#then until 2021 the pattern was swapped

[skqw]

Shade World by coffe is a low-intermediate map published in March of 2021. It is one of the definitive experiences of the Celeste modding community, immediately going down as an instant classic on launch and being one of the all-time most popular mods to date. It is my personal comfort mod, something I can always come back to and enjoy when I can't pick up anything else. All that praise, and it's coffe's first published mod!

Do you want to know what I thought about this map when it first released? Back in those days, I was still a fledgeling modder, without a lot of the skills and experiences I have today. I watched an iamdadbod video, I heard him talk about it, but I was skeptical.

'Is Shade World really that good? This looks like something that I could make. It seems a bit much to call this the Map Of The Year.'

It took me a while to actually play it myself. Well, here we are. Now I'm here about to tell you in no small amount of words why Shade World really is 'that good'.

I. Gameplay

Shade World starts off with two central mechanics: jump refills and swap blocks. The very first room shows off the jump refills as a way to stall, waiting for the swap block to return. The player is then allowed to stand and think before doing the swap block part of the room. The next room adds springs (an excellent addition to all maps) and uses the jump refills in almost exactly the same way. To reinforce the learning, the same setup of using two jump refills to wait for a swap block to move is used, this time using the swap block as a hazard rather than a platform. From here, gameplay is allowed to become more fluid, with a focus on swap blocks. coffe has more or less established jump refills as a "standard" mechanic, on par with regular refills or springs. There is now space for more mechanics to fill in the spotlight.

And that is exactly what comes next, in the form of wall boosters. The "intro" room is again split into two different sections: a standard wall booster walljumping section collecting touch switches, then a showcase of attached wall boosters. Wall boosters don't attach to entities in vanilla; this is actually a case of another custom mechanic introduction! The wall boosters are attached to falling blocks, with placement in a way that guides you in the right direction even if you don't know what to expect. The next room uses the attachment even more clearly: placing it on a swap block at the very beginning of the room. The block has the wall booster on the left and springs on the right, which acts as both an addition of familiarity (the player already knows springs can be attached and understands this behavior) and a clever re-use of the swap block in the gameplay.

The final room of this checkpoint brings jump refills back into the spotlight, where the player must smuggle four jump refills to the very end of the room through some platforming. This is the first instance of preserving jumps like this; with only one exception so far, jump refills are used immediately after they're collected up until this point. The way that the level is constructed has an interesting callback to hint at this solution. That one exception was on the first screen of this checkpoint, where an extra jump is held through a dash and a wall climb over a wall booster. That room and this room both end like this:

The first with two jumps, the last with four. The spinner gaps are familiar and tell the player how many jumps are required (the same as the number of refills in the room). It's a helpful detail, but if that's not enough this room also comes with another hint I'll get into later.

Checkpoint 3 changes scenery with a dive into the temple, introducing dream blocks as another mechanic. Following this is an introduction to dreamgrabs, complete with bird tutorial. Here, dream grabs are followed by a wall booster. This pattern actually continues through the entire map; every required dream grab is on a wall booster! This is a great pattern for several reasons. One, it adds a distinct visual cue to each instance, as an inexperienced player might not be able to read them when "naked". Two, it gets the player moving again, keeping the gameplay fluid and interesting.

Next comes dream swap blocks. This is the spiciest mechanic of the map, and is introduced in a fairly sterile environment. The player is immediately shown how you can get pushed while in the dream state, and that it spits you out somewhere that doesn't really feel expected. The next room kind of uses dream swap blocks in a way that would feel basic for its component mechanics, as a way to ease the player in. After that the setup from the "sterile" introduction is used to kick off gameplay, where the gameplay after this setup is back to familiar territory. It's a good way of taking a complex mechanic and showing it off step-by-step.

The next step is mixing dream grabs into the dream swap blocks and showing off the momentum that they can give, which more or less completes the library of tech this map uses and brings it all full circle. With that, the final few rooms show off everything that coffe has been building up to. The last room (almost) starts off with a recap of each mechanic in order, then after some more gameplay ends with a triumphant launch to the end of the map.

Let's not forget that, underneath this all, the gameplay is built upon base swap blocks. And that works really well because swap blocks are fun! It's one of everyone's favorite mechanics, so I know I don't need to explain in detail why they're so great. I just want to point out that, with all the thought I've given the mechanics, that I haven't forgotten that the core of what makes good gameplay is that it's fun.

All in all, it's a great progression of mechanics with introductions built on familiarity. More complex ideas are given more time and explanation than others, meaning time and space is well used. Each mechanic is given its space in the spotlight and on the sidelines, avoiding a clutter of too many mechanics too soon. Everything is kept within the same realm of difficulty, with the map's ending using presentation and a combination of all mechanics instead of spiking difficulty for content.

II. Strawberries

Shade World has a few different kind of strawberries in the map, which I think is notable enough to briefly cover in its own section. Usually in custom maps, I think of strawberries as extra challenge rooms, with gameplay a step up from the any% route or sometimes using a silly mechanic or interaction. Shade World, with its 14 berries, only uses 5 in this format. What does it do differently?

Three more berries are in offshoot rooms as well, but with no gameplay inside of them. Instead, the challenge (usually a very light challenge) is to get to the room in the first place. Inside is the berry, as well as some "lore", in the form of dialogue with statues.

The rest of the berries are in the main gameplay rooms, usually at the end, requiring just a little bit of extra gameplay to get. I feel like these berries work the best. Rather than requiring more knowledge or technical skill, it just needs a bit of confidence. They're more appetizing to try and get when they're placed in the main rooms, but juuust out of the way, compared to placed in a side room almost as an afterthought. The style fits an easier map as well, where difficulty is not a defining feature of the map, making difficult side rooms feel out of place.

Of course, the best thing about the berries is that there's variety between them. Each type of placement has its ups and downs, and Shade World capitalizes on this by using all of them in decent quantities.

What Shade World doesn't have are winged berries and seeded berries. If you're using the map as an example, don't forget about these options to make your berries even more interesting.

III. Atmosphere

Shade World has a very distinct and unique visual style, but nearly exclusively uses vanilla assets and recolors.

To start off, foreground tiles are summit and temple, summit being a recolor and temple being vanilla. The "summit" background tiles are actually custom, although I always thought it was an edit of bgSummit or bgLostLevels. bgTemple is also used (not sure if A or B). Most decals are farewell plants, reflection crystals, or temple decals, usually recolored as well. The first styleground is an edit of the chapter 6 plateau styleground that loops, plus some summit mountains; the second styleground is a temple recolor. Most of the few custom things are decals, with some extra ferns, hint markers, and secrets.

The entire deco is built around the same color scheme: purple and green. Tiles and backgrounds are the duller but more comforting purple, and hazards and highlights are a very punctual green. Even jump refills, normally blue, are green like dash refills to fit in the color scheme. It is always very easy to see what needs to be seen.

There are layers and layers of detail poured into the deco, each of them small and simple but compounding to mean a lot more. Plant decals wave in the wind (something they don't normally do in vanilla). A foreground dust styleground starts blowing leftward in checkpoint 2. Bird entities are present at the beginning of checkpoint 2. Vine decals are used in both the foreground and background. Spinners are slightly rainbow-ified, and I think the colors slightly change between some checkpoints. The plateau styleground has two animated frames instead of being static. I'm sure there are more details I've missed.

The three "lore" berry rooms also add to the atmosphere with the small bits of dialogue. They're vague and sometimes a bit silly, but they add charm to the map. At the very least, it shows that coffe did not forget about the dialogue cutscene features of Celeste, which many standard gameplay mods don't have!

And the music, oh the music. SO good. Phenomenal. It begins as mostly ambient synth, some basic chords. It layers in piano, bass, and a lead once gameplay starts. These layers will come in and out depending on where you are in the map, instead of merely always building up. Once you reach the temple, the halfway turning point of the map, the music fades before coming in with a new pattern. Layers continue to come in and out as appropriate, before the music fades once again and comes in with its final progression for the last room. I love the music so much. Listen to it here and follow the composer at @neozoid. :)

I will also briefly mention the overworld colorgrade and custom heart UI in the chapter complete screen, as well as the endscreen being a combination of custom art and a vanilla endscreen layer.

The Shade World atmosphere is built off of a lot of small, reasonable edits to what is already given by the base game. The deco is based around a clear and high-contrast color scheme, which makes gameplay easy to read. Any screenshot from the map is easily recognizable as being from Shade World. Details in decals, in entity deco, in stylegrounds, and in dialogue all compound to add a lot of depth to the presentation. All while an absolutely banger track plays in the background.

IV. Hints

Shade World uses a few different visual indicators for different reasons, but they all offer an unintrusive way of leading the player in the right direction without explicitly saying anything (most of the time).

First off, lightbeams indicating side rooms. In custom maps, sometimes lightbeams are used for side rooms and sometimes they're used for main rooms, which can cause confusion. Shade World's first branching room has the lightbeams on the harder to reach transition, which is the berry. Even if the player goes on the main room first, they are given the option to go backwards, and both rooms have watchtowers so it can be seen whether the room ends with a berry or with more rooms. This is immediately built upon as this next main room has a hidden side room, the first statue berry. The lightbeams come out of the fake wall, but it's still out of the way enough to not be overly obvious. It's a great reinforcement of the standard the map uses and a pleasant reward to those who pay attention.

Checkpoint 2's final room, the extra jump smuggle room, has a hint dialogue option in addition to the passive hint in its structuring, as previously discussed. The first interaction explains that this is a hint to use if you get stuck, preventing the player from accidentally spoiling themselves the solution if they don't want to. When the hint is actually read, it is worded in a way that isn't just the solution. "Save [extra jumps] until you really need them" is a more elegant way of saying "Save all four extra jumps until the end of the room".

The dream swap blocks become relatively more complex in routing, and temple decals help point the player in the right direction in various forms. Symbols always path the player's trajectory. Arrows are placed in helpful spots, but subtly. Here are a few examples:

All of these instances make the playing experience easier without being intrusive. It works really well in this style of map that's built to be approachable but uses a complex and nuanced mechanic. It also goes to show that hints aren't always explicit and separate from the rest of the map.

V. Conclusion

Why go through this map in such detail in the first place? Well, I want to show that, when I said 'this looks like something that I could make', I was right. I can make this, and almost anyone can. By breaking down the map into its component parts, I hope that I revealed that its just a collection of very simple and very achievable design elements. Gameplay is built upon a straightforward introduction of several mechanics, which all have intuitive ties to vanilla mechanics. Decoration is almost all vanilla recolors, centered around a visual identity in purple and green. Level design is fun because it's friendly, not because it's over-the-top.

I should also state here that Shade World was not a one person project. The music was made by neozoid as I said earlier, and the bgtiles were an edit of Nikko's, the overworld stuff was two more people, neozoid and one other did some art, and playtesting feedback was received from several people before and after the map released. Anyone can ask for help! Know your strengths and play to them, and never be afraid to reach out to others to fill in for things that you can't do yourself.

This isn't a complete tutorial on how to make a map, or how to do level design, or how to deco, or whatever. I'm just going off this one piece of material, and I can't say it does absolutely everything perfectly. But good maps succeed for a reason, so if you're a mapmaker I definitely encourage you to play the maps you like over and over again to try and spot what makes it tick.

Basically, I like Shade World a lot.

Remember to leave a like on the GameBanana page if you enjoyed! It really, really helps.

#celeste modding #celeste game #celeste #game modding #analysis

[jonnysinsectcatalogue]

Bronzed Cutworm Moth - Nephelodes minians

I may be completely off base here given the sheer breadth and the number of species within the family Noctuidae (Owlet Moths), but from the images I've examined, this insect is the best match. If anyone has a suggestion for what else this Moth could be, I'll gladly consider them and will investigate (keep the range in mind for this individual which was found in Kleinburg, Ontario). In any case, Cutworms in Caterpillar form have earned a notorious reputation for their feeding which has reinforced their name. They tend to come out at night in search of plant-based food, and most notorious of them chew through plants at the lower stem, cutting them down (hence "Cutworm") to eat the leaves. Feeding behavior like this also subsequently destroys the plant, leaving the roots to pick up the pieces. Aside from toppling plants, other evidence may be left behind from Cutworm efforts including circular-shaped damage and frass. These cuttings can be very intense if multiple Caterpillars occupy the same area (which has also given them the name "armyworm") which can be particularly brutal if swarms find their way into crop production. For this specie, the Bronzed Cutworm can have a potential impact on crops as it has been reported to enjoy corn and cereals, but it seems to be handled through careful monitoring.

The Bronzed Cutworm more frequently seems to be associated with the consumption of grasses. As mentioned above, it will eat the blade from the bottom and slowly spread out until the grass in reach has been clipped. For nighttime detections, be wary for a large Caterpillar that appears as either mottled green or dark brown, with stripes parallel to the "spine" running along the body. It has an orange face with a black covering right behind the head. When threatened, it will likely ball up and shield its head, a key behavior in Cutworms. After having its fill, the adult will eventually emerge from a cocoon and resemble the individual seen in these pictures. That being said, this specie's wings have an incredibly variable appearance with several darker patterns displayed. Some many appear more mottled, some yellow, some pink, and others with a bronze sheen to their wings (but not iridescent). This individual's wings are more lighter/sandier by comparison. When examining the wings, look for a darkened "U-shape" section around a wing-spot. Flower nectar will become its preferred source of food now that mandibles have been swapped for a proboscis. While future damage may be a concern, the wilds here have plenty of grass for all (including very hungry Grasshoppers); the Caterpillars can eat their fill, but must be wary of the hunters that lurk in the grass (see this post for more info).

Pictures were taken on September 11, 2021 in Kleinburg with a Google Pixel 4.

#jonny’s insect catalogue #ontario insect #moth #bronzed cutworm #bronzed cutworm moth #owlet moth #lepidoptera #insect #kleinburg #2021 #september2021 #nature #entomology #invertebrates

[chloeunitfive]

Slow fashion

Slow fashion is a fashion industry movement that pushes for environmental and social justice. Its distinguishing feature is that it focuses on the problem of overproduction and overconsumption. Slow fashion emerged in tandem with the "slow food" trend. Kate Fletcher, a fashion and sustainability writer and researcher, coined the word in a 2007 piece for The Ecologist. She defined fast fashion as more about greed than speed, about "selling more" and "making more money." Slow fashion, on the other hand, "is about designing, producing, consuming, and living better." “Slow” – she added – “is not the opposite of fast – there is no dualism – but a different approach in which designers, buyers, retailers, and consumers are more aware of the impacts of products on workers, communities, and ecosystems”.

When customers support the unsustainable rapid fashion manufacturing paradigm, the situation worsens. Slow fashion is equally concerned with responsible consumption. We purchase with the knowledge that our consumption has an influence on climate change.

Slow fashion's core concepts include:

A shift from quantity to quality, both in production and consumption. It’s not hell-bent on constant growth or accumulating more.

Manufacturing that respects the environment by using low-waste processes and avoiding harmful chemicals.

Providing workers a living wage and healthy working conditions. 

Producing collections in small batches or on a pre-order basis to avoid unsold inventory.

An uncomplicated supply chain where raw materials and labour aren’t scattered across the globe. It uses local materials and employs local workers as much as possible.

Transparency and honesty in its supply chain and practices. A great example is ethical jeans brand HNST, which has a “Hall of Fail” page that showcases its challenges and failures.

Using natural fibres, deadstock fabrics, or old textiles for upcycling.

The fashion industry's problems are becoming more widely known, but there is still more work to be done. According to a ThredUp poll from 2021, 74% of buyers are aware that their purchase patterns have a big influence on the earth, and 50% feel that rapid fashion is damaging to the environment. Despite this understanding, 72% of people continue to buy fast fashion because of the ease and low pricing. It might be tough to deviate from the norm and fully change your buying habits. The good news is that becoming involved in the slow fashion movement is simple, and you don't even need to buy anything new to get started!

1. Repair and Take Care of Your Clothes

Extend the life of your clothes by following care instructions. Machine wash on the lowest heat setting if you can and hang to dry to save on energy. For jeans, Levi’s even recommends washing once every 10 years to maintain the fit and fabric.

Learning basic sewing and de-staining techniques is also a great way to get more wear out of your clothes. If you don’t have time, take them to a professional or find out if there’s a repair café (a free pop-up event where volunteers and other visitors get together to repair various items) in your town or city.

2. Wear Second-hand Clothing

We have finally bid good riddance to the stigma of wearing second-hand clothes. Today, thrifting is so widespread that it is even covered on the pages of glossy high-fashion magazines, something unimaginable until not even two decades ago. 

There are many options for getting second-hand clothes. You can borrow from your family or friends’ closets for one-off events. You can also do clothing swaps or offer your own unused clothing to someone you know will love it.

Freecycling groups are also a goldmine for “new” old clothes. These are online sharing groups where people can donate or request free items. It facilitates gift-giving and communication among members of a local community because the exchange is often done in person. It has become increasingly popular as people are looking for ways to donate their stuff without having to go to charity centres. Unfortunately, statistics show that up to 80% of donations end up either incinerated, in landfills, or sent overseas to be sold. Search for a Facebook freecycling group in your area or check out websites like FreeCycle.org or Trash Nothing.

Looking for the thrill of the hunt? There are always one-of-a-kind and stylish pieces from thrift and vintage stores. Online thrifting is easier today thanks to platforms like Poshmark, Depop, Etsy, or Vestiaire Collective; there is something for everyone’s tastes and price points. 

3. Shop Mindfully

In Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States, somewhere between 50%- 80% of people’s wardrobes are unused. A closet bursting with clothes you only semi-love or never wear is also a sign of constant impulse shopping. The next time you feel the itch to shop, check your closet first. Do you really need a fifth new dress/pair of pants/crop top in your closet? Chances are you don’t. Your overfull closet will thank you, and so will the planet. 

If you absolutely need to shop, support local creators in your country. Choose high-quality fabrics that last longer, single-composition fabrics that can be easily recycled, or natural fibres that biodegrade easier.

Shopping mindfully also means being aware of companies’ greenwashing tactics. Slapping an “eco-friendly” tag isn’t proof that an item is sustainable. Do some background research on a brand by Googling or checking on the Good on You app. For unbiased and educational sustainable fashion content, websites like Fashion Revolution and Fashion Takes Action are great sources.

Remember that expensive price tags don’t always guarantee better quality and practices. Brands like Versace, Prada, Nike, and Adidas were implicated in a Clean Clothes Campaign paper that reported on these companies’ below-legal worker wages and terrible working conditions in their Eastern European factories.

Reference:

RASHMILA MAITI. (2023). Slow Fashion[Online]. earth.org. Last Updated: 21 May 2023. Available at: https://earth.org/what-is-slow-fashion/[Accessed 6 November 2023].

#Youtube

[ailtrahq]

The race for Ethereum futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) greenlight has stirred bullish action in the crypto market since late last week. Interest in crypto has grown significantly with Ethereum price reclaiming two key support areas; $1,600 and $1,700. Ethereum price is up 2% on the day to $1,721 with $12.4 billion in trading volume streaming in while Bitcoin has climbed 4.5% to $28,414. As discussed, holding Bitcoin above $28,400 support could influence retail traders to join the uptrend thus propelling the price to $30,000. Meanwhile, Ethereum bulls must not rest until the second-largest crypto retakes resistance/support at $1,750. Otherwise, a retracement to sweep through more liquidity at a lower support area like $1,600 may take precedence. First-Ever Ethereum Futures ETF To Debut In The US Investment companies in the United States are in the race to launch the first-ever futures-based Ethereum ETF in the country. According to Bloomberg, VanEck, ProShares, and Bitwise are among the firms set to debut the investment product, starting Monday. The launch of ETH ETF products based on Ether futures will start trading in the US more than two years after BTC futures premiered courtesy of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF with the ticker BITO. OKAY: This looks to be the full list of #Ethereum Futures ETFs that will be given SEC accelerated approval to launch on Monday. Assuming they are all operationally ready to go & assuming no last minute entrants. A potential 9 ETFs with ETH futures trading on Monday pic.twitter.com/eQF6MWL4kP — James Seyffart (@JSeyff) September 29, 2023 Unlike the Bitcoin futures ETFs which premiered at the height of the bull market in 2021 when BTC price traded at $60,000, Ether futures are launching amid a lengthy crypto winter with many believing the approvals could kickstart a bull run. Grayscale Files To Convert Its Ethereum Trust To A Spot Ether ETF The largest digital assets management firm has teamed up with NYSE Arca and filed a request with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to swap its Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) for a spot Ether ETF. “As we file to convert ETHE to an ETF, the natural next step in the product’s evolution, we recognize this as an important moment to bring Ethereum even further into the U.S. regulatory perimeter,” Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said in a statement. Grayscale has been intentional with its push for a spot ETF product after winning against the SEC in the lawsuit in which the company sought to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). Ethereum Price Prediction: Can Bulls Push To $2,000? Ethereum exploded above a cup and handle pattern discussed in the previous analysis. While a 7.5% breakout was projected to reach $1,785, Ether only made it to $1,750. If support at $1,700 fails to hold, ETH might drop further to seek relief from profit-booking activities. Other tentative support areas to keep in mind include $1,660, $1,630, and $1,560. ETH/USD four-hour chart | Tradingview The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator hints at an immediate reversal following the climb to $1,750. Traders should be looking out for a sell signal to be manifested with the MACD line in blue crossing above the signal line in red. If interest in ETH keeps growing as the race for futures-based Ether ETFs intensifies, a kneejerk rebound from support at $1,700 might reaffirm the uptrend for gains above $1,800 and eventually to $2,000.

[ishpiner]

Stoneloops of jurassica apk

Stoneloops of jurassica apk apk#

Stoneloops of jurassica apk generator#

Stoneloops of jurassica apk mac#

After competitor Codeminion released their game StoneLoops! of Jurassica for iPhone, MumboJumbo sent a complaint to Apple with the request to remove the game from the Apple App Store. Also contains levels from Luxor)Ĭasino online gratis. If the player succeeds in eliminating a certain number of spheres without this occurring, new spheres cease to arrive and the level can be completed by removing those which remain. If any sphere reaches the player's pyramid, the player loses a life and is forced to restart the level.

During gameplay, the on-screen spheres continuously move forward, pushed themselves by additional small scarabs.

When spheres are eliminated, nearby spheres which now form a segment of three or more of the same color will also explode in a chain reaction. The user eliminates colored magical spheres by causing three or more spheres of the same color to collide. Luxor's gameplay is similar to Puzz Loop and Zuma.

Stoneloops of jurassica apk mac#

Here are the best Mac games you should have in 2021.Ī power-up is being earned (this game is Luxor: Amun Rising) You can find frantic shooters, low-key indies, grand strategy behemoths, and much more for your Mac.Later levels introduce spinning pieces and colour changing pieces also! Complete each level by swapping the hexagon pieces until all the lines link up, revealing the final pattern.

Stoneloops of jurassica apk generator#

Now includes a level generator with a possible 1 BILLION levels.

LOOP is a tranquil puzzle game, with a unique, simple, meditative feel.

Responsibility for any possible violation of the user agreement with the publisher lies solely with the seller. Linda & joan prologue: 'four months earlier' (itch) mac os. The seller is solely responsible for selling the account. LOOP: A Tranquil Puzzle Game (Steam Global Account) According to the seller, this account is the property of the seller and was obtained / registered by legal means. Regardless of whether you enjoy playing pool with your friends in real life or simply enjoy playing, challenging skill-based games, that are easy to learn but hard to master, it's worth checking 8 Ball Pool.

Stoneloops of jurassica apk apk#

We’ve yet to receive a response from Mumbo Jumbo to get their side of the story.Download 8 Ball Pool for PC (Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP computer) or MAC APK for Free. While the original version of Luxor was released about 3 years prior to StoneLoops!, neither game is based on an entirely original concept, as PopCap’s Zuma was released in 2003, and Puzz Loop (which is also on the App Store) was released all the way back in 1998. This entire situation has left members of our forums both in both the StoneLoops and Luxor threads scratching their heads. After assuming their response was satisfactory, they later discovered that StoneLoops had ultimately been removed from the App Store. The reason? Infringing Luxor copyright, confusing customers, stealing Luxor’s look & feel and even stealing their source code!Ĭodeminion responded to the complaint, and heard nothing of it for several weeks. Maciej Biedrzycki, co-founder of Codeminion, developers of StoneLoops explained on his blog today the reasoning behind the recent removal, which all boils down to a complaint filed by Mumbo Jumbo, developers of Luxor:Ībout 3 weeks ago we have learned that Mumbo Jumbo supplied Apple with a formal complaint and a request to remove StoneLoops! from the AppStore. This is particularly unfortunate, as we not only gave the game a glowing review, but I would also include it in any listing of really great iPhone games. Much to our surprise, StoneLoops! of Jurassica was recently removed from the App Store.

#Stoneloops of jurassica apk

[worthytonki]

Lazarus group

Many features of the attack mirrored the method used by Lazarus Group in previous high-profile attacks, including the location of the victim, the attack method (believed to have involved social engineering) and the laundering pattern utilized by the group after the event. It is somewhat unsurprising that this attack has been attributed to North Korea. While the service that was attacked in this instance – Ronin Network’s bridge – is decentralized, the creators of the network Sky Mavis are located in Vietnam. However, within the past year the group’s attention has turned to DeFi services. Until 2021, the majority of this activity was directed towards centralized exchanges located in South Korea or elsewhere in Asia. Lazarus Group refers to a group of North Korean state hackers who have been targeting crypto entities since at least 2017. Lazarus Group’s Targeting of Crypto Entities How the Lazarus group is laundering their funds. This leaves a considerable $433 million remaining in the attacker’s original wallet.Įlliptic investigators are tracking these stolen funds, and have labelled the addresses associated to this attacker in our systems – ensuring that our clients will be alerted if they receive any of these funds. The attacker’s blockchain activity shows that another $9.7 million worth of ETH is in intermediary wallets prepared to be laundered, most likely also through Tornado Cash. Ongoing transactions have so far sent $80.3 million worth of ETH through Tornado Cash.ĭestination of $107 million ETH of the stolen $540 million ETH & USDC. This strategy is uncommon for typical DeFi exploits given these exchanges’ AML obligations, though it has been observed more often in past Lazarus group-affiliated exploits.Īs the affected exchanges publicly announced that they would work with law enforcement to establish their identity, the attacker changed their laundering strategy to instead make use of Tornado Cash – a popular smart contract-based mixer on the Ethereum blockchain. However, the attacker then began laundering $16.7 million worth of ETH through three centralized exchanges. This is an increasingly common tactic seen in hacks of this type, as described in Elliptic’s recent report: DeFi: Risk, Regulation, and the Rise of DeCrime. Tokens such as stablecoins are controlled by their issuers, who in some cases can freeze tokens involved in illicit activity.īy converting the tokens at DEXs, the hacker avoided the anti-money laundering (AML) and 'know your customer' (KYC) checks performed at centralized exchanges. The post mortem claims that “all evidence points to this attack being socially engineered, rather than a technical flaw ”.Įlliptic’s internal analysis indicates that the attacker has managed to launder 18% of their stolen funds as of April 14th.įirst, the stolen USDC was swapped for ETH through decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to prevent it from being seized. The attacker managed to get hold of the private cryptographic keys belonging to five of the validators, which was enough to steal the cryptoassets. Funds can be moved out if five of the nine validators approve it. At the time of discovery, the stolen funds were worth over $615 million.Īccording to a postmortem published by Ronin, the theft came as a result of an attacker hacking the “validator nodes”of the Ronin bridge. Amid confusion over the delayed response, it announced that the exploit was only discovered after a 5,000 ETH withdrawal attempt from one of their users failed. The incident occurred six days before the exploit was announced by Ronin. The sanctions prohibit US persons and entities from transacting with this address to ensure the state-sponsored group can’t cash out any further funds they continue to hold onto through US-based crypto exchanges. On April 14th, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced new sanctions against the thief's Ethereum address and listed the owner of this address as Lazarus Group – the North Korean state hacking group. This is the second largest crypto theft of all time. The total value of the stolen cryptoassets at the time of the theft was $540 million. On March 29th, the Ronin Network announced that 173,600 Ether (ETH) and 25.5 million USD Coins had been stolen from the Ronin cross-chain bridge six days earlier.

#Lazarus group

[caught-in-the-filter]

Together

For CS Halloweek 2021. Fulfilling the prompts: Monsters/red (under a spell | mystery | “I’m not going anywhere” | bloodcurdling) (though the only mention of monsters is that there finally are none lol)

Summary: Inspired by gifs of that scene in 6x01, a fic in which they actually get to finish what they barely started on the couch. Angsty and soft smut.

Rated: E; Words: 3174; read it on AO3

A/N: Shoutout and thank you again to the organizers of @cshalloweek for holding the event again.

Also huge shoutout and thank you to the wonderful @kmomof4 for betaing this when I finished it last-minute, and for fixing my run-ons. ❤️

———

He liked her red leather jacket.

Once an emblem of the walls she’d constructed in order to protect herself from the heartbreak she’d believed to be inevitable, her jacket had since become a symbol of the progress they’d made to overcome the walls together. They were simply another part of her, and he was grateful she trusted him enough to let him inside them. And the red provided a nice pop of color against his own black leather as well.

He liked her sweater, too.

A woven pattern with stripes of white above solid black, a light in the dark as she was for him. It was soft against his calloused palm as his hand slipped under her jacket, unzipped and open for him, and he supported the small of her back as she canted her hips and cradled him between her legs over the arm of the couch.

Softer still was her skin.

His fingers toyed with the hem of her sweater and slowly inched beneath it. Her laughter was contagious, a bubbling giggle as he slid his hand up her belly and brushed gentle strokes over her navel with his thumb, and he couldn’t help but press his smile to hers as if he could catch her contentment with a kiss.

“Killian,” she grinned, his name a playful plea on her tongue as it met his lips and teased inside. Gods, he always loved the way she said it.

He even liked her undergarments.

Modern and decorative, as delicate as he wanted to treat her though he knew she was anything but that. He lifted her sweater until the hem rested above her chest and guided her upright just enough so he could undo the clasps at her back as she’d shown him how to do. Letting her relax against the cushions once more, he tucked the tip of his hook beneath the tiny bit of ribbon at the front and raised it to reveal her breasts to him.

He liked those, too. Very much.

“So beautiful, Emma,” he praised. Surrounding one nipple with his lips, he gently sucked at her supple flesh, coaxing it to a stiff peak as his teeth scraped and pulled at the bud. His hand tended to the other until at last his mouth parted with a wet pop and they swapped sides. Tiny gasps filled the space around them as he slowly unraveled her without even touching where she needed him most. He began to rut against her, the contact between their clothed bodies doing little to sooth the eager ache behind the layers of denim and cotton.

Those, too. He liked her jeans.

He liked the way they hugged her ass so perfectly and left little to the imagination, skin tight over her legs as she taunted him every time she walked past him with a subtle but deliberate sway in her step. But he liked peeling them off of her even more.

As he continued to sate his hunger for her with his mouth at her breasts, Killian deftly flicked open the button of her jeans and tugged down the zipper until he could shimmy them down over her hips. He ran the curve of his hook along her panties but wanted to feel her wet warmth himself. Tugging the material aside with the tip of his metal appendage, he slid his hand along her skin and pressed a finger between her folds, rubbing her clit with his palm as he prodded her entrance and hummed with burning desire as she soaked his fingers and welcomed them into her slick heat.

Killian swallowed her gasp as his mouth returned to hers, muttering praises into their kiss as he fucked her with his hand. Emma cupped his face and held him close, her thumb brushing along his cheek as she gently scratched at the hair behind his ear, and it was all he could do not to melt into her touch. He broke away from her lips only to kiss her palm in a wordless thank you before turning back to them again. Curling his fingers in the way he knew she liked, he drank in her contented sighs and whimpered pleas and wished he’d already lowered his own trousers too, as his cock almost painfully strained against them.

“Forgive me, love,” he said with an apologetic tone but a promising look in his eyes as he slipped his fingers from her despite her encouragements to keep them there. “I need to feel you, Emma.” He covered her body in kisses as he removed her jeans the rest of the way and unfastened his own, shoving them down his legs and letting them pool around his ankles as he took his cock in hand, hard and more than ready, and coated himself in her arousal. With one steady push, he sank into her core with a satisfied groan, finding some relief as he buried himself inside her again and again, falling into a steady rhythm though his legs threatened to buckle beneath him at the overwhelming feel of her already clenching around his length.

“Fuck, Killian,” Emma moaned. He couldn’t help but smile as she reached for his necklace as it dangled above her, looking for something, anything, to hold as he thrust with purpose.

“Finally, we have the chance again,” Killian smirked, lacing his fingers between hers as he clasped the hand not holding his necklace and raised it above their heads, pressing it into the cushion of the couch. “You’ve been wanting another moment as long as I have, I can tell by just how wet you are for me. You make it so easy for me to fill you like this, because you want to be filled, don’t you?” His question was rhetorical, but she nodded anyway. “But you’re so fucking tight,” he gritted. “Relax for me, darling, I’ve got you. No monsters today, just a pirate who can’t get enough of his Savior, just relax.”

He slowed his thrusts against the urgent nagging of his own desperation and kissed her lips, her cheek, her jaw. His teeth scraped along the shell of her ear, nipping at her earlobe before dragging down the column of her neck. Catching the neckline of her sweater between them, he pulled it aside and latched onto the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. Emma tilted her head toward him with a gasp and a giggle and attempted to pull away, but he stilled her with the flat of his hook at her hip, caressing up her side before brushing her cheek and holding her still as he caught a bead of sweat at the hollow of her throat with his tongue and licked a devious stripe up to her chin. Even still, she remained tense, and he was determined to fix that.

“If you keep squeezing me like this, Emma, I’m not going to last much longer.” Killian tucked his arm under her thigh and lifted it, spreading her legs further apart to give himself better access. Even moving at his current pace was too much, agonizingly slow now and yet perhaps that only heightened the sensation of each languid slide with her fitted so snugly around him.

“S’okay,” Emma mumbled quickly as she chased his lips, clearly not wanting him to break their kiss again. “I want you. Before another curse hits. Before another threat to us. I want you.”

“You have me, Emma,” he promised. “I’m not going anywhere ever again.” After Emma’s pleading confession, Killian let some of his own desperation show. He ran the curve of his hook down and up her torso as his hips snapped faster, outlining her breast with the side of the metal pressed flat against her skin until he turned it and teased her nipple with fleeting flicks from the tip, drawing small, pleased gasps from her. “The only curses now are the ones I want to hear fall from your lips as I prove it to you, my darling.”

It didn’t take long for her to do just that, stutter streams of curses and pleas and yeses and Killians. He held her leg against the back of the couch, peppering kisses along the inner side as he plunged deeper still.

“What do you need, love?” he asked, a tender urgency in his tone. “How can I help you come?”

“Just—” she hesitated.

“Tell me, Emma.” He met her gaze with a soft plea in his. “Please.”

“I don’t—I don’t know if I can right now,” she answered quietly. “I’m overthinking, I guess. Just—just hold me, Killian.”

“Alright,” he said, carefully pulling out of her and tucking his arms beneath her, lifting her into his embrace. “We’re alright, love.”

“What are you—” Emma started. “Please, you can still—”

“Not without you, darling.” He kicked off his jeans the rest of the way so he wouldn’t trip and spun them both, sitting on the couch with her in his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, he supported her back with the flat of his hook and gently stroked her hair with his hand, placing chaste kisses to her forehead. “I’m here, Emma,” he reassured her with every kiss. “I’m here. I’m here.”

“I know,” Emma almost whispered. She wrapped her fingers in his necklace and placed her hand on his chest, over his heart. “I know, I just… I thought I lost you.”

“I know,” Killian echoed. He knew she was looking for his heartbeat beneath her palm, and he hoped she couldn’t feel how it broke for her as he clasped his hand over hers and searched for ways to comfort her. “I told you, I’m a survivor. And apparently,” he smirked, “we’re even favored by the gods. So you’ve nothing to worry about anymore.”

Emma scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“I mean it, Emma. Look at me.” He lifted her chin with the side of his finger, caressing her cheek when she met his gaze. “You’ve got me. And I, you. Here and now. This is real. We have each other.”

Killian gently rocked Emma at a soothing pace. As they sat like that in each other’s embrace, her head tucked under his chin as if she couldn’t get close enough to him, Killian quietly started to hum a song he’d used to calm himself for many years and hoped would help her now. He continued to press kisses and reassurances to her head as he repeated the tune—I’m here, I’m here, I’m here—until at last he felt her relaxing in his arms.

“Killian?”

“Hmm?”

“Could we try again?” Emma looked up at him, and he met her pleading eyes with his.

“Of course, if you’d like.” Hoisting her up before he stood, he spoke as he carried her, “But we’ll do it right. You deserve love, Emma. After everything, you deserve thoroughness, not a quick tryst on the sofa.” He set her on their bed, gently pushing her jacket off her shoulders and helping her remove it before toying with the hem of her sweater. “Let’s get this off you, love.” Sliding his hand and hook beneath it, he glided them up her sides and lifted the garment over her head, slipping it down and off her arms along with her bra. Then he started on his own clothes, setting his jacket aside next to hers before beginning to work on the buttons of his vest.

“Let me,” Emma said quietly, standing to help him remove his shirt. “You deserve love too, Killian. You’re the one who—” She trailed off, but he knew what she meant. “You deserve so much better than what you’ve been through.”

Once they were both fully bared, Emma reached up and pulled Killian into a deep kiss, tender and sloppy and desperate. He eagerly reciprocated as he backed her toward the bed, guiding her backward until the mattress was beneath her. Parting from her lips, he sank lower, trailing his mouth down her body until his knees hit the floor and his face aligned with his goal, her legs already spread for him in invitation.

“Are you sure, Emma? We could just rest if—”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Emma answered. “Please, Killian, I want you.”

“And I, you.”

Killian lightly stroked Emma’s inner thigh with the back of his hand as he kissed the other from her knee to the apex. Her muscles twitched beneath his touch, anxious and sensitive, but when his breath ghosted over her center as his mouth set to work just below her clit, Emma finally managed to relax a little.

“I’ve missed your taste,” he sighed against her wet flesh as his tongue coaxed forth her arousal. “I could happily live on nothing else.” Nudging her clit with his nose as he sucked and licked at her core, Killian enjoyed the small gasps Emma released. “Would you let me stay between your legs like this, Emma?”

“Mmm,” she moaned, “mmhmm.”

“I appreciate your hospitality, darling,” he chuckled. “Thank you.” As he tested her entrance, she easily opened for his tongue, arching her back as he thrust it inside her. His hand and hook held back her legs as they threatened to close of their own volition at the already overwhelming sensations he was giving her.

“Relax, love. I’m here,” he reassured her as his fingers slowly inched closer to his mouth’s ecstasy. Gliding one between her folds, he prodded and sucked until she welcomed the intrusion easily. “I’m here, Emma,” he soothed again. “Let me in, darling. Please.” He stretched her gently until a second finger could smoothly slip inside her with the first, curling them both with each thrust, and she panted as he hit the spot she needed most. “There’s a good girl.” Killian knew Emma loved that particular affirmation, evident in the way she canted her hips to grant him better access as more of her arousal leaked onto his fingers and chin. “That’s it, Emma.”

“Killian,” Emma gasped his name as he sucked her clit and flicked it mercilessly with his tongue. “Killian, please,” was all she could manage to say as her hands anchored in his hair. She held his face against her as she rode his fingers and sought his mouth.

“That’s it, darling,” Killian muttered against her slick flesh as he continued to lick and suck and tease. “You’re such a good girl for me.” He angled his head as her legs pressed against his cheeks, his scruff scraping her soft skin in the best way and leaving burning streaks of pink in its wake. “You’re so pretty when you come. Will you let me see it, please?”

A string of curses left Emma’s lips as Killian brought her over the edge, the sensation so blissfully overwhelming as her hips bucked and her legs fluttered until she slowly floated back down from her high, feeling relaxed at last.

“You’re so fucking good at that,” she panted. Tugging his hair, she urged him to climb up their bed above her and cradled his hips between her limply spread legs. “Thank you,” she sighed with a smile before pulling him into a deep kiss.

“Mmm,” Killian hummed, caressing down her side and tracing the crease of her thigh with his fingers before taking his cock in hand. “Are you ready for me, love?” he asked softly, rubbing her clit with the tip.

“Yes,” Emma answered, stroking the hair at the nape of Killian’s neck, her thumb settling just behind his ear. “Please, Killian, yes.”

He kissed her again as he gently pressed inside her with shallow thrusts until at last he filled her completely.

“So perfect, Emma,” Killian breathed as he slowly increased the depth and pace of his movements. “Do you feel how perfectly we fit together, darling?” He teasingly nipped at her bottom lip as her jaw fell slack with breathless moans, both of them too caught up in the absolute pleasure of each other to do much else. “You’re so warm and snug around my cock. Staying so nice and wet for me. We are meant to be together, Emma. Always.”

Emma wrapped her legs around him, locking her ankles behind him as she pulled him into her arms. He hissed lightly as her fingernails dug into his back, a guttural groan interrupting the sound as the subtle pain merely spurred him on.

“Are you close?” she asked with a smile, her voice breaking as the force of his thrusts made the words catch in her throat. “I want you to come, Killian, just like this. Let me feel all of you. Please.”

“Gods, Emma,” he panted, snapping his hips with purpose. “Are you sure?”

“Mmhmm,” Emma nodded. “Yes, Killian.” She raked her nails down his back and cupped his ass in encouragement. “I—I felt so empty without you,” she practically whispered, tears beginning to well in her eyes as she fought the storm of emotions still raging within her. “Make me feel full, Killian.”

He thrust more frantically then, fluctuating between rapid pivots and deliberate slams as he followed his own urges.

“Will you come with me, Emma?” Desperation laced his voice as he asked the question, his fingers finding her clit in an effort to bring her with him.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly, “but it’s okay. I just want to feel you, Killian. I need to feel you.”

He covered her body in kisses as he sought his release, pressing his lips over and over again to her jaw, her neck, her breasts, and trailing back up to her mouth as he felt the tension finally snap. He moaned her name against her lips as he granted her eager request, pouring his release inside her and pushing it deeper as it coated his pulsing cock. When he finally stilled, Killian rolled aside and collapsed next to Emma on their bed, thoroughly sated as he caught his breath. She turned to face him, touching her hand to his cheek and gently brushing her thumb over his skin.

“I love you, Emma Swan.” Killian tipped his head and placed a tender kiss on her palm. “I’m never going to leave your side again. I promise.” A tear escaped Emma’s eye as she met Killian’s genuine gaze.

“I love you too, Killian Jones.” Arching forward, Emma kissed him again, passionate and deep. “And you better not,” she joked, making them both laugh, something neither of them had been able to do in quite some time.

“We may never even leave this bed, love,” Killian smirked. “Not until I’ve made you come at least twice more, anyway. I’ve a reputation to maintain.”

“Oh, kidnapping the sheriff, are you?” Emma giggled, arching her brow as she returned to her back and raised her hands above her head, crossing her wrists. “Naughty Captain.”

“I never claimed to be anything else.” Killian sat up and straddled her stomach, reaching behind himself to touch her. “Now be a good little sheriff and follow my demands.”

———

Tag list  ❤️: @anothersworld @batana54 @darkcolinodonorgasm @deckerstarblanche @donteattheappleshook @elizabeethan @holdingoutforapiratehero @hollyethecurious @ilovemesomekillianjones @itsfabianadocarmo @jonesfandomfanatic @jrob64 @justanother-unluckysoul @karlyfr13s @klynn-stormz @kmomof4 @laschatzi @qualitycoffeethings @resident-of-storybrooke @sotangledupinit @stahlop @teamhook @the-darkdragonfly @thejollyroger-writer @tiganasummertree @ultraluckycatnd @veryverynotgoodwrites @wefoundloveunderthelight @whimsicallyenchantedrose @xhookswenchx @xsajx @zaharadessert  

#cshalloweek #CS halloweek #captain swan #cs smut #cs ff #cshalloweek2021 #cs halloweek 2021 #post-underworld smut #kayla writes #my writing

[thebakingqueen5]

KW 2021: Role Swap

Day 4 for Kataang Week 2021 hosted by @kataang-week with the prompt Role Swap!

This is taken more in a figurative sense- rather than Katara being the Avatar and Aang her teacher, I wanted to shift their relationship dynamics and just add some pregnancy fluff of course, so enjoy!

Links: FF.net | AO3

Summary: Another year, another summer, another week of prompts celebrating our favorite couple. Kataang Week 2021 Day 4: Role Swap. Expansion upon the Yin/Yang oneshot from KVB 2021. During Katara’s first pregnancy, an interesting change in dynamics occurs.

Word Count: 2.6K

Aang let out a groan as a beam of sunlight shone through the glass window directly onto his face, promptly waking the airbender up. He rubbed his groggy eyes, yawning as his senses awakened, and rolled over onto his side, arms expecting to find his wife’s form peacefully resting next to him.

“That’s weird,” he frowned. Aang patted the empty space again, reaching farther across the bed this time. Nothing.

Aang was naturally quite an early riser, far more so than Katara, and it had become routine for them to cuddle for an hour or two in the mornings before properly getting ready for the day. So where was she?

With a short blast of air from his hands, Aang propelled himself upright so that he was standing on the hard, cold, stone floor of the Air Temple. He closed his eyes in concentration, blocking out all other sounds and sights to focus on the vibrations under his feet.

Aang muttered to himself, eyebrows knitted, “She’s not on this floor… not in the temple at all actually, so where- the spring? What’s she doing there so early?”

Wanting to know what his dear wife was up to, the airbender quickly grabbed some blankets from the cupboard (early mornings on the island tended to be quite chilly) as well as some moon peaches from the kitchen and made his way through the temple corridors until he was standing outside, his natural element instantly surrounding him with a refreshing cool breeze.

“Ah,” Aang sighed, taking a deep breath. He basked in the sun’s rays for a few moments, eyes closed as the sounds of birds chirping and the distant crashing of waves onto the shore filled his ears and relaxed his senses.

Then, remembering why he came out in the first place, the airbender began trekking uphill to the west side of the island, resuming his search for Katara.

In their early days of exploring, the waterbender had discovered a secluded stream hidden in the forest that cascaded into the sea if you followed it far enough. It also had a few natural hot springs along it, and it had quickly become one of Katara’s favorite spots not only to bend and spar, but to also just unwind and relax.

“Kataraaaaa,” Aang called out, pushing away the vines that covered the entrance to her little nook. “Where’d you go, sweetie?” He could hear the burbling of the water as it flowed over the rocks under its surface as well as the soft croaks of the frogs who called it home. He had to be getting close.

“Over here, Aang!”

The airbender’s head perked up in the direction of her voice and he grinned widely when he saw her, pleasantly surprised.

Katara’s eyes were still closed, her features serene from her seat on top of a round, flat boulder overlooking a wider part of the stream. She had obviously been meditating, but that wasn’t quite what shocked Aang the most.

Instead of her traditional fur-lined Water Tribe garb, she was wearing Air Nomad robes in warmer shades of yellow, orange, and dark red like the fall leaves. Her swollen belly poked out from under the loose layers of fabric, and she had never looked so beautiful to Aang (except maybe on their wedding day).

“Hey, Tara,” the airbender murmured, walking up to her. He gave her a hug from behind and pressed a kiss to her temple, one of his hands interlocking with hers around the middle of her stomach while the other rested on top of her bump.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Quite early to be all the way out here, no?”

Katara slowly fluttered her eyelids open, the corners of her mouth turning up as she leaned back against him. “Well, your child wouldn’t stop kicking me and woke me up, so I figured we’d try and relax for some time.”

Aang pouted. “Why is she always my child when she’s bothering her amazing and beautiful mom?”

“Because he gets it from his dad,” she deadpanned in response.

“Meanie.” Aang gave her a look and stuck his tongue out at her, causing them both to dissolve into laughter.

“Meditating isn’t usually your thing, nor are those,” he pointed out as he gestured to her clothing, an eyebrow quirked. “What brought this on?”

Katara blushed, looking away with a shy smile. “Well, I thought I’d take a page out of your book. Meditating always works for you, so I just figured why not try it? And these I’ve actually been sewing together for the last week or so. I found a pattern in one of the crates we brought over from the Southern Air Temple, and they’re a lot looser and comfier than my normal clothes. I, um, I hope that’s okay?”

“More than okay. The fact that you even cared enough to use the pattern, not to mention how you took my breath away- it’s concerning as an airbender, you know,” Aang grinned as Katara giggled at the last bit.

Suddenly, a frigid gust swept by them, cooling the already chilly morning air and causing the waterbender to shiver as she scooted closer to Aang, seeking his natural body heat.

“Spirits, it’s cold,” she muttered, rubbing her hands up and down the sides of her torso. “I’ve been out of the South Pole too long.”

Aang quickly trotted over to the entrance of the little den where he had set down the blankets and fruits he brought. “I have just the thing.”

He quickly grabbed two of them, one made of polar leopard skins from the Southern Water Tribe and another he had managed to sew using Appa’s shedded fur last spring, and snugly wrapped them around Katara, handing her a moon peach as well as her body warmed back up.

“You really didn’t have to, Aang,” she mumbled, biting into her moon peach and humming contentedly when she tasted its sweetness.

Fruit still in hand, she gave him a slightly awkward side embrace, enveloping him in the blankets with her while he returned the hug and kissed the top of her head, as well as her growing belly.

“Of course I did,” he said looking down at her. “You always work yourself to the bone doing stuff for everyone else, Katara. It’s high time you let someone do the same for you. Especially when you’re carrying such precious cargo.”

Katara rolled her eyes, the pink tint in her cheeks and upturned corners of her mouth giving her true thoughts away.

“Quite the role swap today, eh?” she teased. “Me in airbender robes and meditating while you start to mother everyone?”

“Not everyone,” Aang chuckled. “Just you. You take care of our baby, so I take care of you. Simple as that.”

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Katara sighed. “Can we stay here for a bit?” she asked, leaning into the airbender a little more. “This is nice.”

“It would be my pleasure,” the airbender responded.

The couple did, in fact, end up spending the entire morning at the secluded creek simply relaxing, meditating, and enjoying each other’s company. It wasn’t until Katara’s stomach growled that Aang insisted they head back (“You’re eating for two now, sweetie, c’mon- I’ll even make you some mini fruit pies.”) and have a proper breakfast.

Time quickly flew, and the sun made its way across the cloud-streaked sky as the minutes turned to hours and the afternoon was spent taking a stroll across the island grounds. The training arena and meditation pavilion had been coming along quite nicely, and soon some Acolytes would be able to move in from the other temples, Aang remarked at some point.

Alas, eventually duties called, and by dinner time, the airbender was holed up in his office, back hunched over a stack of documents illuminated by a small candle on his desk.

Though he certainly didn't regret the day's adventures, they had put him back significantly. The council had been assigning more paperwork lately with even tighter deadlines in preparation for the unveiling of new city infrastructure, like the ferry to the island, and it was driving Aang crazy. He barely got any time away from his Avatar duties as it was, and this just added to the pressure.

Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring!

Aang snapped out of his thoughts, startled by the chimes of the bell tower on the mainland and quickly counted how many he heard.

“12?! ” he thought to himself. “ How is it already midnight? I’m barely halfway through! ”

The airbender groaned, dropping his head onto the desk with a loud thump. All he wanted was to be next to his wife in their bed right now, and he couldn't even have that!

As if telepathically summoned by that last thought, Aang suddenly felt her soft hands on his shoulders, massaging them as they both sighed softly.

"You need a break," she whispered as she alleviated some of the stress held in his back. "You're so tense."

"Believe me, I know," the airbender muttered. "I wish I could just leave this all and take a break from work already."

"Well, why don't you?"

Aang turned his head to look at her as if she had just grown a third arm. "I'm the Avatar. I can't. This needs to be done."

She rolled her eyes, gaze still focused on kneading the knots in his shoulder blades. "Please, the world managed to go an entire century without the Avatar. I'm sure the council members can stand to wait a day without some lousy paperwork."

"But-"

"No buts," Katara harrumphed. "You're the Avatar! You're the one fighting for workers to have shorter work weeks and less hours so that they can be home with their families! Why not apply the same to yourself?"

Aang frowned. She did have a point. Technically speaking, he could easily skive off the paperwork and the council wouldn't be able to do anything. After all, he was the Avatar. Avatar Kuruk certainly had no problem with it (though that was a frequent point of contention between him and the other Avatars).

"People are relying on me to get this done, Tara. I can't disappoint them."

Abruptly stopping her movements on his back, Katara grabbed the documents and held them out of reach of the airbender.

"I'm going to tell you exactly what's going to happen now,” she huffed. “You are going to forget about these documents tonight. Tomorrow, if and when the council asks, you are going to tell them that everyone is taking the next week off because of how overworked they are. But for right now, you are coming with me for some nice, relaxing midnight waterbending. No sparring, just an orb of water back and forth.”

Aang opened his mouth to argue but faltered, seeing the determined look on Katara’s face. Instead, he just shook his head and chuckled.

“My wife, the epitome of responsibility and good work ethic, is not only encouraging, but actively telling me to blow off work and waterbend with her? Who are you and what have you done with Katara?”

The waterbender blushed, but the fire in her eyes did not die down one bit. “Maybe it’s this baby, maybe it’s the full moon, but you were the one who showed me how to have fun when I needed it, Aang. Now it’s my turn to return the favor.”

Aang sighed and set down his pen as he stood up.

“Lead the way.”

Katara eagerly took his outstretched arm and pulled him in the direction of the cove. On the southern tip of the island, surrounded by rocky cliffs on either side, there was a small lagoon, heated by the same source as that of the hot springs along the stream they had visited earlier. As a result, the water was comfortably warm all year round, and was incredibly effective for relaxing the mind, body, and soul.

The two arrived in mere minutes and the heat immediately had its desired effect. Tension evaporated away like water on hot coals as the two entered the steam and began to strip into their waterbending clothes, Katara in her bindings, slightly modified to accommodate her growing bump, and Aang in his undergarments.

The full moon reflected brightly off the surface of the water, creating an almost halo-like effect around the two benders as they entered the shallow end and began passing around a ball of water.

They easily settled into a consistent rhythm, moving back and forth in time with the ocean tide pushing and pulling around their feet. It was almost hypnotic in a way, and the monotonous motion calmed Aang’s erratic thoughts.

His head now far clearer, the airbender flicked his wrist, splashing a bit of water in Katara’s face.

“Did you just-” she asked in shock

He gave her a cheesy grin. “Maybe.”

“Oh, it is on.”

Instead of passing the ball of water back to Aang, Katara held it over his head, smiling devilishly.

“You wouldn’t,” Aang gasped.

“Wouldn’t I?” she smirked.

Without another word, Katara released her hold, and the sphere splashed down onto Aang, leaving the airbender soaked and spluttering.

“Two can play at that game.”

Aang swept his hands from side to side in a large motion that caused the water around Katara to rise higher and higher, soaking her from the hips down.

The waterbender began to form her counter to it, a large wave building behind Aang out of his line of sight, without realizing that the water around her had suddenly receded as he had the same idea.

The two simultaneously released their grips, and their waves swept over both of them, submerging them for all of a few seconds before the water settled and they came up for air. They were left sitting on their butts, completely soaked with their knees and torso mostly submerged, and burst into laughter.

“So much for some peaceful waterbending,” Katara chuckled.

“It may not have been peaceful, but it was exactly what I needed,” the airbender smiled. “Thank you, sweetie.”

“Of course,” she yawned, making Aang yawn as well.

“Looks like it’s time for bed,” he murmured, eyes bleary.

“It’s a warm night,” Katara said as she stood up. “Maybe we could sleep out here?”

Aang quickly strode through the water onto shore, Katara right behind him, and turned towards her, kissing her forehead.

“Cuddling and sleeping under the stars with my beautiful wife? Sounds absolutely perfect. Let me just get some pillows from the temple.”

“Oh, no, Aang, you’re already tired and worked so much today, you don’t have to do that-”

“Ah,” he interrupted. “My job to take care of you. Besides, the jog will help me sleep faster,” he winked, running off towards the spire.

Within a few minutes, he had gone and returned, pillows and blankets in tow, and the two quickly set up a little sleeping area on the beach so that they could finally settle down for the night.

“Ah,” Aang sighed as the two lay down on their sides and began to close their eyes. “The council might be mad, but you know what? Screw it, I’d take waterbending with you over boring paperwork any day."

“Well, I should hope so. I’d like to think I’m more exciting than paperwork,” she smiled, giving him a soft nudge. “You know, it’s not every day we get a whole day like this and it means a lot. You mean a lot. I love you, Aang. I hope you know that.”

“I do,” he smiled and leaned down to press a kiss to her stomach. “I love you too, Katara. You and our precious baby. Sweet dreams, love.”

“Sweet dreams.”

#kataang week #kataang week 2021 #kataangtag #kataang #aang x katara #midnight waterbending #aang #katara #pregnancy fluff #bc yes #4 am ramblings #wrote this way later than i should've #atla fanfiction

[armallo-and-roul]

I posted 1,998 times in 2021

177 posts created (9%)

1821 posts reblogged (91%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 10.3 posts.

I added 428 tags in 2021

#roul - 72 posts

#mine - 55 posts

#asks - 45 posts

#answered - 44 posts

#armie - 42 posts

#ia - 40 posts

#armallo - 38 posts

Gone for reasons

#important - 30 posts

#julian - 26 posts

Longest Tag: 89 characters

Gone for same reason

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Giving digital another try! Deciding on colors is so hard though.

31 notes • Posted 2021-03-02 01:08:12 GMT

#4

Happy Birthday, Julian!!!

Reposting this magician role swap artwork from last year, because it still really makes me smile ÚwÙ

35 notes • Posted 2021-03-12 14:49:54 GMT

#3

Okay I am still trying to understand how to use my new markers and to get them blended. But here’s a colored in Armie from yesterday!

39 notes • Posted 2021-01-12 14:43:09 GMT

#2

The face you make when you go through the McDonald’s drive thru and don’t realize until you’re home that they didn’t give you your sweet n sour sauce @thearcanagame

46 notes • Posted 2021-02-01 03:14:07 GMT

#1

Armallo Masterpost

Armallo Sairo DePaolo (Ar-mall-oh)

Nickname: Armie

The cheerful apprentice intent on figuring out his past...

Zodiac: Cancer 6/22

Patron Arcana: The Fool (an otter)

Favorite food: Laulau

Favorite drink: honey green tea

Favorite flower: white orchid

Favorite color: pale blue

Age: 26

Gender: male (he/him)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Familiar: Neró the gecko

Alignment: neutral good

Personality Type: ENFP

Race: human

Ethnicity: Hawaiian

Voice claim: Moe Keale

Appearance:

Height: 6’-0” (183 cm)

Weight: 320 lbs

Physical: He’s obese, but he still has muscle underneath and can easily do things. He is from a fictional Hawaii, so he has a deep tan complexion. He has curly teal hair that is shoulder length. Most of the times he has it styled in a half down half top knot. He has somft cheeks with dimples, plump lips, and kind eyes that are almost always squinting from smiling. His eye color is a vibrant green.

He wears sleeveless shirts mainly, and shorts/traditional Hawaiian sarongs(skirts). Most of his clothes are adorned with floral patterns. His favorite color is blue, which he wears a lot of.

Personality:

Armie is extremely extroverted. He’s the person to greet the new kid at school, give you his seat, and make you feel welcome and loved. He’s the one to make sure every voice is heard. If someone is trying to speak, he will make sure the others stop so they can. The smile on his face is 100% genuine. He’s consistently putting out good vibes for people to use if needed. He’s your shoulder to cry on, a friend talk to, a teddy bear to cuddle, someone to always lean on. He makes no hesitation to call someone a friend. Can’t afford lunch? Armie’s got you. Need a safe place to live? Armie’s got you. He’s the person you meet and think “Yeah, there’s still good people in the world.” There’s no secret agenda behind him, he just is that nice.

Random Facts:

Armie’s very close with Water. He loves to do water dancing. He also loves singing and dancing in general. He’s the first person out on the dance floor. He rarely feels embarrassed or shamed. He always wears a painted pink kukui bead bracelet in memory of his homeland. He LOVES to go to the coliseum and watch wrestling, getting drunk off beer. Summertime is his absolute favorite, he goes to the beach a lot and lays out.

Family:

Mother: Lahela

Father: Kaimana

Older Brother: Abrec | Wife: Lani | Son: Makaio | Daughter: Makana

Younger sister: Arapha

Aunt: Lekika

Ships:

Nadia, Julian, Asra

Lake @sephet

A whole array of @cinnella’s ocs

(Open to any oc ships!)

Prologue:

Armie was a gifted magician in his homeland. He inherited the magic shop from his aunt when she decided to retire. He took a boat to Vesuvia, where he met his friend, Roul. After arriving in Vesuvia, he met another of his friends, Awanata. Soon after the main story of the Arcana follows.

Epilogue:

Armie returns to his homeland with his LI to rediscover his lost memories. His family is shocked to find him alive and well. He goes to a special cove and prays to the water spirits there to return his memories.

NSFW Headcannons: MINORS DNI

https://armallo-and-roul.tumblr.com/post/641865000639692800/armallos-nsfw-headcannons

52 notes • Posted 2021-01-11 19:22:55 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #fuck you viking #ruining my life #she’s the reason the two parts are removed

[rinusagitora]

You’re in all my dreams.

Fandom: Bleach

Characters: Karin Kurosaki, Toushirou Hitsugaya, Momo Hinamori, OC- Mae Izumi

Pairings: HitsuKarin

Words: 2.2k

Summary: Shinigami!Karin AU. For HitsuKarin Week 2021. WARNINGS- mentions of suicide, dysfunctional families; Karin graduates Shin'ou and shares her dreams with Toushirou.

AO3

For the last six years, Karin dreamed of the day she’d graduating from cadet to officer and don the shihakusho like everyone she ever admired.

It was an anxious future filled with wonder and promise she never knew back in the World of the Living. Going from cadet to captain of a small force was going to be quite the culture shock, perhaps even more than the cold water of the river where she drowned. But she made it, and it made her much more confident in her ability. Officers were chosen from a pool of graduates and turnover was infrequent since few officers passed away in peacetime. It made competition fierce and even rarer that a graduate obtained a seated position out of the gate.

She was equal parts nervous and excited. For the time being, all Karin wanted to do was enjoy the graduation bonfire.

Mae toppled onto the log, sloshing rice wine onto Karin’s lap. She laughed. “I’m sorry! I’m sooo hammered.”

“No worries. I think I’ve puked on you more times than you’ve spilled on me.”

“Indeed, we swapped roles tonight.” Mae tapped Karin’s nose. “Tonight, of all nights, you choose to be reserved. Why?”

Karin hummed and swirled beer. “I’m nervous, I think.”

“It’s a big change.” Mae looked over the crowd. “Where are Hinamori-fukutaichou and Hitsugaya-taichou? I expected them, of all people, to be here.”

Karin’s reikaku grazed the crowd. Momo was there, just chaperoning. Keeping firelight between bodies like a puritan. Perhaps rightfully so. They were the new faces of the Seireitei. It was better not to romp in the woods right over poison ivy before recruitment day. Pussy itch was a different kind of awful. The kind of awful where Karin, who was once impaled, ended up curling up on the floor crying while Izuru healed her crotch and Shuuhei and Renji laughed in the next room.

The crowd parted for Momo like river water around stones. She stopped before Karin, and Karin smiled at her mentor. “Hi, Momo-senpai.”

Mae nodded. "Hinamori-sama."

"Izumi-chan, I hope you're enjoying the festivities."

"Oddly enough. It's strange letting loose… but I see where Karin-chan's alcoholism comes from. Dancing while intoxicated is liberating."

"Indeed." Nonetheless, Momo cocked her head and curiously looked over Karin. Karin knew the jig was up from there. She and Ryuuji were normally in the center of the action, and Karin hadn't so much as howled or toasted once that evening.

“Leave us, Izumi-chan.”

Mae managed to right herself and bowed to excuse herself. Gracefully, Momo took a seat beside Karin as she cursed internally. She didn't want to talk about it, but Momo always dragged out her bad feelings and laid them in the open.

“It’s odd you’re not out enjoying the festivities. This is your… thing.”

“It’s just really hitting me that I’m going to be a shinigami,” Karin told Momo. “I’ve been working toward this goal for six years. What do I do from here?”

Momo laughed. “Six years is a blink of an eye for the majority of us.” She held Karin’s shoulders. “There will be plenty to do, Karin-chan.”

“I can’t believe we’re all in a squad just after graduation, though.”

“Who? Izumi and Kawashima?” Karin hummed affirmatively in response to Momo, who then grinned. “Believe it or not, Iba-taichou wanted Watanabe. I think Watanabe is in for a reality check.”

“You are far too happy over that.” Karin couldn’t help but share Momo’s thrill, however. Chousuke Watanabe was a thorn in her side for six years, being her friend Ryuuji’s tormentor. Tetsuzaemon would straighten him out. The very picture of manhood and chivalry according to Momo. It was far too rewarding imagining Chousuke getting reamed by a six-foot wall of meat and battle scars.

"Bias is something I never shied away from. It's been a driving force in my life, for better or worse." Momo kissed Karin's forehead. "For best, in your case. You've been family since the moment I laid eyes on you, Karin-chan. My own in many ways. Every obstacle you've faced, you've overcome, and are better for it. I am so proud of how far you've come, and I'm so glad to have played a part in it."

Karin smiled bashfully. At least she had Momo.

Momo lovingly jostled Karin. There it was. Momo buttered up Karin just enough and was about to get her to bust open a can of worms. "What's on your mind?"

"I just… I thought Toushirou would be here. I haven't seen him all day today."

"I'm not supposed to tell you, but," Momo whispered, grinning, "he's preparing something special. Be patient."

Her heart pattered. "Oh." Of course he was. She was a little ashamed that hadn't occurred to her earlier as if they hadn't developed years of trust and affection, or at least a solid friendship. Nonetheless, Momo stroked Karin's hair, reminding her she was only human, that something so little wouldn't ruin everything.

Speaking of… Karin picked up on a familiar, icy reiatsu approaching. It was Toushirou, still in uniform. She smiled and Momo tapped her on her nose.

"See?"

"Not yet, but he's coming." Momo only rolled her eyes in response to Karin's lame joke.

"I'll leave you now. Enjoy your night, Karin-chan."

"Thanks, Senpai. I love you."

"And I love you."

Toushirou was still in uniform with his hands tucked into his sleeves. As he passed, Karin's fellow cadets parted and bowed to him. He ignored the attention, however, instead sporting a smile as he found Karin on her log.

He'd undergone hormone therapy in recent years to trigger a growth spurt. And he'd grown up to be a handsome young man, with looks rivaling stars in the World of the Living with access to renowned surgeons.

"I hope you've been enjoying yourself," he said. He took a seat next to her. He smelled like flowers. "I never attended these things, truthfully."

"Did you want to try dancing?" Karin asked.

"Well… I don't know," he said. Toushirou pulled a modest bouquet of daffodils from his sleeve, tied off with a turquoise ribbon. "It's not a big gift, I know, but I hope it reminds you that you're always welcome in juubantai."

Gingerly, Karin took his bouquet and smelled them. They smelled like spring. "I love them," she said. "Thank you."

She pressed a kiss against Toushirou's cheek, and he happily hummed. "I'm glad you like them. It's hard buying gifts for you."

"As if."

"It's true," he replied. "All Matsumoto wants is a day off, Hinamori loves spices and tobacco, and the boys are happy with some sake. You, on the other hand, easily get your hands on sake and tobacco, and hate downtime." Toushirou crossed his legs. "I should've consulted my sister."

Karin frowned. "But I like them…"

"The flowers? But they're such a lazy gift," he scoffed.

"I like everything you give me." She smiled. "Really, thank you. I love them."

He laughed bashfully. "Well, I'm glad."

Together they sat amid drums and singing and firelight, swaying with it, until Toushirou asked, "I don't want to take you from your friends, but I’m not enjoying myself here. Do you mind going elsewhere?"

"We can leave," Karin said. "Where do you want to go?"

"Someplace quiet where we can see the stars."

Her cheeks were warm at the idea. How romantic.

Karin bashfully followed behind Toushirou, holding his hand as he guided her away from the bonfire. When it was dark, he illuminated the way with kidou, assured in every step. A gorgeous man. He'd grown into his looks. His cheekbones were high, his shoulders broad. She could swoon until early morning over his handsome shape.

Up a hill, through a grove, and up a steep path, until they reached the peak of a sheer cliff. The stars above looked like a river of life. They didn't twinkle but were a steady pathway carved in the sky. Karin fell onto the grass and marveled. "Wow. When did you find this, Toushirou?"

"Not long ago. I wouldn't keep this from you  without a good reason." He smiled at her. Sitting, he said, "Do you like it?"

"Yes!" Karin nigh tackled Toushirou and kissed his cheek. "It's beautiful."

"I should've brought wine."

"This is perfect." Karin laid her head on Toushirou's shoulder. Together they stared into the stars. She searched for constellations but found none she recognized. "Do you think the World of the Living and the Soul Society have different stars?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. No one spends time looking up in the Soul Society. Those who do, don't seem to have the technology contributing to significant findings," Toushirou replied. "I'm not much of an astronomer either."

"You're a man of the law."

He laughed bashfully. "Aye."

Karin drew pictures in the stars herself. Birds, men, kitchenware, like she remembered from her human life not so long ago. Six years was nothing compared to how long her peers lived, was it? Not Momo, who was approaching a century and a half. Not even Toushirou, well into his seventies by that point. But Karin couldn’t remember the names of the stars or where to find them in the sky. How much longer did she have until she overwrote their patterns with other things? How much longer until her sad mortal history was forgotten in a sea of everything else?

There weren’t immediate answers to her questions, but Karin was fine with that. She said, "I remember hoping a rope would drop from the sky and drag me by the neck. Put me out of my misery."

"Understandable," Toushirou replied.

"I'm so much happier here. It's not always easy, but..."

"Slow and steady?"

"Yeah. Slow and steady wins the race. And I'm glad to be with you for it."

"So," Toushirou said, "no more sky-ropes to hang you until you're dead?"

She giggled. "Not anymore. I don't fancy myself a pirate, anyway."

He hummed. "I had a dream some time ago. Similar to yours... although I remember it being less grizzly," Toushirou confessed. She pulled her gaze from the starlight and saw him cloaked in darkness. Still, his eyes shined with wonder. Adoration. "A dream that assured me you're the love of my life."

"Go on," she said.

"I was being puppeteered by the sky. Dragged around day in and day out. And I saw the strings on you, into the sky as far as my eyes could see. And yet despite time, and fate, and all the horridness that plagued life for some time, we fought to be together." He clasped her hand. "Our strings became tangled and pink like cherry blossoms in spring. Like sunset. And... and I never want those strings freed." His blue-green eyes met hers. They made her melt like her body was hot wax in a leather bag. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Karin."

It felt like forever before she caught her breath. She asked, "Are you proposing?"

"If that's all it takes to spend the rest of my life by your side, and you at my side, I'll fetch a ring now. Propose properly in front of as many people as you like.”

Karin giggled. Picturing Toushirou hopping onto a bar counter, sake raised high, and screaming how deeply he was in love with Karin to their loved ones and peers, was quite a sight to behold! Yet, as anxious as he was to do so, she replied with, "Not at all. But let's make plans down the road. When I'm settled in."

"Of course." Toushirou sighed happily. They kissed. "I'm so in love with you, Karin."

"And I love you."

"I could stay here forever."

Karin hummed. “We have forever to do that…”

He turned to meet her gaze. “But?”

“I want to do more.” She sat up. “We work because we’re more than just lovers. We’re friends, confidants, partners. Warriors and artists and scholars.”

“Of course,” he agreed, propping himself on his palm.

“I want to be married, and I want forever with you, as much as I want-”

Toushirou said, completing Karin’s statement, “More.” He held her hand then. “It’s one of the reasons I love you. My recruitment was necessary. Yours is nothing but-”

“Desire.” She gazed into the stars, searching for divination in the blanket covering a slowly rotating plane.

“Then what more do you want?”

“To give justice and safety to those who have been and yet to be hurt. No one should suffer as I, and we have. I want to tear down the caste system here. Hold nobility responsible for their actions and give power back to the people, and eradicate the symbols of fascism and cruelty. I want to reconnect families. To make the Rukongai safe, so no one’s starving or resorting to crime to survive. And…” Karin turned to Toushirou, her breath stilling as she saw his eyes swimming with adoration. “And I want to mold the next generation to dream as I now dream, and to better the world. And I want to do all of it with you beside me, Toushirou. As equals.”

Toushirou cupped her cheek. He kissed her, and she held his sleeve. “Let’s do it. Together,” he said. Their foreheads touched. “Together always.”

#bleach #shinigami karin au #hitsukarin #hitsukarinweek2021 #karin kurosaki #toshiro hitsugaya #momo hinamori #oc: mae izumi

[triffysells]

KHDDD Riku Plush Crochet Pattern

The second entry in my KH character plushie series, Riku KingdomHearts!! (again) (but this time he’s sleepy)

This pattern and the resulting doll was my entry to March Caprice 2021!!

The main parts of this pattern are inspired by SirPurlGrey’s free bunny pattern, found here! This pattern would have been SO impossible without the solid base his work provides, so check him out if you like the style!

MATERIALS:

- crochet hook (I use a F5 3.75mm)

- tapestry needle

- worsted/size 4 yarn (blue, black, skintone, silver, white, yellow, teal recommended) though larger yarn means larger Riku (I use mostly Caron Simply Soft yarn because it’s very soft, but it tends toward a light 4 weight)

- stuffing/polyfill

SKILL LEVEL: intermediate, but I doubt skill level has ever stopped a Riku stan

GLOSSARY:

ch = chain

slst = slip stitch

sc = single crochet

hdc = half double crochet

dc = double crochet

tc = treble crochet

inc = increase (two of the most recent crochet into a single stitch)

dec = decrease (one of the most recent crochet in two stitches, only pulling through after both)

d3c = threecrease (one of the most recent crochet in three stitches, only pulling through after both)

“front of chain” = the V-shaped loops

“back of chain” = the single loop not a part of the V-shape

isc = in the second chain from the hook

HEAD in hair (A) and skin (B) color

 note: your hairline may vary based on the gauge of your stitches - feel free to freeform where you change colors, it doesn’t make THAT big a difference

1. A 6sc on magic ring  (6)

2. A 6inc  (12)

3. A (sc, inc) x 6  (18)

4. A (2sc, inc) x 6  (24)

5. A (3sc, inc) x 6  (30)

6-7. A 10sc, B 9sc, A 11sc  (30)

8. A 8sc, 2inc, B 9sc, A sc, 2inc, 8sc  (34)

9. A 12sc, B 10sc, A 12sc  (34)

10. A 12sc, B 3sc, inc, 2sc, inc, 3sc, A 12sc  (36)

11. A 12sc, B 12sc, A 12sc  (36)

12. A (4sc, dec) x 2, B 4sc, 2dec, 4sc, A (dec, 4sc) x 2  (30)

13. A (3sc, dec) x 2, B 3sc, 2dec, 3sc, dec, A 3sc, dec, 3sc  (24)

14. A (2sc, dec) x 2, B (2sc, dec) x 2, sc, A sc, dec, 2sc, dec  (18)

15. B (sc, dec) x 6  (12)

 slst to finish off, leave a long tail for sewing

BODY in light blue (A), black (B), white (C), and yellow (D)

  For neat color transitions, slst and finish off at the end of Round 7 and every round after

1. A 6sc on magic ring  (6)

2. A 6inc  (12)

3. A (sc, inc) x 6  (18)

4. A (2sc, inc) x 6  (24)

5-6. A sc around  (24)

7. A (4sc, dec) x 4  (20)

8. B (8sc, dec) x 2  (18)

9. (C 7sc, D 2sc) x 2  (18)

10. (C 7sc, D dec) x 2  (16)

11. (C sc, dec, 2sc, dec, D sc) x 2  (12)

 slst and finish off

ARMS (make two) in skin (A) and wristband (B) color

1. A 6sc on magic ring  (6)

2. A (sc, inc) x 3  (9)

3. A sc around, slst and finish off  (9)

4. B dec, 7sc  (8)

5. B slst around, slst and finish off  (8)

6. A sc around  (8)

7. A (2sc, dec) x 2  (6)

 slst to finish off, leave a long tail for sewing

LEGS (make two) in black (A), yellow (B), white (C), and light blue (D)

1. A 6sc on magic ring  (6)

2. A 6inc  (12)

3. A sc, (sc, 2hdc) in next st, (2hdc, sc) in next st, sc 

  this round is left intentionally incomplete, to shape the shoe

 slst and finish off

4. In back loops only, B 2sc, 2dec, 5sc, dec, 3sc, slst and finish off  (13)

5. C 7sc, (d3c) x 2  (9)

6. C 7slst, dec  (8)

7. C sc around, slst and finish off  (8)

8. D sc around  (8)

 slst to finish off, leave a long tail for sewing

HAIR (top) in hair color

1. ch4. Into the back of the chain, 2sc and inc. Turn, into the front, 2sc and inc.  (9)    You should now have an oval. The inc from the back of the chain and first sc into the front are effectively into the same stitch, with the yarn tail pulled under in between them to keep it neat and out of the way.

2. Skip one stitch, (inc, 2sc, inc) x 2  (12)

3. (inc, 3sc, inc, sc) x 2  (16)

4. (sc, inc, 4sc, inc, sc) x 2  (20)

5. (2sc, inc, 5sc, inc, sc) x 2  (24)

6. (3sc, inc, 6sc, inc, sc) x 2  (28)

 Now We’re Into The Spikes Oh No

S1. 3sc, ch9, into the front of the chain isc 2sc, 3hdc, 3dc, then slst onto main hair

S2. sc, ch5, into the back of the chain isc hdc, dc, 2inc, on main hair skip one then slst

S3. Turn the hair over, then onto S2 sc, sc into the closer loop, ch2, turn the hair back rightside, isc sc, then into the already made portion of S3 hdc, dc, slst onto main hair

S4. Turn the hair over, then onto S3 sc, sc into the closer loop, ch3, turn the hair back rightside, isc sc, hdc, dc, inc, on main hair skip one then slst

S5. ch4, into the front of the chain isc sc, hdc, dc, slst onto main hair

S6. ch6, into the front of the chain isc 2sc, 2hdc, dc, slst onto main hair

S7. sc, ch9, into the back of the chain isc 2sc, 3hdc, 3dc, slst onto main hair

S8. sc, ch6, into the front of the chain isc sc, 2hdc, 2dc, slst onto main hair

S9. sc, ch7, into the back of the chain isc sc, 2hdc, 3dc, on main hair skip one then slst

S10. Turn the hair over, then onto S9 4sc, sc into the closer loop, ch1, 2sc into the already made portion of S10, 3hdc, slst onto main hair

S11. sc, ch7, into the front of the chain isc sc, hdc, 4dc, slst onto main hair

S12. sc, ch7, into the back of the chain isc sc, hdc, 4dc, slst onto main hair

S13. sc, ch6, into the front of the chain isc sc, 4hdc, slst onto main hair

S14. Turn the hair over, then onto S13 3sc, sc into the closer loop, ch2, isc sc, 2hdc, dc, inc, on main hair skip one then slst

S15. sc, ch6, into the back of the chain isc sc, 2hdc, 2dc, slst onto main hair and finish off

 Sew together S11 and S12 to make one U shaped spike!

HAIR (bottom) in hair color

1. ch13, isc sc12

2-4. ch1, sc11

S1. ch4, into the front of the chain isc sc, hdc, dc, on main hair skip one then slst

S2. slst, ch5, into the back of the chain isc 2sc, 2hdc, slst onto main hair

S3. ch6, into the back of the chain isc hdc, 2dc, 2tc, on main hair skip two then slst

S4. ch5, into the front of the chain isc 2sc, 2hdc, slst onto main hair

S5. slst, ch4, into the back of the chain isc sc, hdc, dc, on main hair skip one then slst

 ch1, cut, and pull to finish off

ASSEMBLY

I don’t imagine there’s a wrong way to sew parts on, so beginners can relax - as long as it’s attached it’s probably fine??? Just don’t tie any knots until you’re sure you’ve placed the part correctly!! (I know this from experience…) Note that you can add the face details before stuffing so that you can reach the other side to tie any knots better, but I prefer to add the face after so I can use the hair as a guide.

Body: Stuff and attach the head and body! They should have the same number of stitches at their openings, so they can be attached evenly. You can sew partially then finish stuffing if you find you’re having trouble keeping the stuffing in. Make sure the face side of the head matches one of the white sides of the body, not the yellow!

Limbs: Stuff and sew the arms and legs onto the torso; make sure the legs are positioned well to keep Riku sitting up rather than tilting to the front or back!

Hair: Godspeed. The hair is tough to assemble - first sew on the bottom hair (flat piece) on the back of Riku’s head, ensuring the little bottom spikes are positioned to your liking near the back of the head. Then use his bangs and the spikes that frame his face to position the top hair. Sew down whatever spikes you feel are pointing outward too much! You can use the hair colored yarn, or a same-color thread. Just a few knots here or there will secure it well enough.

DETAILS

Face: For the eyes, you can use yarn, thread, or sew on felt or buttons! I embroider with some teal thread, but you could creatively swap for yellow or Dream Eater pink! For the mouth, you can use a little bit of black thread or fray apart some black yarn. You can also add some eyebrows with hair color yarn if you want an expression like angry or sad.

Shoelaces: Riku has his shoelaces wrapped around his shoes! You can mimic this by taking a 12in piece of black yarn and wrapping it around his ankle a few times before tying a bow on top. A longer piece of yarn will allow for more wraps around.

Collar: His big dumb popped collar! You can use black yarn to ch16, isc inc, 13sc, inc, leave a long tail to sew it around his neck

Sigil: Riku is literally a Dream Eater! He turned into one! Wild! Love that for him. You can cut a little Dream Eater sigil out of felt or another fabric and sew it on! With my Rikus, it needs to be about 1/2 inch tall - very small and hard to cut! You could also try to embroider one on with yarn or thread.

Wings: I LOVE designs for Dream Eater Riku that take Rising Wing and his association to Komory Bats to a whole new level. If you also are a being of taste, consider adding some wings to your Riku!

That’s it!! You’ve finished your very own plush Riku doll! He is small and squeezable and snzzzzzz...

If you have any questions about any part of this pattern, you can contact me on my twitter!

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If you want to link/share this post, please do! But if you want a version of this pattern on some other site, please do not repost it. Contact me, and I’ll see if I can work out posting it on wherever else. Thank you!

I make this and all future such character doll patterns free because everyone deserves a little plushie of their fave, but if you wanna support my work you can buy plushies from my Etsy or buy me a coffee! <3

#riku #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts ddd #kh #khddd #kh3d #kingdom hearts dream drop distance #dream drop distance #free pattern #amigurumi #crochet #amigurumi pattern #crochet pattern #handmade

[geminiamethyst]

Momoharu Week 2021. Day 7: Talent Swap/Free Day

Warning: characters will be a little OOC but I’ll try to keep that to a minimum.

This takes place before the 2nd trial.

Kaito usually wasn’t one to run away. If anything, he’d rather stand on his own two feet and fight to see another day. However, this wasn’t one of those times.

He didn’t know how it happened, or why, but Gonta was on a rampage. Not a murderous rampage, but he had been running around and grabbing anyone he could get his hands on. Kaito tried warning Shuichi, but was forced to abandon him as Gonta carried him off the to Ultimate Entomologist Research Lab. Gonta seemed to had settled down, but only for a minute. Now Kaito was once again running from the giant. He ran as fast as he could. He was heading to his own Research Lab to hide. He had been keeping everyone out of it so far, so Gonta shouldn’t think to go there. If he does, Kaito will have to scare him off somehow. Without being over the top.

Kaito ran into the main building, just hearing Gonta starting to chase him. He’ll have to hurry up and get to his lab. However, Kaito skidded to a stop as he heard someone coming up the stairs from the basement. He waited until he saw a familiar girl with long dark hair that was tied back into two ponytail with a star hair clip and a skirt that had a constellation pattern. Maki Harukawa. She didn’t seem to notice Kaito as she had her nose stuck in a book that she took from the library. She was walking towards his direction, seeming to be without much care in the world.

Kaito didn’t know what to do at that moment. Warn Maki about Gonta? Or use her as a scapegoat to get to the safety of his Lab? Kaito didn’t have much time to ponder over that as he suddenly heard Gonta coming to his direction from around the corner. Throwing all of his dignity away, he dived into the girls bathroom, where he had been standing next to. Since Gonta was doing his best to be a gentleman, he’ll never look inside the bathroom. However, Kaito peeked through a slit in the door. Maki was still making her way towards his direction, continuing to be wrapped up in her reading. Kaito felt like if she got caught, it wouldn’t be his problem. However, something told him that he should spare her from whatever it is that Gonta was doing. Ignoring his original plan to use her as a scapegoat, when she got close enough, Kaito flung the door open and dragged her inside. The book she held landed with a soft thud as she dropped it. He held onto her tight, covering her mouth to muffle her surprised yelp. He quickly hushed at her, doing his best to hold her still as she struggled to pull away from him. Holding her steady, Kaito kept an ear out for Gonta. Maki seemed to fall still as she heard the giant’s footsteps as he walked away from their hiding place. They both held their breath, waiting patiently until they could no longer hear Gonta nearby. When the corridor went silent, Kaito breathed a sigh of relief. That didn’t last as he suddenly felt a harsh elbow jab him in the stomach.

“Ow! Son of a bitch!” Kaito exclaimed, immediately letting go of the girl that he had been holding. He rubbed his stomach as he glared at Maki, who was glaring a little herself. “What was that for?!”

“What are you doing, you idiot?! Are you trying to kill me?!” Maki shouted backing away from Kaito.

“If it weren’t for me, you would’ve been grabbed by Gonta!” Kaito argued back, ignoring his internal advice to stay calm. “I don’t know what the hell set him off, but I don’t think you’d want to be in his way!”

“I can take care of myself.” Maki sighed, brushing something off of her skirt.

“I can see that!” Kaito growled, rubbing the forming bruise on his abdomen. “You should be more aware of your surroundings, nerd!” Maki didn’t look impressed, but she didn’t resume the argument. She only silently turned on her heels and left the girls bathroom. Kaito stayed where he was for what felt like an hour when it was several minutes. He wanted to make extra sure that Gonta was gone. If Maki got caught, that’s no skin off his nose. He saved her once, he doesn’t need to do it again. He’s not a hero after all.

Kaito finally left the bathroom. He couldn’t hear Gonta nearby, so he was alright to go hide in his Ultimate Lab. That was what he thought until he looked down at where Maki dropped the book she previously carried. It was gone, meaning that she picked it up. Kaito shrugged it off, or tried to at least. He had still wanted to go to his Ultimate Lab, but something told him to check on Maki. ‘Damn it all.’ Kaito sighed internally as he changed direction. He went outside the main building, heading towards the dormitory. He scanned the surrounding area, keeping an eye out for Gonta and Maki. He would’ve thought that Maki was either caught or was now sleeping in her room. However, he spotted her out on the grass. He quickly climbed up a tree, hiding himself away from Maki in case she felt someone was watching her. She didn’t seem to notice someone spying on her. She was laying on the grass, flat out on her back. She was hugging her book to her chest. She was looking up at the night sky, seeming to be smiling as she was watching them. Kaito never understood anyone’s fascination with the stars, but he wasn’t one to judge people who were like Maki. He didn’t admit it out loud, but he was glad to see her looking so peaceful.

However, for Kaito, that peace was interrupted. He spotted Gonta again. The giant was skulking around, until he started making his way towards Maki. She was too fixated on the stars, not sensing the giant nearby. Kaito once again wanted Gonta to catch her, but he suddenly had the urge to protect her. He didn’t know why, but he just had that feeling. He waited until Gonta was about to walk past the tree that he was hiding in. When Gonta was close enough, Kaito jumped down, landing on his feet effortlessly, surprising the Ultimate Entomologist.

“What are you doing?” Kaito asked, unfazed by Gonta’s surprised look on his face.

“Oh! There you are Kaito! Come! Gonta take you and Maki to Insect Meet and Greet!” Gonta smiled, overcoming his shock.

“No thanks. I want nothing to do with it. And leave Maki be. She’s quite happy right now.” Kaito rejected, stepping back. He pointed behind him to show Gonta his point. “Wouldn’t want to disturb her, would you?” Gonta followed where Kaito was pointing. He spotted Maki and looked conflicted.

“No, but-“ he finally started.

“Do you wanna die?” Kaito suddenly asked, glaring at the giant. He wouldn’t kill Gonta, not really. But he did want to scare him off. And it seemed to work as Gonta suddenly turned pale, his frame starting to tremble. “Now be a gentleman and don’t come anywhere near her.”

“Y-yes sir! Sorry!” Gonta stammered, before he quickly ran away. He was going to the direction towards the gym. Kaito waited for a couple of seconds until he took a deep breath, calming himself down. He felt like he had just showed who he really was, but hopefully, Gonta won’t be smart enough to put two and two together. Kaito looked back out at Maki. She was still laying down, facing the stars. Kaito once again hid in the tree, watching out for her. She was vulnerable and wide open for an attack. Kaito did contemplate killing her, knowing that he might get away with it, but decided not to. There was no point in it.

Kaito continued to look out for Maki. A while ago, he notice that Gonta was chasing Miu only to turn tail after she stripped down to her underwear. The poor guy got flustered and ran off, most likely confused about what he should do in a situation like that. He then ran back to his lab, carrying Angie and Himiko back to his Ultimate Lab. After that, no one seemed to be out and about other than him and Maki. Kaito looked back at her, only to find her asleep. Remembering the night time rule, Kaito immediately walked over to her. She was going to get into trouble for falling asleep outside her room. He stared down at her peaceful, sleeping face. He was going to wake her up, but decided not to. He gently carried her bridal style. He went back to the dormitory, finding her room instantly. Her door was surprisingly unlocked. This took him by surprise as Maki didn’t seem like the type of girl who’d carelessly leave her door open. Kaito shook it off, putting it down to an accident on Maki’s part. He gently placed her on her bed, carefully taking the book that she lightly clutched in her hands and placed it on the bedside table. After covering her up, Kaito glanced down at Maki again. He was worried that she might wake up at that moment, but she was still blissfully whisked away into her dreamland. He briefly wondered if she dreams about the stars, being the Ultimate Astronaut after all. He looked at her face, surprising himself as he thought that she looked quite cute. As soon as he realised that, he shook off those feelings. He felt like a complete idiot for thinking that. But as he looked at her again, he felt...something...strange deep inside him.

Love?

Kaito grumbled at himself and left Maki’s room immediately. He made his way back to his Ultimate Lab, for definite this time. On the way, he was still cursing at himself. Stupid! It can’t be love that he felt, he barely knows the girl. He shouldn’t be falling in love anyway. Besides, even if he loved her, she could never love him.

Who would fall for someone like the Ultimate Assassin anyway?

“Ryoma? What do you want?”

“Kaito, I’ve come to ask about the motive videos.”

Day 1: click HERE

Day 2: click HERE

Day 3: click HERE

Day 4: click HERE

Day 5: click HERE

Day 6: click HERE

#momoharuweek2021

[eury--dice]

glitter and tree branches

happy (belated) holidehs, @singtomeinstead​! thank you so much for your wonderful prompts and your even more wonderful dedication to this beautiful @sincerely-us gift exchange. hope your 2021 is off to a good start <3

(ao3 link in the notes!)

It all starts in Ellison Park.

Maybe that is the one thing, across any universe, that stays the same - that cannot change. No matter how you slice their story, it all starts in Ellison Park. Whether that beginning is a fall from a tree, a single form illuminated against the endless expanse of pink morning sky, or -

This.

It all starts in Ellison Park, 2006, when four families tangentially decide a trip to the park is the perfect spring activity, bundle up their five-year-olds and head off.

The Murphy’s arrive early. Larry guides the car over gravel until stopping, Connor and Zoe’s cheers from the backseat audible to everyone outside. Larry and Cynthia share a tight grin over their excitement, eyes pulled taut from lack of sleep.

“Ice cream!” Zoe shouts, eyes catching on the closed Dell’s lemonade cart just outside the gate. Connor is already chanting “le-mon-ade,” albeit much quieter than his sister. Cynthia raises a hand to massage over her eyes.

“It’s 11 am,” Larry points out. “No ice cream yet, sweetheart.”

“No!” They wail in perfect synchrony, only to promptly forget about sweets as soon as they’re unbuckled from the car and tearing off to the park. Cynthia sighs, gesturing for Larry to follow them while she gets what they need for the day.

Six-year-old Evan Hansen is decidedly a morning person. He has been a morning person since the day of his birth, and he will be one for the rest of his life. So while kids his age nod off against their parent’s shoulders on park benches and in their booster seats, he presses his nose against the window of the car and lets his breath fog it up even though he knows his father will scold him for the messiness later. As soon as they step into the park Evan’s vision tunnels into everything around him, sheer joy taking over as he pulls his hand from his mother’s and takes off towards the nearest tree.

“Evan!” she yelps, momentarily distracted from her argument with Mark. Since Evan normally never darts away from her, she’s caught off guard by his sudden energy, her heart rate skyrocketing with Mark’s words intangible in her ears. But Evan pays her no heed; he just runs, his parent’s arguing fading into the background for the first time he can remember. He stops at one of the trees, laying a palm against it and closing his eyes. Through his fingertips, it’s like he is rooted to the ground; like he himself is steady, consistent, and ready to provide comfort.

Heidi stops in her tracks once she can see that he’s safe, turning to Mark with an “are you seeing this?” expression, but he staunchly refuses to return her gaze.

Jared Kleinman is distinctly not a morning person, much to his friend’s dismay. Their parents always joked about it when they were little more than babies sharing naps in the Kleinman’s living room; Evan fussing at the first sign of light while Jared took more than a fair bit of commotion to so much as stir. So the Kleinman’s amble into the park a little after the Hansen’s, a still sleepy Jared leaning between his moms like a tiny labored soldier. He perks up on hearing Heidi’s voice, attuned to trouble as always, but his mom tightens her grip on his shoulder before he can run forward.

“Plenty of time for that,” she said in an undertone. “I don’t want you bonking your head because you’re sleepy.”

“I won’t,” Jared insists, offended at the mere notion he could mess something up.

His mother studies his eyes for a moment before relenting. “All right. Go see your friend.”

Jared takes off at once, a direct beeline to Evan - so direct that he doesn’t see the child-shaped obstacle in his path, immediately bonking heads and falling back onto his butt on the pavement, two glasses clattering noises filling his ears. “Oh my god,” he hears his other mom groan.

“You should be more careful,” a voice says, little-kid saccharine but mature beyond its years. “You’re Jared, right?”

“Alana! Are you okay?” a man calls at the same time Jared’s mom calls, “I told you!”

Jared hadn’t expected to see Alana Beck from his kindergarten class there, but he did all the same.

“Are you okay?” She says before he can respond. “My head hurts a bit. Does yours?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jared says. “A bit.” He reaches blindly for the first pair of glasses he can vaguely see, but when he puts them on his vision explodes and contorts.

“Are these yours?” they say at the same time, so Jared guesses she must have picked up his. They swap, and Jared frowns at a long scratch in his right lense before putting them back on.

“That’s why you need to look where you’re going,” Alana says, noting his frown. “My grandma says people get hurt when they’re not aware of their surroundings.”

“I guess.” Jared feels a little stunned into silence, even as their parents come over to check them. But finally, he manages to say “Do you want to come play with me and Evan?”

Alana scrunches up her nose, her glasses following. “Evan Hansen?”

“Yeah.”

She thinks on it for a moment, then throws a look to someone who must be her younger sister. “Okay,” she says, and that’s that.

The three unite by Evan’s tree, though Evan is a squirrel so he climbs nearly all the way up while Jared and Alana watch. Alana talks enough for all three of them, jabbering on about her family and what she misses from school now that they’re older, and that seems to ease Evan’s discomfort around a new person. He’s content to climb while they carry the conversation.

All three of their heads turn at the sound of a sudden splash followed by the shouts of two dismayed children. Jared laughs reflexively at the sight of horror on their nearly-identical faces, freckles elongated with their widening mouths. Evan drops down nimbly from the tree almost at once.

“Dad!” the boy calls, hands flying to his short curls to tug, and after a moment they recognize him as another classmate - Connor Murphy, in a different section, known to dominate the monkey bars at recess. “Why’d you throw it in the lake?”

“Emergency landing,” a man with graying hair replies, a little ways off from where Evan’s parents had settled. “Sorry, Con.”

While a few of their parents chuckle, neither of the kids appears sated; in fact, both look close to tears. The three by the tree exchange a look.

“Should we?” Alana says, and Evan nods, Jared already setting off towards the lake.

“What was it?” he asks loudly, once they near the two who lean over the surface of the lake longingly.

Zoe, who he only knew through Connor’s sharing time about his family, shot him a watery glare. “A airplane,” she bites out.

“An airplane,” Alana corrects, though she quiets when she’s on the receiving end of Zoe’s glare.

“We don’t have an airplane,” Evan says, looking between Alana and Jared for confirmation. “But, um…you can play with us?”

The two stare at each other for a beat, still working back tears, before they sigh.

“Not even one airplane?” Connor asks.

“Not even one.”

“My sister might have one,” Alana puts in. “I can ask?”

Connor eyes them warily for a beat before sighing again. “Fine. Zoe?”

“I guess so,” she says, voice small.

Friends acquired…apparently.

***

Most of the time, Zoe wishes she and Connor are real twins.

They feel enough like it - given that they almost always just played with each other - and even looked enough like it, if random people in the supermarket’s judgment could be trusted. People sometimes said they were Irish twins, which Zoe never quite understood, even after Cynthia sat her on the couch and explained the concept to her. Being Irish twins is fine and all, even though only their dad was even a little Irish (thanks, Murphy surname). But it isn’t as good as being a real twin, sharing the birthday she so desperately wants, sharing the grade above her own.

Instead, she’s stuck, out of the loop and behind. Alana comes over in the lunchroom on the days where she can, seemingly only willing to break the rules that keep her separated from everyone else due to grade. Zoe gets quite used to the sight of Alana beelining across the cafeteria, her star-patterned lunchbox unzipped and held to her chest as she weaves around students and faculty alike with a grace that Zoe assumes comes from dance. And she gets used to Alana parking herself right across from her, unzipping a small ziplock bag of baby carrots around the surprised looks of elementary school underclassmen, and saying something along the lines of “did Mrs. Gould teach you about magnets today?” And Zoe takes the offered baby carrot, puts away the felt-tip pen she’s been doodling with, and smiles.

She drags the other three over one day, though Connor’s lips set in annoyance over having to babysit his little sister and Evan’s set in something that looks closer to anxiety, casting anxious glances over to the faculty presiding over the lunchroom. Jared simply throws her an amused smile, squeezing between her and her friend from class and cutting Zoe off with a loud “Howdy!” before she can apologize for his behavior. Evan takes the unoccupied space on her right, his fingers messing with the clasp of his lunchbox. His eyes jump across the faculty members even as Alana and Connor sit across from her. She’s so used to seeing both of them across from her that it takes a moment for her to remember how different they usually are. Alana only ever looks like this, separated by a grainy plastic table and fluorescent lights, but normally she sees Connor under their warm kitchen lights and the honey-colored wood of their kitchen table.

“You don’t have to come over here,” she says quietly, words muffled into the collar of her sweater.

Alana just smiles and launches their normal lunch routine, this time with the added chatter from Connor and Jared, before Evan’s face shifts and Zoe lifts her eyes to see a faculty member appear just behind Alana.

“Aren’t you all at the wrong table?” They say, and the five scatter as quickly as they can, hoping to avoid docked recess as punishment. On the playground, Evan bites the corner of his nail nervously and Connor refuses to look in Zoe’s direction, staring instead towards the faculty hovering by the fences.

So much for trying to spend time together.

Out of school, though - out of school is equal for everyone, regardless of grade. No time to share, no privacy for their conversations, no good locations for their games.

“We should have a secret hiding spot,” Alana declares later that same day. Even from her position hunched under the bunk bed she shares with her younger sister, her voice carries such a sure tone that no one could even disagree.

“Should we all join you?” Jared quips. Connor responds by smacking him lightly on the shoulder.

“Not in my house,” Alana says, and for some reason, Zoe expects an eye roll or something of the sort, but she’s Alana so of course there’s only confidence and surety. “Do you really want my dads hearing everything?”

“We don’t have secrets,” Evan points out from his spot on the floor between Jared and Zoe. His sleeve brushes against Zoe’s when he fidgets, his hands moving his shoulders.

“We could,” Jared says. “How else are we going to steal all the Jell-O from the cafeteria?”

“I think you’re the only person who actually likes that Jell-o,” Zoe says, before immediately regretting it. The words slip through her teeth, liketh thad dell-o, rounded and off compared to all of her friends. Evan’s arm brushes against hers again.

“Of all the criminal plots, Jared,” Connor agrees.

“It’s gross,” Evan adds in an undertone, and Zoe is pretty sure she’s the only one who can hear it.

“But it would be a secret!”

“We’re not going to do that,” Alana says; words getting caught in a sigh. “But wouldn’t it be nice to talk without-”

As if on queue, her younger sister bursts into the room, catapulting herself onto the top bunk with a frightening speed. Evan falls into Jared as she hurtles over them, and Connor jumps practically a foot in the air.

With a comical precision, almost like something actually out of a comic in the paper that Larry loved to hand them on Sunday’s so they could “learn to read a newspaper,” they turn to look at Alana.

“Like I said,” she says, assuming her teacher voice.

“…Well, where?” Jared finally replies. “Our houses don’t work too well.”

“Outside?” Evan suggests hopefully. “Maybe the park?”

“It’s too cold, and our parents can’t always drive us there,” Alana says. “But maybe…hm…

At once, Connor and Zoe’s heads swivel towards each other.

“We have a place,” Connor says slowly, reading understanding on Zoe’s face. “Or…we will.”

Larry has passions that ebb and flow just like Cynthia, and for once Zoe is certain she and her brother are thinking of the same thing; the influx of wood he’d been purchasing recently, the power tools they heard whenever he was off work, the constant questions over whether they wanted to help.

A week later, the five stand in the Murphy’s backyard. Cynthia and Larry observe at a distance, their faces careful as they watch the kid’s reactions but obvious joy in the lines of Larry’s tiny smile.

“Oh my God,” Jared breathes. “Is it real?”

“No, dummy,” Connor says, voice filled with a pompousness that Zoe hates. “We bought a treehouse decal and spent all night getting it up there just to play tricks on you.”

“Don’t be mean, Connor,” Zoe says with the snobbiness she knows he hates. He sticks his tongue out at her in return.

Evan steps forward first, laying his palm against the tree trunk and staring up with a reverence Zoe never expected. He smiles gently, the light brushing his cheeks like burnished bronze, and Zoe looks away with a smile similar to her father’s.

“Well, let’s go,” Connor says, and Evan must take his words as invitation, because he forgoes the ladder and chooses instead to scale the tree limbs until worming his way in through the “window” of the treehouse. Zoe heard something like a fond laugh behind her, most likely her mother’s doing, before she raced off to the tree herself. She did opt for the ladder, however. Connor follows Evan’s dramatics, and Alana and Jared are close on Zoe’s heels.

“Woah,” she hears Alana breathe, and, well. Woah was right.

The treehouse isn’t very large, but to a bunch of elementary students it certainly feels like it. The smell of fresh pine assaults her nose, dust still floating around and tickling her eyelashes. The late fall light streams in through the slats and windows, leaving a gold-washed tint around the treehouse and all of her friends.

Connor wanders over to a small platform, and she follows, letting her other friends scatter about the room, chattering idly about the treehouse. Zoe leans her head on Connor’s shoulder, but just as she does Connor nudges Zoe with his elbow. Uncaring to her yelp, he asks “Do you have the thread in your room?”

“Thread?” She repeats, as it takes her brain a moment to catch up. “Ohh. Yeah. I think so.”

“Want to go grab it?”

“Why?”

He motions to his wrist and then to the group as a whole.

“Whyyyy me?” She says, the y drawing out into a whine in a true younger sibling move.

All the same, she’s on her way back up the treehouse with a tub of bracelet thread tucked under her arm five minutes later. Maneuvering up the ladder with it tucked under her arm proved to be a bit of a challenge, but nothing Zoe Murphy can’t handle. She does throw it through the window before her, though, which (by Connor’s horrified yelp) isn’t the brightest move. When she reenters, Connor is already gathering up thread and shaking dust out of it.

“Oh, yes,” Jared says, surging forward and grabbing a green and purple thread from Connor’s hands. He sits heavily on the ground, immediately beginning a complicated braid without any prompting. He looks up at their surprised faces a moment later. “What? I learned at camp this summer.”

“Did you learn, Evan?” Alana asks, likely remembering they went to the same camp.

Evan looks away, one hand reaching to pick at an imperfection in the wooden wall. He shrugs. “‘M not very good,” he says, and Zoe can’t help but remember the snatches of conversation she remembers overhearing accidentally from her parents - she had to drive down and couldn’t handle it and maybe talking to the school counselor came to mind.

She crosses to him without thinking, grabbing his hand. “I’ll teach you,” she blurts without thinking. Connor hands her her favorite colors without prompting, and Zoe begins a tri-color braid that’s probably more complicated than Evan needs, but he catches on easily enough after a few minutes, twisting the blue and purple and pink together into something beautiful.

They pass their first hours in the treehouse like that, singularly focused like only little kids can be, and when Zoe’s parents bring up pizza and Sprite they pause only to admire their fine work. Several bracelets adorn each of their wrists, each twisted by someone else and infused with why Jared jokingly called the power of love. And the sun sets on them all together, smearing grease across their faces and throwing loose bits of thread across their haven in the sky, and Zoe smiles.

***

It was nearing dinnertime, far too cold and far too quiet to be in a treehouse.

Connor and Zoe took to hanging around the treehouse even when their friends weren’t there, much preferring it to their former hiding places within the house. As the winter wore on and the days grew shorter, so did Murphy tempers, and cabin fever mixed in only made enclosed spaces more liable to combust. So, with the treehouse available, Zoe tended to grab Connor and the ukelele she’d just begun learning to play and sneaking out the sliding door into their backyard. That particular evening, the layer of fluffy snow that had just fallen masked their escape and allowed them entrance to the treehouse and cushioned any residual noise left from the kitchen. They still were bundled up, however, their parkas and hats pulled tight. Both had forgone gloves, however; Zoe felt her fingers stiffen and slip on her ukelele strings, while Connor seemed unperturbed by the cold while he sketched in his brand-new sketchbook. Save for her muffled ukelele noises and the faint rustling of small creatures in the snow and Connor’s pencil etching against paper, all was still.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to bring string instruments into the cold,” Connor said, breaking the silence. Zoe responded by strumming an e minor chord more aggressively.

They fell back into their rhythm, and Connor started to hum along to her strumming just as the pinks and purples broke through gray winter sky.

“We have a project,” a voice declared. startling both of them out of their individual reveries. Alana’s head popped up in the treehouse window, a giant pom-pom hat perched precariously over the intricate braided bun Zoe could remember seeing at school that day.

“Jesus Christ, Alana,” Connor said, sounding very much like a kid who was trying his hardest to get a handle on cussing and sounding cool. “How did you get here?”

Alana blinked, righting the large box she held in her hands. “Your parents said you were here.”

Connor stilled abruptly, while Zoe’s foot started bouncing. “You talked to them?”

“Yeah,” she said, and as if she knew their next question - likely because she did, from years of experience - “They seemed like they were calming down.”

“Good,” Zoe said quietly.

Impervious to the Murphy siblings’ shifted expressions, Alana dropped the metal box to the floor and followed it, dropping to the frosty pine boards like there was nothing else she’d rather do. “Anyway, we’re making a time capsule!”

“We are?” Zoe said, feeling amusement creeping into the edges of her voice.

“Yes. You’ll thank me in ten years.”

Zoe and Connor shared a look. Connor cut off the awkward silence that suddenly descended. “The ground is frozen. How are we going to bury it?”

Alana grinned over the lid. “My dads were talking about the thaw later this week.”

“No snow?” added a new voice. Evan popped up barely a moment later, likely having taken a wild path up the tree rather than using the ladder like anyone else, even when ice coated to every nook and cranny of the bark. “Already?”

“Apparently,” Zoe replied.

“Won’t it get all covered in mud?” Jared added, and Zoe spun her head around to look at Alana, fixing her with a sharp look.

“Did you invite everyone over to our house?”

Alana shrugged. “This is important. And there isn’t that much mud if you dig deep enough, Jared.”

“Again - why?” Connor interrupted.

“Because she says so, and it’s a kick-ass idea,” Jared said.

“Didn’t expect you to latch onto sentimentality, Kleinman,” Zoe muttered, startling a laugh out of him.

Alana pulled a binder free from the backpack she’d slung to the ground. “C’mon - what do you want to add?”

“Cheerios,” Jared said at once, earning a scowl out of Alana.

“If you’re not going to take this seriously, Jared-”

“He’ll shut up,” Evan rushed to cut him off. “So not food items?”

“More sentimental, I think,” Connor said.

“Exactly.”

Under Alana’s direction, they did just that. After a successful thaw later in the week Zoe took a shovel from the garage and helped them dig and re-bury dirt in the Murphy’s backyard, marked by a small stake Connor painted with acrylics from their mom’s craft supply.

“Now we wait,” Alana said.

***

Somewhere along the line, things get… tense.

Zoe reads the self-help books and watches the videos her teachers play on VHS tapes during their “health” classes. They all describe the same thing, a switch flipping with no warning once elementary school draws to a close and sixth grade begins. Admittedly, she watches them a year later than everyone else, forever cursed to be a year behind. But she knows it’s coming all the same - fault lines crackling out through the earth and darting between their feet, setting them all adrift on different paths, thunder drowning out their words where there used to be laughter.

Nothing could have prepared her for the actual occurrence, though.

The treehouse really is their de facto hangout spot, given the Murphy’s lasé-faire attitude towards where their children were and the complete privacy it afforded. With their newly-acquired Jazz Band extracurricular, Zoe and Jared always arrive late, normally to the sight of Evan and Alana reading and Connor drawing or some other combination of their group’s preferred activities. But when they climb the ladder to the treehouse that day, the air is…stilted, like Zoe has grown to expect inside the house. That kind of expectant anger, like you know something is going to go wrong but aren’t sure what it is yet.

Evan sits, his eyes darting between Alana and Connor and over to Jared and Zoe as they walk in like he can sense a disaster brewing. Jared flounces over to Connor, sprawling, earning himself a glare.

“Can I help you, Kleinman?”

He nods to the sketchbook in Connor’s hands. “Might want to clean up those lines.”

It only gets worse from there - cutting barbs thrown this way and that, all ready to strike and hit. Nothing too bad, at least not until Connor says get the fuck out of my house and Jared says at least I have other people who will take me and Alana says honestly can’t you two even try to act mature and Zoe hears herself say at least we’re not miserable all the time before she realizes that’s - patently false. And one by one, they storm away, hopping down with practiced agility they no longer have reason to use.

And there Zoe sits. Shutting down, like she always does.

***

Connor felt like he was suffocating.

Everything was aggressively there-every word spoken grating his ears, every shadow a little too dark and every light a little too bright, every glance so heavy it weighed on his chest. He felt uneven and on edge, like one loud noise would send him spiraling off of a cliff and bursting into tears.

“Zoe,” he’d said, coming up behind her as she stood at the counter. Maybe if he’d looked he would have seen how her shoulders tensed as soon as she heard his voice. Maybe if he’d listened he would’ve heard how Zoe’s breath hitched and how she quickly ran a hand over her face. Maybe if he’d paid attention he would’ve noticed how her hands clenched around her mug and she steeled herself. Maybe the glint of pain and fear and loneliness nestled deep within her eyes before she put her shields up as she turned around would’ve stood out to him. But he couldn’t even handle analyzing himself, and there was no hope for understanding Zoe.

“What?” She said, and even in his funk he noticed how her words appeared differently than normal. Maybe, if he’d taken a moment to think, he would have identified the source-fatigue, cutting through each letter. There was none of the venom they’d grown used to hurling at each other and pretending it didn’t burn once it touched skin. She sounded tired.

He rubbed the edge of his sweatshirt sleeve with us thumb, trying to pull an excuse out of nowhere. In reality, he just needed something to anchor him to Earth, but he couldn’t say that to her. “Could you paint my nails?” He bit out, risking cutting his gaze up to her face. Her eyes had widened slightly since he last looked at her, eyebrows lifted silently with them. She pulled her bottom lip between her front teeth, and she looked down and away, foot tapping some unfamiliar rhythm against the tiled floor. Silence hung between them, dark and heavy, nearly drowning out the tap tap taptap tap of her foot. He looked back up towards her, not quite meeting her eyes, perhaps a bit more expectancy in his gaze than he would have liked.

She shook her head slightly, ring finger tapping against the side of her mug. “Why?” She said, almost too quietly for him to hear.

“Why am I asking…?”

“Yeah,” She said, same fatigue in her voice. “Why are you asking me? When this is the first time you’ve talked to me in…what, four months without being forced to?”

Connor shrugged a little, taken aback by this reaction. A soft, incredulous laugh built in Zoe’s throat.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered, voice choked. “I don’t understand. You’ve broken down my door twice. I’m the worst thing that’s ever happened to you. Why would you want me to…”

“I don’t know,” Connor said, voice uneven. Zoe shook her head again.

She stared evenly at him, and maybe if he’d been paying better attention he would have noticed the thin sheen of tears in her eyes as he raised his eyes to meet hers. “What color?”

“What?”

“Nail polish. If I painted your nails. What color would it be?”

Connor resumed rubbing his sleeve. “Black.”

She bit her lip again, the edges of her mouth curling into a bitter smile, words sounding just as bitter. “Damn. I’m out of black.”

The edge of Connor’s mouth twitched even as he felt something sink inside of him. “I see,” he said, a touch harder than the previous words had been.

Zoe shrugged, hand still wrapped around her mug, as she pushed her hip against the side of the counter to launch herself away from it. “That’s that, I guess.”

“I guess so,” Connor responded, voice hollow.

Maybe, if he’d looked up instead of locking his gaze on the floor, he’d have seen the tense hold of Zoe’s shoulders, the moment of faltering before she continued walking.

“I guess so,” she repeated faintly, all edges gone form her voice and tiredness abundant.

Connor squeezed his eyes shut, and when he opened them, she was completely gone from the kitchen. He gazed around for a moment, letting the view of the kitchen wash around him.

Oh, how the mighty fall.

***

Zoe is desperately glad she and Connor are only Irish twins.

Distance - distance is what she needs more than ever. She’d hated it, that chasm between her and everyone else, but of course she couldn’t have known just how wide that chasm could get. Would get, with time and urging and their circle falling apart under the right amount of pressure.

The right amount of pressure, she thinks, poised to flee on her kitchen chair, leg bouncing and heart coiled, for Connor to come home. He does, of course, sullen and tired, but in front of her eyes all the same. It’s only been a year since they reached critical mass in the treehouse, but the shift in all of them came quickly and without mercy. Alana buries herself in more work than Zoe had ever thought possible, always hurrying away whenever Zoe tries to get a word in edgewise. Jared just darts his eyes around like a caged animal, calculations churning behind his eyes as though searching for his best way forward. Evan she still sees somewhat regularly, making sure that her parents still drive him home and letting him crash on their couch when Heidi works too late, but she’s seen him retreat into himself too often to think he’s okay. And Connor…

“What are you doing up?” he whispers, the sound traveling across their kitchen table.

“Waiting for you,” she responds in a similar hiss, snapping her laptop shut.

“You should’ve just gone to bed, Mom’s gonna be pissed if she sees the li-”

“When she sees her son walk through the door at-” she lifts her phone dramatically, searching for the little time symbol. “1:12 in the morning?”

“Well she won’t see it if you just go to sleep-”

“What are you even doing?” she says in a normal tone, though she recoils and presses a hand over her mouth when Connor’s eyes widen in warning. She and Connor freeze with their hands stifling their breathing, trying to hear any shifts from their parents upstairs with their identical eyes wide. After a beat of nothing but the house shifting in the wind, she lowers her hands, swiping up her laptop with the one closest to the table. “You don’t need to be out this late, Con.”

His eyes flash over to her, then back up to the ceiling. “You don’t need to stay up for me.”

“Oh, sure, I’ll just stop worrying, I’ll just go to bed and dream sweet dreams when you’re doing hell knows what-”

“I didn’t ask you to fucking worry about me!” He cuts out. “I don’t need your pity, Zoe!”

She balts, shakes her head, feels her braids sliding against the material of her jazz band sweatshirt. “Pity?” she repeats.

Connor holds his jaw, looking away.

“Pity,” she says, then laughs a single time, too loud, but she’s past the point of caring. “I don’t know where you got pity from in the last fourteen years, Connor, but none of it is coming from me, that’s for sure.” She brushed past him. “Fine. You don’t deserve my worry anyway. I’ll tell mom in the morning if you’re so insistent.”

Connor’s footsteps hurry after her, until his fingers wrap around her wrist. She jerks it away as soon as he makes contact, “Don’t. Please.”

“You want me to stop worrying?” she says lowly, dangerously. “Fine. Then I’ll make sure you can’t do anything that worries me. See how you fucking like that.”

It was like a switch flipped in Connor, like as soon as their group fell apart so did he, growing more liable to shut down and ramp up at once. But he just leaves her grasping at straws always, never able to say anything right.

Middle school bleeds into high school, the chasm and pressure growing between them, small disagreements exploding into screams and something valuable shattering. Doors they’d never closed before close with racorous clangs, and Zoe grows tired of sleeping outside of them and waiting for him to open them up.

You don’t need to worry about me, he’d said, and she can’t ever stop, really, but she can ignore him until the worry clawed at her a little less urgently.

Try as she might, she couldn’t just forget all those years, especially when she saw reminders of them all around school - flashes of Jared’s shirts, an edge of Alana’s backpack, a flicker of Evan’s eyes. She still goes to the treehouse, sometimes, but mostly she keeps to her room, her guitar, the things she knows.

Her phone buzzes one night, and when she sees Evan Hansen flash across her screen she picks it up without a moment’s thought.

“Hello?”

“Zoe?” Evan says, voice breathy in her ear.

There’s a beat. “Yeah,” she finally says. “You okay?”

“I’m - yeah, um, I’m fine, it’s all - uh, my mom is pulling a night shift.”

“Oh?” She says, barely a hum.

“Yeah. She - look, this is, um, really dumb, I know, but can I - can I stay at yours? Tonight? I know it’s been, um, less than ideal, I can just-”

“Yeah,” she says, again without thinking. She squeezes her eyes shut, forces enthusiasm into her voice. “Yeah. ‘Course, Ev. I’ll - you need me to pick you up?”

“What? Um - no, I’m - I’m at the park, actually, walking is…fine.”

Her eyebrows pull closer together. “It’s late.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. Really.”

Ten minutes later, Evan is on their front porch. Cynthia greets him with a warm smile, and Zoe leans against the doorway of the guest room while he sets himself up.

“Are you okay, Evan?” She hears herself ask.

His head jerks up quickly, locking eyes with her. “I-I’m fine.”

Zoe shakes her head, letting out a but of air through her nose. “What’s up, then?”

His hands still over his backpack, and he looks just past her head to the hallway. “I couldn’t be alone in that house.”

She hesitates for a moment, nods, looks to the corner of the room. “I get it.”

“Do you?”

Her eyes snap back over to him. “What?”

“Do you - have you been alone, Zoe, through all of this?”

She snorts. “Good as.”

“But never actually-”

“Loneliness isn’t always distance,” she spits out. “But if it was you’d be all set, given how much you run away from all of us.”

Time slows to a crawl; Evan lets his hands fall to his sides, eyes wide and searching on hers.

“I’m,” she begins, the word getting stuck in her throat. She looks towards her feet. “I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head, but before he can say anything she says “I’ll drive you in tomorrow” and is gone, set off down the hallway.

The next morning she gets to her car early, knowing, somehow, he’ll climb in with enough time to get there. And he does so wordlessly.

Somewhere, on the way to school, he murmurs, “I’m sorry for pulling away.”

She taps her index finger against the wheel, looking out towards the road rather than him. The scene is desolate, still early-morning and deserted with the yellowing pools of light from streetlights that have yet to switch off. “Yeah, me too.”

Every day, he swings by her house - a long walk, making his day longer, but he’s always been an early bird - to get a ride to school. Connor joins them occasionally, but mostly he arrives by his own means that Zoe isn’t too interested in learning. He talks to Jared, little by little, and she sees Connor and Alana in the library and Jared and Alana with their heads bowed together at lunch. She finds a picture of them in the treehouse and texts it to them as a group, and things feel a little closer to okay.

After high school, things start to calm down, like an inflamed cut that needs to be soothed. She and Connor stand in each other’s doorways until they have the courage to walk inside, and their newly-reinstated group chat keeps a steady flow of bad memes and musical theater jokes. It’s easier to breathe when she’s at school, easier to move and be. She’s used to being alone in a house full of people; being alone in a city of lonely people is close enough that the transition is almost nothing.

She misses everyone, though. Evan texts her pictures of the trees back home and around the community college, and Connor snaps Jared and Alana when they’re around. She’s the only one who left, this time around. Removed by physical distance rather than a measly year.

She gets home for winter break halfway through December, and an unusually warm one at that. Connor follows her up to her room, watching her unpack likely half in an attempt to give her some privacy from their parents.

“You seen Evan yet?” He asks at some point, once he’s grown bored of watching her fold clothes.

“No, not yet,” she replies with saccharine sweetness.

“You should,” he mocks in a similar tone of voice.

“I will.”

Their ridiculous miming comes to a halt when she withdraws a rattling bag from her backpack and throws it onto her bed. Connor dives forward, grabbing at it. “Is this-did you just throw nail polish?” He demands.

She looks him dead in the eye and does the same with her other bag.

“Dishonor on you,” he mutters, already unzipping it and rifliging through the colors with a clink each time. “Want me to do your nails? They’re looking…” he trails off, eyes dipping to her unpainted and bitten nails, worn down by her guitar strings.

“I could say the same to you,” she says. “Stones and glass houses, dear brother.”

“Point taken.”

They take the time to paint each other’s nails after dinner, sitting on their living room couch. Connor opts for a dark blue instead of his gala black, and chooses gold glitter for the upcoming holidays for Zoe.

“Please don’t get nail polish on the couch, Zoe,” her mother says as she passes by to go to the kitchen, and she and Connor lock eyes. He rolls his; she smiles tightly.

“You’d think she say it to me, given that I live here,” Connor whispers.

Her phone bzzs in her pocket, and instinctively she reaches for it, noting the way the golden glitter glints against the denim of her jeans.

Evan Hansen: gonna leave mom’s for a walk, you tied up?

She feels the corners of her lips twitch involuntarily. Yes, please. Ready in 10?

“I’m gonna take a walk,” she announces loudly enough her parents should be able to hear it from the next room. “It’s just Evan,” she adds in an undertone to Connor. “Want to come along?”

“Nope. Have fun, though, I guess.”

“So enthusiastic.”

Evan is waiting outside, bundled up in a scarf and parka. His eyes pinch at the edges like they always do when he’s tired; she surges forward and slides her arms around his neck, colliding with him softly so he lets out an oomph. She feels a kiss pressed to the top of her head a moment later.

“Hey,” she says, muffled into his coat. “You’re overdressed.”

“You’re underdressed.”

“Fleece is never wrong.”

“…I suppose you’re right?” And then, with some trepidation, “oh no. Not again.”

“I’m always right,” she says lightly, throwing him a smile so he knows it’s a joke. She reaches for his hand, tugging him forward lightly. “Heidi‘s doing well?”

“Well as always, yeah. Your family?”

“All…fine,” she says. “Just, y’know…stressed.”

“Mhm,” Evan hums, and she can tell he’s trying to say something, so she just squeezes his hand lightly and falls silent.

“Dad wanted me to go h–to Colorado,” Evan blurts. “For Christmas.”

She pauses a little at that, tugging his hand closer. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” He swallows gently, watching the sky with a ferocity she can barely remember him having. She sees the stars shine in his deep brown eyes, though they seem a little too starry to be reflection alone. He blinks rapidly. “Mom encouraged me,” he adds, “but I–Zoe, I couldn’t.”

“I don’t blame you,” she says, letting out a jet of breath. “I wouldn’t be able to either.” She lets her eyes drift upward and pulls him a little bit closer to her, wrapping her free hand around his arm. “Can’t,” she amends, all breath.

“He still doesn’t care,” Evan says, almost to himself. “He knows what I fucking celebrate, and he still doesn’t–care.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a dick,” Zoe says before immediately wishing she could take it back. That kind of bluntness helps her and Connor, but never Evan.

But Evan surprises her all the same. “You’re not wrong.”

A laugh bursts from her chest, and after a moment Evan joins her, albeit hesitantly. “Like I said,” she repeats, “never am.”

Evan’s ghand remains chilly in hers, despite his best attempts to keep warm with his jacket; she brings his hand over to hold it in both of hers, wincing a little as his cold fingers meet hers.

“How are you so cold all the time?” she murmurs, massaging over his knuckles with one hand.

“How is it for you?” He asks suddenly, his brain taking him in a whole new direction. Zoe isn’t phased by the topic change.

“It’s…like it always is,” she admits, her voice low. She pulls Evan’s hands closer to her heart, trying to convince herself it’s just to warm him up. “Better with Con, I guess. But it’s still…” she swallows roughly. “I feel like I can’t…breathe, sometimes.”

“Yeah,” Evan says quietly. “It can be hard.” He frees his hand, only to wrap it around her shoulders. She steals his other hand as soon as they get situated in a good walking pace.

Almost nothing about Evan is calm, but he’s calming all the same. He’s all Zoe can think of as they turn in front of Ellison State Park.

Evan stills, and Zoe keeps walking forward for a moment, accidentally tugging at their conjoined hands. She looks back at him immediately, tone filling with concern. “Everything okay?”

“Is that…” he mutters, before surging forward and pulling her rather than the other way around. “Alana! Jared!” He calls, uncharacteristically loud. And sure enough, in the distance, she can see Alana and Jared leaned over something just inside the bronzed gates of Ellison Park.

“Evan!” Jared calls, only to immediately get shushed by an old couple taking a walk around the park.

They hurry across the street, waving wildly to the single car that seems perplexed by their crossing, and Alana passes something to Jared before pulling them both into a too-tight hug that reminds Zoe of her mother.

When they pull away, she ruffles Zoe’s hair like she’s a little kid again. “There’s our city girl.”

“You should’ve joined me!” Zoe protests, already moving over to Jared to hug him.

Jared looks like he might shy away for a second, but he relents only a second later, a hug almost as tight as Alana’s. Zoe’s pulled away by a pressure at her leg, something soft poking through the tears and a panting noise. When she looks down, the downy face of a dog stares back up at her, tail wagging and tongue hanging out. Without thinking, she drops to the ground, offering him a hand as she balances on one knee. He nearly knocks her over a moment later when he bounds forward to lick her cheek and request pets. She looks back up at the obvious joy on Alana’s face.

“You adopted a dog??” She asks, remembering the powerpoint Alana made in middle school trying to convince her parents.

“Yes! We just got him this weekend and he’s already the best boy.”

The golden glint of a collar tag catches her eye. “Archibald? Well, aren’t you just a joy, Archie!”

“He doesn’t like Archie” Alana says a bit curtly, mid-coaxing the dog back towards her. She flips a few braids that had escaped her ponytail over her shoulder just in time for the dog to make a grab for them. She grins down at him before looking back up towards Zoe. “Is Connor around? I haven’t seen him in a bit.”

“Yeah,” Zoe says. “Here, I can…” She pulls out her phone to tell Connor to join them, making a silly face when the dog makes a u-turn to lick her cheek.

Connor Murphy: are you and hansen bein gross

Zoe: alana and jared are here dork

Connor: with archibald?

Zoe: how. how did you know this

Connor: lana and i have a snap streak of 150k. keep up

Zoe: side note do you know why she named her dog after an elderly british man

Zoe: and won’t let me call him archie

Connor: says archie’s a dumb name and she “thinks its refined”

Zoe: lmao k

“Connor should be by soon,” she relays, smiling back down at the dog. He takes a particular liking to her; she can’t quite get used to it. “You’re a good baby, aren’t you?”

Something occurs to her all of the sudden, and she pulls her phone back out.

Zoe: WAIT are you still by the house

Connor: just leaving why

Zoe: …yknow that old time capsule?

Connor: are you going to ask me to dig it up in mid december while you’re hanging out with our old friends so i can bring it to the park

Zoe: yes

Connor: you were put on this earth to test me

Connor: be there in 15

“He’s bringing something,” she adds, and ignores their curious looks in favor of the dog.

When Connor’s shape finally appears, it’s carrying a bag rather than a box. “It was shot,” he explains in an undertone once he gets close enough for Zoe to hear. He reaches out a hand and lands a spare pat to Archibald’s head. “Had to improvise.”

“Hey, Connor!” Alana says, almost too cheery. Connor raises a hand, plopping the bag in the middle of their circle but out of Archibald’s reach.

“We don’t want your weird sex stuff, Connor,” Jared says, and Zoe shoots him a glare.

“It’s the time capsule, actually, but thanks for the input,” Connor says before Zoe can speak.

A beat passes, no noise but Archibald’s panting.

“Oh,” Alana says after a moment. “Your parents let you keep that?”

“They didn’t know,” Zoe and Connor deadpan at the same time. Jared stifles something that sounds like a cough but is probably closer to a laugh.

Zoe looks at Evan and reaches out to lace their fingers together again. He looks around the group, studying each person’s face. “Should we…”

Jared reaches forward and overturns the bag.

Glitter is the first thing Zoe sees; she hears Evan hiss “shit” as it explodes everywhere over the grass. It’s green, which makes that portion of grass look unnaturally healthy and shiny. Jared looks up; some had reached his glasses lenses, as he was the one to set the glitter loose.

“Alright,” he says. “Who put the glitter in?”

Alana grimaces and holds Archibald back from the pile of glitter. “I’m pretty sure that was you, Jared.”

“…Oh.”

Zoe leans forward, picking through the cacophony of items and silently handing them out. A few purple, pink, and blue friendship bracelets find their way throughout the group, and Connor even puts one on to a joke from Zoe about stealing the bi colors. Jared reclaims a few of the Connor has to make a quick grab for a few sheets of paper in the wind that turn out to be filled with his sketches. Zoe picks up a purple ukulele pick, feeling it slide between her calloused fingertips. She hands Evan an outdated pamphlet from Ellison State Park about their rangers program to Jared’s exclamation of “That’s what you put in??” and throws a few ballet ribbons and a small journal in Alana’s direction.

Jared’s makes her pause, and he takes advantage of the lull to surge forward and snatch the object from her hands. The silicone abides easily. “So that’s where I put my iPod!”

“Why did we let you do this?” Zoe says. “Why did your parents?”

“I’m gonna be honest,” Jared admits, examining it for quality. He looks up and around their assembled group. “I forgot about it immediately after burying it.”

Alana laughs first, and then she sets everyone else off, a group of college-age kids giggling over a pile of glitter and their childhood treasures in the park where everything began. Evan falls into Zoe’s side, unable to curb his laughter; she buries her own in the top of his head, his curls tickling her cheeks and making her laughs worse. And as they get dirty looks from everyone around them, the night only feels like another beginning.

#sincerely us #deh #dear evan hansen #bandtrees #evan hansen #zoe murphy #alana beck #connor murphy #jared kleinman #mine #deh fanfic

[creepingsharia]

Florida: Swap Shop Allows Terror Tied Muslims to Operate ICNA Dawah Booth in Ft. Lauderdale

Ibrahim Dremali: Pro Terror Imam Claims 'Muslims Love Jesus"  Spearheads ICNA Dawah Effort Aimed At Christians

Swap Shop Allows Terror Tied Muslims To Operate ICNA Dawah Booth On Their Premises In Ft. Lauderdale

March 4, 2021

Exploiting Jesus to Convert Vulnerable Christians to Radical Islam

ICNA and terror-related imam set up booth to missionize to flea market goers.

Thu Mar 4, 2021

Joe Kaufman

The Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop is a well-known 'hot spot' for South Florida bargain hunters seeking out the latest flea market deals and moviegoers heading to watch the latest drive-in flics with their families. It once featured free concerts of famous bands and a circus with elephants, clowns and acrobats. It was where Jeb Bush announced his run for Governor, well over two decades ago. Now, once every two weeks, the famed Swap Shop features extreme Muslims seeking to convert the vulnerable to radical Islam, and they are doing it in the name of Jesus, literally. The dangerous nature of this offensive endeavor must be exposed and condemned.

WhyIslam is the dawah (religious outreach) division of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the US arm of South Asian Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). As such, WhyIslam and ICNA have sizable links with overseas terror. Appearing on a 2008 video promoting WhyIslam was Mazen Mokhtar, a former admin for the now-defunct al-Qaeda recruitment site, qoqaz.net, and a champion of Hamas and suicide bombings. Since September 1989, ICNA has been associated with Ashrafuz Zaman Khan, a former JI death squad leader who was sentenced to death, in absentia, for multiple murders, and who has held a number of top ICNA positions.

Up until recently, WhyIslam featured a message board on its website. A number of the forum moderators used it to post messages in favor of Hamas, Hezbollah, the vilification of Jews, and the destruction of Israel. One, BrJimC, wrote, "I don't think Hamas has a reason to not want to destroy Israel…" and "Those Jews that speak out against such atrocity by holding their public officials accountable are the ones who deserve peace and life… The rest will one day wind up in the Mediterranean Sea." Another moderator, MARWAN, wrote, "I support Hezbollah as long as they stand by justice" and "Nazi restaurant… I wonder if they have kosher meals."

This past December, the South Florida Muslim Federation (SoFlo Muslims), an umbrella group for South Florida's many radical Muslim entities, along with WhyIslam opened up a booth at the Swap Shop targeting members of the Christian community. It included a canopy hovering over a table, on top of which were free copies of the Quran to be given away. Attached to one side of the canopy was a huge WhyIslam banner that read, "I [heart] JESUS." The sign was meant to disarm Christians and make them believe they were in friendly territory. While the group may purport to have an affinity for Jesus, regarding them as friends would be a grave error.

Accompanying WhyIslam was Texas-based imam, Ibrahim Dremali, who had previously been a fixture in the South Florida Muslim community and later would be added to the federal 'no fly' list. In 2000, Dremali partook in an event in Miami, where Israeli flags were burned and event goers shouted for "Zionist blood." In 2001, when his Boca mosque was criticized for publishing a violent essay on its website labeling Jews "enemies" and stating that Muslims will "fight the Jews and kill them," Dremali lied and said it was the result of "hackers." And in 2002, he was a character witness at a hearing for soon-to-be-convicted al-Qaeda operative Adham Hassoun.

Dremali has also been involved with ICNA, in the past. From March 2000 to September 2001, Dremali was listed as one of eight local contacts for ICNA-SE, ICNA's southeast regional division, on the same web page as links to the official sites of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Taliban. The page also solicited funds for al-Qaeda's qoqaz.net (mentioned previously). The webmaster for the ICNA-SE site was Syed Khawer Ahmad, a co-founder of Dremali's Boca mosque and who was, at the time, a website designer for Hamas in Gaza.

The Muslim Federation, which has as one of its members a mosque, Masjid Jamaat Al Mumineen (MJAM), that propagates material on its website which repeatedly curses Jews and Christians, has branded its Swap Shop project participants, the 'SoFlo-WhyIslam Dawah Team.' It claims the booth will run once every two weeks, and according to the Federation, the team is "growing."

The Federation has posted photos on its website and social media of the Dawah Team in action. One photo taken from the team's booth depicts a serious-looking Dremali wearing a Palestinian kaffiyeh-patterned COVID mask, hunched over, while 'in the face' of a disabled man in a mobility scooter. Another photo, taken in January, included a second WhyIslam banner, which stated, "ISLAM: The way of life [of] Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad."

For years, ICNA has been spreading a similar message via buses and billboards. However the message is offensive to many within the Jewish and Christian faiths as well as misleading, because it implies that the most revered figures in Judaism and Christianity were practicing Muslims and are solely part of Islam. This, even though the religion of Islam came into existence long after the others. In 2009, when the Islamist group CAIR paid for the identical message to be placed on Broward County, Florida buses – something that this author led a demonstration against – even the liberal Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel said the message was incendiary.

Now, twelve years later, ICNA and the South Florida Muslim Federation are, once again, co-opting Jewish and Christian icons of the past, while getting into the faces of non-Muslims, to push the same pseudo-theological drivel, what amounts to nothing more than a repulsive lie. But then, what can you expect from Islamist organizations that associate with and promote bigotry and terror? Shame on those who ignore the threat coming from these dangerous groups practicing religious theft and cultural appropriation, and shame on the Swap Shop for allowing such abuse to be placed upon its vulnerable patrons!

Action: If you wish to contact the Swap Shop to provide an opinion on this matter, you can do so by calling 954-791-7927. Please be respectful in any and all communications.

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Related:

U.S. “Why Islam” founder: “a Muslim can’t enjoin in any aspect of Christmas in the disguise that Jesus is our Prophet too…” 

#Islam #Muslim #Sharia #Jihad #Legal #Law #News #Media #Immigration #Terror #Politics #Religion #Travel

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Canada Battles More Than 180 Wildfires With Hundreds Dead In Heat Wave (NPR) Emergency responders in Canada are currently battling more than 180 wildfires in British Columbia amid an intense heat wave that has left hundreds dead in the Pacific Northwest. About 70% of the active fires were likely caused by lightning strikes, according to the British Columbia Wildfire Service’s dashboard. Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist with the company Vaisala, says a lightning detection network uncovered more than 700,000 lightning strikes in the area between June 30 and July 1. The fires come amid a massive heat wave for the region.

Canada, US are easing pandemic border-crossing restrictions (AP) Pandemic restrictions on travel between Canada and the U.S. began to loosen Monday for some Canadians, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said plans to totally reopen the border would be announced over the next few weeks. Canadian citizens and permanent residents who have had a full dose of a coronavirus vaccine approved for use in Canada can skip a 14-day quarantine that has been a requirement since March 2020. Eligible air travelers also no longer have to spend their first three days in the country at a government-approved hotel. Restrictions barring all non-essential trips between Canada and the United States, including tourism, will remain in place until at least July 21.

Summer swelter trend: West gets hotter days, East hot nights (AP) As outlandish as the killer heat wave that struck the Pacific Northwest was, it fits into a decades-long pattern of uneven summer warming across the United States. The West is getting roasted by hotter summer days while the East Coast is getting swamped by hotter and stickier summer nights, an analysis of decades of U.S. summer weather data by The Associated Press shows. State-by-state average temperature trends from 1990 to 2020 show America’s summer swelter is increasing more in some of the places that just got baked with extreme heat over the past week: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Oregon and Colorado. The West is the fastest-warming region in the country during June, July and August, up 3 degrees on average since 1990. The Northwest has warmed nearly twice as much in the past 30 years as it has in the Southeast.

Collapsed Florida condo demolished ahead of storm (Reuters) The partially collapsed Miami-area condo where 24 people are confirmed dead was demolished on Sunday night, ahead of the possible arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa. Search-and-rescue efforts for 121 people missing have been suspended. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters earlier on Sunday that rescue efforts would resume after the demolition, noting it was 11 days since the collapse.

Loved and decried, El Salvador’s populist leader is defiant (AP) In the narrow, gang-controlled alleys of the Las Palmas neighborhood, struggling Salvadorans are untroubled by actions of their president that so infuriate his critics. They are not bothered by Nayib Bukele’s dictatorial maneuvers—sending armed troops into congress to coerce a vote, or ousting independent judges from the country’s highest court, paving the way to control all branches of government. They praise his relentless attacks on the politicians who governed El Salvador for nearly 30 years before him, and the elites who benefited from their rule. In this neighborhood they are grateful for the boxes of food staples they’ve received from Bukele’s government during the pandemic. Adults proudly pat their shoulders and say they got both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine long before most other people in Central America. For all the observers and critics who condemn a dangerous concentration of power by a charismatic leader who sports down-home blue jeans and leather jackets, Bukele enjoys an approval rating of more than 90% among people who saw three of four previous presidents jailed or exiled for corruption. “They talk about democracy... I don’t know what else,” said Julio César López, 60, a street artist in Las Palmas. “It makes me really happy that they’re kicking out that class of people.”

Fraud Claims, Unproved, Delay Peru’s Election Result and Energize the Right (NYT) They showed up for the rally by the thousands in red and white, the colors of their right-wing movement, swapping conspiracy theories and speaking ominously of civil war. On the stage, their leader, the presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, let loose on her headline issue: election fraud. Though electoral officials say her opponent, the leftist union leader Pedro Castillo, leads by more than 40,000 votes with all the ballots counted, they have yet to declare a victor a month after the polls closed, as they consider Ms. Fujimori’s demand that tens of thousands of ballots be thrown out. No one has come forward, even weeks later, to corroborate Ms. Fujimori’s claims of fraud; international observers have found no evidence of major irregularities; and both the United States and the European Union have praised the electoral process. But Ms. Fujimori’s claims have not only delayed the certification of a victor, they have also radicalized elements of the Peruvian right in a way that analysts say could threaten the country’s fragile democracy.

Britain plans to end legal mandates for masks and social distancing on July 19, Boris Johnson says (Washington Post) Boris Johnson on Monday announced that Britain was set to soon end virtually all government mandates to control the spread of the coronavirus, telling people that in two weeks it would likely be completely up to them whether to wear a face mask or socially distance. At an evening news conference, the British prime minister said England was ready to move beyond one of longest, most restrictive series of lockdowns on the planet, turning away from legally binding rules to personal responsibility. He cautioned that the pandemic was not over, but it was time for restrictions to end soon. If the current trends hold, and Johnson suggested they would, then he expected the full reopening for July 19.

Lobsters’ feelings loom large as British Parliament debates animal welfare bill (Washington Post) How does a lobster feel when it’s dropped into the boiling pot? The British Parliament wants to know. Is an octopus sad, sometimes? Does the squid learn its lessons? The bee feel joy? The earthworm anxiety? The peers in the House of Lords are currently debating the matter. These questions arise because Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to make good on his electoral pledge to enshrine into law the idea that animals are “sentient beings,” meaning the government would be obligated to not only safeguard creatures’ physical well-being but also take into account their feelings—of pleasure, pain and more. The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill is a potentially sweeping piece of legislation that could require all arms of government—not just the agriculture ministry—to consider animal sentience when forming policy and writing regulations. The implications could be moral and profound, supporters hope—or cumbersome and bureaucratic, critics say, with some seeing a power play by vegan activists and animal rights radicals.

Indian dowries still common despite being illegal (BBC) A new World Bank study has found that dowry payments in India’s villages have not decreased over the past few decades even though the practice was made illegal in 1961. The researchers found that in 95% of the 40,000 marriages that took place in rural India between 1960 and 2008, dowry was still paid. Paying and accepting dowry is a centuries-old tradition in South Asia where the bride’s parents gift cash, clothes and jewellery to the groom’s family.

80 people feared missing in deadly ‘tsunami’ mudslide in central japan (CNN) Japanese rescue workers continued to search for survivors Monday, two days after a devastating “tsunami” of mud swept through a coastal city, killing at least three people and leaving 80 feared missing. Of the people currently unaccounted for, it’s possible that some may not have been in the city at the time of the mudslide, a city official said.

Malaysians suffering amid lockdown fly white flag for help (AP) When Mohamad Nor Abdullah put a white flag outside his window late at night, he didn’t expect the swift outpouring of support. By morning, dozens of strangers knocked on his door, offering food, cash and encouragement. Malaysia’s nationwide lockdown to curb a coronavirus surge was tightened further on Saturday, banning people in certain areas from leaving their homes except to buy food and necessities. It lurched Mohamad Nor into desperation. He ekes out a living by selling packed nasi lemak, a popular dish of coconut milk rice with condiments, at a roadside stall every morning, but that income has vanished and government aid was insufficient. The white flag campaign that emerged on social media last week aims to help people like Mohamad Nor, who is 29 and was born without arms. By chance, he saw the campaign on Facebook and decided to try to seek help. “It was so unexpected. So many people reached out to help, support and also encouraged me,” Mohamad Nor said, sitting in his dingy room amid boxes of biscuits, rice, cooking oil and water that were swiftly donated to him. He said kind Samaritans offered to help pay his room rental and that the assistance should be enough to tide him through the next few months.

New Zealand records warmest-ever June as ski fields struggle (AP) New Zealand has recorded its warmest June since recordkeeping began, as ski fields struggle to open and experts predict shorter southern winters in the future. A range of factors led to the record, including more winds coming from the milder north rather than the Antarctic south, and unusually warm ocean temperatures, said Gregor Macara, a climate scientist at the government-owned National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. He said the vagaries of weather will change from month to month. “But the underlying trend is of increasing temperatures and overall warming,” Macara said.

Nigerian Baptist Students Kidnapped in Kaduna (CT) More than 100 students at a Christian boarding school in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna were kidnapped early Monday morning. Shooting wildly, armed assailants breached the walls of Bethel Baptist High School in Maraban Rido on the outskirts of the state capital, Kaduna, at about 2 a.m. on July 5 and took students in the school hostel away at gunpoint, area residents told Morning Star News (MSN). Efforts were still underway to determine exactly how many students were abducted. A Bethel teacher told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that 140 students were kidnapped while 25 students escaped, but area residents living close to the school told MSN that 179 children were abducted of which only 15 escaped. The attack was the fourth mass school kidnapping in Kaduna state since December, according to AFP.

#headlines #news

[krat395]

Tickle Me Azzy

Happy New Year, everyone! :D And to kick off 2021, here is a belated Christmas-themed request I did for Rubygirl692 on DeviantArt. She wanted a tickle story involving Frisk and Asriel and I felt that a Christmas setting taking place 7 months after the events of “Tickles of Justice” and 14 months after the events of Undertale would be perfect for those two and fun fact, this is the first holiday-themed story I’ve ever written. So, with in mind, feel free to let me know what you think in the comments… or in notes. ;)

 Undertale© Toby Fox.

 TICKLE ME AZZY

 It is December 22; 3 days before Christmas; and Frisk and Asriel are currently alone in their mother's house. Currently, it is 6 pm and at this time, Frisk and Asriel are wrapping Christmas presents together in Toriel's living room; a few feet away from their large beautifully decorated Christmas tree; their last presents to Toriel, Asgore, Chara, and friends to be exact. With Toriel at a school staff party, and Asgore and Chara working at the mall as a mall Santa and elf respectively, it seemed like the perfect time to do so. Frisk and Asriel love Christmas very much and in a few days, they will be celebrating their second Christmas together on the Surface after the destruction of the Barrier 14 months ago. It's such a special time of year for both of them and one of their ways of getting into the holiday spirit is swapping out their usual striped shirts with red and green striped shirts to wear along with their usual color pants (Asriel's are black and Frisk's are blue); same stripe patterns as their usual striped shirts, just different colors (the green stripes on Asriel's Christmas shirt are a darker shade of green and the other stripes are red rather than yellow; and Frisk's shirt is red with two green stripes instead of blue with two pink stripes). Chara does this as well. Every Christmas, she wears a green shirt with her usual brown pants that's the same shade of green as her usual green shirt but with a red stripe rather than a yellow stripe. But one thing has changed this year however. Frisk and Chara, instead of wearing Christmas socks a lot of the time, have chosen to bare their feet every time they are indoors and in non-public settings. The reason being is because they painted their toenails red and green this year and just can't resist showing them off every chance they get. And nobody can really blame them either! Especially since their nail polish colors alternate between red and green; Frisk with green nail polish on her, right pinky finger, right middle finger, right thumb, left index finger, left ring finger, left pinky toe, left middle toe, left big toe, right index toe, and right ring toe and red nail polish on her right ring finger, right index finger, left thumb, left middle finger, left pinky finger, left ring toe, left index toe, right big toe, right middle toe, and right pinky toe; and Chara with red nail polish on her right pinky finger, right middle finger, right thumb, left index finger, left ring finger, left pinky toe, left middle toe, left big toe, right index toe, and right ring toe and green nail polish on her right ring finger, right index finger, left thumb, left middle finger, left pinky finger, left ring toe, left index toe, right big toe, right middle toe, and right pinky toe. Christmas fingers and toes! :D Perfect for one cute little girl that recently turned 13 (Chara on November 30) and another cute little girl that will be turning 13 the following month (Frisk on January 7)! X3

 Asriel: Hehe. Wow, Frisk! You’re good at that. …You make it look so easy! *said Asriel to Frisk while sitting on the floor in a cross-legged position next to the Christmas tree, complimenting her superb wrapping job on every present she’s wrapped so far* What’s your secret?

 Frisk: Hee hee. Well, for starters, I don’t have fur that keeps getting stuck to the tape. *joked Frisk, who’s currently on her knees; barefoot in jeans and wiggling her toes cutely against the floor* Heeheeheeheehee!

 Asriel: Ha, ha; very funny. *said Asriel sarcastically in response* But yeah, you’re right.

 Frisk: Heeheehee! Would you like some help? *asked Frisk, moving closer towards Asriel*

 Asriel: Hehe; sure. I’ll cut and fold the paper, you tape. Sound good?

 Frisk: Heeheehee! You got it, fluffy boy.

 Sometime later… after all of the presents were wrapped…

 Frisk: Annnnnnnnd done! Great job, Azzy!

 Azzy: Hehe. All thanks to you.

 Frisk: Heeheehee. Awwww! X3

 Azzy: Can't wait to see everyone's reactions when they open their presents in a few days! I bet they're all going to love their presents very much!

 Frisk: Hehe; they better! Mom worked hard knitting those hats, mittens, scarves, and tail warmers for everyone!

 The tail warmers are for Alphys, MK, Rocco, Lydia, GK, and Rex. The lizards! X3

 Asriel: Hehe, yeah. ...Oh! Remember that time Mom, Dad, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys all played hockey together?

 Frisk: Hehe. Of course I remember! That was the talk of the town for quite some time last winter! And a lot of that had to do with some weirdo writing an article all about it on the Internet! Though funny, it was kind of inaccurate to how it all really played out to be honest.

 Asriel: Pfft! Kind of inaccurate?! (More like super inaccurate! Lol.) Well that’s certainly putting it lightly, my dear sister. Hahaha!

 Frisk: Heeheehee, yeah. But, hey, that's what writers do. They like putting their own little spin on things. Especially during that part where they talked about how Mom and Sans didn’t know what the heck they were doing and made them sound like they were flirting with each other! (They read how to play hockey beforehand for gosh sake! Why would they agree to play a game that they don’t know how to play?! XD) Oh! And that other part where they talked about Sans doing some cringy victory dance! (Oh my god, Sans was NOT happy when he read that part!) Heeheeheehee. Silly guy… or silly woman! Everyone knows that Sans doesn't dance. ...Well, at least not while others are watching. Heeheeheehee.

 Asriel: Heeheeheeheehee. I know, right? Heeheeheeheehee.

 Frisk: ...Wait, why did you bring up the hockey game just now! That was very… random of you, Azzy!

 Asriel: Hehe. Just thinking about how fun it might've been if we had participated in that game. Ooh, but I don't like wearing ice skates though. You know, seeing as how I… never wear shoes. *said Asriel while wiggling his six toes cutely*

 Frisk: You could always skate barefoot like Mom, Dad, and Alphys did. Your feet can handle the ice.

 Asriel: Haha! Very true! But who needs to ice skate when you can go sledding instead?

 Frisk: Oooooooh, yeah! Do you think that Santa will get you that sled you've been wanting, Azzy?

 Asriel: Hehe. Well, after getting me that red bike I wanted last year, I'd say that there’ll be a sled next to that tree in a few days.

 Another thing Frisk and Asriel (and Chara as well) do to get into the holiday spirit is talk about Santa like he’s a real person. They know that Santa isn’t real but pretending that he is real and the one responsible for giving them their presents every year just brings them so much joy and happiness; and last year, they went the extra mile by setting out milk and cookies on the night of Christmas Eve before going to bed and they certainly plan on doing so again this year too; for Asgore when he shows up dressed as Santa Claus to put their presents beside and/or under their Christmas tree; or inadvertently, the Annoying Dog if he happens to be skulking around Toriel’s house when he’s not supposed to be. XD

 Frisk: Haha! I’ll have to take your word for it. …And, um, while we’re on the topic of Christmas presents, I got you a little something, Azzy. *said Frisk a bit shyly*

 Asriel: *excited gasp* You did? What?

 Frisk: Heeheehee. Close your eyes.

 Asriel: Oh. Uh, ok then. Hehe. *said Asriel in response, giggling while doing what Frisk asked him to do*

 Frisk: Heeheehee. Perfect! Now, keep those eyes closed until I give you permission to open them, ok, mister? *said Frisk politely*

 Asriel: Heeheehee. You got it, Frisk.

 Frisk Heeheehee. Ok, just checking.

 About one minute later…

 Frisk: Heeheehee. Ok, you can open them now.

 As Asriel opened his eyes, Frisk handed him a mirror and when he looked at himself in the mirror, he was overly excited to see that Frisk had tied a red ribbon around his neck; a beautiful red ribbon, one that wasn’t too loose or too tight; just the right size. X3

 Asriel: *excited gasp* OH MY GOSH, I LOVE IT! *exclaimed Asriel excitedly; hugging and nuzzling Frisk with glee and blushing noticeably red* Oh my gosh, I love it so much! Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Heeheeheeheehee~!

 Frisk: Pffffffff… Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!!! *giggled Frisk preciously in response, giggling due to Asriel’s fur tickling her as he nuzzled her and rubbed his face against her own as if he were a cat* Azzeeheeheeheey!!! Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!!! Azzy, cohohoohohome on!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhaahahahahahahaha!!! You knohohohohohohow how much that tihihhihihihickles me!!! Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheheeeheehee!!! *snort* Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee~!!!

 Asriel: Heeheeheeheehee! Of course I do! That’s why I do it, silly! *Asriel then said cutely to Frisk as he stopped nuzzling her* Heeheeheeheehee!

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!!! I don’t blame you; and I’m very happy to hear you love your early Christmas present from me too! X3 It looks so good on you, Azzy!

 Asriel: Heeheeheehee! I agree! X3

 Frisk: Heeheeheehee! And, uh, speaking of early Christmas presents… Heeheehee! Presents, presents, presents, presents; presents, presents, presents, presents! *sang Frisk, scurrying towards the Christmas tree and lying down on the floor next to it to eyeball her Christmas presents that she’s super excited to open in a few days… or in a few seconds XD*

 Frisk knows enough not to open her presents until Christmas Day. She’s just messing with Asriel, that’s all; like she has been for the past week or so.

 Asriel: Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! *bleated Asriel nervously in response* No, Frisk! Get away from those! We’ve told you multiple times! You have to wait until Christmas!

 With Frisk lying down on the floor next to the Christmas tree to look at her presents tucked underneath of it, she has left her bare feet completely vulnerable. So, with that observation in mind, maybe there’s something Asriel can do to those bare feet of Frisk’s that will convince her to wait until Christmas to open her presents; or, punish her for opening her presents too early. ;)

 Frisk: Aw, come on! Just a peek! Please; pretty please; pretty please with a cherry on top? *asked Frisk, wiggling her toes in an unintentionally teasing manner while sliding underneath the tree a bit further to get a better view of her presents*

 Asriel: Frisk, you get away from those presents or else…

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheehee; or else what, Mr. Fluffy Puffykins? *asked Frisk cheekily, wiggling her toes in an unintentionally teasing manner once again* Heeheeheeheehee! Huh? Hey, wait! Wait a minute!

 All of sudden, Asriel positioned himself on top of Frisk's legs; trapping them underneath his own legs with his back facing towards her own back; and then shortly afterwards, he tickled her bare feet, scribbling his furry fingers wildly up and down her soles.

 Asriel: Coochie coochie coo! Coochie coochie coo! *Asriel teased* Heeheeheeheehee!

 Frisk: EEEEEEEEHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! *Frisk squealed and laughed hysterically in response, letting her ticklishness get the best of her* AZZY, NUUUUUUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHU!!!!!! *SNORT* *SNORT* NOT MY FEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEET!!!!!! *she pleaded through her laughter, flailing on the floor like a fish out of water* HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! *SNORT* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!! GYAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!

 Asriel: Hee hee hee. Not your feet? Hee hee hee. Then how about your toooooooooes? *asked Asriel cheekily, grinning like a mischievous young man as he began playing with Frisk's toes. Heeheeheeheehee! Kitchie kitchie kitchie koo, look who's tickling you! *he teased, sticking his fingers in between her toes to brush his fur against those overly sensitive toe stems of hers*

 Frisk: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!! *Frisk squealed hilariously in response, wiggling each of her toes wildly with every passing second as Asriel tickled in between and around each one of them, letting his fluffy and tickly fur do all of the work* HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHHAHHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! NOHOHOHOHOHO, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, NOT THERE!!!!!! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! NOHOHOHOHOHOT THEHEHEHEEHHEHERE!!!!!! *SNORT* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEEEHEEHEEEHEEEEHEEHEEEHEEHEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEE~!!!!!!

 Asriel: Hahahahahahahaha!

 After about a minute or so, Asriel sang a little song, a verse from "Holly Jolly Christmas" but with different words; and it caught Frisk by surprise so much that she lost all focus to her surroundings. She found Asriel's song incredibly hilarious; but also incredibly cute; and she wound up laughing so hard and so much to the point that her laughter grew silent at least 4 times during the next 2 minutes or so.  

 Asriel: Oh, ho, Frisk's Dreemurr's toes; cute just like her feet. Somebody tickle her. Make her laugh with glee. *sang Asriel cutely as he continued tickling Frisk's feet*

 Frisk: BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! AZZY, OH MY GOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOD!!!!!!! *shouted Frisk through her even more hysterical laughter, lying down on the floor and making no attempts to tickle Asriel back due to how hard she's laughing at both tickles to her bare feet and Asriel's song* [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!] *she laughed silently for a few seconds, overtaken by her laughter so much that all she could think about was laughing* EEEEHEEHEEHEHEEHEEHEEHEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEHEEEHEHEEHEE!!!!!!! OHOHOHOHOH MY GOHOHOHOHOHOD, AZZY, HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA, YOU FLUFFY GOHOHOHHOAT BOHOHOHOHOY, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHA, YOU CRACK MEEHEEHEEHEE UP SOHOHOHOHOHOHO MUCH!!!!!!! *SNORT* *SNORT* [HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!] *SNORT* GYAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!

 Asriel: Hahahahahaha! Oh my gosh, that silent laughter! That’s when I know I’m getting you good, Frisk! Really good! Hahahahahaha! Kitchie kitchie kitchie kitchie koo! *teased Asriel once more, picking up the pace a bit with his furry fingers* I’m still tickling you! Hahahahahaha!

 Frisk: GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA~!!!!!!!

 Frisk laughed at both tickles to her feet and Asriel’s song for a good two minutes; and just when Frisk thought that she was finally finished laughing at Asriel’s song, Asriel sang another song; this time, a verse from “The Christmas Song” (aka “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”) but with different lyrics; and made her laugh incredibly hard once again.

 Asriel: Snail pie roasting on a magic fire. Goat Bro tickling your soles. Hahahahahahaha!!

 Frisk: PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF… HAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! AZZY, STOHOHHOHOHOHOHOP SINGING AND TIHIHIHIHICKLING MY FEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEET!!!!!!!! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!! YOHOHOHOHOHHOHOHHOHOHOU’RE KILLING ME HEHEHEHEHEHERE, BUDDY!!!!!!!! *Frisk claimed falsely through her hysterical laughter, blushing heavily as the tickles to her bare feet continued* [HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!] *she laughed silently again; for all she could do at this point was laugh* EEEEEEHEEHEHEEHEHEEHEHEEHEHEHEEHEHEEEHEEHEHEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!!!!!!!! *SNORT* *SNORT* GYAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!

 Asriel: Hahahahahaha! Uh-huh, suuuuuurrrre I am! *said Asriel cheekily in response as he continued scribbling his fingers rapidly against Frisk's soles in addition to swirling and twirling his fingers in between her toes against the stems of each of them, letting his fur and scritchy nails/claws do all of the work once again* Hahahahahaha~!

 Frisk: HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! YOOHOOHOOHOOU AHAHHAHAHARE!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!! HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! YOU'RE GIVING ME TOOHOOHOOHOO MANY THING TO LAHAHAHAHAHAHAUGH ABOUT!!!!!!!! *SNORT* [HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!] *SNORT* *SNORT* BWARGHAHAHHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHA~!!!!!!!!

 Asriel: Hahahahahaha! I most certainly am! *Asriel then exclaimed both cheekily and joyfully, seconds before blowing 4 long raspberries on the balls and heels of Frisk's bare feet; one on her right heel, one on the ball or her right foot, one on her left heel, and one on the ball of her left foot* Haha! Pbfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!!

 Frisk: GYAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! AZZEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!!!!!!!! *SNORT* [HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!] *SNORT* *SNORT* HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHA!!!!!!!! CUHUHUHUHUHURSE YOU, FLUFFY BOHOHHOHOHOHOY!!!!!!!! *SNORT* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!! GYAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!

 Asriel is having so much fun tickling Frisk's bare feet; and Frisk had it coming too! Not just for supposedly trying to open her Christmas presents early but also for not wearing shoes and socks in her friends' and relatives' home this month! If being around fluffy boss monsters for more than a year has taught Frisk one thing, it's that being barefoot makes her feet much more inviting targets for tickle torture. ;) But Frisk was willing to take that chance this month though and multiple times, she paid the penalty! She and Chara both did! XD But she's not complaining about it though. She loves being tickled on her bare feet. Especially by her loved ones! But sometimes however, it can be a bit much; and Asriel is aware of that too, which is why he is planning on pulling her out from under the tree after at least three more minutes of tickle torture. So, until those three minutes are up, the only thing Frisk will be doing is laughing. Due to being stuck under the Christmas tree with Asriel sitting on top of her legs, it's all she can do! XD

 3 minutes later…

 Asriel: Hahahahahahaha! Ok, Frisk, I’ll pull you out now. *said Asriel, stopping his ticklish assault on Frisk’s bare feet* You ok?

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!!!!! Yehehehehehes!!!!! *answered Frisk, laughing and giggling due to phantom tickles as Asriel pulled her out from under the Christmas tree* Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!!!!! Oh my gosh, thahahahahahat was so fuhuhuhuhun!!!!! *she added, rolling onto her back while wiggling and splaying her 10 little toes to shake the tickly sensations in all of them plus her soles* Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! *snort* Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee~!!!!!

 Asriel: Heeheeheehee! Good! Because now it’s time for me to give you an early Christmas present!

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheehee!!!!! Whahahahahahahahat?!?! A prehehehehehesent?!?! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! Fohohohohor meeheeheeheehee?!?! *asked Frisk both excitedly and confusedly while giggling and moving into a sitting position on the floor, curious as to what Asriel is planning to give her as a present* Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee… Heeheeheehee… Heeheehee… Heehee... Hee……… What? What is it? What did you get me, hmm?

 Asriel: Something veeeeerrrrrry special. *answered Asriel, blushing red and giggling preciously while picturing how Frisk might react to his present* It’s in the basement; but d-d-don’t come down until I c-call you, all right?

 Frisk: Oh, um, o-ok then. *said Frisk awkwardly* But why do I have to wait? Is it not wrapped yet or something? *she then asked, confused as to why she wasn’t allowed to immediately follow Asriel downstairs and into the basement of Toriel’s house*

 Asriel: *sigh* Just trust me, ok? I shouldn’t be too long.

 And with that, Asriel went downstairs to supposedly do what he said he was going to do; and while waiting, Frisk just sat on the floor and admired her red and green toenail polish as she wiggled her toes lightly against the floor. Frisk doesn’t know what Asriel is intending to give her as an early Christmas present but whatever it is, she knows that she will love it no matter what. It’s the thought that counts after all but Asriel usually tends to give his friends and relatives some very thoughtful and creative presents anyway. And this year is certainly no exception! ;)

 5 minutes later…

 *Frisk’s cell phone rings*

 Frisk: Hello?

 Asriel: Ok, Frisk; you can come down now.

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheehee! Awesome!

 After a short waiting period, Frisk went down to the basement to see what Asriel got her as an early Christmas present. Last summer, the main room in the basement became a new hangout area for the kids; one with a big television, a couple of bean bag chairs, a chair with armrests, a futon, and space for additional activities such as arts and crafts and playing with toys (they’ll probably have a pool table and/or foosball table or something in that space when they’re older); and as of right now, that’s where Asriel most likely is! :D

 Frisk: Azzy? Oh, Azzy; where are you, buddy?

 Once Frisk arrived in the basement, she was surprised to see that Asriel wasn’t anywhere in plain sight! “Where did he go?” she wondered to herself as she searched the basement for her fluffy brother. But then she stumbled upon this large box; a box that at one point contained all of the wrapping paper Toriel bought to wrap presents this year.

 Frisk: Huh? The wrapping paper box? What the heck is it doing over here? *asked Frisk confusedly as she lightly tapped the box with her left bare foot, only to get startled once SOMETHING INSIDE THE BOX STARTED MOVING AROUND* Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!! Huh? What’s this?

 Frisk then noticed a tag on the box that said "To: Frisk" on one line and "From: Asriel" directly below it. It was the front of a tag and after reading it; she opened it up and read a message written by Asriel inside:

 Frisk: "Frisk, my early present to you this year is a stuffed animal version of myself. Hope you like it! Hee hee hee. X3" ...Wait! What?!?! Ok, now this I have to see!

 Frisk could barely contain her excitement after reading Asriel's message. "A stuffed animal version of Asriel; does there exist such a thing?" she wondered as she swiftly took the lid off of the wrapping paper box; an easy-to-open box designed to look like a carefully wrapped Christmas present; to see what was inside.

 Frisk: *excited gasp* OH… MY… GOD!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! AZZY!!! AZZY, THAT'S SOOOO CUUUUUUUUTE!!! YOUR GIFT TO ME IS YOURSELF!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! OH MY GOD, I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

 Despite what Asriel's message said, there was no actual stuffed animal in the box. But what Frisk found in its place was even better! Inside the box was ASRIEL HIMSELF PRETENDING TO BE A LARGE STUFFED ANIMAL! :D And to add to the cuteness, he put a big red Christmas present bow on top of his head prior to positioning himself in the box. He already has a cute red ribbon around his neck so he figured a bow would be a nice touch as well. X3

 Asriel: (Awwwww! You're very welcome, Frisk. I had a feeling you would like my present. X3)

 As much as Asriel wants to talk to Frisk right now, he feels that he shouldn't. He is pretending to be a stuffed animal after all; one that supposedly can't talk; and if he wants Frisk to get the most out of her early Christmas present, then he feels that he should commit to the act as much as possible. And so far, he's doing very well; continuing to smile the same way he did the moment Frisk took the lid off of the box; but he did struggle a little during Frisk's excited reaction though. So, as long as Frisk doesn't do anything to make him break character, then he should be ok.

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheehee! Wow, Azzy! I can't believe you did this! Very unique idea! But I'm curious though. What made you want to do something like this?

 Asriel: ………

 Frisk: Uh, A-Azzy? Hello? Azzy? *asked Frisk, waving her left hand in front of Asriel's face to try and get his attention* Azzy?

 Asriel: ………

 Frisk: Ohhhhhhhh! I see what's going on here. Heeheeheeheehee. Sure, Azzy; I'll play along. Heeheeheeheehee.

 After realizing what was going on, Frisk then tried to lift Asriel out of the box. Under normal circumstances, Asriel would've got out of the box himself; but because he is fully committed to acting like a stuffed animal, he didn't move a single inch, forcing Frisk to move him around herself while he was deadweight.

 Frisk: Oooof! Azzy, you're heavier than you look! *said Frisk as she somewhat struggled to lift Asriel up and out of the wrapping paper box*

 After a small struggle, Frisk managed to get Asriel out of the box; by tipping it on its side in a way that she was able to force Asriel to roll out of it. Then once Asriel was out of the box, Frisk removed the red bow from Asriel’s head and cuddled with him for about 15 minutes; pretending he was a large stuffed animal all the while; just as Asriel wanted her to do as he lied on the floor next to her completely motionless except for occasional blinking. It was difficult for Asriel to stay still all the while Frisk cuddled with him; due to how much he wanted to hug Frisk back and nuzzle her; but the young boss monster wanted to do everything he could to stay committed to his stuffed animal act and he found a way. But after those 15 minutes were over however, Frisk, being the (playfully) mischievous girl she is, wanted to see if she could make Asriel break character. In other words, find out if she could somehow make her "stuffed animal" "come to life." She's already got him blushing noticeably red after all of that cuddling but blushing isn't enough for her. She wants him to make some noise and there's one guaranteed way to get some noises out of him too. But first, she’d like to do some teasing; to see if she can make him break character before the main course of action. ;)

 15 minutes later…

 Frisk: Mmmmmmm... Oh, I love my new stuffed animal so much! And for a stuffed animal, he’s very warm too! So warm that I think I’ll warm up my feet on his fluffy belly. *said Frisk cheekily, wiggling her toes while moving into a sitting position next to Asriel* Heeheeheeheehee~!

 With that said; Frisk lifted up Asriel’s shirt and rubbed her somewhat cold bare feet on Asriel’s belly; thinking that doing so would make him “come to life.” But instead, she wound up giggling preciously; due to Asriel’s fur brushing against her bare feet as she rubbed them all over his belly. XD

 Frisk: Pfffffffffffffffffffff… Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!!! Ohohohohohohohohoh my gohohohohohohohosh!!! Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!!! Ugh, I always fohohohohohorget hohohohohow much thahahahahat tihihihihihihihihickles me!!! Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee~!!!

 Asriel: ……… (Pfffff… Heeheeheeheehee!!! Oh no, not her giggling!!! Heeheeheeheeheehee!!!) *thought Asriel worriedly to himself the moment he heard Frisk giggle*

 It was hard to resist giggling along with Frisk but somehow, Asriel managed to stay in character. But after about two minutes however, Frisk tried something different with her feet. Rather than rubbing them on Asriel’s belly, she instead held them directly in front of Asriel’s face; as close as she could without touching Asriel’s head; and wiggled her toes to tease the young boss monster himself, believing that doing so will make him want to grab her feet and tickle the ever-loving daylights out of them.

 Frisk: Hahaha! Hey, Azzy! Tickle my feet again, please! Come on! You know you want to! *teased Frisk as she wiggled her toes in Asriel’s face, causing the young goat boy’s face to fluster with tomato-red blush* Enough pretending to be stuffed animal already!

 He does! He so does! His tomato-red face says it all! But he can’t! For the sake of this early Christmas present to Frisk, Asriel wants to do everything he can to stay in character! And to stay in character, he needs to sacrifice the things he desires most. It was a massive struggle for Asriel but with both patience and perseverance, he managed to prevent himself from “coming to life” all the while Frisk teased him with her bare feet.

 3 minutes later…

 Frisk: Ugh! All right, Azzy; time to bring out the big guns! *said Frisk in a surprisingly intimidating tone, scaring Asriel a little in the process* Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? *Frisk then asked in playful pet talk a few seconds later, lifting up Asriel's red and green striped shirt to pet him on his fluffy belly* Heeheeheeheehee~!

 Oh no! Belly rubs! Asriel's weakness! Well, that and one other thing; hehe XD. It's surefire way to get him kicking his right leg repeatedly as if he were a dog! XD But not this time though! It was extremely difficult for Asriel but all the while Frisk pet him, he kept up his act as a stuffed animal! What a little trooper! X3

 3 minutes later…

 Frisk: Ugh! Ok, now you’re asking for it, Azzy! *shouted Frisk, raising both of her hands up while making claw gestures with them* If this doesn’t make you “come to life,” I don’t know what will!

 Asriel: (Uh oh!) *Asriel shuddered in his thoughts*

 A few seconds later, Frisk began wiggling her ten fingers wildly all over every inch of Asriel’s exposed fluffy belly, causing Asriel to immediately burst into a fit of bubbly laughter that was too pure for this world.

 Frisk: Kitchie kitchie kitchie kitchie kitchie koo!!! *teased Frisk with a giggle, relishing in the sweet sound that was her brother’s laughter for the next minute or so* Heeheeheeheeheeheehee~!!!

 Asriel: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! FRIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHISK, NOHOHOHHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!!!!! *pleaded Asriel through his precious laughter, wiggling and squiggling on the floor as ticklish sensations overflowed his ultra-sensitive stomach* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!! NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOT THE TIHIHHIHIHICKLES!!!!!!!! *SNORT* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA HEEHEHEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE HOHOHOHOHHHHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheeheehee!! Azzy, that wasn’t even a second!! Heeheeheeheeheehee!! *gasp* Wait a second! *Frisk realized something all of a sudden* Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! My very own “TICKLE ME AZZY!!” Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Similar to that ticklish red monster toy but better!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Tickle, tickle, tickle, Azzy!! Come on!! Laugh!! *demanded Frisk, mere seconds before poking Asriel’s tummy just one time*

 Asriel: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHA!! *SNORT* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! THAT TICKLES!!

 Frisk: Huh? …Coochie coochie coo! *she teased once more, this time gliding her index fingers slowly along his sides*

 Asriel: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHA!! *SNORT* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!! OH BOY!!

 Frisk: *gasp* Oh my god! No way! But just to be sure…

 Noticing that Asriel was saying the same exact quotes as the ticklish red monster toy Frisk mentioned earlier; 2 of the 3 quotes to be exact; Frisk then scribbled her fingers wildly all over his torso once again to find out if he would say the third quote. And he did! Through all of his adorably precious laughter! X3

 Asriel: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHA!!!!!! *SNORT* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHA!!!!!! *SNORT* AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! *SNORT* OH BOY, THAT TICKLES!!

 Frisk: *delighted gasp* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! AZZY!! OH MY GOD!! AZZY!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! Just like that red monster!! *Frisk fangirled, seconds before blowing several raspberries over Asriel’s bellybutton; to hear those adorable screechy bleats of his that sound like that of an actual baby goat* Pbffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff…

 Asriel: Wait! Frisk, no… BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! *SNORT* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEHEE!!!!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! *SNORT* HOHOHOHOHOHOHHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!

 Asriel was laughing so hard he couldn’t form a single sentence. Though not as tickly as Undyne’s raspberries, Frisk’s raspberries are enough to send Asriel over the edge with insanely hysterical laughter! And Frisk knows it too! Asriel was laughing, squealing, screaming, snorting, and everything in between for the next while; 2 minutes to be exact; and once those 2 minutes were over, Frisk gave him a much-needed breather; but only so she could hug him and then leave momentarily to grab a few things.

 2 minutes later…

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheehee!! Oh my god, Azzy!! Best early Christmas present ever!! *shouted Frisk happily while giving Asriel a quick hug* Heeheeheeheeheehee!!

 Asriel: Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!!! Glahahahahahahahad you like it, Frihihihhihisk!!! *said Asriel, hugging Frisk back while laughing and giggling due to lingering ticklish sensations on his fluffy belly* Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaha~!!!

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheehee!! So cute!! *Frisk said in response to Asriel’s laughing and giggling as she started making her way out of the basement*

 Asriel: Hahahahahahahahahahahaahhahahahahahaaha!!! Hehehehehey!!! Hahahahahahaha!!! Frisk, hahahahahahaha, where are you going?!!! *asked Asriel confusedly while continuing to laugh and giggle due to phantom tickles* Hahahahaahahahahahahahahahahaha~!!!

 Before Asriel could get an answer out of Frisk; Frisk left the room, leaving the young boss monster himself in a state of utter confusion. At first, he wondered if he should follow Frisk; to see what she was up to; but then he realized that maybe what she’s planning on doing when she returns requires him to continue his act as a stuffed animal. So, because of that factor, Asriel felt that he should stay put; to see what Frisk may or may not have in store for him next.

 Asriel: (Heeheeheeheeheehee!! Oh boy! I wonder what Frisk is gonna do next!!) *Asriel thought giddily to himself, wiggling his six toes cutely as he lied on the floor minding his own business*

 5 minutes later, Frisk returned with 2 bags. From Asriel’s position, it was hard to make out was in the bags but something tells Asriel that he’ll find out what’s in them soon enough.

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheehee!! Ok, Azzy; time to take you over to the chair. *said Frisk, seconds before proceeding to drag a motionless Asriel along the basement floor*

 A few moments later, Frisk dragged Asriel along the floor over to a chair; the chair with armrests to be exact; and once she got over there, she wondered how she was going to get Asriel in the chair while he was deadweight.

 Asriel: Hey, Frisk. I’ll get in the chair for you; on one condition. *said Asriel cheekily, purposely breaking character*

 Frisk: Oh? And what might that be? *asked Frisk confusedly in response*

 Asriel: Kneel down on the floor next to me.

 Frisk: Heh. Well ok then.

 Frisk did as Asriel asked her to do. She kneeled on the floor right next to her adorable brother. And once she did, Asriel pinned her down on her back, lifted up her shirt and tickled her mercilessly for about three minutes; scribbling his furry fingers up and down along her sides as well as nuzzling her belly.

 Asriel: TICKLE ATTACK!!!

 Frisk: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!!!!! AZZYHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!!!!! OHOHHOHOHHOHOHHOHOHOH, YOU ARE SOHOHOHOHOHO DEHEHEHEHEHHEEAD!!!!!!!! *said Frisk through her hysterical princess-like laughter without any actual spite as her stomach quivered due to immensely tickly fur brushing against her torso at an alarmingly fast rate* HAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!

 Asriel: Heeheeheeheeheehee!! Don’t worry, Frisk! After I’m done here, we can do whatever you want! *assured Asriel sincerely; but it was hard for Frisk to tell* Sound good?

 Frisk: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! OKAHAHAHAHAHAHAY!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!!!!! I’LL TAHAHAHAHAHAHHAKE YOUR WHOHOHOHHOHORD FOHOHOHOHOR IT!!!!!!!! *SNORT* HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE~!!!!!!!!

 Asriel: Hahahahaha! Good! Pbffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!!

 And just when Frisk thought that the tickle torture couldn’t get any more intense, Asriel started blowing raspberries on her stomach and over her bellybutton. But not just that though! In addition to blowing raspberries, he also rubbed his face against her belly as if he were a cat. All while continuing his ticklish assault on her sides with his furry fingers.

 Frisk: BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! OHOHOHHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH MY GOHOHOHOHOHOHOSH, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOT RASPBEHEHEHEHEHEHEHERRIES!!!!!!!!!! *SNORT* *SNORT* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! *SNORT* BWARGHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA~!!!!!!!!!!

 3 minutes later, Asriel stopped tickling Frisk; just as he promised he would. Then, a few seconds later, Asriel, knowing that Frisk wanted him to sit in the chair with armrests proceeded to sit in that said chair and let Frisk whatever she’s intending to do either with him or to him for the next while. And to the young prince’s surprise, Frisk took a set of 300 multi-color mini Christmas lights, plugged them into a nearby outlet, and wrapped around them loosely around his torso, arms, legs, and the chair itself. Then after she did that, she took a second set of multi-color Christmas lights; one with 100 mini lights; plugged them into the set of 300 lights, and wrapped them around his ankles and a nearby footrest that he had placed his feet on not too long ago; not too firmly around his ankles but firmly enough that Asriel was unable to escape his predicament.  Then once that was taken care of, Frisk pulled out a red ribbon and tied it around Asriel’s two innermost toes, binding them together in a way that made it impossible for him to pull his feet apart.

 Asriel: Pfffffffffffffffffffffff… Hahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahaha!! *Asriel snickered, giggled, and laughed all the while Frisk tied a ribbon around two of his toes* Ohohohohohohoh!! Hahahahahahahahahaha!! So, you wahahahahahahahahanna tickle my feeheeheeheeheeheeheet, huh? Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheheeheeheehee!! Yeah, heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee, probably shohhohoohhohould hahahahahave seen that coming after whahahahahahaahat I did to yohohohour feeheeheeheeheet earlier!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha~!!

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheeheehee!! Yes, you should’ve!! *Frisk agreed, right as she finished tying Asriel’s innermost toes together* And hey, look! You have two ribbons now! One around your neck! And one around your toes! *she then pointed out to Asriel, gliding 8 of her 10 fingers lightly down both of Asriel’s snow white soles from the bases of his toes to his heels for a little less than 10 seconds*

 Asriel: PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF… BWAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! FRIHIHIIHIHIHIHIHISK, BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I WAHAHAHAHAHHAASN’T REHEHEHEHEHHEEADY!!!!! GAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheehee!! Consider that a little warm-up, Mr. Fluffy Puffykins!! Because for the next half-hour or so, your feet are all mine! Mwahahahahahahaha!!

 They most certainly were! For 25 minutes, Frisk tickled Asriel’s feet like there was no tomorrow; and she did so with a variety of Christmas-themed tickle utensils in addition to her own ten fingers.

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheeheehee!! Coochie coochie coo!! Coochie coochie coo!! *teased Frisk “evilly” as she began tickling Asriel’s feet* Heeheeheeheeheehee!!

 Asriel: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! FRIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHISK, GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, GAH, THAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAT TIHIHIHIHIHIHIHICKLES SOHOHOHOHO MUCH!!!!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!!!

 To start it all out, Frisk tickled Asriel’s feet with her fingers for 3 minutes, scribbling them wildly all over every inch of her brother’s snow white soles as well as wiggling and twisting them in between his six toes…

 Frisk: Hahahahahaha!! Azzy, the fluffy goat boy; has such super ticklish feet! And if you tickle them just right, you can really make him bleat! *sang Frisk as she continued tickling Asriel’s feet, replacing the words of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and causing Asriel to laugh even harder in response* Hahahahahaha!!

 Asriel: BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! OHOHHOHOHOHOHOH GOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOSH, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA, DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHON’T SING TOOHOOHOOHOOHOO!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!! *SNORT* THAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT MAHAHAHAHAHAHAKES IT WOHOHOHHOHORSE!!!!!!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!! *SNORT* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!!!

 Then she used a red feather for two minutes; gliding it along every inch of his right sole as well as sawing it in between his toes on that same foot…

 Asriel: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!

 Then she used a green feather for two minutes; gliding it along every inch of his left sole as well as sawing it in between his toes on that same foot…

 Asriel: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!! SOHOHOHOHOHHO TICKLY!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!

 Then she used two multicolored feathers for two minutes; gliding both of them along every inch of Asriel’s soles as well as in between his toes (one for each foot)…

 Asriel: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!! GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! OHOHOHOH GOHOHOHHOD, HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA, NOHOHOHOHOT TWO FEHEHEHEATHERS!!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! HAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!

 Then she used a red toothbrush with green bristles for two minutes; brushing every inch of his right sole and three right foot toes…

 Asriel: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! *SNORT* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!

 Then she used a green toothbrush with red bristles for two minutes; brushing every inch of his left sole and three left foot toes…

 Asriel: BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! *SNORT* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!

 Then she used both toothbrushes for two minutes; brushing every inch of both of Asriel’s snow white soles (she didn’t tickle his toes or in between them because she didn’t have any free hands to hold his feet still)…

 Asriel: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! OHOHHOOHOOHHOH GOHOHOHOHHOHOHOD!!!!!!!! *SNORT* HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! OHOHOHOHOHOH JEEHEEHEEHEEHEEZ!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! IT’S TOOHOOHOOHOOHOO MUCH!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!

 Then she used two candy canes for two minutes; poking his soles and toes with them as well as gliding them along his soles…

 Asriel: HAHHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! HEHEHEHHEHEHEY, HAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHA, YOHOHOHOHOHOU’RE SUPPOSED TO EEEHEEHEEHEEHEEAT THOHOHOHOHOSE; HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, NOT TIHIHIHIHIIHICKLE FEEHEEHEEHEEHEEET WITH THEM!!!!! *SNORT* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!

 Then she used a strand of gold tinsel garland for two minutes; “shining” every inch of Asriel’s soles with it as well as “flossing” all six of his toes with it…

 Asriel: AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAAHHAAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAA!!!!!! *SNORT* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHA!!!!!! OHOHOHOHOHOHOH MY GOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOSH, THAHAHAHAHAAHAHAT’S DIFFERENT!!!!!! *SNORT* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!

 The she used two cotton balls for two minutes; rubbing them against every inch of Asriel’s soles and six toes as well as in between his toes (one for each foot and she did this right after dumping an entire bag of them all over Asriel’s feet to simulate snow)…

 Asriel: PFFFFFFFFFFFFFF… HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!!!!! *SNORT* *SNORT* OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH GOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOSH, HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHA, THOHOHHOHOHOSE REEHEEHEEHEEALLY, *SNORT* REEHEEHEEHEEALLY TIHIHIHIHICKLE TOOHOOHOOHOO!!!!! *SNORT* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! HAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!

 Then she used two stuffed reindeers for two minutes; rubbing their noses and antlers all over every inch of Asriel’s soles (and to make things more intense for Asriel, she gave the reindeers silly voices to make him laugh even harder)…

 Asriel: HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!!! NOHOHOHOHHOHO, REINDEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEERS!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! BAD REINDEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEERS!!!!!! *Asriel played along with Frisk through his hysterical laughter* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!

 And then, while holding mistletoe next to Asriel’s feet, she blew raspberries on Asriel’s feet for two whole minutes…

 Frisk: Pbffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!! Pbfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff…

 Asriel: BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!! *SNORT* *SNORT* *SNORT* *SNORT* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!! HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE HOHOHHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHA~!!!!!!!!!!

 2 minutes later…

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheeheehee!! *giggled Frisk as she stopped tickling Asriel* Adorable, soft, warm, lovable, huggable, and ticklish; I don’t want to stop. *she added, giving his right foot a platonic kiss and then his left foot shortly afterwards (under the rules of the mistletoe she’s still holding in one of her hands)*

 Asriel: Hahahahahahahahahahaha!! Then don’t!! *suggested Asriel with an exhausted tear-soaked look on his face while laughing due to lingering ticklish sensations on his bare feet* Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! *snort* Hahahahahahaha!! *snort* Hahaha!! Haha!! Haha!! Ha!! Ha. Whew!

 Frisk: Oh, but I must! Because if I leave you like this, then it will be difficult for you to exact your revenge! *stated Frisk with a cheekily smile while freeing Asriel from his bind, causing Asriel to perk up in response*

 Asriel: Wait, what?! A-are you serious, Frisk?!

 Frisk: Pfft! Of course I am! You know me, Azzy! I love being tickled! Especially on my feet! *Frisk assured Asriel, wiggling her toes against the floor in anticipation*

 Asriel: Heeheeheeheehee! That, you do! Heeheeheeheehee! Ok, I’ll do it.

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheehee! Terrific!

 As soon as Frisk completely freed Asriel from his bind, Asriel left the basement briefly to grab something from his bedroom. And while Asriel was doing that, Frisk positioned herself in the chair the same way Asriel was positioned for 25 whole minutes. But she did not use Christmas tree lights to bind herself though. Instead, she positioned herself into a giant Christmas gift bag (a big red plastic bag with snowflakes on it) with her head sticking out at the top of the bag and sat down in the chair with her feet resting on the nearby footrest. Then once Asriel returned, Frisk commanded him to tear open the bottom of the bag to reveal her bare feet for him to tickle.

 Asriel: I’m ba… Heeheeheehee! Well, look at you all wrapped up in that gift bag! Heeheeheeheehee!

 Frisk: Heeheeheeheehee! I knew you’d like it. Heeheeheeheehee! Now, technically you’re not supposed to open this until Christmas but… I don’t think tearing open the bottom for a little peek won’t hurt anything… if you, um, get what I’m saying. *said Frisk with a wink and a real big grin on her face as she kicked her legs lightly and wiggled her toes inside the large bag*

 Asriel: Heeheeheeheeheehee! Oh, I do. I so do, Frisk! Heeheeheehee!

 Asriel then tore open the bottommost portion of the giant gift bag, revealing Frisk’s cute bare feet. Then a few seconds later, he tied her ankles to the footrest with some red tinsel garland; to prevent her from pulling her legs away. And with a red ribbon, he tied her two big toes together; to prevent her from pulling her feet apart.

 Frisk: Heeheeeheeheehee! Perfect, Azzy! Enjoy my second early Christmas present to you!

 Asriel: Heeheeheehee! Thanks, Frisk; for everything you do for me. *said Asriel with a heartwarming smile*

 Frisk: Hehe; of course, Azzy. You’re very much welcome. And if you like this present so much, I can’t wait to see your reaction to the main thing I got you this year!

 Asriel: Hehe, yeah, same here. I bet that you and Chara are going to love what I got you!

 Little does Frisk know, Asriel got both her and Chara THEIR VERY OWN “TICKLE ME AZZY” TOYS for Christmas this year! :O Gaster, Sans, Alphys, and Monica helped him make them; Monica for sewing the toys’ skins and capturing Asriel’s likeness; and Gaster, Sans, and Alphys with everything else (this included tickling Asriel to record his laughter for the toys’ audio XD).

 Frisk: Heeheeheehee! I bet I will! But am I going to enjoy more than you tickling my feet in a few seconds?

 Asriel: Hehe; maybe. But, uh, I’ll let you be the judge of that. *said Asriel with a cute smile as he began tickling Frisk’s bare feet and continued doing so for the next 25 minutes* Heeheeheeheeheeheehee!! Kitchie kitchie kitchie kitchie kitchie koo!! Hahahahahahaha!!

 Frisk: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!! GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH; HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA, OHOHOHHOHOHOHOHOH JEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEZ!!!!!!!!!! *SNORT* BWARGHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!!!

 For the first 13 minutes, Asriel tickled every sensitive inch of Frisk’s bare feet with 3 toothbrushes (a red toothbrush with green bristles, a green toothbrush with red bristles, and a red and white toothbrush with a candy cane pattern); getting her everywhere on her soles and the tops of feet as well as on the pads of her toes, the stems of her toes, and even in the spaces in between her toes. But that was nothing compared to how he tickled her during the last 12 minutes though. During the last 12 minutes, Asriel DREW ON FRISK’S BARE FEET with a 4-color pen (red, green, blue, and black), which he personally won while playing a Christmas-themed game at school; drawing Christmas wreathes on the balls of her feet (2 wreathes per foot) and Christmas trees on her heels (2 trees per foot) and writing “MERRY” on her right foot toes (one letter per toe), “CHRISTMAS” vertically on her right sole, “HAPPY” on her left foot toes (one letter per toe), and “HOLIDAYS” vertically on her left sole. Asriel had so much fun drawing on Frisk’s bare feet and Frisk in turn had so much fun being tickled by Asriel in that way. Her hysterical laughter said it all! XD

 Frisk: HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! HOHOHOHOHO, HOHOHOHOHOHO, HOHOHOHOHO!!!!!!!!!! MEHEHEHEHEHEHERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!!!!!!!!

 THE END.

#undertale tickle #undertale tickling #tickle story #tickle fic #feet tickling #undertale christmas #frisk #asriel