, hammered on the anvil of war. ❞ ❝ you are different than the kind my flights of fancy attract. burdened, decorated and…delicate. ❞ ❝ i do not know what else to say. m-my memories are faint, hazy. ❞ ❝ how are you doing? you survived a serious blow. ❞   ❝ we’ll weave our sagas together, thread upon thread. ❞ ❝ i try to use my knowledge to help others. i am only a threat to those who fear the unknown. ❞   ❝ slap some moss on that gash and wrap it well. ❞   ❝ a knife to the back is a wound that never heals. ❞       ❝ with me you have wisdom! glory! power! what more do you need? ❞       ❝ if your hell is real, i’m glad you’ll get to see it. ❞   ❝ to fight beside such legends is an honor. (i've only heard tales of your conquests. now i get to live them.) ❞   ❝ i have tried to live well. it is enough that the gods know that. ❞ ❝ a cloud hangs over you. is something wrong? ❞   ❝ you have plunged my city into chaos. ❞   ❝ my sword is gore-greedy. i am ready to fight. ❞   ❝ accept your fate and die a coward, here before your people... and i will spare the rest. ❞   ❝ you would take the rescue for yourself, so the victory song is written about you? ❞   ❝ kneel, and i will spare your life. ❞   ❝ it has been some time. what brings you so far to see me? ❞

#rp meme #roleplay meme #roleplay starters #long post for ts /

[professorspork]

superhell fic prompt: JAUNE RUNS INTO PYRRHA

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5]

It doesn’t occur to that she’s allowed to talk to them until Torchwick reveals himself to Neo. And even then, well-- Roman Torchwick isn’t exactly a shining paragon when it comes to setting a good example of what’s allowed.

But the idea refuses to stop hounding her footsteps, once it’s come. Once she’s seen it’s possible, without consequences. Still, she waits, and keeps her distance. There’s no sunset, here on the island, no night, but there are shady places beneath the towering roots of the Tree; eventually, they all bed down, and Jaune-- as she’d known he would-- volunteers to take first watch. It’s a heartening display: Yang and Blake twined together like ivy on a wrought iron gate, but each clinging to the hands of their teammates, chained together by grasping fingers. Otters in a stream, unwilling to be separated.

She doesn’t know why she’s surprised to hear her own voice when she approaches.

...I know this can be frustrating, and it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves...

“You’ll drain your battery,” she cautions, reaching out with her mind to press the off button on his scroll. His head whips up, expression aghast, and she smiles at him softly. “I’d have thought you’d have it memorized by now anyhow; you haven’t seemed to need it in some time.”

She expects disbelief, perhaps, or shock. Joy would have been nice, but she’d have understood anger. So she’s surprised and---bizarrely proud, actually-- when instead his eyes narrow in suspicion and the first thing he says is, “Your Semblance works.”

“Well, yes.”

“Why does your Semblance work?”

“Because I’m where I’m supposed to be. A soul knows when it’s in the right place. Or the wrong one, as the case may be.”

“Or I’m dreaming.”

“Or you’re dreaming,” she agrees, keeping her voice mild, but feeling it like a punch to the stomach when his shoulders relax at the idea. Does he... not want her here? Goodness, but she’s out of practice. She’d forgotten it was like this; how talking to him had been both the easiest and the hardest thing in the world. “Would you-- prefer that? If I weren’t really here?”

“The real Pyrrha would know better than to ask me that.”

Despite herself, she laughs. “Oh, I wish that were true. I asked myself that every day. Every class, every glance, every study session on the roof. I’m afraid I was never as confident as I should have been.” It’s an embarrassing admission, but an effective one; the walled-up caution behind his eyes dissipates... only for tears to well up in its stead.

“Are you-- can I touch you?”

“I hope so.” (She’d left Torchwick and Neo behind before they’d gotten that far, for obvious reasons.)

“I--” He scrambles to his feet and crosses the distance between them, enveloping her in a crushing hug. It doesn’t feel like she remembers, but then, that’s no surprise-- he’s taller than he used to be, and her body isn’t exactly a body, per se. She’s grateful, even so. Happy just to have the chance to hold him up. She keeps quiet at first, letting him get it all out as he sobs incoherent apologies into her shoulder--

(IloveyouImissyouIloveyouImissyouI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry)

--and contents herself with playing with the short hair at the nape of his neck. Eventually, he calms.

“I like the haircut,” she says, when he pulls away. “It’s handsome. You look so grown up.”

“You look so young,” he croaks in response, and-- she supposes she must, to his eyes. It’s strange to think that she’s the same age as Ruby now; that they’ve kept going on without her, and they’ll continue to do so, once she’s led them out. “Are you--? Have you--?” He wipes at his eyes, laughing at himself a little. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know where to start. I just-- I can't believe you're here with me.”

“I'm always with you,” she assures him, unable to suppress the urge to thumb away a tear he’s missed. She keeps her hand there, at his cheek, as she she speaks: “Even when you can’t sense me, I... oh, Jaune. I’m so proud of you. You’ve come so far.”

He sighs and steps out of the circle of her arms, hanging his head to stare at Crocea Mors where it rests in its sheath. You’d never know it to be broken, just by looking. The scabbard hides the damage-- giving him the appearance of being armed and ready though all he carries is a shattered hilt. “Yeah, maybe. I-- I thought I had, but...” He swallows, face filled with shame.

She starts to reach for him again, unwilling to waste even a moment of their time not touching him, but forces herself to relax and drop her hands to her sides. It has to be his choice, doesn’t it? “Tell me. You can tell me anything; you know that.”

His voice falters terribly when he finally speaks: 

“I mean, I feel like you already know. For the longest time, I wanted to be this... I dunno. This warrior, or whatever. And it never fit, no matter what I did, or how hard I worked, and I just-- I resented it so much. Being...” He shakes his head. “I just felt useless. But when I unlocked my Semblance, I had to let that go. And it was hard at first, it took time, but for a second there it finally started to feel like... like I knew my place. Where I belonged; what everyone needed from me. I was good at it. But then Penny needed--” He chokes on a sob, and has to stop and take several deep breaths before he can continue. “Nothing’s changed. I’m still useless. The idiot stuck on the wrong side of the glass, out of his league and forced to watch because someone else has to be the Maiden now and there’s nothing he can do about it. Only this time it’s worse, because this time I actually-- I--”

Unable to hold herself back anymore, she reaches for his hands; he squeezes her fingers tight, like a lifeline. “I understand,” she soothes, voice heavy like a vow. “Did you think I wouldn’t? I don’t think I have to remind you that I’m the only other person who knows what that feels like. To have been the one who killed her.”

He lets out an awful, cynical noise; a parody of a laugh. “Depends on who you ask,” he says in explanation, looking askance towards Ruby. Pyrrha sadly follows his gaze. Ruby’s shifted in her sleep, curled under her cape to be as small as possible with her head nestled in the crooks of Yang’s bent knees. Her arms are wrapped around Yang’s shins in a death grip, as though she fears her sister might fly away at any moment. Pyrrha’s heart aches for her; for the responsibility she carries. Weight Pyrrha could have helped shoulder... if only she’d been a little faster, a little more clever.

She shakes off the feeling; now’s not the time for regret. “But things have changed,” she says, bringing Jaune’s hands up to her mouth and kissing the knuckles. It will be a long time, she knows, before he believes there isn’t blood on them; maybe this small act can help. And if it doesn’t... she has other options. Maybe even a little levity, for once. “You’re not useless. You’re amazing. You’re a licensed Huntsman now; you’re accomplishing things you’d only dreamed of. All the mothers of Mantle adore you. You even got to go on a date with Weiss!”

He boggles at her, wrenching his hands away. “What?! That wasn’t a date, we were just hanging out with Oscar, we--” His jaw falls open, suddenly, and his eyes narrow once more. “Wait a minute. Are you teasing me?”

She grins, sheepish and caught. “I figured it was now or never to give it a go; I didn’t want to waste my last chance to try it. Nora always said it would be good for me.”

“To make fun of me?” he squawks, indignant.

She laughs. “To remind myself it’s okay to be a novice sometimes; that there are things I won’t instantly be good at.” She bites her lip, unable to stop her grin. “...And also to make fun of you, yes.”

He surges forward, then-- wrapping a hand around the back of her neck and pulling her closer, pressing a fierce, grateful kiss to her forehead. Then he does it again; then once more, at the bridge of her nose. And then a final time, against her lips. Quick; intense. Filled with meaning.

She’s got not breath in her, and still she’s breathless.

“I miss you so much,” he says, squeezing his eyes shut and resting his forehead against hers. His fingers thread themselves into the hair at the back of her skull, tangled into the base of her ponytail. “So much. I think about you all the time. Every day. Wondering how different things would be, if only...”

“I know,” she says, because she does. There’s more that she should say, probably-- that it’s good that he’s started to move on; that none of them can hold onto her forever. But she can’t quite bring herself to voice the words.

“It’s not fair,” he mutters, then sighs at the sound of it. “I mean, none of it is fair, but-- I feel like a jerk, I guess. That I’m the one who gets to see you, of all of us.”

“You’ll tell them I love them, won’t you? Ren and Nora. They...” They’re doing things she never did, is the thing. Maturing in ways she’ll never have the chance to. Learning that responsibility doesn’t mean putting it all on your own shoulders; that love doesn’t mean giving all of yourself away. It’s overwhelming, how proud she is of them for that. “They were on the right path, in Atlas. Don’t let them convince themselves otherwise.”

He nods, the movement of it levering her own head in shared agreement. “Anything else? Anyone else you’d like me to...?”

So many; too many. But one rises above the rest. “Tell my mother to stop leaving flowers,” she murmurs, wishing she had more to offer than that. “Tell her they belong in the garden; that I like to watch them grow. That’s-- the way it should be.”

“Okay,” he says, and relief rushes through her. “Okay. I will.”

Slowly, they both become aware once more of the gaggle of Huntresses sleeping just a few yards off. Pyrrha could leave dozens of messages with Jaune, if she wanted, but the people she most needs to speak to are right here, within arm’s reach. They need her guidance; it’s selfish not to provide it. She’s taken so long already. And yet...

Jaune beats her to voicing the thought: “I know we should probably wake them, but-- can it be just the two of us, for just a little longer? Please?”

She smiles, and brings a hand up to caress his cheek. “I thought you’d never ask.”

#Anonymous #arkos #jaune arc #pyrrha nikos #rwby #fic what i wrote

[parasympathic]

@emilianopavone​

If the Spring Equinox was a more subdued affair than the Summer Solstice, it wasn’t by much. A single day instead of several, more vendors than games and the smell of flowers far more present than popcorn. But there was still just as much of a crowd, most of the town eager to join the festivities despite the strange undercurrent of tension. Or maybe because of it, months since the last event that included both null and Gifted alike, and too much of it punctuated by violent incidents and hospitalizations. The occasional figure dressed in dark blue uniforms only drove the point home, and Monty did his best not to fixate on the metal cuffs hanging from their belts, familiar runes etched into the metal.

With it only came the reminder of that absence in himself, a wound he remained terrified to press on, and today the last day he could really afford to. The last day he could close his eyes and pretend hope wasn’t just prolonging his own suffering, a horrifying limbo he’d kept himself in because he was afraid that when he opened Pandora’s box he wouldn’t find monsters waiting inside. He wouldn’t find anything at all except dust and shadows.

If it was a fear that had kept him in bed half the week, more than any fears for his life when he didn’t really believe Hugo would try the same drastic move a second time. But it didn’t take a great deal of time to decide that it was for the best Emil had forced them out of the house when he did, like some trial run of Montgomery’s ability to tolerate so many people around him at once  when it felt like one more casualty of war. And if it felt like years instead of a month since Monty had the man in his lap, discussing some grand coming out at the Equinox and how they’d turn heads, he couldn’t help but think it had been for much kinder reasons then. Wondering how much judgement might be leveled at him for his choice in partner, not because of his gender or his reputation, but because there was an article that had named him a traitor and scars that had been carved into his skin for it.

Whatever the reason, Monty found just as quickly that it was the kind of attention easier to ignore when there was a bright and glittering silver lining to all of it. The hand clasped in his and a familiar warmth at his side, kisses he didn’t have to steal in hidden corners and behind closed doors, but whenever the light hit Emil’s face just right and reminded him of one of the reasons he’d called their love a golden one. Finding a fresh thrill in kisses he didn’t have to steal when they were given freely, and flowers he found excuses to tuck into Emil’s hair whenever he was feeling overwhelmed or just the need to reclaim his attention for himself.

It was a safeword he tried to use sparingly, even if he had plenty of flowers to spare. And he thought that helped in its own way too, finding it easier to pretend he was Endine’s unshakeable Head Significant when he could look the part again with a few small concessions to the life he’d always hidden away. Hair cut short and beard trimmed close to his jaw again, a mint green suit but a white shirt that was made of sheer lace filigree. And details he never skimped on, a crown of blue and pink and pale purple hyacinths in his hair, more that decorated one shoulder and embroidered into the line of one lapel. A ring on his finger that no longer promised invisibility, but seemed fitting for that reason alone, and another with the face of Apollo. As if representing a god could make him more like one once again. 

His steps slowed as they reached the start of the park path, tugging on Emil’s hand to pull him away from Main street. Vendors stretching out before them but the distant sound of music calling him from the green. “Not that way,” he said. “Did you know Ms. Misty over there tried to sell me the bones of a a raccoon penis last year? I forget what she said it was for. Luck, maybe? Fertility?” He turned briefly to face Emil, walking backwards as he drew him forward with an easy smile. “Besides, it sounds like dancing this way.” 

#emiliano; #emiliano51;

[flipomatic]

Perfectly Ordinary

Summary: Oh, they were going to take a break. That was fitting, since Ayaka was doing the same. Maybe, and this was a stretch, maybe they could take their break together. Getting lunch in town was a normal thing to do, and doing it with a friend would be even more ordinary. Especially if that friend was Lumine.

“I, um.” Ayaka started to speak, then hesitated as Lumine’s eyes snapped to her. There was a weight to that stare, a question that Ayaka couldn’t fully understand. “Would you like to join me around the city? I do not need to be back at the complex for another hour.”

Author Note: I just finished Ayaka’s first character quest and I needed to write something for them.

Word Count: 2300

__________________________________________________________

As the sun filtered in through the window, shining high in the sky, Ayaka carefully signed another document. She’d been working since it first peeked over the horizon, preparing for a large upcoming festival. This was one she wouldn’t be able to attend, as she was responsible for supervising the event. That was unfortunate; ever since her first festival she’d longed to go to another.

The thought of inviting Lumine hovered in the back of her mind as well, of sharing the festival with her if she could. She’d seen the traveler a few times since then, bustling up and down the hills with Paimon in tow. Lumine was always helping someone, always smiling, selfless, and kind; that was what Ayaka liked about her. The way she stepped up for others was inspiring.

Ayaka hadn’t read a single word in the last few minutes, lost in her own thoughts, so she shook her head to snap herself out of it. Those were musings for another time, when she didn’t have work to do. She went back to the top of the form, re-reading it to make sure it was correct.

It would reflect poorly on the Kamisato name if the festival went badly. It was important to get this right. They would need to source lumber for building stalls, which this document would arrange. She just needed to check the numbers.

As Ayaka continued to read though, she was soon again distracted by a beam of light cast from the window. It moved slowly throughout the day, and now cast its light directly on her desk. Again, she found herself pausing in her work, this time to raise her hand into the beam.

Ayaka stopped herself; this wasn’t what she was supposed to be doing. The longer she worked, the more easily distracted she became.

Perhaps it was time to take a break.

She’d worked hard all morning, after all. It wouldn’t hurt to take time for lunch and besides, she’d be more focused later. That was what Ayaka told herself as she pushed her chair back and stood, stretching out her back in the process.

It would be nice to get out, to do more ordinary things. Ever since the festival she’d been trying to go more often, to walk around town and interact with others. Maybe she could even make new friends. Ayaka wanted to do more and more normal things, along with her duties to the clan and the people. It was a balance she was still trying to find.

With the sun out today, and work that would be best done later, it was a good time to try. Ayaka stepped out around the curtain that divided her space, to where Thoma was working. He had his head down, hand moving quickly as he composed a document. His eyes came up as Ayaka approached.

“What can I do for you?” Thoma asked, pausing writing and setting his quill down.

“I will be stepping out for the next hour.” Ayaka declared smoothly, leaving no room for objection. Not that she thought Thoma would, of course. “Please continue preparing for the festival.” That would alleviate some of her guilt for delaying her work.

Thoma merely smiled up at her. “Alright, have fun out there.” He added a wink on the end, though Ayaka didn’t understand why. There wasn’t anything particularly fun happening in town today, just the regular running of businesses and movement of people.

Ayaka nodded back at him, deciding not to ask for clarification. If there was something amiss, she would find out when she left. She turned away from Thoma and walked out of her quarters, then through the Kamisato complex.

Within a minute she was out of the building and strolling down the path towards the center of town. There were a few people out today, but no more than usual. They moved up and down the paths along with her, passing by without incident. She wondered what Thoma had been talking about; everything seemed normal so far.

It was warmer out in the sun, but just slightly. The weather was mild, an ideal temperature for walking around town. It had been cold this morning, so Ayaka was glad to feel the change.

As Ayaka reached the merchant stalls, the crowd thickened slightly. At least ten people were gathered in the center of the path, watching something that Ayaka couldn’t see. They all had their backs to her, blocking her view. This was concerning, especially if there was a problem. She might need to step in, but first she had to find out what was happening.

When Ayaka reached their backs she could hear the sound of clashing metal, along with a very familiar voice. Immediately Ayaka relaxed. If she was here then that meant…

“He’s going up!” The high pitch voice called. “Don’t let him get away!” That voice could only belong to one individual. To the left side, over the heads of the bystanders, a treasure hunter had appeared. He was climbing one of the stalls, trying to quickly scurry up the fabric side of it.

“On it.” The reply, from a much calmer voice, sent a trill down Ayaka’s spine. She was here. A gust of wind swept under the treasure hunter, who yelped as he was dislodged from the stall.

Ayaka stepped to the side, trying to move around the still growing crowd. One of the people near the back seemed to notice her, which caused him to quickly apologize and step away so she could pass through.

On the other side, the fight had already ended. Lumine stood over the fallen treasure hunter, sheathing her sword. Paimon flew over to her, chattering about how well the fight had gone. A guard stepped forward to take the treasure hunter into custody.

Every time she saw Lumine, Ayaka felt something strange in her chest. It was something like warmth, or perhaps burning; despite all the words in her vocabulary she wasn’t sure how to describe it.

She felt it now, searing through her as Lumine looked over with slightly widening eyes, and then a stunning smile. Ayaka couldn’t help but smile back.

The crowd around her had started to disperse, with a few people stepping forward to talk with Lumine. They pulled her attention away from Ayaka, who stepped aside to wait for a chance to speak with the traveler.

The citizens shook Lumine’s hand profusely, before loading her arms with a pile of flowers. After a minute they left as well, clearing the road for passage once again. Lumine carefully tucked the flowers into her bag, where they somehow fit easily.

Ayaka closed the distance between them, extending a polite greeting despite her excitement. “Good afternoon.”

“Hi Ayaka! It’s good to see you!” Paimon returned the greeting loudly, while Lumine nodded back. A small smile was present on her lips.

“You as well.” Ayaka looked between the pair as she stopped in front of them, eyes settling on Lumine. “What brings you to Inazuma city today?” It had been a while since she’d seen them.

“The usual, just out saving the world.” Paimon replied, drawing a chuckle from Lumine.

They certainly were, at least that’s how Ayaka viewed them. “You did a wonderful job with that treasure hunter.” Ayaka could’ve sworn that Lumine’s cheeks dusted pink at the compliment, but perhaps she imagined it.

“All in a day’s work.” Paimon spun in the air, flipping to Lumine’s other shoulder. “I think we’ve done enough for now, what do you think?”

“You’re right.” Lumine looked up at Paimon while she responded.

Oh, they were going to take a break. That was fitting, since Ayaka was doing the same. Maybe, and this was a stretch, maybe they could take their break together. Getting lunch in town was a normal thing to do, and doing it with a friend would be even more ordinary. Especially if that friend was Lumine.

“I, um.” Ayaka started to speak, then hesitated as Lumine’s eyes snapped to her. There was a weight to that stare, a question that Ayaka couldn’t fully understand. “Would you like to join me around the city? I do not need to be back at the complex for another hour.”

Lumine’s eyes softened, and Paimon answered for her as she often did. “That sounds great!” Lumine nodded, marking her agreement. “Where are you headed?” Paimon asked next.

There wasn’t really an answer to that. “Nowhere in particular.” Ayaka felt embarrassed for a moment, that she was out with no goal in mind, but reminded herself that this was Lumine. They had shared the journal and the festival together; she wouldn’t judge her for this. “Just getting some lunch and walking around.”

“How about dango, there’s a great stand down that way.” Lumine pointed down the hill, where the next area of stalls were set up.

“That sounds perfect.”

With that decided, the three turned to walk in that direction. Ayaka asked about the treasure hunter they apprehended earlier while they moved, and then listened as Paimon recounted the tale of how they caught him. Lumine cut in occasionally, providing corrections to Paimon’s exaggerations. They were a funny duo, playing off each other in this way.

It was a long story, that was just wrapping up as they reached the dango shop. “And then, he tried to run. That’s when you arrived!”

“He didn’t get far.” Lumine added dryly as they stopped in front of the dango shop. There were a few different choices today.

Each of the three ordered a different type of dango, which they received after a few minutes. They turned to walk back up the path while they ate, back up the hills towards the complex.

Paimon flew slightly ahead, quiet as she was engrossed in her meal. Ayaka and Lumine walked side by side behind her, each carrying their stick of dango.

“How’s it been going, doing ordinary things?” Lumine asked, the side of her right arm brushing Ayaka’s left one slightly. She carried her dango in her left hand.

“I am enjoying them, especially when you are here.” Ayaka responded honestly, before taking another bite of her dango. She had the stick in her right hand, where it was easier to eat from. She was distinctly aware of how their two empty hands nearly touched with each step.

Lumine only had a couple dango left. “Where should we go next?” They still had about half an hour until she needed to be back at the complex.

“Let’s just walk. That is a normal thing to do, right?”

“It is.” Lumine nodded, smiling over at Ayaka. Her eyes carried a welcoming warmth, the kindness Ayaka adored.

As they reached the stalls where Lumine had fought earlier, again there seemed to be a crowd gathered. This time they were watching some kind of a magic show, being performed in front of a stall. The crowd filled most of the path ahead.

When Ayaka felt a gentle touch on her left hand, she nearly froze everything three feet around her. Only the knowledge that Lumine was next to her prevented her from doing so. When she looked down, she saw that Lumine’s hand had carefully grasped hers, gently encompassing her fingers.

“It’ll be easier to stick together this way.” Lumine said, tugging softly to guide Ayaka around the crowd. She called once after Paimon, who was drifting towards the show.

Ayaka allowed herself to be pulled, still too surprised to so much as protest.

It was just hand holding, something friends did. Ayaka knew this, but it didn’t feel normal, the thundering of her heart so loud she was sure Lumine could hear it. The pulse of heat up her neck urging her to both pull away and hold on as tight as she could.

They quickly weaved around the crowd and back onto the path, but Lumine didn’t let go. Instead, she readjusted her hand so that their fingers were more closely intertwined. Lumine turned to her with a smile. “I’m glad I didn’t lose you.” Paimon, who had fallen behind, shouted at them to wait for her.

This was a perfectly ordinary behavior, and yet Ayaka’s heart was racing.

“That makes two of us.” She tightened her hand without thinking about it.

The two continued up the path, finishing their dango as they walked. It felt different than before, but Ayaka could get used to this. Her heart had largely settled, leaving a steady thrum of electricity under her skin. Lumine’s hand was pleasantly warm in hers.

When they reached the complex, it was time to part ways. About an hour had passed and Ayaka promised to be back by then. She reluctantly released Lumine’s hand so she could address the pair.

“We should be back by next week.” Paimon said, no longer angry about having been left behind.

“Please do come by when you are, we must do this again.” Ayaka’s eyes were locked onto Lumine’s as she spoke, hoping to convey her genuine feelings.

“We will, I promise.” Lumine asserted firmly, eyes steady and certain. She held eye contact for a moment, and Ayaka wondered if she had something else to say. Then, as if breaking a spell, Lumine turned away. “Let’s go, I think I heard a rumor at the dango shop.”

“Aye aye!”

For a few seconds, Ayaka watched them go. Her hand felt empty now, after all that time.

As she went back inside, she wondered if she should keep a journal. It wouldn't be like the one her mother wrote, but instead would capture the incredible things she experienced. These ordinary things she’d been doing were certainly turning out to be quite extraordinary.

Especially if she kept doing them with Lumine.

#ayaka x lumine #lumine #kamisato ayaka #lumine genshin impact #genshin fic #genshin fanfiction #idk how to tag this #fluff #hand holding #it's cute #i enjoyed the character quest #so freaking much #i just had to #flip writes

[smash-chu]

As i've stated before i've wanted to make a Viva Piñata iceberg, and while i've enjoyed putting stuff on it and writing down some info on each point i need some help with putting more stuff on here! I'm sure some of you have some neat things, theories or rumors that would go on here, do send those my way (preferably with a explanation, too)

Explanation on each point can be found below

The TV show - Some people’s first exposure to the franchise was the TV show, made to go alongside the games as a sort of advertisement. It was made by 4Kids and had a total of 2 seasons, starring the 4 main characters: Hudson Horstachio, Franklin Fizzlybear, Paulie Pretztail and Fergy Fudgehog.

Rare games easter eggs - There are plenty of easter eggs to other Rare games throughout Viva Piñata, the easiest ones to note are the broken arcade cabinets found in the first game as well as the various nods to Banjo Kazooie - such as the Bird and Bear statue, Mumbo statue, Breegull backpack and Bottle’s Glasses. Stardos is Dastardos - The game never tells you this directly, but it’s an easy and obvious conclusion to make.

Twingersnaps and Fourheads - Without using a guide or looking it up you may actually be baffled on how to acquire these piñatas in game. There is no obvious hint in game to tell you to hit the Syrupent egg before it hatches on the third bounce, which means you either have to figure it out through experimentation or by looking it up.

Leafos False Rumors - Leafos is meant to give you good advice to help you out while you play the game if you talk to her, however not all information she gives is true. Some rumors include putting a Badgesicle in water will turn it into a Sweetooth, feeding a Doenut to a Pretztail turns it into a Mallowolf and so on. None of these actually work.

Piñatas aren’t permanently broken - When a piñata is broken it is magically repaired, at least when on Piñata island, reforming at the edge of a garden when broken at one. It is stated that piñatas are repaired after having been sent to parties, which would potentially mean that piñatas only magically repair themselves when on the island.

The PC Port - Not very well advertised, there was a PC port released for the first Viva Piñata game. There are a couple of differences between the port and the original Xbox 360 release, which are touched upon later.

Piñatas are genderless - Technically no piñata is given a gender in game, all piñatas function the same. While in the show gendered piñatas are present it could potentially be that piñatas are naturally genderless and then if they are sapient can choose genders which fit their identity.

Burger king toys - A bundle of burger king exclusive plastic toys of piñatas were made and sold alongside the children's meals, some of the piñatas were Elephanilla, Sparrowmint, Goobaa and so forth. These toys are nowadays rare and sought after by people who collect the very small amount of official Viva Piñata merch that exists.

Wildcards - Wildcard piñatas are unique piñatas that have a feature which makes it stand out next to others of its species. There are a total of 3 variants of wildcards per piñata, some being exclusively gained through trading piñatas online. In the original game wildcards were extremely rare and there was only one variant, while they were made easier to acquire in TiP.

Both the games and show are canon - Just what it says, according to the creators both the games and show are canon to Viva Piñata lore. This makes for some strange implications, but that is for later.

TiP Fence Glitch / Exploit - A sort of well known glitch often used while playing Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise. Fences normally do not stop Ruffians and Professor Pester from entering your garden, as they simply destroy them when they’re in the way. However, if arranged in a specific pattern in the area next to the volcano they enter from, the fence will make them permanently stuck. They will be stopped at the very edge of the garden at the fence, unable to properly enter or do anything. This can occur unintentionally as well in both the original game and TiP, as sometimes Ruffians and Professor Pester get stuck on seemingly random things and become unable to do anything.

Domesticated piñatas becoming un-domesticated - A strange difference between the original game and TiP is the fact that you can no longer buy domesticated piñatas from the Paper Pet’s store. Instead of being purchased they simply appear in the wild like any other wild piñata, whether this implies that these piñatas are no longer considered domesticated or is just a game design choice is unclear.

Piñata cards - In Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise there is a function which is called Piñata Vision, which utilizes the Xbox Live Vision camera. By scanning the card you can get the piñata or item displayed on the card, some of these cards feature the developers in the form of a piñata and characters from other games.

Language Dubs - The PC port of the original game has a lot of language dubs, translated into languages such as Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, Chinese and more. Some of these do not extend to the UI oddly enough, while for the majority of translations all of the game’s features are translated accordingly, with the exception of piñata names. The language chosen is determined by the language set for the computer, so if you want the game in a specific language you’d need to change the language of the computer before installing it.

PC port graphical downgrades - Oddly enough the PC port has some graphical differences compared to the original Xbox 360 release. Mostly the graphics being downgraded, even on the highest settings, such as the lighting and texture resolution on objects and the environment.

Some piñatas are sapient, others not - Because of the fact that both the show and games are canon makes some things kind of weird. Though even if the show wasn’t canon this would still be a thing - as thanks to the existence of Langston and some of the show characters appearing in the DS game. Most piñatas in the games act like animals and cannot speak, however in the show and with Langston they are very much as sapient as a human. What causes a piñata of the same species to be sapient or not? Why does no character in the game acknowledge this strange difference? We don’t know.

Magic is real - In the Viva Piñata universe, at least on Piñata Island, magic exists. Seen in the form of Leafos and Jardinero summoning items, Jack transforming items into other things, Seedos and other characters teleporting and both Dastardos and Storkos being able to fly. There are other examples of magic, nobody really explains why magic exists or to what extent it is used or capable of being, but simply something that is commonplace on Piñata Island. If magic exists in other places is unknown.

The DS game - Known as Viva Piñata Pocket Paradise, the DS game came out after both the original game and TiP. It features a mix of piñatas from both the other games, however not all of them, because of the limitations of being on the DS. It is pretty much just another Viva Piñata game where you tend to a garden, now using the touchscreen to use your tools and so on.

How the fuck does the family not recognize Dastardos as Stardos - A strange phenomenon considering at least Jardinero considers Dastardos familiar, but apparently none of the other family members have been able to figure out that Dastardos is in fact Stardos. Whether this is them just being very oblivious or not it’s still sad that they can’t even recognize their own family member after being corrupted. This is also even more strange considering Dastardos lives literally across the garden from his family, how have they not been able to tell by now?

Langston taking over the position of authority in piñata central from Jeffe - Apparently Jeffe used to be in charge of the piñata central and was later kicked off his position and replaced by Langston, this is to reflect how Jeffe was originally planned as the head of the piñata central before being replaced by Langston as influenced by the show. Why he was kicked off his position is uncertain, but theorized to be because of the fact that he turned into a piñata or half piñata from ingesting too much candy - though why this would influence him being kicked off i’m not sure. Maybe he abused the central for his own gain?

“They all wear masks, some are just more elaborate than others” - A statement from a developer when asked about the masks worn by the humanoid characters in the games, whether they’re their actual heads or some kinda mask. This was meant to clarify that all the human characters are fully human, however it still leaves some things unanswered - such as if they are masks then why can we not see Fannie Franker’s face inside the mailbox on her head? Or what does that entail for the Ruffians whose bodies are pretty much completely covered in their masks.

Squazzil name debate - A reference to how in game Leafos mentions that the name for the Squazzil was debated before you, the player, arrived at the island. Being apparently called Nonsquirrel as they were trying to figure out a name for the species. Whether this is true or not is uncertain, as Leafos does state untrue rumors sometimes.

The side characters in P-Factor - P-Factor is a minigame in TiP that is you showing off your piñata in a contest against other players or npcs. This minigame features both already existing npcs, such Leafos for example, as well as some made exclusively for the minigames. Some of these npcs include Maxime, Babochka, Nana Urf and more. They also make an appearance in the Great Piñata Paperchase minigame, however they are much more prominently presented in the P-Factor minigame.

Unknown blue flower - There is a blue flower which appears outside of the garden space as a decoration in the original game. This blue flower is not a flower which appears anywhere else, and cannot be planted in the garden either. Most of the flowers and trees found outside the garden space are plants that are available for the player, but this one flower is unique in that it isn’t part of those plants.

Leafos might be a lesbian - As it is very much implied that Leafos is the one who writes the entries for the items, objects, characters and piñatas in the journal one can glean interesting information and thoughts about Leafos. In the entry for the Pink Flutterscotch there is the sentence “A girl (that I may or may not have liked) once told me that the Pink Flutterscotch reminded her of a kiss.” Some people take this as an implication that Leafos may be a lesbian and or bi, which i personally think would be neat.

Unused piñata concepts - There are plenty of piñatas that never made it into any of the games, as one would expect. Examples of piñatas that never appear in the game but had concepts made for them are a Giraffe, a Platypus that would’ve been acquired by breeding a Quackberry and Sweetooth together, a Hammerhead shark with a sour form and a Kangaroo. A goldfish piñata was also part of concepts, however this piñata does appear in the game - as the fish in the bowl on Miss Petulas head.

Banjo Kazooie Mountains - One of the rarer (hah) easter eggs to spot in the original game, in the distance across the swamp where Seedos lives one can see a mountain which has Banjo and Kazooie carved into the mountain. This is much easier to see in the Xbox 360 version compared to the PC port, because of the higher resolution textures.

Silent piñatas - Every piñata is voice acted, or are they? One might notice that there are two, well technically eleven, piñatas that are completely silent. The Flutterscotches and Motdrops are fully silent, not making any noise. Why this is is uncertain, as other bug piñatas do have noises, such as the Taffly and Sweetle. It may be because normally no noise is associated with butterflies or moths in real life, or it may be because these piñatas are meant to be more akin to decorational than a “proper” piñata.

Dragonache flying away glitch - A glitch which is easily done in game, by making the dragonache engage in a fight with another piñata and using the menu to send it off from the garden. By opening the fighting view, which can be accessed to monitor the fight separate from the normal camera view, it will focus in on the two piñatas. The camera will become strange as the Dragonache flies away from the garden, letting you see out of bounds and see details otherwise obscured by things in the background around the garden. I recommend doing this after having done at least one mandatory fight beforehand, as you are forced to watch the first fight that occurs and will unable to do anything till it is finished. Thus if you do this glitch while forced to watch it you will be unable to access the rest of your garden for quite some time.

Giant Zumbug glitch - Not certain if a glitch or hack, there have been reports of a giant Zumbug in TiP which is acquired through unknown means. This giant Zumbug can be sent through the Xbox Live service, but more than that is not known.

Professor Pester is legit evil and fucked up - Even though he’s presented in the show as a bumbling idiot of a villain, he has done a lot of fucked up shit. Not only does he employ Ruffians to mess up other people’s gardens, including Jardinero’s garden, he is also the reason why sour piñatas exist. Making a sour goop which is used for creating sour candy, it is a candy which makes anyone who eats it sick and possibly corrupts them - this is evident in how he corrupted Stardos by giving him sour candy. He may have rather bland goals as a villain, simply wanting complete control of the piñata island and its piñatas, but he’s done some pretty messed up stuff to try and accomplish this goal.

Extra color variants - All piñatas, except for the Flutterscotches, have three color variants that can be acquired by feeding the piñata specific things. However, there are piñatas that have more variants than others, through being caught in the Pinartic or Dessert Desert, and then feeding those the same things. This will cause them to gain a different tint of color compared to their normal counterparts, as thanks to having a different default color because of being from a different region.

Giant and tiny seeds - You can gain a plethora of things from the mine, which includes seeds. Sometimes when the mine uncovers seeds there is a chance for the seed to either be bigger or smaller than normal, these seeds work exactly like their normal sized versions, but sell for different prices. The size difference can vary wildly, with really big seeds and incredibly tiny seeds that are hard to see.

Ivor has two mouths - Something that may be easily missed, but Ivor Bargain does as a matter of fact have two mouths. One for each “face” he has, for when he’s a beggar and a merchant, he can flip between the two by spinning his head, flipping his head up or down. This is a little freaky, and completely glanced over in game, left unexplained why he has two mouths or can flip his head upside down with no consequences.

Leafos is vegan - A very recent thing which has been observed through the rare cookbook that has been released, which features an array of rare game inspired recipes. Recipes which are vegan or vegan friendly are marked with “Leafos vegan approved”, which implies that Leafos is vegan.

Humans can become piñatas rumor - In game this is presented in TiP with Jeffe, which is a human piñata or a half human half piñata, he states “If you eat enough candy and pull a face in the wind you'll become a piñata, I never want to see another piece of candy let alone a piñata full of it.” as part of dialogue during P-Factor. We cannot confirm whether this is actually true or not, but if Jeffe’s statement is true then it would imply that humans can turn into piñatas. This in turn creates a lot of questions, such as why does this happen? Has this happened to people outside of Piñata Island? Is this something exclusive to just the island or candy from the living piñatas? Can this happen with animals as well?

Tamed sour piñatas reverting via mail - A gameplay mechanic which is not commonly seen is the fact that tamed sour piñatas can revert back to a sour state. This occurs when you send a tamed sour piñata to a player which hasn’t unlocked the tamed version of that piñata, when the piñata is taken out of its mailed box it will be the sour version. This happens in all the main games, including Pocket Paradise as well.

Dastardos and Seedos special interaction - I have not personally seen this interaction but many have reported Dastardos and Seedos having an interaction with each other in game. If people want to elaborate on this or have footage of it that’d be great.

Viva Piñata Candy Stash - There are a few piñata games which aren’t widely known, for example this Adobe Flash tower defense game developed and published by 4Kids TV, known as Viva Piñata Candy Stash. This game features Professor Pester trying to steal the player’s candy using Ruffian robots, and to stop him the player builds towers invented by piñata characters from the tv show.

Piñata mascot suits - As part of promotions and promotion material there exists mascot suits of some piñatas, such as the Horstachio, Pretztail and Fudgehog. Whether these suits are kept in storage somewhere or have been thrown away we do not know.

#viva pinata #viva piñata #vp #iceberg #iceberg meme #yes i actually sat down n tried to make this #i feel like one can add more stuff but also i dunno what exactly #so do give suggestions if you have em #and if i should remove a point or replace it

[stiltonbasket]

can we have some nielan for the art thief au? author's choice :D

(this is more lxc-focused but there's still a dash of sweet nielan! (≧◡≦) ♡ click here for AO3 link)

__

Twenty years ago.

The last time we celebrated Muqin’s birthday with her, it was twenty years ago.

Upon later reflection, perhaps the realization ought not to have affected Lan Xichen as it did. But twenty years is long enough to be called a long time by any measure of reckoning; and Lan Xichen is thirty now, an orphan for fully twice the span that he had either of his parents, and sometimes it feels as if he no longer remembers how it was to call for A-Niang, and Fuqin instead of Shufu, or not have to explain to new acquaintances that his parents have been dead for nearly two decades.

What did he and Wangji do on Mother’s last birthday? Lan Xichen remembers their father making a cake—a flourless one, because Mother wanted to try a new recipe she found at the library—and Wangji lay down on his stomach in the living room and labored over a card for her all morning, squeaking in dismay when Mother pretended to peer over his shoulders to see what he was doing, and then he wrapped it up in silky tissue paper and presented it to her with such delight on his solemn little face that Muqin refused to let go of him for the next twenty minutes.

Xichen was in the kitchen helping their father with the cake, he thinks. Fuqin handed him three little bottles of food coloring and told him to color the frosting, which Lan Xichen did with breathless care to ensure that the frosting turned out their mother’s favorite shade of buttery yellow.

None of them knew then that it was the last birthday they would celebrate together as a family. Mother died only two months later, quietly in her bed at Fuqin’s side, and a heart attack carried their father off six months after that.

Mother’s birthday has always been something of a private holiday within the family. When she was alive their father organized quiet celebrations for her, and Lan Xichen always spent time with Wangji that day after she passed on. But today his brother has been caught up with grading at the university where he works, so Lan Xichen is celebrating the bittersweet anniversary alone.

“You would have been fifty-six today, Mother,” he says, as he burns incense at the family memorial altar and puts a pair of red-bean buns on a platter in front of her photograph: one for her and one for Father, who loved mother’s sweet baozi so much that Shufu used to tease him about it at family dinners. “Shufu and Wangji are doing well, and so am I. And Jingyi is big enough to fit into that sweater A-Jue made from the yarn you were saving—do you remember when you took me and A-Zhan to help you pick it out?”

His mother’s smiling face looks down at him from her wedding picture, as silent and tender as she always is. Muqin is resplendent in the old qipao dress she wore that day, the only luxury she really had for her hasty wedding; Lan Xichen can almost feel its smooth embroidered flowers and pankou under his fingertips, since she often took the dress out to look at it and show it to her two sons. It was eventually put away in storage along with the rest of her belongings, but Lan Xichen found the qipao while he was preparing for his own wedding some fifteen years later, and he brought it to the house he moved into with his husband just after their son was born.

Prodded by some strange urgency, Lan Xichen makes his way to the bedroom and rifles through his closet, pulling out the long silk sleeve where the qipao dress has lain undisturbed for the past eighteen months. The dress, when he removes it from the sleeve, is mostly unchanged: only creased at the spots where it was folded, and a little dusty-smelling from being in the closet.

He shakes it out, breathing in the familiar scent of his mother’s perfume clinging to the collar, and then he walks over to the full-length mirror by the bed and holds the qipao up in front of him.

For a moment, it almost looks as if—

Lan Xichen stares at his reflection, bewildered.

“Oh,” he gasps, holding one of the bedposts in a vice grip. “Oh.”

_____

When Lan Xichen was in his teens, Shufu hired a family friend to teach him how to do makeup: mainly how to make his face more angular, and deepen the shadows around his nose and eyebrows, and render his eyes just a little narrower than they truly were with highlighting powder. But it was an art like any other, so Liang-popo showed him how to do different kinds of makeup, too: how to make his cheeks look rounder, and his chin smaller, and call more attention to his lips and eyes than natural light did on its own. Lan Xichen never expected to use that half of what Liang-popo taught him, but he still remembers the basics: and his own face, still smooth and unlined by the sun thanks to the skincare regimens Nie Huaisang keeps coaxing him into, accepts the blush-toned powders and creams like paper soaking up ink.

Moisturizer, primer. Foundation, and concealing cream under his eyes. He took off his glasses and replaced them with contacts earlier, and tied back his long hair while he smoothed on a pale red lip tint; and now, with most of his makeup finished, he paints a small, dark mole high on his forehead—one that his mother had, but neither he nor Wangji inherited—and mists his face with setting spray.

He yanks his hair elastic out with shaking fingers, groping in the vanity drawer for bobby pins before putting his hair up into a loose chignon, and then he finally lifts his eyes and looks into the mirror again.

If he were not sitting, Lan Xichen thinks dizzily, he would have fainted dead away.

With shaking fingers, he removes his pants and shirt (one of A-Jue’s thicker pajama tops, since the weather was chilly last night) and divests himself of his binder, tossing it onto the bed with the rest of his clothes before he unbuttons the qipao and pulls it on. The dress fits like a second skin despite being several inches too short, but the side slits are so high that it hardly matters, and the collar encloses Lan Xichen’s pale throat exactly like it did his mother’s in her wedding photograph: just lax enough that he can’t really feel it, but smooth enough not to bother him either way.

Lan Xichen pads back towards the mirror, his bare feet dragging over the carpet as he goes, and then he looks up and meets his mother’s eyes for the first time in twenty years.

The resemblance, so far as it goes, is astounding. Mother was shorter, but she seemed quite tall to the ten-year-old son she left behind; and she had the same eyes and brows and nose and even the same cheekbones, with slightly fuller lips which were never thinned by parenthood as Lan Xichen’s lips have been. But then again, Wen Mingyan was a schoolteacher and not a harried lawyer who doubled as a museum thief by night, and her children were not so accomplished at getting into trouble as Lan Xichen’s own tiny son is.

At the thought of his baby, Lan Xichen hurries into the next room where A-Yi is fast asleep in his crib, with his thumb in his mouth and his pudgy little legs sticking straight up in the air. He rolls into Lan Xichen’s arms without waking, like a ball rolling into a comfortable hollow in the ground, and nestles happily under his chin on the short trip back to the bedroom.

Lan Xichen pulls a chair up in front of the mirror and sits down with Jingyi yawning in his lap, gazing at what could have been a window opening onto the past: his mother, young and strong and still with the bridal blush on her cheeks, cradling a fluffy-haired toddler that could have been the Lan Xichen of twenty-eight years ago.

He presses his lips to A-Yi’s chubby nose; and in the mirror his mother, seemingly overwhelmed by some kind of great feeling, kisses him.

Lan Xichen’s lips quiver. “Muqin—”

Suddenly, a door bangs on the ground floor, and Lan Xichen jolts back to full awareness just in time to hear his husband and brother talking in the kitchen. Mingjue seems to have returned with armfuls of grocery bags, which crinkle so loudly that A-Yi blinks awake and starts to fuss, tugging at a lock of hair that slipped out of Xichen’s loose updo.

“A-Huan?” Mingjue calls, followed by the swift thuds of his feet and Wangji’s coming up the stairs. “A-Huan, is A-Yi…”

And then both of them screech to a halt on the landing, gawking through the open door at Lan Xichen’s soft hair and make-up and the red bridal qipao. For a moment, Lan Xichen wonders what the picture looks like—he hasn’t worn a dress since before Wangji was born, and he’s certainly never worn make-up like this, so for all he knows it might look like some strange woman broke into the house to kidnap baby A-Yi.

But then Mingjue lets out a quiet breath and comes over to kiss him, brushing aside the tangled curls A-Yi pulled down, and wraps him up in a tight hug that smells of soap and sawdust from Mingjue’s woodworking studio.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he breathes, pressing his cheek to Lan Xichen’s. “I stopped to pick up dinner and fetch Wangji from the university after I left work.”

“It’s fine,” Lan Xichen murmurs back, as Jingyi stares at the large buttons on Mingjue’s sleeve before testing his tiny white teeth on them. “I got some egg porridge ready, earlier. Do you want to eat a little before we get dinner started?”

Nie Mingjue opens his mouth, probably to declare that hot vegetable congee with pidan would be delicious after being outside in the cold; but he never manages to say so, because Wangji makes a choked noise from the hallway before taking a shaky step forward.

“Xiongzhang,” he says hoarsely. “You look, you look just like—”

Mingjue takes A-Yi into his arms, and Lan Xichen reaches out towards his brother. When Wangji staggers into his embrace, all Lan Xichen can think of is that their mother never had the chance to see A-Zhan grow up so well, or know what a name he would make for himself, or even how his face would grow into a perfect meld of hers and Fuqin’s after his baby fat melted away.

She would have had to wait many years to know that last, Lan Xichen smiles to himself. A-Zhan’s cheeks were as round as A-Yi’s until after he started college.

“Ge.”

Lan Xichen pats Wangji’s shoulder. “Mm, A-Zhan?”

Wangji hugs him impossibly tighter.

“Thank you.”

#nielan #lan xichen #nie mingjue #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #art thief au #my fic

[waveypedia]

and now, for my next number, i’d like to return to the classics

Rymin Week Day 7: Domestic

1 2 4 5 6

Ao3

~

It’s been years since he lived primarily in his van on tour, but Ryan will never not be grateful to always have a kitchen.

Early morning sunlight streams through the soft white curtains as he goes through the motions of breakfast. The curtains were a gift from one sister, the cookware a gift from their old manager before she got promoted. The sleek fridge, which Ryan opens next, was a careful purchase he and Min worked together to carefully pick out, as is the same for most of their furniture. The eggs he pulls out from inside it are from their local farmer’s market, where all the vendors know them by name. Not because they used to be semi-famous rock stars, but because they come by every week toting instruments to serenade the shoppers with.

Ryan coats the pan in nonstick cooking spray and cracks the eggs into it. Salts it. He puts the ingredients away while he’s waiting for it to cook and pours two glasses of water.

Then, all that’s left is the waiting.

Ryan finds one of his guitars leaning against the wall in the next room. Their apartment is chock-full of all kinds of musical instruments they’ve accumulated over the years. After all the fuss Ryan had to go through to get his first guitar as a teenager, it feels both strange and gratifying to see how far he’s come.

One instrument they do not have is a viola. Min has played it on his own, usually on lease from friends, but he won’t play it regularly enough to buy one. Ryan is more than happy with that.

Ryan sits down on top of the counter and plucks a few, soft notes on his chosen guitar. He doesn’t have any particular melody or song in mind; he just lets his fingers play what they wish.

In no time at all, the eggs finish cooking. Ryan regretfully sets down the guitar to flip them and slide them onto plates. Just as he’s turning off the stove, the sound of a door opening down the hall and resounding footsteps reaches his ears.

Ryan snorts.

His husband emerges into the kitchen, hair still messy from bed. Even after all these years, Ryan’s heart flutters at the sight of him.

Min leans down to steal a kiss off the top of Ryan’s head. “Ooh, eggs. Are those for me?”

Ryan swings the plate away, nearly spilling the coveted breakfast. “Of course not. I cook for myself. Never for my handsome husband.”

“Hmm, too bad.” Min grabs a fork and leans in for a bite. “Hey, these are good!”

Ryan laughs and leans against Min’s chest. “Almost as good as your ability to come running as soon as there’s food ready. I swear, Min, it’s superhuman.”

“Only if it’s your food,” Min promises, struggling not to laugh.

Ryan cackles. “Of course. I see how it is”

Min kisses him again and steps away. “I’ll get the table set if you plate the eggs and get some fruit, dear.”

“I can do better than that!” Ryan dishes out the eggs on two plates and cuts some oranges up. He walks over to the toaster and drops two pieces of toast in. “A full breakfast. How about that?”

Min laughs and pulls a tub of butter out of the fridge. “Lovely, thank you.” He peers at the plates. “Eggs and toast. How downright American of you. Would you like some bacon with that?”

 “Hey, at least it’s not post-war,” Ryan quips back. He stretches his arms over his head and sets the plates down on the table. “Eh, that would take too much time.” He leans over to peck Min’s cheek. “After all, I would hate to miss breakfast with my lovely husband.”

Min beams. “Good choice.” His wedding ring twinkles in the early morning sunlight.

Ryan sighs dreamily. “Man, am I glad I married you.”

“Me too.” Min’s smile is fond and so full of love it makes Ryan’s heart swell. When he smiles, all his wrinkles soften and curve upwards like little smiles themselves. Ryan loves to kiss each one.

“So.” Min straightens out and pulls out his phone. “We have a practice session at 4 today, booked at the venue for Saturday’s performance.”

“Okay, good.” Ryan nods. “I want to run through the new arrangement Train to Nowhere.”

Min shakes his head, chuckling. “We’ve been playing that song for forty years, Ryan. Shouldn’t you know it inside and out?”

“I just want to tweak some things for this arrangement,” Ryan shoots back, not unkindly.

“Ryan.” Min reaches across the table to lay his hand on top of Ryan’s. Their wedding rings make a soft clink sound when Min’s hits his. “It’s going to be fine. The fans love that song, as do we. We know it well.”

  I know, I know.” Ryan squeezes Min’s hand and glances away. His eyes catch on a vase of beautiful purple flowers. I need to water those today, he notes offhandedly. “That’s why I want it to be as good as it can be.”

“It will be,” Min promises.

Ryan smiles. “I believe you.”

Min laughs, reaching across with his other hand to squeeze Ryan’s cheek gently. Ryan laughs, batting his hand away. “Of course you do. You should listen to your husband more often, Ryan.”

“What are you talking about? I always listen to you,” Ryan snorts.

Min waggles his finger. “Ah-ah, that sheet music you bought last week would beg to differ,” he says. “I told you we already had it in a songbook somewhere.”

Ryan crosses his arms, faux-affronted. “Excuse me for wanting more music to play!”     

“I don’t care about that. Just spend our money on music we don’t already have,” Min says, leaning back in his chair with a smile.

Ryan shrugs and lets out a small huff of laughter. “I can do that.”

“Good.” Min gets up to clear their plates. “I’m going to go grocery shopping and then call my parents. Do you need anything?”

“No, but I’ll pop on that call if you don’t mind,” Ryan replies, standing up. “And can you grab some cheese? And the-“

“Those crackers you like, the ones that come in the blue box, I know, I know,” Min says, laughing and shaking his head affectionately. “It’s on the list.”

Ryan walks over and wraps an arm around his husband. “Ah, you know me so well. Thanks, babe.”

Min shrugs him off, laughing. “Stop calling me that! It’s not classy!”

“Pfft, okay.” Ryan kisses Min on the cheek before releasing him. “See you in a few hours?”

“You know it.” Min waves and kisses him goodbye before he’s out the door.

Ryan hums softly to himself as he cleans up the kitchen. It starts out as a B-side from one of Chicken Choice Judy’s earlier albums - their third, if memory serves correctly. Four years after they’d escaped the train, when their career was steadily taking off and they started touring outside of North America.

Ryan shook his head, chuckling softly to himself as he wiped a dish clean. “Man, what a time.”

As he works, the tune slowly shifts into something more original and unique. Something new. When he notices the change, he immediately scrambles for a pen and paper. Luckily, there’s a large notebook of blank sheet music in the drawer under the microwave for this exact reason.

Ryan flips past pages of sheet music penned from similar scenarios to a blank page. He leans against the counter, writing down notes and chords and lyrics as time slips away. Before he knows it, he has a full song on his hands and Min’s returned.

“Hey, honey,” Min says, dropping the grocery bags on the kitchen table and leaning in for a kiss. “Whatcha got there?”

Ryan tips the sheet music notebook over so Min can see. “A new song. I’m calling this one ‘Sunsets’ for now. What do you think?”

Min hums thoughtfully as he peruses the notes. “It sounds pretty, Ryan! May I suggest a ukulele rift here?” He taps the third line down as he talks. “I think that would add to the image.”

Ryan grins. “You’re a genius, Min.” He’s said similar statements many times over their forty-year music-writing career, but it never gets old.

Min preens, laughing. “Oh, I know. I’m gonna call my parents in a few, okay?”

“Sure. Call me when you’re ready.” Ryan doesn’t take his eyes off the music as Min leaves.

When he eventually hits a block, he puts away the groceries. He’s just finished when Min pokes his head out of the office door and beckons.

 “Hello, Ryan!” Min’s mother greets when he steps inside. “Lovely to see you.”

“You as well, 어머님,” he replies, squeezing into the office chair next to Min. It’s not supposed to be big enough to fit them both, but they always seem to manage. Min laughs and tries to bat him off, but it’s halfhearted at this point. Ryan has been doing it for long enough that Min gave up a while ago. Besides, they both know Min likes the subtle affection.

“Just get another chair,” Min’s father grumbles, not unkindly. His wife gives him a small nudge on the shoulder.

“Leave them alone. Let them enjoy each other’s company,” Min’s mother replies, shaking her head in mirth. “If they’re still in their honeymoon phase after all this time, that’s on them.”

“엄마, please,” Min sighs, burying his head in his hands. His mother just laughs.

--

At precisely four P.M., he and Min are settled onstage at Saturday’s venue. It happens to be a beautiful outdoor amphitheater with vines and greenery gently climbing up the pillars holding up the stage’s ceiling. The audience area is open-sky and curves gently downward, like a bowl.

Ryan stands in the center of said “bowl”, guitar hanging from his shoulders by its strap. He raises his arms to the sky and spins, taking in everything.

From his place onstage, behind his synthesizer, Min laughs. “What are you doing?”

“Just taking in the sights.” Ryan does a final spin for good measure before turning to face Min. “It really is quite pretty.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Min gazes up at the orange-tinted sky with a soft smile. “Our manager really outdid herself with the booking this time. We’ll have to thank her.”

Ryan clambers up on the stage, silently wincing at the height gap between the audience floor and stage floor. He’s really not as young as he used to be, is he? “Should we send her flowers?”

“I think she really liked the sunflowers we got her last time. They were on her living room table when we visited her.” Min places his fingers on the keys, hovering just above them. “Maybe chocolate, too.”

Ryan laughs. “How cliché. Is there something I should know?” He waltzes over to Min and wraps a lazy arm around his husband, leaning all of his weight into Min’s shoulders.

Min laughs and shoves him off. “Please, do I have to come out to you again? Not all of us are interested in women, you know.”

“And what a great loss to the female community it is. The ladies of the Min-Gi Park fan club will have to go in mourning,” Ryan giggled. “But really, flowers and chocolate sound nice. She’ll like it.”

Min gave him a thumbs-up. “Sound check?”

Ryan gives his guitar an experimental strum. It echoes across the amphitheater beautifully, filling the bowl with sound and vibration. He whoops. “Let’s get this party started!”

“Not until Saturday, or else we’ll have some very unhappy neighbors to contend with,” Min admonishes, laughing. His fingers fly across the keys. “I’m good too.”

Ryan taps his mic. “Then let’s get ready to rock!” His voice booms across the venue. A few peacefully roosting birds take flight, squawking indignantly.

Min rolls his eyes. “Leave the poor birds alone, and you have a deal.”

“Please, we all know they just want to hear us play.” Ryan fishes his guitar pick from his jacket pocket and holds it poised over his guitar strings. “How do you feel about Train to Nowhere as a warm-up?”

“Fine by me,” Min says. His eyes don’t leave his synth. “It’s my favorite song to play with you, Ryan.”

“Well, of course,” Ryan says. “It’s what got us together, after all. In more ways than one.”

Min laughs. “Well, I can’t argue with that. Care to count us off?”

“Oh, I was just waiting for you to ask.” Ryan raises his pick and grins. “Five, six, eleven, twelve!”

Somewhere in Canada, the sun sets over a practicing music duo in the early 2020s. They laugh and goof around on an empty stage as birds and a few curious passerby stop to watch. The notes of their original hit song, “Train to Nowhere,” grace the evening air.

In the middle of the song, their eyes meet. They do not speak outside of the song lyrics, but an entire conversation passes through their gaze. It’s all they can do to not run to each other and hug each other right then and there.

After all, Ryan and Min-Gi Akagi-Park have lived a lifetime with each other. And they will live out the rest of their lives with each other, happy and content beyond imagination. 

~

i'm not korean so i'm not sure if the words i used for min's mother are right. if anyone knows better and sees i'm wrong, please tell me! the website said the word min uses ( 엄마 / eomma) is the informal way to say mom, and you only use it for your own mother. the word ryan uses ( 어머님 / eomeonim ) is formal and often used for mothers-in-law. eomma is really similar to the hebrew word for mother, which is amma. i think that's fascinating because hebrew and korean are not similar languages at all. lingustics as a whole is fascinating because you can see where languages and dialects split off from each other and where/why that happened in history. it's also really cool to see languages so similar to each other you can communicate with someone else in two different languages. languages also have cognants (not sure if i'm spelling that right) where a word is basically the same across multiple languages. it's really interesting to see in this modern world of quick and easy communication how many cognants we have, especially for semi-recent terms (the technology unit in french was SO easy). anyway sorry for the tangent i just really love linguistics

man i wasn't planning to write for today until i realized i'd overestimated the chapter count and it felt weird to not write aksdgfjs. i hope i can keep to this schedule of writing every day but school will probably put a hard stop to that. gotta get out as much writing as i can before then! i started writing this at like 9pm i'm so sorry if it's messy dkfhjfkd

we've come full circle! this started with baby rymin and now we have much older rymin. poetic cinema........

the euphoria i got everytime i wrote "his husband"......... they are MARRIED gamers!!!!!

this is a callout post for every time i pour myself a bowl of chips at my aunt and uncle's house and all five of them suddenly think my bowl is a free-for-all even though the bag is sitting right there. stop i am not a chip dispensary. do not be min-gi akagi-park leave my chips alone

title is from uhhhh i don't know what it was called (some indie thing) but it was in my last winterguard show (fuck covid i wanted a senior season) and it just popped into my head. or it might have just been a voice line from something i heard it in another show with different music. whatever it's almost 1 am i'll look it up later. i put it on my titles doc (which is 90% song lyrics and which my brother likes to call the "song lyric moodboard" even though it's just a bullet list) out of impulse and nostalgia and never really intended to use it but it actually fits really well here?? who knew

it didn't make it in but i imagine that ryan and min have a parrot named kez and they've taught it some of kez's favorite and most iconic phrases. imagine you are visiting acclaimed musical duo chicken choice judy's house and you hear a parrot squawk at you "Why do you hate fun, Min." another thing that kind of made it in but not quite was that ryan has all those weird guitars. im picturing this one my temporary songleading teacher at camp, who's a professional musician and probably the most famous jewish folk artist out there (which is a very niche group so he's not really famous), brought out once. it was really small and had like eight tiny strings all crammed in together and it both fascinated and terrified me. i have no idea how you can play that without accidentally pressing all the wrong strings all the time but dan nichols can do it so i've decided ryan can do it too

tomorrow is au day... you know what that means... *shoves rymin into my current hyperfixation*

if you ever wanna talk infinity train, writing, these amazing characters, or really anything hmu here on my tumblr or on twitter! thank you for reading, and please leave a reblog/like/comment if you enjoyed it!

@ryminweek

#infinity train #ryan akagi #min-gi park #rymin week #ryminweek2021 #rymin #rymin week 2021 #infinity train rymin #wavey writes #min gi park #mingi park #infinity train ryan #infinity train min #infinity train min-gi #infinity train min gi #infinity train mingi #ryan x min #ryan infinity train #min infinity train #min-gi infinity train #min gi infinity train #infinity train book four #infinity train book 4 #infinity train season four #infinity train season 4

[novelconcepts]

fic: she tells me worship (in the bedroom)

There are days, as the years burn away like so much kindling, where everything is the best it possibly could be. Days where Dani’s beast in the jungle is silent--maybe no longer there at all--and her demeanor is smooth and easy. She matches Jamie’s smile on these days, warm and light and happy, and Jamie can’t get enough. Could never ask for more than Dani in her best mood, Dani’s laugh the clearest bell in the room.

Those days are wonderful--but they are, of course, not the only sort. Natural enough, Jamie knows, for anyone, though maybe somewhat more of a concern for Dani. The days where Dani’s tensions run high are doubly-loaded, one part the natural discomfort of a bad day, one part Dani’s mounting fear of losing herself. 

You’re here, she tells Dani on days like this. You’re right here, with me, and you’re not going anywhere. 

Dani grits her teeth, furrows her brow, nods. Jamie pulls her close, still murmuring the words like an endless prayer. She’s not much for religion, Jamie; never much saw the point of asking for miracles from ghosts and gods. Bad days with Dani, though, are their own kind of religion. They form their own kind of belief, stretched between them, one that says Dani is here, Dani is strong, Dani is in control whether or not she feels it. 

There are good days, and there are bad days, and there are days like this whole week has been: middling days. Days where Dani is not fumbling away from her with breath whistling high and fast, but neither is she laughing. Days where Dani wakes with a grimace already on her lips, her temper short, her body clenched as she moves about the apartment. Jamie has learned to read these moods, has learned Dani doesn’t need her to ask questions or work to soothe her nerves. Dani in a mood like this is independence, so used to fighting the battle of her own bad day alone, she sometimes only feels worse if Jamie tries to take her hand. 

Jamie has learned, instead, to stand back a few steps. To keep her eyes on Dani’s expression, to keep her ears perked for a sign Dani is shifting toward something genuinely dark, something that will genuinely require Jamie to step in and catch her. Some days, it goes this way--a middling day turning without warning into bleak horror. Some days, she needs this of Jamie. 

Other days, she needs something else entirely. Something to turn a highly-strung afternoon into a pleasurable evening. Something to remind her, though she does not always have control over her mood, there are other things to grab hold of and use to her own ends. 

Jamie doesn’t mind in the least. 

***

She knows it will reach a breaking point eventually. There’s just a scent on the air when Dani is like this, no matter what image she’s projecting to the rest of the world--sooner or later, the smile will slip, the polite laugh will dry away, and there will be only Dani Clayton in all her magnificent frustration left. 

It’s really just a matter of waiting it out. 

In the meantime, there’s plenty to do. The shop is thriving; Jamie, who had spent most of that first year wanting to pull her hair out over numbers, is still not entirely convinced she can trust the implication that they are doing well. The odds of moving to America on a whim to start a flower shop that actually survives its first few years were slim; the fact that they are rapidly becoming a fixture of their small Vermont town, taking in larger swaths of customers every month, is baffling. 

It pleases Dani, too, she knows--most of the time. When Dani isn’t dealing with a customer like this one, a shrewd-eyed woman who calls into question Dani’s comprehension of her job at every other turn. 

“Anything I can help with?” Jamie asks, leaning around Dani with a surreptitious hand brushing her back. Dani shoots her a sharp look, a not now look, and she nods. 

“Right. Be in the back if you need me.”

Some days, if you need me is a call sign, an olive branch Dani grabs with greedy hands. Some days, after a customer like this one, Jamie finds herself propped against the back room table with Dani tearing at her zipper before she even realizes. 

Not today. Today, when she pokes her head back out to ensure Dani hasn’t actually murdered the old bat, she finds Dani already chatting with someone else. Politely. Smiling, even, though Jamie knows better than anyone what Dani’s barely-hanging-on smile looks like. 

“All good?” she murmurs as the new customer saunters away, careful not to so much as graze Dani. Mismatched eyes snag her gaze, Dani huffing out a breath. 

“Sometimes I wonder why we picked a job with so many people.”

“Be a lot more fun with just us,” Jamie agrees. “Though how we’d fit all those lovely pillows into a cardboard box, I couldn't say.”

Dani grants her a small laugh, barely enough for Jamie to coast on. It’s almost nothing, but it’s what Dani can manage today, and that’s fine enough. Jamie considers saying something else--telling Dani with words that she is here, that she can handle all the worst customers the day has to offer, that she doesn’t mind if Dani begs out early. Not that words matter most, with Dani. Words have never been the thing, where Jamie is concerned, for Dani.

“I’m all right,” Dani says, a bit stiffly. Jamie shuts her mouth, nods. 

“Sure. ‘Course you are. If you, ah, need me...”

It’s becoming a prayer of its own, she thinks sometimes, a plea to the part of Dani that desperately requires both hands on the wheel. If you need me. Which, no matter how it shows, Dani always does. Even on days like this, where Dani can’t quite fit right into her own skin, where Dani is trapped between normal human irritation and the mounting anger she carries for someone else. Dani always does need her. 

It’s just that that need doesn’t always look the same.

"What say we order in tonight?” Jamie asks as they’re closing up. “Throw on a movie?”

Dani shrugs. “Fine. Need to hit the grocery store first, though, we’re out of...a lot of things.”

“I can do it,” Jamie offers. Dani slides her a grateful smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. 

“I’m fine, Jamie. I promise.”

“No, I know,” Jamie says, a bit too hurriedly to be believed. “Only--look, I know it’s been a hard week. I just...”

“Want to help,” Dani fills in when her voice trails awkwardly away. Jamie scrubs a hand down her face. 

“Yeah. But if I’m hovering, I don’t--”

Dani doesn’t quite touch her. Dani seems some days unable to touch her, or be touched, like she’s afraid basic physical contact will release the thing lurking inside. It’s the anger, she says, her voice strained with worry. It’s that rage. 

Won’t hurt me, Jamie says, with a confidence she has never been more sure of than while looking into Dani’s eyes. Wouldn’t ever. 

It’ll pass, she knows--in an hour, in a day, in a week. It’ll pass, and Dani will be back to her usual self once more, laughing, telling stories Jamie hasn’t yet had time to memorize, trailing her fingers across Jamie’s face. Back in the driver’s seat, as it were. The only thing in charge of her own choices.

She allows Jamie a brief kiss, the single negotiation made with her demons--there is never a time, no matter how she feels, or what petty argument they’ve had, where Dani does not kiss her goodbye. 

The apartment isn’t filthy, by any stretch, but certain things have fallen by the wayside over the course of a busy week. Jamie sets to work alone, humming her way through laundry collection--the pair of underwear beneath the couch offers a particularly pleasant memory: Dani stretched back against the arm, sighing as Jamie undressed her and settled in to explore--and stacking dishes in their proper places. Little things, she reminds herself. Little ways to make it easier on Dani until Dani can breathe easier all on her own. Jamie doesn’t mind doing the dishes, sweeping up, ensuring the plants are watered and the bathroom tissue is restocked. Dani does the same for her, when the roles are reversed. 

Dani does more for her than she seems to realize. Even down to holding herself apart this way, too afraid of crossing a line she can’t take back. Jamie wishes there were words to explain how much that means--how much Dani’s self-imposed protective qualities make Jamie feel as though no one has ever been more important. It means the world, and it makes her crazy all the same, because there is nothing she’d like more than to hold Dani close when she gets this way. 

I’m not sick of you, she thinks fiercely, stacking plates into the cupboard. Not now, not ever, Poppins, so when are you going to stop pushing me--

The key in the lock. She turns her head, watching Dani shove the door open, jerking her key back and forth to unstick it. “Hey, you’re back. Good. Was just tryin’ to decide what kind of pizza--”

She pulls up short, leaning back against the counter with a frown. There’s a look on Dani’s face, a strange tight look that instantly makes her wonder if things are worse than Dani has been letting on of late. 

“You all right? You look...”

Dani shakes her head, tosses her purse so hard, it bounces back off the couch. She doesn’t seem to notice, preoccupied with the tight clench of her fists, the stilted stride that carries her across to the kitchen to deposit paper bags across the counter in a careless mess.

“Dani, what happened?” There’s keeping her distance, and there’s keeping things from Jamie. The look on her face now, the sharp cut of her mouth, the taut clutch of her jaw, is just this side of worrying. “I need you to talk--”

Dani has her shirt in one hand, bunched in her fist, dragging her close. Jamie stares, her stomach giving an agreeable little lurch. 

“Did I do something?” she asks. Unlikely, sure, but always a possibility. Always possible there’s something she didn’t notice to make up for. 

Dani, though, shakes her head once. Her hand tightens, pulling Jamie forward, past the kitchen threshold to the living room rug. She stops, swaying slightly as though not entirely certain where she is. 

Jamie--growing less concerned, more intrigued by the second--hesitates. There are only so many outcomes, from this sort of greeting. Only so many outcomes from the way Dani is looking at her now, a sort of helpless tension held in every curve of her face. 

“Can...can I help now?” Jamie asks, half-expecting Dani to release her, to crumple, to open the door to whatever she’s been holding Jamie away from all week. It’s like this, sometimes. Dani, surrendering to her after days of miserably tending her own mental demons. Dani, falling into her with exhaustion. Sometimes. 

Not always. 

Dani is pushing her, she realizes, her hand dragging up Jamie’s front to grip her shoulder. The pressure she applies is surprisingly gentle, but too firm for Jamie to deny for anything but the best reason. She allows herself to sink, allows Dani to shove her down until her knees strike rug, until she’s staring with her head tipped back and her skin growing hot. 

There’s something about this view, she thinks, that will never grow old. Particularly with Dani looking at her this way, eyes stormy, brow creased with some combination of frustration and--

“Let me help,” Jamie says, half a suggestion, half a plea. She reaches a hand to Dani, giving her ample time to step back, to change her mind. Dani, instead, reaches to the hem of her own skirt, yanks it to her waist. 

“Please.”

One word, and Jamie’s whole body shudders. Dani’s hand slips up, skimming her cheek, delving into her hair. She’s staring at Jamie like a challenge, like a dare: love me now, her eyes seem to say. Love me like this. 

More than that, Jamie promises silently, pressing forward into her. There’s loving Dani, certainly--she’s happy to do it, privileged to do it, doesn’t even think about it anymore. There’s an instinct to loving Dani she gave into long ago, with no desire or intention of turning back. 

This, though. This is more than loving. This is the closest thing to religion she’s capable of, the closest thing to belief she can wrap her head around. Forced to her knees by Dani’s hand, moving to kiss Dani from this spot of supplication, is the truest kind of worship she's ever known how to give. 

Dani exhales above her, the breath leaving her in a rush as Jamie slides her hands up the backs of her thighs. Her skin still holds a chill from the early winter air, and Jamie lets her palms rest for a moment, giving Dani her own warmth as a gift of greeting. She peers up at Dani, watching her sway with anticipation, watching her gaze down that same scorching challenge: Love me like this. Even today. Even when I can’t love myself. 

She presses a kiss, small and sweet and barely anything at all, to the crest of Dani’s underwear. Dani makes a low noise in her throat, something shaky, palming the back of her head in an effort to push her closer. Fast, she recognizes--Dani wants her fast, rough, to demolish the day’s shadows in no time at all. 

Dani wants it that way--but it isn’t what she needs. Jamie tilts her head, brushes against Dani with her nose, moves to kiss the inside of one thigh instead. She feels Dani’s hand loosen, allowing her the freedom, and she takes it with glee. Each kiss is small, gentle, a bare approximation of what Dani is asking of her, but with each press and release of her lips on Dani’s skin, she feels some of the tension go out of Dani’s grip. Dani, who has spent all day strung tighter than Jamie could possibly know, and who could demand more of Jamie now, sighs. 

She doesn’t beg. Doesn’t even speak. Only splays her fingers across the back of Jamie’s skull, her palm resting at the crown of Jamie’s head, letting her go where she will. Trusting that Jamie, taking her time with every kiss, smoothing her hands down to cup behind Dani’s knees, dragging her nails lightly down Dani’s calves, knows how to read her. 

Control, thinks Jamie, as she so often does in moments like this. Given freely, it’s an intoxicant all its own. 

There’s something about the way Dani trembles when she opens her mouth against smooth skin, when she runs her tongue in a slow, gentle arc up toward the juncture of Dani’s pelvis. Something about the tightening of Dani’s hand in her hair that makes her feel more alive than she ever does walking the world. 

She’s giving the same treatment to Dani’s other leg, tracing one hand lightly around her kneecap, digging her nails gently in, when Dani utters her first low moan. Jamie smiles into her skin. 

“Yes?”

“Didn’t ask you to talk,” Dani says, though Jamie can hear her smile. She slides a hand higher, gripping the underside of one thigh, digging her thumb in. 

“Didn’t ask for much, from what I recall. Bit demanding, Poppins.”

“If you’re complaining,” Dani says, “I can just take care of it myself.”

“Not like I can,” Jamie points out, and Dani grips harder, yanking her head back. She gives a hiss of pleasure. “Oh, you’re not denying it.”

“You,” Dani points out with an arch of her brow, “are denying me.”

“Let me back to it, then.” She’s playing with fire. She’s playing with fire, and Dani could turn the tables at any moment, could push her away and decide she isn’t in the mood after all. 

Dani, to the contrary, gives her a smile that makes her glad she’s already on her knees. Her hand flexes in Jamie’s hair, wrenching her forward without warning, and Jamie groans against her, biting gently through the fabric of underwear that, already, is considerably wetter than it had been. This, she thinks, should have been their entire day. Their entire week. Dani gripping her skirt in one hand, Jamie’s hair in the other, already revolving her hips gently to meet the slow press of Jamie’s tongue. 

“Tease,” Dani sighs, as she circles, wraps her mouth around already-straining nerves, sucks lightly through sticky cotton. “Fuck.”

Jamie smiles against her, pleased; Dani already swearing is a sign she’s been looking for this longer than she maybe even realized. Her hand presses Jamie in, her legs spreading slightly to give Jamie more space, and Jamie takes what she’s granted willingly. She’s kissing Dani with slow, heady abandon, eyes closed, aware with every small jolt of Dani’s hips that this is exactly where she ought to be. It’s easy to lose herself here, in the rock of Dani meeting her every stroke, in the taste of Dani soaking through thin fabric onto her tongue. She takes the edge of Dani’s underwear between her fingers, pulls it aside, uttering a low sound of pride at what she’s already accomplished. 

“Enough?” she asks politely, and Dani makes a breathless sound of aggravation above her. She bows back in, stretching the fabric away from where it belongs, letting her fingers graze slickly along Dani only once. Dani jerks. 

She could stay here, she thinks. Stay here on her knees, holding Dani in helpless limbo, forever. Stay here, feeling Dani’s gaze on her, feeling Dani’s desperation to push her closer coming up hard against her desire to let Jamie choose how this plays out. She’s never sure what will win, with Dani in a mood like this. 

“Jamie.” Not pleading, not yet, but slightly choked all the same. Her hand smooths down the back of Jamie’s head, urging her closer, and Jamie presses back into her palm for a beat. Just a few seconds of fighting the push, her fingers grazing back and forth--stroking once across skin, back across fabric, feeling Dani throb against her fingertips. 

“Jamie.” That was pleading. She slides her hands up, pulls the underwear down, supporting Dani as she steps out and all but crashes into Jamie’s mouth once more. 

That was pleading, and this is worship: sinking into Dani in every way that matters. She traces Dani with the tip of her tongue, curling when Dani sighs, stroking when Dani whimpers. The taste of her is overwhelming, drawing aside her own restraint a little at a time, and Jamie reminds herself exultation should not be rushed, benediction cannot be forced. True worship, true belief, is a slow, deliberate thing, inching ever nearer to something huge and glorious and well-earned. 

Dani’s nails dig hard into her scalp, scraping under her hair until she parts her lips around swollen nerves in a sharp sigh of pleasurable pain. Dani is making sounds of her own, muffled sounds against the clench of her teeth even as she’s grinding harder to meet every swipe of Jamie’s tongue. She sucks more forcefully, adds a gentle scrape of teeth that makes Dani twitch violently beneath her. A pounding heat between her own thighs gives a particularly sharp pulse, and Jamie welcomes it, welcomes it as she explores the familiar map of Dani soaking into her lips. 

She’s here, she tells herself, validated by every sound from Dani’s lips. She’s here, all of her. She imagines what she must look like now, her head bobbing between Dani’s legs as she twists and angles to offer every last inch of pleasure. What she must look like to Dani, with her eyes lidded and her body bucking, Dani who drives a hand against her head, pulling her hair hard to show Jamie exactly where she’s most needed. What must this look like: Jamie’s own hips rocking hopelessly against nothing, her hands occupied with holding Dani upright as the strength slides from her knees. She is the only thing keeping Dani here, keeping Dani in place, keeping Dani from collapsing to the floor in a heap. 

Dani is making breathless, almost keening sounds, pumping her hips hard to match the flick and roll of Jamie’s tongue. Jamie opens her eyes, leans back, letting the contact go just long enough to take Dani in: head thrown back, the cords of her neck standing out, trying with everything in her to keep her volume down. 

Let them hear you, Jamie thinks, delving in again with rough, reckless strokes. Let them fucking know. She’s moaning herself, unable to stop, unable to control her own voice as Dani grips her tight, thrusting to match her with frantic, nearly-there energy. 

Her fingers tremble, the desire to slide into Dani almost too strong to ward off. She resists. This is what they both need, instead, this urging of Dani over the edge with nothing more than what Jamie has already promised. Just the art of taking Dani into her mouth, drawing her tight, feeling her wind higher and higher as her hands glide through Jamie’s hair, catching, yanking. Nearly there, she knows, from Dani half-groaning her name. Nearly there, and it’s a shame to let it end, a shame to know this is not a permanent fixture of life, being on her knees in front of Dani Clayton. 

Dani is shuddering, crying, “There--there--fuck.” Jamie presses her tongue flat, gives a final broad stroke that sends Dani tumbling, each pulse against Jamie’s mouth feeling a little more like triumph. She keeps going even as Dani is slowing, even as Dani’s rough grip in her hair is loosening to something soft, something tender. 

“Jamie, I--I--”

Jamie is one long open kiss, warm and wet and needy in her own right, working a hand up the inner slope of her thigh, and now she is teasing with her fingers, now she is offering Dani this added gift, and Dani is making a high, surprised, wanting sound above her. 

“Jamie--” 

Tell me, Jamie commands silently, and Dani is so open, Dani is so wet, Dani is beyond ready even as she’s begging. She slides inside, eyes rolling back in her head when Dani clutches immediately around her, legs nearly buckling as Jamie curls fingers and tongue in the same action. 

She drops her skirt at last, closing both hands around Jamie’s head to ride this second climax to its height. Jamie, eyes closed, is not sure she needs anything but this to feel at home. Nothing but Dani shuddering around her, Dani arching to take her deeper. Nothing but Dani, letting her in. 

She leans her head against Dani’s hip, breathing hard, letting the skirt fall back into place. Dani, still trembling, wraps her arms around Jamie as best she can, leaning her head back and sighing. 

“I’m--”

“Good,” Jamie says, not much interested in an apology or an embarrassed explanation. She licks her lips, runs the back of her hand across her mouth, tilts her head to look up into Dani’s still-dazed face. “You’re good, Dani. All good.”

She stands, takes Dani’s face in her hands, runs her fingers along Dani’s parted lips. Dani smiles, tongue darting out to curl around one finger and Jamie makes a softly wanting sound against her own will. 

“You’re all right now?” she asks, her voice husky. Dani closes her eyes, nods, kisses her way along Jamie’s fingers until they’re clean. Then she’s kissing Jamie with all the quiet fever of a week spent staring into the shadows of her own head, pulling Jamie backward toward the couch, sinking down as the last of the strength finally goes out of her legs. 

She won’t talk about it--not now, not yet, not with her hand urgent against Jamie’s zipper. She won’t talk about it as she palms Jamie through her jeans, rubbing in hard strokes while Jamie sinks back against the couch and groans. She won’t talk about it, bending over Jamie to kiss her hard, slipping her hand into Jamie’s underwear and stroking, pinching, driving her toward a dazzling conclusion of her own. 

Later, maybe. Another night, maybe. This night, the push and pull of it, the teasing angle of her bent over Jamie with her hair curtaining them both and her smile welcoming Jamie to kiss her to completion all over again, was not made for that. This night is for Jamie to remind her of what is most important: that even on her worst day, even fed up with the world or the beast in the jungle, there is no enough for Jamie. There is no end, no exit, no edging away. 

She holds her close, arm around her waist as she pushes desperately up into Dani’s hand, understanding in some distant way that there is no such thing as too much where Dani is concerned. There is no darkness in Dani that can scare her off, no lack of control in Dani that doesn’t make her want to lead Dani back to a place of authority over her own life. There is nothing except Dani, striding into the room and forcing her to her knees; Dani, losing herself in the slide of her lips; Dani, needing and being needed. 

Let me in, she thinks with sleepy hope, as Dani kisses her and nestles against her side. Let me in, let me help you. I can give it back when she takes it away. 

She’ll say it, someday. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next year. She’ll say it, and Dani might even believe. 

In the meantime, she doesn’t mind this, the devoted worship of one who has never loved like she loves this woman. She doesn’t mind Dani being unable to ask. She doesn’t mind Dani’s fierce need coming to call. 

It’s mutual, she thinks as she dozes with Dani in her arms. It’s everything. 

#the haunting of bly manor #the haunting of bly manor spoilers #fanfiction #dani x jamie #jamie x dani #control one-shots #also very R-rated #don't yell at me it's short #and it had to get out of my head so I could do soulmate-y things #also I KNOW hozier has Been Done but look it was just too on point

[thr-333]

Just Another Class Trip :) Part 4

Marinette has a nice peaceful night, besides from having to outrun Batman, but come on thats just normal field trip stuff, and after that absolutely nothing remarkable happens.

First< Previous >Next

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“It wasn't just me right?” Marinette asks her Kwamis, “Aunt Selina was acting really strange,”

“She dragged you through secret tunnels in one of the most prevalent companies in the world,” Kaalki deadpans, as she hangs something up in the wardrobe, “Everything was strange,”

“Yeah, I’m not really one to judge,” Marinette says, to the god that can fit in her pocket, “Done,”

She straightens out the portable house she had made for Tikki and Kaalki. It was made out of fabric with just a few pieces of cardboard for better support. It had bedrooms, living rooms, even a little kitchen. It was quite like the ‘doll house’ she has for them back home. She had made a replica of that one for Tikki to bring into the miracle box as a gift for the other Kwamis.

“Oh the others would love this!” Tikki squeaks, flying around inside, Marinette can see her through the little cut out windows.

“Well I can’t hold all of you,” Marinette laughs, falling back on her bed, “I guess I should get some sleep,”

“You aren’t going out for patrol?”

“I thought that was a one time thing?”

“But you had so much fun,” Tikki looks at her with thos big round eyes, “You should go again Marinette,”

“You know Tikki I was actually about to make a responsible decision and go to bed early,” Marinette sighs, getting back up, “But you ruined it,”

“It’s midnight and we both know that you would just keep designing dresses,” Kaalki pushes away one of the many wads of paper littering her bed and room.

“Touche,” Marinette pulls over her mask, “What about the miracle box?”

“It’s your choice Marinette,” Tikki assures, her smile telling Marinette there would be no hard feelings either way.

“Well it was safe last night, Hawk Moth isn't around to try and steal it,” She puts on her cape, “And it would be pretty bad if it got damaged during a fight,”

“So you’ve made your choice?”

“Yeah,”

Starling finishes zip tying the crooks hands when she feels eyes fall to her. She doesn't directly look around, instead stretching and yawning to survey her surroundings. Above. A flash of color, yellow, Robin.

Instead of going back up to the roof as planned she turns and walks out the alley into the street. The victim of the mugging is there waiting and she smiles brightly, letting them relax. When the police arrive she slips away, having no illusions of Robin, or whoever else is watching, actually losing sight of her.

Obviously they wanted her alone for whatever reason. That just means she has to stick to populated areas. Luckily she is in a seedier part of town but not enough that people are too cautious of roaming the streets. There's a few drunk people around, she’d have to find denser crowds if she wants to give them the slip.

She sees an older woman struggling with her bags, full of fresh produce.

“Hello,” She steps out of the shadows, “Would you-whoa!”

She backs up from the gun that is pointed right at her head.

“Tell your boss to fuck off,” The woman scowls

“Sorry, but I don’t have a boss, Milady,” She smiles kindly, “But I can leave if you want, just thought I’d offer to help with the bags,”

“You a bat?” She raises and eyebrow looking over Starling.

“No Milady,” She can dodge a bullet right?

“Good guy?” The gun inches closer.

“Good enough to not get shot, I hope,” Starling smiles a crooked grin.

“Eh, you would have tried to disarm me if you were a threat,” She puts the gun into her cardigan pocket decorated with embroidered cats.

“Try?” Starling picks up the dropped bags.

“And fail,” She nods, taking the bags from her.

“I’m starting to think I need your help more than you need mine,” Starling chuckles, rubbing her neck.

“Well you can still carry all of this,” She passes the bags back.

“Is there a market at this hour or something?” Starling asks, following after her leaving enough distance.

“Well you see dear late at night is actually when it’s safest,”

“Oh I see,” Starling nods along, scanning the rooftops, “Bats,”

“And you can sell nasty looking fruit in bad lighting,” The older woman cracks a grin, Starling mirroring her.

“I guess that's true,”

“Plus also works as a front for drugs,” Starling chokes out a laugh.

“And you would know,”

“Of course, your now an accessory to crime my dear,” There's a sparkle in her eye and Starling can’t help but laugh.

“I never seem to be able to stay out of trouble,” Starling sighs dramatically, sagging to the side.

“That's because you wander Gotham's streets in a costume my dear,” She says kindly, then turns a shrewd eye to her, “Just who are you?”

“Starling, nice to meet your acquaintance,” Starling bows, easily managing even with the bags.

“You’re not from around here are you dear?” The lady raises her brow.

“Am I that obvious,” Starling chuckles, a skip in her step.

“Cheerfulness is a dead give away,” Starling nods along to the advice? “You’re either from out of town or crazy,”

“I’ll pick out of town then,” Starling tilts her head to the side, “Tho I can’t guarantee the second one,”

“Batman is not hospitable to rouges my dear,” She ignores Starlings hopefully-a-joke.

“No kidding,” Starling mutters, glancing back up to the rooftops, she was definitely still being watched.

“... Well if you wanted to help more old ladies with their groceries tonight just head back the way we came go straight and take the first right,” She stops in front of a door holding her hand out to take the bags back.

“Thank you,” Starling smiles, giving another bow, “I think I will,”

“Stay out of trouble my dear,” The woman calls as Starling heads down the street.

“Sorry!” Starling calls over her shoulder, “I’m a really bad listener! Have a good night!”

She sees the older lady shake her head before disappearing into the building. Taking her advice Starling walks towards the markets. Those watching don’t approach her on the way to the market. Either they don’t know she’s aware of them or are confident enough that they can keep track of her. She’ll have to check for bugs regardless.

She reaches the market, weaving in between people. She waits for the perfect moment where she's sure she’ll be in a blind spot. The people milling around watch her curiously and cautiously, a high chance she's a villain a higher chance she's a vigilante. This unfortunately means people give her some personal space, not ideal for hiding.

It’s when a group of tall built men walk past her she sees her opportunity. She darts behind them, none backing off from her, a brief glance or two then just ignore her, part of some gang or rather. In a fluid motion Marinette pulls off her cape and scarf with one hand, flipping the skirt inside out to hide the distinct patterning. With her other hand she brings her bun down into a ponytail, being able to just pull it out.

She must of lost them for a second so she quickly but discreetly leaves the spot, not letting them connect her build to Starling. Now that she's out of costume she is able to hide in crowds. She dips behind some people pulling on her skirt quickly and zipping it up, she then unzips the hood to make it look like a pattern against her skirt. With the scarf in place around her neck turned to the pink side and a pair of glasses, she is sure she looks to the world like a different person.

The next hurtle are the bugs. They probably can’t track her in the market if she stays close to others. There's one on her skirt, shoe, elbow, and belt. She drops them off in any crates that are full of white powder that is certainly not flower. Might as well send them after something useful.

When she’s sure that she’s untraceable she heads back to the hotel a spring in her step. She does indeed run into someone on her way home that needs help with some groceries. If Marinette does indeed notice something suspicious in their bag no one needs to see her slip in the number of some people that can help out.

“Tikki! That was so great!” “My costume worked perfectly! They didn’t even see it coming!”

“Great job Marinette!” Tikki cheers, flying out of her pockets as they enter her room.

“I wonder what they wanted,” Kaalki asks, as she settles on the bed.

“They were probably going to be like,” Marinette brings her fingers up to make 'bat ears', “Get out of the city Starling' or 'don't stand on that gargoyle its my brooding gargoyle,”

“Probably shouldn’t have wrote ‘Starling was here’ on it,” Tikki sighs, more of a piece of advice than a lecture.

“Well I wanted to write ‘dibs’ on it, sooo,” Marinette falls back on her bed, lowering her voice so Adrien sleeping next door wont wake up.

“At least you’re having fun,” Tikki giggles.

“I did, but I need a sleep in,”  Marinette snuggles further into the bed.

Tikki flys off over the edge of the bed. Probably to get her little sleeping bag or something.

“Marinette!”

"What?!" She darts to Tikki's side, to see an empty backpack. An empty backpack where the Miracle box should be.

“Where's the Miracle box!”

Fuck

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@smolplantmum @flufflepuffle296 @dawnwave16  @caffeinetheory   @g-arya   @Maribat-2k20   @ladybug-182    @Actual-disaster-human    @fusser90   @messrs-weasley   @soap-lady  @paintedhope7   @zeneralla    @mochegato     @random-nerd-3 @clumsy-owl-4178  @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen   @too0bsessedformyowngood @certifiedbidisaster  @Purplegeekypanda @awkward0ghostfan @theymakeupfairies @tikki-marinette @insane-fangirl-of-everything @elmokingkong @inarachi02 @slytherinhquinn @moongoddesskiana @dast218 @buginetye @redscarlet95 @biodad-bruce-month @hansa-12 @waiting247 @toodaloo-kangaroo @how-to-fuction-properly

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug fic #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfic #miraculous marinette #mlb #ml fic #ml #bio dad bruce wayne #Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020 #bio! dadbrucewaynemonth2020 #b!dbwm2020 #biodad au #Marinette #badass marinette #maribat #marinette is mdc #salt #class salt #Lila salt #lila lies #fluff