trying on a metaphor
we're not kids anymore.
h
DEAR READER
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
RMH
Jules of Nature
d e v o n
Three Goblin Art
⁂
hello vonnie
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
if i look back, i am lost
YOU ARE THE REASON
No title available
Game of Thrones Daily
art blog(derogatory)
Monterey Bay Aquarium
cherry valley forever
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Brazil
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Netherlands
seen from Portugal
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
@xcanarychronicle
xCanaryChronicle — indie multimuse shenanigans
— hello!!!! my name is remmy/canary! she/they, adult — semi-active because of work and life! — semi-selective/private (because i am scared) — sanji & jimmy are my main muses but i'll slowly expand my list as i get a little comfier, probs!!
muses / guidelines / main blog
just watched Film Red and I am the most soggy, emo lil guy known to man now. man. what the fuck. i love uta.
—♡
Happy New Year!
I am gonna try to actually RP with people other than my housemate this year lmao!! Might poke around in people's inboxes perhaps, so I guess look forward to that !!
Aww shucks. Sanji's do it for him.
Though it would be the same for any other crewmate (undying loyalty and camaraderie) it made Usopp giddy from top to toe. Fists clenched, he made a little victory squeak (an excitement squeak actually) and bounded on over to Sanjiー near necking him as he swung an arm around his shoulder and pulled him in for a very friendly slap on the tit. Er, chest. Sternum. Y'know. All supportive and macho-like.
Usopp never missed, so could never use bad aim as an excuse.
“Heheheh!”
He only kept himself attached to Sanji's side like sticky weed until they found Nami, still in her bikini after getting some Summer Island sun. He needed his hands to speak (and beg) from then on, so it was goodbye Sanji's shoulders and hello hands-joined-in-prayer.
They dropped anchor and took the Mini Merry around the outside of the island's cove. The walk into town, while mostly flat, was intensely hot. Usopp reminded Sanji of the fact twice during their conversation. And each time he did, off came another element of his outfit. First was his pinafore short straps, then his new crimin branded button up (a freebieー kind of), then his bucket hatーwhich he used to fan himself.
“Nami wasn't kidding! This one's a stinker! Should'a just went topless and left everything at home.” He wiped his damp forehead with his sweat band. “Sucks that we're banned from the beach. It's perfect vacation weather.”
Avoiding the beach was hard since there was just so much of it. From afar, it looked like the whole island was just beach. In all honesty they were actually allowed to go to the beach, but just later. With the whole crew. There was no way that the Strawhat crew could pass up the opportunity to muck around and have some fun. Nami snuck him a li'l tidbit passed on from Robinー that there was supposed to be a mixed nudie beach not far off from the main beaches. It was this kind of resort island. So double no go, no stray, unless the crew wanted to carry Sanji home on a stretcher.
“I just showered, dammit. I'll have to take another one when we get back... Did we add deodorant to the list? I've gotta slap some more on at this rate, yeesh!”
Intense heat wasn't something that normally bothered Sanji - he was, after all, a man who normally wore a full suit regardless of the weather. It wasn't for any particular reason other than keeping his aesthetic, despite how often the crew liked to make up their own theories. He was just used to it - heat, especially in the kitchen, was something he'd grown used to. Besides, he naturally ran hot. Hot enough to set his own leg on fire, in fact. So no, heat didn't really bother him, usually.
All of that being said, he had at some point taken his jacket off and rolled up his sleeves. In solidarity with Usopp, of course. Not for any other reason.
"If we do our shopping quickly enough we can probably sneak off to a beach and get a swim in. It's hot enough we'll dry off before going back to the ship." He laughed a little, glancing over to Usopp before very promptly staring forward and gently biting down on his cigarette.
This was… a little ridiculous. Usopp was his crewmate. He was shirtless all the time. They bathed together frequently. But as Usopp slowly lost more and more pieces of clothing, Sanji found himself more and more unable to look him in the eye. Or at all, really. So instead of focused on the task at hand, glancing around at the stalls they were approaching.
"No, but we can grab those when we get the… other things. Looks like an open market for the most part. Might need to hunt down the rest…" He pulled his jacket a little more over his shoulder, pulling his beloved fish pen from an inside pocket and scribbling down deodorant. "You're fine though, ten times better than Marimo. I bet he hasn't bathed in a week, and thinks his sweat is a bath enough."
Sanji pulled a face, thinking about it. He was sincerely glad he was with Usopp, who cared about his own personal hygiene, especially on a day like this. He took a breath, removing the living mossball from his thoughts and refocusing back on the task at hand.
"Right, I can see some whole pike over next to the vegetable stall. You remember what I've taught you about picking the best produce, right?"
“Look, the day you can successfully lie about beingー ooh, I don't know, the future king of a small country to someone three-four times our size on the fly is the day you can guilt me for it. Anyway, doesn't matter, right? I mean I got us outta there didn't I? And chances are we'll never see that guy again in our lives! So I count that as another victory for me. There's no debt to pay if the collector is on the other side of the Red Line.”
It was the kind of logic he expected from Nami. But Nami would have been able to twist it around. Make that thug owe her instead. Or maybe they wouldn't owe shit because she was 'so cute' and used that to her advantage.
He lifted his arms and shrugged.
No matter what girls did (or did not do) to him, Sanji loved women. This was a known fact on board the Thousand Sunny as it was on Merry. Sanji worshipped them like sacred treasure. And admired them with unmatched passion. Sadly, on the flip side of this ‘girl crazy’ nature was that he didn't seem particularly like men. Most men. It wasn't the case that he hated men, but he certainly wasn't as lenient with them.
Or especially patient. Or super friendly.
No hearts appeared in his eyes over a well dressed fellow on their way through the market. And his heart has probably never experienced the feverish thump of l’amour for a handsome guy as they smiled or said hello. The closest that Usopp ever got to raising his eyebrow at the love cook was Ace.
But maybe that was a misread.
Those were early days, and he'd gone through more than enough head trauma to misremember Sanji from before they'd even set foot on Alabasta.
"Whether we wanna think about it or notー" Usopp might have thought about it. Men. Sex. "ー Guys do it too! You're a guy, you've got a dick. Gotta wrap that thingy up! It's just a fact of life! Having the option to use lube and condoms is way better than the alternatives. Think of it like... Healthcare! Self care. It's a comfort thing. A love thing. Lots of people do it. And besides, we're friends, aren't we? Got eachother's backs? Buying personal care for someone can be a love language."
"You forget, King Usopp, that I am but a lowly Mr Prince, not a high and noble King - I know nothing of inheritance and rule." And wasn't that the truth, "but it was impressive." He added after a small pause.
Sanji was more of a lie over the phone, come in clutch quietly kinda guy. Usopp was loud and he did it scared and Sanji admired that. He kinda thought he was pathetic at first, but Alabasta truly changed how he saw Usopp in his eyes.
If Alabasta had changed it, Water 7 had just cemented it.
... And of course, Kambakka Kingdom had changed a lot more for him, too. As Usopp spoke, Sanji shrank more into himself, remembering all too well the openness of the Queens, and just how much he'd learnt about things he wasn't sure if he was thankful for, or if he wanted someone to erase his memory about.
If he wasn't more embarassed about his time in "hell", he'd... probably ask Usopp first, out of everyone. But he'd already established that he was not going to be talking about it.
... Though, he often seemed to break his own rules when it came to Usopp-
He forced an errant thought and a blush away. Nope, not thinking about that right now. Other things to do. Such as. Discuss his crewmates's sex lives.
Of course, he would rather die than admit to Usopp he wasn't about to be getting any - especially not on this ship - and so he resigned himself to his fate of buying condoms for the other horny rabbits on the ship. Namely Zoro and Luffy, because as much as he didn't want to know about them, unfortunately they were not subtle, especially after being separated for two entire years.
"I wouldn't call buying... those sort of products a love language, but sure, I guess. If it keeps them clean and out of my galley."
He finally gave in, reaching into his jacket and grabbing a cigarette, if for nothing else than to have something in his mouth to chew, even if he didn't want to light up in front of Usopp, presently.
"... But we are friends, and I'd do it for you." He felt a little raw and exposed admitting it, but he also missed him in those two years. It was weird having a cooking station where Usopp wasn't present. Sunny was a weird enough adjustment at first, until Usopp found his way in there to tinker while Sanji cooked.
He crossed his hands over his chest; a little protectively, a little self consciously.
"Anyway- we should... we should go up on deck and wait for Nami-san's word on when we'll be arriving. I need to ask her for an allowance for shopping anyway."
He turned on his heel, picking up the grocery list and shoving his hands into his pockets, but turning back to wait for Usopp.
"You coming?"
“Relax, I'm only adding the essentials!”
And what was considered ‘essential’ was completely subjective from person to person, of course. If Usopp believed that they needed these things hard enough, wouldn't that then make it all 'essential'? Was the love, happiness, validation and favour of his fellow crew mates not necessary for his continued existence here in this mortal plain? He punctuated the end of his last thought with a flourish of the fish pen, and a decidedly necessary full stop after writing ‘marshmallows’.
...Yes? No? Too much of a stretch?
Nah. No stretch of the imagination or mad flex of skillful mental gymnastics was too extreme for Usopp. Sanji would see his point of view eventually! Or not. He could easily veto Usopp's choices, actually.
Twirling the pen in between his fingers, he debated whether or not ‘sprinkles’ was pushing his luck. In the end, he decided that he could live without toppings on his ice cream. A certain reindeer would be disappointed if he only knew.
“Nuh-uh. I don't think so, buster.” Usopp shook his head, but kept his eyes on the page. “Besides, we could get separated. Ooor, one of our bags could break… And who's gonna bail you out if things get hairy?”
It was a matter of seconds before Usopp became preoccupied by filling the blank spaces with thematically appropriate filler. He pouted, as he envisioned, and drew Jinbei from memory on one corner of the paper. This handsome Jinbei was then accompanied by various lower effort fish.
"Nami always likes to ask me for some reason... Like, can't she buy her own tampons for once? Not that I actually mind but y'know... Come with me? You'd do it for her, right?"
Sanji was vaguely aware of Usopp addings things to the list, but he was also a little preoccupied trying to find a way out of this after he invited Usopp along in the first place.
Realistically, he knew the crew got up to... things, but he really, really didn't want to think about it. The fact that Usopp was so remarkably chill about it - and about buying stuff for them made Sanji.... uneasy? Uncomfortable?
It made him feel the way Iva made him feel when they forced him to confront shit he didn't want to confront.
He sighed softly, grabbing the crushed cigarette from his mouth and reaching under the counter to toss it in the bin. He forced himself to not get another one.
"You? Bail me out?" He laughed, genuinely, broken out of his thoughts. "Do you not remember the last time you tried to bail me out, and we just ended up owing some random guy even more money?"
He stared down at the list, now taken up with random things Usopp added to the list, and filled in completely with doodles. He smiled fondly. He'd seen Usopp draw almost the entire crew, and he never really missed. He was sort of curious about it - he didn't think he'd ever seen Usopp doodle him, but he also knew how artists were about their work.
He decided to keep it to himself, instead turning to grab shopping bags from the cupboard, cringing a little as Usopp spoke once more.
Usopp had a way of breaking down Sanji's defences, and knowing exactly what to say. Though, it sort of bothered him that Usopp was using the girls against him and not his own company and-- there it was again. That uncomfortable, weird feeling.
"It's not... that, it's..." he trailed off, turning back to face Usopp and gesture vaguely with his arms. "You know I would do anything for Nami-san! It's... I just. I don't want to think about the rest of the men on this ship doing. Anything."
He paused for a second, fidgeting.
"I- uh- that is to say. I do want to go with you. And I will. I just don't know how you're so nonchalant about this."
Usopp's keen eye for detail zeroed in on the shade and shape of the stationery and knew who it belonged to before he even got a full glimpse of it. So that's where it went. Luffy did it all the time (borrow his shit right in front of him), and Usopp would complain one hundred percent of the time. But y'know, the fish suited Sanji. Blue was definitely his colour. Matched his eyes. So he'd give this a pass. It's not like that one was being used at all really. He had a whole bunch left from when he was really into collecting novelty pens. So Love Cook could keep that one. He looked cute holding something so 'unserious'.
Usopp jolted at the sudden movement and almost bodied himself against the countertop to get a better look at what was going onー but had the self control to remain seated and pretend he didn't flinch so obviously.
"Hahaー! "
Sanji was pretty cute when he got all meek 'n' stuff too. It was a side that he didn't show off too often. But Usopp noticed. It was louder than any time he became a whirlwind of compliments and nonsense babble around women. Or louder than his petty squabbles with Zoro. Usopp was elbows on the table again (briefly), all smiles and teeth.
"Yeah! Pass the list!"
He crossed the counter surface from his seat and yoinked the pen and pad with a stretch of his long, toned arms. He sat back and twirled the pen deftly between his fingers. The fish ornament bounced around from side to side.
"Hmm... Sugar, brown, salt, cooking, oats, rolled..." He bit the fish, trying to think of anything he wanted to 'sneak' into the grocery items. "Maybe some more oil, in case you drop that one for real?"
Usopp grinned and added 'rice', ‘a treat for Chopper’, ‘ a treat for luffy’ who would get jealous of the treat for chopper and some of their usual purchases. Nami's shopping budget could probably fit in a little something-something for himself too, so he added 'scrap materials' and 'soil'.
"The girls said we're still good for personal hygiene stuff, but I think we better buy condoms, lube, pads and tampons for the bathroom, just in case. Anything else, boss?"
Sanji did not pout. He absolutely was not pouting as Usopp mentioned the oil bottle. Carefully, he picked it up and checked it over to make sure it hadn't leaked. Once he was happy it was fine, he put it back in its spot and pat it. For effect. He didn't need to look to know Usopp would've noticed, as he always seemed to.
He looked through the pantry, rifling through the other bottles and sauces, though at a glance everything looked and felt like it had been on his last count. Sanji liked to think he was over The Rock, but occasionally when he picked up a bottle and instinctively knew it was lighter than before, he had to count and recount to make sure everything was as it should've been.
Which is how he had realised that his spices were being used up. At first he had thought he was finally losing it, that everything was catching up to him, but when he next saw Usopp fight - and smelt the spices in the air he had realised very quickly what was happening.
He spared a glance at Usopp, smiling fondly as he watched him scribble, though he quickly realised what he was doing and pointedly stared at the pantry.
"You better not be adding anything extra to the list!" He mumbled, though there was no bite to it. This is how it always went, and Sanji knew he could make whatever budget Nami gave him last and keep everyone happy by getting everything on the list.
He took a small breath, making sure to keep it quiet as he regained his composure. He stood to his full height and brushed off his knees, before opening his mouth to speak and twirling on his heel to face Usopp again--
Promptly choking on whatever he was going to say as Usopp spoke once more.
"R- right!" He bit down on the unlit cigarette in his mouth, crushing the filter between his teeth. He winced a little at the feel of it, "that should be everything!"
He stared down at the counter in front of him, resisting the urge to spit out his cigarette and light up another.
"Very smart. Very wise. You can do what while I get... literally anything else."
I'll share some of the photos we took for Kaigacon. This is one of my favourites.
“Oop.”
Elbows off the countertop.
Sanji had a bunch of rules (understandable) for conduct in the kitchen-dining. It was his domain after all. Even during meals where this was a shared space for the whole crew to eat, drink and be merry. Or stress. All depended on the day!
With another successful fib in the bag, not being responsible for the seasoning shortage was yet another lie absorbed into his life story. One that he had to embody mind and soul until it was eventually forgotten or lost relevance (or consequence).
After releasing the oregano jar and switching the ‘grip’ to the rounds of his kneecaps, the straw-hat's resident Pinocchio sat upright, straight and tall. Like he were in the mess hall of an expensive boarding school. Instructor at the rear, instructing him on good etiquette and table manー Wait, no need to act (‘haha’). He could chill out in the galley.
Usopp let out a breath he'd been holding through the left corner of his full lips. The air puffed his cheek.
“...What, and be your bag mule?”
One of his other ongoing lies was that he didn't like going shopping with Sanji. ‘Cause he'd just be dragged around and return to the Sunny, sad and sore.
“Sure. ”
He did. He liked window shopping, shopping for his own supplies and knick-knacks to show off to Luffy and Chopper, and getting the fresh ingredients with their cook. He'd watch him hold fruit to his profile and smell it’s skin. Soak in it’s sweet, ripeー
Usopp folded his arms and grinned wide.
ーanyway the point is that going with Sanji meant he could do some sight seeing. And not the touristy kind.
The two of them often wound up being responsible for groceries. Mostly because they could actually stay on task and complete their duties in a timely manner. Chopper would have made a better pick, if he was honest. Chopper was strong and could heave home a whole heap of bags. Same with Franky (even if he was the LEAST conspicuous looking guy of the whole crew). Usopp was picked because he was comparatively responsible (the comparisons being Luffy and Zoro), and completely ‘undistracting’ (like Nami or Robin).
And…? Normal. He guessed. Normal was good for smaller islands.
“Can’t handle it without these bad boys, am I right?” Usopp flexed his left bicep; posed with this fist square against his forehead.
Sanji snorted as Usopp sat up, the picture of a perfect gentleman in a fine dining establishment. It was kinda charming in a way, but as Usopp relaxed and puffed out his cheeks, Sanji found himself relaxing as well. He much preferred this, rather than worrying too hard about manners right at this moment.
No, that was for when the crew were getting too rowdy and Sanji had to keep everyone in line at the dinner table. Usopp had the added bonus of not being a meat-headed neanderthal, and it wasn't a farfetched thing to admit that he enjoyed his company.
"Of course, who else would I bring with me? Moss for brains?" Sanji scoffed, though there was no genuine malice to it. He didn't need to continue, however, as Usopp agreed.
He grinned easily, turning on his heel, opening a low cupboard and grabbing a notepad and pen to scribble down what he needed. The notepad wasn't anything special, but the pen had a cute little fish print on it, topped with a fish that was bouncing back and forth on a spring. It was a very Usopp pen. Sanji didn't mention it.
He wrote the obvious spices down, making a note to buy extra of a few of them, before he put down his stationary and began rifling through some other supplies, sparing a glance at Usopp as he flexed and immediately dropping the bottle of oil he had in his hands.
He stared resolutely at it, almost willing it to spill so he had a distraction, or anything to keep his attention. Anything but Usopp flexing at him. Unfortunately, nothing came to save him. So he had to breeze past this. Easy. Not a problem. He was suave. He wasn't having a crisis and definitely hadn't been having one ever since stepping foot on Iva's turf. Everything was fine. Normal, even.
"Of course, our very own Captain Usopp could carry no less than one hundred of my heaviest grocery bags."
Perfect. His voice only squeaked the tiniest amount. This was fine.
He busied himself rifling through his cupboards, barelling past that.
"Hey, uh, could you add rolled oats, salt, and brown sugar to the list? We could also probably do with a few more bags of rice, too..."
Barelling past it.
@xcanarychronicle making our own food in this kitchen
Two years of patience and hard work paid off! He felt right back at home! Like nothing ever happened. Kind of.
Aaand y'know, maybe that was part of the problem. Maybe he shouldn't have been so comfortable right off the bat. There were boundary shifts to think of, the passage of time changing his friends (possibly into strangers) and, andー!
And it would be fine, he knew it, but getting past the awkwardness and 'newness' of their reunion would take a little bit. Usopp figured that the familiarity would simply just fix itself as long as he acted like he was already relaxed and well adjusted. He was so committed to the bit, he spent time in the same spaces of his friend uninvited (wow!) and chatted away about his time with Heracles'un and Boin Archipelago almost completely unprompted (cool guy!).
But he worried. Really, he did.
Just like he was now. Worrying. He'd crammed that sweet paprika into his slingshot pellets one too many times. 'Borrowed' the chili flakes more than he should of. He shouldn't have been so easy-going with was Sanji's precious spices. Usopp knew what he was like with Luffy and Zoro and Chopper (and yes, even himself in the past). But now, he was confronted with the consequences of his actions. No, not being caught out and blamed (yet), but being present to witness the cook open the little spice jars in front of him for refills, only to find that there were no 'refills' left to do the refilling.
"Huh!" Shit! "Looks like you'll need 't stock up again at the next port!"
He leaned in on his elbows over the countertop to pretend to be SO absorbed in the noticeable lack of any oregano.
Being back on the Sunny after two years felt like the best thing in the world. Back in his galley, with his ingredients, with his crew. With everything back under his control - or as much control as he could muster with a shitty rubberman as a captain.
Still, at least he had Usopp.
He was glad to find that despite Usopp having his own fancy workship, the sniper still liked to spend time in the galley. Sanji missed it, ever since they said goodbye to Merry, and after two years apart, well... Sanji wasn't willing to admit it, but he didn't want to be apart from his crew for very long, despite their already close proximity on such a small ship.
If that meant that he made a few extra snacks to ferry around to everyone, or if he took a longer than usual smoke break on the deck while Zoro napped on the deck, or Brook tuned his violin in the sunlight...
Or if he didn't say anything when he found Usopp in the galley before him. Well... he just wouldn't mention it, and he'd conveniently not notice Nami's knowing looks.
Which brought him back to the present, a bunch of empty spice jars in his hands, with his larger refill jars also quite empty. He sideeyed Usopp, who had begun to ramble nervously, staring at the oregano jar with the subtlety of Luffy trying to tell a lie.
"Elbows off the counter" he mumbled through an unlit cigarette, reaching over to pull the oregano jar towards the other empty jars.
Chilli flakes, paprika, pepper, and oregano were completely empty, with his stores for flour, baking soda, and cayenne pepper were lower than his last count. Vaguely, he wondered if he needed to check his vinegar stores, but he didn't want to freak out Usopp even more.
He knew exactly why his spice stores weren't as plentiful as he usually kept them. His meticlous nature made sure of it - he would rather eat is own leg before he lost track of his food stores. He would rather die before he let his crew starve.
But he also didn't find himself minding too much about the missing spices, either. It was weird, and it freaked him out a little, if he was being honest with himself (internal honesty being one of his more annoying revelations from Momoiro Island), so he elected to not think about it too much.
"Nami-san said we should reach an island soon. We have enough food to last us much longer than that." He glanced over at the empty spices, debating what to do with them.
"You'll come shopping with me, right?"
Get it right, I’m trying to make my old man proud here.
oooouuu finished fishman island and i am so in love w fishman island it was a rly fun arc!!!! im v excited to see where we go next!!!!
but first im going to be absolutely sobbing abour brook singing to the whales for about 5 years!!!!! please give this skeleton his whale son before he goes insane (╥﹏﹏﹏╥)!!!!!
Tango snickered when Jimmy spoke without thinking and then tried to cover it up. He squeezed his hand, trying to comfort him.
"I could always ask Xisuma if we can let some people on the server. I don't think he'd mind. I know there's a few other people who've expressed interest. Ren mentioned Martyn wanted to play too." He'd honestly be thrilled to have some of their off server friends come play the game he's spent months on.
"You might do great, though! We could have someone used to the game coach you on what to do. And I can watch you the entire time!" The idea of Jimmy coming on and playing his game had him practically vibrating in his skin. His tail was going a mile a minute behind him. He couldn't wait to show him around the citadel, and maybe even the rest of the server, if they had time.
He took a small little breath to compose himself, before he gently covered Tangos hand with both of his; he could still feel how warm Tango was from beneath his gloves and it calmed him down significantly.
"I just got... carried away but... I'd love that, when it's ready, when you're able." He forced out. He was still embarassed, but it was Tango he was talking with. Tango wasn't about to make fun of him for his outbursts, or for acting without thinking.
"Oh! A coach would be nice- probably make me feel a little less... dumb." He laughed, "of course, having you there would be a huge comfort--" he stopped himself with a blink, looking around.
"Hey do you want to like... go somewhere comfier? I uh..." he looked down, blush returning, "wouldn't mind sitting with you."
Cuddling was what he wanted, but sitting was all he'd allow himself for now.
Seeing Jimmy preen at how proud he was of his empire had Tango's heart soaring. He loved seeing his rancher happy. Jimmy was practically sunshine incarnate, and seeing him take pride in something made him shine so much brighter.
"Okay!" Tango relaxed at the rubbing on his palm. "I'd love for you to see it as well. It's not that impressive though, really..." He could feel embarrassment settle in as he thought about Jimmy seeing what he'd built. "Basically, it's a deck building, dungeon crawler game. You build a deck of cards that helps you get through the dungeon! There are ravagers and there's going to be wardens. There's gonna be four different difficulties that correspond to four different levels of the game. The main point is to use a compass to find an artifact and get out of the dungeon alive! But the longer you spend in the dungeon, the harder it gets."
Jimmy listened, completely enthralled by every single word Tango spoke. He squeezed his hands gently when he downplayed his own work, and squeezed a little harder as Tango kept talking.
It sounded amazing - something that was beyond even Jimmy's understanding of how anything worked. But Tango was good at that - blowing people away with some insane build idea and hiding behind the scenes, covered in redstone, saying that whatever he made wasn't that good when it was in fact a genuine engineering marvel.
"I wish you'd take me there" he breathed, without even really thinking. Though as he realised what he'd said out loud he clapped a hand over his mouth with a nervous laugh, his wings flickering out briefly before he tucked them back in.
"S- sorry! I got caught up in it. I just- ah..." he took a breath, forcing himself to calm down a little, a blush creeping up on his face. "I just think. It sounds cool! I'd love to see the cards- I'd love to see the dungeon, though knowing my luck I'd die the second I walked in."
what if i add apis to my muse list. the only apis writer in the world. i love my stupid filler anime only child she is so silly
✨Radiant✨
Knowing Jimmy too well, Tango could recognize the little habits that he had when he was nervous. But he didn't press. As much as he wanted to, he knew better. He didn't want to make Jimmy more uncomfortable. So he let him change the topic.
"An entire empire? Wow! And you said you weren't a builder," he joked, poking him in the shoulder. "I've been good! Been spending all my time working on Decked Out 2." He could talk about it for hours if Jimmy let him, but he bit his tongue for the moment. "I could tell you about it, if you'd like?"
He didn't let the sigh of relief that came with Tango letting him change the subject leave his lips, but his wings relaxed, falling on his back into a more comfortable position as the tension left his body.
"Yeah! It's called Tumble Town- I'm the Sheriff!" He preened proudly, splaying his wings out bobbing his head side to side jauntily, his shoulders wiggling a little with the action as Tango poked him.
He softened, his gaze falling down to his rancher as he spoke. Tango was like the sun to him, and he was a helpless sunflower, following him wherever he went.
Even if he was currently blue. Jimmy made a note to ask about that later.
"I want to hear all about it!!" He rubbed his thumb on Tango's palm gently. "I'd love to see it too, one day."
