#Starting with actually switching over to another blog in order to clean things up around here

[foodfightnovelization]

Interview With A Cast Member, Action Figures and More!

Hey everyone! It's time for another update. As mentioned in my previous post, I was lucky enough to be able to interview an actual cast member from Foodfight! a while ago. Her name is Holly Cruikshank (or at least it was when the movie was in production, today she goes by Holly Ireland) and she did the motion capture for Lady X! So yeah, I didn't score an interview with Charlie Sheen or Christopher Lloyd or anything- but did you really expect that from a small blog like this? Besides, it was wonderful talking to Holly and she made it clear from the start she had only good things to say about working on the movie- a far cry from a lot of crewmembers who unfortunately had a thoroughly miserable time on the project.

For example, this animator (who appropriately titles themselves "tortured artist") talks about their experience on Foodfight! with nothing short of hatred. A large amount of said hate is directed towards the director, Lawrence Kasanoff, who apparently made them clean up his dog's diarrhea and switched up what they were supposed to be working on on a whim, as well as ordering constant do-overs on scenes that had already been done countless times over. This really sounds like a terrible work environment, and as much as I have a sincere apprecation for Foodfight! it's clear there was some incredibly poor direction going on behind the scenes, and that Kasanoff treated a lot of crewmembers really badly. But there are two sides to every story, and in my interview with Holly she speaks of working on Foodfight! with people who were genuinely excited to be there every day and thoroughly enjoyed their time on it. So without further ado, here's my full interview with her, taken directly from our emails with each other (the purple text is me, and the black text is her).

This was a really lovely interview, and I was delighted to talk to someone who was so happy to discuss the movie and share their experience on it in a positive way. Some interesting things to note here are that the show she was doing was a Broadway play called "Movin' Out", and if you look up footage of that show online...

...the character Holly is playing in that show looks INCREDIBLY similar to Lady X! The dark hair, the red dress, etc... is it possible Kasanoff cast her because of how closely she resembled the character he wanted her to play? I can't say for sure, but it's definitely interesting. It's also sweet that she talks fondly of Larry, remembering him being kind, fun and supportive, especially considering how negatively a lot of former crewmembers speak of him. Not that said crewmembers are in the wrong for this- considering Larry's apparent behavior during production I'd say all their comments are justified, it's just interesting to get a different perspective on the matter.

She also mentions filming all the motion capture, then having to come back around a year later to do some more scenes- presumably this was down to either not having correctly captured some scenes the first time (the motion capture technology seems like it was quite temperamental) or script revisions requiring some scenes to be redone. I think it's also a really fun anecdote to share that when she did the motion capture she was in the early stages of her pregnancy- and by the time the movie finally came out her daughters were old enough to actually watch the movie! It really puts into perspective just how long it took for Foodfight! to get released.

I also completely agree that the creative team behind the movie had "an amazing story and idea" and I think it's fantastic she was excited to be a part of "something inventive and unique"- I really do think there's a hidden gem at the heart of Foodfight!, it's just hard to see with the horrible animation casting such a large shadow over it- I don't blame her daughters for not wanting to watch the finished film). Overall though it was a pleasure talking to Holly, she was so enthusiastic about the movie, as well as being very gracious and open to answering all my questions- even telling me to let her know if there was anything else I wanted to ask. A lot of people who worked on Foodfight! had their lives go in very different directions after they finished working on it, and with there also not being many fans of the film to begin with, I imagine this was the first time anyone had really asked her about it. It was really fantastic to get to talk to someone who worked on the movie, but I have other things I'd like to share in this post as well!

That's right, Foodfight! action figures! No, not the plush toys that were actually released and sold off in arcades and carnivals as prizes, these were prototypes that never made it to shelves. These pictures were found in the trademark registration documents for Foodfight! and show off a wide variety of Foodfight! figures and plush toys, none of which have ever been seen before or since.

First off, we have a line of small collectible figurines, based on all your favorite characters from the film! There's Dex Dogtective, Daredevil Dan, Sunshine Goodness, Vlad Chocool, Cheazel the Weasel, Polar Penguin, Maximillus Moose, an Xobyte, Lord Flushington, a Brand X soldier, Hairy Hold, Lady X, Lieutenant X, General X, and a variant of Dex in his fancy tuxedo. That's a pretty wide range of figures, 15 in all! Towards the back, you can also see a set of 5 of these figures packaged up, and on the box we can see these were made by Playmates, as opposed to Nanco, who created the actual merchandise released for the movie. Honestly, the way these figures are designed, the way they have no articulation, and the way they're packaged, they remind me a lot of Homies. You guys remember Homies, right? The little figures you could win in capsule machines (or buy sets of) that depicted various caricatures of Mexican-American culture? No? Well those would've been popular around the time these figures were made, so I wonder if they were an inspiration? In any case, these figures look ADORABLE and I wish they were fully produced, because I'd LOVE to have had a full set of them. They're so teeny and tiny and cartoony, they're adorable. At the very top of the first image, we can also see the packaging for something called "Dex Dogtective's Utility Belt", but since we can't see the rest of it, there's no knowing what it would've consisted of.

Onto the second image, and this is where it gets interesting. These are plush toys of various movie characters, but they're very different to the ones that actually came out (a given, considering these were prototypes and made by a different company). They're incredibly detailed and have hats and coats made out of different textured materials (with Dex's hat being a hard plastic for instance), and are seemingly the kind of plush toy with a hard wire interior so that you can pose them in various different ways. A sign below also says "We're electronic! We say movie phrases!" Again, none of the official movie toys are electronic (but it's debatable if even these were given they're just prototypes). And of course it has to be said, these plush toys look FAR superior to the ones that were actually released. Just for fun, here's a comparison between the prototype Dex plush and the one that was actually released.

I have to admit, I started laughing out loud putting these two pictures side by side. I'm reminded of that popular internet joke (look it up if you're not aware of it) of a character saying "this edible ain't shit-" and then cutting to to them looking absolutely wrecked. With that being said though, it's not entirely fair to compare a prototype to a mass-produced plush toy, and I still find the released Foodfight! toys to be endearing enough that I'm currently in the process of collecting a full set of them. (I'm hoping to collect every piece of Foodfight! merchandise at some point, I'll make a fantastic post showing everything off eventually). Regardless, it's an interesting look into what might've been with the world of Foodfight! toys, and it's fascinating to see them all presented this way- it makes me think of that scene from Toy Story 2 where Woody sees Al's "Woody's Roundup" collection and realizes he was famous. Everything here is laid out in a way that makes Foodfight! look like it was a smash hit. Not in this world though...maybe in some other world.

Anyway, I have one more thing to talk about in this post. Remember a while ago, when I talked about the various Foodfight! websites over the years? It turns out I actually missed one! In around 2008, the Threshold Animation Studios website had a section on Foodfight! containing some very interesting information about the movie. You can view it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20081003194856/http://thresholdanimationstudios.com/foodfight.html

Unfortunately, only the website's text has been preserved, so none of the images have been archived. There's a main page explaining the plot of the movie and a subpage about the cast, but that's not what we're here to talk about. We're here to talk about the Foodfight! Foundation.

So yes, as bizarre as it sounds, Foodfight! was at one point planned to launch alongside a charity organization that helped cure world hunger and feed starving children. As admirable of a goal as this is, it's also insanely ambitious- cursory research will show the Foodfight! Foundation did exist at one point, but I highly doubt it was ever actually active or fed 10 million kids. It's fascinating to see how much of a hit Kasanoff thought this movie was going to be- sometimes it's good to have realistic expectations in mind.

There's one more thing on this website worth talking about- there's a section called Merchandising Program, and on there we see a list of tie-in merchandise they had planned for the movie. We see videogames, (which we saw a clip of at E3 2006- see a previous post for my discussion of that) amusements (Nanco is mentioned here, who were the company who made the actual Foodfight! plush toys released in stores) but...what's this under publishing?

That's right, it's a mention of the novelization of the feature film! The book that started this whole blog! This is the ONLY official mention of the book I've found anywhere on the internet, and it's fascinating to see it acknowledged in an official capacity by Threshold. This still doesn't answer my one lingering question about the book- WHY is there only one copy of it in the entire world? But if I had to guess, I'd say it was commissioned, written, published and printed just for the sake of showing off to potential investors in the project the merchandising potential the movie had. That's the only reason I can think of that there'd only be one copy, and it fits with the prototype action figures we saw above. But how did the novelization end up on eBay? How did the only existing copy end up in a Goodwill in Minnesota? (that's where it was shipped from) I have no idea...

I hope you all enjoyed this post! I know the topics I discussed here weren't particularly connected to each other and don't segue into one another very well, but I had a whole bunch of Foodfight! stuff I wanted to share and I didn't want to just post my interview with Holly by itself, since it was pretty short. So that's it for this round of Foodfight! facts, knowledge, and wild speculation! Tune in next time for something rather exciting...

#dex dogtective #foodfight #daredevil dan #lady x #analysis #action figures #plush toy #this edible ain't shit #book review

[princess-fuckrosa]

Hi. I hope you don't hate sk8 adam. If you one of the unique and awesome people whole love/like Adam can you perhaps wrote a SMUT of him? I'm sad that i can't find and SMUT about him cause everyone hating on him. You can write anything tho i don't have any particular request.

Thank you and sorry for the bad English. English is not my first language

Ahw, don't worry Anon, this blog is a safe place for loving on anyone!

And well, let's be completely honest, everyone who hates on this moron, is actually right about it, the latest episode left me a 3 minute complete silence as I tried to recover from what he did to our dear Cherry.......

But, to be fair, I have a soft spot for all the motherfuckers like Adam, so all of you who love the Matador of Love, don't be afraid to send in your requests, I adore him too! 💖

And don't worry about your English anon, it's perfectly fine! Send me a request anytime I'm open! ❤

*EDIT: Yesterday I forgot to include some stuff, so I added them~

HEAVY smut under the cut, general TW for the innocent vanillas~

Ainosuke Shindo (Adam) SMUT headcanons

We already have some clues about how the Matador of Love would be like in a relationship, and let me tell you, and I don't think it's a surprise but...

It's not nice. At all.

or it depends on what you call nice I think haha

Ainosuke definitely has a big turn on for tears and fear.

He's a sadist, and I don't think he would be completely against being on the other end of the line, but he would be the top dom most of the time.

He's into both physical and mental abuse, but before we completely bookmark him under the 'heartless psycho' category, he won't do anything non-consensual.

I imagine he would search for his 'Eve' in this way too, and if someone wouldn't willingly submit to him, they are just not the right ones.

So unless you let him do whatever he wants, he wouldn't take you seriously. He might have a one night stand, as he does sometimes, but to be his Eve, that's not enough.

He would expect you to be 100% submissive towards him, but only in the bedroom, and not on the casual side. He would love the contrast between the two: you being bold and confident during the day, but a sobbing, needy mess at night - perfect.

Master/Pet play is a big kink for him.

At first, he would give you a taste - he wouldn't be half as rough as he usually is, but would make you cry during the act, just to show off his style a little

"Do you still want to be my pet?", he asked, his index finger lifting up your head to make your teary eyes meet his seemingly empty, red ones. If you managed to whimper out a yes, his fingers would brush your lips as he leans a little closer. "I'm gonna abuse you, y/n."

You saying yes to him again would make his blood boil in excitement again.

He would absolutely cherish the idea of having a s/o as a pet, someone who would adore and worship him, and he could play with them as much as he would like to. Wouldn't go as far as caging (well, if you really insist, he wouldn't be against it either), but would give you a collar with "Adam" written on the tag.

Ainosuke is the kind that would be gentle and caressing at the start, and as the play session goes he would get more rough and vicious.

He does a lot of foreplay. It's mostly anything that implies that he is in control, and usually it starts rather innocently.

He walks over to you, caressing your cheeks with a brief smile, giving you soft kisses on your neck, hands traveling on your body with gentle touches...

...only until you get completely relaxed. He would lean back a little, his fingers tracing your lips, and for the first time in the last few minutes, he would smile at you.

And the fun begins.

You quickly learn that specific smile, the innocent, kind one that only appears on his lips when he came up with something truly dirty and terrific.

Would totally manhandle and take advantage of you. Grabbing you by the hair or your collar to get you to the bedroom, but sometimes when he feels like it, he could be able to just pick you up in bridal style and carry you to his bed - which is gigantic, by the way.

With Ainosuke, expect a lot of messy blowjobs. He would let you start and show your appreciation for the first few minutes. But after that, he would cup your cheeks, tug into your hair and face fuck you with vigorous speed. Plus points if you wear any makeup, he would ruin it, and almost get off only on the sight of seeing you crying off your eyeshadow. It would be hard to stop him after he starts, and wouldn't really care about your discomfort, the only thing he would avoid is making you vomit, he doesn't like that

He would call you the dirtiest, filthiest names ever, but would praise you and call you sweet, loving names just as much, especially during said face fucks.  

He is not THAT into bondage, Ainosuke prefers using his hand and body only to get you under full control, but if he is in the right mood, he would totally tie you up and abuse the hell out of you.

Doesn't matter if you are a female or a male, he would absolutely torture your nipples. Flicking them roughly, pinching them, tugging on them so hard that your back arches, slapping and biting them.

Getting to the main act with Ainosuke takes a long time, he would make sure to make you come one way or another, at least once.

Sometimes, when he is in a more affectionate mood, or you earned a reward, he would overstimulate you until you're so dizzy and disoriented that you don't even remember your own name, because you screamed his name so many times during your climaxes. He would leave you no rest, once you get your first one, he wouldn't stop, aiming for the next one, and the next one, and the next one...

Finally, when he gets between your legs with his crotch, you're so wet or lubricated that it wouldn't be much of a struggle to slam into you without a warning.

Through the whole foreplay, he is just so aloof and cold, or somewhat loving yet collected, but now that he is in you - he would completely switch into an animalistic, rough beast. Grabbing and bending you, completely getting lost in your moans, whimpers, and screams.

Would enjoy a lot of poses, his favorites are mating press, spreader, v, all variations of doggy, and basically everything where he is in full control over you.

But when he gets close, he would prefer to switch into missionary, leaving no space between your bodies, looking into your eyes as he reaches his high.

Depending on his mood, he would be either very affectionate with aftercare, or just completely ignorant of it, leaving you in the room alone as he goes to clean up himself and return to his day.

If there's no risk of knocking you up, he would usually release his seed into you, as a way of marking you as his, but would love to just cum anywhere on your body for the same reason.

That being said, he is not an abusing asshole all the time. From time to time, he would be more gentle, focusing more on holding your body like it was the most precious thing in the world, keeping it close to him, shower it with kisses, lovebites, and loving gropes.

He would sense your mood often, and if you feel down for some reason, he would cuddle you, placing you into his lap and wrapping his arm around you, and he would offer you some distraction from your problems. If you accept it, he would pay attention to your needs. Sure, if you just want his usual self, he will order you around and give you a rough treatment.

But if you need lovemaking, how would the Matador of Love turn you down? It's just something he won't really go for on a regular basis, so savor these moments every time, but don't be afraid to mention it when you need it, he's bossy and narcissistic but up for negotiations.

The latter is rather rare, he would usually just cuddle up with your messy, hot body for a few minutes before helping with the cleaning up.

Either way, sex is hardly ever predictable with him, he would be able to surprise you every time even after a long, long time of being together.

#sk8 #sk8 the infinity #sk8 anime #sk8 imagines #sk8 x reader #sk8 headcanons #sk8 adam #ainosuke shindo #sk8 adam x reader #ainosuke shindo x reader #smut #like fuck that was filthy #sk8 adam smut #ainosuke shindo smut #princessfuckrosa

[nsfsprince]

An a/b/o idea thats taken over the brain that I wish to write:

Intruxietlogical A/B/O au that's set in a manor or smth?

Theres Alpha!Logan(cismale), head of the manor and a very rich yet young and respectable individual of the city. Hes like 6'4 and handsome as hell, and secretly knows it(due to Remus's persistent courting) but sees no point in personally flaunting it, letting Remus take the lead in that.

Then theres his eccentric Omega spouse, Remus(nonbinary leaning with he/him pronouns), the (in)famous artist of the city. Hes unusually tall for an Omega at 5'10, crude and unworried about fitting the 'normal' societal omega expectation despite also being born to a rich family. He courted Logan, persistantly, as he loved the fact that Logan treated him with the same respect as he would anyone else and never judged Remus for who he was, and the more Logan accepted the courting the more they fell in love before marrying and bonding at like. 23-25?

Well, Virgil is a 5'1 omega(transman with he/him pronouns), age 24. Hes a feisty little thing thats been surviving the streets for too long, he's parentless and, his high anxiety keeps him safer than most omegas on their own but no ones perfect- he ends up almost getting abducted by a sketchy Alpha when a Beta named Patton storms in and saves him.

That's how Patton, Logan's brother, takes him in to treat the sprained wrist he got from the encounter, and for Remus to set eyes on Virgil and immediately decide he wants to keep and court him, too.

I could ramble alot about the months it takes for remus to flirt and fluster and break Virgil out of his shy terrified shell(because hes gone from interacting with fellow street raccoons to very weathy and very Pretty nobility and its. A Lot.

I could ramble about the way both Remus and Logan coax Virgil into staying in their home for more and more ludicrously simple reasons, just to keep courting him, and how Virgil catches on, and flusteredly does nothing to stop it bc he's slowly falling in love too

But what I Really wanna ramble about, is their bedroom dynamics.

Content warning for under the cut: a/b/o dynamics, talk/descriptions of knotting, polyamourus relationships, kinks. Lots of kinks: oralfixation, dom/sub/switch dynamics, praise kink, overstim(lots of overstim), talk of double penatration, p in v sex, ect. Let me know if i missed anything!

MINORS DNI or you will be fully blocked from this blog and my main one.

Logan is a soft but firm dom, always in control and ready to take control. He has a bit of an oral fixation and loves sucking off his loves as often as he can, happy to sate his loves while getting them to soak themselves in fresh slick. He's easily comanding when needed but also enjoys that Remus is more than willing to take control on occasion(see: regularly). He just really really likes taking care of his loves however he can, and aftercare is super important especially after some of their more intense scenes

Remus is a bossy switch, who Loves riding Logan's cock till hes stuck on his knot, or getting fucked up against a wall till his mind turns to jelly. Really likes a bit of primal play, loves riling Logan up with praising how good Logan could breed him(even tho theyre all on birth control so it really is just for the scenes) if he just pins him down and takes. On the flip side, Re also loves pinning Virgil down and driving him crazy, too.

Virgil is a near complete submissive, he's eagar to give and take as ordered and melts at any praise given. Starting out he'd been touch straved beyond belief(which has since been remedied thoroughly) and thus ended up developing a habit of dropping into subspace the moment Logan and/or Remus cradle his neck with both hands. Hes a very affectionate sub who puts so much of his trust and control into Logan and Remus's hands, and both cherish it as Virgil literally never lets his guard down around anyone else.

So, my favorite thing about their dynamic is that Remus still has a decent sized cock despite being an omega, like is actually rather big for Virgil to take, the draw back is just that Remus cant, at least naturally, Knot Virgil like Logan can. (However, its like one of Remus's biggest fantasies to Knot Virgil, and Virgil is totally in the same boat and would be Very on board with it)

This lack of natural knot doesnt stop Remus of course, infact its encouraging because he has a nearly non-existant refractory period so, literally imagine:

Virgil on his back, Virgil's head and shoulders are cradled lovingly in Logan's lap as the alpha occassionally trades kisses with both of his gorgeous omegas. Virgil's legs spread and cunt gently held nice and open by Logan's gentle but firm hands as Remus repeatedly sinks his cock nice and deep into Virgil. Slick soaks Virge and Remus's thighs, his cunt, and Remus's cock.

Every thrust has Virgil whimpering and his legs twitching with the relentless feeling of the head of Remus's cock just barley rutting against his cervix on every other pass. Just the hot way Remus has Virgil pinned into a mating press and obviously working hard to make that position live up to its name, babbling at how good Virgil feels taking his cock like a good little omega, at how easy it is to breed Virgil over and over and over again.

Then Logan enacts this little idea hes been holding onto the moment Remus starts to get close(hes trained Remus well, having helped him train to stall his orgasms for longer and longer because Remus LOVES overstimmulation). He has Remus slow down for just a moment, causing both omegas to whine, before coating two fingers in plenty of slick and slowly pressing them in alongside Remus's cock.

Virgil is slowly losing his mind(as they find out in later sessions that he absolutely has a size kink, and would happily take both their cocks at once any time hes given the chance) at the width, his eyes rolling. Then Remus is told to start thrusting again until he comes, and to ignore Logan's two fingers outside of being careful.

Virgil and Remus are so keyed up that it only takes another minute or so for Remus to start cumming, following Logan's order of pressing all the way inside as deep as he can get, at which point is Logan's cue to start curling his fingers firmly deep inside of Virgils walls.

Immediately, Virgil starts whimpering loudly as he cums, his body reacting the way it would if he were being knotted by an alpha, cunt clenching tight and sucking Remus's cock deeper as his eyes squeeze closed and his jaw fall lax, overwhelmed as his body draws out his orgasm for as long as hes knotted.

Remus is put in a mind-melting world of pleasurable overstimmulation as hes just climaxed and Virgils cunt is milking it for all hes got and he cant even move or pull out now because hes 'locked' inside. His hips and legs are trembling and he's moaning loudly because it's so hot that hes basically getting to Knot Virgil and it feels so good.

Virgil's cunt won't let him go and wont stop pulsing around the head his oversensitive cock and he really cant be faulted for the way he loses control and just keeps orgasming, his lack of refractory period as a keyed up omega just letting him squirt more and more cum and slick deep into the omega under him.

Logan's gentle and soothing, cooing reassurances to his two loves as he helps them lose their minds & fulfil their fantasies. He even uses his free hand to stroke Virgils little cock slowly, drawing out shaking whines from both of them as it makes Virgil clench harder in intervals. Remus ends up hunched over Virgil, his face tucked into his fellow omega's neck to muffle his overstimulated whimpers.

Logan draws it out for a minute or two, just until pleasured and overwhelmed tears picks at their eyes and their soft begging whimpers and mewls fill the room before slowly releasing the hold, letting the string of tension snap and watching them unravel and relax, finishing their peaks.

Remus cant help the way he struggles to pull out, so oversensitive that his hips keep hitching back in place with the way Virgils body tries to keep him there, needing Logan to pull their hips apart to fully end the scene.

Logan strokes and comforts both exhausted omegas, now fully in his element, cooing soft reassurances to both, getting up to start a bath and carefully guiding them both in and cleaning them up. The sheets are changed and both are put in soft clothing and given juice and cuddles.

Remus would probably make a comment on asking drowsily just how Logan deals with being knotted to him for in upwards of 30 minutes if it feels like /That/ the whole time. Logan would probably just smile sweetly and press a sweet kiss to his lips and say "with experience of course, perhaps we can work on that too, if the both of you would be so inclined?"

Virgil shutters and whines, too tired to get worked up again, Remus in a similar boat but nodding drowsily anyway. Remus probably wakes up sore and gets worked up all over again at the memory of why his cock of all things is sore and sensetive.

Perhaps they do work on it, perhaps Remus is trained to a take it little longer each time, no where near half an hour for the longest time, but he gets pretty close and much better at holding from losing his mind.

Maybe then they explore what it feels like for Remus to be stuck on Logan's knot, while Virgil is stuck on Remus's 'knot' with the help of a toy. Maybe then they also explore working Virgil up to take both of their cocks, and see what happens what Logan's fingers curl just right to trigger that knotted feeling to have Virgil lose his goddamn mind impaled on both their cocks as they slowly thrust in and out despite his body thinking he's already been knotted and reacting as such.

Maybe they even explore working Virgil's other hole open, just enough to take Logan's knot, and give Remus free reign to fuck Virgil's soaking trembling cunt until they can coax Virgil's cunt into taking Remus's 'knot' as well

Idk man. Just. This whole dynamic has so many hot possibilities. 💕💕💕

#not safe for sanders #nsfs virgil #nsfs logan #nsfs remus #nsfs analomus #lodukexiety #whats their ship name?? #prince writes #abo au #ask to tag #edit to add the content warning bc i hadnt had time earlier to remember it let alone put it in

[gallickingun]

basic manga cap tutorial || ibis paint x

I got a request on how I color my manga caps (you can check them out in #morgan-colors-bnha and #morgan-colors-hq), so I thought I’d do this step by step tutorial that walks you through my process!

I color and draw on my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note10+) using the stylus provided with the phone, however you can use your finger. For manga cap coloring, I use Ibis Paint X, which you can find HERE for the Google Play Store, and HERE for the Apple App Store! It is a FREE app, and actually really helpful for a number of reasons, which I’ll show you down below! It does go without saying - there are a limited number of brushes that you get with the free section, but I haven’t found them to be too limiting, however I’ve only done basic manga cap coloring. You can watch short ads (I haven’t watched any, so I can’t vouch for the obscenity of them) to use the non-free brushes for a short period of time, though. 

The first part of this tutorial is going to be showing you how I took THIS SUGAWARA manga cap and turned it into the one you see HERE (both as pictured on the header image). The second part of this tutorial, attached at the bottom, is a timelapse video where I show you how to turn THIS BOKUTO manga cap into the one you can find HERE. 

Alright - without further ado, let’s get into the tutorial! As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to drop by my ASK BOX! Hopefully this is in depth enough without being too confusing. ❤

I’m doing this in steps so it can be in depth and informative enough, but I know that can become a little confusing, so I’m going to do my best to explain each step. I’ve also highlighted using little yellow boxes where I’m referencing, as pictured below. 

To start, here are the ways I usually find manga caps: 

1. Google searches, Pinterest searches, etc. Sometimes they’re already transparent, other times they’re not. I’ve found that I’m able to use the non-transparent ones because of the tools that are within Ibis Paint X.

2. Tumblr blogs - there are some blogs that are meant purely for transparent manga caps. 

3. Manga scans. I, personally, haven’t used manga scans, but I know others that use them! They usually require some extra clean up, which can take extra expertise. Removing speech bubbles, backgrounds, etc. 

Please remember to provide credit if it’s requested from the original poster!

Step #1: Open IP (Ibis Paint - I’m not going to say it every time because WOW that would get repetitive) and click on “My Gallery”.

Step #2: This is your gallery - as you can see, all of my prior caps are here, and this is where you will either open an old cap and keep coloring, or start a new one. In the bottom lefthand side, you see I’ve highlighted the “+” sign. This will bring you to the next screenshot.

Step #3: This is where you can choose if you want to create your own canvas, or create a canvas based off of the imported photo. Since I don’t do many “official” manga cap posts where I create a full image set from them, I usually just click on “Import Picture”, and go from there! However, if you want to create an image canvas, and import the picture once you’ve gotten the canvas open, please see Step #6 for how to import the image once you’ve already created a canvas!

Step #4: This is the screen that should pop up every time you import an image. When you’re doing manga caps especially, you’ll want to hit “Ok”.

Step #5: I believe these are the automatic settings, however if they’re not on your app, these are the settings I use when selecting how to extract the line drawing. Black at 0%, White at 100%, and Middle at 50%. This will remove the background from the manga cap, and only leave the dark line art remaining.

Step #6: This is what the layer should look like once you’ve extracted the line drawing. See highlighted the “+” button - this is how you will add new layers. I chose to add a new layer, which you can see in Step #7. However, if this is where you want to add an image, see the highlighted camera button. This will let you choose an image from your camera roll and import. The “Extract Line Drawing” option will appear each time that you import an image, so don’t worry about triggering it! It will trigger itself!

Step #7: Here is the new layer! I cut out the screenshot from before, but each new layer shows up on top, so I had to use the three little lines on the righthand side to drag it beneath the layer of the Sugawara manga cap layer.

Step #8: I used this new layer to import a photo of Sugawara in his uniform from a quick google search. I actually end up grabbing another one just to make sure I know what the bottom half of his uniform looks like, but I don’t show it just yet. Because the layer is behind, it shows up underneath Suga’s face. I end up erasing the parts that interfere with the cap here in a bit. 

Step #9: When you click the brush button down at the bottom, this selection screen comes up. There are a ton of brushes to choose from, but for the base colors, I use “Dip Pen (Hard)” at 100% opacity. I’ve shown it highlighted here!

Step #10: Now we’re going to create our color palette. Sometimes I will find color palettes online And import them, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to use this photo of Suga along with another one that I nab later to create the palette. The way you use the “dropper” tool (if you’re familiar with Photoshop) to select the colors from another portion of the image is to press down rather hard, and then this circular selection tool will pop up. You can keep the pressure and drag it to the specific spot you want to pick up a certain color for. I’ve found that it’s best to do this with my finger instead of my stylus. I’m not sure if it’s because the heat of my finger and the change in pressure is easier to pick up, but that’s what works for me! 

NOTE: It is important to note that if you have the eraser tool selected instead of the brush tool, you won’t be able to use the color selector. This might come as second nature to some of you, but it STILL makes me screw up from time to time, haha. 

Step #11: Using the dropper/color selection tool from Step #10, I create a small color palette, as you can see in the upper lefthand corner of the image in this step. I grab both the lightest and darkest shades from the different things I’ll need to color in for the cap. I picked up the highlights and shadows of Sugawara’s skintone, eyes, hair, and jersey. I just draw in little overlapping circles so I can switch back and forth between the colors 

Step #12: I added an additional layer in the very back of this image, and colored it in completely using a blue shade. This will allow me to make sure that I’ve filled in all of the space behind the manga cap. It’s important to note that in order to color the line art in later, you’ll actually need to “overdraw”. We’ll touch on that more later. 

Step #13: As I show here, I have a layer where I use the singular skin tone shade and color in behind the manga cap, filling in all the spaces where Sugawara’s skin is showing. I usually use a different layer for each different shade/color just in the event I need to do a bunch of erasing, or if I need to change the layer style later. 

Step #14: Here is where I show how I “overdraw”. I’m not sure if you can see it very well here in these screenshots, but the way that these manga caps are drawn, sometimes the line art isn’t “clean”, it looks more shaded/scratchy. So, in order to combat white space, I usually overdraw and then go back in with an eraser. You can see in Step #15 the size brush I usually use - somewhere between 2.0-4.0, but most of the time I use a 3.0 size brush. I’ll go back in with the eraser with a similar size on the easy parts, and then all the way down to the smallest size - 0.3 for really close quarter erasing. 

NOTE: It’s important to realize that the smaller the eraser, sometimes the circumference of the eraser can be really light in opacity as well. You can help this with the intensity of the pressure that you use with your stylus/finger, but I’ve found that sometimes using a really small eraser can be counterproductive. There are times where I’d rather “over” erase in which I actually erase into the cap and then redraw using a small brush size. You’ll have to play around with eraser/brush size and such to see what works best for you!

Step #15: Here is the skin all colored in! You’ll notice I colored in his eyes and mouth, which are going to end up being white in the end. I do this because usually it’s easy to forget that you need to color things in white if you’re doing it against a white background. I oscillate between the colored background and the white/transparent one because sometimes it can be tough to look at that bright color all the time. I’ve found that this is more of a tip/trick for me to be able to remember to color in his teeth and eyes and even sometimes the brow or other features! In the end, this just works for me. You don’t have to do this step!

NOTE: As I stated in Step #14, using pressure can change things. The same goes for this specific pen type - the dip pen. I use about size 3.0 most of the time, but I can actually do really detailed work with this size pen (see Suga’s ears, the spaces between his hair, etc.) by using lighter pressure. I do have a stylus, so this is a lot easier for me. The pressure was a little tricky for me to get down in the beginning, but once you realize how soft/hard you need to press down, you can use bigger brushes for even smaller areas. I find that makes it a lot easier for me, since I don’t have to keep changing the brush tool - which you can do using the sliding bar at the bottom of the screen labeled “Thickness”. The thickness of a brush is the circumference it has when you are using the hardest version of pressure you can muster, so keep that in mind!

Step #16: Here is where I do the basic coloring for the skin, hair, and eyes. These colors will be relatively the same as the colors from the palette, because there is not a “gray cast” caused by the line art sketch from the manga cap. This means that the skin color that is showing in the manga cap that I’ve colored is pretty close to the original color from the screencap from the anime/the palette that I’ve got in the upper lefthand corner. I do FLAT coloring for this - aka NO SHADING YET. So I only use the LIGHTEST shade for the hair and skin - the ones farthest to the left on the palettes for each section. I do use the DARKEST shade for the eyes, but that’s because usually the lighter shade is the one you use most sparingly, where as with skin, the darker shades are used for shadows only and aren’t used in excess.

NOTE: As previously stated, I do a separate layer for each different color. At this point there should be six layers, as follows (from the bottom up):  Layer 1: Background Layer (Mine is blue, but for the sake of easy viewing, I made it white.) Layer 2: “Notes” Layer - this is where I keep my notes, as in the reference photos, color palette, and any other things here and there.  Layers 3-5: These are the colored layers - skin, hair, and eyes.  Layer 6: Manga Cap Line Art

Step #17: Here’s where I’m showing the two different orange tones. This is what I meant in Step #16 - The original orange shade is the lower part of Suga’s collar - as you can see, the line art shading makes the color a lot more muted. I used the color wheel to find something brighter, just for a comparison shot. I still choose to use the traditional palette that I pulled from the anime screencap. 

Step #18: Now that I’m ready to color the manga cap pieces that are skewed by shading (i.e. his jersey here), I usually turn the manga cap down in opacity, so I’m able to recognize where I need to fill in! This is where I fill in the blue of the jersey, the orange of the collar and other accents, as well as the off-white shade for the number and the line accents. 

Step #19: Using the eraser and smaller brush sizes, I fill in all of the flat colors. No shading yet!

Here comes the time consuming, nuances...

Step #20: I’ve turned back on the colored background layer - sometime between when I started and now, I changed it from blue to pink. If you can zoom in on the image, you’ll see the boxes in white contain “errors”. This is areas where there are “holes” in the coloring, or where I’ve gone outside the lines. I’m going to go back in and clean this all up with the eraser and some more brush work. 

NOTE: This is very important, especially if you’re trying to make this a transparent image, or if you’re going to do the extra steps and color in the line work. Any holes, overdrawn, or underdrawn areas will make the final drawing look a little funky.

Step #21: Here is the shading! Honestly, this cap kind of shaded itself, haha. Some manga caps have “built in” shading, as you can see on Sugawara’s arms and neck. I added some shading to his hair and face, trying to use the anime caps as a reference. I’m not very good at shading yet, but I wanted to show it here so you guys could see!

I used the darker shades from the palettes on the eyes, hair, and skin. I didn’t do any shading to the jersey because the manga cap lines already skew it so much, that it didn’t really seem necessary. This can be a really hit-or-miss time, both with areas that you choose to shade, as well as the colors that you use. I would really suggest searching for skin tone palettes if you’re not using the anime screencaps for reference!

Step #22: For my shading, I actually use “clipping” effects. As you can see, the two layers that are highlighted are clipped to the layers beneath. This means that the coloring on the clipped layer will “attach” aka clip itself to the layer beneath and that layer only. So, for the shading of the skin, hair, and eyes, I chose to clip the shaded parts to the base coloring, that way even if I over drew, the colors wouldn’t bleed together. 

I did more of what’s called “cell shading” for this manga cap, as well as the Bokuto one that I do in the timelapse video below. What is cell shading? This wiki page explains it pretty well, but basically it’s more “harsh” shading where there’s not necessarily an airbrushed quality to it, it’s more blocky. You can see I only chose to use one color of shading, which makes the contrast much more stark. IP does have several airbrush tools, I’ve used them in my Bakugou manga caps for his gauntlets, and they work really well! 

I brought up earlier that it’s important to color your base colors all the way to the edges of the manga cap line art. This clipping effect is why. On Suga’s neck and ears, the darker shade that I used for his skintone goes to the edge and actually underneath the line art of the cap, because it is clipped to the base skintone layer beneath. Had I not made sure to go all the way to the edge of the line art, this would be much more choppy, and there would be white space between Suga’s ear and his hair! 

Step #23: Here is the extra step - line art shading! This can be tricky, depending on the complexity of the line art, the shading, etc. Usually, in choosing a shade to color in the line art, I grab the darkest shade for that section, and then grab something even darker. As seen in Step #18, there is that drop down box that is currently listed to “Normal” - this will need to be set to “Screen” for the current line art coloring layer. You’ll also need to “clip” the layer you’re using for the line art color to the manga cap, meaning it will need to be on top of the manga cap layer - and therefore, should be the highest layer in the image.

For this image, I only did line art coloring on Suga’s face, hair, arms, and neck. I was really satisfied with leaving the jersey alone so far as coloring. I did this mostly because of the sketchy quality of the cap, the line art would be really involved and complicated, and it just wasn’t worth it to me (so sorry lol), and I liked how it looked with the darker color outlining it anyway. 

Also, I added little details like making the sweat on Suga’s face outlined in white! And yes, I do know that missed Suga’s beauty mark, but we’re going to pretend I didn’t just do that. I love you, Koushi, please forgive me. 

And that’s it! I’m sure there are easier ways to do things, or better ways, haha. But this is my beginner tutorial (as in I’m the beginner, lol). I hope that this helped anyone whose doing it for the first time! I stated this before, but if you have any questions, please feel free to hop into my ASK BOX and ask me! I’d love to help anyone out! And I’ll do my best! 

See below an additional manga cap coloring - Bokuto Koutarou this time! I thought doing a timelapse video of me actually coloring in the cap would help you guys out! 

PLEASE BE AWARE: This video is in 2x speed so it could not be forever long and really boring lol. With that being said, I do spin the screen around several times while coloring in the cap - this could make you nauseous, so please beware of that before you watch!

Here is a link to the time lapse video on YouTube! 

A special thanks to @cutesuki--bakugou​ who helped me a lot while I was coloring my original caps, and also to @writeiolite​ who nudged me in the direction of finally starting to color manga caps! And a little thanks to @rouge-heichou​ since I bugged her about a couple of things as well. And then as always, a huge thanks to @candychronicles​ because she keeps me sane. Also a special mention to @pixxiesdust​ because she does really cool gifs and has done a wonderful job in the bookclub of trying to share her knowledge with everyone else.

Disclaimer: I’m no artist, this is just for fun! I’m sure my shading and line art can use some work.. but I’m not focusing on that! Instead I’m just going to keep playing around and having a good time ❤

#haikyuu!! #haikyuu manga #haikyuu manga cap #sugawara koushi #bokuto koutarou #manga cap color #manga cap coloring #manga cap tutorial #coloring tutorial #manga cap coloring tutorial #morgan colors hq #morgan colors bnha #morgan does tutorials

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms - Stop

Part 17

Aftermath of everything so far. Slightly longer chapter here. No warnings I can think of? Formatting got weird and I'm too tired to fix it.

CLOSED list: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @emjrabbitwolf @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Arriving back into the apartment, they were greeted with a heated argument, Damian and the Kwamis dutifully holding off any attempts to convince them they should go after the two. Apparently, they felt the two were taking too long and they should find them now.

Making a snap decision, Marinette redirected them towards her room, ushering him into the bathroom where he allowed her to strip off the bloodied machetes, gun, and holsters. She pushed him towards the shower and walked back into her room, probably to clean and put away everything. 

Stripping down, he started up the shower and stepped in. From the moment the hot water hit his skin blood started raining down his body in rivlets, trailing across the tiles lazily into the drain. His skin prickled with it and he reached blindly until he found a washcloth to scrub at his skin, rubbing it raw. Only when the water went clear did he look for soap, intent on getting every trace of it off his skin despite his hands being figuratively dirtied in such a permanent way. Sure, he always believed some people should not be allowed to continue living after their heinous crimes against humanity. Believed the Joker deserved such a death more than anything for what he'd done to his lovely little soulmate and at such a young age. Had planned on doing exactly this. But believing such, even planning for it, and actually ending the life by your own hands were two different things. Knowing he was capable of such violence was frightening.

Hair clean, body clean, mouth clean, but soul throbbing, he stood staring off into the distance for some time before blinking away the water falling across his face. Reaching out, he shut off the water and grabbed for the towel he noticed placed over a rack. Drying off quickly and wrapping it about him, he opened the curtain, first noticing his bloodied clothes nowhere to be seen and secondly, Marinette standing in front of the mirror, staring at her own reflection with a blank look.

It took a moment for him to realise what was wrong: she hadn't seen herself in three years now. Neither had he.

Moving up behind her he rested his hands on her shoulders and finally settled his gaze on himself, angling to see more.

His hair was still black, curly and haphazard but with an added streak of white in the very front, eyes a strange teal color instead of their steady blue from before. Sharp jawline with a small scar going up the right cheek by an inch. His neck had a weird mark across it as though hit in a way it never fully recovered the skin from. Realizing his body didn't have any breasts to cover with the towel as he had become adjusted to, he lowered it and refastened it at his waist, revealing a long white scar going down his torso, a cross-section following across his chest. More scars and places that were obviously stitched back together littered his sides and he was certain the legs must be in a similar state.

Tearing his gaze away, he looked back at Mari, noting how she poked at a scar on her collarbone, easily exposed in the top she wore. She had changed out of the clothes he came in, obviously deciding she didn't care how much the red hoodie she must of pulled from the dresser no longer fit her along with a pair of black boxers that looked more like baggy sleep shorts on her.

"You should get dressed. Let them know we're back," she whispered.

"They can wait a moment. The kwamis have it under control," he murmured back, reluctant to face them.

She reached back and laced their fingers, "We won't get into it tonight. Just let them know it's over, see if one would be willing to get your suitcase while making a late dinner, then kick them out for the night."

"The night?"

"We were gone quite a while. Not only with the mission. I lead you around the city afterwards before bringing you back here. You weren't entirely present yet. It's six pm now."

He hummed his understanding, "By the time dinner is made and they've come back, it'll be closer to seven thirty or eight, if they do return. Dinner and getting them to stop asking questions could take another hour or so, plus settling Damian I'm sure. We'll want to sleep after."

"Exactly," a strained smile crossed her face.

"Or we could kick them out and order delivery."

"Jason," she admonished.

"I'm serious. They should understand. We've all had our issues, we'll talk with them when we're ready. Sure, they won't like it, but they'll get it. Just work with the kid tonight. That's enough for one day."

Sighing, she nodded and followed him back into the bedroom where she pulled out black sweat pants and a soft, gray shirt with long sleeves, handing them to him to put on while she went over to the side table to retrieve the beaded choker to return to Chloe. He realized Longg must've went out to let the others know they were back, seeing as the little dragon was nowhere to be seen. That would certainly explain how much quieter the apartment seemed.

Finishing pulling on the shirt, he grabbed Mari's hand and lead the way out the door, the others locking onto them instantly. Their eyes seemed curiously cautious and Jason took a deep breath to steel himself before speaking to the room at large.

"We're fine, everything is fine, Robin is safe and free. We'll talk about it later, when everything is more settled."

"You're about to kick us out," Kagami stated.

Jason offered up a little smirk, "Pretty much."

"Fucking figures. Alright, but we Will be talking about all of this later."

"Sure, sure. Could you do us a favor though?"

"What's that," Juleka piped up with a dry tone.

"Transport her suitcase here? Her old clothes don't quite match her figure anymore," he teased, gesturing to Mari who gave an offended huff.

"Fit just fine this morning."

"Sorry, Sugar."

Giving a snort of laughter, Marc nodded, "Yeah, I can help with that. Same place as always for Kaalki?"

"Yeah, Kagami has him in hers in case."

"Got it. We'll leave you be."

"Thanks."

The group walked towards the door, shooting final glances back at them, as though to reassure themselves the two were safe in the room and not moving anywhere.

Kagami whispered something to Tikki and with a quick nod, the goddess took the earings and flew over the Jason.

"I'm staying the night with you two," she stated firmly.

"Supervision?"

"Something like that," she smiled, "they'll be back in the morning by the way."

"Figured."

The door shut behind the last of them and the tension in their shoulders finally dropped.

Jason felt a small hand grip at his sleeve and turned to see Damian looking up at him with concern, Plagg nestled into his hair.

"Are you stable now?"

"Yeah Kid, I'm good. Mari and I were thinking of ordering takeout. Any idea what you'd want?" 

His face went blank and he swiveled to look at Marinette, who quirked an amused eyebrow, only to yank his hand away like it was on fire.

"I'm sure whatever you pick will be adequate," he huffed and made his way back over to the couch.

They watched him go then turned to meet each other's eyes only to laugh.

"He's fun to mess with. And we're not even trying," he commented.

"Enjoy it while you can, he'll get used to you soon enough."

With that they started to move around each other, one calling for food, the other going over to Damian, attempting to find some sense of normal in their day.

Preparing for bed that night some hours later, Damian already used to Marinette's relapses and not asking for the details of his own and thus easily swayed to head into his room for sleep, they hesitated. He could tell she wanted to be separated as little as he did, but he couldn't convince himself to move. She lurched forward to take his hand and lead him back into her room, closing the door behind them and heading to the bed.

"I would say you should buy me dinner first, but you sort of did," he offered playfully, aiming to relieve the tension.

"Hush you," she rolled her eyes, shaking her head and crawling up onto the bed, still holding onto him so he had no choice but to follow.

When they had settled in, facing inward to keep the other in sight he found his voice once more, "Is it always like that?"

She looked down at the bed spread, tracing fingers along the creases, "Not always," she started only to fade off on the end, "Eventually you gain more control. Can hold them off and silence them for a while. My last relapse was quite a few months ago."

"Until the cafe."

"Yeah."

"The switch threw you off enough to lose it."

"Not entirely."

"But you said you relapsed."

"It's different for me. I've had this inside me for over two years now. It's not that I relapsed per say. I simply heard them raging, felt the gas enter my lungs and decided to take a backseat on that one. I couldn't have regained control at that point, but letting it consume me was a choice."

"I have zero control over this and you're deciding to let it consume you?"

"If I hadn't, I'd have held back. You'll learn to control it, probably better than I can."

"How."

"It hasn't touched your soul. Plus, I know how it works and can guide you. That's two things I can't say for myself. You could see what was happening when you went after the Joker, yes? Were able to respond to my voice without attacking?"

He gave a slight nod.

"Some of my relapses during missions lead to me blacking out until the end. Once the madness settled, I'd come to and remember everything at once. You're already so much further than I was."

Sighing through his nose, he wrapped an arm across her back and pulled her forward towards himself. He allowed her to adjust and nuzzled the top of her head.

"The jade eyed woman. Talia, I assume. What I saw of her…"

"She took me in while I was rehabilitating in the hospital. I could barely walk two feet. She took me back to the underground city, dunked me in the pit to heal my body. Comforted me after my first kills, trained me, put me through lessons," she spoke, voice going soft and wistful in remembrance. She took a deep breath before continuing, "It took months to discover her motives."

"Damian?"

"Yeah."

"Will they come for you?"

"I'm not sure. Someone attacked the night we escaped. I left indications of Dami on an unidentifiable corpse. Along with the high death toll taken on the rest of the place, it might be believable. Unless we make our presence known, it's probably safe. I keep an eye out either way."

"And Talia?" He asked, though feeling he knew the answer already.

"She's," she stopped, shaking in his grasp, "She's gone. Died in the- the invasion. Her body was cr-crumpled up in a pile with her p-private guard."

"I'm sorry Mari. You shouldn't have had to go through that."

"She's gone," she whispered and he felt his shirt begin to dampen.

"I'm sorry" he murmured back, unsure how to comfort her and only holding tighter as she began to sob into his shoulder, clutching at him.

"I wish I di-didn't know," she squeaked.

He ducked in further to nuzzle at her head once more, letting her more unintelligible mumbles fade into him, just holding her through it until finally her breathing settled out.

"Jason?"

"Yeah?"

At that moment a knock sounded softly at the door for the third time that day. As she rubbed carefully at her eyes, he twisted to look over his shoulder as the door opened. Damian held himself tense, gripping the door knob and biting his lip, though he could see the pleading in the shake of his eyes and hands. Mari sat up partially, leaning against his side to look over him.

"Dami? Did you need something?"

The kid pulled the door closer to him, focusing on her solely, not responding.

"Come here, dear. You can sleep with us tonight."

He visibly perked up but then darted his eyes over to Jason with hesitation.

"Come on kid," he urged, turning away and settling once more as Mari stayed propped on his side, urging Damian forward. He heard the softest of little steps inch around the bed and suddenly the kid was crawling up on Mari's other side. She twisted and pulled Damian into her arms, settling him carefully. Only when he seemed to relax did Jason feel her slowly tug backwards until she pressed back against him. 

Jason curled himself around her back, pressing his face into the back of her shoulder. Opening his eyes, he met cautious green eyes peering up at him. Huffing a breath through his nose at the kid, he watched the eyes blink slightly before they became more calm and accepting. He ducked back forward and closed his eyes and Jason followed suit. It took less time to fall asleep that night than it had in years.

…

In the morning, he watched her usher the kid into the bathroom to clean up, as he headed into the kitchen to start on breakfast. Marinette came over and settled into a bar stool, watching as he moved about, speaking up whenever he couldn't find something. 

It was as he began to plate up omelets that the door lock clicked up and he grabbed her wrist before she could move. Trixx flew through the door and sped towards the fruit on the table just as the door burst open.

"Alright. You had your rest. It's morning. Spill," Chloe demanded as she dropped into the seat next to Marinette, pulling a plate towards herself, knowing both the occupants to be amazing cooks. The others filed in at a more regular pace, offering their greetings and settling around the place.

"I was the former Robin," Jason stated.

"Okay so seeing a new one set you off then?" Marc guessed.

"I was captured, tortured, and Mari was killed by the Joker."

Juleka leaned forward at the reminder, eyes widening in realization, "Joker was doing a callback to your death with your replacement."

"Pretty much," Marinette piped up, eating her breakfast and turning as Damian entered the room and pushing a plate in front of him as he sat down.

"You killed the Clown then, yes?" Kagami more stated than asked. She received a nod.

"And the new Robin?"

"Safe. We didn't let him see the Joker die, but he certainly knows it. Ran off to Batman presumably." 

"And you're just okay with this?" Chloe huffed.

"Not even slightly."

"So what's the plan then?"

"First we need to know more, an insider's perspective."

"Alfred?"

"Alfred."

"Who's Alfred?" Juleka asked, more than confused at this point.

"The man behind the whole operation. Batman and Robin wouldn't even function if it weren't for his existence."

"Luckily he also loved us like we were his own and probably feels just as protective over the new Robin."

"And he's not over Batman?"

"Oh he certainly is, but Alfred always stands against Bats when he's in the wrong. Keeps him in line. I'm sure he didn't approve of another child taking the mask."

"He didn't approve of us taking the mask."

"So who will contact him then?"

"I will," Jason dropped the dishes into the soapy water he'd started, moving aside as Marc began to wash, Kagami dried and Damian directed on where things went.

"You want me with you for it?"

"Yeah, you'll want to know what he says."

Marinette followed him into the living room where he asked for her phone and listened to its soft ringing.

"Master Jason."

"Hey Alfred. Guess the replacement told you then?"

"He only gave a description actually."

"How'd you know it was me?"

"I knew."

"Of course you did," Jason gave a light laugh.

"I presume Miss Marinette is with you?"

"Yeah, she's here. We're here."

"If I might ask, which of you died that night?" Jason could hear the whisper of a tremble in the older man's voice.

"Mari."

"I thought she might have." A silence settled over them for a moment, "To what do I owe this call to?"

"Marinette needed your input before stealing the new Robin."

"I'm not going to steal him," she argued to which he gave her a look.

"We're pretty pissed, to be honest," he corrected.

"It was not his intention to replace either of you."

"That is rather hurtful, but that's not really it," he grumbled.

"Wasn't one bird dying enough for him? He's going to endanger another?" Mari put in, loud enough for the man to hear.

"Ah, I see. In that case, I fully support your plan."

"Just like that?"

"He's using the young Master as an emotional crutch. Otherwise he neglects him entirely. It is not healthy for either of them."

"I fucking knew it."

"Language."

"Sorry."

"It will take time to convince the newest Robin to abandon him. I will keep you both updated on the situation from my end."

"Thank you Alfred."

"I expect I will be invited over to catch up."

"Of course, whenever you have time, our door will always be open."

"Lovely. I should wonder if perhaps he will take to you faster than we expect. Marinette was never mentioned."

"Really."

"Indeed. I believe patrol is set for nine tonight if you would like to make them aware of her."

"Perhaps we will. Talk to you soon."

Make sure you do."

"Love you Alfred. Goodbye."

With that, he hung up, turning to her. They met eyes, knowing something had to come of this.

"Alright, so what's the plan?"

#jasonette #ml x dc #maribat #WFTW #part 17

[m-oana-archive]

A Love Too Heavy (For Just One to Hold) pt. 2

catch up on pt. 1

Pairing: Sirius Black x Reader x Remus Lupin

Words: 2,595

Summary: After pining after Y/N for years, Sirius finally gets the girl: the happy ending the story is supposed to end with.  The only problem is the fact Sirius’ feelings for Remus still haven’t seemed to go away.  But he isn’t the only one starting to question their ability to love two people at the same time.

requester: @shinysilverunicorn-blog  | read on AO3 | Masterlist

Remus’ POV 

Y/N was looking effortlessly sunkissed when she entered the library.  Remus, ever the early bird, was already at their usual table waiting.  Books were out, parchment unrolled.  But he didn’t actually begin working, just had the illusion of doing such, so that he could seem as though he was caught off guard by looking up and seeing Y/N, instead of her knowing the truth of his patient waiting for her.  About halfway across the library to their table, they caught eyes.  Y/N smiled at him, and he tapped his inked quill so quickly against the parchment he felt some blue splatter onto the back of his hand.

“Sorry I’m late,” she apologized, even though it was Remus that was early, and both of them knew it.

Remus smirked.  “What’s the expression?  A queen is never late?”

“Ha ha,” she mocked, sliding into her chair to unpack her things.  “Thanks for the compliment, but I’m not looking to run a country, just pass my N.E.W.T.’s.  Not all Slytherins are that ambitious.”  

“I could see you as royalty,” Remus said, sinking back into his chair, dramatizing the act of envisioning, enjoying that it made Y/N blush and giggle slightly.  

“Well, Sirius is already basically royalty, so that helps.”

Remus scoffed, annoyance masking other emotions.  “If that’s not true I’m not sure what is.”  

While Remus found his comment funny, something dark fell across Y/N’s face, causing her to teeter in her chair and purse her lips.  Remus’ mind scanned the exchange for anything he could have done wrong, but couldn’t find anything.  So, he went to ask what was wrong.  Before he could, she answered.

“Speaking of, you’re not mad at Sirius or anything, right?”

Every bone in Remus turned into brick.  Was it fair to say to Sirius’ girlfriend, the obvious messenger of this information, that he didn’t know?  Was it fair to say to Sirius’ girlfriend, the cause of this frustration, that he wasn’t sure where the anger was pointed at?  Was it fair to his best friend to say everything he wanted to, after hiding for so long, just to end up at more questions, ones he didn’t know the answers to?  

No.  So Remus settled with a rather choked up, “Why would I be mad?”

“He said you two were arguing.  Something small that turned into a bigger deal than it needed to be.”

Oh.  So that’s what he thinks of me saying I want him.

Remus cleared his throat, though he knew it wouldn’t help and it didn’t.  “Oh, yeah.  Um, I’m over it on a logical level.  I’m just waiting for my emotions to catch up.”

“Cool,” she smiled brightly.  “Sirius said almost the same.”

All of the furniture in the library seemed to topple over for a second.  Maybe it was the fact that Remus squinted when he thought, and everything was following the motion of the spiral of his eyelids.  Or, maybe, it was the fact that Y/N has just said Sirius wasn’t over their possibility of kissing either.  How close they had been; if Remus just leaned in slightly, it would have been breath on breath, lips on lips, with the same softness but necessity of the moonlight echoing itself onto the lake.  Was Sirius covering up the same truth Remus had been aching with for the last year?  Ever since that stupid game of spin the bottle, when Remus realized it wasn’t cockiness that made him wish the bottle would have pointed to his body on Sirius’ turn, but desire.  The hope that if Sirius would have been forced to kiss him, maybe, after doing so, it would turn into something he missed, something he longed for, something he wanted to repeat.

That was what happened to Remus, after all.

It was a tall order, though, asking Sirius to switch adorations overnight.  Sirius had yearned over Y/N so deeply and thoroughly—Remus once found a scrap of a love poem while cleaning, which caused him pain both from its cheesiness and from a jealousy he had yet to name—it was hard to imagine him loving someone else.  Especially someone as ugly and flawed in comparison to her.

Sitting with her here, now, and every time before this, Remus couldn’t blame Sirius for wanting to be with her.  She seemed to have the best parts of all of them: Sirius’ mindless beauty, James’ massive heart, Peter’s agreeability, and Remus’ quickness.  And then, of course, all of the wonderful qualities that were definitively hers.  There were fleeting times in their shared sanctuary of the library that Remus forgot Sirius and his feelings for him.  Where, in the privacy of their similarities, Remus forgot he could be happy with anyone except Y/N.  

To restrain complications, he labeled those moments as I’m that happy because I’m forgetting about Sirius, or My feelings for Sirius are valid because of how happy she is with him.  There was a third option, of course, but that thought was a rainstorm he didn’t want to walk into.  

“Cool,” he agreed.  He smiled back at Y/N, genuinely because he was happy to be with her, but also with a certain grittiness, because he was too conflicted to be happy in general.  The hidden indifference of it seemed to set the tone for the rest of the meeting, which was far more focused and serious than ones they had had more recently.  So focused, in fact, neither noticed the sunset streaking the sky, followed by black falling around outside.

The next interruption was hours later, by Ms. Greenpaw, the librarian about to retire.  Remus adored her instantly; she wore thick, circular coral glasses and called everyone “honey,” even when upset.  He wasn’t sure if it was the hours they spent in the library, Ms. Greenpaw’s looming retirement, or both, but Remus and Y/N were granted an extra set of magical keys to close the library up if she left before they did.

“Hi, you two,” she said, pulling Remus’ head out of his book.  “Well, I’m headed out for the night.  I spelled off most of the candles in here, but I can put more on if you need more.”

Remus looked up; Ms. Greenpaw wasn’t kidding: every chandelier and sconce was dark except the one over their heads and one near the grand doors.  Something inside of him said this was romantic, making him ready to deny, until—

“I’m perfectly fine,” Y/N responded.  “Remus?”

He blanked for a moment.  “Yeah, uh… my eyes are already so tired, the softer light is actually pretty nice.”

“Wonderful!  Well, I’ll leave you both to it, then.”

Y/N called out a note of thanks to Ms. Greenpaw as she walked off—something Remus was still too startled to do.  As soon as the doors closed, promising their security, Y/N sofly said Remus’ name.  He looked up to her, eyes still slightly narrowed from reading his book.  

“You’ve been so quiet,” she said.  She wouldn’t meet his eyes fully, her focus refusing to settle.  “I know you don’t usually have issues with Sirius, and you’d think that I’m probably the last person who’d want to hear them fully, since we’re dating.  But I don’t want you to feel like you have to keep secrets from me.  You’re still my best friend.”

She shifted in her seat before continuing: “I know something’s changed since I started dating Sirius.  You’ve been more closed off.  I don’t want to pretend I know why.  So if you want to talk about it, I’m still here for you.”

A new guilt rose inside of Remus; he had experienced regret from having feelings for Sirius, for those feelings not disappearing the moment Sirius and Y/N got together, and for not knowing the difference between jealousy and desire.  But, he had never fathomed that the closed-off-ness he developed while trying to suppress his dangerous emotions would make Y/N believe he no longer trusted her.

The thought was so overwhelming he immediately said, “You’re one of the most important people in the world to me.  And I…” He tilted his head down, unable to bear even her dim silhouette.  “I didn’t mean to hide.  But it’s better that way.  Trust me.”

“Remus, nothing can be bad enough I don’t care to know.”

Remus considered the gravity of her statement for a second.  Obviously, she couldn’t blame him for loving Sirius.  But what would she think of him not knowing how he felt about her?  Not understanding how those could exist at the same time?  It seemed impossible.  

“No,” Remus decided at once.  He got up the next instant, sloppily swiping his belongings into his bookbag.  “No.  It is bad enough.”

He heard his name being called from across the table, but was off, walking so quickly to the door he was almost running.  He heard books sliding across wood, a chair scraping against the floor, a sound that must have been Y/N’s shoes hitting the tile behind him in quick succession, suggesting she was sprinting to catch up to him.  But his focus on the door was relentless.  Then, there was a tug on his arm that couldn’t be ignored.  Out of the surprise of it, his body spiraled around itself: an effect Y/N must not have had anticipated, as she continued moving forwards, resulting in her running into Remus head-on.

“Y/N,” he gasped.  He tried to steady her, but she did so first by clutching onto the shirt fabric around Remus’ chest.  Out of some instinct that could not be named, Remus felt his hand moving, fingers gripping around her wrist.

After a few moments of catching her breath, Y/N looked up at Remus.  It was only at that moment that Remus recognized how close they were to one another.  She already had her hands on him, softening them as she became more stable, and he became dizzier.  Especially with the single light behind her, distant now, which made what could happen next seem like a secret capable of keeping, a risk worth taking, a mistake worth making.  The world was the way the candlelight shone upon her face, making Remus’ hand twitch with the desire to trace those shadows.

“Y/N,” he said.  But it was different this time.  

She looked up at him.  At his eyes.  At his lips.  Remus was going to die right there, in the middle of the library, a corpse good for nothing except loving people he could not bear the affections of.  But then, her gaze dropped to the floor.  Her voice wavered.  “Remus, I just…”

“I know,” he sighed, nodding in defeat.  There were things Remus knew he excelled at—school, not getting in trouble for pranks, hiding the fact he is a werewolf—but in some aspects of life, he had to accept he would always be second to Sirius Black.  This was one of them.  His corpse was back to being good for nothing except loving people he could not have.  

“But you really don’t.  It’s not… this has nothing to do with you.  Alright?  I just need you to know that much.”

“Thanks for the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech,” Remus scowled.  “How comforting.  I’m touched.”  He wanted to put his hand to his heart for dramatic effect, but Y/N’s hands were still on his chest.  Regardless of how he knew the length of time they stayed there would make their release all the more painful, Remus wanted them to stay, the pathetic idiot he was.  

“It’s not like that,” Y/N said.  “I just can’t do that to Sirius.  To be honest, I think I’m in love with him.  And I think he might feel the same.”

Remus scoffed: Y/N saying Sirius might love her was the understatement of the century.  But he didn’t focus on that.  He couldn’t.  Instead, what intrigued him was this thought: “So, in the condition, you weren’t with Sirius, you’d kiss me.  Is that what you’re saying?”

Remus was surprised at how calm his voice came out; he was even more surprised, however, by how panicked Y/N’s was.  “Listen… it’s just that I may have had a massive thing for you when we first met, and for a bit afterward.”  Remus was sad and elated all at once; to know he could be loved was revolutionary, but realizing he had missed his chance with the girl he now was mad for was an emptiness that was beginning to slowly eat him from the inside out.

He covered all of the sinews of his emotions with anger: “So what you’re saying is that you only chose Sirius because I wasn’t available?”

“No,” Y/N demanded.  She yanked her hands back to her own body: a testament to her level of frustration.  “I didn’t go to him because I was sad and lonely and heartbroken and wanted to use him.  I liked him at the same time as you.  I just couldn’t figure out who I liked more.  You took yourself out of the running, so I accepted his invitation to Hogsmeade.  And I’m happy I did.”

Remus blinked, dazed.  “Can you say that again?”

“Why?  You heard me.”

“No, just the part—”

“The part where I refuted your claim that I only wanted to date Sirius because I couldn’t date you, which, if I would have done, would make me a rude, selfish, manipulative person?”

“I didn’t…” Remus struggled, biting the bottom of his lip in agony, wishing he could bring her closer so she could see the blood that was sure to come up, how much he hated himself for having said that.  “I didn’t mean that.  Okay?  I’ve been such a git today.  I’ve been completely awful to you.  I’m sorry for saying that, and for making you think I didn’t trust you.  I’m just… I’m really confused about some things right now.  And I’m taking it out on you.  I’m sorry.”  

Suddenly, all of the anger, the screaming, the vehemence disappeared, leaving nothing but a quietness strong enough to drive any man crazy.  Remus stood as Y/N considered him, her thoughts impossible to know.  She kept looking and thinking.  Remus was just standing.  It felt like forever.

She finally spoke.  “I don’t want to force anything out of you,” she said, words were spoken with meticulous care that echoed what they meant.  “I just think that maybe you’re exploding because you’re bottling things up, and nothing can be figured out if it’s never put out into the world to be understood.”

Remus wanted to protest, but every part of his body that wasn’t his mouth knew that Y/N was right, so he couldn’t.  Instead, he shook his head.  “I don’t think you’re going to like what you are going to hear.”

“We’ve already fought,” Y/N shrugged.  “If it’s bad enough it’s doing that, I think we’ve got to just rip the bandaid off.”

Remus breathed in deeply, closing his eyes.  There were so many confusing truths inside of his body; if someone were to put his tears in a Pensieve, all that would be floating around were thoughts of Y/N and Sirius, together, apart, in love, in love with him.  He saw them all right now in the black of his eyelids.  But how many to say now?  Which to choose first?

Some part of Remus that wasn’t his mind answered for him.

“Y/N, I have feelings for Sirius.”

⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥

PART THREE IS AVAILABLE NOW!!! Read here. 

⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥  ⬥

Taglist (let me know if you want to be added): @astertist @beskarjedi @bluemadcnna @boring-viola @carolinesbookworld @finnofamerica @fortisfiliae @gabriel-r3ap3r-reyes @gryffndor @jamcspotters @just-some-nerd @lonelyheart-jadedsoul @neewtmas @portkeys-and-prose @siriusement @siriuslyimmoony @sly-vixen-up2nogood @swellwriting @the-apple-princess @theboywhocriedlupin @who-cares-unknown @woakiees @wzardings @samcycle @luckygirl144

#mine #writing #moonlit members #carlysfamily #sirius x reader #remus x reader #sirius black x reader #remus lupin x reader #sirius black x remus lupin #remus lupin x sirius black #sirius x remus #remus x sirius #remus x sirius x reader #sirius x remus x reader #reader x remus x sirius #reader x sirius x remus #hp fanfic #hp fanfiction

[normallee]

Loads of Fun || Grace and Norma

TIMING: Current LOCATION: Sudsville Laundromat PARTIES: @silveraccent​ and @normallee​ SUMMARY: It’s laundry day and sometime the ritual of washing clothes is confusing

When Grace had arrived home, she hadn’t anticipated stepping into soap with her sock. It had taken twenty-five minutes to get the maintenance worker on the phone, and she had been supplied with a few murmurs about blood and what the man thought were butterfly wings before she successfully got a time at which he would arrive. It had been two days, and still, nobody had shown up to fix her washer. It hadn’t taken very long for her to find a laundromat, only a stone's throw away from her apartment complex. She drove, mostly because she hadn’t wanted to lose a finger from the weight of her laundry bin. It had been forty minutes now, a book turned down in her lap, legs spread out before her. The washer in front of her had gone off, and Grace sprung to her feet, unloading and reloading it into the dryer adjacent from where she had been standing. To her right, she noticed a woman loading dry clothes into the dryer just next to her. The woman seemed confident, too confident, to know that she had been doing something wrong. “Um, excuse me…” Grace said, just loud enough for the woman to hear.

Humans had so many customs and practices that Norma had never quite understood. One of them was the custom of washing clothes. The general idea made sense. Clothing became unusable and smelly so the whole washing process alleviated that issue. Norma had never had to deal with that part of the process. She would either pay someone to take care of it or cause enough commotion in a store that she could walk out with whatever she pleased. That was before the bounty. Now she must appear normal. And normal mortals did laundry. Sudsville seemed like the perfect place to learn. With her clothes in her basket, some of which were not hers but she thought they might need washing all the same, she marched in and opened a machine and started throwing clothes inside of it. “Oh hello!” she said, startled a bit by the human girl talking to her. “Nice to meet you, my name is Norma Lee,” she said, holding her hand out to shake. She was told that was how humans greeted one another, might as well get it over with. “Are you in need of any assistance?”

Grace didn’t hide the surprise that wrote itself across her features. In fact, she let it show. Was everyone this friendly here? Well, everyone aside from Regan, she guessed. Grace looked down at the hand that was extended towards her, then back up to meet the woman’s eyes. “I--” she wasn’t sure if she should shake Norma’s hand, or if she should just tell her that she had been doing her laundry incorrectly. Reaching out tentatively, Grace took a hold of her hand and gave it a firm shake. In that moment, she realized how dull Norma felt. Grace retracted her hand, and looked towards the dryer that the brunette was loading her clothes into. “Have you washed those yet? That’s the dryer.” God, she would feel like a moron if the woman was doing some reverse-cycle cleaning that she wasn’t aware of. Grace didn’t frequent the cleaning blogs suggested to her by pop-up ads. “Sorry if you’re doing something, I just… didn’t want you to waste your money or anything.” Grace offered the woman a smile before pushing the quarters into the slot to start the dryer.

“The dryer?” Norma squinted at the machine. This was already far more complicated than she had anticipated. She had no idea what a dryer was or what it did. Or why it was wrong to use it first. Perhaps this child was mistaken instead. No, no, she should listen to the small mortal. It was likely she cared more and had more need for such devices. “I haven’t washed my clothes, I just got here. Is there some specific order I should follow? Like a ritual with clothes?” A ritual sacrifice made sense. This seemed like more trouble than it was worth. Perhaps she should leave and simply buy new clothes. Certainly that was normal, correct? It wasn't possible that every human rinsed and reused their clothing. Looking at the machine, it had all kinds of symbols all over it and strange words like “fluff air” that held no meaning to her. Norma placed her hands on her hips. This was going to be quite a challenge. Human life was meant to be simple, was it not? “Can you explain this strange clothing ritual to me? This is very different than what I’m used to. I think they have rearranged, perhaps.” That was a very logical explanation. Norma was rather proud of herself for smoothing this over so nicely.

The woman spoke, and Grace fought to keep her composure. A ritual? Grace thought, looking the stranger over. Maybe she was rich, never had to wash her own clothes in her life. If only that had been her own strange disposition. “A ritual, no, an order? Yeah.” Grace smiled at her before she motioned to the washer that was behind them. “You’ll want to use that, first.” Grace moved to the washer again, opening the lid and pointed at the dial, “honestly I don’t know half of what this shit does. I throw everything in and hope nothing turns pink.” Not that she had much white or red garments to begin with, but still. Grace looked around the brunette, eyebrows pulled together. “You didn’t already put your quarters in, did you?” She hoped not, though, if she did, Grace had enough quarters to help her out. “Do you have detergent?” Grace asked as she looked for a bottle, but finding nothing. She really didn’t know what she was doing, did she?

Norma was disappointed to learn there was no ritual, though she supposed it made sense. Her understanding was this whole washing thing was meant to remove blood stains out of clothes rather than create pretty new ones. Shameful, really. Still, Noma nodded and followed the girl to the rows of washing machines. “Pink?” she asked curiously. “Why would it turn pink? That seems rather odd and specific?” Then it hit her. It was obvious. “Is it because you’re washing out too much blood from your clothes? Perhaps there’s a way to avoid that.” Norma was happily chucking the clothes, some that weren’t even hers, into the machine when the girl asked her more questions. “My quarters?” She looked down at all four major limbs. All still there. She wasn’t drawn or quartered, thankfully. “They seem to be intact. And I’m unaware of what detergent is.” This whole laundry business was more complicated than it was worth, she was sure of it.

“The dye on red clothes usually runs off on white clothes,” Grace explained. She felt like she was a kid again when her Grandmother had taught her the rules-- not that she ever followed them if she were doing her own laundry. She didn’t have a lot of multi-colored clothes to begin with. “Blood?” Grace looked at her with widened eyes, “no, not-- I mean, I guess?” Grace thought for a moment. Most of the decedents she dealt with at work were no longer bleeding when she was working with them, but she supposed they did stain. “Do you work at a butcher shop or something?” She had seen a bustling one on her way home one day and considered going in to see if they had oxtail for a soup she had been craving-- though had no patience to actually make. “Intact--” Grace stared at her for a moment, wondering if this were all a joke. Confusion swept over Grace, but she did her best to not get lost in it. “Here, you can use mine.” Grace held up her own detergent and shook the bottle. “I have some extra quarters, too,” she offered, placing her hand over her pocket to jingle the change there. “I can show you, if you want?” Grace asked, not sure if this girl had never been expected to complete her own chores, or if she had recently been let go from a hospital for amnesia.

“Oh. That seems rather impractical,” Norma replied, though she was unsure what dying had to do with the colors running. Then again, dying and red did go together. The fact that there seemed to be no link to blood based on her reaction was even further perplexing. There was nothing indicating the girl had not been talking about trying to get blood from her clothes even now. Though she supposed she would simply have to take her word for it. “A butcher shop? Oh no, not at all!” On second thought, that might be fun. She almost wished she had chosen that as her human profession. Then again, that was not half so normal as her current job. No, no, she couldn’t switch careers so soon. What would people think of her if she did? Surely they’d see through her, then. “I work at Bottomless Booty, home of the pirate patty!” she said. “You should come by and ask for me to be your waitress. I would normally ask for a generous tip but seeing as you are doing so much to help me right now, I suppose I will only ask for a mild to moderate tip.” Norma smiled and nodded enthusiastically at her offer for help, still clueless on what to do with the bottle or the small coins. “I can throw in some extra g-arrr-lic fries, too!” she said taking the quarters and carefully placing them in the bottom of the machine. Little did this girl know that many of the fries went to waste and if they were a bit cold, they would toss them anyway. So really there was no loss to anyone, but it certainly made Norma appear more benevolent.

“Does it?” Grace asked, “because I throw everything together anyways, but if you don’t care about that…” She smiled at the woman before she reached for her own laundry bin to set it aside. “Oh, I just thought--” Grace stopped herself. It wasn’t her job to rationalize why somebody would ask about blood over red shirts. “Never mind.” When she explained where she did work, it caught Grace by surprise-- the name had sounded familiar, though she hadn’t gone yet. It had been recommended to her, and while Grace loved a good pun, she couldn’t manage to peel herself away from her bed to eat out anywhere. Not yet, at least. “What’s a pirate patty?” Grace asked as she laughed at her words. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind, I’ll expect moderate service then.” This woman was peculiar, but at least she wasn’t creepy. Grace had run into several people already in White Crest who she didn’t ever want to see again. Grace raised an eyebrow. So they also named their food after puns. She had to admit, the dedication was great. After a moment, Grace stuck her hand out, “I’m Grace Huang. I’m new here.” She smiled, “I work at the morgue, so cleaning is a specialty.”

Norma was unsure what she was meant to care about but she appreciated the help either way. “If you believe in throwing everything together, I am certainly not one to argue. You are the expert here.” She smiled and placed the whole bottle of detergent, lid still on, just as the girl had handed it to her, in the washing machine along with the clothes and quarters. Truly this didn’t seem so hard. “Oh a pirate patty is a world class hamburger with the best beef available and secret blend of bootiful spices!” Norma replied without hardly missing a beat. She had memorized the manual and taken notes during every training, no way was she going to lose out on business due to lack of recall knowledge. “Oh you should always expect excellent service for me and the rest of the staff! Which is why I usually expect excellent tips however I am willing to be that generous to only expect a meager exchange of goods for services.” Norma decided to take the girl’s-- Grace’s hand and shake it once more, with even more gusto this time. “It’s very nice to meet you Grace Huang! I’m new here, too. I have only lived in this town a few months.” Sometimes she forgot that humans had many different means and manors to deal with their own mortality. “I bet the morgue is a pleasant place to work though I suppose you do not make very many tips.”

“Oh--” Grace stepped in quickly to pick the bottle out of the machine. “You need to pour a cup in, like this.” This had to be a joke, right? After she filled the lid with detergent, she fished the quarters out of the barrel and placed them into the slot. She poured the liquid in over the clothes and smiled over her shoulder at Norma. “A secret blend? Sounds better than microwave mac,” Grace laughed as she set the bottle of detergent down. Norma was surely the most peculiar person that she had met since moving to White Crest, but Grace enjoyed those who strayed from what could be considered normal. She enjoyed those conversations far better. “I’ll make sure to swing by,” Grace carded her fingers through her hair as she looked over the washer. Everything seemed to be in order now. A part of her wondered if she should wait to help her with the dryer, too. She dropped her hand and rose an eyebrow-- there were a lot of newbies as opposed to people who had been born and raised, she realized. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, and no-- usually we give their wallets to the police, so…” She laughed before looking to the dryer, “Do you want me to show you how to use this?”

Norma felt as if she should be taking notes for all this intricate and strange steps to the ritual that was washing clothes. “Oh, I see. I would not have guessed that was how this works. Very intriguing.” She also watched as Grace fished the quarters out and saw her shove them into the designated slots. Ah, that sure explained that strange feature on the side of the machine. Honestly, humans added so many unnecessary steps to things. What happened to just saying a simple chant and that being sufficient? “I look forward to serving you!” Norma said with enthusiasm. She was not in need of human currency herself, but she took great pride in earning it and understood that most mortals did. It was surely the easiest way to remain unnoticed by the bounty hunters as anything supernatural. She was pleased to hear that she would not be on her own for the second phase of this endeavor. Though it was unfortunate that this was so involved. “That would be very ideal, thank you! I’m very glad I met you. Grace. Are we friends now?”

Grace smiled at Norma, unable to get it out of her head how peculiar she was. Grace had a habit of making up stories for those around her when she knew little to nothing about them. Maybe Norma grew up with nannies and never had to do anything for herself, maybe now she was a cut off heiress forced to do her own laundry. “I look forward to it, too.” She said as she looked over the settings and started the machine. Grace hadn’t expected to meet so many people who would make her want to branch out again, she had expected to stay in her apartment and speak to nobody but herself, or the cat she eventually got, so when Norma asked if they were now friends, she hesitated, but only for a second. “Yeah, I would say so!” She grinned at Norma before showing her the settings on the dryer and how to use it, where to put the quarters, and for how long to set the timer for. “You should be all set then, right?” She asked before she pulled her own laundry into the basket she had brought. “It was nice meeting you, and I’ll definitely swing by for one of those… patties?”

#chatzy #wickedswriting #writing #loads of fun #grace #silveraccent

[deebormzone]

Return of Blog

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything on here. Just for fun, here’s a snapshot of the video games I’ve been playing recently.

Smash Bros.

Remember my old prediction for Fighter Pass 2? Well, I’m already wrong.

That’s okay, though! Min Min is pretty good. I do prefer third-party characters for the wow factor, but Arms didn’t have a rep yet, so this is kind of like adding a new franchise.

Special mention to the Vault Boy costume. Despite everything, I still love Fallout.

Still, I might have underestimated how many first-party characters would be in the second pass. This time around, I’m buying them individually, so I can dodge lamers like Pokemon and New Paper Mario.

The punchline here is that I’m not actually playing the game, because if I fight someone I know, I only win, and if I fight online, I only lose. Neither is fun and life is suffering.

World of Warcraft

These being Covid Times, I thought it would be a good idea to use videogame to provide some social interaction, so I re-subscribed and made ten new characters. The following two months were spent grinding. I stopped once I realized that the game is not actually fun, and cancelled my subscription again.

Note: No social interaction occurred in-game during this time. I anticipate paying sixty dollars plus tax for the expansion.

Evil Genius

I guess this has been my main game lately! Out of nowhere, it’s an old PC game from 2004.

The concept is: A James Bond film, but you are the antagonist. Hollow out a mountain and build an evil underground lair. Recruit minions and execute them when they disappoint you. Embark on evil missions around the globe to increase notoriety. It’s all very silly, and the theme is excellent.

Unfortunately there are a few racial caricatures. Most prominently: my favorite playable genius Shen Yu. It hurts a little whenever he says “this is vitar to my pran”, but his ability helps keep agents off my island, so I have to play as him because I hate those fucking agents goddamn it.

He also starts with my favorite henchman, Lord Kane, a morose gentleman in a top hat who is, according to his biography, “responsible for pretty much every major crime or disaster this century.” His special power is to glare at the enemy, causing them to flee in terror. The enemy’s allies also flee in terror. Even if they are in a completely different room.

Another notable henchman is Dr. Neurocide, a fearsome scientist whose backstory is that she invented Evil Juice and then rubbed it on herself by mistake. I like her because, when you command her to eliminate an intruder in your lair, she replies “right away, sugar,” in a country girl accent.

I like the game a lot, but it can get pretty tough. My first campaign ended in failure because, since I was playing as a Bond villain, James Bond appeared and killed me. I wasn’t too mad about it because I got to see the special failure movie.

Incredibly, this old game is getting a sequel this year! Shen Yu isn’t playable this time, so the devs have probably cleaned up their act a little. Also, one of the unrevealed playable characters looks a little like Dr. Neurocide. Fingers crossed!

The Binding of Isaac

Have I even mentioned this on my blog before? Isaac is one of my favorite games of all time. Top ten for sure. It’s disgusting and vile, but the cute art style takes the edge off, leaving only intense dungeon fight and shoot. I have trouble playing some games lately- my thumb hurts if i have to press too many buttons- but Isaac is a twin-stick shooter. No buttons required!

I’d been avoiding it because I wanted to wait for the game’s fifth(?) free expansion, which has been in the works for at least a year. Then I remembered that instead of waiting, I could instead play the game with only four free expansions. So I did.

Recently, though, the dev posted with an update: the expansion is definitely coming next year probably. With that assured, I’m back to waiting. I’ll play some other roguelikes instead, such as

Hades

Some kind of historical-action-roguelike-dating sim. It’s very good. Still in Early Access, which i usually avoid, but this one’s worth it. They’re close to release, too: next update is 1.0.

Somehow the plot is the most substantial part of this roguelike. Every update, they add another 400 lines of voiced dialogue. You don’t even have to be good at the game to advance the plot, since you hear more after each death!

Still, I wish I wasn’t so bad at it. Any time I see someone playing it on stream, or in person in the case of @thewrongexecution, they’re playing somewhere between heat level six and eight. Meanwhile I can’t win on heat level one. Truly, this is... hell... the Greek hell... Hades... because the game is called that.........

Torchlight 3

Speaking of Early Access games I usually avoid, I got this one on “release” day because I really wanted to play Diablo, and the five existing Diablo clones just weren’t good enough.

It’s okay. The classes are great, especially Robot and Train Summoner, but the game needs polish. No surprises there, since I got it Early Access day one, but it can be tough to play sometimes. Last update added a whole new section to the game, but it also made all the UI elements very small.

Still, I’m pretty sure it’s going to turn out well in the end. If it doesn’t, I’ll just have to hope Diablo 4 isn’t terrible when it comes out three years from now.

World of Horror

I got this game thinking it was a roguelike.

It is, but it is also a horror game! There was a jumpscare! How could this happen?

I look forward to the next time I am bold enough to play it. Soon, I swear.

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!

Yeah that’s the game’s full, unaltered title.

I’m not actually playing this game at the moment. I had to dial it back because it got too hard, and also because my thumb hurts if I play anything too intensely button-mash heavy.

Even though I’m a poor typist, I’m seriously considering switching over to keyboard controls so I can keep playing, because as hard as it is, this game is incredible. The whole series has been good and the third is the best of all. It’s the world’s most hardcore cooking simulator. A hard sell, I know, so I’ll just leave you with this, one of my favorite “you have seven seconds to prepare for the final stop, at which fifty-three customers will each order a personalized sandwich, and your sliced meats are about to spoil all at once” theme songs.

in closing...

It’s tough times. I can’t go without saying one more thing.

I’ve been watching the nationwide protests on twitch for a while now. I’ve been struck by two main things: the strength and courage of the protesters, and the cowardly violence of the police.

I know my audience is practically nil, but please take a look at the peaceful protests if you haven’t. Take a look at their opposition, the officers who launch gas bombs into crowds and fire rubber bullets at people’s faces.

And holy shit, this is during a pandemic! All the protesters out there are risking their lives on multiple fronts, and they have been for months.

Please support the protesters.

Please support Black communities.

Please wear face masks.

And please be kind to yourselves.

#smash bros #world of warcraft #binding of isaac #hades #evil genius #world of horror #Cook Serve Delicious #torchlight 3 #what's the best way to go to a protest against police brutality? #a cab

[alaurin101]

Sounds Like a Plan

Hello everyone.....well, I’m hoping there’s still a few people that follow this blog.  So I wrote this thing that’s been in my head this past week.  I’d decided to get back in the SWTOR game and wanted to refresh my memory on the old content so I created some new characters.....and as always happens, a story started to form almost immediately for both of the new legacies I started.  I finally finished hashing out one of them  and am going to share a part now.  Hope you all enjoy!  Spoiler Alert: the following contains spoilers for Smuggler and Trooper Ord Mantell

A tall figure crept into the small room, the dim floor lights reflecting off the plating on his boots.  Not wanting to shock his friend awake, he pressed the switch on the wall and a soft glow began to slowly light up the room.  The Mirialan grinned at the tan skinned Zabrak sprawled on a bed that was obviously too small for his rather large frame.  He noticed a blaster pistol resting next to the pillow, just inches away from that tattooed face.  Then his gaze settled on the vivid scar running diagonally across his friend’s right eye and the soldier’s smile faltered as he was suddenly hit with a sense of deja vu.  He could almost hear the hiss of a lightsaber being activated as the memories flooded him and for a brief moment, he nearly reconsidered waking the other man but decided to press on, knowing the spacer would appreciate settling an old score.

“Drex…..wake up!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Drex…..wake up!” a voice whispered frantically, the command easily waking the bed’s lanky occupant.

“Mik?” the Zabrak frowned, amber eyes narrowing as they focused in on the Mirialan leaning over him.  He tensed at the worried look his friend’s face wore, “What’s goin’ on?”

“Trouble,” Mik answered softly, looking around to make sure the other boys that shared their room were still asleep despite the soft glow now filling the room from the floorlights he’d turned on.  

“Talk to me,” Drex nodded as he sat up.

“I woke up a little bit ago…..had to pee,” Mik began as he sat next to Drex.  “On the way back from the ‘fresher, I heard a couple overseers talkin’ downstairs.”

“And you decided to eavesdrop on the conversation,” Drex grinned, “Proud of you buddy…..usually you keep your nose clean.”

“Wasn’t planning on spying, but I got a bad feelin’ all the sudden.”

“Well, what did you hear?” Drex prodded, knowing that the other boy had a hint of Force sensitivity like most of his species.

“They were talkin’ ‘bout making sure the place would pass inspection,” Mik answered.

“No surprise there,” Drex shrugged, “Imps are due to pay the mines a visit.” 

“Yeah, I know…..but here’s where it gets bad,” Mik continued, trying to keep his voice low despite the bombshell he was about to drop, “Overseers said the Imps were bringing a Sith with ‘em!”

“Kark!” Drex swore, his eyes darting to a bed across the room where a small Torgruta slept on. “I guess the boss decided to report Jak’s little accident.”

“I can’t think of any other reason they’d bring a Sith,” Mik agreed. “We need to get Jak outta here…...Parkaar and Zak too!”

“Zak?!” Drex’s gaze went to the pale green Twi’lek on the bunk above Jak, “He’s only eight!”

“Noticed it last week,” Mik confirmed, “He woke me up in the night…..must’ve been havin’ another nightmare and when I tried to wake him, he pushed at me with the Force.” 

“You never felt it in him before?”

“Nope,” Mik shook his head, “Just Parkaar and Jak…...but it’s pouring off him now.  There’s no way a Sith is gonna miss it.” 

“That’s definitely trouble,” Drex frowned, his mind already working on ideas as he slipped out of bed and got down on the floor, “Any idea how much time we got?”

“Overseers made it sound like they’d be here tomorrow, but I didn’t wanna lurk in the hallway too long so I headed back here before I could find out anything else.”

“Probably for the best,” Drex grunted as he carefully slid under the bed to pull up the loose floorboard, “Last thing you need is to be on their radar….don’t want that Sith looking too closely at you.”

“Nah, I can just sense things here and there,” Mik assured his friend, “I’m not strong enough for that Sith to care about.  Do you have enough credits in your stash?”

“Not for all of us, but should be enough to get those three away from here…...if we can find someone willing to help us.” 

“Who’s gonna to help two teenagers get some kids off planet?” Mik pondered as Drex slid back out.

“Tess might,” Drex suggested, setting the old cigarra box on his bed as he looked over at the other bunks once again to make sure the others were still sleeping.

“The laundry lady from the village?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s sympathetic,” Drex nodded, dumping the contents of the box out.

“You sure you aren’t just thinkin’ that ‘cause you have a crush on her?” Mik teased, knowing that the fourteen year old Zabrak already had a fondness for pretty girls and the busty Human that lived nearby definitely qualified.

“I do love those redheads,” Drex grinned, “And don’t even try to deny that you’ve checked her out before.”

“Okay, you got me,” Mik murmured sheepishly, feeling his cheeks heat up when he remembered the last time he’d been the one sent to drop off the dirty stuff.  Tess must’ve just put stuff in to dry because her tank top was damp and clinging very nicely to her body…..something that had left a lasting impression on the thirteen year old.

“Ha!” Drex snorted as he finished mentally tallying the chits, “Anyways, I’m willing to bet she’d help us if we slipped her some credits.  The boys can have the rest of my stash to get off planet.”

“Think it’ll be enough?”

“Should be,” Drex answered, his jovial features sobering, “It’ll wipe me out though so I’ll have to start all over again…..might be awhile before you and I can bust outta here.”

“That’s okay…...better that we get the boys away before that Sith gets here.”

“Agreed,” Drex nodded, looking pensive as he continued, “One thing in our favor is that today happens to be laundry day…...and preparing for an inspection might help as well.”

“Overseers are going to be too distracted to check the bins very closely,” Mik smiled, thinking along the same lines as his crafty buddy, “and it happens to be my turn to ride along so I can make the deal with Tess while the overseer waits for me to unload the dirty bins from the truck and load up the clean stuff.”  Then that smile faltered, “But the boss is gonna figure it out.  Even if he doesn’t notice Parkaar and Zak missing, he’s definitely going to realize Jak is gone right away…...that’s the whole reason the Sith is coming after all.”

“Laundry isn’t the only thing going out today,” Drex reminded him, “The night shift is supposed to be loading a shipment right now…..heard Parkaar grumbling about it at dinner.”

“They have him loading crates now?!” Mik’s dark brows furrowed, but it didn’t surprise him really.  Despite the fact that the Miraluka was only eleven, he’d recently hit a growth spurt and was nearly as tall as himself and Drex.

“I think they got sick of him having headaches from being in the mines too long,” Drex shrugged, “But that’s actually good…..they’ll assume he escaped with the shipment when they realize he’s missing.  Takes the heat off Tess and if we’re questioned…”

“You know we’ll be questioned…..we share a room with all three of ‘em,” Mik snorted, his blue grey eyes narrowing at his friend, “and you tend to buck authority…..a lot!”

“I come out richer after every beating,” Drex reminded him, his back still a little sore from his last infraction. They didn’t want to risk losing a strong worker though so whenever he got whipped, they’d drag him to the camp doctor to be treated afterwards and he’d be picking pockets every step of the way.   Willing to play the long game in order to get freedom, Drex tested the overseers often.  Thanks to his high threshold for pain and quick hands, he’d amassed quite a bit over the past year.  The other three occupants of the room knew about the secret stash and made sure to look out whenever Drex had to add to the box.  The night shift crew that shared their room was clueless but he’d planned to take Parkaar with them after Mik admitted that the Mirakula was strong in the Force.

“I think both of us are gonna get a beating,” Mik sighed, not looking forward to that.  He rarely got in trouble but thanks to his kind hearted nature, wasn’t a stranger to getting a whipping for stopping an overseer from hurting one of the younger kids.

“Unfortunately, I think you’re probably right about that,” Drex muttered grimly, “But that works in our favor too…...they’ll be more likely to believe us if we snitch after getting roughed up a bit.”

“Good point,” Mik conceded, “We’re gonna need a distraction though.”

“Already planned for that,” Drex assured him, holding up a small smoke grenade he’d stolen a while ago. “I’m on breakfast cleanup this morning…..smoke coming from the kitchens is bound to start a ruckus and bring the overseers runnin’ in.”

“The loading area is near the kitchens,” Mik mused, starting to feel hopeful for the first time, “Should be enough time to hide the boys in the cart…...just need to make sure they’re ready and know what to do.”

“You’ll need to get a controller for the shock collars,” Drex reminded him.

“There’s usually one in the truck,” Mik recalled, “I can grab that while Parkaar helps Jak and Zak into a bin.  I’ll give him the controller when I help him into another bin.  Probably take a couple minutes…..three tops.”

“You’ll definitely have that.”

“Then we’re set,” Mik sighed, stifling a yawn as he stood and glanced at the old chrono on their nightstand.  “Three hours before the morning alarm goes off…….we should try and get some sleep.”

“I’ll set our alarm for a half hour before that,” Drex decided, “That’ll give us enough time to talk to Jak and Zak.  You can fill Parkaar in at breakfast…..hopefully he’ll be able to stay awake after working all night.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Mik murmured, giving into the yawn as he climbed into his bunk.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Drex,” Mik whispered again, this time gently nudging his friend’s broad shoulder, “Come on….wake up buddy!”

“Mik?” Drex murmured, amber eyes opening to see a familiar soldier hovering above him and he was suddenly thrown back ten years.  The only difference was that the green skinned face now sported tattoos and two vivid perpendicular scars that barely missed his right eye.  Also gone was the shaggy mess of black hair, replaced with a military high and tight, but Drex couldn’t blame his friend for not wanting to let his hair grow too long.  After all, Rylen’s camp for Wayward Boys hadn’t exactly been concerned with haircuts and they were only allotted one shower a week.  One of the first things both of them had done after finally being freed from that hellhole was to take the hottest, longest shower possible, then get a haircut.  He had a long strip of hair that ran through the middle of the crown of horns on his head, but he always kept the light brown locks neatly in place with a simple silver clip on the back of his head.  His brow furrowed for a moment when he glanced at the chrono.

“Yeah,” Mik grinned sheepishly, “Sorry to wake you so early, but you’re gonna thank me.”

“I have my doubts,” Drex grumbled as he sat up, “How’d you get in here anyway?  I know I locked that door before I hit the sac.”

“You did, but I convinced the cantina owner that you had vital information to my mission and it was important that I speak to you ASAP.”  

“Only in Spec Forces for a week and already throwing rank around,” Drex taunted, fighting a yawn as he shook out the pants he’d left hanging on the chair last night.  Silently cursing that dirty thief Skavak for the hundredth time, he reluctantly pulled on the pants he’d worn all day yesterday.  At least he had a clean shirt and he’d put on clean boxers after showering late last night.  Unfortunately, that was the last of the clean clothing he always kept in his backpack. 

“Karking Skavak,” he muttered harshly as he buttoned his shirt.  

“I could try to see if I can snag you some stuff from the barracks,” Mik offered, knowing how much it bothered his buddy to wear anything dirty because he felt the same way after surviving three years in the mining camp.

“I’m going to see if I can get my dirty stuff cleaned today, but I could use another pair of pants if you can swing it,” Drex sighed as he pulled his boots on, “Somehow I don’t think that’s why you woke me at the buttcrack of dawn though.”

“Not quite,” Mik snickered, then he looked his friend in the eye, “Does the name Virk ring a bell?”

“As in Corporal Virk,” Drex tensed, anger flashing in those amber eyes, “the piece of bantha shit that got me kicked out of the Military Academy a month before I was going to graduate?!”

“He’s a Lieutenant now, but yeah….that same crooked son of a Hutt,” Mik confirmed.  “And he’s still up to no good.”

“He tryin’ to frame you for something?”

“Worse,” Mik admitted, “He’s been running a bribery scheme with the men serving under him to get easier postings.  A scared Private came to me about it a couple days ago, said his buddy tried to rat Virk out and ended up getting assigned to Mannet Point.”

“Not a good place right now,” Drex replied, “His buddy make it?”

“According to Farn, his friend was KIA the next day.  Now Farn’s worried he’s next but he refuses to pay Virk off so he decided to report it to me.”

“Virk find out?”

“Yup,” Mik nodded, “I told Commander Tavus and Lieutenant Jorgan about it not long after Farn talked to me.  Jorgan said he’d look into it, but I haven’t heard anything yet.  Virk must’ve found out though and stopped me on my way into the barracks yesterday evening.”

“Does he know we’re friends?”

“I don’t think so,” Mik shook his head, “He didn’t seem to recognize me and I was in a different program from you at the Academy so I doubt he ever knew.  A girl I had classes with absolutely hated him though and used to warn us to give him a wide berth.  The only reason I really know him is because of what he did to you…...but now you have a shot at some payback.”

“Do tell,” Drex smiled coldly as he sat back down on the bed.

“Virk told me not to be surprised if I have an accident today so I’m guessing he’s having me followed and plans to ambush me at some point,” Mik explained.  “I could easily report it to Tavus and Jorgan again but then I thought maybe we could set a little ambush of our own.”

“Oh, I’d be more than happy to show that bastard the business end of my shotgun,” Drex agreed, “Count me and my stealth generator in.”

“Good,” Mik nodded, “but maybe wait to shoot him.  I’m thinking the two of you are long overdue for a heart to heart…..away from the fort when my armor cam begins automatically transmitting to HQ.” 

“It would be nice to have that dishonorable discharge taken off my military record,” Drex mused, “and combined with his kickback scheme, he’s probably looking at a decent stint in military prison.”

“That enough retribution for you?” Mik raised a brow.  

“It’s a start,” Drex chuckled as he dug the stealth generator out of his backpack and clipped it to his belt.  He secured the blaster pistol in the holster on the other side and hooked the shotgun to the backpack.  “Let’s grab some chow down in the cantina, then we can head out.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

#alaurin fanfic #OC Drexyn Dalov #OC Mikkyal O'Rourke #swtor #smuggler #trooper

[corbincarroll]

hi! how did you make you banner i love it!! :)

thank you! i’ll give a detailed rundown under the cut! i was actually in the middle of making a new header when you sent this, so good timing!

a quick explanation is that i cut out an image, paste it onto a fresh canvas, edit to my desire, and then use a gif overlay on top to give that snow effect!

so i’m going to explain this in as much detail as possible to try and make it as clear as possible, so hopefully this will be useful no matter how much PS experience one has! i used photoshop cc 2017 to make this! i’ve learned ps pretty much through just trial and error so if i do things weird, im sorry sdklfjdslk

start:

the first thing i do is open a blank document in PS sized to the tumblr header size which is 640x360 on mobile, you can size up if you want, but just keep the ratio the same!

player image:

so first i grabbed a picture, and for this i prefer pictures where the player(s) is(/are) isolated, and it’s even better when there’s not much going on behind them because it makes it much easier to cut out the part you want!

the picture i used for this is from this post on the yotes instagram!

next, i open this up into PS, so i have both the photo and the blank canvas (red arrow) open. the blue arrow points to where you can change workspace presets to allow different tools onto your workspace. i’m currently using the photography preset, but will eventually switch to motion later on.

now i begin cutting out my player. there’s multiple methods to do this and each once has it’s pros and cons. the quickest way for me is not necessarily the best way, but it does what i need it to do, especially when the item to be cut out is isolated in front of a quiet background. i use the quick selection tool to quickly select the area i want with a larger brush, and then i go in with a smaller brush size to clean up the edges and details.

when the option with the plus is selected you are grabbing more area, and when the option with the minus is selected you are are deselecting area. the 22 highlighted above references the brush size, the appropriate brush size, or what is “big” or “small” will depend on the size of picture you’re working on so just play around with what you’re comfortable with!

nick is selected, as you can see below, with the line around his body. this is not quite as careful as i would be if i was actually making this for someone to use, but for demonstration purposes it works. you can zoom in further and use the smallest brush size possible and really be careful cutting things out. you can zoom in but uping the number at the bottom left handside of the screen!

once you have everything selected, right click and choose layer from copy which will create a new layer with just the area you have selected.

now i turn off the layer with the full picture, leaving only the layer i just created. to do this, click the little eye next to the bottom layer on the right hand of the screen, as seen below.

now you’re left with a transparent player to work with! this is where i do any coloring i want to do as well, so i will quickly do that. i am not great at this part so i will just recommend looking up coloring tutorials if you want more specific help here, or just mess around with different adjustment layers which is what i do lol. once it’s colored to my liking, i merge the layers together, making them into one layer, which means the coloring won’t impact any layers below it once i move it to the canvas where we’re actually going to create the header. you do this by selecting all the layers (ctrl + click all the layers or shift + click the top and bottom layers to select them all), and then right clicking and selecting merge layers from the options.

assembling the image:

now im going to work on the base of the header, or basically the rest of it except for the moving bits! what i want to do here is move the player image over the header canvas, resize the image, decide on the color of the background, whether i’ll use any other images or textures, etc.

first i’ll think about my background color of choice. a lot of people use the color that they use for their mobile blog on here, or something complimentary or matching their accent color, etc. i really like a simple clean look so i used a white background for this header because i think it makes the image itself pop and allows the accent colors on my blog to also pop because i use white as my main color on my blog.

if i wanted to use another color, i normally pull from some part of the image i’ll be bringing over. for this i’d use the color dropper tool (see below), clicking on color on my image i want to use.

then i’ll pull up the color boxes in order to create a custom color from that color (click define custom colors), and then you can mess around with by clicking different boxes on the color scale along the right side of the panel below, or if you want an unrelated color, click on parts of the entire rainbow scale thing. once you have a color you like, selected add to custom colors and you can work with it. i create a new blank layer and then use the paint bucket tool to color it in. this is where you could also use gradients to jazz up the background a little too.

now i’ll drag my player over into the header canvas. i do this by click + dragging the layer from the right side over to the tab of the header canvas until the screen changes over to that workspace and then i drop the layer onto the canvas.

and

now nick is over on the blank canvas but as you can see, he needs to be resized. so i ctrl + t, which allows me to transform his layer (make sure you only have the layer w the image selected on the right hand side layers panel). i hold down the shift key (this keeps the ratio true) and begin to make him small by dragging the arrows. make sure you do not let go of the shift key too early or it will fuck up the image and make him too long or too wide, etc. then i hit enter, and it completes the transformation. i then drag him to wherever i want him.

now that he’s resized and where i want him, i mess with the blending options to blend him into the background more pleasingly. now this really isn’t gonna look good since i was so sloppy cutting him out earlier, but just mess around with it until you get something you like. you do this by right clicking on the layer you want to blend and then selecting blending options. i normally do a drop shadow and maybe some other stuff, but i find this changes depending on the image, background, colors, etc.

there’s a lot of stuff you can do here, with the different options and the different settings for each one!

gif overlays:

now it’s time to add a gif overlay which i how get the snow falling effect. there’s multiple posts with these kinds of gifs out there, i’ll be using one from this post (method one) and one from this post (method two). neither are the one i used when i first made this header but i cannot find the one i used then; the principles still apply. now is the time to either add the timeline to your workspace, or change it to the motion preset.

on the timeline section at the bottom of the page, there should be a create timeline animation button, click that.

as with gifs from videos, there’s multiple ways of making these gifs. i’ll run through two here.

method 1: this is the method i used when i first made this header!

if you use a gif overlay, and it comes with frames, create as many frames as that gif comes with to then copy those frames onto. open your gif and see how many frames/layers. this one has 29 as you can see below. 

now click the little button with lines at the top right corner of the timeline. it looks like this.

next click select all frames from the menu that pops up, and then select that menu again and click copy frames. now go back to your header and create the frames i talked about earlier, you need 29 (or whatever it may be for your gif). do this by selecting the button below, located along the bottom of the timeline. do this as many times as needed until you have enough frames.

now select all the header frames once again and go back to the menu where you copied the frames and select paste frames this time. a menu will pop up, and choose paste over selection. this will match up the frames/layers so frame one of your header will match with frame one of the gif. adjust the gif size if you need to, once again using ctrl + t, and make sure you still have all the layers selected and that you are still on frame 1. also make sure you move these layers under nick in the layer order.

now adjust the frame rate. this will depend on your tastes entirely so test it out. my go to frame rate is 0.05 for everything i do pretty much, as a baseline, and then i adjust from there. to do this, once again select all your frames. next, click on one of these little carots, select other, and input your frame rate in the box that pops up.

method two:

this method is when your overlay comes in timeline form (idr what it’s called) instead of frames, looking like this.

drag the layer from the layer panel onto the header canvas, just like we did with nick earlier. make sure it goes under nick in the layer order. adjust the size if necessary, still using ctrl + f to keep the shape. make sure to click this button at the bottom left corner of the timeline to convert the frame into a timeline.

now, make sure to drag each layer to the same length, aka whatever length the gif layer is. make them match!

changing the color of the overlay:

this works with either method above! create a new layer and fill it with the color you want the snow to be. place it below everything except the background layer. add a gradient layer on top of the gif layer. right click on this layer and click create clipping mask. this is what my layers look like, i don’t normally label them but hopefully this is clear.

open the properties panel for the gradient map and make sure this gradient is selected and is black and white.

finally, change the blending to lighten on the gif layer! this should do the trick!

final touches:

i like to kind of have my header melt into my blog color, so i like to kind of transition the bottom of my header into whatever color my blog is. to do this, i use a multitude of methods. for this header in particular i used the eraser tool + a textured kind of fan brush to swipe back and forth creating the half erased look at the bottom. the setting seen below are probably similar to what i did when i originally did this header!

again, this is something that you can play with a lot yourself, especially by downloading brush packs and seeing what cool textures you can create.

saving:

to save, file > export > save for web

make sure you select “forever” and not “once” so that the gif loops!

original:

gif method 1:

gif method 2:

(ignore how this is also different i had to remake it once again bc i didn’t save it lmaoooooo)

#this got way too long but! here u go! #asks #anonymous #always happy to answer questions

[wormbook22]

Hello world... again

Hellooo,

Thank you for finding me! \(^o^)/

This blog is mostly to promote my favorite arts & music, plus some stuffs about audio production (technical or not).

I used to have another blog on the same topics under the same name. However, due to some issues with Tumblr support (nothing illegal I swear o.O), I now need to create another one.

What you’ll find here:

Reviews of mostly non-mainstream musicians and their works (albums, singles, soundtracks, lives, operas etc.)

My journey of sound exploration, including discussion of music genres, recording techniques, instrument design etc.

(Sometimes) Other stuffs: books, art films, anime, paintings, comics, manga, sculptors, 3D rendering etc.

MINIMAL shitposting. I may post #random things and #announcement from time to time. The truly irrelevant stuffs are marked with #please ignore. Just block them.

I aim to churn out contents once every week for short posts (starting Aug this year), but more in-depth stuffs may take months, as I’m rather busy irl.

Now, here are some house rules before I start with the juicy posts:

1. Non-mainstream music?

That’s over-generalizing a bit, but I like weird stuffs from different genres all over the world. If it’s done right to me, it doesn’t matter if it’s jazz, pop, house, avant-garde, classical, hip-hop, soundtrack stuffs or whatever in-between. A few examples (not in any order): Kajiura Yuki, Ennio Morricone, Billie Eilish, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Björk, Agust D, Ulrich Drechsler, Hanoi Duo.

With that said, I’m quite biased with a mix of powerful female vocals, stuffs in minor keys & lots of evolving counter melodies. Sure, each of those do typically appear in mainstream music, but I tend to prefer more eclectic combinations of them. I’m sure I’ll unconsciously cover more people like that.

You’ll likely discover lots of weird people here. Do follow official channels of those who interest you! :D

2. Sound exploration...?

Well, after having too much time for introspection during Covid-19, I’m thinking of switching career to something along the line of foley artist or sound engineer. No idea what I want yet, so I’m exploring possible professions. Since this is a music-related blog, I just want to share my journey, haha.

Posts about this will have a separate hashtag so those not interested can ignore them. Topics will range from modding instruments, sound-making & recording paraphernalia, music theory, music history etc.

3. Weeb? NO. Maybe nerd at most.

In case someone spotted me mentioning “anime” and “manga” and thought “what if...”, no, I’m not into waifus, bishounen cults, or the other stuffs (you know what I mean)... Do not expect such contents here, though you can freely fangirl/fanboy about your favorite stuffs in the comment section (but keep it toxic-free plz) (^o^)/

I love many anime & manga series just as much as I enjoy Pan’s Labyrinth or NatGeo documentaries. I casually join fandoms, but I’m not hardcore and by no means an expert in anything. So do correct me if I get some facts wrong!

4. NO political stuffs, conspiracy theories, fan wars etc.

More like, I’ll keep potentially toxic stuffs to the minimum. I’ll still discuss them objectively if they’re relevant to the topic at hand. E.g. how a group’s disbandment may affect a musician’s solo career etc.

With all the crap happening in the world, we could do with a bit more positivity. And cooler heads. So I will NOT rant extensively about such things. And I WILL report such posts if I ever see them here.

I don’t care if you shitpost elsewhere. I do too. But please just spare this place...

Also, yes, it’s important to be aware of certain social issues.

However, I believe such things should be discussed with well-sourced information, clear illustrations and non-malicious intents. Not angry people throwing their opinions on the table, and sometimes throwing the table themselves. And more importantly, MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY, social issues must be solved by consistently educating oneself and taking actions OFFLINE.

If you still wanna do that here, please please please switch to DM. I do want to have discussions with you.

Finally, I naturally stand at a respectful distance to my fav musicians.

I do get hyped and have expectations ahead of releases. But I’m not the type to directly message my favorite musicians, or queue up for hours to get their autographs. I also don’t collect merchandise or limited-edition items. I don’t go on “pilgrimages”. Just listening to their music, promoting them and supporting them financially (through streaming, buying releases, attending lives) is good enough for me. I don’t encourage this kind of behavior actually. Without avid fans, lots of musicians would starve... But this is just how I am. Plus, there’re just too many musicians I like. If I were too hardcore, I wouldn’t have time & resources to support them all xD

I’m interested in what they can share about their personal lives, but I don’t want to dig deeply into things that may disturb them. Unless they did something unlawful (not just morally questionable) that went unnoticed or unresolved (like smoking weed where it’s banned and not getting caught).

I love to discuss what make them spark as well as their flaws, casually but objectively. But I’m only human so biases is unavoidable. I always want to anticipate their next works or breakthroughs, if any, as long as their interest in making decent music is still there.

Liking their music doesn’t mean I need to like them as people. And certainly not love them romantically.

I sometimes need to compare some aspects of them (e.g. musical inspiration, background, how they’ve changed following financial success or failure etc.) But I’ll avoid that as much as possible, especially when it comes to music groups. A group is more than just its members.

All questions & gossip regarding opinions of fanbases should go to my inbox, and not anonymously (cuz I can’t reply you otherwise). I wanna keep this space clean, so I want to avoid fan wars & jumping to conclusions. Pretty sure it will happen eventually anyway, one way or another...

Wew, that sure is a lot of text *sweats*. Hope I’ve made it clear to you and myself what this blog will be like.

Please anticipate my next post around 2 months from now.

Thanks for reading. m(_ _)m

#music #review #hello world #why am I posting this when my next post's supposed to be 2 months from now

[let-it-raines]

Catch Me If You Can (1/?)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.  

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

A/n: Hello, friends! Yes, I’m back with another story! No, I wasn’t expecting it, haha. This is based off of my one-shot Striking Out in that they have the same jobs, it’s the same city, and the premise is slightly the same. But there are quite a few differences though!

This is obviously a fictional story, so some things are going to be different. For one, players for the Yankees are allowed beards here and there are definitely names on the back of jerseys. It’s fun making your own rules sometimes 😉 And since I know I have some readers who are not Yankees fans, I promise you I only picked that team because I had to base the story somewhere where ESPN has an office! 

I hope you guys like this one! ❤️

Found on AO3: | Here |

Tag list (let me know if you want to be added/removed): @snowbellewells @karenfrommisthaven @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @emmas-storybook @ultimiflos @jamif @idristardis @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @tiganasummertree @wellhellotragic @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog @ultraluckycatnd @cs-forlife @andiirivera @jonirobinson64 @mariakov81 @galaxyzxstark @qualitycoffeethings @thejollyroger-writer

-/-

The early March wind whistles through the buildings in Chelsea as Emma opens the door to her favorite coffee shop. It’s aptly named the Grumpy Café for that’s apparently how everyone is before they have their morning coffee, which she totally and completely gets, especially on days where she’s working. As soon as she steps inside, she can feel the heat running through the building, the bustle of people trying to get their caffeine fix even on a Sunday morning, and she has to dodge a group of teenagers who likely aren’t even old enough to drive but are apparently old enough to spend over eight dollars on whatever drink it is they’re all taking pictures of with their phones.

She’s done it before. She’s not judging. Okay, maybe she’s judging a little bit.

Whatever. She just wants her coffee with a splash of hazelnut creamer and possibly a muffin that will totally cancel out all of the work that she just did at the gym. What’s the point of working out if she can’t occasionally reward herself with sweets?

(The point is being healthy and living longer and being able to fit into her favorite pair of skinny jeans, but she doesn’t always remember that when she feels like she’s dying and would like to murder everyone within a five-foot radius of her treadmill. And running is a much smaller monster than Pilates.)

Finally, she works past the teenagers and someone who definitely hasn’t washed their beanie since they bought it, and gets to the counter to put her order in, standing off to the side until Ava, her favorite barista, gives her the to-go cup and small brown paper bag filled with two blueberry muffins, one for both she and Ruby since she’s not interested in having to fight over her muffin when she gets home. After she wishes Ava a good day, she leaves the building, the wind already whipping at her skin, and tries to walk as quickly as possible to get back to her apartment so that she doesn’t die of frostbite or something. It’s not cold enough for that, but it kind of feels like it when all she has on are a pair of black leggings and a white tank top that might as well not exist for how little it protects her from the cold.

At least it doesn’t make her sweat.

She should have brought a jacket with her.

“Hey,” a man yells out at her, and she has to bite her tongue to keep from cursing at him when she has no idea what he wants. Instinctively, she reaches for her keys, placing the sharp edge in between her fingertips as she keeps walking, “you’re that girl.”

And immediately she knows that she is, indeed, that girl, and that this man, while slightly obnoxious in his Red Sox cap and t-shirt that he obviously bought from a tourist shop while in Manhattan yesterday, isn’t going to cause her any danger. Just annoyance.

“That I am,” she smiles, knowing less is more when she’s been recognized lately, only the slightest bit of resentment simmering below the surface of her skin.

“Can I get a picture?”

“Yeah, sure.” Emma sighs before keeping that plastered smile on her face as he comes up to her and wraps an arm around her shoulder before holding his phone in front of their faces. It’s quick, easy, and it’s not the first time that it’s happened to her. It used to be solely because of her job, and while this technically stems from that, it’s entirely different.

She should have bought a box of donuts or something instead of this muffin so that she could angrily munch away after she gets back home.

When she walks up to her apartment building, she presses in the code to get through the gate, before pulling the old creaky thing open, and walking up the four flights of stairs to get to her front door, twisting the key in the knob before quietly opening the door as she figures that Ruby isn’t awake yet. It’s before noon on a Sunday where they’re not working, so Ruby being awake would pretty much be a miracle or a sign of the world ending depending on how you look at it.

(A sign of the world ending most definitely.)

Toeing off her sneakers, the right one getting stuck, she flicks on the light switch to illuminate the main room of their apartment. It’s a small place, really more suitable for two people than the three that live here, but she likes the location and rent price too much to change anything about her living situation. The kitchen is more of an alcove than anything else, just five white cabinets shoved into the corner with white and gray quartz countertops, and next to the fridge is an exposed brick wall that she’s not sure is real or simply there for aesthetics. But she kind of likes it and the way that it brightens up the room as their television sits on a small black desk with plants framing both sides of it, a multi-colored rug sitting on the floor underneath their white couch that’s full of more throw pillows than anyone has any right owning.

The throw pillow thing is definitely her fault, but when she’s shopping and happens to see a good deal on a cute patterned one, she can’t help but buy it, figuring there’s some place for it. Her bedroom is full of them, sitting on top of her white comforter and on the black and white striped chair that’s crammed in the corner with piles of clothes stacked on top of it. She’s sure that designers would hate their place, but it’s their place. They like it. That’s all that matters.

She also has this problem with blankets, but that goes hand and hand with pillows, right?

The plants too. She and Ruby obviously wish they had a backyard or something.

“Morning,” Graham mumbles as he steps out into the hallway into the living room. He’s rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, still dressed in a pair of plaid pajamas pants and an NYPD sweatshirt, his hair curling into wild patterns instead of its usual tamed style. “Have a nice run?”

“My legs feel like they’re not actually limbs anymore, but it was good.”

“You happen to bring me any coffee?”

Emma huffs at that before sitting down at the kitchen table with her cup and her muffin, figuring that she’ll clean up the crumbs later instead of dealing with a plate. “No. I got a muffin, but it’s for Ruby.”

“She’s going to be asleep until at least two. I can eat it, and she’ll never know.”

“You have been dating her for two years. You know she can sniff these things out.”

“Eh.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I. I’ve gotten good at hiding things.”

“That, my friend,” she starts, opening up her laptop from where she left it here last night, and curling her foot underneath her thigh, “is an awful thing to say to your girlfriend’s best friend.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Eat the muffin at your own risk.”

Graham chuckles before stepping further into the kitchen and flipping the switch for the coffee maker, the machine sparking to life as that all familiar gargle starts up, the smell already beginning to permeate through the apartment and overpower the coffee she already has. He hums, something that she’s noticed he always does in the mornings since moving in with them in January, and she blocks it out as much as she can. For so long, it was just she and Ruby here, but then Ruby and Graham got serious and he moved in. It’s only weird in the fact that she has to wear a shirt at all times when in a public space and she can hear some pretty enthusiastic sex noises happening through the bedroom walls. But rent is now split three ways, which is amazing, and Graham has a penchant for home cooked meals, which is something she thinks she’s really going to like when she’s traveling for work.

Graham’s probably going to like it more since both she and Ruby will be gone. Though she thinks he’ll miss Ruby a hell of a lot more than he misses her. She’d at least hope so. It’d be concerning if he didn’t.

Her laptop dings several times, and she already knows that she’s going to have at least ten emails from David detailing her schedule for when she flies down to Florida on Wednesday to cover Spring Training and film her segment on Killian Jones.

Killian Jones.

New York Yankees starting pitcher who has made her life a living hell since October of last year when the Yankees won the World Series. That should have been one of the greatest moments of her reporting career, especially since the team she’s assigned to cover for ESPN won the fucking World Series, but then it all turned her into a viral video online.

There are memes about her, okay?

(She’s only twenty-seven, but some of the things she’s thinking today are making her feel much older.)

And maybe living hell isn’t the right word. At least, not anymore. It was crazy at first, basically a madhouse around her, and she had to log out of all of her social media for two weeks even as she gained hundreds of thousands of followers across every platform where she’s active. She’s now got one of those blue checkmarks next to her name, which she honestly should have had before even if she doesn’t think she’s a celebrity or whatever, and random people stop her on the street for selfies. Selfishly, she kind of wishes that people had recognized her before the incident, but she didn’t get into her job for the fame. Really, that was the thing that held her back when she was offered the promotion, not that her job is really a job that brings much recognition outside of certain circles.

But here she is now.

“Killian,” she starts, holding the microphone to her mouth as she speaks and Killian wipes the sweat from his brow, pushing back his long hair before placing the World Series Champion cap back on top of his head, a bright white smile between his lips. Her heart is hammering in her chest, excitement over the Yankees winning finally starting to sink in. She can’t believe she got to work the Series. Holy shit. “You pitched an incredible game, and helped to lead the Yankees to their win. You’ve had an incredible season, an even more incredible post-season. How is it all feeling right now?”

His grin somehow gets impossibly bigger, the lines around his eyes crinkling, and she recognizes the look in his eyes like she always does. She’s been interviewing him for three years now, even if he wasn’t around much last season after his accident, and following his career around long before she’d actually met him through work, so she recognizes a lot of his mannerisms. It’s odd for her to know every career statistic that he has, to know about all of the publicity around his private life, and yet to have only talked to him while he stands on a field sweating under the glow of stadium lights or in the dimness of the locker room.

But that’s her job. She’s a reporter for ESPN, which is pretty damn awesome, and unlike a lot of people she works with, she actually likes to know what she’s talking about. She’s not a former athlete, not some kind of all-star with household recognition, and she’s a woman. Those three facts make her life impossibly harder, and if there’s anything she’s learned in her eight years working for the network, it’s that for every step that one of her male colleagues takes, she has to take ten. It’s idiotic, sexist, and all around wrong, but if she’s on TV spouting out facts that are incorrect, there’s twenty thousand men at home tweeting her and the network telling them to get the “dumb bitch” off their TVs.

Charming, right?

But it’s her reality. Most people only care about how she looks, about how her ass looks in a skirt, but that’s not what she cares about.

(Even if she has a good ass and works damn hard for it.)

She cares about the game.

And anyone who cares about baseball, cares about Killian Jones.

He reaches up to scratch behind his ear, which is a tick of sorts that she’s noticed, before he leans into the microphone. “Right now, it’s pretty unbelievable. It hasn’t sunk in yet, not really, but I’m happy to be here wearing this hat, having the trophy, the accomplishment. It’s been a long road for me personally, for the team, and I’m in a bit of euphoria over it all.”

“How in the world are you not burning alive?” Ruby says in her earpiece, and she has to keep herself from rolling her eyes with the forced smile on her face. Ruby is a great producer, but she definitely loves giving her live commentary to mess Emma up. “He’s so hot, and I can’t even see his ass.”

Her producer being her best friend is both the best and worst thing to ever happen to her.

“I bet,” she says to Killian, looking up in the blue of his eyes as chants start to ring out across the stadium. Ruby won’t stop talking in her ear, and that’s definitely something the two of them are going to talk about later. “You had a bit of a rocky beginning to the season with your injury from last year still lingering, so how’s that arm feeling?”

“Good as new.”

“Perfect, it looked like.”

Even under his hat she can see the rise of his brow. “You been looking at my arms then, love?”

He is such a flirt. It’s ridiculous. At least he’s not one of the creepy ones. She gets it a lot as a part of her job and the general state of men, but she’s thankful for the fact that Jones never crosses the line. And she’s watched his interviews. He seems to simply be a flirt naturally, no trying necessary.

“Me and a couple million other people.”

He barks out a laugh, his head thrown back a bit, and she can see the sharp underside of his stubbled jaw. Thank goodness the Yankees finally allow their players to have facial hair. Really, it’s for the good of all people. “Well, my sister-in-law tells me most people are looking at my ass, so that’s kind of a relief.”

“Oh my God,” Ruby groans, “there are so many things you could say. But don’t. Ask him one more question.”

“So, Killian Jones, World Series Champion, now that you’ve done something every baseball player dreams of, is there anything else that you want to do?”

His mouth snaps closed, his teeth disappearing in exchange of a closed lip smile, and he tilts his head to the side while his eyes flicker up and down her face, very obviously scrutinizing her before his lips part once more.

“Yeah,” he says, adjusting his hat, “I think I’d like to go on a date with you. What do you say, Swan? You want to go out on a date with me?”

“Emma Swan,” Ruby grits, her voice yelling in Emma’s ear, “if you do not say yes, I will lock you out of the apartment. Think of the ratings.”

Later, she’s definitely going to talk to Ruby about sexual harassment. Not that this is what that is. She could say no. Yeah, he asked her on live television. That’s kind of dick-ish. But he’s not forcing her into it. Ruby might be, but that’s an issue for another time. Right now her issue is that she kind of feels like both vomiting on Killian’s shoes and punching him in the stomach for putting her on the spot like this.

Three years of interviewing him, and this is what he’s going to do.

No part of it surprises her. The next words out of her mouth do since she already knows the repercussions from them are going to be brutal.

“No.”

She’d been asked out on live television by a player who she covers several times a month since he only plays every few games, and she said no. Of course she said no.

They don’t even know each other personally, and realistically, she understands that the whole point of dating is to get to know someone, but she’s not about to say yes on-air simply because she’ll look like a bitch if she says no. And really, she doesn’t think she looked like a bitch. She doesn’t. But apparently, she’s not allowed to have her own thoughts or opinions, have agency over her own life, because even though she was gaining all of that fame online, she was also garnering a lot of hate.

Like, an insane amount of hate.

People online are insane.

She always knew that when she took the step up from being a writer and fact checker who merely listed statistics in articles to being an on-air talent, that it would be a difficult transition. For one, she had to get used to working with a camera, with thinking on the spot, and she also had to get used to how much hate she was going to get for being a woman working in baseball. The world is definitely getting better overall, but that doesn’t mean that tiny, petulant men won’t take issue with her covering games over a former pro who’s only in it for the money.

The money is great, much better than she ever could have imagined, but that’s not why she’s in it. Not at all.

Growing up, she didn’t have a lot. Really, she had nothing. Her parents gave her up for adoption after she was born, but no one adopted her. Ever. She grew up in foster homes and group homes, never really having anyone or anything she cared about until she was fifteen and moved into Ruth Nolan’s home in Portland, Maine. Ruth was a kind older woman who packed Emma’s lunch for school and bought her new clothes and made her feel like she mattered for the first time in a long time. Emma knew that Ruth had a son, David, who lived in New York City and who Ruth was unnaturally proud of, but she didn’t meet him until six months after she’d been living in the house and he came home for Christmas with his fiancée, Mary Margaret.

She’d hated him.

Really and truly hated him. She had a good thing going, and him coming home made her realize just how much she didn’t have anything that belonged to her.

She had nothing.

And it didn’t matter that he was twenty-seven to her fifteen, that he was an adult while she was still a child. The jealousy didn’t stop. It kept festering and festering until she was worried that it would never stop. As an adult, someone who is now twenty-seven herself, she realizes how ridiculous this was, but at the time all she could think about was how terrified she was that having her actual son home would make Ruth realize how much Emma didn’t belong.

All of her worry was for nothing because David Nolan is the nicest man on the planet, and he took her under his wings from the moment that he met her. She resisted, not used to knowing what kindness and affection were, but David made her feel comfortable to the point where her shoulders didn’t tense up, where her head didn’t pound, and even though he was a little too much for her until she got used to more genuine care and kindness, David became the older brother she never could have dreamed of.

He was the one who took her on her first vacation, a weekend trip to visit he and Mary Margaret in New York. The two of them definitely coddled her a little bit, jam packing the days with trips to anything and everything she wanted to go to, but it was fun. And then David took her to a Yankees game with seats behind third base and access to the facilities and food to die for with his special access, and her entire life changed.

Obviously, she’d watched a baseball game before. She knew most of the ins and outs, did for most sports. In all of the homes that she’d been in, sports were pretty much a constant. It was the thing the dads liked, most of the kids too, and even though she hadn’t always enjoyed them (she has some pretty strong feelings about basketball), sports were a constant in her life. Her foster parents would never sign her up to play, never wanting to spend the money on equipment, but watching on TV and understanding what her classmates were talking about made her feel like she belonged.

Then she went to an actual game, felt the atmosphere of thousands of people cheering, heard the ding of the ball against the bat, listened to music played during breaks, ate a hot dog like all of the clichés, and a light switched on in her. If David could work at ESPN, could spend his days studying statistics and helping to put together clips and videos of highlights, why couldn’t she?

Why couldn’t she dream of more than staying in Portland and working in an office as a receptionist or something else that would inevitably make her lose the light inside of her that has already been diminished?

Ruth and David offered to help her take SAT prep courses to boost her score, and they helped her apply to colleges across the country. When she got accepted to NYU, David and Mary Margaret immediately told her that she could live with them, and when David got her an interview at the ESPN offices as an intern the fall of her freshman year, she finally, finally felt like her life was headed somewhere good.

Then she met Neal and…that’s not something she wants to think about.

He’s not someone who needs to take up any space in her mind when she’s got Jones to deal with.

More specifically, an interview with him.

Emma,

Here’s your flight information as well as your rental car number. Everything is under your name, so it should be easy to get once you’re in Tampa. We’re sending Madden with you, but we’re sending Ruby to other ST games to produce with some of our more inexperienced reporters.

Jones can do his segment on 3/09/19 before the game against the Orioles. That’s also who they’re playing on Opening Day, so try to work something in with that. He shouldn’t be pitching that day, so he’ll mostly be free.

Come over for dinner before you leave?

DN

She fires of a quick response before opening up her document filled with the list of questions that she’s been working on for the interview. Jones is a pretty private guy despite how much information on him is out there, so she knows that this exclusive is a pretty big deal. She also knows that despite being the exclusive on field reporter for the Yankees, she got this gig because of what happened after the World Series. It stings, if she’s honest with herself, but she’s learned that sometimes she has to accept things she doesn’t necessarily love for the good of her career. That’s precisely why she, Ruby, and Graham have spent the last six nights sitting in their apartment listing off questions that she thinks resemble more of a speed dating questionnaire than a profile on a professional athlete.

At least there’s some questions about baseball. She doesn’t think Jones would be too fond of her if she dug a little too much into the boating accident that broke his arm and ended his season two years ago or the rather prolific dating history that he has. Then again, maybe him hating her would keep him from asking her out again.

Pros and cons and all.

“Ooh, is that muffin for me?”

Ruby stumbles out of the hallway, her shorts riding up her ass and her socks at different heights around her ankles. Her hair is half tied up in a bun, but it’s mostly falling down her back in dark curls, red streaks spread throughout. She’s basically a zombie waking up this early, and when Emma looks over to Graham standing with his back against the countertops peeling open the wrapper on the muffin, Emma can do nothing but smirk.

At least she’s not saying I told you so.

She’s really tempted though.

“Sure, babe,” Graham smiles, opening up his arm for Ruby to fall into his side, her head resting on his shoulder as she picks at the top of the muffin, spilling the crumbs on the floor all the while Graham kisses her temple. “What are you doing up?”

“I could smell coffee,” she mumbles, her mouth full. “And my phone kept going off because David wouldn’t stop emailing me about all of my work stuff this week. Does he ever sleep, Ems? I mean, he’s got a wife and a ten-year-old. He’s got a life.”

“David can make Mary Margaret swoon and help Leo with his homework all the while emailing us to get our shit together. It’s a talent.”

“It’s annoying.”

Graham chuckles before rubbing his hand up and down Ruby’s shoulder, the affection so easy between the two of them, and Emma feels her stomach twist. She’s in that weird phase where she couldn’t be happier for her friend, couldn’t be happier that Ruby has this person, her person, but where she also feels a lingering loss over having lost someone who she thought was hers.

But again, she is not thinking about that this morning. It’s easier not to.

“Sweetheart, I can nearly guarantee that your boss does not get onto you like my boss does.”

Ruby’s brow raises before she takes a giant bite out of the muffin. “Are you really going to stand here and try to tell me that I can’t be irritated with my boss because you have it harder?”

“That is not what I said at all.”

“It kind of is,” Emma adds in as she brings her knees up to her chest and types in a question about Killian’s nieces on her document.

“But you understood what I meant? I just meant that – ”

“It’s too early for you to keep putting your foot in your mouth,” Ruby laughs, stepping out of Graham’s embrace to get a mug out of the cabinet and pour herself a cup of coffee. “And it’s definitely too early for little miss over there to have been on a run and be back here working. It’s our day off. Let’s do something fun.”

“Like what?”

“Get drunk?”

“Oh my God, no. It’s not even nine thirty.”

“It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

“Okay, Jimmy Buffet.”

“Well now I want a cheeseburger and a margarita.”

“We could always go to the restaurant in New Jersey.”

“There’s a place ten minutes away from here,” Graham interjects, “that sells fantastic cheeseburgers all day long. We go there for lunch a lot.”

“But do they have tacky decorations and overpriced alcohol?”

“They have good food and a TV that works seventy percent of the time.”

“That sounds perfect,” she sighs, closing her laptop even though she knows they probably won’t leave for a few more hours, “but once the season starts, I’m going to have to swear off burgers and any other concession food.”

Ruby guffaws, actually guffaws, her head thrown back and her coffee sloshing around in the mug. “The day you stop eating junk food on game day is probably the day that you go out on that date with Jones.”

Her eyes immediately cut toward Ruby, but the woman can’t be fazed and doesn’t care that she’s being stared at by someone with daggers in her eyes. Graham lets out a low whistle, one that doesn’t match up with the song he was humming earlier, and Ruby simply shrugs her shoulders and takes another sip of her coffee.

“I hate you for still thinking that’s funny,” Emma finally says as her legs stretch out for her to stand up and toss her empty mug into the trash bin, the cup circling the bag before landing in. “And for telling me to say yes for the ratings.”

“To be fair, I always knew that you’d say no, which is honestly probably better for the ratings than you saying yes. I’m so pissed that I didn’t get assigned to you to go to Tampa. I’d pay big money to get to see the two of you get all close and personal, but no, Jeff gets to go with you.”

She rolls her eyes and steps forward to condescendingly pat Ruby on the arm, forcing a smile on her face. “I’m not going to tell you anything that happens, which means you’ll never know because Jeff will never tell. We could have sex right there at Steinbrenner, and you’d never know.”

“I hate you.”

“You wouldn’t have sex with him anyways,” Graham says, and she and Ruby both slap his arm before his lips part in shock. “What? I’m just saying the truth. Emma is a consummate professional, and she’s pissed at Jones for asking her out like that. She’s not going to do anything to mess up her reputation. She’s worked too hard to be taken seriously.”

Graham Humbert: loveable idiot but also one very smart man.

Because he’s exactly right in what he’s said.

“Let’s go get some cheeseburgers,” Emma sighs, wanting to change the subject.

“But you just said it was too early.”

“Whatever,” she laughs, adjusting her sports bra underneath her tank top. She probably needs a shower before she goes or her sweat is going to mold this bra into her skin. “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

#catch me if you can #cs fic #cs ff #captain swan #captain swan fic

[paladin-lynx]

Prompt: “What’s so funny?” with your Human SQUIP AU

I’m sorry this took me for-freaking-ever to get to. Life has gotten in the way lately and my motivation has been low, but I’ve been thinking a lot about BMC lately so here’s the piece! I decided to go with this prompt instead of “Can you forgive me?” since I used that one for another piece. Hope you enjoy! I feel like I’m a bit out of practice at the moment with writing, heh.

Send me a character/ship/fandom and a prompt and I’ll write something!

Fandom: Be More Chill (musical)

Ships: None

Setting: Post-musical AU where the SQUIP somehow returned as a human and was redeemed/rehabilitated by Jeremy (with the help of the rest of the squad), and lives with him having had nowhere else to go. He looks pretty similar to how he looked in Jeremy’s head, and physically he looks to be around college age.

  There were a lot of characteristics that Squip still had that carried over from his supercomputer self, but the most noticeable one was his constant need for order.

Jeremy had a feeling it was because of how perfectionist the SQUIP had been, wanting to convert everyone’s emotions into neat little lines of code. That, and now that Squip had his own emotions to deal with, he desperately needed to feel in control of something as he adjusted to being a plain old human. Now that he was actually out in the real world instead of tucked away in Jeremy’s head just seeing everything through the boy’s eyes, it was no doubt everything seemed so much louder and more intimidating. And it was obvious that Squip didn’t like the fact that he could no longer just glance into the future and see the most plausible outcomes, even if he was starting to accept it as his new reality.

After all these months, Jeremy had learned that Squip would be doing one of a handful of things when he got back to the house after school: 1) sleeping, 2) hiding away in his room on his computer, or 3) cleaning. The Heere household hadn’t been this clean since Jeremy’s mother had left, and even then she had never been this much of a neat freak. Jeremy was half-convinced that one day Squip would run out of things to clean and he’d end up on a ladder just scrubbing the ceiling or something ridiculous like that. Jeremy had on many occasions wanted to joke to Squip about how absurd such an action would be, but he was worried Squip would do that thing where he would chuckle and then suddenly stop, get a thoughtful look in his eyes, rub his chin, and then wonder aloud if that was perhaps a good idea. Jeremy’s father had a habit of doing it, and Jeremy knew that he’d inherited it from him, and unfortunately it seemed Squip had fallen victim to the trend, as well.

Squip often got into a ‘zone’ when he was cleaning. Jeremy knew that it had a calming effect for him, and in a way he understood. It was something that allowed Squip to not have to acknowledge anything else happening around him and even the physical aspect of forcing the dirt off of something could act as stress relief. Jeremy likened it to how he and Michael used video games to escape reality for a little while, and when something was on their minds, maybe sometimes they pressed the buttons on their controllers a bit harder than usual or jerked this way and that more sporadically as they moved their characters across the screen. Actually, as of late, Jeremy also had that experience of going into the ‘zone’ when he coded. It was definitely a weird aftereffect of having had a supercomputer wedged into his brain, since he had never in his life even touched any coding language – except for maybe when he and Michael played around with the HTML on their Tumblr blog themes, but even then it had just been messing around and they’d joked that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing. But on a whim a little while after the SQUIPcident, Jeremy had installed an IDE and just messed around and somehow just knew what to do. He wasn’t an expert by any means, but he definitely knew more than anyone who’d never touched a programming textbook or even a simple tutorial online had any right to know.

Much like how Jeremy sometimes had to nudge Squip’s shoulder and tell him that hours had passed since he’d started cleaning, Squip often had to poke his head into Jeremy’s room and tell him that he’d been hunched over his computer – “even if I’m not shocking you anymore, I’d still recommend fixing your posture” – for God only knew how long.

When one was in the ‘zone’, though, it was easy to not really be aware of what people were saying to you. Jeremy and Michael found it hilarious that for someone who had once had the entire Internet at his figurative fingertips, Squip could be adorably oblivious sometimes. He fell for jokes, got confused at metaphors that he took literally, and oftentimes references flew right over his head until he took a moment. But when he was in the ‘zone’, it took even longer for him to realize he hadn’t caught on to something.

Michael, of course, was oft the one to take advantage of this and would nearly piss himself laughing as a result.

It was spring break, so Michael was over at Jeremy’s house more than normal. It was also the week of Passover, so the Heeres were doing their best to keep kosher for the holiday. Michael every year always incredulously asked how anyone could go a full seven days without bread, and every year Jeremy always just snickered at him. Squip had also been doing his best to uphold the restrictions for the holiday, but considering he was picky enough as it was when it came to food, Jeremy and his father were giving him a pass if he decided to ‘cheat’ – which Jeremy usually ended up doing a couple of times during the week each year anyway. But Jeremy wouldn’t forget how excited Squip had been to participate in the seders.

But because of the holiday and the rules about food, Mr. Heere had rearranged where they had everything in the kitchen, including Squip’s precious cleaning supplies. In hindsight, he and Jeremy probably should’ve realized that this would cause Squip to throw something of a fit, but they were so used to their routine every year that they hadn’t really thought of it.

In the midst of one of their hours-long video gaming sessions, Jeremy and Michael finally emerged from Jeremy’s room to pad downstairs and grab a snack. As much as Michael liked to tease Jeremy about not being able to eat a decent amount of his go-tos during Passover, Jeremy knew that Michael was a complete sucker for his father’s homemade desserts, just like on all the other holidays.

“Rich told me we should try a Nuzlocke one day,” Jeremy was saying as they made their way towards the kitchen.

Michael winced at the suggestion. “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t be able to handle the stress of it. And I damn-well know I’d cry if we lost any of our Pokémon.”

Jeremy smiled. “Then we’d just have to work extra carefully to make sure that doesn’t happen. And then we can rub it in Rich’s face.”

“You act as if he wouldn’t cry if one of his team died. Or you, for that matter!”

They snickered to themselves before halting as they got into the kitchen and saw Squip already in there, rummaging through the cabinets and muttering rapidly under his breath, switching between English and Japanese. Jeremy could only understand bits and pieces between how quickly Squip was speaking and also because he only knew so much anyway – another really weird side effect of having the SQUIP in his mind, and Jeremy had been told on multiple occasions that he himself sometimes randomly switched to Japanese when he was upset – but he definitely picked up on a few swears.

“Uh, hey, S,” Jeremy greeted carefully. He blinked when Squip didn’t even acknowledge him, closing the cabinet he was riffling through to open and scrounge through another.

Michael rolled his eyes, leaning on the kitchen island. “Yo, Squip-ster. What are you doing?”

Still no response. Michael thought for a moment. “What’s 24 times 83?”

“1,992,” Squip replied without missing a beat. That seemed to drag him back to reality and he paused, blinking, before he raised an eyebrow over his shoulder at the two boys. “Do you need something?”

“We were getting something to eat, but now we’re wondering what you’re up to,” Jeremy told him, tilting his head. “Are you okay? Are you…looking for something?”

“I can’t find my cleaners and sponges.” Squip turned away from them to continue looking through the cabinet. Jeremy had to smile a little as Squip referred to the supplies as his, considering Jeremy and Mr. Heere weren’t exactly known for keeping the house squeaky-clean. Jeremy’s room had never been cleaner than when he’d had his SQUIP, since it made him clean up the mess pretty much on day one. “I know your father moved some things around to hide all your chametz”—Jeremy couldn’t believe how natural Hebrew sounded coming from Squip when Jeremy had been learning it for years and still only sounded half-decent, but then again he supposed SQUIPs were programmed to be able to speak any language—“but I didn’t think he’d rearranged them to the point I wouldn’t be able to find anything…”

Jeremy would’ve loved to help, but truth be told, he only knew where the Passover foods were. In previous years, he’d just open a random cabinet if he needed to sneak a cookie or the like and hope he found something good. His father had some sort of system for hiding all the unkosher stuff and presumably for moving everything else to make room, but Jeremy had no idea what it was. He hardly knew where the cleaning supplies other than the dish soap were, and the dish soap was out in the open next to the sink.

Jeremy opened his mouth to apologize or maybe offer to help, but Michael suddenly tapped his arm and looked at him with a grin, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Jeremy immediately knew this wasn’t going to end well – you learned a thing or two when you knew someone for over twelve years – but he also knew just as well he was powerless to stop it from happening.

“Did you check under there?” Michael asked, biting back snickers. Jeremy rolled his eyes as he leaned on the island beside his friend and watched Squip rummage. As easy to trick as he could be, there was absolutely no way Squip would fall for that, especially not after Rich and Jake had gotten him with ‘updog’ just a few weeks earlier.

Squip peeked over at them again, brow furrowed when he didn’t see Michael gesturing to anything, and he quickly turned back to his task. “Under where?”

Jeremy’s jaw nearly dropped and his gaze snapped to Michael, who had pressed his hands over his own mouth to try and muffle his cackling. It was just a stupid and admittedly childish joke, but somehow the fact that Squip – witty, clever, intelligent Squip – hadn’t caught himself made it so much better. Jeremy quickly ducked his head to try and stifle his own giggling.

Squip, however, somehow still not realizing what had happened, just looked over at them again. Even if they weren’t laughing out loud, it was painfully obvious they were nearly choking in their attempts to keep quiet. “What’s so funny?”

They both just looked at him, grinning, Michael nearly with tears in his eyes, before realization seemed to dawn on Squip and he rolled his eyes, huffing. “Oh. Are you proud of yourselves?”

That seemed to break both boys and they burst out laughing, having to brace themselves on the island to keep themselves from falling over. Jeremy peeked over to find Squip leaning against the counter across from them, arms crossed loosely against his chest in that ‘chill’ way of his, a little smile on his face despite Jeremy and Michael laughing at his expense. Squip had always been good-humored about these kinds of things. Maybe a little embarrassed, but never upset. Just teasing in return with a promise he wouldn’t fall for it again. Seeing the people he cared about so happy seemed to be worth the slight humiliation.

It took a few minutes, but the two boys finally collected themselves, gasping for breath. Michael even had to pull off his glasses to rub his eyes and flashed Squip a smirk as he pushed them back on. “Sorry, dude,” he said, not sounding even a tiny bit sorry. “It was just too good an opportunity to pass up.”

Squip shook his head, chuckling softly. “I should’ve known better with you.” He let out a sigh, peeling himself away from the counter and putting one hand on his hip. “Well, if you’re feeling so sorry, you two can help me search.”

Jeremy sighed in turn, glancing at Michael. “I guess we owe him that, at least.”

Michael whined, lolling his head back. “Do we?”

“You do,” Squip insisted, waving them over. “Come on, enough with the drama. I’m not asking you to solve world hunger.”

Michael groaned once more but ultimately gave in as Squip cooed at them again in that ever-persuasive way of his. Even as a human, Squip had retained his ability to be rather convincing. It didn’t take more than a few minutes between the three of them to locate the cabinet that Mr. Heere had stuffed the cleaning supplies into, hiding behind a few boxes of forbidden candies that Jeremy had to keep himself from digging into.

“There, done and done!” Michael declared, wiping his hands clean of nonexistent dirt. “Come on, Jere, let’s grab something to eat and get back to our gaming sesh.”

Jeremy nodded, but before he could go anywhere, Squip draped his arms around the boys’ shoulders, pulling them over. He smirked at them. “Not so fast, sluggers,” he nearly purred. “I think you still owe me, so now you can help me clean.”

“What?!” Michael protested. “S, come on!”

“There’s probably nothing left to clean anyway,” Jeremy added. “If you clean the house any more than you already have, you’re gonna end up scrubbing away the paint or whatever.”

“Then there won’t be much you have to do before I let you run back to your games.” Squip gave them a little squeeze before releasing them. He handed Michael a sponge and Jeremy a bottle of spray. “Come on, then. Consider it a life lesson, courtesy of me.”

Jeremy scoffed. “How generous.”

Squip smiled, grabbing a rag for himself. “It’ll do you good. And it’ll be nice to spend time with me instead of in front of a TV screen, won’t it?”

(Author’s Note: I got the idea for the stupid “under where” joke from this comic)

#i had no set up and then i remembered it's Passover and MY BOY IS JEWISH #i sometimes cheat a bit during the week and he seemed like he would too lol and then feel really bad about it after #this joke is so stupid but i've literally had this idea in my head since i got the prompt so here it is #Be More Chill #Be More Chill musical #BMC Jeremy Heere #BMC Michael Mell #BMC SQUIP #SQUIP #Michael Mell #Jeremy Heere #Human SQUIP #AU #BMC #fic #fanfiction #mine #writing #asks #lynx tales

[topfygad]

A Stay at The Eccleston Square Hotel in Belgravia

If you have a penchant for personalised, boutique hotels, you might like to check out the Eccleston Square Hotel. This family-run hotel located in SW1 opened in 2011 when Olivia Byrne decided to create one of the most ‘technologically advanced hotels’ in London. At 23, the Paris-born entrepreneur was dubbed one of the youngest hoteliers of the time.

Since then, the 4.5-star hotel has picked up quite a few accolades. Conde Nast Traveler listed it in the top 15 best boutique hotels in London and it picked up their Reader’s Choice Award in 2016. You’ll also find many articles applauding the hotel’s various hi-tech features and massage beds that come with every room.

With no plans to travel far over the Easter weekend, BC and I took up the opportunity to enjoy a one-night stay here and make the most of some ‘London time’ following our recent move. Here’s how it went.

Eccleston Square Hotel: The Location

The location of Eccleston Square Hotel is definitely one of its strengths. Eccleston Square is located in the SW1V area of London. And overlooking a leafy garden, it feels surprisingly quiet, but is actually, very accessible. Victoria coach, railway and tube stations are just a five-minute walk away. And you have Pimlico, Belgravia and the attractions of Westminster right on your doorstep. It’s a great location for anyone visiting the theatres in Victoria too.

The building itself is a Grade II listed Georgian townhouse, which is immediately appealing for travellers who appreciate a bit of character, although, as you’ll read below, this is a super modern hotel inside.

Interestingly, you’ll find the house that Winston Churchill lived in, just a few doors down and I’m told that Queen Victoria’s granddaughter once lived in the building that is now the hotel.

How’s that for a bit of history?

The Arrival

It was very quiet when we first arrived, and we waited a few minutes at reception for someone to greet us. Once they did, the front-of-house staff were very warm and friendly, and check-in was quick and seamless. They’ve taken a very contemporary approach at the Eccleston Square Hotel, with lots of monochrome, marble and sparkling chandeliers.

Once we’d checked in, one of the hotel staff took us up to our room on the first floor and gave us a thorough explanation of the technology and services in the room, which was a nice touch.

The hotel entrance hall

The entrance to our guest room at the Eccleston Square Hotel

The guestroom interiors & amenities

The guestroom interiors, much like the hotel reception, are contemporary and quite business-like with dark wooden wardrobes and furniture, grey carpets and black faux-fur cushions and throws.

There are two fluffy towelling robes and slippers in the wardrobe and guests who have booked directly through the hotel can enjoy a complimentary mini-bar (choice of Evian water, two types of beer and soft drinks). There’s also a Nespresso coffee machine and while there’s no kettle, they do offer a free 24-hour tea service – something I think every hotel should adopt!

My favourite part, style-wise, was the bathroom – a sleek, white marble space where you’ll find a huge two-person shower cubicle fitted with four (yes FOUR) showers. Two rainforest showers were overhead, and an excellent power shower and hand-held shower were fitted to the wall. Eccleston Square Hotel provides various L’Occitane bathroom miniatures (including a lovely Lavender sleep spray) and the whole room was bright and airy, thanks to the natural light that flooded through the frosted floor-to-ceiling windows.

Hi-tech features

The technology at Eccleston Square Hotel is evident as soon as you walk through the traditional front door that’s fitted with automatic sensors. There’s an iPad on the front desk telling you the weather forecast in London and even the lifts are fitted with six miniature TV screens, all tuned into different channels.

Once inside the guest room, all the light fixtures, except for the bedside lamps, are controlled using electronic switches and the heating, curtains and ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign at your door (no need to hang a sign up) are also electronically controlled. There is also, of course, free wifi.

On the bedside table, you’ll find an iPad that’s been installed with a variety of features that are particularly useful for first-time visitors to London. There’s a catalogue of restaurants to try in the area, a list of local attractions (you’ll also find tips for things to do on the Eccleston Square Hotel blog) and a delivery-app called Night Room Service, offering food delivery from around 50 London restaurants, which is great if you fancy eating in. There’s the option for in-room dining from the hotel’s in-house chefs and the local restaurant Lobster & More will also deliver a wide range of dishes to the hotel. For a fee, the in-room iPad also offers the option of late check-out (which we took advantage of) – very handy indeed.

One of the most noteworthy features for foreign travellers is the smartphone which every guest has in their room. You can take it out with you, use the social media and make use of the unlimited data – you can even make international calls to selected countries. It wasn’t something I needed but if you’re travelling from overseas, this is a great added extra.

The massage bed

The feature I’d been looking forward to the most was the Hästens massage bed. After an afternoon walk in the area, I enjoyed a bit of down time ahead of us going out for dinner (I’m pregnant, I have an excuse) so it was the perfect time to try it out.

If you haven’t heard of them, Hästens beds are pretty highly sought-after. Hand-made in Sweden, they cost upwards of £12,000 each and are crafted using sustainable materials such as pure flax and hypoallergenic horsehair, which are said to channel away moisture and excess heat and lead to a better night’s sleep. (I can back that up, I slept very well).

When it comes to the massage function, I have to admit, the massage beds were quite loud and provided a strong vibration rather than a kneading motion (which is what I was expecting) to your body or feet area. That said, I liked the way you could raise the head and feet to your preferred position – a great way to watch the 46-inch TV in comfort.

Speaking of TVs, there were two screens in our hotel room – one at the end of your bed, and a small one fitted inside the bathroom which syncs to whatever you’re watching in the main bedroom.

I’m not sure if it’s the case in every guestroom, but our bathroom TV was located opposite the toilet and you could just about see it from the shower. It’s great if you want to listen to a music channel, but personally, I’d have loved to see a bathtub in there, so you could enjoy a long soak with your favourite programme in front of you.

I think you’ll agree, it’s a pretty cool feature nonetheless. And we got a surprise when we discovered that the bathroom door can switch between frosted and transparent, again, at the touch of a button. The last time I saw this was at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur – another feature that technology geeks will no doubt love.

3D movies

The final hi-tech feature you’ll want to check out is the option to watch 3D movies which are all complimentary with your stay. In keeping with their convenient ordering system, guests can pick from a selection of 3D Blu-ray movie options on the iPad and within minutes, a member of staff will arrive at your door with the DVD and Panasonic 3D glasses.

PJs on and massage bed set at the perfect incline, we were ready for our 3D experience, but sadly, neither of the movies could be supported as it turned out, the TV needed an upgrade. It wasn’t something the staff could fix at the time and they were incredibly apologetic; however, after all the hype, we were gutted we couldn’t experience it!

Downstairs in the hotel, next to the bar, they do have a ‘media room’ where guests have the option to watch movies on the 103-inch LED TV. We were already in our PJs at this point so didn’t fancy coming back downstairs, however it’s a great option for watching sport if you know it’s going to be available. You can also sync your laptop to the screen, so it’s well set up for events and private meetings.

Food and Drink at Eccleston Square Hotel

Once you check out the in-room iPad at the Eccleston Square Hotel, as mentioned, you’ll see that you can order a number of food options to your room, or in the dining area downstairs.

We went out for dinner in Victoria, however, we did order from the hotel breakfast menu the next morning. The Eggs Benedict and Eggs Royale were both delicious even though my request for the sauce to be served ‘on the side’ wasn’t noted. The fresh fruit with yoghurt was also fantastic with thick gooey yoghurt, fresh mint and a drizzle of honey. It all arrived fairly promptly and was a great way to end a lovely London stay.

I’ll also be writing a separate post about the afternoon tea at Eccleston Square Hotel, very soon.

Verdict

Although we felt this hotel didn’t quite hit the mark in some areas, the service was extremely warm and welcoming, the room was super clean and cosy, and we felt it had lots of brilliant features that made for a comfortable stay. If you’re looking for something super luxurious, do check out their new townhouses which recently opened. However, I would recommend the Eccleston Square Hotel for couples enjoying a weekend away in London and anyone looking for a personalised stay with excellent access to central London and all its attractions.

It’s not often you can enjoy a free mini-bar, 24-hour tea service and an array of services which you can conveniently order from a screen. With rooms starting from just £125, this boutique hotel gets a thumbs up for convenience, value-for-money and style.

For more information, visit the Eccleston Square Hotel website and follow them on Instagram, twitter and Facebook.

Have you been to Eccleston Square Hotel? Feel free to leave a comment and share your travel tips and thoughts.

Eccleston Square Hotel, 37 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1PB, 020 8068 1011

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Our stay at Eccleston Square Hotel was complimentary. All views here are my own.

source http://cheaprtravels.com/a-stay-at-the-eccleston-square-hotel-in-belgravia-2/

[psychofactz]

25 Ways to feed your mind, body, & soul

PRACTICE MINDFULNESS Mindfulness is an important practice to infuse calmer into your life. I find that being mindful encourages me to enjoy the little moments I would otherwise miss. If mindfulness feels like a struggle, make it easy with seven days of mindfulness prompts.

DETOX FROM TECHNOLOGY Sometimes we forget that there is an entire world beyond the internet. Lately, I’ve been feeling sucked into my laptop and phone too much, and I’m feeling the urge to take a break and get away from it. That could be one day a week without opening my laptop or setting clear boundaries for a technology-free time at night. Here’s a 7-day media detox challenge if you want to try it out yourself.

QUIET YOUR MIND Quieting your mind is so important for reducing stress. Whether it’s writing all your thoughts on paper before bed or meditating in the morning, make it a priority to quiet your mind at least once a day.

DIFFUSE ESSENTIAL OILS Essential oils can be great for stress-relief. Even though I love essential oils and I have more than one person rationally needs, I always forget to turn my diffuser on. I’m going to start making it part of my morning and evening routine so that turning my diffuser on becomes a habit.

MAKE TIME FOR SELF-REFLECTION Self-reflection is so important for our personal growth. It can be tricky to find the motivation to journal, but it’s worth it to let go of the thoughts floating around in your head. Self-reflection helps you explore who you are and create more space for positive thinking.

TWEAK YOUR MORNING ROUTINE Your morning routine sets the tone for the rest of the day, so try to squeeze in something that creates a sense of calm right away. Try meditating, journaling, drinking a cup of tea, or stretching. Little changes can help you start your day on the right foot. Here are some more ideas to makeover your morning routine.

READ MORE BOOKS When Netflix is calling your name, it’s easy to forget about the wonders of getting lost in a book. Create a healthy balance between the amount of time you spend watching vs. reading. Set a specific time that you want to read each day and stick to it.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW We know it’s important to quiet your mind, but it’s also important to challenge yourself and learn something new. Make time to continue your personal growth in areas you often forget to explore. Try watching TED talks, checking out a book from the library, or taking a Skillshare class.

GET SOME FRESH AIR Whether it’s during the day or at the weekend, getting some fresh air and Vitamin D is a great way to feel more refreshed. I like to go for a walk in the middle of the day to get away from my to-do list and come back to work with a clear head.

Our health is not one-dimensional. In order to find balance and well-being, we must nourish the 3 parts that make up our whole being: mind, body, and soul. Here are 25 ways to nourish your mind, body, and soul!

EMBRACE SLOW MOVEMENT Sometimes our bodies crave slow movement, like yoga or going for a walk. Often we get into the mindset that we have to sweat during a workout to make it “worth it”. Instead, be okay with taking it slow and not feeling the need to ‘sweat’ every time you work out.

REDUCE ADDED SUGAR I’m not someone who reads food labels, but I am starting to pay attention to how much sugar I consume on a daily basis. Added sugar is everywhere! I want to become more aware of this so that I can avoid sugar crashes which no doubt cause me to feel sluggish.

LEARN ABOUT AYURVEDA Ayurveda is a science of life. Its guiding principles are 1) that the mind and the body are inextricably connected and 2) that nothing has more power to heal and transform the body than the mind. Understanding your unique mind-body type (dosha) can help you feel more balanced. Deepak Chopra has a great article about it here.

EAT MORE VEGGIES We all know we should eat more veggies, but actually doing it is another story. Try finding ways to sneak vegetables into your meals without making a big deal about it. Put cauliflower or zucchini in your smoothies, snack on carrots and hummus, or squeeze some lemon juice onto plain veggies to make them more interesting. Also, choose meals at restaurants that contain veggies or ask for them on the side.

STRETCH Stretching is so important to keep our joints and muscles in good condition. The more I sit at my desk, the more I realize how inflexible I’m becoming. I know for sure that my posture is not the best, so I want to make more of an effort to stretch whenever I can.

SCRAPE YOUR TONGUE Sounds a little weird, but have you ever tried tongue scraping? It’s one of the most satisfying things in the world. Bacteria on your tongue can cause bad breath so a tongue scraper can get rid of the nasties. It’s a quick fix to help you feel refreshed after eating.

NOURISH YOUR SKIN Taking care of your skin is an important part of self-care. Not only does it help your complexion, a skincare ritual can allow you time to relax and unwind at the end of the day. I want to stick to a simple yet relaxing daily skincare routine and make sure I’m not skipping any important steps. If you need some inspiration for your skincare routine, here’s a peek at mine.

GET MORE SLEEP Sleep is one of the biggest factors in our energy levels throughout the day. Lately, I’ve been lenient with my bedtime schedule, but I want to make sure I’m getting a solid eight hours of sleep. If you’ve been staying up too late, check out this blog post about creating a nighttime routine.

Our health is not one-dimensional. In order to find balance and well-being, we must nourish the 3 parts that make up our whole being: mind, body, and soul. Here are 25 ways to nourish your mind, body, and soul!

START A PASSION PROJECT That random idea you’ve had in the back of your mind forever? Start it. As someone who has been blogging for almost four years, I’ve been able to turn my passion into my job. At the same time, I know there’s more to life than what I create on the internet. I want to explore other sides of creativity, whether that’s through drawing, coloring, or photography.

GO SOMEWHERE NEW Even though I preach about the importance of daily routines, it’s necessary to break away from your routine every now and again. Try a new coffee shop or restaurant. Go to a nearby city that you’ve never explored. Switch things up to keep life interesting.

CONNECT WITH OTHERS Connecting with friends and new people can provide such joy to our lives. My word for 2018 is ‘connection’ because I want to break away from my tendency to only spend time with myself. This means actually reaching out to people and making plans, as well as asking for help instead of trying to do everything by myself.

DECLUTTER Regular decluttering is good for the soul. Release the things that no longer need to take up space in your life. As someone who prides myself on not holding onto stuff I don’t need, I’m embarrassed that my closet has somehow morphed into a storage unit. Time to KonMari it!

CLEAN MORE OFTEN I honestly hate cleaning, but I’m noticing how much dirt can affect my mental state. Depending on how much space you have, you might want to clean more often than others. For me, it’s having one day of the week to tackle the dust.

CREATE WORK BOUNDARIES This is especially important for the self-employed, but it can apply wherever you work. Be strict with the times that you make yourself available to your boss and coworkers. Turn email notifications off on your phone after work. Better yet, don’t link your work email to your phone in the first place.

SAY NO Remember that no is a full sentence. You don’t have to justify your decisions to anyone. If you don’t want to do something, stand your ground and make sure your needs are being met first. If you’re ready to stop over-committing yourself, check out this post.

GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO RELAX It’s hard, right? But it’s so important to value your downtime and take advantage of it when you can. Make sure you’re maintaining a good balance between productivity and rest. Here’s how to make the most of your downtime when you get it.

#facts #psychology #psychological #psycho #psycho fact #psychological facts #psychology facts #educational facts #mood #counselling #mental health #health #disorders #help

[katymacsupernatural]

The Other Side of Reality Part 4

Dean Winchester x Reader

1200 Words

Story Summary:Y/N is a patient in an Asylum. Each and every day she noticed a handsome man sitting in the same place. Holding the same tattered book. Mumbling about ghosts, ghouls and vampires. Almost two months later, she finally gathers up the courage to go up to him. To listen to his stories. Little did she know her life would change forever as she began to wonder if there was a hint of truth to his stories.

Catch Up Here: Masterpost

The fluorescent lights ricochet off the clean white tiles. Blinking against the annoying glared, you continued down the hallway. Trying to ignore the fact that Devon followed behind you. Your fingers picking at the hem of your shirt, shaking slightly. Each footstep was a shuffle, your padded slippers sliding across the cold and unyielding tiles.

Passing the community room, you noticed the inhabitants staring your way, and you faltered for a moment, wanting to go back into your room. Back into hiding. It wasn’t a safe place. Not anymore. But you weren’t sure you could be here either.

The new medicine, your new rules had you nervous and afraid. It didn’t help that you Devon following your every movement. Devon was your constant shadow, always there when you never wanted him to be. Touching you like he had every right. Getting mad when you shrinked away from his touch.

He hadn’t wanted you to go to the library. The scowl on his face made it clear that he wasn’t happy with it. But you had wanted to see Dean. You needed to see Dean. He was the only normal thing in this place. Or at least as normal as you could get in an asylum.

“Devon!” A voice called out. The voice of the head nurse, a woman stern with a scowl in place at all times. “What are you doing?”

You stopped where you were, watching as Devon made his way to Mrs. Lynch, his scowl almost worse than hers. “I am keeping an eye on Miss Y/L/N, just as the Doctor requested.”

“It’s her free time. Let her be. There are other things that need done,” she ordered. You were grateful for her distraction, but you had a feeling you would be punished for it later on.

“Miss Y/L/N, please keep moving. Devon is otherwise occupied,” Mrs. Lynch ordered, and you scurried to obey. Leaving them behind, you raced down the hallway, running straight into the Librarian.

“Y/N! Please slow down!” She exclaimed, taking a step back. Looking up, you were ready to pass her when her eyes flashed blue.

“What the…,” you muttered, taking another step back, your eyes wide, your heart racing. Quickly her eyes turned back to their normal brown, a frown pulling at the laugh lines on her face.

“Y/N, is everything okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I...I think….I’m just going to...to...find Dean,” you stuttered, racing past her to your usual corner of the library. Wondering if you had actually seen her eyes flash a brilliant shade of blue, or if it was your medicine making you imagine things. Because there was no way a person’s eyes could literally glow like that.

You could see Dean sitting in his usual seat, his journal clutched tight to his chest. His eyes seemed vacant, his entire body rocking slightly back and forth. Your slippered foot making no sound on the carpet floor, you were almost to him when a switch seemed to be flipped inside your mind.

Voices, loud voices echoed through your head, almost as if a radio had been turned on inside your brain. Never making any sense, talking in a language sounding ancient and almost alien. It was the loudest it had ever been, so overpowering you felt yourself falling to your knees.

“Y/N!” Dean called out, dropping his book as you pressed your hands to your temples, trying to block the loud voices. Hands reached up, grasping your shoulders, but you shook them away. The touch was too much with the voices screaming inside your head, and you knew you would do anything to make them stop.

“Please!! Make them stop!” You screamed, your hands tightening against your head, pulling at your hair. Never even noticing the pain as you tried to ease the pressure in your head.

“Breathe. Just breathe,” Dean kept saying over and over, his voice calm. It was the calmness, the even tone of it that had the voices silencing as you realized something didn’t quite right.

The voices faded away as quickly as they started, a giant relief as your head finally quieted. Taking a deep breath, your hands shaking, you reached for the hem of your shirt, picking once again at the loose thread.

“Are you alright?”

“The voices, they’ve changed. Becoming louder, speaking like the people in my nightmare. Dean, what if it’s true? What if I am completely crazy?”

“You aren’t,” he answered, his eyes fluttering back and forth. “This place, there’s something wrong with it. You and I, we aren’t crazy. That’s why they keep changing our medication.”

Calming down long enough, you could see that Dean was in a frantic state, his breaths coming fast, his pupils dilated. He kept licking his bottom lip as he stared your way. “Dean, did they change your medication?”

“They wanted me to forget about Sammy,” he exclaimed, holding tight onto his journal, looking over your head. No doubt making sure there weren’t nurses to overhear. “They gave me more medicine. Telling me that it would make the pain manageable. But my hands don’t hurt! The burns don’t hurt anymore. Just my heart! I miss my brother and my best friend. Why couldn’t I save them?”

It was your turn to comfort Dean, much like he had you. Resting your hands on top of his, you made sure he was looking your way. “Dean, you did everything you could. I know you did. It wasn’t your fault.”

“But it was my fault!” He argued, straightening up, almost knocking you to the floor. “I was supposed to look after Sam. My Dad always said that was my job, and I screwed it up! Now I’m locked in here, and they’re trying to stop me from remembering!”

He stood, reaching down and grasping your hand. Pulling you tight against him, almost embracing you as he made sure you were alone. You tried ignoring the feel of his strong arms around you, the rushed beating of his heart against your cheek. You wanted nothing more than to lean into his touch, forgetting everything that was going on. But you couldn’t. “They’re watching Y/N. Always watching. They don’t like us being together.”

“The nurses?”

He nodded. “Especially Devon. Be wary of him. I’m going to try to stop taking my medicine. I suggest you do the same. I need to remember. I need to remember Sammy.”

“But the voices,” you tried arguing, stopping as Dean’s arms tightened around you.

“The voices are a clue! Don’t shut them out! Welcome them. Learn from them,” Dean insisted, just a familiar voice that sent shivers of fear down your back echoed through the library.

“Dean, I’ve got to go. If he sees us…,”

“Go,” Dean whispered, surprising you when he pressed a kiss to your head. “Be safe. And don’t forget.”

Dean/Jensen Tags: @acreativelydifferentlove @adoptdontshoppets @a-girl-who-loves-disney @akshi8278 @all-will-be-well-love @anokhi07  @assassinofmasyaf @biawol @bebravekeeponfighting  @buckmasters @brindz30 @colette2537 @crusadedean @dean-winchesters-bacon  @haelyn @ikeneasul11 @imascio08 @its-not-a-tulpa @just-another-winchester @keikoraventeller @lauren-novak @librarygeekery @mirandaaustin93 @mlovesstories @msimpala67  @michirutenshi @pisces-cutie @ria132love @ruprecht0420 @sassymoose07 @shadowhunter7 @sizzlingbearpolice @sleep-silent-angel @sortaathief @superseejay721517 @thegrungequeer @thewinchestergirl1208 @torn-and-frayed @wonderfulworldofwinchester

Reality Tags: @crazysocklovingfangirl @letmedrainwiththestars @raven1aris @spnbaby-67 @karouwinchester @demondeanismybaby @wxxnks @closetspngirl @omnia-pod @soullessdemontrap @musiclovinchic93 @pie46733 @yes-this-is-doggo @maydayfigment @choosemyname

Forever Tags: @16wiishes  @alexwinchester23 @algud @amanda-teaches @andkatiethings @andreaaalove @angelsandwinchesters @anspgene @artisticpoet @atc74 @be-amaziing @bemyqueenofdarkness @bohowitch @buckysmetalgoddamnarm @bumber-car-s @brooke-supernatural16  @brunettechickbitchezz-blog @camelotandastronauts @chelsea072498 @clairese1980 @darthdeziewok @destiels-new-girl  @dont-you-dare-say-misha @dslocum89  @docharleythegeekqueen @emmazach @emilicious-7 @emoryhemsworth @ericaprice2008  @esoltis280 @essie1876 @generalgoldfishldrm @gh0stgurl @goldenolaf25 @growningupgeek  @heyitscam99 @highfunctioning-soiciopath @hms-fangirl @hobby27 @horsegirly99 @ichooseeternalplaces @i-hear-crazy-calling-my-name @imboredsueme @internationalmusicteacher @ithinkimadorable-67 @iwriteaboutdean  @jayankles @jensen-gal @just-another-busy-fangirl @karlee-fay-my-wayward-son @keelzy2 @kittenofsarcasm @leanbeankeane @lifelovelaughangell123 @li-ssu @littleblue5mcdork  @lowlyapprentice @luciferslucille @maui137 @mellowlandrunaway @mersuperwholocked-lowlife @mogaruke @nanie5 @natashacamillaus @newtospnfandom  @offbeatwriting @percussiongirl2017 @pilaxia @pizzarollpatrol @plaid-lover-bay25 @roonyxx @ronja-uebrick @rosegoldquintis @roxyspearing @samanddeanmyheroes @sandlee44 @sassysquirrl07 @shamelesslydean @sillesworldofwriting @sgarrett49 @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @smoothdogsgirl @spnbaby-67 @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @spnwoman @sunskittlex @starry-chaos @superbadassnatural @thebikiniinspector @theflameontheinside @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @thisismysecrethappyplace @tina8009 @totallovelesson @tunadean @vvinch3st3r @walkslikesummeractslikerain @whimsicalrobots @wildlandfox @winchesterbrothers-inc @winchesterxtwo @winchester-writes @worldwidehansum @yourvoiceislikearose @zombiewerewolfqueen

#the other side of reality #dean winchester x reader #supernatural x reader #supernatural reader insert #katy writes #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester #supernatural #fanfic