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cosmosrival · 4 years

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Rico besides Kama what do you think about the other indian servants?????

AHHHHHHHHHH THIS IS GOING TO GET SOOOO LONG!!!! i have a different view of the indo fam as a whole. i call them the indo fam but i mean the found family trope!!!! theyre like a group of college students sharing a dorm if that makes sense, since their servant selves are obviously different from their initial myths/human vessels!!!

OK SO. RECENTLY, i have an oomf that found books about arjuna that summarize his exploits in the mahabharata(I DONT HAVE THE STRENGTH TO READ IT ALL IM SO SORRY) and also talk about him in a more philosphical manner such as his states of mind during each event etc and i’ve been meaning to read said book because im genuinely interested in arjuna now!!! and i’d like to know more about this indo prince because from what i’ve seen, he is portrayed in a rather bad light(?) in FGO which i find extremely !!!!!!!!!!! and incrdibley !!!!!!! strange !!!!!!! the mahabharata’s conflicts can be put in a mostly grey area where there’s no good nor bad, its not black and white. so seeing arjuna get bashed because of the way his conflict with karna was written is... hm. let’s say that im REALLY starting to understand arjuna fans that dislike seeing him get mischaracterized so much. OTHER THAN THAT, his design is adorable, his travel outfit is my favourite because he deserves to relax and have some fun!!! fgo making him a chuuni is cute and his VAs little moans are cute cute cute!!!!!!!!!!! (mash grabs my shoulder and forces me to sit down) i think that arjuna deserves better and im really happy to see him have fun in his travel costume voicelines. i think we should take arjun on a date!!! he’s a great lover, we’d have the best time!! OH ALSO, kama seeing him as the student council president in their interlude makes me SOOOOOOO HAPPY its unreal, i think it fits him very very well, the seitokaichou who was elected because of everyone’s hopes and recommended by teachers because he’s suuuch a good student but because of that, the pressure to be good is constantly towering over his head and everytime he looks out the window he wishes he could ditch class and skip a day just because he felt like going to the arcade and be a bad student.......just this once........i think hes very very cute...... i want him to cook for me. HAVE YO U READ HIS BOND 4 VOICELINE ?mmmmmggg i want him to get embarrassed everytime i praise him for having such a muscular waistline. AUG

ANEWAYS i also have quite the thoughts about karna, his characterization in the game is linked to arjuna’s and thats fine but i think that forgetting how much of a little sassy bastard he can get was a mistake! did you know that in apocrypha’s german dub on netflix, when jeanne calls his name like “You’re Karna, aren’t you ? The son of the Indian Sun God !” HES LIKE “So ?” AND THAT WAS SOOOO BITCHY OF HIM, i think that karna is a good boy in fgo but the fact that he was such a fighty old man in the mahabharata shouldnt be forgotten and is a charm trait. I MEAN ???? HE THREW HANDS WITH AN 18 YEAR OLD(ARJUN) WHILE BEIN LIKE... THIRTY TWO. WHATS WITH THIS ANNOYING OLD MAN !!!!! knowing these little facts about him made me like him so much more actually !! i think karna being so nice is adorable!! but the little bitchy energy u can find in his voicelines is also very charming!! i think karna looking at me emotionless as i ask him to lend me his notes for the nth time that week and then saying “...Mn.” when i thank him is cute!!! his voiceline towards things he dislikes is interesting to me. karna seeming aloof and mean bc he doesnt know how to communicate but is actually nice underneath...... hey... thats a little delinquentcore........ i wouldnt say yankii but hes like... hes like... u know hes the handsome quiet one of the group of yankiis... u know the one...? hey where are you going

ganesha is also a character im deeply interested in but i havent played CCC so i dont know that many details about jinako herself !! my brain goes HMMMMMM it seems lord ganesha is trans in fgo ! (since kama used to be a male god originally as well!!) ganesha uses all pronouns!!! and ganesha is also special to me because they share similar traits with kama when it comes to their characterization AND mischaracterizations. ganesha isnt JUST jinako. theres a part of a god in the servant mix!!! and jinako HERSELF is actually a pretty sad character imo. the whole otaku/neet thing is obviously a facade and her true wish being that she wants to redo her whole life is also proof of how much she hates what shes become, yet at the same time, she doesnt know what else she could do. but anyways, i prefer looking at servants from a lore POV so i think that ganesha should still be considered a god and be adressed as such!! i like seeing people portray ganesha as jinako but i prefer it when a certain lavish more godly side of them is put forward. a side of jinako that managed to move on a little bit if that makes sense ? that got more serious. and became someone else entierly despite sharing similarities. needless to say their bond with karna makes me happy since he shows them respect as you should towards a god!! its a bit different from their bond in CCC... like they matured somewhat!! anyway ganesha is the one who taught everyone else in the indo fam about video games and technology and i will NEVER shut up.

ashwatthama..... MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM %_’(’ç_”’è_ç(è_’”545656455456545453£¨¨µ¨µMµ¨++°=)=)°+ goodness. jesus christ on earth. my love story with him makes me so embarrassed. when he got revealed i instantly fell in love with him despite knowing JACK SHIT ABOUT HIM but since i was the only one in my friend group who was hardcore into fgo at the time, i kept my love for him to myself and just... (looks away)(i drop my wallet full of picturses of him) quietly adored his everything in silence. WELL, ree having an intense crush on yankii type characters isnt new, its been my favourite trope for ages (gyarus go in hand with them!!) and im still very attached to it so thats what made me love him in the first place!!!! BUT THEN. I GOT INTO HIS MAHABHARATAN LORE. And OHHHHHHHHH BABY.......... (im twirling my hair) so theres this 7ft tall war criminal..........<3<33<3(mash leans in and informs me that the convention of geneva didnt exist at the time) SO THERES THIS 7 FTTALL IMMORTALMAN.......<233 gOD he makes me absolutely CRAZY9909840385%£%%£%%µ%µ%µ the love i have for this character is immense and whenever im sad i remember that pako exists and has a tablet and can draw and i suddenly feel so much better. ok im gonna stop horny posting a little bit. but hes my wife. AND WHAT I LOVE ABOUT HIS PORTRAYAL IN FGO IS THAT, they actually made him a good boy despite his initial roughness and misdeeds ???!!! HELLO?? ashwatthama wishing for a redemption ark is my favourite thing and his righteousness that was born because of his regrets is a very interesting drivepoint to me !!! hes a gorgeous character and im buying a ticket plane as we speak right now so i can go find him in northern india. i’ll find him. GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME !!!!!GET OFF ME !!!

miss lakshimi makes me very sad! because every female servant in the indo fam is an already known face. (... would sita count.) and lakshi being a jeanneface is a waste. well, she’s still very pretty and her lore is also quite interesting!! i havent looked into it fully yet but i think she should be kissed on the mouth. her bad luck makes me slip on a banana peel whenevr i get close to her to kiss her and i hit my head on the pavement and pass away-

parvati is on a tough spot for me atm. i genuinely love thinking of her as the way the indian goddess herself is portrayed because thats where the fun lies for me in her character. especially when shes involved with other indian servants, thats a given!! i would like to see parvati grow, suffer and heal. because branding her as an “all-knowing mom” is easy, but every single parent makes mistakes if you follow that logic. also, since shes the sakura servant “thats closest to her initial personality”, she’s got some of the most Repulsive fans ive Ever witnessed in fandom spaces and lets say that im trying to work my way out of this hellhole and find things to like about parvati without the fandom’s influence. needless to say, im going to keep looking into her mythos and her lore by myself at my own pace and keep doing my own thing in my little corner.

rama shouldve been a jock. THE RAMAYANA IS OLDER THAN THE MAHABHARATA, WHY IS.....Hrm well him being summoned as his baby version gives me hope for a future rama alt perhaps??? but i think that he shouldve been a total jock and he shouldve been huge with a huge red lion-like mane for his hair and a teethy grin and big biceps and intense love for his wife. SPEAKING OF SITA, her charm point is her purity but i wish.... that their artist still hadnt drawn them like That, im not a fan of lily servants and i think purity = being young is a bit of an annoying excuse!!! rama and sita looking similar is because of their shared history which is fine but... rolls my eyes............. rama shouldve been 6ft tall and sita shouldve been a milf to match...... anyways i doubt ravana would be added as a servant but i’d love to have a ramayana centric event!! where all indo servants have their own lore centric role to play!!! oh thatd be a dream.... but i have learned to not expect much from a fanservice game so im jus gonna draw my own stuff! (strikes a pose!) (mashu claps!)

#answered #long post #SORRY FOR THE BIG SCROLL.

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cloudsrust · 3 years

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Bonjour it is sleep deprived French girl again :) Just wanted to know, what other fandoms are/were you in ? You play a lot of video games ?

Oh damn didnt see this one yesterday,, hope you managed to get some sleep! And ohhh boi- I was in a TON of fandoms since I jump a lot between them (note: I consider being in a fandom as is- I created artwork/headcanons and was obsessed with it for atleast a month or more)

Mhh- think I’ll divide them in “categories”: Been in and never going back for either reasons or disinterest: Creepypasta (first ever fandom I was in- regret;;; except for Slendy man) Rick and Morty (I just casually watch now) Showdown Bandit (Lost interest, too bad for some characters I liked sobs) Batim (Had its chance- but now I lost interest. Bendy is still adorable tho) Villainous (just enjoying the characters rn) Been in and might come back to it: Cuphead (can’t stop loving them characters and King Dice and many other bosses are still in my heart sob) TF2 (Man I love the comic and them homicidal dorks) Sally Face (I loved the aesthetic of that game so much,,, lowkey want to retry making art of it) Hello Puppets (extremely underrated, them puppets be hella creepy and funny all in one- still stanning my boi Nick Nack lmao) SCP (Want to read more of them but I got so much I want to do nghhh;;) Always in my heart someway or another: Undertale (the fandom that made me and my irl best friend get closer :,> doesn’t matter how weird it got I got beautiful memories because of it (also my first cosplay was in this fandom!)) OFF (Might not show it- but I think I’ll die in this fandom dshdgsh) Hollow Knight (Too good too leave and it got some of my fave artists) Deltarune (I’ll surely get back into it when more comes out aaa) Underhero (extremely underrated but absolutely amazing characters, would recommend) Luigi’s Mansion 3 (found so many cool people and friends through it, it was a good time :,>) Smile for Me (comfort game right next to undertale sobs;; the style and characters are perfect and I love it to bits) Currently into: No Straight Roads (duh asdhdh- absolute current obsession right there) A Hat in Time (Lurking again in the fandom- want to do some more fanart cause I miss it;;) OFF (Always down for it) Lobotomy Corp/Library of Ruina (Another absolute obsession- and I’m excited for what LoR is gonna bring next aaa) Animal Crossing/ Enchanted Folk (Both amazing to relax and to look at cute as heck characters) Grey zone(?): Stardew Valley (havent played in so long;; but I used to be hella into it- completed the quests and married Elliot the dork poet sydsdujsh) Drawn to Life (I miss Wilfre and Heather so much sobs;;) Don’t Starve (Was hella into the lore and characters but didnt play much whoops;;) Pokemon (I mean,, it’s there but??? Idk if I can consider myself in the fandom?? Still love it in general) Darkwood (I love the game but havent been much into the fandom or drew much of it;;) Phew- and that’s all on my fandom history kinda ahahah. For games- I don’t play many;; I usually watch gameplays while drawing, writing or working to multitask. Games I played tho- Practically all Pokemon Gens starting from Platinum (with also serie spin-offs like pokemon ranger and one Mystery Dungeon), all Professor Layton Serie until either Azran Legacy or Miracle Mask (forgot which is the “ending”;;), OFF, Undertale and Deltarune, Animal Crossing Wild World and New Horizons, Hollow Knight, Cuphead, Lobotomy Corp and No Straight Roads. Plus a lot of other rpg maker games. Let’s say I’m for games with a lot of lore and story more than action eh;; Platformers and the like I can deal with ‘em but boss rushes? Cool but they kick my ass so much sdhsdh. OH and my best friend is getting me into playing Ace Attorney (we play together via discord) and lowkey getting into it-.. unfortunately I know some of the twists so heck;;;

#the cloud can speak oh boi #left out some smaller things and things I simply like since I had already talked a lot;;#Aaa it was fun going back down memory lane with the fandoms ;w;

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badwolfwrites-sometimes · 4 years

Text

Drawn Together: Chapter 15

This one is a bit shorter than normal... sorry :(

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18923374/chapters/56725165

♡~Feli~♡: So Ludwig i have a question ♡~Feli~♡: How well do you protect against the germs

Ludwig: Pretty well, why

♡~Feli~♡: Because you live in ♡~Feli~♡: Germany

Ludwig: Feliciano Ludwig: I swear to god

...

Ludwig: https://youtu.be/tzQuuoKXVq0 Ludwig: I think you should watch this

♡~Feli~♡: Okie ♡~Feli~♡: The coffee one is so true i feel called out ♡~Feli~♡: OH I FOUND THE ITALIANS VERSUS GERMANS ONE ♡~Feli~♡: https://youtu.be/K0bI6YHhsvM

Ludwig: The vacation one is true

♡~Feli~♡: Yeah but lovi says you usually bring way more stuff and then ppl cant walk around the beach because of you

Ludwig: Well, I have only been to France for a summer vacation so there weren't a lot of options Ludwig: I am not a beach person to be honest

♡~Feli~♡: Thats cuz you ve never been to italian beachrs

Ludwig: I have never had a proper chance

♡~Feli~♡: Ill take you one day then ♡~Feli~♡: I promise you ll love it

...

♡~Feli~♡: Ludwig ♡~Feli~♡: Do you like planes

Ludwig: I guess Ludwig: Why?

♡~Feli~♡: I cant figure out how to draw them ♡~Feli~♡: They just end up looking like a deformed bird ♡~Feli~♡: I feel like ive created an outer space monster

Ludwig: I am not really the person you should ask for art advice Ludwig: Maybe try to find a model of some plane and keep practicing

♡~Feli~♡: Now you sound like my ex teachers ♡~Feli~♡: A trauma i never want to live through again

Ludwig: That reminds me Ludwig: What do you do for living Feliciano?

♡~Feli~♡: Clean after my brothers... ♡~Feli~♡: And art

Ludwig: So you don't have a part time job or anything?

♡~Feli~♡: Nope ♡~Feli~♡: Being lazy is my job acc to Lovi

Ludwig: That is fine Ludwig: I was just wondering because if you have to come here to work on the cover, I didn't want you to miss working hours

♡~Feli~♡: Id like to come someday ♡~Feli~♡: I wanted to see germany for a while

Ludwig: Well, if you don't have a place to stay at or you don't want to waste money on hotels, you are always welcome here Ludwig: Just call before you come

♡~Feli~♡: I will ♡~Feli~♡: If i dont forget that is

...

♡~Feli~♡: So i found a list ♡~Feli~♡: Of my new years resolutions for 2018 ♡~Feli~♡: Guess which ones i did

Ludwig: None probably

♡~Feli~♡: Youd be close to correct ♡~Feli~♡: I did one

Ludwig: Which one?

♡~Feli~♡: I made a new friend ♡~Feli~♡: You

Ludwig: I... Ludwig: I am flattered

...

♡~Feli~♡: Ludwig do you like bugs

Ludwig: Not really, why?

♡~Feli~♡: I found this strange furry caterpillar its so cute

Ludwig: I feel the need to kinkshame you

♡~Feli~♡: Why?

Ludwig: For that word

♡~Feli~♡: Caterpillar ?? ♡~Feli~♡: Whats wrong with it ??

Ludwig: The one before it

♡~Feli~♡: Furry? ♡~Feli~♡: Whats wrong with it it does have some weird kind of fur

Ludwig: Never go on the internet Ludwig: Stay innocent forever

...

Ludwig: Algebra amazes me Ludwig: So much shit not enough bull Ludwig: Excuse my language

♡~Feli~♡: I will ignore the mentions of math language for the sake of you swearing ♡~Feli~♡: I want this on my gravestone

...

♡~Feli~♡: I asked lovi what furry means ♡~Feli~♡: Ludwig ♡~Feli~♡: Are you into that

Ludwig: No Ludwig: I am sorry you couldn't be innocent forever

♡~Feli~♡: I havent known innocence since i first learned what yaoi was

Ludwig: I am so terribly sorry

♡~Feli~♡: I am too for young me

...

♡~Feli~♡: Imagine if the world just turned to ashes one day

Ludwig: That could happen

♡~Feli~♡: Really ?? ♡~Feli~♡: I was just trying to be poetic

Ludwig: Yes Ludwig: There is a theory that the sun will swallow Earth in distant future

♡~Feli~♡: I hope to be dead by then

Ludwig: We would all probably be Ludwig: If we don't recycle and take care of our planet

♡~Feli~♡: Yes

...

♡~Feli~♡: Your ass is grass herr sassafrass

Ludwig: Feliciano?

♡~Feli~♡: Yes this is Feli

Ludwig: You don't sound like Feliciano

♡~Feli~♡: You have no proof im not

Ludwig: Is this Lovino?

♡~Feli~♡: No ♡~Feli~♡: Sorry it was lovi ♡~Feli~♡: He took my phone to text nonno but he texted you instead

Ludwig: Your brother is interesting

♡~Feli~♡: Try living with him youd change your mind

...

Ludwig: *at 3 a.m.* Life is meaningless Feliciano Ludwig: We get attached to people, we learn to love them Ludwig: But then before you know it Ludwig: They are dead Ludwig: Just like that the human existence crumbles

♡~Feli~♡: *at 11 a.m.* Ludwig are you okay

Ludwig: I finished a good book last night Ludwig: I am anything but okay

♡~Feli~♡: Aww ♡~Feli~♡: I felt like that when i finished yours ♡~Feli~♡: Read it again for good measure

Ludwig: I have piles of homework to complete

♡~Feli~♡: Books are more important

Ludwig: I am going to have to agree with you there Ludwig: But I do have to finish this soon Ludwig: The deadline is in 3 weeks

♡~Feli~♡: Id do it the night before you have time ♡~Feli~♡: What kind of homework do you even have ♡~Feli~♡: How old are you Ludwig

Ludwig: 21 and a half Ludwig: It is just college assignments Ludwig: We got new ones today and I really like them completed in time

♡~Feli~♡: Aw you re a baby ♡~Feli~♡: Im 22 ♡~Feli~♡: What are you studying

Ludwig: Physics and mechanical engineering Ludwig: And I also have a part time job so Ludwig: Time mustn't be wasted

♡~Feli~♡: Thats a lot ♡~Feli~♡: Ludwig do you even breathe

Ludwig: No

...

♡~Feli~♡: Do you have anything comforting ♡~Feli~♡: Like some dog pictures or something ♡~Feli~♡: Im feeling really sad

*Ludwig has sent a picture*

Ludwig: Gilbert took them fishing today Ludwig: Are you okay

♡~Feli~♡: They are so cuteeee ♡~Feli~♡: CUTECUTECUTECUTE ♡~Feli~♡: Yeah im good ♡~Feli~♡: Just feeling a bit under weather and lovi yelled at me that i was being lazy again

Ludwig: I see Ludwig: Sorry I am not very good with emotions Ludwig: Would you like some more pictures?

♡~Feli~♡: You get me enouth tnx ♡~Feli~♡: Send the cute

*Ludwig has sent 27 pictures*

Ludwig: I overdid it

♡~Feli~♡: I love them ♡~Feli~♡: When i get my ass to germany i will pet them lots and lots ♡~Feli~♡: Tell them that

Ludwig: Don't spoil my dogs too much

♡~Feli~♡: Oh i absolutely will

...

♡~Feli~♡: WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS MY FRIEND ♡~Feli~♡: AND WE WILL KEEP ON FIGHTING TILL THE END

Ludwig: Good morning to you too Feliciano

♡~Feli~♡: WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS ♡~Feli~♡: WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

Ludwig: No time for losers

♡~Feli~♡: CUZ WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

Ludwig: Of the world

♡~Feli~♡: Lets form a band Ludwig

Ludwig: No time Ludwig: But i do appreciate being woken up by Queen lyrics at 5 a.m. Ludwig: Why are you up so early

♡~Feli~♡: Bold of you to assume I even slept

Ludwig: I see

#GerIta #Germany x Italy #APH Germany #hetalia GerIta #gerita fanfic #APH Italy #hws germany #hws gerita #hws italy #hetalia #hetalia axis powers #aph gerita #hetalia world stars #hws #APH #drawn together story

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esarts · 5 years

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Emergency Bust Commissions!

Hey guys!

I opening mini commissions because i really need the extra help :/

Reblogs and support are substantially appreciated and are more than helpful <3

Im currently a student, studying math, (and ofc we all know the debt us student have lol but thats not why i need help haha) and i work part time. These past coupe of months ive only been able to work a couple shifts because hours are so in demand - its summer and everyone wants to work. That being said, i dont have much of an income and I just found out my grandfather in Japan is not in the healthiest condition and we have to fly there immediately (i live in america). The last time i visited my family in japan was 11 years ago, for we dont travel there often because of how expensive it is! And having lot of student debt doesnt help lol. This year i had to cope through two deaths, it was very hard because loosing a family member is unimaginable. And I do not want to miss this opportunity seeing my grandpa for the last time.

so anywayss I just whipped this last night for an example, because i havent drawn in a while, so its a very recent example haha

(If you wanted to buy this steven bust, I can sell it for $15! you will get both the sketch and colored bust)

I will open my full commissions in a few months, so watch out for that :D

Info:

● Contact me at [email protected] or DM me on here! Feel free to ask any questions about what i will/wont draw, or if you’re interested in waist up/full body/other commissions!

●I accept payments via Paypal and Venmo! (send the payment on paypal as “goods and services” please c: ). I will send you my info to send the money after I am done with your order. (but also please make sure you are 100% sure you want to order haha). I want to make sure i finish your art before I have to leave for japan (I wont have my tablet and computer there).

●When you contact me, let me know what you want to be drawn! please include references and describe any detail i need to know. If you want to add extra characters, a lot of accessories, etc, ask me! i wont bite haha :)

● There’s going to be a limited amount of slots, so first come first serve!

● And you will get a high quality version of your order :) I can either share the final image with you via email or google drive.

I WILL draw:

real life people

OCs, furries, and animals (if you want to see a old example of dog art, message me!)

characters from different fandoms

ships/PDA (unless it makes me uncomfortable)

I WONT draw:

nsfw/nudity

heavy gore

mecha/armor

complicated designs

Exact replicas of characters in their original style

Thanks so much for reading guys <3

also i just made a Ko-fi page, and ANY support is soooososososo treasured. whether its with this Ko-fi page, or ordering commissions, reblogging, or moral support <3

https://ko-fi.com/emirysart

#signal boost #art #commission #commissions #art commission #commission info #myart #steven universe #steven #bust #emergency commissions #esarts #emergency #help #ko-fi #artists on tumblr

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667-darkavenue · 5 years

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young legends die all the time (part one.)

i havent shared any of my writing in a while so in my traditional style, i’ll share a WIP in the middle of the night. this is an allurance gang au. despite the title, no one actually dies.

The royal families were something of a myth for Lance when he was growing up.

“Never cross that street,” his mom hissed, squeezing the wrist she’d just yanked him back by.

“Why?” he whined, from both pain and petulance.

“If the Witch sees little boys from our side of town, she steals them and eats them.” She said it like a matter of fact. “Our side is safe.”

“Why?”

“‘Cause the King watches over us, papi.”

The parents of this torn city desperately needed some way to hammer in hard lessons to their children without breaking their innocence. When he was older, Lance would wonder if that’s the reason why everything to do with the royal families was given such whimsical language. But while he was a kid, it totally worked.

“Wanna play Druids and Paladins?” His friends would ask in the schoolyard.

The children flipped a penny to decide who would play the leaders, then the pretend-Witch and pretend-King would choose their teams. Sometimes the weapons were water balloons, or nerf guns, or just two fingers pointed at their opponents with a ‘Bang!’

This had an unintended consequence their parents didn’t account for. As far back as Lance could remember, he always wanted to be a paladin.

Fresh out of high school, he got a job at the same restaurant as his best friend. Unfortunately, they never saw each other. Hunk worked all the way at the back of the kitchen and Lance didn’t even work inside the place. He stood out front, opened doors to cars that pulled in, and took them to valet parking.

That’s how he became friends with the finest girl in the world.

Within his first few days on the job, a white Bentley pulled into the driveway. An older man sat in the driver’s seat and a cascade of thick hair bent down in the passenger side, probably fishing a purse out from around her feet. Lance opened the door from her side first, offering a hand to help the lady out. She took it with barely glance at him, sweeping a bit of silvery hair out of the way as she slung her purse over her shoulder and stepped out of the car. It was a fancy restaurant with fancy clientele, but something about the casual way people interacted with Lance as if valets weren’t anything out of the ordinary for them never stopped catching him off guard. This girl though. She paused once she was on her feet and got a proper look at him. And he got a good look at her too. Oh shit, she’s gorgeous.

She pulled her hand away from his. “You’re new.”

She’s got an accent!!!!

“You can tell?” Lance’s chest pounded. “What’d I do?”

The smile she gave him was a small one, but it still crinkled the corners of her bright blue eyes. “Nothing.”

Her father, who was also striking to look at, came around from the other side of the car. Side by side, the pair smelled like money and oozed sophistication.

He passed Lance the keys and noted, “You’re new.”

“Yeah,” Lance answered, voice devastated at how obvious it apparently was.

Father and daughter shared an amused look, a silent inside joke, between each other. They didn’t bother to fill Lance in, either. Without a word, they entered the restaurant.

It didn’t take long to get somewhat familiar with them. Her father was a regular there and tipped a ten every time. Naturally, Lance adored him. The dad had to like him back, right?

The restaurant had a round table that was never given to customers under any circumstances, no matter how packed the night was. It was always left open so that just in case that father or his daughter walked in, they could be seated right away. Even if they didn’t show up for ten nights in a row, the table would stay empty. Like they were phantoms of the freaking opera.

They used it now and then for private father-daughter dinners. More often, it was used to hold meetings with all manner of people. People in suits, people in sweats, local government officials, guys with face tattoos. Lance got a signal from the hostess whenever the round table’s dinner was drawing to a close, so that their Bentley would be ready and waiting the moment they stepped outside. All the other normal customers needed to hand Lance a ticket and stand outside while he fetched their car.

One night, the finest girl in the world stepped out early. The swoosh of the front door brought the chatter of the restaurant outside. Lance’s heart jumped into his throat when he realized it was her.

“Oh! Sorry, I don’t have your car ready,” He blurted, a little flustered. “Romelle usually gives me a sign to get ready for you guys.”

The door swung closed behind her, muffling the din inside and leaving them alone in the dim stillness of the driveway. “It’s alright. We aren’t leaving.”

She walked a few steps closer to the edge of the driveway, looking out at the road. Lance had no idea what she was doing or what he was supposed to be doing. A silent pause stretched between them.

She looked back toward him. “What is the sign?”

“The wha?” “You said you get a signal when she knows we’re finishing up.”

“Oh. It’s—Uh—Kind of a joke.”

She raised her eyebrows, urging him on without a word.

“She says,” Lance reluctantly admitted, “The british are coming.”

He laughed halfway through, ‘cause it was so dumb.

It got a chuckle out of the finest girl in the world, as well. “But she’s British as well.”

“I know,” Lance snorted.

He could see the round table through the restaurant’s front window if he stood in the right spot. Lance craned his neck to scope out the situation. Her dad was still sitting down over coffee with three old white guys.

“Things get awkward at the table or what?”

“No, nothing like that. It’s just so boring I wanted to fall asleep on the tablecloth. I think some fresh air will wake me up.” Her heels clacked on the pavement as she paced in small circles.

“Yeah, I feel that. You have no idea how much time I spend just waiting out here by myself.”

“At least it’s not stressful.”

Lance shrugged. “It’s fine. I think I’d rather be doing something stressful, but c’est la vie.” “You should’ve been a waiter, then.”

“I tried, but I had no serving experience. So they turned me down and offered this instead.”

She crossed her arms and stepped a little closer. “What experience do you have?”

Lance started listing them with his fingers. “I’m a good driver, good talker—”

“Oh, are you?” “You’re still here, so better than those guys.” With a jerk of his chin, Lance pointed with his lips to the inside of the restaurant.

She looked at her father’s table with the smallest curl lingering at the corner of her lips. She looked back at Lance. “I’m Allura, by the way.”

“I’m Lance.”

“Hello.”

“Hey.”

“You didn’t get very far in listing your skills.”

“Oh, right.” Lance lifted a third finger and continued, “Good kisser...”

She rolled her eyes and raised a hand over her mouth to cover another laugh.

The sound emboldened Lance. “Any chance I could get your number, Allura?”

“Oh, of course.”

His entire face lit up.

She reached into her purse, but did not pull out her phone. In her hand was the valet slip, held between two fingers.

“We’re number twenty five.” She grinned, a little bit playful and a little bit wicked.

Lance’s favorite nights were when Allura came in. If work slowed down, he’d slink over to the window and watch her sip illegal champagne from her flute. Not in, like, a creepy way. There was just something nice about getting to see the finest girl in the world on a somewhat regular basis. This kind of serene, sighing, ‘ahhhhh’ feeling behind his ribs. Not unlike the way it feels to get a nice long look at the ocean on a clear day.

On a good night, Allura would come outside while her dad was still wrapping up conversation at the table or having long, drawn-out goodbyes at the entrance. She’d lean against the car and talk to Lance until it was time to go.

He asked her out once. She said no. He asked her if she was sure the next night. She said yes. But she still liked to come out and talk to him for a few minutes after dinner, so no harm done.

Sometimes she came in without her dad at all, to have some drinks with her friends around the end of Lance’s shift. She’d beckon him inside to join them when closing time was near and her table was the only one still occupied. He had to drive her back home once. Of course, that meant he needed to leave her car there and walk forty minutes back to his own home at midnight. But that was fine. Lance lived on the nice side of town. The side where crime just didn’t happen. Parents could let their children play outside while they cleaned inside. Girls could walk home alone at night. People who tried to start shit mysteriously disappeared. And the victims who got messed with were always paid back for their losses in mysterious ways.

When he was thirteen, someone broke into Lance’s home. After a sweep of the house, his mom’s jewelry box and his dad’s one nice watch were the only things missing. There wasn’t much else worth taking. His parents blamed themselves for thinking they didn’t need better security than a lock on the door. A few days after they filed the police report, his mom got a call directly from the local pawn shop. They had all her missing jewelry and the watch and wanted to return it to her, free of charge. She had to go pick it up directly from the shop. Not the police station.

Anyway, everyone’s tragic stories took place far from the restaurant’s neighborhood. The muggings, the assaults, the missing persons—All of it happened beyond the streets his mother had told him never to cross.

But after a year of working there, something happened.

That one familiar Bentley pulled up to the restaurant in something of a hurry. Lance had never seen Allura’s dad brake hard before. He opened the passenger door for her, as always. He offered his gloved hand to help her step out of the car, then closed it behind her and went around the hood to take the keys from her father.

Alfor gripped Lance’s arm when he passed the keys. “Don’t take any cars you don’t recognize tonight. Tell them we are closed for a private event.”

“Sure. You got it.”

“There’s something for you in the glove compartment. I want you to take it and hold onto it.”

He nodded and tried not to look as puzzled as he felt. Alfor gave him a pat on the back and finally released Lance’s arm. A little frazzled, Lance hopped into the driver’s seat and immediately reached for the glove compartment.

The passenger door flung open and Allura dove into the seat. “Wait!”

She slammed both hands over Lance’s, shoving the compartment shut before he could take a look inside. She kept one hand there while the other scrambled to clumsily shut the door behind her.

“What are you doing? What’s going on?” Lance was getting nervous and his voice was rising.

“You don’t need to get involved.” Allura gently pried his fingers away from the glove compartment handle. She shifted to sit sideways so that her body could face him. She clutched his hand in both of hers. “You can walk away. Nothing will happen to you.”

“Walk away from...? What is in there?”

Her eyes were so bright and they gave Lance an intense look that he couldn’t decipher the meaning of at all. “Allura. I have no idea what’s going on.”

“I know. It’s not fair.”

“But I wanna be involved.” God, his palm was probably getting sweaty between her soft hands. “I wanna be your friend. I want to be here when something’s wrong.”

She shook her head. “You have no idea what you’re getting into.”

“Look, there’s literally nothing that would make me walk away from you right now. Or ever.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Nope.”

“Lance, that is…” Allura released his hand. “Just… So unwise.”

“No, it isn’t!”

She scoffed, a helpless little huff of breath through her nostrils.

“What’s in there?” He asked again.

Slowly, Allura reached out and pulled the glove compartment open. It was empty except for a swathe of blue velvet cloth wrapped around something. Lance leaned over and reached across Allura, into the compartment. He unfolded the cloth in his lap, revealing a gorgeous, ornate pistol. The kind known members of the royal family’s paladins were rumored to carry around. The King’s crest was gilded into the handle. It might as well have been a legend to Lance.

part two ==>

#voltron #vld #allurance

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runningwitches · 6 years

Text

Loved

Summary: The reader is sad because they feel useless. Steve makes sure they know that’s not true and the party cheers them the heck up.

Request?: Nah M8 I’m just sad as heck

Word Count: 1819

A/N: i mean, seasonal depression and a neverending fear that nobody will ever love me and that I will die alone drove me to binge read a shit ton of steve harrington x reader fics and cry despite the fact that i havent finished season two of stranger things but im gonna write this anyways.

i guess this is steve x reader but thats not the main point of the story

idfk i just want to be loved

(umm, henderson! reader who is loved by everyone, i do not give a shit if this follows the exact storyline, ok? i just wanna be happy again) (also i do not look anything like a henderson! so reader can be adopted or some shit? maybe a cousin? who tf knoes? not me, thats for sure !!

Warnings: Probably Season Two Spoilers, No Editing, Probably super OOC and all that because I started this at almost three in the morning and now its four and I’m exhausted but I cant sleep because I’m sad. Anyways I’m just trying to say that it’s bad but I’ll love you if you read it anyways.

I was curled up in my bed, isolating myself from everyone as per usual. After the events with the mind flayer and demodogs and upside down, I realized something pretty depressing. Nobody needed me. I mean like? Sure I was Dustin’s sister. And sure, I was kinda helpful in saving Steve’s ass from the demodogs and Billy, but it just feels as if I weren’t there, nobody would even notice. As if my presence had no positive value to anyone in The Party™.

So instead of socializing with them while they all played DnD and joked around, I sat myself in my room, wrapped in a blanket burrito, holding back tears. I had my music on in the background as I mindlessly flipped through one of the magazines my mom had bought for me. Everyone was downstairs as it was Dustin’s turn to host the DnD night, and everyone was over. I mean, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Will, El, Max, Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan, and I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if I walked downstairs to find Joyce and Hopper there too. Every once in awhile I would hear some loud laughter come up from the group, signifying how happy they were without me there. It definitely wasn’t easy for me to sit there by myself staring blankly at the pictures of celebrities I didn’t even care about, but I continued to tell myself that they would be happier without me, attempting to drown out the sounds of their joy with the mixtape I had made for myself a little while back.

As I closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing, trying to force the tears that had started to pool back into my eyes, I heard someone knocking on my door. I quickly wiped my eyes to ensure there weren’t any stray tears, pulled the blanket tighter around my body, and attempted to look miserable. But miserable in a sick way and not in a sad way. If it were anybody except Dustin or Steve, I knew I was going to be able to pull off the “I’m not feeling very well” charade, so my chances were pretty good (though odds were rarely skewed in my favor).

Of course with my luck my little brother came bursting through the door.

“(Y/N)! Why aren’t you down there playing DnD with us?!” he asked, voice booming loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. As I prepared to try my excuse with him to see if my acting skills had gotten any better, I noticed someone else walking through the door. Looking up, my watery eyes met the concerned look on Steve’s face.

“Hey shithead, stop screaming. You don’t need to tell everyone in Hawkins about your sister’s lack of participation in game night,” he said to Dustin, ruffling his hair and then muttering for him to go back downstairs. Dustin looked angrily at Steve for a moment before looking between us for a second, muttered something to himself, and then left the room, surprisingly closing my door as he left.

“What’s up with you lately? It’s not like you to miss game night, but you haven’t been to a single one these past few weeks.”

“I’m just not feeling well, Steve, don’t worry about it,” I told him, looking down at the magazine in my lap and trying to will the tears away.

“Don’t try that bullshit with me, (Y/N). I know you better than that, do you really think I’d believe that crap?”

“There’s no bullshit to be had Steve, just go back downstairs, I’ll be fine,” I told him, yet I still refused to make eye contact. So when he sat down on the edge of my bed, put two fingers under my chin, and lifted my head up in order for me to make eye contact, I saw his face immediately soften.

“I’m not gonna go back downstairs until I figure out what’s wrong with my favorite girl.”

It took all of the resolve in the world for me to not break down at those two words, and it still didn’t even work. “Favorite girl?” I repeated, but only in my own head. “There’s no way I’m his favorite girl, he’s lying to me. Everyone always lies to me” I told myself. And in that second it was like the dam was broken. The tears started to fall freely from my face. I curled myself into more of a ball than I already was, which was a surprising feat of human flexibility, if I’m being completely honest. Steve’s arms immediately went around me, pulling us closer to each other, and practically pulling me into his lap.

I didn’t say a word as he stroked my hair and shushed me softly, I simply let out a series of what I would consider disgusting sobs.

He continued whispering to me, little things telling me that I’d be okay, or that he was there for me, or that everything was gonna be fine. As my breathing finally evened out, he hadn’t asked me what was wrong like I had expected, so I knew I had to speak up.

“Why are you even here, Harrington?” I asked him bitterly.

“What do you mean?” he replied, exasperated.

“Why do you even care about me?” I reiterated with a sniffle.

“Why do I care about you? (Y/N) what are you on about? It would take me ages to list all of that back to you.” I didn’t respond, but I allowed myself to relax a bit, leaning now onto his chest instead of holding myself as far away as I could while somehow still being in his lap. “(Y/N) you’re wonderful. You care so much about all of the kids, sometimes I think you out-mom even their own mom’s.” That was greeted with a sharp exhale from my nose which was (correctly) interpreted as a laugh. “You’re fucking badass. You can use a gun, a bat, a hockey stick, and pretty much anything else you can get your hands on to slay monsters, like real life monsters.” He checked my face after this comment, and was lucky he did, because he almost missed the slight curl of my lips. “You never let anybody get in the way of doing what needs to be done. Not even racist douchebags that show up and kick my ass. And you certainly don’t take shit from anyone.” A few more tears fell from my eyes, but he grabbed my face and used his thumbs to wipe them away, looking into my eyes. “And you’ve got a whole group of teenagers sitting down there worried sick about you because you mean so much to all of them.”

I sniffled again and threw my arms around his neck, whispering an almost inaudible, “Thank you.”

“Of course, sweetheart. Now let’s go get you cleaned up so we can finish that game of DnD.” I almost blushed at the pet name he gave me, if he didn’t sweep me up into his arms and carry me to the bathroom so I could rinse my face off. He made sure to grab my blanket from my bed and grabbed my hand to lead me down the stairs.

“Wow, it’s so nice of you to join us,” Dustin said the second we were down the stairs, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Steve shot him a look that said, “shut up or I’ll kill you,” while I just gave him a small smile. Before I even got settled on the couch I was smothered by two bear hugs.

“I missed you (Y/N),” El told me, gripping me in probably the tightest hug I’ve ever had. “You were gone for three weeks!”

“Yeah dude! Don’t leave us alone with these losers for that long ever again!” Max exclaimed, hugging me almost as tight as El was.

I smiled down at both of them, hugging them back just as fiercely. Looking up, I saw the smile Steve had on, but I ignored it in favor of the smiles on my girls’ faces. Ruffling their hair, I removed myself from their grips and went to sit on the couch between Steve and Nancy.

“It’s a good thing you came back (Y/N). I almost killed your brother, and not in the campaign, in real life. I’m pretty sure you’d be the only one who could stop me.” I chuckled to myself and then smiled at Lucas.

“It’s a good thing that I’m back then, huh?”

Will looked up at me this time, “Definitely! I was waiting for you to come down so I could show you this drawing!” I smiled down at him, glancing briefly at Jonathan, only enough to recognize the immense pride on his face at the fact that Will was genuinely happy and smiley. He brought it up to show me a picture that he had drawn of me fighting a monster, a cute little label that pertained to my name at the top. “Steve said you fought a monster and won! And I didn’t even get to see it. So I thought I’d draw it out for you.”

“I love it Will!” I exclaimed, pulling him into a hug and looking at the drawing again. It wasn’t until this second look that I noticed a label by the monster’s head as well. It simply read, “Billy” with a little arrow to indicate that the monster I was beating up was named Billy. I laughed at the naming of the monster and pulled Will into another hug, pressing a light kiss to the top of his head. He grabbed the drawing and placed himself back into his spot.

“(Y/N), you want to hop in on this campaign? We’ve still got a while left to go and we’re in a pretty good spot to add another character?” Mike offered, as he was playing Dungeon Master.

“Yeah, come on (Y/N)! You haven’t actually played in forever!” Dustin added.

The rest of the group added their own chorus of “Yeah”s to try and convince you to join.

“Okay, I guess. But only if I get to be a healer! I’m tired of killing the monsters,” I joked, earning a laugh from everyone in the room.

“Okay, okay, so the group walks up to the tavern in town, hoping for a nice evening away from the fighting for once. But the open the door and see, A MOM, not just A mom, it’s their mom!”

“What?” El asked.

“Mike what are you on about?” Lucas added.

“OH MY GOD, (Y/N)’S GONNA BE LIKE OUR TEAM’S MOM!” Max shouted in realization. The whole group looked at Mike in anticipation. “Well obviously, how else would I have gone about this? It’s perfect, and the perfect position to make her the healer.”

“I mean, technically she’s my sister,” Dustin announced, implying that you couldn’t be his mom.

“See (Y/N), I told you I was gonna kill him.”

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sodoyouknowbts · 6 years

Text

J Hope x Reader - Kaleidoscope

Summary: A hot chocolate, a palette of colours. A private game between two strangers in a coffee shop leads to a little more.

Pairing: Hoseok x Reader

Genre: Romance, fluff, oneshot, eternal ball of sunshine

Author: Moxie

He’s here again.

It’s the third time this week.

He’s wearing blue today. A soft woolen jumper, the shade of the early morning sky. It’s large and the sleeves hang down his arms and past his hands, giving you only a peak of his fingertips, which are tinted pink from the cold.

His hair is red today and not a subtle red either. It’s a bright and vibrant shade, like the deep colour of a perfectly ripe apple. It’s a stark and dramatic contrast to his jumper. Yesterday his hair was blonde, a soft and muted yellow.

He reminds you of a kaleidoscope.

You note that his shoes are the only thing that remain constant, besides his presence here.

They’re loud and onoxious, a mess of rainbow colours on a cream canvas. At least you think it’s cream. Was it originally white?

He orders the same, a hot chocolate in a takeaway cup and a slice of chocolate cake. You take his order and pretend that you havent already memorised it, making sure to wait until he’s finished speaking before you write it down.

Your fingers touch for a fleeting moment as he hands you the money. His fingertips are ice cold and you have the urge to wrap them in your warm hands. You don’t.

You watch him discreetly from your peripheral vision as he takes a seat at the same table.

He pulls out his laptop and begins to read something on there. He rests his cheek on the palm of one hand whilst the other occasionally hovers over the keypad and presses some buttons.

You started working at your friend’s cafe about a month ago, having just finished your degree and taking a gap year off before you propel yourself into full adulthood. Your plan was to save enough money to travel but at the moment the furthest you could travel was to the next city over. Saving was never your strong point.

There was always a constant flow of customers and some regulars, however he was the only one who stood out.

You place a large slice of chocolate cake onto a plate and prepare his drink. You take a styrofoam cup and add some chocolate flakes before proceeding to heat up some milk. When you’re done you add the final touch, some mini marshmellows.

Not being able to help yourself you draw a smiley face onto the cup with a black sharpie. You hope the smile will help brighten up his day.

You place both items on a tray and carry them over to him. He stops reading and smiles when you approach. You notice that he lowers the laptop screen as you place his cake and drink on the table, but you don’t take it to heart.

“Please enjoy!” you gesture to the food and retreat behind the counter.

–

She’s here again.

The first thing he notices about you is pink.

You’re wearing the same shade of lipgloss as when he first saw you, link pink, the shade of cherry blossoms.

The second thing he notices is your hair. Today you have it in curls, the long strands cascading freely down your back, brushing your shoulders everytime you move. The other day it was up in a ponytail.

He picks up his drink and goes to take a sip, however he stops when he sees that something is drawn on the side of the cup. He turns it around and admires your smiley face.

It’s simple, two dots and a line.

He pulls out a blue pen from his bag and draws something on the cup. When he’s done he holds the cup out in front of him and smiles, pleased.

–

When he leaves you walk over to his table and start to clear it. You pick up his cup, wondering if he liked your drawing and turn to see it.

You’re suprised to see that it’s not as you had drawn it. Someone’s added a tongue, some spikey hair and a peace sign in blue ink.

–

The next time you see him you draw a circle with two dots for eyes and a squiggly line for a mouth.

He adds in some swirls for hair and giant ears. He adds a speach bubble and writes the words “Argghhh it’s hot!”. It makes you chuckle.

–

As the weeks progress your drawings get more complex until you’re scribbling all over the entire cup. It’s a private game between the two of you. You’ll draw a template and he’ll fill in the blanks.

Despite this interaction you both still haven’t spoken a word to eachother, outside of you taking his order and the usual pleasantries.

You didn’t know his name or who he is or what he did but you were content with your secret game.

You also notice his pattern, he comes into the cafe every Monday, Wednesday and Friday without fail, come rain or shine. Without even realizing it you start to put more effort into your appearance on those days.

–

When the weekend ended and Monday came you excitedly waited for his arrival. You had been barnstorming the night before and had come up with the perfect template. However he never came.

You told yourself that he was probably just busy and that there was still Wednesday and Friday.

When Wednesday came and went with no sign of him your heart sank. You were surprised with how much of an impact he had on you, afterall all you had was a silly game where he finished your drawings. You brushed it off and told yourself that he was just probably busy and not to think too much about it. Afterall there was still Friday.

Friday came and he still did not show up. By then you told yourself that he was just another customer and that it was ridiculous to get so attached.

–

Earlier that week there was buzz online about a new webtoon that was released by a popular writer. You had never read their stuff before and hadn’t planned to but on Saturday your friend sent you the link and insisted that you read it.

Curious to see what the hype was about you opened the link and began to read.

The story was about a boy who would walk past a cafe everyday on his way home from tutoring. He had never gone inside until one day as he walked past he saw a girl working there. The girl caught his attention and he decided he wanted to see more of her so the next day he went in. He didn’t know what to order so he ordered the first thing that came to his mind, a hot chocolate.

He was captivated by her smile and by the sound of her voice. Not wanting for the moment to end he ordered something else, he raked his brain for what but came up blank. Looking at the display window he saw a large chocolate cake, so he ordered that.

He didn’t even like chocolate. He found it too sweet, but it was always her who made his drink and prepared his cake so he continued to order that.

Before he knew it he was there everday after tutoring. Just to catch a glimpse of her.

He tried to come up with the nerve to speak to her but he was too shy, his words escaped him everytime she brought his order.

One day he noticed she had drawn a picture on his cup. Suprised and amused he added in some details of his own. Thus began their secret exchange.

Everyday she would draw a half completed picture on his cup and everyday he would complete it. Through this he learnt that they shared a smiliar sense of humour and that she had very neat handwriting.

It was the highlight of his day. The boy would often stick around and hide around the corner just so he could see her face when she saw his drawing.

Her smile was the most beautiful thing in the world. If he could draw it he would use the brightest shade of gold.

–

The more you read the more you got an overwhelming sense of deja vu. The story was eerily familiar to your encounter and the main girl even looked similar to you.

Curious to know who the author was you decide to search their name online. There is a profile page and a photo is attached.

It’s him, your kaleidoscope man.

You’re suprised to see his face smiling back at you. You can’t believe that he has based a webtoon off of you. It’s already so popular too.

He study his photo. He looks younger and his hair is black but his smile is still the same.

Jung Hoseok, you read his name aloud. Its a nice name.

–

It’s Wednesday afternoon and he still hasn’t shown up. Your resolve throughout the day was strong however every time the bell chimed, signalling a customer, your heart would race and you’d look up hoping it was him. Every time you saw a face that wasn’t his, your heart would sink a little more.

A sense of disappointment washes over you as you finish for the day. Looking outside the snow has begun to fall so you grab your coat and secure on your beanie. Once you’re bundled up you head outside, waving goodbye to everyone.

You begin to walk towards the bus stop but halt when a voice calls out for you. You turn around surprised.

It’s him.

He’s running towards you. His hair is hidden underneath a fuzzy white bucket hat and he’s wearing an oversized brown coat. You look down at his shoes and smile. Still the same mess of colours.

He stops in front of you and bends over panting for air. It seems like he was running for a while.

“I thought I almost missed you” he gasps in between breaths. His words leaving a trail of condensation in their wake.

“Sorry?” you ask confused. Why was he chasing after you?

Once he’s got his breath back he straightens up and hands you a takeaway cup. You hadnt even realised he was holding one until now.

“What is thi-” you open your mouth to ask but stop when he brings a finger to his lips and shakes his head. He points to the styrofoam cup in your hand.

Curious you glance down and examine it. It’s a plain white takeaway cup, similar to the ones you had. In black sharpie he’s drawn a cartoon self portrait himself, complete with the fuzzy bucket hat. You raise your head and laugh at him and he gestures with his head for you to continue.

Next to the cartoon there’s a speech bubble and inside it reads the following:

“Hi, Im Jung Hoseok. Nice to meet you! I know we’ve never properly spoken to eachother but I feel like I already know so much about you. I know that your favourite colour is pink. You prefer to have your hair out of your face and that’s why you have a hairtie on your wrist at all times. I also know that you love mini marshmellows and are always sneaking some when you think no one is watching and that you’re not a morning person”

You smile at his comment about you not being a morning person.

“I’m running out of space here so what I wanted to ask you was would you like to get to know each other more? I’ve still got plenty of drawings to show you”

You can’t fight the huge smile on your face. Your heart flutters and it feels like you’ve got butterflies in your stomach.

He looks nervous and embarrassed. His cheeks have a hint of pink and his gaze is averted.

“Hi Jung Hoseok, it’s nice to meet you” you hold out your free hand and his face turns to relief and he breaks out into a smile. That same dazzling smile that memorised you when you first saw him. It still makes your heart race.

He takes your hand in his, his cold fingertips wrapped around yours.

“It’s nice to meet you too” he replies.

The END.

#there is nothing after this #jhope #hoseok #jung hoseok #hobi #jhoooooooooope #bts #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #bts fan fiction #jhope fanfiction #bts x reader #bts x reader au #jhope au #bts imagines #bts scenarios

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starcipher · 7 years

Photo

star wars voltron au!!! 1 | 2

my last star wars au art was drawn 7 months ago... and now ive come back to it bc it would be so good but i havent seen much of it (to be fair tho i am not an active consumer/follower of voltron content) so here it is i guess. additional details under read more :)

*pls full view/open in new tab for better quality lol !!!

so first who is who:

allura - leia, lance - han, hunk - chewie, keith - luke, shiro - obi wan, zarkon - darth vader/anakin, haggar - emperor palpatine

note: this isn’t like a perfect one-to-one thing?? like ex.) just bc allura is leia and lance is han doesnt mean they gotta be together in this au... keith isn’t related to allura in this au either lol, etc. , etc.

anyway onto actual au details:

another note: i dont have every detail hashed out so these are just vague concepts and stuff

shiro was zarkon’s padawan up until order 66 which shiro and keith are the only (known?) survivors of. shiro is 12 and keith is 5 when this happens. shiro ends up having to act as a guardian to keith while also learning how to live as fugitives hiding from the galra

lance and hunk met at imperial flight academy. at some point they decide to defect and now work as smugglers, helping out various small rebel cells they happen to come across (theyre unaware of the existence of an actual rebel organization?)

allura and leia’s backstories are basically the same/are very similar so there isn’t much to say here...

i didn’t draw pidge bc 1.) shes a kid and i know voltron also involves War but sw feels different i feel weird putting her in the forefront of this? 2.) i do have a concept for her tho but i just don’t see how it fits into the sort of narrative i’ve constructed...... im thinking shes a mechanic + a communications officer for the rebellion... she joined after matt, a spy for the rebellion, goes missing during a mission and hopes to find clues as to his whereabouts

this au follows the events of a new hope pretty closely with a few minor differences? like how shiro finds out that allura needs help is up in the air lol... The Force i guess. then he and keith hire lance and hunk to take them to alderaan. alderaan is destroyed. they rescue allura. shiro faces off with zarkon and does the obi wan thing where he ~disappears~ but unlike obi wan he isn’t like. Dead.

keith wants to leave to find shiro. allura is frustrated about this bc the rebel alliance is short on resources and she thinks a jedi would be a rly valuable asset to the rebellion and could maybe turn the tide of the war?

thats the stuff that’s pretty concrete. the rest is kind of vague? at some point allura realizes she’s force sensitive and convinces keith to teach her how to be a jedi in exchange for using rebel resources to look for shiro maybe??

im also thinking some of the blade of marmora, specifically the leaders, are some of the other few who survived order 66 and are in hiding

i also wanted allura to harbor a little resentment towards the jedi like how shes feels about the marmora in canon buuut i dont know how that would work. what i have in mind needs allura to have known that there were some surviving jedi and that doesnt make sense lol

BUT ANYWAY!!! those are the basics!!

#voltron #princess allura #takashi shirogane #keith kogane #lance mcclain #hunk garrett #long post

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clownkiwi · 3 years

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so, after having finished the sweatbox documentary and processing everything i’ve just witnessed, i’ve come to learn something and yearn something (putting a keep reading here because this is a long post)

the creative process is actually a lot of fun!!!

for the longest while, i considered classes like math & social studies to be my favorite classes when i was in high school. but now that i’m in college, i can say without a doubt that my favorite class would have to be creative writing

i think creative writing is my favorite class to take because my senior year of high school was the one where i was the most creative. i was constantly drawing, constantly making new characters, new lore, new stories, i was so, so creative then. so many things to get inspired by, and i believe that was the time when i started work on my webcomic superlove.

and now i yearn back to those days. those were like, my most exciting days i can confidently say. i was going into my own person & identity, i was creatively fulfilled because i didnt have as many classes then (besides like creative classes), thus i had more time to work on fleshing out my characters, my stories, and even working on the first draft for the first issue. from january 2019-may 2019, i had been working on the first issue of superlove, and i couldnt have been anymore happier and fulfilled then.

of course, i lose my lil notebook which had all of my work in it, and then i started to lose the creative energy to get back into superlove. dont get me wrong, i still LOVE LOVE LOVE superlove, and hey!!! i even found it, so i could start working on it again. but also, im now too anxious to getting back into superlove because i havent worked on this webcomic, on these stories, with these characters that i loved so much in such a long time. and i thought i could get back into the groove of it with superlove mini, which were like, short comedic comics i made for my colleges newspaper. but, i kinda stopped when the pandemic hit, because i just lost all my creative juices then. and of course, im currently not part of my colleges newspaper anymore, because im pretty sure its not gonna b a thing for this semester?? or even for the next semester.

though i was happy to introduce everyone to chloe & lauren, and from what i’ve been told people do like them both, which i’m glad!!! because that’s what superlove is gonna be entirely focused on, their relationship.

but now its been so long since, i havent really had the energy to create anything new, or even the inspiration or willpower to do anything new. this year had been terrible with emotionally taxing breakups, drama that happens here and there, and of course, with the energy that 2020 radiated as well. im very lucky whenever i do pick up my pen and tablet & start & finish a new drawing on my laptop. i still have pieces on here that i’ve only started & haven’t finished yet. hell, ive had ideas that i want to put to paper, but i’ve never got the motivation to yet.

which is why i got happy & excited to work on my friends fnaf au!!! it was alot of fun coming up with great ideas, bouncing off of each others ideas, piggybacking off of our own ideas, bringing stronger ideas & characterizations to the table, its just been so much fun!!! but, because of streaming (which, ive been able to get creative with, but at a lesser extent) and school (and the anxiety thats been permeating from school), i haven’t really been able to draw anything. i think the last thing i’ve drawn outside of my sonas & art for streams would have to be like, my nightmarensona & my friends fnaf au protag

idk, ig i just miss the creative process alot and wish i could work on a creative project im interested in and confident in and wont lose energy for is all

#ruby says sapphic shit #ig this turned into a vent but like. idk #long post #idk i hope i get the motivation to start working on something creative again #like my webcomic or my friends au

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uniformbravo · 6 years

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“quick” life update while i wait for my ipod to charge

(do ppl even still use ipods in this day & age. whats spotify)

i never made any posts abt it but i started the new semester & im taking 2 classes, it’s funny actually bc i waited even more til the last minute than i usually do to figure out my classes & spent the 1st week of school trying to see a counselor to find out if i still needed classes and that’s a whole other story for a whole other day but long story short the answer was no but i decided to take a couple anyway

mainly because every time im not in school The Depression takes over & i just needed something to Do so im taking intermediate painting (even tho painting 1 made me want 2 die every day) and animation (even tho i’ve already decided i don’t want to be an animator????)

so heres the thing, okay, since these are classes i don’t need in order to fill any requirements or anything i had to pick them based on nothing, really, like my main reason for taking classes this semester was to give myself something to do, right. i picked painting because my friend had told me she was taking it so i was like yo i’ll just do that too bc we had fun last time & it’s a good way to stay in contact. originally that was gonna be my only class bc i knew it’d be a lot of work and time but then i talked to my school’s art counselor about transferring to another school after im graduated from here and i’d said i was maybe interested in storyboarding so we looked at schools with animation programs and i decided super last minute to just take the animation class here and Boy what a mistake

last semester i was talking on here about a computer art class i had considered taking but dropped bc it seemed kinda... shitty?? because i hated the way the teacher taught and i felt like i wasn’t gonna gain anything from the class??? well animation is taught by the same guy and hhhhhhhhh he’s so fucking unhelpful it’s such a nothing class

see i was hoping to learn some hand-drawn animation basics like timing, squash & stretch, the fucking bouncing ball assignment, shit like that, right. the teacher was like “today we’re gonna go over the 12 principles of animation” and i was like “sweet i’ve heard of that this’ll be good” & literally he brought up a list, read off most of the names, briefly described a few, and told us to google it if we wanted more info like?? holy shit dude????? thanks for nothing oh my god

i’ve been taking a lot of time practicing animating in flipnote studio on my 3ds and watching youtube videos and i’ve been learning so much more from that than anything explained by my teacher bc godddd. basically what the class boils down to is like. flash animation. so far we’ve been working in adobe illustrator and animate & i cannot stand illustrator. i know it’s a good and useful program and if i wanted to i could learn how to use it & eventually get used to it but just the way he teaches it makes me want 2 slam dunk my computer

the computer art basics class was strongly recommended to be taken before this class but tbh i don’t even think that’s the issue here because i tried to take that class and his method was the same; he does a demo on screen that you’re supposed to follow along and do with him and he explains what hes doing as he goes but he goes so fast that if u miss a step ur fucked

and it’s not just that he goes fast, it’s also that theres no understanding of the program itself, like ok u know how in math there’s all these formulas where if u just plug numbers into them it gives u the right answer? i always understood formulas better when i knew what each variable stood for & why the values were being added or multiplied together because then it made it easier to extract the information i needed from word problems and also helped me memorize the formulas themselves easier because i could make those associations between numbers and purpose. i had the groundwork of the formula, so i could apply it to all kinds of situations

this class is like, he only gives you the very specific formulas required to accomplish very specific tasks in the programs so i can’t make the connections to figure out how to perform other tasks and i get super lost every time & it’s super frustrating & i could ask for help because he comes around and helps people who need it but i sit in the back corner so he never really even looks my way so i feel like i can’t get his attention w/o speaking up or getting up to go get him & i get lost so often that it’s really just a pain to ask him every single time

i just hate when i have a problem in one of the programs & i just have absolutely no clue how to fix it or even work around it? im used to photoshop and illustrator is just so opposite that my brain doesn’t want to work with it so im. 100% floundering in this class

we have 2 assignments during the whole semester, the first was a group project where we hand draw a 3-second animation (~30 frames) and that was literally the very first thing we did in the class with no prior guidance and honestly i suspect that the only reason he assigns it is to fill the requirement for a group project (which i know is a thing bc a lot of my past teachers have talked about it being a thing) so it was literally just. a nothing project

the second assignment is our final which is a 90-second animation (~1080 frames) and we have basically the rest of the semester to work on it, so about a month and a half-ish? and all we’ve learned how to do so far is motion tweening in animate, basically. i mean we did a ball-and-string thing which was kind of different but it mostly involved a lot of copy+paste bullshit in illustrator & also like automatic shortcuts & stuff, there was really no drawing involved at all

also it’s one of those classes where everyone just kind of messes around and does their own thing like?? i saw one girl reading manga on her computer & these two dudes at my table were comparing yugioh cards & i hear like 50 thousand conversations about anime every day & i mean im not one to talk tbh but it’s just the atmosphere, it feels like u either know what ur doing or u just fuck around w/ ur friends and im in the “neither of those” category and the girl who was reading manga is in the “both” category bc every other time i’ve looked over there she’s got this amazing masterpiece on her screen that she made in illustrator & i die inside every time what the fuckkc

he showed us examples of final projects from last semester and i noticed that some of them were done traditionally or in programs that were obviously not illustrator so i asked him about it & he said it doesn’t have to be done in illustrator/animate as long as it’s 90 seconds long so Guess What i think i’m just gonna make it somewhere else lmaooo i mean i feel like it’s a missed opportunity bc i have these programs at my disposal & im not even using them but god amn. god fuckign damn

im thinking of animating it in flipnote bc that’s what i’ve been using & im pretty familiar with it by now but im not sure because there are some important things im not sure i’ll be able to accomplish with it like backgrounds (which are another requirement for the assignment) and i don’t want to back myself into a corner, especially with how little time i have to do it, so idk for sure. my other idea was to use clip studio paint but i have the pro version which only lets u use 24 frames per animation which totals out to a whopping 2 seconds so idk if i want to have to deal with that bullshit either. right now im considering making the rough animation in flipnote so i can figure out the timing & shit and then slapping it into clip studio to finalize everything (or technically i could even do that in photoshop, since im more familiar w/ it & can probably work faster there- from photoshop it’d be a matter of copying the finished frames into clip studio to export into 2-second clips & then compile those in movie maker & then bam finished animation)

so!!! it’s a lot of shit im dealing with in this class & im just like. if im doing it this way then why do i even need to show up for class. what am i even in this class for im just basically making an animation on my own time with my own resources using none of the techniques taught in the class. im only doing this animation because it’s an assignment for the class im not gaining anything from. it just seems so pointless & the only thing getting me through it is the thought that i could possibly put this in a portfolio somewhere down the line, and for that i’d want it to look nice and not rushed so im thinking that for the sake of finishing the assignment i might just use my rough animation so that i can spend more time on the “nice” version afterward

aaaanyway it’s um Late for me & i went on about this for too long but i needed to get it off my chest tbh, i’ve been thinking abt making this post for like 2 weeks so there u go. i didn’t even talk about my painting troubles good lord. if you’ve been wondering why i havent been online as much lately This is why. also bc im a huge loser and 100% of my free time has been going into watching anime bye

#retag later #me? complaining for an hour?? maybe #school /#i usually reread these & edit them to make things sound better but this time im too tired so if anything doesnt make sense sorry

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modanakota · 4 years

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On a very cold day one little girl was looking through the window .

It was getting dark.

The remnants of the sun were hiding in a furry crowns of trees, in the corners, rarely jumping from one disquieted face to another. Hastened, climbed the walls of houses - to the rooms, under the ceiling.

Navín was the name of the girl in a window, where the sun wriggled it’s way as well, was staring through the empty street.

She wasn’t attracted by people. NavIn loved monsters. She would usually spend evenings looking for them , hanging over the window .

She imagined how this very second huge abdominous monster stuffed with cupcakes between his teeth will jump out the bakery , scare everyone, and , pleased and very much amused , will crawl down to his shelter. Monsters of bakeries love to scare people , yet they are absolutely harmless - like this one . Will smile delightfully , puff perkily , scatter crumbs - but generally wont offend anyone .

Also , in the house in front - under the very roof in an apartment of an old grumpy Spanish lady , there was another monster.

Gammer Elma obviously never saw him .

Yet Navin , almost as a spy under cover , havent miss him. She discerned him while gammer were watering her flowers one early morning , and monster was hiding behind her back ,shamefacedly biting her dahlias.

It was a little gray ..something what looked like ball of fur or felted wool. Always mumbling , when gammer went out of her building .

Possibly that’s the way he showed his care for her , or as adults would say - love. Every time she went to do groceries down , he would hang down the balcony ,muttering and complaining.

There was another very very much scary monster .

He slepton a street- next to homeless man.

Stray Psalm was his name ( or better to say that’s how Navin called him , because in between sleep and drunkenness, he , in a fit of frenzy sobriety , would become terribly religious - loudly shouting or singing psalms , and even trying to set passers onto the “pass of righteousness ” . Yet them , frightened, only shied away and speeded up their walking pace.)

Mostly his monster would be asleep . He was scrawny and very tall. So tall , he could reach even the second floor where Mrs. Hey rented an appartement for her cello lessons. ( what made Navin secretly hellishly happy - becaus she managed to touch or even caress this monster . )

Good to mention at this point ,that Navin felt a particularly strong sympathy for monsters.

Would be rude to say that she wasn’t afraid of them , they did scare her - very much did! Nevertheless there was something about them what inalterably attracted her , drawn her to them like sailors to ocean .

Really wanted to touch their furry paws, or measure tails , or define what kind of monstrosity are the fangs.

And more often then less, and ,should be noted, almost every time monsters would love it as well. They gladly let Navin to caress them, or could even teach how to snarl and grin.

With these be told , this evening Navin , according to her “spot the monster” routine , was peeking out her beloved creatures.

It was almost completely dark. The street was empty , and silence as with a blanket started to cover falling asleep city .

Peals of thunder were heard in the distance..but wait a minute - was it far away? Wasn’t at all “in the distance”. It was very close. And was getting closer and closer.

Booooom

Phaaaaa

As if thunder came down from the cloud and began walking around houses.

Boooom

Phaaa - aaa

Getting closer every moment .

Navin , who was about to close her window , froze.

“Is it..could it be..”

Huge shadow appeared at the end of the street.

Height - even up to the fourth floor. Even higher then monster of Stray Psalm. Like a miniature mountain - yet very shaggy and very loud kind of.

The mountain was approaching. Nearer and nearer , before it finally came to stop in front of Navin’s window.

Two huge yellow- greenish eyes stared in surprise at Navin . As if silently asking “aren’t you astonished?..or at least tiny bit scared? ..”

Navin stared at Monster in turn.

Two huge eyes blink - blinked , squinted. And the sound of thousands of hungry growling lions Came out of monster’s jaw - a loud roar shook the neighboring houses. Navin felt the heat of a very spacious monster’s mouth ( that spacious- he could eat the whole village without any indigestion ).

But if Monster thought that now Navin got scared, he was really surprised when he saw her laughing.

And this ringing laugh - as little intrusive birds who use to swarm in monster’s hair, piled inside the very gut.

He frowned.

- Oh! Please don’t be offended! - girl hastened to compose him. - You are terribly scary. You are the most terrifying Monstr I’ve ever seen, and I saw a lot..You are that scary ,that, I’m sure, you are even scared of yourself.

Frowning Monster shook his head approvingly. Navin could swear she saw a smile hiding In the corner of his jaw, yet very discreet. Still grumpy , as he took his monstrosity very serious, he began to look at girl’s room.

- Do you like? - she asked.

- Ummmrrr.. - growled Monstr.

His enormous paw pointed on a wall, where Navin had her drawings. Little exhibition of her own included mostly drawing of different realms and worlds she would read about in books. To keep them inside a head wasn’t very funny , never was enough - as she wanted other people to see it.

Yet never showed to anyone . So Monstr was the first one who saw them.

- I saw it in my books, - she explained.

Monstr shook his head disapprovingly.

- No?

- Mmmmehhh ..- he mumbled .

- What do you mean “meeehh?!” I read about it myself !

But Monstr stood his ground. And even stamped his giant foot, so the whole house trembled, drawings fell down the walls and boks - of their shelves.

Navin rushed to pick them up ,and found one oddly interesting drawing of a kingdom.

- Here, - she brought the book to the window , - look at it !

Monstr chewed hair around his jaw, and then pointed to the end of the street, then at himself , then at the drawing ...

- Did u come from there??? - you could imagine Navin’s excitement .

Monstr smiled pleased and proudly, showing his mighty white fangs.

- Could you take me with you ? I desperately want to see your kingdom! I’ve never been to anywhere else then this street .. I’m very brave ..a-a-nd smart - we will have so much fun!!

Monst looked at the girl appraisingly . As if wondering how much uneasiness and incommodity it could bring .

Monsters live their own Monster kind of life.

They go where they want, crawl and howl where they want , bite what seems convenient to them .

Mostly scaring people, and sometimes even eat them.

So as you can see it’s a life full of adventures. Human being - is an absolutely unnecessary worrit. Besides , they are mortal .

And if she read his mind, Navin hastened to add :

- I am a human only for a half . Don’t tell anyone , tss!! - she closed her mouth with her little finger and continued. - My grandfather always told me that I am a fairy .. And I have reasons to suppose that he himself is one as well. One day he went to one of the worlds like this , - she opened one of the bookes with a picturesque drawing of a mysterious land, - and never came back. He is somewhere there right now. Please take me with you ! I’m dying to see him again!

Monstr rolled his eyes: “ wanted to brake my legs very much...I don’t talk my business with humans, I usually eat them!”

But for some reason he felt sorry fort his little half- human. And although he never entered any negotiations..

He took a deep breath, shook his shaggy head inviting.

- Woooowwww!! - Navin started to jump. But then caught on - Monstr must be in a hurry, better not let him wait .

She threw on a coat, put notebook with pencils into a bag, and hurried downstairs.

When she opened front door - she ran out and with whole power of her child’s hug - embraced Furry Monster..well, some part of enormousness of him, as he was actually quite huge.

Navin laughed again, and again her laughter little went through whole furry pelage and deep inside his gut.

He frowned again, yet held out his paw to little girl, helping her to climb his shoulder.

- Shall say , quite comfy .., notices Navin , wrapping up in soft fur.

Monster didn’t answer anything.

Yet suddenly it felt less monstrous inside , and , possibly - no ,very much truly, - warm.

And off they went.

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themoneybuff-blog · 5 years

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How we used geographic arbitrage to pursue our dreams (and enrich our lives)

Howdy. My name is Michael Robinson. While J.D. is visiting Europe with his cousins, I volunteered to share how my wife and I have leveraged the power of geographic arbitrage to pursue our dreams and to build our wealth. Geographic arbitrage means taking advantage of the differences in prices between various locations. You earn money in a stronger economy (San Francisco, maybe, or the U.S. in general) and spend it in a weaker economy (South Dakota or Ecuador, for instance). Geographic arbitrage is a powerful tactic worth considering if you want to increase your saving rate so that you can better pursue your financial goals. Several times over the course of our lives together so far, my wife and I have managed to unwittingly stumble upon the benefits of geographic arbitrage. If you've ever chosen your vacation destination based on how strong the country's currency is opting to visit England when the pound was weak, maybe then you've practiced geographic arbitrage. Today, I'm going to share three examples of how the concept has impacted our lives and helped us to achieve financial independence at 33. I hope these examples will spark some ideas for how you might be able to leverage geographic arbitrage along your financial journey as well. About Us I met my wife Ellen in Cuernavaca, Mexico in 2004. We were both studying Spanish at the same language school. I was there to earn the last few credits I needed to complete a minor in Spanish. Ellen hoped the months of Spanish immersion would help her land a job as a bilingual elementary teacher in the Pacific Northwest. Despite Ellens intention to avoid befriending any native English-speaking gringos like me, we hit it off right away and quickly became close friends. As our months together in Mexico wound down, Ellens efforts paid off and she was hired by a bilingual elementary school in Shelton, Washington. I graduated and was offered a position as an international sales manager. Ellen and I started a long-distance relationship that summer and I moved out to Washington to join her as soon as I could.

Losing One Income Without Noticing It Our first experience with geographic arbitrage was unintentional. We didn't even realize what we were doing at the time. After Ellens first two years as a bilingual teacher, she asked her principal for a one-year leave of absence so she could return to Mexico and further improve her Spanish proficiency. Her principal agreed and we packed up and headed to Guadalajara for the 2007-2008 school year. Although we lost Ellens annual $30,000 salary, we didnt feel it much because our cost of living was considerably lower during that year in Mexico. Our apartments in Washington had each cost us $800-$900 per month. In Mexico, we were able to find a suitable apartment to share for around $400 per month. Groceries and other goods and services were all also considerably cheaper. Geographic arbitrage allowed us to maintain our standard of living in Mexico despite the loss of one income. Taking Advantage of Taxes During all of our highest-earning years, Ellen and I happened to live in Nevada, Washington, and Texas all locations without state income tax. While avoiding state income tax is obviously appealing, these states make up for that lost revenue by increasing taxes in other areas. Nevada: There is no personal or corporate income tax because the state collects billions of dollars each year in the form of gambling taxes and fees. While we lived there, I gambled with exactly $0 of my money, avoiding this tax altogether.Washington: Here we had one of the highest sales tax rates in the country (8.88%) and high gas prices on account of higher gasoline taxes. While we lived there, we didnt consume a lot compared to most households, which lowered our sales tax burden. I also worked from a home office and Ellen taught at a nearby school so we didnt really use inordinate amounts of gasoline either.Texas: Here we also had a high sales tax rate (8.25%) and lived in the state with the fourth-highest property tax rate in the country incredibly, we owed over 2% of our homes value every year in property taxes! In Texas, we maintained our relatively frugal lifestyle, again reducing our exposure to the higher sales tax burden. And although we were pre-approved for an inexplicably high $750,000 mortgage in 2007 (on our two five-figure incomes no less!), we chose to instead take on a $100,000 mortgage and buy a starter home less than a mile from the office where we knew Id be working. We moved to Colorado in 2016, the same year we both stopped working full-time. This is the first state weve lived in together where weve been charged state income tax (a middling 4.63%, the 23rd-lowest in the country). But we have low property taxes and the lowest state sales tax in the country (out of states collecting sales tax). Although we're now paying state income tax in Colorado, our earned income as early retirees is predictably the lowest its been in our fourteen-year relationship. And although weve bought a home that cost us almost three times as much as what we paid for our Texas home, were actually paying less each year in property taxes. Bonus fact for money nerds! For anyone curious, heres the complete list of states with no state income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Note, however, that while New Hampshire currently charges no state income tax on earned income, it does tax investment income. Also, Tennessee currently charges no state income tax on earned income, but does tax some dividends and interest income. However, Tennessee has announced plans to phase out state income taxes altogether by 2022. Making Money with Airbnb Our most recent experience with geographic arbitrage was more deliberate. When we learned that 31 October 2016 was going to be my last day of full-time work, it didnt take us long to devise a plan to return to Latin America, this time with our two young children. In our research, we quickly discovered The Earth Awaits, a useful tool for comparing the crime statistics, pollution levels, and cost of living of various cities around the world. (Get Rich Slowly reviewed The Earth Awaits last year.)

At the time, Cuenca, Ecuador was the only Latin American city in their database that had earned the designations low crime and low pollution. Since we were traveling there with a nine-month-old and a two-year-old, those seemed like great characteristics to us! We did some additional research on similar tools and local expat forums, and only became more and more interested in visiting the city. Heres a short promo video showcasing Cuenca and the surrounding Andean mountain region. [embedded content] Shortly after we decided to spend our first winter in Cuenca, I had another ambitious idea. I felt it would be wasteful for our house to sit empty for three months while we were traveling, so I proposed to Ellen that we experiment with hosting our home on Airbnb while we were away. She was resistant at first, and rightly so. It was going to take a lot of work to get our home ready and sort out who would manage everything while we were away, among other things. But she came around to the idea and we gave it a go. We've discussed our Airbnb hosting experience in more detail in the following articles at our website, and we've done a fair amount of Airbnb hosting since. We were very impressed with the success of our Airbnb experiment. Our homes first ever booking was $1,890 for 8 nights! While we choose not to publish our net worth and our monthly expenses in dollars for personal reasons, Ive prepared the following chart to illustrate the impact Airbnb had on our financial picture while we were traveling.

Let's look at these numbers: Expenses: Our standard monthly expenses are represented on the chart as 100%. Weve been tracking our expenses in Mint since 2008 and Personal Capital since 2013. Before that, I tracked another decade of our expenses in desktop budgeting software. So we feel pretty confident in our understanding and control of our monthly expenses.Traveling Expenses: This shows approximately how much our monthly expenses dropped during our 6 months (two winters) in Cuenca.Potential Portfolio Income: This shows our safe monthly spending level should we live solely off of our investment portfolio per the 4% rule.Uncommon Dream Income: Although neither of us work full-time, I enjoy doing a day or two each week of consulting and we earn a small amount of income from our blog.Rental Income: This represents the monthly income weve been able to earn through Airbnb while were traveling. In case you missed it, let me draw your attention to an important point: Our monthly expenses while we were living in Cuenca were actually lower than our monthly Airbnb income. So, if we hadnt spent over a decade accumulating a portfolio of assets that could cover our living expenses, and if we werent continuing to earn any income, our Airbnb rental income alone still could have covered our cost of living abroad! This actually exceeded my own expectations for our Airbnb experiment. I also need to point out that we prioritized paying off our first home during the 2008-2009 recession. And we havent carried a mortgage since. The potential is certainly magnified by the absence of a mortgage. But even homeowners with a mortgage or renters may very well be able to cover their housing related bills this way, freeing them up to more affordably slow travel. If you're interested in becoming an Airbnb host, you can sign up with this link. Closing Thoughts When I ask people what they would do if money weren't a factor, traveling abroad often makes the list. While travel is a common desire, everyones specific motivations vary. Some dream of learning another language while others are drawn to an areas unique geographical features. Still others seek to experience life in a radically different culture. For most of us though, money is a factor. But thats no reason to give up on the dream of traveling abroad. Living costs around the world vary tremendously and many great destinations are quite affordable. Weve met a number of people living abroad who fund their overseas lifestyles in creative ways. Some live on personal savings while others rely on income from rental properties back home. Some work remotely while others find local work. A few of our expat friends have even started companies abroad. If travel is a priority for you, don't let your current financial situation act as a barrier. Get creative. Use tools like The Earth Awaits to discover affordable places to live. Leverage the power of geographic arbitrage to pursue your dreams!

Author: Michael Robinson Michael and his wife Ellen achieved financial independence at 33 and retired early at 36. Now they're raising two kids in Colorado (and abroad) while writing about money, life, and their familys adventures at Uncommon Dream. https://www.getrichslowly.org/geographic-arbitrage/

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