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#local fish boi does art
cryss-heart · 2 years
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aaa art not really functionin for me rn as if the radio silence isnt enough lol but i wanted to at least put out smth for march so. Heres a very simple kerdoodle of march eridan :)
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gabessquishytum · 3 months
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Hi, I hope you're well. I'm coming in here with a new waterspecies hc, I hope that's okay 💚
Mer!Hob, who loves travelling and wants to visit every part of the ocean and see everything the world has to offer. He's already seen a lot, and he's on his way to a cave he's heard of just off the coast of a human settlement.
Hob is not shy about humans, he's seen some before, and most of them were nice, and even if they wouldn't have been, he's considerably stronger so it doesn't worry him too much.
Cue Hob meeting Art Professor Dream on vacation, painting the ocean on some pier. Dream is enraptured by Hob and gets him to agree to being painted.
It's no hardship for Hob, the concept of having deadlines and holidays and such unknown to mers, so Hob just sleeps in the shallow waters a little off the coast and eats his fill of the local fish. It's absolutely fine, he's having a good time, Dream is fascinating and gorgeous, and he's getting more sleep and food than he has been for months because he's not travelling.
Except. Mer-sexuality depends on the mer’s surroundings, their comfort level, the availability of potential mates. So a week in, Hob's body decides that it's in paradise, and high time he has a clutch of eggs.
Hob shows up to the pier absolutely trembling with need, demanding that Dream join him in the water and seed it for him. He dismisses all of Dream's concerns, biggest of all that Dream can't stay, can't live with Hob in the water.
Mer pregnancies only last three weeks, and the eggs are released into the nearest current to gestate a few years before the very independent baby-mers hatch and imprint on the nearest available adult. Hob has brought up four foundlings himself over the years. Now if Dream could PLEASE come down here? He's practically vibrating out of his skin.
So Dream strips and joins him. To Hob's astonishment he does not “seed the water” like another mer would, so Hob's body can attract the strongest, most viable little swimmers with his slick. No, he holds Hob by the hips and gently fucks his slit, rocks into him like ocean waves and Hob. Can only hold onto Dream and pull him closer, crying out at the foreign but delicious sensation of being penetrated.
He almost accidentally drowns Dream when he learns what an orgasm is. But only almost, which is very fortunate, so they can do it a bunch of times more.
By the time Dream leaves to teach at his university again (very reluctantly and with the promise to come back after the semester, Hob had to threaten to bite his leg off for him to go), Hob is very satisfied, and very much looking forward to doing this again after six months of exploring.
Imagine Dream's surprise when he returns and finds Hob heavily pregnant, and not with the tiny, soft swell of squishy eggs Hob had told him about, but with a very big belly, full with a firm, unmistakably partly human baby :)
🦒Anon
OH BOY I AM HORNY ABOUT THIS
Hob has a very interesting time in those 6 months. Almost immediately he can tell that this pregnancy really isn't going to be like anything he's been through before. He retreats beneath the pier to explore his own body very carefully, and he still isn't quite sure what's going on, but decides that he'd better stay put around this bit of coastline. He gets as much food and sleep as he can. He comes across another mer creature and gets some info on the topic of human pregnancies, so at least he knows that it's not totally weird that his belly is growing and moving around. By the time Dream comes back, Hob is a little grumpy but surprisingly well adjusted to this new way of carrying offspring.
But Dream? Oh, he's having a meltdown. He had resigned himself to leaving Hob for a bit, but never imagined that he'd be leaving him some kind of hybrid pregnancy! He practically dives off the dock with all his clothes on just so he can touch Hob all over and make sure that he's alright. Hob relaxes under Dream’s hands, and starts grinding his slit up against Dream’s thigh. There is one thing that he's REALLY needed for all these months, and hasn't been able to get...
Once again he almost drowns Dream mid-orgasm but hey. Pregnant people have needs. Who can blame him? Having Dream’s cock inside him is a blissful revelation, especially when Dream carefully holds his heavy belly, caressing the soft flesh.
Dream spends the next 3 months being a doting partner, learning to hold his breath under water, and drawing Hob’s wonderfully round and pregnant form as he bobs happily in the water. Hob also starts lactating, and Dream tells him all about what human babies need to survive. The baby does seem to be at least a bit human? Perhaps larger than the average baby. Seems like they won't know until their little one comes out to meet them!
One morning, Dream wakes up (on the dock, where he's slept for the last 2 weeks). He peers down at the water, and there's Hob... nursing a wiggling, wet, beautiful baby in his arms. A baby with a mop of black hair, and a full set of human limbs. Hob grins, and offers the baby up to Dream - so he can see the gills on the little one's neck, and his little webbed fingers and toes.
As Hob says, the baby is absolutely perfect. And he wants at least a dozen more. Dream will try his best to keep up!!! Maybe he'll get around to finally building a little hut on the dock, and he can fill a big bath of water and bring Hob inside. Maybe he'll get a boat, and they'll traverse the oceans together. Dream doesn't mind - as long as he gets to keep his Hob <3
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wheelerzluv · 1 year
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hi can u do will byers with a strong scary looking bf but hes like really kind n a lil dumb ( basically a himbo ) thnxx
His Himbo || Will Byers
Synopsis - Will Byers with a Intimidating, Himbo! Boyfriend.
Warnings - Not that I can think off.
Requests are opened; headcanons only
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>He has scary dog privilege’s.
>If any of the group are hanging out and you’re there, they all take advantage.
>Will had asked them to stop, worried it might annoy you.
>You, however, are very happy to know you make them feel safe. If Will is happy, you’re happy.
>Everyone, like all of the party and the older teens and the adults find it hilarious how tall you are for 15.
>Mike has made jokes about your height. They would increase if you’re taller than Hopper.
>Will likes how tall you are. It makes it easier to cuddle you or use you as a blanket, which he does often.
>Will loves coming home from school, having just gotten back home with El and you, going over to his bed and just dragging you down with him to rest and cuddle for a bit.
>Hopper is quite chill with you.
>He did several background checks on you and your whole family. He wanted to make sure his unofficially adopted son girlfriends son is safe.
>Will collects rocks and paints them, and gives them out to his family and you.
>The little pieces of art range from hearts to animals to images of things you like.
>You and Will both have a habit of falling asleep on top of one another. His face pressed into your pec while your arm lays over his torso, both your legs a mix of limbs.
>Joyce and Jonathan have caught you both many times. Your relationship is super adorable to them.
>If you ask to carry him somewhere, it’s only a 25% he’ll agree to it. He’s not the biggest fan of being carried.
>I get the vibe that he doesn’t like fish or the smell of it, which is why he doesn’t like women, so it’s very rare either of you go to a fish n’ chips shop.
>Do they have those in the United States?
>Will has a new special place in Lenora, which is this really big tree in the quiet part of the local park.
>You Infact built him a platform for him to stand on. It’s a treehouse now :D
>El developed a love for reading, so when you’re not busy, you help her learn new words and bring her books to slowly increase her reading ability.
>Will loves to watch you teach El new things, and finds it adorable when you both struggle to learn something new.
>Will once decided to teach you how to write in cursive. It did not go as planned.
>Will likes to paint you, draw you, and sometimes likes to write about you. His artistic ability is stronger than his English but he can write a solid poem.
>Joyce made a tradition to spend 1 day a week with her boys + El and do whatever. They’ll spend the day cooking, doing art, watching movies, going to a carnival, etc.
>Many times, you have joined them on these days, and you always have the best time. Joyce practically sees you as her 3rd son.
>You and Will have your own show that you watch together. It’s Bewitched, and it’s a wonderful show from the 70’s, it’s genuinely one of the best shows from the 70’s.
>Please watch it!
>Will stands next to you proudly. I mean, come on. You’re so cool and tall!
>He has tried to teach you about dnd, and gotten you to play with him and the others a few times.
>If you forget a move or a rule, he’ll remind you and than the game continues on.
>I don’t really know what else to add…
>He prefers pecks over making out with someone, but if he’s in a really good mood, he’ll indulge.
>I’m sorry, this is all my brain can produce.
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honourablejester · 1 year
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My sister and I were talking about Fallout, and we were just idly considering, if you had a Fallout game set in Ireland, what would the setting be like? Considering Fallout’s particular alternate 1950s post-apocalyptic B-movie setting. How would that mesh with Ireland’s peculiarities?
(Sidenote: I’m talking specifically about southern Ireland here, and in particular small town Ireland is what I’m familiar with)
And we figured some elements of Fallout: Ireland would be:
Pre-war nuclear powered farm equipment. Tractors are the foundations of Irish society. Rusted nuclear tractors are going to be a strong setting feature.
Mutant sheep. What brahmin and bighorners are to American Fallout, sheep are going to be to Irish Fallout (well, and brahmin). Farming is huge in Ireland. And it’d be funny and/or terrifying to meet massive wandering herds of mutant sheep wandering around the landscape. That typical Irish encounter, where you have to pause on the road to wait out a farmer moving a herd of sheep, only now you’re on foot and surrounded by Fallout sheep.
Fishing fleets. While Ireland does have a military and a government, they’re not really the institutions that the American military and government are? In a post-apocalyptic setting where order broke down, the factions in Ireland are going to be significantly more localised. But certain industries would absolutely remain big enough to be factions, and the fishing industry is 100% one of them. An Irish fishing fleet stood off a Russian naval exercise IRL. So. Fallout: Ireland could definitely have a floating militarised faction based entirely on the pre-war fishing fleets.
(You might have the Rangers as a military faction. The Ranger Wing is probably the part of the Irish military that does have a mythology to it)
Speaking of factions, if national order breaks down and fractures, the two units it’s likely going to break down into are: parishes and GAA. Particularly if we’re basing it off an alternate 1950s Ireland.
Parishes: Fallout is weird about religion, and appears to mostly try to avoid it. Which … will be difficult in an Irish setting, especially if the game is located near the border, but lets say we do the Fallout thing and lose most of RL religion. What weird cult is going to replace it? And, in Ireland, the rituals that might stick will probably be things like the grottos and wishing wells and pilgrimage walks, and most of those are related to Mary (at least in Catholic Ireland). So … there might be a goddess cult? The Blue Mother. Probably with a lot of water associations. In terms of the physical art and statues and the physical rituals that might survive, a lot of it will probably feature Mary.
Doing a Fallout and avoiding religion probably will be wise in a Fallout: Ireland setting, just to avoid recreating The Troubles post-apocalyptically. Though, depending on where you set the game, you probably can have corrupted remnants of the conflict. Whether you should is a different question.
GAA: And in terms of tribes, if society devolves, in Ireland it will devolve around the Gaelic Athletic Association. Because your local club is the defining feature in Ireland, especially in the 50s. Those are your colours, those are your allegiances. The only other main contender is family, so you could also have good old fashioned familial tribes (the mammy mafia, 300 year old ghoul grannies running familial gangs), but GAA will also be a significant local focal point.
Which brings up the fun option of post-apocalyptic hurling. Because. Look. Hurling was always warrior training. Part of the myth of Cú Chulainn, how he got his name, was because Setanta, his boy self, killed a massive hound by driving a sliotar down its neck with a hurl, and became the ‘hound’ (cú) of the smith Culann (the hound’s owner) to make up for it. Remember talking to the guy in Diamond City about his post-apocalyptic interpretations of pre-war baseball? In a Fallout version of Ireland, the post-apocalyptic and pre-war versions of hurling will not be that far apart. Sliotar grenades that you launch with a hurl strike? Genuinely something several hurling teams have probably thought about IRL. Hurls will be a standard melee weapon in Fallout: Ireland.
In terms of the B-movie elements, the mutants and cryptids and cults that make up the Fallout landscape …
There’s going to be a lot of mutant horses. Irish myth is full of horses. Kelpies. Pooka. There’s going to be mutant carnivorous bog horses, and camouflaged mutant ‘ghost’ horses that can drag you across half the map. There’s also going to be mutant deer. There might also be mutant elk. Like radstags, but bigger. And quite possibly a lot more aquatic wildlife. Ireland’s an island nation. Mutant pike. Mutant seals. Mutant dolphins. Ghoul seals. Possible sentient seal people, maybe as the supermutant equivalent? Kind of merge supermutants and mirelurks, and likely call the end result Formorians.
And, speaking of Formorians, there has to be at least one enemy type with a massive eyebeam, because Balor of the Evil Eye. Think an assaultron’s eyebeam, but on something wholly organic, a supermutant equivalent. An elite Formorian variant.
There could be an interesting merging of ghouls and the sídhe, now that I think about it. The people of the barrows, the people of the mounds. The people of Ireland Before, who moved into a underground otherworld when the bombs fell. You could definitely do something with ghouls and the sídhe, in an Irish Fallout setting. And actually, if they do take more elements of sídhe, the ghoul faction might well be a respected faction, more so than many of the American Fallout games. Ireland has more of an ancestral/elder respect element going (‘back in my day’), and ghouls would be where knowledge survived. So you could very easily have a powerful scholarly ghoul faction under the banner of the Sídhe. College is a big thing in Ireland. Fallout 4’s CIT, in a Fallout: Ireland that could so easily be a ghoul faction, centred on one of the University Colleges or Institutes of Technology That could actually be a faction divide too, the humanity-focused UCs vs the technically focused ITs. You could have ghoul college factions.
Then there’s the question of where to set the game. Realistically, it’s going to be Dublin, because Fallout games tend to be centred on urban centres, and in Ireland Dublin is the city. I sort of don’t want it to be set in Dublin, but likely it would be. And you would have some interesting locations in the Dublin environs and things like the Wicklow mountains for the rest of the map. You have the airport, the port, Phoenix Park, outlying areas like Greystones, Bray, Howth, Balbriggan, Lucan, and possibly Naas or Dundalk in a DLC. You’d have the north/south divide as a possible faction boundary. Put the ghoul Sídhe in Trinity College.
(Thinking about that, actually, Ireland doesn’t have a lot of actual underground spaces. We don’t have a metro/subway/tube, almost all our transport is surface transport. So the subway stations that are such a feature of most Fallout games will not be a thing in Fallout: Ireland. But we do have older spaces. Newgrange, Knowth, Dowth, the passage tombs. Souterrains. Medieval cellars.)
It’d be fun to set it somewhere else, though. Waterford, Cork, Galway, Derry. Not Limerick. No offense to Limerick, but I don’t know if I’d want Angela’s Ashes: Fallout Edition. Although Limerick does have a lot of interesting hinterlands. So does Galway. Galway might let you use a post-apocalyptic Burren as a more alien nearby landscape.
… Anyway. That was a whole conversation. How to convert the Fallout setting and themes to a post-apocalyptic Ireland. Heh. Fallout is quite specifically America, building on 50s Americana mythology. But there are elements that would merge interestingly with an Ireland set in the same universe.
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venusdevotea · 9 days
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Tav Posting Part 2!
So, for my next campaign I decided to play my irl dnd character Nami Peros! Unfortunately a lot of important details about her, such as her race, goddess and subclass aren't available in the game organically so I had to download a couple more mods to truly make an authentic 1:1 adaptation to BG3.
Introducing Nami Peros!
Water Genasi Grave Cleric Goddess: Eldath in campaign Selune
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AKA: Best fish gal around!! I actually LOVE how her design turned out in game, and to see her fully realized like this and being able to PLAY AS HER in game has been such an awesome experience. Shout out to the developers on Nexus Mods for the Elemental Power Genasi Mod and the Cleric Subclasses Release mod that made her run possible!
A little bit about her lore, my friends and I are still pretty early in our campaign but her basic backstory is that she is a half genasi/half elf; her marid mother is far, far, in the elemental plane and her father a humble elven seafarer. She grew up lonely, longing for a maternal presence in her life when she came upon the Goddess Eldath, Mother of the Waters, and began her worship as a way to fill the void her mother left. She often accompanied her father on his voyages, a healer is always needed on board, lest there be sickness, monsters, or pirates that lurk deep in the waters.
She always felt more comfortable when surrounded by sea anyway, closest to her element, her mother's love, and Eldath. After witnessing many losses and deaths in her childhood, witnessing many crew members lost due to illness or the perils that lie at sea, she turned to her worship and solidified her role as a grave cleric to at least keep the tempest of death at bay until they could dock at the nearest port to the closest temples. Professional big sister, aspiring pacifist, while in town Nami enjoys meeting the local townspeople and often stays at the local temple to lend a helping hand. She loves her nomadic lifestyle, comforted by the stability of her father's presence in her life, the unshaken solidity of her faith, and excited by the thrill of adventure and discovery, journeying through all that the material plane has to offer. She wants to venture to the Elemental Plane one day to find her mother, see if she lives or dies, and explore her marid heritage.
For the rest of our party, I was more than happy to adapt their characters into the BG3 character maker and will introduce them here:
Resident Hot Guy Cinder Fire Genasi Barbarian Party Guide (played by DM) Nami's crush?
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Our DM is extremely proficient in creating drop dead gorgeous himbos and twunks, and our boy Cinder here does NOT disappoint. Poor boy can't lie to save his life, nor let those around him needlessly suffer. Selfless to the point of being a little aloof, has no real need for money or possessions as he too wanders around town to town responding to local bounty postings and working to protect those around around him as a shining beacon of earnesty than leaving behind a wildfire of destruction. Has a connection to the local thieves guild? Folk Hero In Over His Head™️
Chaos Gremlin Inkling Tiefling Rogue lives to be Nami's mortal enemy
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"Inkling is a rogue thiefling. She has made a name for herself at acquiring the seemingly impossible. Gold, treasure, art she can find anything for a price. The scars she carries are covered with intricate markings. Their significance know only to her; everyone else has perished long before she reached adulthood. Delicate and bold lines trace across her skin in stark contrast to her lilac skin. Inkling has known only fear and prejudice, as a half demon most people cower under her gaze or sidestep her presence entirely. If everyone views you as a monster might as well embrace the flames and make money while you are at it 😈😈." -- PC for Inkling's description of her
Yes she and Nami butt heads ALL. THE. TIME.
Cool guy Druid (don't look at explosions) Dretchroyaster AKA Dretch
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"Dretch is to never return to his village, lest he has a death wish. A former sentinel of his clan the Royasters, Dretch was always seen as someone of an outcast. His green scales marked him as part of the Ashwen lineage, a clan that was born from the blood of one of the most malicious dragons, Ashwenezl. Ashwenezl had killed many, using his poisonous saliva to poison the wells and water supply of any village that dared to setup near his forest.
Thousands of years have passed since Ashwenzl lived, but the human descendants of those who were terrorized by the dragon do not forget. Three villages conspired to get revenge among the Dragonborns that lived in the forest. Three villages went into the woods, waiting for the darkness of night to strike. As they approached the campsite of where these Dragonborns lived, one villager set the forest ablaze.
Dretch was on duty that night, and was among the first to see the sparks of flames that soon engulfed their homes. In a moment of haste, Dretch made a decision that would forever alter his life and mark him as an outcast among his clan; he warned the neighboring druids first. Dretch did not think, he knew that a majority of the Dragonborns in his clan were fire resistant, that their sturdy scales would protect them from any burns. But the creatures that lived nearby, the ones who cared for and neutered the trees, did not. He went as fast as he could, but made the error of not sounding the alarm. He was able to warn the Druids in time for enough to escape, but the lack of the warning bell left his fellow clanmates in the dark. They did not realize they were among an ambush until it was too late.
The Dragonborns were eventually able to fend off the villagers, and many died in this attack. Many were from the three villages. But five Dragonborns died that night, among them the daughter of the Clan Leader, Tzark. Dretch had dishonored his clan, an unforgivable sin among the Dragonborn" -- as written by PC for Dretch
Soft Boy Gonk Gluronk! Half-Orc Rogue/Painter Extraordinaire
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"Gonk Gluronk is a half-orc rogue who, while seeming big and tough on the outside, is kind and gentle on the inside. Throughout his youth, pure necessity facilitated his rogue capabilities. As a small boy, his village was taken siege by a raging tyrant, whose friends in high places turned a blind eye to the violence and inequality. Gonk did not appreciate seeing the people he loved be taken advantage of, so he decided to do something about it. He became somewhat of a village myth, as rumors of his good deeds done by not so good means began to make their way around the locals. Defying the tyrant, Gonk has had a target on his back since he was a teenager, but with the village behind him, the tyrant has never been able to prove Gonk guilty. Now, as the tyrant grows older and weaker, he fears retribution from the very villagers he has oppressed." -- as written by PC for Gonk
One of the only characters who the BG3 character creator did sooo dirty!!! Our half orc here is actually a handsome handsome boy, and I wish (I should go digging through nexus) there were more facial options for half-orcs :( Here is another render of Gonk through Heroforge!
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I tried to be as faithful as I could to his counterpart here and worked with what I had!! 😭😭
Last but not least, our mysterious Mikhail Elf Druid/Shapeshifter
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Mikhail's PC hasn't provided a backstory just yet, as he's the newest addition to our party but trust me he is a very grumpy and mysterious emo boy.
During our first encounter with him, we found him trapped in a cage surrounded by goblins in an underground cave. He was cloaked, his hood hiding his face before we had taken care of the goblins and freed him. When he rose and pulled back his hood, Nami was taken aback to find that the stranger wore her face exactly. A perfect match, a one to one copy, and the shock of it all hung in the air for a few beats until Nami gently placed her hand in camaraderie to the figure who wore her face. "You are just like me," she remarked softly, smiling sweetly even, ....... and cast Inflict Wounds. 9HP Nami had chunked half his HP in one go, and he quickly backtracked to reveal his true self as Mikhail, one of the 3 leaders of the Thieves Guild, on a mission to solve a mystery. He's hot.
and that wraps up Nami Peros and her party as seen in our irl campaign at home! Thanks for reading this long post and hope you enjoyed!
Here's the link to part 1 if you'd like to see my first set of Tavs plus my current Durge run!
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ginnyrules27 · 11 months
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Have you have any ideas for descendants AUs that isn't based in cannon, like a once upon a time AU or ever after high au
Oh boy that's an interesting question :D
Probably the only AU I've thought of is a kinda 'coffee shop' AU where no one has powers and whatnot. Believe it or not, I actually have some of it laid out lol
Bal Coffee Shop AU 
Mal runs a ‘hipster’-ish coffee shop that’s decorated with spray paint art that she does personally. 
-Cousin of Uma: who works at her mother’s fish pub causing tension with her other cousins who think overfishing damages the ocean. 
-Friends with Evie, Jay, Harry, Carlos, and Gil
-Evie manages her own design company and Gil helps out
-Carlos is a Veterinarian  
-Jay is a professional athlete, teases Mal for having ‘mainstream’ friends while maintaining her ‘grunge’ image
-Harry works part time at the coffee shop and the other half with Uma
-The denial still exists, much to everyone’s frustration.
-The coffee shop is a split off of Olympus Coffee Company, a conglomerate that was on every corner. 
-Hades (her father) runs it but gets criticized by other CEOs for being too soft on customers, looking the other way if someone’s short on cash, giving free food to the homeless, etc. 
-Hadie (her brother) volunteers at the local community garden their mother set up
Ben is the son of a wealthy publishing company CEO (Belle) and politician (Beast). Everyone thinks he’s going to follow in his father’s footsteps. 
-Dating Audrey, the daughter of a wealthy florist conglomerate and Congressman. 
-Best friends with Emir and Akiho
-Emir runs a non profit soup kitchen despite being the middle son of a Congresswoman 
-Akiho runs an ice cream truck in the summer and helps his dad run their ice rink in the winter rather than volunteer as a congressional aid for his mother
-His father volunteers to be Santa every year because he inherited his family’s reindeer farm
-His aunt runs the books for the ice rink 
-Lonnie’s a professional athlete but comes home every off-season
Otherwise, everything else is more crossovers (LOTR, Liv and Maddie, GoT...possibly OUAT if I can figure out how to make it so Baelfire's still alive...). Though they'll have to wait until I publish what I'm already working on :D
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PRIDE Picks: Selected LGBT Fiction
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born under different stars--Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic--and they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all. Yet against all odds, they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they fall in love, they dream of finding somewhere they belong, while Mungo works hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his big brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. And when several months later Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to try to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future. Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in the literary world, Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the divisions of sectarianism, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again. It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career. She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, there’s the biggest question of all—how far is she willing to go for a second chance at love? Akwaeke Emezi’s vivid and passionate writing takes us deep into a world of possibility and healing, and the constant bravery of choosing love against all odds.
Moon Witch, Spider King (The Dark Star Trilogy #2) by Marlon James
In Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Sogolon the Moon Witch proved a worthy adversary to Tracker as they clashed across a mythical African landscape in search of a mysterious boy who disappeared. In Moon Witch, Spider King, Sogolon takes center stage and gives her own account of what happened to the boy, and how she plotted and fought, triumphed and failed as she looked for him. It's also the story of a century-long feud--seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old witch--that Sogolon had with the Aesi, chancellor to the king. It is said that Aesi works so closely with the king that together they are like the eight limbs of one spider. Aesi's power is considerable--and deadly. It takes brains and courage to challenge him, which Sogolon does for reasons of her own. Both a brilliant narrative device--seeing the story told in Black Leopard, Red Wolf from the perspective of an adversary and a woman--as well as a fascinating battle between different versions of empire, Moon Witch, Spider King delves into Sogolon's world as she fights to tell her own story. Part adventure tale, part chronicle of an indomitable woman who bows to no man, it is a fascinating novel that explores power, personality, and the places where they overlap.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.
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enak-s · 1 year
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I posted 7,007 times in 2022
That's 5,021 more posts than 2021!
599 posts created (9%)
6,408 posts reblogged (91%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@superbattrash
@forevercloudnine
@nightmareinfloral
@guzhuangheaven
@garnetrena
I tagged 7,001 of my posts in 2022
#dcu - 3,936 posts
#personal - 738 posts
#je hurle - 410 posts
#deathstroke inc - 375 posts
#misc - 320 posts
#art - 264 posts
#batman: the animated series - 217 posts
#fave dcu - 176 posts
#res publica - 134 posts
#the terror - 125 posts
Longest Tag: 139 characters
#and like....for some of my faves i do have a lot of opinions™ on the quality of writing in the 2000s but jesus christ. did you have to sink
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
Just want to tell you that I really love your hc you leave in different peoples inboxes (even when they are angsty af) ❤️ if you have more ideas - please share!
oh! 😭😭😭😭 thank you so much!!!!! 🥺
Ok so how about some mer!bruce? most of the ideas are courtesy of @ivebeenghosting but they were kind enough to share them with me!
• Alfred is human and found Bruce clinging to his dead merparents on a beach. They were killed by poachers who were after their scales (very sought after in jewelry and cosmetics). He raised him and kept him safe and hidden and is basically the granpa of Bruce's brood.
• It all came crashing down when this guy who moved in the village only a few years ago came into town with his truck full of Bruce's merbabies, buying ALL the ice cream stocks of the local supermarket and going to the vet with a bloodied Dick (he got injured by yet another of Bruce's potential mate). Alfred is less than pleased.
• I personally would find it hysterical if Alfred can understand merlanguage perfectly (which consists of chirps, shrill sounds and screams) and the mers seem to understand him perfectly despite the fact he only speaks English. This is never addressed by anyone nor by the story.
• Lex and Clark are exes and have a son together (Connor). They worked together, Clark was a marine biologist but Lex got greedy and started his own lucrative but deeply unethical sea park thanks to Clark's research. The divorce got messy. Clark was ruined and disgraced as an academic while Lex got Connor's custody and won't let him see him.
• The merbabies refer to ice cream as the "yummy cream" in their merlanguage.
• Connor comes across a tiktok of a local showing a blurry pic of a guy with a truck full of things that looks like kids and Connor goes "wait....DAD?!" and proceeds to run away from home to go to the town and try and find out where his dad lives.
• He accidentally wanders into the cavern creek near Clark's house where Bruce and his brood now live. Connor finds himself face to face with a whole gang of mers, which is not good since he knows mermaids are extremely dangerous and territorial, especially when they are raising youngsters. Bruce is hissing, claws and sharp teeth out before he starts sniffing and....wait.....smell familiar.....smell like.....Clark????????
• Clark comes as he usually does to check on the mers and feed them his fattest catches to find his estranged son being half-drowned and licked by Bruce and his babies.
• Connor later asks him if Bruce is his new stepdad. Clark almost dies choking on his coffee. Alfred sternly denies. Bruce is bringing fish to Clark like he's his mate.
152 notes - Posted July 18, 2022
#4
Batman/Superman (2013) or the gift that keeps on giving
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Bruce being his usual grumpy self and Clark!!! being worried for him!!!! (but Bruce still lets him take Clayface to Arkham because he trusts him BUT ANYWAY)
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then they meet at the cave and Alfred gave Bruce's bf some tea because this boy will be THIRSTY when he'll see those abs (ALSO OH MY FUCKING GOD BRUCE WHY ARE YOU STITCHING YOURSELF UP JUST LET CLARK CAUTERIZE THE WOUND)
See the full post
249 notes - Posted May 20, 2022
#3
Superman will live much longer than humans, right? Well, what if he eventually becomes a recluse in his fortress of solitude. Everyone he has ever cared about is gone now. Especially someone he loved.
Bruce.
He couldn't bear to lose him. Centuries later thinking about his death still hurts like it happened yesterday. So Clark had an AI built. He used footage and voice samples of Bruce. And there he was now, with his eternal frown, his blue eyes looking at him. He manages the Fortress. Sometimes...Sometimes Clark is painfully reminded that this Bruce is not his Bruce, that he is nothing more than a hologram and unfeeling lines of code. Sometimes he reaches out to touch his face, and his hand goes through because Bruce has been gone for centuries and this one is just a hologram, a memory of a distant past now reduced to dust. Clark keeps preciously all the footage he gathered of Bruce, you know. Sometimes....sometimes he just wants to hear his voice. To see him like he was there. Clark wished he could be with him. He has a lot of objects that were owned by Bruce too. He even recreated the Batcave down to the very last detail. He kept all of Bruce's batsuits. Clark even preserved the portrait of Bruce's parents because he knew it was important for him. He takes care of it. He also takes care of Bruce and his parents' graves, because he knows Bruce wouldn't want their graves to disappear. Every year on Bruce's death anniversary he comes put flowers on his grave. It's the only day in the year that he comes out of the fortress nowadays.
What if Clark has to save the world again, but....he doesn't want to. What's the use? The man he loves died a long time ago. And then there is Owlman. And this young man, this wannabe hero, reminds him so much of Bruce. Of his compassion, his need for justice, his stubborness. He peeked under the cowl and his eyes are as blue as the sky. Just slighter darker than Bruce's. It's painful. It is like Bruce's ghost has come back to haunt him.
309 notes - Posted July 27, 2022
#2
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god i hate as much i love this dynamic of theirs 😭
460 notes - Posted June 6, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
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please enjoy clark dragging bruce to his parents' for christmas
897 notes - Posted May 23, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
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amplesalty · 1 year
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Halloween 2022 - Day 2 - Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
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All the 2′s in the pen, come by!
In the words of Jay Zed; fresh out the frying pan and into the fire. I know I had a quick turn around last year with the Netflix New Day special but given this movie only released on September 30th on Disney Plus, 2 days has to be the quickest something has appeared on here. I was going to do it on Day 1 but then the idea of re-doing Freaks took over. Disney Plus doesn’t seem to be the most obvious place to look for Halloween inspired content but they do have a whole section dedicated to it. There’s your usual kids stuff, teens/young adult etc including a movie that literally looks like that one Simpsons joke with the Mummy. “The Professor said he’s not supposed to get a boner!” But there’s a whole bunch of movies on there like the Alien series, Predator, The Fly, Signs, 28 Days Later so it’s another useful resource. I only subscribed fairly recently after a deal came up, I’ve not dedicated much time to it outside of scrolling through and being impressed by all the stuff on there. I have watched a couple of episodes of The Simpsons, Futurama and Bob’s Burgers, plus The Lion King. The original mind you, not that PoS remake. Looking at those two is tempting for some rare non seasonal content, even if it would be some cold takes that everyone and their dog have already made...
It’s been a few years since I watched the original, I didn’t rewatch it going into this but I remember enjoying it and being slightly enamored with SJP in that movie given how cute and ditzy her character is. It didn’t exactly do wonders from a financial or critical perspective but it has certainly gained a big following over the years with TV showings gaining an audience and various live events including a 25th anniversary spectacular. So it’s perhaps not a surprise that a sequel was eventually greenlit, just slightly odd that it went straight to streaming. I know obviously cinemas took a hit over the pandemic and Disney were experimenting with premium releases on Disney Plus of their marquee titles like Mulan and Black Widow but I would have thought things would have normalized by now and they’d be starting to get back to a normal schedule.
I like the touch at the start during the traditional Disney intro where it pans down and starts to take on a darker tone with the music veering off on a more sinister path to match. It sets the tone and better fits the mood, it would be a bit odd to have this spooky movie pre-empted by the usually up beat and colourful castle intro. It ties into the start of the movie as well as the camera pans down, over some trees and into the 17th century  Salem where we’re shown younger versions of the Sanderson sisters and the attempts of the local Reverend to banish them from town due to Winifred’s unwillingness to go along with the marriage arranged for her. The only boy she’s interested in marrying is Billy Butcherson, which considering how he ended up during that first movie, if that’s what she does to the guys she likes then good luck to the rest of you.
It really gets the theme of sisterhood in early when the Reverend intends to take Mary and Sarah away, leading to Winifred leading the girls into an escape to the local woods where they’re set upon by a witch who bestows upon them her magic book (creatively named Book) and sets in motion the sisters descent into the dark arts as they immediately go back to town to wreak havoc by setting the Reverends house alight with a bolt of lightning.
But it isn’t long until the Sanderson’s are unknowlingly brought forth once more into the modern era which leads to all manner of ‘fish out of water’ moments akin to the first movie where, in lieu of brooms, Mary and Sarah end up riding Roombas and power mops.
That resurrection sure is loud and colourful as the sisters spring from the earth and promptly break out into a full song and dance number. Now, I know that there was a musical portion in the first movie but that worked in context given it was a means to entrance the grownups so they wouldn’t meddle with their plans, plus it spoke to the vanity that the sisters have. Of course they’d want to get up on stage to be the centre of attention. And  I get that when you have Bette Middler that you’re going to have her sing, it’s what she does, but this was the genesis of a feeling throughout the movie that they were just trying too hard with. Like, they’re just really leaning into the whole kookiness angle here as fan service and even that concert moment I mentioned from the first movie gets a re-do here. I remember the original being over the top but there was some menace behind the trio as well that balanced it out. There’s a whole subplot here about the Reverend’s descendant who is the town’s Mayor that never really goes anywhere, though it was nice to see Tony Hale in that role.
There never felt like there was any degree of threat or impending danger, there were actual scuffles between the two sides in the first movie and a big showdown at the end where here the ending felt very anticlimactic. Even the story behind the resurrection seemed kinda dumb because the character involved doesn’t really have much motivation to do it outside of he just thinks the sisters are kinda neat. There’s no sense that he had a phase 2 in this plan as to what he was going to do when they did come back. He’s shown to be knowledgeable on the whole story and, whilst he’s definitely playing up the whole thing as a means to drive business for his magic and trinkets shop, he does seem to be on the level in terms of knowing the story behind the Sandersons and how powerful they can be but it’s like it never occurs to him that they would do anything other than just show up and want to hang out with him. He’s not some evil mastermind who thinks he’s going to use for his own devious ends, he’s just some guy who is like ‘oops’ when they come back and aren’t loyal to him for his part in it.
The movie isn’t bad by any means but it definitely feels like they’re just doing a greatest hits performance to satiate the fanbase that has built up over the last 30 years and I was hoping for a little more given that I liked the first one. Total sequel bait in the post credits as well but if this was the best that they could come up with after 30 years, I don’t think they’ll manage much else in the next 2 or 3.
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betty-bourgeoisie · 2 years
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40 , 41 , and 44 for emil , please !! <3
40) How misanthropic are they?
I think all nations have a strong love for their own people and Emil is no exception. In fact, I think he really benefits from having such a small population because it means he's able to involve himself in the day-to-day lives of his people in a way that bigger nations simply can't. He regularly volunteers to read kids' story time at local libraries and will volunteer at senior homes so he can play board games and chat with his older citizens. He frequents local markets and churches and just generally likes to hang out in community spaces as a way to check in on his people. He's been able to build real relationships with a lot of his citizens this way and he feels very lucky to have done so since that's not the experience most nations get to have with the people they represent.
When it comes to interacting with other nations it's a bit more complicated. Idk that Emil necessarily dislikes interacting with the other nations but he's in a position where, outside of the other Nordics, most of his interactions with other nations take the form of mandatory but infrequent diplomatic meetings.
And the thing is, Emil has to put a good face on it. His nation has no military and very limited natural resources so at least in a professional setting Emil has to be likable, cooperative, and diplomatic as a survival strategy. And he is good at it, but at the end of the day, it's just an act. It's very hard for him to build personal connections with other nations because being his strange and prickly authentic self is not a good way to get trade deals or smooth over international relations. Most of the other nations aren't willing to travel all the way to his country just for social time, so work is when he sees them, and work is not a place where simply being himself is an option.
41) Hobbies?
I think a lot of what would be considered Emil's "hobbies" were once survival skills. Like he knits, he spins wool, he keeps horses and sheep - but none of these really started out as hobbies, they were more about participating in the local economy. He does enjoy them though, and now that these skills are less necessary in his day to day life he still does them for pleasure.
I think since the 40's he has picked up some new hobbies. Baking is something that he's always enjoyed but wasn't able to do regularly until recently (I'll spare you the ramble on why shipping grains to different latitudes is such a god damn ordeal but believe me when I say that flour was in very short supply in Iceland for a long time). He enjoys video games and tabletop gaming. I also think it would be very funny if he transferred his knowledge of fiber arts and fishing net repairs into macramé in the 70's, like this ancient 18 year old boy just has all the ugliest, dustiest macramé in the world decorating his house and he is so proud of it.
44) Superstitions or views on the occult?
I headcanon Emil as being Asatru (or rather a Lutheran-Asatru christo-pagan if you want to get bogged down in specifics, but I think his Christianity is more cultural at this point than anything else) so he definitely does believe in the occult.
I am always a little torn on his worship practices because American Norse Paganism and Icelandic Norse Paganism are very different animals and I really only know that subculture from a U.S. perspective. Like one place I'm never sure about is worship of Loki - because on the one hand, Loki has strong association with fire and earthquakes, and I think it would make sense for Emil, representing a nation made out of volcanos, to work with that deity aspect. And on the other hand, it's my understanding that Loki worship is really not a thing that happens much in European Asatru circles and it might not make sense for him to do that- like, to my knowledge Loki worship is a mostly North American thing so idk!
In terms of superstitions and magic - Obviously, if he's Asatru, he does participate in rituals like the Blot and Sumbel which do involve some magic. I also agree with canon on the idea that Emil can see all the same magical creatures Norway can, but I don't think he considers them to be especially spooky or mystical. Emil treats the spirits and magical creatures that exist in his orbit a lot like pesky neighbors - like he's not going to get scared or ward them away or anything but he Really Wishes They Would Stop Snooping Around The Hedges Thank You. He is skeptical, but still mostly accepting of common superstitions - like he's not gonna freak out if he accidentally picks the wrong flower or something but he's certainly not going to do it on purpose.
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vals-book-nook · 11 months
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Liebestrasse Critical Review
Lockard, Greg, et al. Liebestrasse. Dark Horse Books, 2022. (ISBN: 9781506724553)
I was excited to pick up Liebestrasse, a story of forbidden love in Nazi Germany. This is Greg Lockard's debut graphic novel, although he's worked as an editor for several critically-acclaimed works, including The Unwritten - another social critique, just on celebrity and fiction. Working alongside artist Tim Fish (best known for his gay romance series Cavalcade of Boys), this was sure to hit close to home, even with a setting so far in the past, and I was not disappointed.
I was lucky that my paperback edition of Liebestrasse also included a behind-the-scenes look at the creation process. After walking through The Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism, Tim Fish was haunted by the idea of being happy in love, then one day being stormed by the authorities. He sketched a couple (that would one day become Sam and Phillip) falling onto a bed with the caption "Liebstraße." Years later, he reached out to Greg Lockard with the challenge to write a short story with just that premise and that scene - and to somehow include a car, because Tim Fish loves drawing cars.
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A three-panel opening page and sketches of Matchbox cars turned into a full graphic novel of forbidden love, created during the Trump presidency and a new rise of homophobic legislation in the United States. It was then published in 2022, at the height of books being challenged on the basis of queer representation. The fears Sam and Phillip face throughout the story reflect the current reality it was published into - a sad, but powerful, truth.
The story follows Sam, an American businessman in Berlin, and his romance with Phillip, a German entrenched in the local (soon-to-be illegal) art scene. As Fascism rises around them, reality soon crashes in on them as every choice they make threatens to expose their love to the authorities.
The pair meet at an art exhibit in 1932, but seem fated to be together as they meet again at an underground gay bar later that evening. Sparks fly between them, and Phillip takes on the role of romantic tour guide, showing his "American cowboy" the Berlin art scene - one that was quickly becoming questionable in the eyes of the Nazi Regime. Opportunities arise for the characters to escape, with each reacting in different ways - with many consequences.
This is a story that I highly recommend everyone read - the creators did an incredible job subtly (and intentionally) linking the homophobia of Nazi Germany to the rise we're seeing today.
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The bright, red Nazi flags clearly ground the scene in 1932 Nazi Berlin. However, Tim Fish made the deliberate choice to keep the Nazi uniforms as generic as possible. This generalizing helps link the past crimes with our present hatreds. Even Sam's narrations blur the lines between 1932 Nazi Germany and 2016 United States. The book burning is especially poignant: 2,570 books were challenged the year Liebestrasse was published, with gender identity and sexuality being among the most common themes to face criticism.
And Greg Lockard does a brilliant job in keeping the story true to both times, past and present. The platitudes said by the aristocrats in Liebestrasse echo those heard on today's podcasts, yet they mirror the language of memoirs speaking out about homophobia experienced in Nazi Germany. And the characters' reactions are human in their diversity. Sam's instinct to hide. Phillip's blatant disregard for safety. Hilde's decision to run. And each of their decisions is justified by their experiences, shown in vivid detail. Every line of dialogue has an earnest honesty that brings life to the characters and makes their story (sadly) timeless.
The creators are also thoughtful in the way they portrayed the more idyllic escapes of the German country sides and Switzerland during this time. It further shows the divide seen in today's politics - while certain areas are enraptured in the cruel realities faced by minorities, others can hide and ignore what is happening by simply turning off notifications and watching the sunset.
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Because I don't want to give any spoilers, we'll be switching focus to how the layout of this graphic novel helps accomplish one of its goals: making you cry.
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These are two scenes, a handful of pages and decades apart. The first scene is in a gay bar in 1952 America; the second, an underground gay bar in 1932 Berlin. Side-by-side, they look nearly identical, specifically because of the three panels in the middle of Sam ordering a whiskey. His posing is the same and the number of people in the background is the same. The major changes made to these story arcs take place in the first and last panels - by the time the reader reaches the 1932 bar scene, a sense of déjà vu naturally settles over the reader.
The creators were smart in their choice of paneling here. There are three major changes between these pages: (1) The establisher, or the first panel, where we are either introduced to Sam or the scene; (2) The initial, or the vertical panel, where Sam's order changes; and (3) The release, or the final panels, where a blond man is introduced. The two panels with no major chances are just prolongations - they could be removed entirely and the major story beats wouldn't change. However, the creators deliberately kept them in to show the uncanny resemblance between the two events. It's what's stayed the same that makes the reader do a double-take upon reaching the 1932 scene. The man in 1952 is strikingly similar to Phillip, the man Sam meets and falls in love with in 1932, but by the time the reader reaches Phillip's introduction, we already know that this is just a memory.
Greg Lockard is a master of this kind of narrative foreshadowing. Pages before tragedy strikes, hints are placed that aren't obvious the first time you read them. But upon the final action occurring, a dreadful realization of why a previous sequence took place settles in the pit of your stomach, and it's the best kind of worst feeling. Every "mistake" Sam and Phillip make, that should only be them living, can be seen clearly on a second reading, and the conclusion is painfully clear from the moment they meet in the art gallery.
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This may be the only slight criticism I have for how the story's told. While I love the attention to detail to have Sam's memories be in sepia tones, my first time reading, I was a bit thrown off when the story started in 1952. While it creates some powerful creative opportunities (like the foreshadowing shown above), it did make my initial reading a bit harder to get invested in, since I already had an idea what was going to happen. While the story in 1932 ended up being incredible and heart-wrenching, and the ending sequence in 1952 closed everything out nicely, I wished the story started in 1932, so I could experience the turmoils with Sam and Phillip, with no sense of dramatic irony holding me at a distance.
However, I will say that this flashback-narrative structure does make for a powerful second reading. It made some details even darker, like marching Nazis in cafe windows:
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Reading Liebestrasse is an experience of both past and present. Reading Sam and Phillip's story - one of persecution in Nazi Germany - while receiving notifications of legislation against gender affirming care felt surreal. Stories like this, so well-told, are so important. I hope Greg Lockard and Tim Fish collaborate on another powerful piece soon (and if they can rope in Héctor Barros and Lucas Gattoni again, that would be top notch as well!) They've shown incredible talent and eye for detail, design, and storytelling with Liebestrasse, and I can't wait to see more from them.
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wearmains · 1 year
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Beautiful weather synonym
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#Beautiful weather synonym Patch
In South African slang, a monkey's wedding is a “sun-shower,” or a period of alternating (or simultaneous) sunshine and rain. Moke is an old northern English word for the mesh part of a fishing net, from which is derived the word mokey, describing dull, dark, or hazy weather conditions. MessengerĪ single sunbeam that breaks through a thick cloud can also be called a messenger. Mare's tails are cirrus clouds-long, thin wisps of cloud very high up in the sky-that are traditionally said to “point” toward fine weather. Not only that, but he’s now considered the patron saint of cooks and restaurateurs (for obvious reasons), while the boy’s name Lawrence has been an American dialect word for a shimmering heat haze since at least the early 1900s. Although it’s doubtful whether this is true (a more likely explanation is that the Latin announcement of his death, passus est, “he suffered,” was misread as assus est, “he was roasted”), Saint Lawrence’s gruesome death has long been the subject of folk tales and works of art. There’s an old myth that Saint Lawrence of Rome was martyred by being burnt alive on a red-hot gridiron. Hunch-weather is an old 18th century name for weather-like drizzle or strong wind-that’s bad enough to make people hunch over when they walk. It literally means “chicken scratches.” 13. This is an old northern English word for long, thin streaks of cloud traditionally supposed to forecast a rain. Halta-DanceĪs well as also meaning “to run around frantically,” halta-dance is a heat haze.
#Beautiful weather synonym Patch
Dating back to the 17th century (if not earlier), it’s probably related to an earlier Scandinavian word, glene, for a clear patch of sky. GleenĪ gleen is a sudden burst of warm sunshine. If, on the other hand, the weather is gleamy then it’s intermittently sunny, or as one 19th-century glossary put it, “fitful and uncertain.” 10. FoxyĪccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, if the weather is foxy then it’s “misleadingly bright”-or, in other words, sunny and clear, but freezing cold. If the weather flenches, then it looks like it might improve later on, but never actually does. Probably related to an identical Scots word for an insatiable thirst (or for an insatiable drinker), drouth was borrowed into American English in the 19th century, where it eventually became another name for a drought. This is an old Irish-English word for the perfect weather conditions in which to dry clothes. An old Scots dialect word, it derives from cairy (a Scots pronunciation of “carry”), a local name for a burden or a load to be conveyed. CairiesĬairies are swiftly moving clouds. Rainbows were nicknamed "bows of promise" in Victorian English, in allusion to the story in the Book of Genesis. To blenky means “to snow very lightly.” It’s probably derived from blenks, an earlier 18th-century word for ashes or cinders. This word, pronounced “Benji,” is an old southeast English dialect word meaning “overcast” or “threatening rain.” According to one theory, it might derive from an earlier word, benge, meaning “to drink to excess.” 3. Presumably derived from an even older French dialect word, armogan is a 19th-century naval slang name for fine weather-in particular, the perfect weather for traveling or starting a journey. But even if you’re currently enjoying a bout of sunshine, or enduring a sudden downpour of rain, the most obscure corners of the English language have precisely the right word for you. A yowe-tremmle-literally an “ewe-tremble”-is an old Scottish dialect word for a week of unusually cold or rainy weather beginning in the final few days in June that is literally cold enough to make the season’s freshly-sheared sheep “tremmle,” or shiver.ĭepending on what the weather is like where you are, this could be the perfect word to add to your vocabulary.
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eastsidemags · 2 years
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Trve Kvlt & Liebestrasse Signing
Scott Bryan Wilson is a Bloomfield resident and astounding comic writer with a super diverse portfolio including writing credits on Pennyworth and various other DC Comics stories as well as stories in Star Trek, Elvira, Valiant’s Divinity III and Altered Carbon from Dynamite! He also wrote a phenomenal kids graphic novel called Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: The Case of the Missing Adults. But now Scott takes us to a VERY different place with Trve Kvlt featuring art from our long-time friend Liana Kangas!
About Trve Kvlt: Marty Tarantella has been flipping burgers for 15 years. He has no kids, no hobbies, no love interests, and, essentially, no life. But what he does have is a plan to change everything. Years of watching the daily rhythms of the neighboring stores has given Marty the idea for a perfect heist, but when he accidentally steals a supernatural weapon from a cult full of violent lunatics, the resulting Satanic panic will be way above his minimum-wage pay grade. Nothing can prepare you for the coming of Trve Kvlt, a deliciously horrifying and hilarious new series!
Joining Scott is good-friend and fellow writer Greg Lockard with Liebestrasse, a 2020 Glaad Media Nominee for Outstanding Comic! Check it out:
About LIEBESTRASSE: During the final years of the Weimar Republic, Sam meets Philip in Berlin and they fall in love. Their romance is hit with an unspeakable reality as the Nazis come to power and fascism makes them a target. Debut writer Greg Lockard (Where We Live Las Vegas Shooting Benefit Anthology) in collaboration with artist Tim Fish (Saved by the Bell, Cavalcade of Boys) bring you the latest hit from ComiXology Originals.
Both Scott & Greg will be here signing copies of their respective books (and maybe each other’s?) from 1pm-5pm on Sunday August 28th! Come on out and support two amazing, local writers!
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cryss-heart · 2 years
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oh i nearly forgot but heres a thing i drew based off of this one tweet I saw
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shivada-jade · 3 years
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reply back
modern!au/idol!au
characters: aether, lumine mentions: venti, xiao, kazuha, barbara, azhdaha warning(s): swearing because lumine and aether are siblings
notes: i've been lACKING these idol au's so im gonna write more idol au's because i nEEED it
You were seven when you were introduced to the twins. Coming from a foreign land, you struggled with the language they spoke in, but they were patient with you and taught you their language and much more. The twins were multilingual and explained it was from their frequent traveling and relatives from different places.
You and the twins were close, but Lumine spent more time with you, making Aether whine a lot. He would always poke sticks at you and hide your legendary, full art Pokemon cards to catch both Lumine's and your attention. It does work, but Lumine's mad.
"Aether!" She'd scream with a lisp because of a missing tooth. "Stop doing that!"
Oh, but Aether is a sibling, meaning he'd play the 'innocent' card. "Stop doing what? What am I doing?"
In the end, you'd always have to call their parents when they fist fight at the sand pit. "Aether and Lumine's mom! They're fighting again!"
"Again?" The tall blonde sighed. "Thanks for telling me, hon."
After a good scolding, Aether and Lumine would be totally okay the next minute like nothing happened. You were used to their banter and rightfully took your Pokemon cards back. Lumine stuck a tongue out, blowing a raspberry at Aether when he turned his back, grabbing three large sticks.
"Fight me!" He cried with glee, giving one stick to his sister and one to you. "I will be the grand king of the sand pit!"
You vaguely remember the rest. Maybe you lost the 'sword duel,' or maybe you didn't, but what you did remember was this tall kid playing with his cat and eating the sand. Forget the kid, the only thing you remember is his cat's name called Azhdaha.
Your hands close your story book. You would never admit to your friends, but Lumine and Aether that you still read fantasy. The other kids in the neighbourhood would laugh saying what you were reading is a kid's story.
"So what if it's a kid's story? If you like it, read it," Lumine says aggressively while Aether opens the door for both of you.
"Lumi's right. They think they're all grown up, but they're kids too," he closes the door behind him, waving goodbye to your grandma rocking on the porch. "What's the story about anyway?"
You walk ahead, leading the two to a local mall. Every week, Aether, Lumine and yourself would spend Fridays and Saturdays together.
You and Lumine often joke how Aether doesn't do 'Saturdays are for the boys.' To which, Aether would scoff and reply with, "Boys who say that are stupid, not all but most. Saturdays are for spending time with people you care about. I don't care if they think I'm weak."
You step foot in the bus, tapping the card to pay for your admission. The twins, walk behind, doing the same and sitting next to you on the bus.
"It's called 'Songs of a Siren.' It's cool, you should check it out." You say, scooting a bit closer to the side so Lumine could have more pace to sit. The bus is packed. Teenagers littered inside, only a few adults were there including the bus driver. "Let's leave. Teenagers stink."
"...But you are one."
"Well-"
After the next stop, you push yourself through the crowd, trying to exit. Lumine pushes people, muttering a few 'excuse us' while dragging her brother. Your feet land on the concrete sidewalk and you finally breathe freely.
You see the twins finally get off the bus and tilt your head, "Let's go, the mall isn't gonna wait for us."
Entering the mall, the first thing you pass by is a clothes shop. You and Aether share a look, quietly doing rock-paper-scissors behind Lumine who's beaming to go inside.
Rock.
Aether chooses paper.
You droop to the floor because you're dramatic, knowing that once you go in the shop, you'll be the one carrying Lumine's purchases.
"Alright, Lumine," you say sighing. "Let's go shop."
You see Aether in your peripheral vision, pumping his fist laughing a quiet, "Yes!" when Lumine takes out her wallet.
"I know you did rock-paper-scissors." She counts the bills from her wallet, "But I'm buying for Aether which means even if you carry the things I buy, Aether's gonna have it much worse because he will be trying on everything I tell him to wear." She grins, settling with a black debit card.
After hearing this, Aether tries to walk in another shop to avoid dressing up for Lumine, but his sister quickly catches on and pulls him by the ear and walks in the clothes shop.
"Let's go!" She says to you, "These clothes won't shop themselves!"
...
"This one?"
"No, you look like grandpa in that outfit."
"Well what if I like looking like grandpa, huh? What are you gonna do about it?"
"Some people can pull off the sexy grandpa look. You're not 'some people.'" Lumine pulls out another outfit from the rack. "Try this one," she laughs, seeing Aether's horrified face and pushes him in the dressing area.
This is the ninth clothes shop you three go to, and you were starting to feel bad for Aether who had to wear every outfit Lumine wanted him to wear.
"Lumi," you say calmly, having trouble holding five shopping bags on each arm. She's on a shopping spree and you wonder how she gets all the money to buy these things. "That should be enough shopping for the day. I'm hungry."
The blonde lifts a hand. "Hold on a second," she smiles before banging on the changeroom door, "AETHER LET ME SEE THE FIT."
You can hear the loud sigh from the other side of the door as it slowly opens. He only peeks his head out, shyly mumbling, "This is embarrassing. I don't want to walk out like this."
Lumine rolls her eyes and pulls the door open, revealing Aether in a white dress shirt and dark pants.
Aether lifts an arm, inspecting the design. "It's a bit..." he pauses, thinking of a way to not offend his sister. "It's not my style." His eyes seek for your help to back him up, but you couldn't. The style on him looks so ethereal to him, and Lumine has the same idea.
His twin ran up to an aisle and picked out two accessories: a silk cloth and a floral pin. Lumine shushes Aether who tried to punch her.
"Shut up Aether, you'll look great." She pins the black rose onto the front of his shirt and ties the silk cloth around his neck. She steps a few steps back, making a rectangle shape to symbolize a picture frame and elbows you lightly. "He looks okay for once."
Okay is underwhelming, but to describe Aether better, he looks celestial. The warm studio lights hug every angle of Aether from head to toe. His golden eyes seem to brighten more and the outfit only accentuates his physical traits more.
From the corner of your eye you spot a tall-ish man who has been wandering past the same aisle but never picking anything up. He wears ordinary clothes- a T-shirt and jeans (rather stylishly), but you know from his incoming aura he's more than just an ordinary person.
You tap Lumine discreetly while still holding onto her shopping bags and tilt your head towards the man.
Aether, who keeps picking on the cloth around his neck goes frigid when the strange man walks up to him.
"Hey kid," he says cooly. He looks Aether up and down, lifting his shades to see clearer, and pulls out a small business card from his pocket. "You look like idol material. Ever thought about being a part of a boyband?"
Out of politeness, Aether takes the card and laughs nervously, "Not really" He looks at Lumine and you for help, but you two pretend to not know him when he turns to you.
The man shoves his hands in his pocket, blowing a bubblegum and popping it. His hair slightly tousles when he turns, waving a hand.
"If you ever do decide if you wanna be an idol, auditions are held next week at 10AM," he saunters off. "If they ask who recruited you, tell them a man by the name of Valentin did."
His lavender irises looks back once more before leaving the store, "The people from Teyvat Entertainment are introduced by my very hands. Don't disappoint me."
The automatic sliding doors open for him and he waves the store greeter a goodbye.
You see Aether's eyes scanning over he card Valentin gave. His lashes flutter quickly, signaling you and Lumine he was either shocked, or confused.
Lumine grabbed the paper, a habit she picked up due to being a twin and having to share everything with Aether who won't share. Her lips part, showing the card to you.
Teyvat Entertainment.
A company who created the world's famous DCKZ and the idol, Barbara. Teyvat Ent. has one of the youngest, top rookies of the year because of a group called TVT Dream. A company with many celebrities' and the business card is legit.
A store worker no older than your age meekly walks up to the three of you and asks, "Hey, uh. Are you ready to purchase your clothes?"
...
Aether shoves Lumine (don't worry she shoves him 10x harder) on the stairs while you watch from a safe distance.
You wave hello to their mom before waltzing into their home like you did many other times. You were their third child in their mom's eyes.
You slam the twins' room open and lay yourself on the bottom bunk of their bunkbed. "So do you wanna check Teyvat Entertainment?"
You fish out your phone from your pocket and hand signal for Aether and Lumine to come close to see. Your phone turns on, showing the lock screen of the twins in their embarrassing toddler moments then unlock it. Quietly laughing at the twins who have their faces beet red from the photograph.
"Why do you have that pic? DELETE IT."
"Did mom give that to you..."
You ignore them, opening up Google and typing in the Teyvat Ent. website and search their contacts. You ask Aether for the business card, comparing the two numbers side by side, and Valentin is indeed one of the scouts for the company.
You shut your phone off, hugging the two siblings together tightly. "Whether Aether decides he wants to be an idol or not, we'll still be the best of friends."
Lumine grins, squishing your cheeks, taking a closer look at you. "Well, duh. Are you scared we'll fall apart? No, if anything you should be scared we're never going to leave you alone even if you're 60 and married."
You pinch her cheeks and start to say something until you hear sniffles and coughing. You turn to Aether who was hiding his tears.
"Shut up, I'm not crying." He harshly wipes away the water falling from his eyes, "When I go famous, I'm going to give you my autograph so you can sell it and eventually get 20 cars and houses."
...
You were a teen when the dark-haired Valentin scouted Aether to be a trainee in Teyvat Ent.
You note that without Aether, their home is extremely quiet. It's odd not seeing Lumine scream at Aether for taking her hair clips. It's odd not seeing Lumine aggressively pull on the colourful flower hairclips on Aether's hair, just to get the clips back. It's so odd not seeing Aether is general.
Lumine scrolls through her phone, looking for furniture to add to her new apartment she shares with you. The only thing in the newly bought apartment is three mattresses, three plates, and three cups, just in case Aether visits. Though, Aether visiting is rare. His visits only happen during December for Christmas, but even then he had not visited. It's been two years since you and Lumine last saw him.
You stare at your last sent messages to the blonde boy.
▶ hEY. (threatening)
YO
▶ take care okay? lumine's worrying all the time for ur health bc she keeps watching yt vids on how idols over-do themselves from training
haha thanks for telling me
are you sure it's not you who's worrying 🧐🤧
the last thing lumi sent to me was "FUCK YOU"
▶ well the last thing you sent to her was "U BUTT"
▶ and she took that seriously
are you siding with her?
▶ yes
oh okay, frick you too seen three months ago
Your feet pad against the wooden tiles, grabbing a glass of water while scrolling through twitter. You lift the glass to your lips and almost choke from the water you drink.
You click the link on the phone with the title "Debuting boy band already claiming the hearts of many! Please welcome 4nemo!" Four boys stand in the picture, one being Aether.
You place your glass to the sink and run to Lumine, sitting next to her and who her your phone. She reads it over and visibly shakes. You swear she was about to cry until she takes the phone from your hand and starts throwing it, "AETHER THAT BITCH. HE DEBUTES AND SAYS NOTHING."
You're mortified and pull your friend away from your phone, "THAT'S A NEW PHONE, STOP." You push her away and run to your device, clicking on the link.
"One, two, three! Hello we are," Aether, the familiar blonde says.
His group members follow after him. "4nemo!" They say in chorus. One by one they start introducing themselves.
"Hi I'm Aether!"
"Kazuha," one says with a raise of a hand.
An energetic member steps up with a grin, "And I'm Barbisabeto!"
"He's Barbatos, forgive him." Teal undertones make it's way to the camera, "Hello, I'm Xiao.
The one with twin braids step up, mischievously grinning. "Please take care of us and support us during our journey through the music industry."
His teal eyes squint behind the camera, whispering to the member behind him. "Psst, Xiao. I can't read I'm blind."
Xiao rolls his eyes and steps up, slightly bowing, "Please support our debuting group, we will see you in our music videos."
But Lumine and you never paid attention to what they were saying. Both of you just started crying insults of endearment to Aether because he looks so... different. His face had mature and he's a real idol now.
Reality sinks in.
Now that Aether had a growing fanbase, it's going to be harder to contact him.
"Lumine, how are we going to talk to him now?"
Lumine ponders a bit, resting her chin on her hand before smirking. "Let's create an Aether hate page."
"Yes, let's do it."
After a quick recording of Lumine and yourself, you posted the video online, and soon enough, it goes viral.
Lumine laughs, replaying the video.
"This one's for the boys with the booming system," You say monotonously in front of the camera like what you said was a speech instead of a song. "Top down, AC with the cooler system."
Lumine comes on screen, flipping her middle finger at the camera. "When he come up in the club, he be blazin' up. This one is actually not for the boys with the booming system. This is for the BITCH, AETHER WITH THE BLONDE BRAID. Look at you with your ugly ass smile," She speaks in one breath and it amazes you. "Make sure you get millions of hits or it's all for nothing. Oh Aether's an ass."
The screen shows your hand scooping the phone up and waving good bye with Lumine still dissing Aether.
You nudge Lumine, showing a comment written at the bottom of the video, covering a laugh.
"who's aether?"
"huh??! aether?"
"lOL Why Does The Person On The Left Look Like Aether?"
"OH 4NEMO DABUTE. SHUTUP YOU ANTI. THEY'RE GORGEOUS. YOU'RE THE ONE UFLY" ➡ "ahisfdh you obvi didnt watch the whole video. she said "make sure get millions of hits"
Lumine grins, commenting at the people calling her ugly and Aether way better looking. "Lol, IKR. the one on the left is trying too hard to look like Aether. it's like shes tryna be a twin or smthn"
Though, because of your viral "hate" video, 4nemo's popularity sky rockets because of the unknown 'Aether' of the group.
...
Aether watches the video on the news channel, because that's how popular the video got. He looks at his manager, "Can I send a hate video back?"
"Aether, no."
But the winds are troublesome as the ocean, because a boy with teal tips on his hair snatched the managers phone, running and giving it to Aether. "AETHER. DO IT RIGHT NOW."
...
It was a shock to you seeing people follow your twitter account.
"LUMI, [NAME], IM SRRY I LOST MY PHONE AND DIDNT WANNA TELL ANY1 OR THEYLL GROUND ME," said the tweet, tagging you in comments.
Lumine doesn't have twitter, so when she looks over your shoulder seeing the tweet with her name on, she grabs the phone and locks herself in the bathroom, "R U FR AETHER?U DIDNT REPLY TO MY HAPPY BDAY. WE SHARE A BDAY DUMBASS"
She calmly unlocks the door, giving your phone back casually while you whine, "Lumine! This is twitter! They're gonna cancel me!"
"I'll cancel them back."
Ding! You receive a post with you name under the comments again.
hello, i have to apologize for our member stealing the manager's phone to tweet that. i swear that kid's the most responsible, but he's been triggered. #kazuha
You quickly type back, under the hashtag 'kazuha.'
"@/4nemo sorry uh thats one of ur members twin & shes mad that aether never gave her a bday present when she gave 1 to him #kazuha"
notes: psst here's where i got aether's outfit inspo when they were outfit changing at the mall
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mollymawkwrites · 3 years
Note
Eskel/Jaskier: AU where Jaskier met Eskel instead of Geralt and wrote Toss a Coin for him instead - scar kissing/appreciation - "guess love is a response/of the body it haunts"
This took me longer to write than I would have wanted, so thank you for waiting! This is... pure fluff. Hope it’s worth the wait, thank you for the lovely prompt!
CW: mildly horny towards the end, but otherwise it’s only fluff!
"I love the way you just sit in the corner and brood."
Eskel raises his head from where he’s been staring at his spit flavoured ale to meet a pair of twinkling blue eyes.
The bardling can't be more than eighteen, fresh-faced and smelling of arousal as he looks at the Witcher appraisingly. Eskel expects him to recoil at the sight of his scars in the low tavern light, but the bard's eyes only widen with interest, and he slides into the opposite empty seat, leaning his lute against the table.
"Oooh, you're a Witcher, aren't you?" He asks with barely restrained excitement. "I could tell from the other side of the room you were filled with stories. How about I buy you an ale, and you tell me some of them?"
Eskel snorts. "And how are you planning to pay for that ale? Stale bread?" He nods towards the bulges where the bard stuffed the food thrown at him after his less than appreciated performance.
"Well, no," the man deflates, but not for long, his carefree smile returning along a flirty wink, "but I'm sure we can find an arrangement."
The Witcher rises from his seat, leaving his untouched ale and a couple of coins on the table. "I do not bed teenagers."
That earns him an offended splutter from the bard, who doesn't take the hint and follows him through the tavern. "I'm not… I can assure you that I am a man. An adult man." His voice breaks a little on the last syllable and Eskel smirks.
"Want to try that again?" He asks, but before the bard has a chance to reply, a man interrupts them. There is fear in his voice when he asks for Eskel's help with a so-called devil haunting his fields, and the way his eyes keep going back to the Witcher's scars shouldn't make Eskel so uncomfortable, but it does. He still accepts the job.
*
After the whole debacle with the elves, Jaskier follows Eskel back to the inn, strumming his lute with a spring in his step despite the bruise on his forehead and the tears in his doublet. Eskel informs the man who hired him of his deal with the elves, collects his meagre pay, and immediately spends half of it for a warm meal. He sits in the same corner as this morning, and forgets all about the whole ordeal for the time it takes to fill his stomach.
His peace is temporary, as Jaskier takes back his place in the middle of the room, undeterred by his earlier flop, and starts strumming the same melody he’s been composing on their way back to Posada. And then he starts singing.
The song is… embarrassing. Jaskier doesn’t pay attention to the first hollers and insults from the patrons who recognize him, his eyes rarely leaving Eskel, who sits still, mortified, as he discovers the lyrics at the same time as everyone else.
By the end, the complaints have turned to cheers and stomping, and Jaskier’s cheeks are ruddy with exertion. He accepts to play the song a second time, then follows with popular jigs and bawdy tales that have the drunks singing and the others getting drunker. His attention strays from Eskel, though he still spares him smiles and winks when he happens to pass by his table.
Eskel should leave, he knows. The sun will go down soon, and he still has to find a place to set up camp. But he’s stuck to the bench, people throwing coins at him, clapping him in the back. The bartender even slides a free ale in front of him, with a grateful though reluctant nod. It doesn’t even smell of spit.
A warmth spreads in his chest that has nothing to do with the alcohol, and it only flares brighter every time Jaskier sends a smile his way. It takes him a while to identify this emotion, practised as he is at ignoring them. It’s gratefulness. Not for the people thanking him for ridding them of the elves, though that is a nice change. No, he is the one being grateful for the bard who met an old, grumpy Witcher and decided to see a hero worthy of ballads instead.
Eskel knows the bard benefits from it too, his pockets clinking with coin, knows the friendliness of the villagers will only last as long as alcohol fogs their stereotypes and superstitions, but he can’t help but revel in it, hoarding warmth and comfort as much as he can before he goes back to the cold loneliness of the Path.
Just after the sun sets, but long before the impromptu party is over, Eskel slinks outside, stomach full, a little tipsy on ale and joy. He doesn’t want to wait until alcohol makes the mean ones meaner and pushes them to try starting a fight with him. The bard has earned his success, Eskel won’t be the one to ruin it. He meets Scorpion on the outskirts of the city, caresses his velvety nose as the horse sniffs at his pockets for some treats.
“That was a good day, boy,” the Witcher tells his horse. “We shouldn’t get used to it, though. That’s how you get disappointed.”
Traveling with a human is a change Eskel struggles to adapt to, though it is admittedly nice. The boy is a smart one, cultured and quick-witted, but he doesn't know anything about life. His noble upbringing quickly becomes obvious to Eskel, the lack of basic knowledge like making a fire or cooking food revealing themselves on the first evening of their acquaintance. Eskel doesn't mind teaching the boy. It seems like the thing to do to thank the bard for the song, and for the company. 
Before he finds himself maudlin longer, Eskel swings a leg over the saddle, and directs Scorpion to the South. Rapid footsteps echo behind him, and he turns to find the bard running in his direction, lute banging on his back and pockets heavy with the night’s earnings. The warmth that had bloomed in Eskel’s chest in the tavern buries itself deeper.
*
He doesn't expect the boy to stay long, maybe a week or two, until he's tired of sore feets and sleeping on hard ground, or he finds another "muse*, like he insists on calling Eskel.
But he stays, following Eskel everywhere, unless the Witcher insists he stays back at camp while he goes on a dangerous hunt, or he finds something of interest in a town they go through and decides to stay a couple more days. He always catches up, though, finding Eskel in whatever clearing he's set up camp and sitting at his side like they've never parted. It's nice, Eskel admits to himself. To have someone to talk to, about everything from music and art to monsters and magic. He finds himself brooding less and less, his mind focused on the colourful bard chatting next to him rather than on his own dark thoughts.
It comes slowly, he thinks, it buries itself under his skin, filling his every crevice without him noticing, but it's like falling from the edge of a cliff when he finally realises: he's happy.
He's been happy for a while. Since the ridiculous, optimistic, flirty bard entered his life.
He thinks about running, leaving Jaskier behind, before the inevitable happens and Eskel is left with a heart emptier than it was before. He could survive the loneliness when he had nothing else to compare it to; he's not sure he can go back to it now.
But he's not like his brothers, running from his feelings or translating all of them into anger. He takes the time to think about it, and decides that he'll take the risk. Jaskier doesn't look or smell like he has any intention of leaving Eskel's side for the moment, and Eskel has no intention of letting anything happen to the bard.
So he stays, and gets used to the company. It's surprisingly easy.
*
Winter is close, and Eskel finds himself feeling maudlin. Soon, Jaskier will head towards Oxenfurt to spend the season in warm lodgings, between some pretty girl's thighs, and wait for the sun to come back. Eskel will depart for Kaer Morhen, if he wants to get to the pass before it gets snowed in.
They've talked about it, and agreed to meet in the spring, but it doesn't keep Eskel from wishing they could stay together. He won't keep Jaskier from his plans, though, the bard sounding happy every time he mentions the friends he has at the Academy and his favourite inns to play at, where everyone, even the lowest drunkard, knows how to appreciate good music and poetry. 
He shouldn't ask for more, he knows. The bard already gives him so much; his friendship and his songs and his smiles.
The day before they part, they pay for a room in an inn close to the crossroad where they’ll have to say goodbye to each other, and Eskel spends the afternoon knees deep in murky water to rid the local pond of a particularly aggressive bloedzuiger. It’s not dangerous, just long and damp, and his already foul mood sours even more. Back at the inn, Eskel leaves muddy puddles on the way to their room.
Jaskier hasn’t moved from the bed, where he is writing down his latest composition in the leather bound notebook that never leaves his side, along with his lute. He raises his eyes as Eskel enters the room, nose scrunching up at the Witcher’s state.
“I asked for a bath,” Eskel grumbles, unbuckling his armour and putting it close to the crackling fireplace to dry.
“Oh, good,” Jaskier chuckles. “Everything suits you, my dear, but I can’t say I like the smell of dead fish on you.”
Eskel snorts, but doesn’t reply, as the innkeeper’s daughter knocks on the door and sets to filling a modest tub with tepid water. He thanks her, and waits for her to close the door behind herself before undressing completely and stepping into the bath. It’s not Kaer Morhen’s hot springs, but it does soothe the ache in his bones that always settles when it gets cold. He sighs, relaxing after the frustrating contract, and doesn’t notice Jaskier has moved until he’s right behind him.
It should unsettle him that the bard can sneak up on his Witcher senses, but it has become a recurring occurrence, and Eskel doesn’t mind it so much. He likes being able to lower his guard with someone who’s not his brothers or Vesemir.
Nimble fingers thread in his hair, and he suppresses a shudder at the pleasant sensation. “What are you doing?” he asks without opening his eyes.
“Helping you clean that mess,” Jaskier replies in a low voice, almost a murmur.
Eskel hums, not seeing a reason to refuse the offer. The bard’s fingers on his scalp feel divine, and a purr builds in his chest as he slowly melts into a puddle. “That feels nice.”
Jaskier doesn’t reply, but he doesn’t stop either, even when he’s done with Eskel’s hair. His hands trail down to the Witcher’s neck and shoulders, digging into the muscles there with both strength and care. Eskel’s hard prick bobs in the water, but he doesn’t do anything about it. He knows the bard would accept enthusiastically if Eskel were to proposition him; he hasn’t stopped smelling of lust and ogling Eskel even after all these months, but that’s not what the Witcher wants at the moment.
The hands on his shoulders have traded their massage for featherlight caresses, trailing down old scar tissue and up again, teasing and tickling the sensitive skin. Touch purely for touch’s sake. Eskel hums again and Jaskier chuckles, a puff of air brushing the damp skin of Eskel’s neck. “What are you thinking about?”
“Come with me to Kaer Morhen,” the Witcher says before he has time to talk himself out of it.
The silence that follows is short but Eskel has the time to regret everything that has led him to that moment, until a pair of soft lips caresses the curve of his shoulder, where a werewolf bit out a chunk of flesh thirty years ago and left only a jagged silver scar. Jaskier follows it from one end of the half-moon to the other, then breathes against Eskel’s skin, “I’d be honoured.”
And the warmth in Eskel’s chest makes itself a home there.
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