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#and i am so so bad at color matching lmao

spockandawe · 2 years

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Okay, I love making a nice thick book, but there's something about boxes that is just SO rewarding. Now, who here has heard of a peller pop-up box? I have to add a disclaimer that even of this post, I have made... three whole boxes, ever. But my personal take is that what's the point of diving into a craft if I'm not gunning for a target far above my skill level? The ambition gives me a thrill, I don't have to feel bad if I fail, and if I succeed, the rush is SUBLIME. And now I have a box with a mechanism (a ribbon) that pops the book out of an inner sleeve when I open it. I'm in love.

This was a learning process and a half! The only instructions I can find for this are some handwritten notes from a class in 1990, and the person who posted those notes also posted a number of critiques of the technique as described in the class. Also, the class notes (and addendums) come from an expert perspective, catering to experts. I'm an enthusiastic amateur who's still learning basic competence with leather. I was smart enough not to do a leather slipcase, but overconfident enough to cover my spine and edges in leather, haha. But even though I have a LOT of notes for what to tweak next time, I love it SO MUCH

I arbitrarily decided to work with my millimeter binding of 'and love unbolts the dark' by blackkat for this experiment, because it's small, it's one of my favorites, I had more of the leather I used for its edges, and I thought I had more of the cover fabric and it would be a good match to one of my yellow marbled papers. As you can probably tell from those photos, things didn't quite go that route!

First, I couldn't find the fabric. It might be in here somewhere, but I have FAR too much fabric, lmao. But I did find a lot of this dark green one, in the same line, and with some lovely color overlap, and a nice aesthetic match for the leather. And then I also realized that the marbled paper was a Lot in comparison to the rest of what I was pulling together. So I left it as a liner for the inner slipcase, to tie into the yellows of the original fabric. Then I dug up an embossed teal paper that matched the dominant palette of the new fabric, and went for broke. And I love this so much, truly, it was a headache trying to wrap my head around the instructions and I still have some minor complaints about the process, but I am so, so pleased right now. I would joke about how little time it will be before I do this again, but... I've already started

#crafts #box making #bookbinding #ish #adjacent #peller boxes

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bloos-bloo · 12 days

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We’re so normal btw- I got some bishop designs that I plan on fixing later. I just had to get them out of my head lmaoo- ( All headcanons are based off my play through <3 )

Leshy is my little worm :D I love him so much- little guy living life. His main job is farming but he always tries to avoid the farm area- for some reason?? He used to have camellias grow all over his body, however his injuries kinda killed it, lmao.

I like to think that his crown helped him with his sight, but with it gone he relies more on scent! :D he totally judges Emery on how they run the farm is used- yep.

(GOD I AM REDRAWING HEKET- AAAAA-)

Anyways- Heket’s obviously the main cook despite her also avoiding the kitchen. If she doesn’t make the meals then everybody is getting sick. (I’m not kidding- that actually happened to me)

Heket’s crown also helped her speak, so with it gone she heavily relies on sign language or writing. (But for leshy’s case she writes on his palm)

She does have a smalllll- crush on one of the disciples (Pana) :) nothing bad happens, nope-

Kallamar is definitely special. Love and hate him. He’s supposed to be a doctor but he rather spend time at the tailors. I like to think that he hates the color red with a passion- so he remade his cultist clothing to match his aesthetics

He’s hard of hearing of course, so he relies on lip reading and sign language- something that Narinder totally abuses.

(AAAAAAAAAAAA-)

Shamura my beloved- I am sad for them. Shamura is a disciple for Emery along with Narinder. They try to give her all the knowledge they have. But often they’re in spells. (Their eyes give it away if they’re present or not)

With a literal open head wound I think Shamura would try to cover their head as much as they can. It’s a struggle for them to remember or even move around. So they’re always found inside their hut or in the middle of the floor somewhere-

Literal old person vibes, they rather sleep. Love them.

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machiten · 1 year

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thats my seat!

academic rival scaramouche x gn!reader headcanons

warnings: scaramouche(bro is a whole warning), foul language(it's scaramouche we're talking about here so), reader is mentioned to have bad eyesight, fights, angst, academic validation, bad parenting

barely proofread lmao im tired, it's 3:15 am and im starving. there will be a chapter 2 ofc i just wanted to post something goddamn my blog has been empty for so long (4 days) didn't have a way to keep track of the word count but it's kinda long. anyways hope u enjoy!!

oh god

when i say rival, i mean full on brawls on the school hallway

so let's say you've been top of your school since day one. your name has always been at the top of the score board every exam, always class representative, and well known as a smart kid ever since you steped on school premises.

you work hard to keep your grades up, your parents pay enough attention to your succesful brother and none for you

having a successful brother plants high expectations on you. i mean, he did very well, so why cant you? you both have the same blood running through your veins. your parent's praise, that is all you've ever wanted. and yet you're not even informed if there's a family outing, leaving you in your house alone

it has been like that for years

not until one day, you enter into the classroom and someone else is sitting in your chair. someone unfamiliar is sitting on your chair.

"hey, excuse me. i sit there." you pointed at what is supposed to be, your chair. "what, i dont see any names on it." Ok, what. when you finally look up to the culprit, my goodness. Fierce purple eyes that looks like it holds the entire universe, his skin as fair as a maiden, lips plum as a springs fruit, a beauty mark at the underside of his right eye, and his hair a unique color of indigo that is cut in a weird jellyfish-ish hairstyle. while yes, he looks ethereal, not gonna lie (if he had longer hair you might've mistaken him as a girl) his personality certainly does not match his elegance. an annoyed look currently adorned his face, as if you disturbed his peace.

"done checking me out? i know im hot, i get that look everyday so dont ever think you're special." and now it changed into a cocky smirk. the nerve! not only is he sitting on someone else's chair but it seems like his head is getting bigger too. "well excuse me, i havent seen your around school until today so im guessing that you're the transfer student our teacher talked about last week. but do you mind finding a new spot, i sit there." you glared at him.

"no i like it here. here's a better idea, why don't you find a new spot. im the new student here, show some courtesy."

"no- what, go away thats my seat!"

"alright everyone, settle down- oh, i see that the new student is here already," the teacher finally came in the classroom, cup of steaming hot coffee in his hand. Everyone sat down on their seats while you are still standing up waiting for this person to look for another seat. Lmao guess what, he didnt move.

"(name), c'mon sit down. i know getting a new friend is exiting but we have to greet the new student properly. now go find your seat."

"wait but sir--"

"sit down, (name)"

"yeah that's right (name), sit down" a voice beside you spoke. you looked over to the new student adorning a triumphant grin at your loss. and so you are now forced to sit at the back, barely seeing what's in front because of your poor eyesight, and wearing a vengeful spirit.

epic first meeting

the seats in the back are okay, its breezy and you now sit next to xiao (his music taste is so good) but yeah, you cant really see the board clearly so you get notes from mona at the front

at first, it was a one sided rivalry. how hated how rude and bratty he was and at that time, he didnt seem too care (like he get those everyday). but then he started fighting back and oh boy he hasn't had this much fun in years!

the way you retort back to his harsh words is so amusing to him. usually, no one would dare talk to him in a degrading manner but then you came into his life, claiming that he's sitting on your chair, and it was never the same ever again.

now, he looks forward to everyday. he rises up earlier so that he can sit at your chair first, he keeps looking at the classroom door everytime someone enters (in case it's you so that he can give that shit eating grin), he loves how your face gets messed up when he wins an argument, he loves how small your hands are compared to his when you have a brawl in the hallways, and most of all, he loves it when you give him the shit eating grin when you win something (he says he let's you win sometimes because he pitied you, but is it really?)

to him, this is fun, amusing, entertaining. but to you? you've never felt this much hate in a human being, ever.

scaramouche is smart as fuck and he demonstrated that loud and clear

he aced the math test that the teacher gave that wasn't even taught to him

in presentations, he speaks loud and clear and you can really understand the point he's making

he doesn't really like group works (you noticed) but if he was put in a group, he does most of the job flawlessly

sports? oh of course. he's really good at baseball (pitcher). he's also good at other sports but not as good as baseball

oh and pray that you don't get him as your opponent in debates, you will be grilled like a brisket

did i mention he sleeps in like 70% of his classes? it's not like the teachers can do anything about it. he excels in everything, at least let him sleep as a gift

the only times he would be awake is when he pulls on your strings

but of course, you're also good in all of these, that's why you both are rivals

you fight almost everyday for the top spot (and for your original seat) to the point where its a daily routine to everyone else to see you both pinching and arguing in the classroom

He doesn't have any close friends (ahem childeahem) and it's either bc ppl are intimidated by him or he just doesnt give a fuck about friends

maintaining grades is one thing, winning against him is another

you are very intellegent, yes, but you work very hard for your grades every night. losing sleep studying for upcoming quizes and making sure your projects are perfect. unlike him who doesnt even try

you havent seen him study once

and it makes you see yourself lower. you're both equally in par with your grades but thats when he doesn't even try. what happens when he takes everything seriously? what if he studies as hard as you do? where will you stand then?

but when you got 2nd place for the 3rd time this year, he took it too far

"what the hell?! this is the third time!" you looked at the results in the bulletin board expecting to see your name in first place. you studied hard, right? so then why,,,

"oh oops, looks like i did a little too well again this time. aw and i didn't even answer some of the questions because i felt bad for beating you the last two times." a snicker is heard behind you and sure enough, piercing indigo eyes is looking at yours in pure pity. "thanks i guess. are you happy now? that's three times in a row!" aether beside you is now having a deadpan expression, expecting the worst. 'alright here we go again'.

"oh yes very, you know what makes me even happier? your declaration that you're inferior to me. why do you even try anyways, it's clear to everyone that im better. you're just wasting your time burying your head in your books and notes when we both already know who's coming at the top. imagine not meeting your parent's expectations." he's now looking down on you, beating you up with words that you know damn well are true. but that doesn't mean you're not gonna fight back.

"what."

"oh you know, maybe if you tried harder, the cost of your education might be worth it for your parents. honestly, if i we're them id--"

before he could finish his sentence, a loud echoing smack is heard all across the hallway, making everyone's attention turn to the commotion. scaramouche head is now turned the other way, his cheeks beginning to flare from the hit as he glared at the culprit, you. "you motherfucking bitc-!" you tackled him and due to surprise, he fell back. aether is now alert, shouting your name trying to get you to your senses.

you gripped scramouche's collar, rasing his head from the floor and slamming it back down. "you're an asshole, you know that?! i try my best everyday and this is what i get?!!" he fights back, hand on your arm that's trying to get a hold of his hair and another on your neck, holding back your weight.

"you don't know what it's like!! you will never know what it's like being compared to your brother everytime they get a chance!! you dont know what it's like going home to nothing but words of disappointment when you did everything you can to get their approval!! you will never know what it's like for your efforts to go to waste!! you will never know the feeling of being kicked out of your own home and live in a run down apartment!! i work day and night, i lose sleep everyday, i barely have anything for myself to live, and now i have to deal with your ass every single day too?!!"

"(name)! calm down, hey-!"

"fuck off aether!"

every word you spat pricked scaramouche's heart and made him struggle from your assaults. this isn't fun anymore. he knew a bit of your situation, kazuha told him. but he never knew it was this bad. all he knew is about your parent's expectations. he didn't even attempt to fight back this time and just defends himself from your blows. 'shit, i took it too far.'

"you dont have to remind me of my incompetence! i already know, i know damn well i will never be enough!! you're right, why do i even try, right?! you're so fucking annoying, doing everything so effortlessly, like school is a nuisance!! can't i take a fucking break?!!" at this point, you cannot control your tears from falling into his cheeks, rolling down his porcelain skin.

"what are you--?!"

"why can't i be a genius like you?! why dont i have everything that you have?!! i did everything i can, what am i doing wrong?!" you are now saying intangible words that no one can decipher because of the mess of emotions you are feeling at that moment. you're about to deliver another blow when someone held you back.

"(name)! you're doing too much! thats enough!!" goddamn she is stronger than i thought, scaramouche deals with this everyday?? aether pulled you away from the tangled mess that you and scaramouche managed to create. you're struggling his hold but after a bit, you slumped down having no more strength to keep going, sobbing quietly. "...(name)?" aether said.

"...i am so tired of everything, why do i even keep trying. i.. i just want to make my parents proud..." sniffles could be heard from where you are being held my aether's arms. aether supported you from the groud and led you away from the scene and the prying eyes of other students. before you both can disappear completely, aether turned around and gave scaramouche a threatening glare. "i know you both bicker a lot but you took it too far. you are an asshole and you better change that attitude of yours or i will send you home even worse than your condition right now." and you both are gone.

scaramouche is still sitting on the floor, his arm supporting his weight, bruises are forming in his skin while he's craddling his cheek that is now very noticeably red and flaring from the slap you served him earlier. he doesn't know how to act, really. should he apologize? should he just walk away and like nothing happened? should he report you for physical abuse? he didn't know anything.

what he does know though is that he fucked up, big time. he knows that you'll never want to see his face ever again, he knows that nothing will be the same again, and he knows thag the feelings he has will never be reciprocated, after what he's done.

he actually just found out recently, when someone from the other class was making fun of you and he didn't like it one bit, he's the only one allowed to make fun of you, everyone back off. scaramouche can see the crowd dissipating, no longer interested since the main action is gone. he sat there on the floor the whole time, rethinking his life choices, wondering if he said things differently instead of those. would he be seeing you tomorrow? will you still argue with him about nonsensical bullshit? can he still hold your hand whenever you pinch him?

he heard footsteps and before he can look up, someone had smacked him in the head.

"what the fuck-!!"

"i want to say 'are you okay', but to be honest you kinda deserved that." a mop of ginger can bee seen hanging from someone's head.

"fuck off childe, and why did you smack me?!"

"because you deserve it. but y'know, it's nice having front row seats seeing you ruin your life because of that toungue of yours. aether's right you're an ass." he helped scaramouche from the floor, dusting his uniform from the filth. "ill take you to the infirmary." scaramouche can only nod, feeling lethargic after all that energy spent.

he hopes to see you the next day, acting like nothing ever happened.

part 2

#genshin impact #scaramouche #genshin headcanons #genshin scaramouche #genshin angst #angst #sumeru #kaedehara kazuha #aether #genshin kazuha #kunikuzushi #scaramouche x reader #scaramouche x you #genshin impact drabble #genshin impact imagines #wanderer #genshin wanderer #wanderer x reader

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llumimoon · 6 months

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Introducing a very important side character and the big bad villain in the EAH au!!!!

Nicky being a bunny rabbit is ABSOLUTELY a running gag in the story btw Lark is fucking fuming and beefing with what appears to be just a normal ass bnuuy and its so funny. its SO funny.

Willy does play the role of the previous Evil Queen before Scary so here he is imprisoned his Magic (Doodler) Mirror that he will totaaaallly stay trapped in. mhm. definitely will not trick someone into breaking him out. (I am lying he definitely gets out)

A small section of the Nicky Bunny Rabbit Saga btw:

Also new Wonderlandian development lead to this

(AU by @rindomness, @kaseyskat, & I!)

Image description under the cut !!

[ID: Image 1: Ever After High AU Nicky Close posed with one hand up holding a pocket watch and the other hand hesitantly raised by his waist. He is labeled with the text ‘The White Rabbit’ and there is a word bubble that says ‘can transform into a bunny!’ And an arrow pointing to a white bunny in the bottom left of the image. The bunny has a pink bow and two piercing on an ear that match the piercings on Nicky’s bunny ears on his humanoid form. His humanoid form is wearing a light blue striped tailcoat with a white shirt underneath with the sleeves rolled up and a pink bow. He has large white gloves with pink toe beans on them and dirty white pants with various white belts and buckles and pink and blue knee patches and a pink sash belt with a bow on the left side. The pants are tucked into blue and pink buckled boots with white rabbit feet sticking out at the ends. He has three extra pocket watches on a belt loop and the pocket watch in his hand is open to show the time and a locket picture on the other side of Sparrow Oak dressed as Snow White.

Image 2: An ornate mirror is in the center of the image. The frame of the mirror is made up of intricate black swirls reflecting purple, blue, and red light from around it. The mirror has four eye shaped gems, the biggest one being a red eye at the top and the other gems being smaller and about the same size on the left, right, and bottom of the mirror. The gems are emitting a glow corresponding to their color. The glass of the mirror is shattered and is giving off a purple glow. Willy Stampler dressed as the Evil Queen is smirking and is trapped inside the mirror with his eyes glowing purple. The mirror is surrounded by purple particles and sparkles.

Image 3: A discord screenshot of messages in a server between ‘rin (doodler gender)’, ‘hero enthusiast (cal)’, ‘sparrow enjoyer’, and ‘hermie apologist (silver)’. Rin says ‘POTENTIALLY WEEKS!’ And ‘lark at some point going is this actually nicky. Is this actually nicky or am I legitimately just beefing with a real rabbit this wonderland kid picked up. did i fool myself’ then Cal and Nyx (who is ‘sparrow enjoyer’) both send keysmashes and Cal says ‘is this nicky or is this some random bunny who hates me specifically’ then Rin sends 'EXACTLY' and Silver sends ‘LMAO’ and Rin sends ‘did i piss off some other bunny-related person. what is this. what is happening. The exact opposite of nicky forgetting he could go rabbit mode when he first started keeping an eye on the kids for sparrow is him staying bunny mode MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH LONGER THAN IS NECESSARY OR REALLY USEFUL’

Image 4: A doodle of EAH AU Taylor ‘s head with bunny ears and an excited smile in red next to EAH AU Hermie’s head with a mischievous sharp teeth grin and cat ears in pink. The top of the image says ‘Update:’ while under the sketches Taylor is labeled ‘half white rabbit’ and Hermie is labeled ‘half cheshire cat’. /end ID]

#dndads #dndads s2 #dungeons and daddies #dungeons and daddies season 2 #eah dndads au #cal draws #nick close #nicholas foster #nicky freeman #willy stampler #hermie unworthy #taylor swift dndads #btw im gonna do a post w/ all the kiddad designs at some point #i feel like 80% of this AU is us bullying the fuck out of Lark. its hilarious to me #yeah this au is lovesong too which means Nicky and Sparrow are a thing. which makes the Lark and Nicky beef SO MUCH FUNNIER IMO #also btw Hermie immediately clocks that the rabbit is Nicky but plays along with it for the bit #Scary is the only one who doesn't know who he is shes more preoccupied with other thinfs #(at this point in time Normal is missing and they're trying to deal with Willy. its a lot)#and YEAHHHH the doodler does play a part in this au #idk what you expected from me the doodler guy and rin also the doodler guy #doodles is some Entity that was used to trap Willy in the mirror it is what makes the mirror magical #so when the mirror breaks . in a way doodles is also freed. but not completely #we WERE also gonna release it until we realized how op having the doodler would be so we were like okay nvm u need to do some other shit #to fully release it #when working on nicky i was using my usual nicky colors aka blue and red #and then i realized hes the WHITE rabbit #so i lightned everything up to be pastel and BOOM now hes trans colored. hes the trans bnuuy #hes kinda sillayyyy #hermie and nicky r truly the ones making this shit a comedy. otherwise it would probably be a horror #also scam is the cheshire cat. we realized kitty and her mom's dynamic fit hermie and scam VERY well and ran with it

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captainremmington-13 · 1 month

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𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖆𝖚𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖔𝖋 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖋𝖎𝖛𝖊

show!Luke Castellan x daughter of thanatos!reader

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own the image above or any of Rick Riordan’s characters/world-building.

⚠️Warnings⚠️: swearing, mutual pining, kissing, shirtless Luke lmao

A/N: the italicized part is basically a recap/flashback of earlier events

“I can’t say I’m surprised, but I am disappointed.”

You and Luke stood in Chiron’s office in The Big House, trying and failing to look ashamed.

Your day trip had been a success, but now you had to face the inevitable consequences of sneaking out.

You had told Luke to write a note to Annabeth explaining where you both had gone. He had slipped the piece of paper through the Athena cabin window, knowing someone would find it the following morning.

You’d snuck out at the crack of dawn, slipping past the camp borders and heading to the gas station a half-mile away. Luke had then stolen a car, and slid into the driver’s seat.

“Do you know how to drive?” you had asked nervously.

Luke gave you a relaxed smile. “First time for everything. How hard can it be, really?”

Turns out, Luke was a decent driver. He was able to get you both to the Bronx in an hour and a half, without getting into an accident.

As Luke drove, you debated on how to spend the day. After awhile, the winning idea ended up being sneaking into The Bronx Zoo.

As you looked out the window of the passengers seat, you had imagined what life would be like if you and Luke were normal teenagers. You wouldn’t be spending your days preparing to fend off monsters, or caring for your fellow demigods. You’d probably be in high school, preparing for a career in “the real world”. When you weren’t attending school, you’d be going to the movies, or the the park, or the mall.

Luke would definitely be popular in high school. His good looks, athleticism, and charm would captivate everyone, just like they did at camp.

Maybe he’d even get a girlfriend. He wouldn’t be so preoccupied with running Cabin 11 and mastering the art of swordfighting if he was a normal mortal teen. He’d find someone who would make him happy, who would love and appreciate him like he deserved.

The thought had made you feel sick.

Neither you or Luke had ever been to a zoo before, so it was a thrilling experience. He had borrowed stolen the wallet of a rude middle-aged man who’d pushed past you to see the vultures better, so you had no trouble paying for food or souvenirs.

You’d bought yourselves a huge bowl of ice cream and shared it while enjoying the sunny weather. You also dragged Luke to the merch store and bought a stuffed animal that resembled a bat. He’d briefly teased you about it, but your playful threat to make the stuffed animal your new best friend quickly shut him up. You’d also convinced him to get cheesy matching bracelets: yours had silver-colored star charms, and his had the same charms in gold.

It was one of the best days you’d had in a long while.

After a lovely, monster-free day of roaming around the zoo, you hopped back into the stolen car and headed back to Camp Half-Blood. On the way home, you had fallen asleep, exhausted from your adventure.

Little did you know that Luke had had a difficult time focusing on the road, as he kept sneaking glances at your sleeping form.

And how could you blame him? You had looked so happy, so relaxed, and oh-so beautiful.

“I am glad you made it back safely,” Chiron said, pacing back and forth. “However, you completely neglected your duties as senior campers, which caused quite a bit of chaos. Chris had to take over sword-fighting practice, which resulted in a young child of Demeter having their hair set on fire by a son of Hephaestus.”

Luke winced. “Yikes.“

“Yikes indeed,” Chiron agreed. “I know you two had no bad intentions, but I cannot allow you to get away with breaking camp rules. Therefore, I’m giving you both the task of cleaning the armory. I want it completely organized and spotless. You will be doing this on Sunday, as I need you both to help with combat practices and whatnot.”

“Understood, sir,” you said politely.

Chiron sighed. “Now, you two need to head to bed. I don’t want you missing curfew and getting in more trouble.”

As you and Luke walked back to Cabin Eleven, you leaned up to ruffle his hair playfully.

“All in all, I’d say that today went well.”

Luke smirked. “Never thought I’d see the day that you became an optimist, angel.”

“Oh hush,” you said, rolling your eyes. “I’m just happy we had a nice, peaceful outing, that’s all.”

“You know,” Luke said, stopping just before the steps of your cabin. “It was sort of like a date.”

You shrugged, trying to feign nonchalant-ness. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Let’s do it again sometime,” he said. “At least, let’s do something fun, just the two of us. We don’t need to sneak out again though, I don’t want Chiron to feed us to the harpies.”

You laughed. “Fair enough. And I agree, let’s do it again sometime soon.”

After you changed into your pajamas in the makeshift changing rooms, you climbed into bed, hugging your new stuffed bat. It was comforting, having something to hold at night. Perhaps it would keep the night terrors away.

You heard Luke clear his throat softly a few feet from you, and you rolled over to face him. “Yes?”

He gave you a lazy grin. “If you clutch that thing any tighter, the stuffing is gonna pop out.”

“Oh, shut up, Castellan,” you said, giving him a playful glare.

“Y’know, you can always cuddle with me if you feel lonely at night, angel.”

You stared at him.

“You’re fucking with me.”

“I’m not, angel, I promise.“

How could you possibly resist his pretty brown eyes, looking at you with so much sincerity?

So you climbed into his bed, tucked yourself against him, and quickly drifted off to sleep, still holding your new stuffed animal.

Neither of you had nightmares that night.

________________________________________________

𝕿𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖊 𝕯𝖆𝖞𝖘 𝕷𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖗

“I hate this.”

Luke laughed, brushing a lock of brown curls out of his eyes. He was sweating profusely, as were you. The armory had no windows, which made it heat up like an oven if the doors were closed.

“It’s definitely not fun,” he said, handing you a sword to place on the rack attached to the wall. “But at least I have you for company.”

“True.” You picked up the rag and spray bottle Chiron had given you, and started scrubbing the grime off of the metal rack. “This still fucking sucks though. It feels like we’ve been thrown directly into Hestia’s fireplace.”

“Yeah,” Luke replied, handing you another weapon. He used the hem of his camp t-shirt to wipe his forehead, briefly revealing his bare torso. It was nothing you hadn’t seen before, but you couldn’t help but feel a bit flustered.

After a few moments of working in silence, Luke set down the armor he was polishing. He peeled off his shirt, tossing it to the side.

Gods, was he trying to distract you?

“Something bothering you?”

Yeah, he was definitely doing this on purpose.

But you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing you blush. Not so easily, at least.

“Nope. I’m totally fine.”

“Mhm,” he hummed, walking over to where you were standing. “You sure? You look like you’re burning up.”

You set down your spray bottle, turning to face your best friend. “Yes, I’m doing wonderful. Other than the fact that I want to be done with this punishment as soon as possible.”

“Aw, come on, angel,” Luke said, resting his elbow on your shoulder. This wasn’t unusual for him, he had gotten more comfortable with platonic affection in the past year. You had come to enjoy physical contact with him, even if it earned you some stares. “It’s not that bad.”

“Suit yourself,” you grumbled. “I’d rather be anywhere else in camp but here. Except maybe the attic of The Big House.”

“Perhaps we should take a break,” Luke suggested. “Start again once we’ve rested a bit.”

You immediately sat down, leaning your back against the wall. Luke did the same, looking up at the wooden ceiling. Your legs felt like jelly after cleaning the armory all morning, and the sweltering heat was becoming suffocating. But after a few minutes, you still felt abnormally warm.

“Hey,” Luke’s voice recaptured your attention. “Let’s get you some fresh air. You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

He lead you out of the armory and behind the building, so you could rest in the shade. The light breeze was refreshing, effectively cooling down your skin.

Luke placed a hand on your bicep gently. “Better?”

You nod, stepping towards him to lean your head against his chest, ignoring the fact that he was topless. He seemed surprised, but wrapped his arms around you nonetheless.

“What’s this for? You usually aren’t this affectionate.”

Fuck, had you gone too far? You pulled away and stepped back, avoiding making eye contact. “Sorry.”

“Angel, I wasn’t complaining. I just wanted to know if somethin’ was wrong, that’s all.”

“Oh.”

Gods, this was so awkward. Why couldn’t you get words out like normal? It was just Luke you were talking to, not some stranger who thought you were a spawn of Hades’s worst demons.

Your desire to be physically close to Luke had tripled over the past few days. Perhaps it was because you had been sharing a bed, or because he had initiated physical affection more often than ever, and you had greatly enjoyed it.

But it wasn’t enough. You wanted to be closer to him. You wanted to be more than his second-in-command. You wanted to be more than best friends.

You wanted him.

Gods, this was cruel. Aphrodite was a heartless bitch for orchestrating this.

You were hopelessly, completely in love with your best friend.

“Hey, you listening?”

“I…”

There was no point in lying. You’d been lying to yourself about your feelings for Luke for longer than you cared to admit. Besides, Luke would see right through you.

“What are we, Luke?“

He looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“What are we?” you repeated. “Ever since you started calling me ‘angel’, we’ve been acting less like best friends and more like…I don’t know, like we’re a couple.”

Luke took a deep breath. He looked nervous, his usual confident demeanor fading.

Oh no, had you made him uncomfortable?

“I’m sorr-“

“Don’t be sorry, angel,” Luke cut you off. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I…I let my feelings cloud my judgement, and I sorta just got carried away with the affection, and I thought you liked it so I didn’t stop-“

“Luke.” It was your turn to interrupt him. “If I didn’t like it, I would’ve told you right away.”

He looked dumbfounded, his lips curling into a small, confused pout. Gods, he was so pretty. “Oh.”

“So…what exactly are those “feelings” you mentioned?”

You knew the answer, but you wanted a verbal confirmation.

Luke swallowed, his eyes darting around frantically, as if he was desperate to look at anything but you.

“Angel…you’re my best friend, you know that, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

“And I’m your best friend, right?”

“Right.”

Fuck, was he going to reject you?

If he did, you were sure you would burst into tears on the spot, or hide in the woods until you withered away and died. Maybe you were being dramatic, but the possibility that Luke didn’t feel the same towards you was enough to make your blood run cold.

“I don’t want to just be your closest friend anymore. It…It’s not enough. I want to be more than that, I-“

He stopped talking when you stepped towards him, placing your hands on his toned shoulders. He instantly put a hand on the small of your back, sending warm shivers across your skin.

A sudden wave of bravery rushed over you.

Fuck it. It’s now or never.

“I love you too, Luke.”

Luke’s baby-pink lips fell open, which made you laugh quietly. He was adorable, especially when he was flustered.

Finally, he cleared his throat, and his eyes met yours.

“I love you so much, angel.”

When you kissed him, the world faded away. You didn’t care if the gods disapproved, or if the other campers would gossip about you endlessly.

You had Luke Castellan, and he had you.

Nothing else mattered.

taglist: @orionspaperwork, @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy, @marvelescvpe, @lovingjasontoddmakemewanttocry, @louweasleymalfoy, @stars4birdie, @stargurl-battleship, @daughterofthemoons-stuff

Thank you for reading! Pls let me know what you think in the comments!!!

I decided to add one more chapter before diving into Luke’s quest. It will definitely start in Chapter Six, and it’ll probably take up a couple chapters.

Let me know in the comments if you want to be added to the taglist!

#luke castellan x reader #luke castellan #luke castellan series #luke castellan x you #luke castellan imagine #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #percy series #pjo series #pjo tv show #pjo #rick riordan #thanatos #demigods

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zabimarushoney67 · 11 months

Note

Hello! I wanted to known if I could request slow sensual sex with Shinji Hirako???

Oooomgosh omgosh yessss! This is gonna be so good 🙏🏼 Highkey have been waiting for a NSFW fic with Shinji 💀 Thank you so much! for the request and I hope you enjoy! (I went on a blind hiatus during this im so sorry lmao it’s done tho!)

🔥Under Fire🔥

Shinji Hirako x Fem!Reader

NSFW+18💦MDI⚠️REC.DU💨FLUFF💟MODERN A.U✨

Summary: Shared but masked feelings, making love wasn’t apart of the agenda. For you though, Shinji is ready for anything.

Warnings: Modern alternative universe, strong language, sensual lovemaking, praise kink, marking(hickies, bite marks), fingering, oral!sex (reader receiving), vaginal!penetration, hand holding, sweet talk, supple kisses, blunt smoking, friends with benefits turned serious, budding romantic feelings, fluff throughout.

Authors Notes: AH FINALLY I HAVE WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS 😩 SHINJI WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME AND I AM OKAY WITH THAT! Also! Bad Omens reeeeaallly set the mood for this thing, like ONG absolute perfection!😭🤌🏽

Loud music bumped over the nightclub speakers, rumbling through the wooden floors with everyone’s moving feet. Flashing lights colored the hundreds of bodies that were crammed together like sardines on the dance floor, Shinji’s gentle hands were on your hips, he watched them sway in time with the movements of his fit body.

Drunk and feeling the music, the beating vibration warmed your body up against Shinji. A feeling like sparks igniting, consuming you in his spiritual flames. Shinji flowed with your body on the dance floor. Shifting his hips, he pressed them up against your frayed denim shorts, groaning to himself as he felt your body press, and relax back into him.

He swallowed hard as he peered down your body, his steely eyes devoured the slick and shiny skin under your halter-neck tank top. Feeling your hand wrap around his neck and grip him there, finally had him leaning into your ear to speak up. “Hey, you wanna get outta here soon darlin?” His voice reverberated something needy and demanding. Shinji teasingly licked the shell of your ear, nibbling down the side of your neck as you rolled your hips across his quickly hardening groin.

Leaning your head back on his shoulder speaking into his ear, “Sure, yeah that sounds good! But I have to finish my drink first,”. Rolling his eyes, he released his grip on you. Holding your hand softly he followed closely behind you as you lead him back to the table where Lisa, Kensei, Renji, Izuru, and Shuhei sat.

Hoping you two could slip away unnoticed, Shinji huffed. Now in a forced position to say goodbye and come up with a reason for disappearing yet again, at a friendly get-together, Shinji was less than thrilled. Not an outcome he was hoping for, but if it meant he could leave sooner with you without a bickering match, it would be worth it. Moving to the quieter, darker part of the club where your table was, y/n grabbed the air toward her drink, lazily leading Shinji behind her.

Renji passed her the drink, as she finally anchored herself at the front of the table. Bringing the cute, yellow bendy straw to her lips she sucked down the blue fruity cocktail, bobbing her head in time with the music.

“Looks like you two are having all the fun,” Renji commented, “We are, but,” y/n started saying before taking another sip of her drink, “We're actually gonna head out early for the night,” she said tightening her grip on Shinji’s hand, silently asking him for some back up if her unplanned plan backfired.

Everyone's heads turned at that comment and landed on both you and Shinji, Shuhei caught Shinji’s hand being held captive by yours and only nodded in his direction. The rest of the gang sighed outwardly, “Really? Already?” Renji questioned with a grimace, “But we just got here!” a drunk Lisa sang out. “Oh let them go, they'll just disappear somewhere anyway,” Kensei huffed, taking a languid sip of his old fashion.

The rumor was true. You had secretly been seeing Shinji on the side for a while now. He established a friend-with-benefits situation a few months back.

On that day, running some errands with him, Shinji had bluntly come forward with his attraction toward you. It seemingly came out of nowhere, but you had been so fond of him already that you even held your suspicions, that he felt the same. The sex has been a reliable release for you, it sated a need you didn’t even know you had until you started seeing him regularly during the week.

The both of you had tried to keep it down low and out of sight, trying not to start any gossip. It seemed everyone eventually caught on, since every time you all got together, you and Shinji always ended up disappearing.

Usually off somewhere alone for a quick meet up and then return to the function, but the longer the agreement went on the more often you two went off just to be together, sexual or not.

“Are you guys leaving already?” Izuru chimes in with the rest of the crowd, walking up behind you and Shinji with a handful of shots. “Yeah…” Shinji replied slowly, blatantly fronting his irritation at the current embarrassing circumstances. “That’s lame,” “take one before you go,” Izuru rolled his eyes, pushing a shot into both y/n and Shinji’s free hands.

Just as y/n finished her cocktail, she threw the shot back like a champ, before anyone else had even lifted their shot. Shinji would stand corrected if he thought he was the one who wanted to leave this god forsaken club first.

(...)

Walking back to y/n’s downtown apartment not far from the club, y/n held onto her shoulders. Chilled, after leaving the heat of the nightclub and into the late summer night. “Jeez. Woman,” “This is why I told you to bring a jacket,” Shinji sighed.

Wrapping you in his brown leather jacket he remarks “And who said chivalry is dead?”. “I didn't know it would be this cold,” y/n muttered quietly, gripping the sides of his jacket and enclosing herself in its warmth. “You’re half naked, with your hair in that... Cute messy bun style you know I love so much on you,” “Of course, you're gonna be cold, sometimes I think you do it on purpose,” he smiled to himself as the words left his mouth. “Absolutely not!” y/n spat back defensively, knowing deep down that he was... Well, he was kind of right.

Something has been different lately. Even before leaving for the club, Shinji had ran through a whole checklist before he would even allow you to step out of the door. ‘Have you eaten yet?’ ‘Do you have everything in that purse of yours?’ ‘Are you sure you don’t wanna bring a jacket?’ just to name a few examples. There was a new profound softness in all of Shinji’s actions that pertained to you, it felt good, natural even, like it should’ve been this way the entire time.

Needless to say y/n was rather enjoying the new treatment, it made her heart patter ever so lightly allowing more room for her fondness to grow for the infamous jokester, who now turned out to be an infamous gentleman as well.

(…)

Finally arriving back home in the safe confines of Y/n’s apartment, y/n shook off her heels and threw his jacket on the coat rack while Shinji carelessly strolled in behind, removing his shoes. The beginning steps of y/n’s ‘time for bed’ ritual took place, and Shinji got comfy removing his tie, loosening his shirt a bit and rolling up his sleeves. Y/n stood in the mirror, wiping off her makeup in the bathroom, closest to her bedroom. Shinji sat on the bed, rolling up a blunt for the both of you. One of his many playlists lulls over the sound system, filling the bedroom with a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Once cleaned up and dressed down in some of her comfy shorts and an oversized T-shirt, y/n joined Shinji on the plush mattress, sitting crisscrossed with a glass of iced water. “Man, nightclubs are not my thing anymore,” y/n said rubbing her eyes, groaning softly from the slight headache she received after the few hours of drinking and dancing.

“So, let me get this straight,” “You’re saying,” “You would rather be at home,” “Chilling… and smoking weed with me… in your bed?” Shinji drawled out turning his head in your direction, with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. “Shut it and light it, goofy,” y/n sneered at the blonde man, smacking him lightly on the shoulder and breathily laughing at his stupid, dumb remark. So stupid it left your face catastrophically red. Seriously, what was up with this guy? His smooth words, and even smoother hair. None of it made sense, or it did… just why now? Shinji was the adamant one on the, ‘this is nothing serious, I just want to have fun with you,’ part of the agreement.

Putting his hand upon your upper thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. Shinji places the blunt between his lips, it hangs so artfully from them as he goes to light it. Pulling out an engraved zippo lighter, he flips it open. The bright blue flame quickly engulfed the tip of the tobacco paper, and a sweet aroma of the white grape drifted through the air while the paper burned to ash, quickly followed by the delightful smell of weed. These night are always the best when shared together, y/n thought. Allowing her mind to wander through the current moment, a sudden swell of emotion had begun overflowing her body.

(…)

A few passes and over half a blunt later, the two leaned against the wooden headboard, their bodies heavy from the weed that swirled through them. Y/n laid her head on Shinji’s shoulder, while his arm encompassed her close against his warm, slumped body. Shinji puffed on his handiwork, relaxing further into y/n’s weight. Rolling waves of smoke lingered in the air and filled the dimly lit room, while the two lay together sailing through the clouds. The entwinement of their bodies and limbs being the only thing that kept them grounded in reality.

“Earlier…” “Walking back here,” “You said, you loved when my hair is up,” y/n said softly, pausing before continuing, “What are some other things you… ‘love’ about me?” She asked curiously, with her breath hitching in her chest.

Shinji’s eyes widened at her question, breathing a heavy hit from his nose, he hurriedly took another, sucking it deep into his lungs. “Well…” he said as the smoke poured from his mouth. “There’s lots of things…” “like the way you’ll scrunch your nose up at my gross jokes,” Shinji said chuckling to himself. “Or the way you’ll blush and look away whenever I compliment you…” “Or my favorite…” he paused again. “the little dance you do when you’re eating something you like...” he stopped there smiling to himself, but not wanting to dredge any further into that topic.

Y/n lay on his shoulder dazed, “Oh..” she breathed, blushing from his words. “I was fully prepared for you to say something along the lines of,” “I love the way your lips look around my cock darlin’,” she said, trying but failing to do an impression of Shinji.

“First of all,” “I do not sound like that,” Shinji laughed heartily at y/n’s endearing impression of him. “Secondly, I love it when you look like that,” he corrected, taking another hit before handing it over to y/n. “Oh yeah?” She said giggling, “Oh yeah,” Shinji said before his soft fingers slid up the side of your cheek and turned your face towards him.

Leaning down to capture your lips in a gentle kiss, he pulled away ever so slightly, blowing his smoke into your mouth and kissing you again after. “I love it a lot,” he said, inches away from your face. His words sang, traveling through y/n’s ears and making them ring with their sweetness, flowing down her body and resting comfortably in the pit of her stomach.

Blinking softly at Shinji, y/n exhaled the smoke. A soft shade of pink stained her cheeks as she stared into his grey hooded eyes. A crafty smile plastered across Shinji’s face as he caressed your cheek under his thumb. Y/n leaned into his touch before bringing the end of the blunt to her lips.

Glancing down at y/n’s full lips encompassing the tip of the blunt, Shinji drank your expression in full. He mimicked your blushing shyness as he pulled his hand away. “Goddamn…” “You are so fucking pretty,” “You know that?” He said biting his lip, he shook his head in disbelief and scoffed. “It makes me wonder why no one’s snatched you up yet,” insecurity silently started weaving itself into his usually unwavering confidence.

“I mean, I’m not complaining,” “More fun for me after all,” Shinji said going silent afterward. “For me, I think maybe...” “it's because I have you in my back pocket, and everyone knows it,” y/n stated blatantly, “We haven't exactly been hiding it,” shrugging her shoulders, she put the roach out in the ashtray. “Or maybe...” “it's because I would rather have you…” “So I decline everyone who’s tried,” a hefty blush returned to her face as y/n avoided eye contact with the blonde man lying next to her.

“Oh yeah?” Shinji said with a side smile and raised eyebrow, cocking his head down at you. “...Yeah,” y/n murmured after a moment of diligent thinking. Shinji’s hand cupped your chin softly, begetting your stare back in his direction. His face grew hot all over again when he peeked at the soft, lustful eyes of y/n as they peered down at his lips. Flashing quickly back to his eyes, y/n leaned in and molded her lips gently against Shinji’s.

(...)

Her sudden emotional ministration left Shinji blinking widely, the blush on his face crept up to the tips of his ears while she kissed him deeply. Melting into her kiss and releasing a breath from his nose, he pushed firmly back into y/ns wanting mouth, groaning as she parted his lips with her sly tongue.

Twisting his torso, Shinji slowly pushed you into the pillows, as he climbed on top. Supporting his weight on his forearms, y/n’s plush thighs hugged his waist while he got comfy between them. Her soft hands held his face, gently stroking the short stubble on his jawline, keeping him over her mouth as their tongues played and explored one another.

Soft moans roused from y/n when Shinji shifted to his knees, pushing her thighs up and over his. Rising to his palms, he gazed down at you, his face flushed and lips parted. Quick, broken breaths left his mouth, and Shinji felt his heart thump against his sternum. A strange, foreign feeling washed over his body. Arousal, lust, and something else... Passion? maybe. Y/n’s fingers tentatively reached for the first button of his shirt and slowly pulled each of them apart, staring intently at the buttons as they came undone and revealed his smooth skin underneath.

Sitting back on his heels, Shinji shrugged off his shirt and tugged it free of his jeans, tossing it to the side of the bed. Returning to his position over you, he caught your mouth in a greedy kiss. Awash with his need for you, his hand clasped your still-clothed breast gripping and kneading it underneath his palm. Y/n’s hands explored the expanse of his now open back. She remembered every flowing line of tensed muscle and the way they seem to relax under her hand that softly caressed each spot.

(...)

Shinji’s lips smashed against yours, nibbling at you playfully, and sucking your lower lip. With the intense feeling of being engulfed in everything that was Shinji in this minuscule moment, the heat started quickly swallowing y/n’s breath underneath the man's lanky form.

His needy mouth traveled from your lips down your jaw, pushing your head away, and giving the feral man access to your supple neck. Y/n’s head spun violently under his frantic, but somehow artful duress. Her body begged to feel his warmth, begged for him to give her what she needed.

Y/n found herself lost in the present moment, stuck in some places of her past, but somehow still excited for the future that was to be paved, and hopefully with Shinji by her side. Releasing his grip on your chest, both of his hand's fumble around, trying to find yours. Enterlacing his fingers within yours he pushes your palms into the bed, pinning you underneath him.

Shinji continued his crusade down your neck, licking and softly kissing the sensitive skin that lay vulnerable to him. Y/n can feel a smile form on his lips when she wailed out from the sharp feeling of his canines pinching her skin.

Covering the small welt with his mouth, and running his tongue over it Shinji sucks the skin of your neck. Grunting lowly when he feels you arch your back into his unrelenting torture. Releasing you from his mouth, he continues his play time to the other side of your neck. There, he kisses down to your exposed collarbone where he begins to repeat the same teasing ritualistic behavior, marking you with a large purple hickey.

(...)

At his total mercy, and laying completely helpless underneath him y/n bucks her hips against him. Trying, and trying again to find some friction to sedate the growing arousal between her legs. The flimsy cloth of her shorts and her lacy panties discouraged any true form of relief. They numbed her sensation just enough that it became a nuisance trying to do it herself. That was until Shinji finally understood what you were after. Freeing a hand from your grasp, he lowered it to your slick heat.

Surpassing the confinement of cloth, he delves in between your plump lips. Massaging the wetness that collected there, he hummed in appreciation at how worked up you had become with just some sloppy kisses and heavy panting. Two fingers rubbed in gentle circles around your clit. “You’re such... Ah!” “A goddamn tease!” y/n said forcibly.

She desperately wiggled her hips against his fingers, wishing he'd hit the spot he knew she loved. Shinji’s slender fingers always left y/n in a full trance. The way they magically danced across her skin, and brought about the most helpless of whimpers from y/n. The sounds Shinji knew, he was the only one who could force from you. “C’mon darlin’” “You know I love the way you sound,” “Let me hear you,” Shinji breathed against your skin before snatching you into another soul-devouring kiss.

“Let me feel you then,” y/n pulled away from him and retorted in frustration. Grabbing his wrist she pushed him further toward her dripping, needy heat. “Don’t be like that baby,” “I was gettin' there,” he smirked against your mouth. Sinking his fingers into your mess of a hole, he slowly pulled his fingers against the spongy pad on your upper wall, massaging in little circles.

Positioning his thumb he pressed on your swelling clit, rubbing and prodding the sensitive bundle of nerves in time with his curling fingers. “That's such a good look on you y/n,” Shinji smiled greatly as he peered down at your pleasure-contorted face.

“Faster..! Please!” y/n begged, shooting Shinji a needy glimpse and biting her lip to egg him further. “Nah,” “I want to enjoy this...” he said softly as he continued his sermon of repetitive motions. Y/n whined loudly, bordering on a temper tantrum. “Goddamn.” “You're so fucking cute when you're frustrated,” Shinji confessed in admiration, softly smooching your cheek before traveling feather-light kisses toward your ear. Taking your earlobe in between clenched teeth, he shoves his fingers into your aching core, reveling in the shout y/n released from his perfectly timed and careful actions.

(...)

Feeling your body convulse and twitch underneath him, was most certainly egging him on, more than ever before. His cock raged against the tight confinement of his jeans, throbbing in time with all the little jolts that ran throughout y/n’s body. “I think that'll do,” Shinji said before removing all stimulation away from y/n. “W-what?” y/n protested as she tried grabbing his hand to keep him posted in their position. Sitting up, Shinji unbuckled his belt letting it fall open. “Take your clothes off,” he demanded, his voice sounding a lot like how it did at the nightclub.

Blinking dumbfounded, y/n obeys and starts removing her shirt. Shinjis's hands helped lift it and pull it over your head as he discarded it with his shirt on the side of the bed. Y/n hooks her thumbs in the waistband of her shorts and pulls them down her thighs. Shinji pushed your legs up straight and pulled them off. “Keep the panties on,” “They're cute,” he remarked. He peeked down at the floral red lace tanga-styled panties that sat high on your waist, accentuating your curvy hips and pillowy thighs. His strong hands grab hold of your ankles and kept them in the air, “Bend your knees so they touch your chest,” “They don’t leave that spot until I say,” Shinji warned, his tone sounding serious as he positioned and instructed you on how he wanted to take you for the night.

Y/n hummed happily, lulling her head to the side roused a questioning look upon Shinji’s face. “Somethin' funny doll?” He asks, his palms pushing your thighs up to your chest. “You’re just so sexy when you’re in charge,” y/n explained with a grin. “Do it more often,” she said, silently challenging him, and staring directly into his eyes.

Shinji didn't respond with words but rather with his actions. Running his fingers over the lace of your pussy lips, a small smirk draws on his face once he saw your eyebrows draw together slightly from his touch.

Peering down at you and your position, his face suddenly softens. The position he wanted you in left you exposed to him, vulnerable almost. Somehow your words spoke of the trust you had in him and the confidence you held for him, knowing that he knew how to take care of you in every regard. It took Shinji by complete surprise the more he thought about what you said. Maybe he was thinking too much into it but something felt different from you, about you, he only understood that he couldn’t let you down now.

(...)

Quickly removing his black jeans, Shinji crawled back onto the mattress. He laid on his elbows while his face took place over your dripping cunt, his cock throbbed at the sight before him. The cotton insert of your panties drowned in your juices, scarcely containing your folds as it stretched thin between your plump lips. Like a ripe peach that hung from a branch and was ready for the picking, Shinji stared mesmerized by your intimate beauty. The aroma of your lust and the warmth that waited inside, made Shinji’s mouth water intensely as he steadied himself before taking a dive back into your depths.

Lightly pushing the cloth away to expose you completely, Shinji places his hands near your waist and leaned down and kissed your glistening lips. His hair swayed from side to side as he got to work. The soft gentle kisses he started with slowly turned into long sucking kisses, as he took each lip into his mouth and pulled on them. Tugging ever so gently before releasing it with a sucking pop and repeating this motion until he made his way up to your clit.

Taking the swollen bud into his mouth and sucking it, the pressure from the motion left y/n’s thighs trembling, and her toes curling at the ceiling. With her eyes shut tightly, her jaw dropped as she mewled loudly from Shinji’s unrelenting maw. The lewd noises that spewed from y/n’s mouth were unlike anything Shinji had ever heard before. His body reacted physically, singing with lust as every nerve, every pore on his body stood at full attention, just for her.

He fisted at the sheets under his palms as he started absentmindedly grinding into the mattress. Shinji repeatedly pushed his twitching cock into its soft fullness, desperate for any attention he could get while he waited to finish you first. Shinji grunted as his cock slid against the soft, stretchy spandex of his blue boxer briefs.

Removing her hands from the underside of her thighs, she placed them on Shinji’s forearms. Tightly gripping onto them, y/n felt the cool metal of his tongue piercing swirl around her clit, and up and down her sensitized labia. Y/n’s knees failed to stay directly over her chest and slowly drifted to her sides, resting there and spread completely open for Shinji’s hungry mouth.

(...)

Y/n finally caught a needed glimpse at the handsome man that lay in front of her. Visually taking in the way he ate her out like it was the last thing he’ll ever do on earth. So turned on by her noises and arousal, that he’s resorting to fucking the mattress. That’s a first, y/n thought gazing down at the touch deprived man between her thighs. His tensing muscles, soft whimpers, and all the incredulous sucking noises created such a delightful picture for y/n’s eyes and ears to take in and memorize.

The image of this moment, and the feelings that danced and swirled around her body, doubled by the pressure of her orgasm winding up in her core was almost too much. Tears pricked at the corners of y/n’s eyes, as her noises got louder with each swipe of his tongue. Noticing that you had broken the position he placed you in, his arms slid under your thighs and hooked you in his full grasp. Too horny to care, Shinji tugged you harshly down to his mouth. Making you jolt and gasp from the tightness of his arms as they held you harshly in position against his face.

Releasing a thigh, his fingers journeyed down to your twitching hole. His eyes peered up at you as he slowly sunk his middle digit into its wetness. Rubbing the pad of his finger against your G-spot, his tongue ravaging your clit. Expertly flicking and prodding your bud with careful consideration to get you to release. Never breaking eye contact, he sped up his finger's pace. Feeling your walls swell and clench around his finger was a sign you were close, pulling his finger out he glided another finger in with ease before pushing up on your G-spot. The repetitive pressing of her fleshy button, in time with the fast-flicking of his tongue, sent y/n over the edge drowning her deep within her pleasure and forcing out her full release.

“Oh, Shinnnjiii!~” She wailed his name out in ecstasy as her pussy clenched onto his digits and her clit pulsed under his tongue. Finger fucking her deeper and harder during her orgasm caused a different form of release, as y/n’s pussy squirted forcibly through the rolling waves of her powerful orgasm. Splashing Shinji’s chin, neck, and upper chest area, and soaking the bed underneath y/n. “Mmmm, that's what I like to see doll,” “Good job Baby,” He hummed as he pulled his fingers from you, sucking them clean.

Y/n lay there half unconscious coming down from her incredible high. “You've made such a mess darlin’, look at you,” Shinji chuckled at the slumped form of y/n, still breathing heavily. “I'm...” “I'm not sleeping in the wet spot, that's your fault,” she said catching her breath and swallowing hard.

Chuckling sweetly at your exhausted words, “Don’t bother me none babes, just a sign of my victory,”Shinji grins shifting to his knees in front of you. His warm calloused hands push your thighs up to your side as he leaned down to kiss your mound, up your belly, and the space between your breast. His breath felt warm against your skin, as you felt the tip of his nose swipe across your chest. Softly suckling the skin of your breast he repeats his loving and careful kisses until your nipple is encased in his wet mouth. His thumb and index finger come to rest underneath your breast allowing some support while his tongue swirled and prodded against your hard nipple.

(...)

Not giving you any time to prepare for the next act, Shinji sucks and pulls on your nipple with his lips as he presses his still-clothed member against your now-soaked innermost thighs. Grinding against your slick left wet, splotchy marking on his boxers. Pulling off your nipple, he kisses toward the other side and pulls your hardened nipple into his warm mouth sucking gently on it, making sure that none of you is left untouched, or unloved. Still coming down from her first high, y/n lay underneath him breathless, soaking in all of the attention Shinji seemed to have no problem giving to her.

The feeling of his throbbing cock pressing against her still-sensitive clit had y/n reeling. Gasping inwardly at the sudden shock of pleasure that still shot through her body, so artfully done in with just Shinji’s mouth.

“Fuck...” “Shinji, I want you,” y/n mewled pathetically at him, bucking her hips against his swollen, still captive member. Releasing your nipple, Shinji smiles deviously against your skin, “I can't hear you darlin’” he purred. “I..” y/n started before feeling unsettled from the foreign neediness that had been instilled within her. “Use your words, baby,” Shinji’s kissed soft words of encouragement into your chest, only making you flush further. “I want you, inside of me now,” “Please, pretty please,” “I can't wait any longer,” y/n begged helplessly, her mind completely fogged with lust and need.

“You’re in for a treat then babe,” “Because I want you to,” Shinji chuckled before pushing his boxers down past his cock allowing space for it to spring free from its confines. Grabbing the base of his lengthy cock, he prods his tip against your red, swollen lips. Running it up and down your slick, Shinji grunts lowly as he inserts himself. Your gummy warm walls accepted his length freely, swallowing every inch with squelchy ease. “Ohh~” “Fuu-uck,” “Y/n baby, you're always... so fucking... sweet,” Shinji gritted his jaw and forced out as his full length was sheathed inside of you.

All of those hours watching you, waiting for you, wanting you, finally came to an end as Shinji’s body fully relaxed into your body. Pleasure washed over, from his head to his toes as he felt your walls clench onto his shaft. His warm hands rested on the back of your thighs as he raised his body up and over yours. Pinning you against the headboard, Shinji positioned himself so his cock was perfectly angled against your G-spot. Slowly pulling himself from you, his whole body shuttered as he pushed his hips back into your tight cunt. Y/n lay spread open ready for Shinji's taking. Biting her lower lip she cursed under her breath as Shinji made the first few movements.

It didn't matter how many times Shinji had taken you before. It didn't matter how many times you came because of him, or how many times he had touched you. The craving for you only grew stronger with each time he felt you. Getting worse, as each time left him wanting you all over again, bubbling up like an inevitable volcano. Being inside of you was paradise to him, pure bliss, and the only thing to make him forget about all the other stressors in his life. You had become the center of his addiction, and every time he got a taste it was like a first taste all over again.

Finding a steady momentum, Shinji ground his hips against your core, sending his cock into your wet deepness. His mouth fell open and his eyebrows drew together as he felt your pussy twitch and throb with his motions. Soft breathy moans filled the room as he rocked his body against yours.

What usually was rough, harsh, and relentless pounding was gentle and comforting this time around. His hands softly gripped the underside of your thighs as his cock effortlessly slid in and out of you. Y/n’s breasts bounced softly with each of his push-ins. With her face flushed red, the feeling of his impossibly hard cock grazing against all of her right spots was quickly rewinding her arousal all over again. Shinji peered down at y/n, taking in all of her blushing features. The way your eyes rolled when he pushed up into your core, and the faded cute cries that left your now chapped parted lips.

Beautiful. You were so beautiful during this moment, taking all of him with ease and enjoying every second of it. It drove Shinji wild, he moved his body over yours once more prompting y/n to wrap her thighs around his waist. Finding your hands, Shinji interlaced his fingers with yours again.

Burying his face into your neck, he squeezed your hands as he picked up his pace. Y/n cried out, the tears that previously pricked her eyes now finally spilling over her cheeks. “I can't take much more Shinji...” she whimpered at his relentless grinding. Kissing your neck and ignoring your words, Shinji continued his loving agony, pushing himself harder against your soreness. “Just a little..” “Longer, I'm so close,” he breathed against your neck in earnest. “Fuck, I'm so close...” he strained as his body tensed with his approaching orgasm.

The pounding got louder as did their cries for release. “Fuck, Shinjiii..” y/n moaned leaning her head against his face on her neck. “I... I love you..” y/n said quietly. Those three words would've halted him, coming from anyone else. Coming from you though, he never would've expected you to say it first. “What?” he said, never stopping his thrusts. “I said, I lo..” “I love you Shinji,” Y/n said louder, squeezing his hands. “Oh shit... Fuck I'm gonna cum darlin',” “I love you too y/n,” he said hurriedly before claiming your mouth in a sweet kiss. Grunting repeatedly as his cock spewed his load inside of you, y/n could feel his shaft pulse with each ripple of his orgasm. The warm liquid filled her chasm with his juices.

Finalizing his kiss, his body dropped heavily on top of yours. Sweaty and out of breath, the both of you lay in stillness. The sound of his music still playing, the two of you slowly found your composure again.

Pulling out and leaning back on his knees once more, Shinji looked down at you bashful as ever. A cute smile found a place on his lips as he chuckled at the exchange of those words. Y/n looked up at him through her eyelashes, almost chuckling with him, “What's so funny darlin’,” she started again with her horrible impression, making Shinji laugh even further. “Nothin’ babe, I'll get you something to clean yourself up with,” he said cooly before swiftly finding a towel and bringing it back to you.

(...)

Hours had gone by it was late. Sleeping soundly in Shinjis arms y/n nuzzled into his chest comfortably. Shinji lay awake, his mind running wild and repeating those words over and over again as he caressed your back lazily with his fingers. Breaking his train of thought, there was a light tapping at the front door. Reaching for his phone and checking the time, 2:45 am his bright screen read, “Who the hell is knocking at this time of night,” Shinji huffed annoyed, untangling himself from you he pulled some sweatpants on and shambled to the front door, yawning.

Another light tapping followed by fits of laughing and shushing noises, made Shinji squint as he opened the door, he readied himself to tell someone off for disturbing his night with you. At the door stood Lisa, Kensei, Izuru, and Renji all of them drunken and swaying at the doorway. Shuhei was nowhere to be found, “what the hell do you guys want?” Shinji grumbled rolling his eyes. “Shinji?” all three of them said in unison staring wide-eyed, “What are YOU doing here?” Renji spewed, his words slurring together, incomprehensible to an untrained ear. They all stared in awe at Shinji as he leaned against the doorframe. “Wait I KNOW!” Lisa said out loud, unaware of her volume. “Are you and Y/n-chan dating?” she teased, “you guys owe me 20 bucks, I told you!” Lisa said matter-of-factly pushing each of the guy's shoulders.

Sighing and crossing his arms Shinji grinned, laughing at his drunk friends and their assumptions. “Yeah, I guess you could say that,” he responded, knowing exactly what he had to do next.

End🌸🔥

@ducksdoughnuts IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG BUT ITS DONE NOW 😭😭 Thank you so much for the request! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing this!

!!!BLEACH REQUESTS ARE STILL OPEN!!!

#shinji x reader #shinji x you #shinji hirako #shinji smut #shinji hirako smut #captain Hirako #soft fanfic #cute fanfic #romance smut #he’s so cute #bleach fanfiction #bleach anime #bleach smut #bleach x reader #modern au #love making prompt

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wishwingalpha · 5 months

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I drew were I think Joel and Lizzie’s fragments would apear. I know they don’t actually glow out of cloathing/shoes— but I wanted to show where they were. (Yes they are falling in the void, shhh it can be different colors they are glowing.)

Explanation;

Lizzie has two fragments, one from last life and one from secret life. I hc that she fragments more easily and hers are much larger than pretty much anyone else’s. (Other than mumbo)

Her fragment from last life is on her back for the amount of times she was backstabbed/ betrayed in the series. (Obviously I couldn’t draw her back and her face so.. too bad-?) but I imagine that the fragment covers the majority of her back.

The fragment from secret life is on her face almost like tears. This was the heartbreak of no one coming to her party, and how the rest of her series played out after that was quite tragic to be fair, she never really got any revenge or closure.

—

Joel are e v e r y w h e r e.

He’s been on every series and never won so he’s just got a bunch. Most of his fragments are small because I don’t think the watchers would get much from him. The only times they get to feed off of him is usually because of the loss of his wife, only sometimes from a team mate. He isn’t usually close to people in most series, just causing chaos.

3rd life’s fragment is on his foot. I did this because of the kinda funny way he dies trying to put the fire on his house out but dies in the process. So yeah— he kinda just stepped in the fire. (Fairly small fragment cause he ain’t got no friends)

Last life is the neck because of how he always had it out for people, putting a target on him. (Again no friends except for scar but they barely counted as allys) ((lmao I didn’t know where to put this one really ))

Double life is his hand. I did this because boat boys and it’s like he’s rowing the boat (idk that’s my reasoning) I imagine Etho has one on the opposite hand because they are rowing the boat together <3 ( you get it right? They both have an oar to row the boat with) This was the first time Joel has a meaningful alliance, and it’s bigger than the first two fragments.

Limited life is his chest/heart. I felt that this was when Joel had the biggest connection with his team and was completely distraught when Jimmy died. The watchers were eating that shit UP. ( the fragment reaches out to his arm that’s why it looks like there’s six. I totally DIDNT make a random one somehow and am making an excuse for it being there)

Secret life is on his face, matching his wife, how cute. This was because of all the heartbreak he endured in the episodes including and following the wither-warden battle. He loses Lizzie, Jimmy, and mumbo all in one day and then on the last episode is the reason that Scott is able to kill Bdubs when he accidentally shot him. Overall just real sad times for him. And not even that— he dies to Scott once again, the one person he wanted dead the entire episode.

His fragments grow larger each season as he grows closer to the other players.

—

Edit— yes I know the fragments don’t look how they do canonically, but they look cool so shhhh. Also the ones I said are small but don’t look small in the picture, also just mistakes.

#eyes and ears #life series #traffic smp #secret life smp #mcyt #mcytblr #mcyt fanart #trafficblr #traffic series #ldshadowlady #smallishbeans #eaefragments #eyesandears

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solunstell · 5 months

Text

List of bsd headcanons

Dazai:

Has bpd. A lot of his traits remind me of my friends with it

He some kind of trans. Nonbinary. Transfem. Transmasc. Idk he's megender lmao

He's described as appearing very youthful in the first two light novels. I imagine that once the events of the main timeline start picking up though, with all the time stopping or slowing abilities that *dont affect him*, he actually ages faster than the other characters. I draw current dazai with small wrinkles, which also hints at stress and stuff

Also, I imagine current dazai getting tanner as he works in the light, as well as getting more prominent freckles.

Round/doe eyes because that is part of his appearance in my opinion. Seeming unsuspecting and innocent, especially during his mafia days

Bad eyesight in his right eye from being under the bandages for so long. Saw this headcanon and loved it

Similarly, beastzai has bad vision in general

I always call No Longer Human an anti-ability in my head, fun fact

He loves to touch other people. Not a fan of being touched by others unless asked

I draw him with red eyes in color, and usually black eyes in ink (inconsistent artstyle my beloved)

Aroace spectrum

heavy sleeper. Very

Chuuya

FRECKLES and tan from sheep days

He likes to be close to other people more than actually touching. Presence over contact

That shade of eyes that changes colors in the light (but I use a grey base lol)

Also some sort of trans, but in a different way than dazai

Brownish red hair. Not blazing, not just brown

That man is AUTISTIC

One time instinctively kicked a friend with his ability active, expecting them to dodge cuz he's used to dazai easily dodging. They did, but they were SO CLOSE to getting hit. Imagine a confused face like wtf why you try to kick me

Light sleeper, but every now and then sleeps like he just learned how to close his eyes

A lot of his jokes go over people's heads because they expect him to be serious and his voice just doesn't change between serious and not serious

Ranpo

Autism plus adhd ftw

Aroace spectrum

Poe

He/they vibes

Anxiety

Gay af

I can 100% see him being into knitting. Imagine the guide plus ranpo all in matching sweaters

Loves baking. Sooooo bad at it

Lucy

Bi (with a lean towards girlies) she/it

VERY good at baking

But she won't share :(

Atsushi

Anxiety, so much anxiety

Aroace spectrum vibes

Very easily idolizes people and then gets surprised when they actually like being around him

Akutagawa

Aroace spectrum

Autism cuz he is so mecore sometimes

Very trans vibes from me

(I like to imagine him having tourettes cuz I have tourettes and I am Not projecting)

Atsushi (special kitty hearing) and jouno being the only ones who can hear some of his tics. He will be horrified that anyone notices them

Wait no actually I'm gonna incorporate that into my belief system. That's canon now

Mori

Genuinely cares about a lot of his workers, but not all of them

He gives great bonuses for birthdays

He absolutely loves vtubers if bsd were in a modern setting. Rip mori. He'd have also loved vocaloid lmao

Ozaki

Masc energy. Fem energy. Ooh I can see ozaki with any pronouns and identity

Kinda person to accidently either overpack or underpack. Always has painkillers, never has a pen

Ridiculous memory. Incredible gift giver. Would get someone something months or years after overhearing them say they wanted something once

"Whyd you get me a hairdryer?"

"You said you needed one. I saw it and thought of you."

"...that was months ago. I got a hairdryer already."

"..." *takes hairdryer back* "sorry wrong person. I don't have my contacts in my bad"

She has perfect vision

Kunikida

Trans vibes. In any and every direction

Adhd af

Will always conveniently have room in his schedule when Aya wants to go do something and needs someone to go with her. No, he's TOTALLY not frantically writing and erasing things, get your glasses updated

You can usually count on him to continue the bit cuz he won't realize there is a bit occurring

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yanderecrazysie · 1 year

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Entrance (Yandere Fan! Tsukishima)

Requested on my Quotev.

When I say that I love Yandere Fan x Famous Reader stories, I am absolutely not joking- I just freaking LOVE these stories!!! The most likely victim of a yandere would be someone in the public eye because these people are already put on pedestals and treated like gods. I’m so excited to write this asdfgfhfgsdfsad sorry for how late this is, but finally got inspiration AHH!

If you doubt me, go to a boyband concert and look around at some of the girls in the crowd and THEN tell me that not a single one of them would consider murder for their favorite band member.

Also, the way Tsukishima finds Reader’s location is based on a true story of how a psycho fan found and stalked a Japanese Pop Star named Hibiki Sato.

Title: Entrance

Pairings: Tsukishima x Popstar Reader

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, Swearing, Slight incel vibes, not Tsukki stealing you from Yams lmao

Summary: You’re different from your bandmates- from every other idol somehow. At least, you are to your biggest, most obsessed fanboy.

entrance

/verb/

fill (someone) with wonder and delight, holding their entire attention

“Tsukki!”

The blond male sitting at his laptop paused in his typing and sent an annoyed glance to his bedroom door, which had been suddenly flung open by his closest friend.

“Shut up, Yamaguchi. Did you forget how to knock?” Tsukishima’s snide comment didn’t do anything to put a damper on his friend’s grin- if anything, the freckle-faced boy beamed even brighter.

The scowling man didn’t bother to ask his companion why he was so happy- he knew he’d find out in a moment. Sure enough, Yamaguchi eagerly brandished a shiny square case, practically shoving it towards him in excitement.

Tsukishima adjusted his glasses and studied the object- a CD case depicting a J-Pop girls’ group. The three girls were attractive in a somewhat-cutesy way. They stood close together, pearly-white grins across their faces as they held up peace signs, each of them clad in a different, glittery, pastel-colored dress with matching ribbons weaved into their long hair. The background was a faded pinkish color and covered in different illustrations of candies and sweets. A bold, bright, and cutely scribbled font above the idols’ heads declared what Tsukishima assumed was either the group’s or the album’s name: Candy Cloud.

“What the hell is this?”

Yamaguchi’s face flushed in embarrassment as his eyes darted away, his smile fading into a wistful expression. Tsukishima felt a twinge of regret for putting a damper on his friend’s spirit but… seriously? What was he thinking, acting so excited over some stuck-up celebrities?

They were all the same. Soaking up the fame and praise like narcissistic sponges when all they cared about was the money and attention their admirers gave them. The personas they showed off to the public were all for show, puppeteered by some publicist who knew what their audience wanted to see and hear.

Female celebrities were the worst- always so desperate to stay basking in the limelight that they would sell their soul to the devil if it meant that no one would forget about them. They’d pump themselves full of Botox and silicone, sleep with the most popular celebrities, and pull asinine stunts if they ever felt like the public wasn’t keeping their eyes on them.

The smiles and laughs they forced in interviews made Tsukishima sick to his stomach. So painfully fake. It was fascinating to see how bad singers were with words and how bad actors were at acting when it came to donning the masks their fans wanted to see.

He’d heard enough stories about these “sweethearts” and “oh-so-genuine” celebrities acting like disgusting monsters the moment they thought no one important was watching. Infuriating divas that verbally abuse their staff, condescending assholes that believe they’re better than everyone else, backstabbing bitches that no one likes but will never say so…

And what do their fans do when this news comes out? Even when faced with undeniable facts, they’ll defend their idol to the death, becoming utter hypocrites and making fools out of themselves. Simping for girls who would probably never know they existed and wouldn’t care about them if they did.

It didn’t matter to Tsukishima what these girls Yamaguchi was fanboying over pretended to be- he had no doubts that they went back to being self-absorbed bitches the moment the camera stopped filming.

Why would Yamaguchi invest any amount of time and effort into girls that would never know of his existence nor appreciate any support he gave them? Why couldn’t he just focus on a girl in one of their university classes or something? Tsukishima could stomach his friend gushing over just about anyone, as long as they weren’t famous.

The friend in question was looking at Tsukishima sadly, disappointed in the response he was receiving as it dampened the positive mood he’d been in, “Sorry, Tsukki, I just… thought you’d like one of them. All three of them are really cool and one’s your type.”

Tsukishima snapped back immediately, “And I’m supposed to believe she’d want to date me or something? They’re just braindead celebrities.”

Yamaguchi wilted and nodded reluctantly, muttering another apology. He stood there awkwardly as Tsukishima resumed tapping away at his keyboard and finally let out a meek excuse to leave.

“Goodbye,” said Tsukishima, not at all sad to see him go. Yamaguchi returned the parting word softly and scurried off, likely to listen to his CD at home.

As the night dragged on, a nagging feeling tugged at Tsukishima’s mind, distracting him from his essay. Why does Yamaguchi think I’d like one of them? Which one of those three girls did he think I’d even like?

Before long, the boy found himself typing “Candy Cloud” into the search bar and scanning the results. Sure enough, Candy Cloud turned out to be the group’s album name, their actual group being a mashup of parts of the members’ names. The first girl wasn’t his type, nor was the one in the middle, but the last girl, (Y/n), was just his type.

She wasn’t like the other celebrities he’d watched interviews of- she was entirely herself without a hint of deception. She giggled over the awkward moments but never lied, only ever saying “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that!” when asked a confidential question.

Her interests and values aligned with Tsukishima’s, to the point that he began to imagine that they agreed on everything. And, as one night turns to one day, turns to a week, to a month, and so on, he begins to delude himself into believing that you know who he is and already feel the way he’s beginning to feel.

Tsukishima no longer lets Yamaguchi come over.

He’s embarrassed, to a point, by how much you have taken over his living space. Your posters and pictures line his walls, your solos play on repeat, and he has every piece of merch, official or not.

Tsukishima studies the latest selfie you’d posted to your personal social media account. He grins. The name of the train station you’re at reflects in the iris and pupil of your big, beautiful eyes. It’s nearby. No more than a 15 minute drive and you’d mentioned “walking home” in the text portion of your post.

Soon enough, he’d be adding the best possible addition to his extensive collection.

You.

#yandere #yandere Tsukishima #Tsukishima Kei #yandere x reader #haikyuu!!#yandere haikyuu #yandere one shot #one shot

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mintmoth · 2 years

Note

Speaking of smiling Jamil, there's not a thing on this earth that makes me happier than the art on the Groovified version of his fairy gala card I need it so bad I just want the fairy gala event in the en version please and thank 😭 Do you have a favorite card either of the Scarabia boys or a different one? Also I really like how Kalim and Jamil's dorm cards tell two sides of the same event 🥺😂

OH MAN THE FUCKING CARD ART

I'm tagging this as spoilers but also heads up to anyone who doesn't have that term muted, I'm going to be posting groovy card art and rambling about it!

REAL TALK I LOVE WHEN THE CARDS MATCH UP- be it matching art or two sides of the same story- OH MY GOD like so many of the ceremonial robes cards having some little tie in about poor Malleus having no idea why everyone is dressed up 😭😭 it's just so fun seeing the different aspects

LIKE THIS IS ADORABLE ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

As for a favorite card in general? That's a tough one honestly, so much of the art is just such a good depiction of the characters- especially when it's cards with interactions

But as far as the Scarabia boys go-

I ADORE both of Jamil's birthday cards, like in the first one he looks so endearingly embarrassed and uncomfortable, and in the second like, he's having a great time- maybe not literally but come on he looks like he's having so much genuine FUN I absolutely love it

It's also a big part of why I am so excited for the fairy gala event, because not only is everyone gorgeous but everyone gets to genuinely have a bit of a good time and you get to see them smiling and laughing and I'm just 😭😭😭

Also not groovy art but shout out to Jamil's beans day outfit since it's just a great look for him?? Like he's so genuinely cool??

Also special shout out to these two because they're also so cool 😭 I'm so excited for Halloween lmao

BUT speaking of Kalim

LIKE THESE ARE BOTH SO GOOD?? His groovy dorm uniform art is GORGEOUS and he's just so PRECIOUS, and for the fairy gala he's having such a good time and the colors are lovely like 😭😭😭 kid's makin me cry come on

Also I adore Kalim's culinary card, he's just doing his best and looks SO distressed, idk it's really cute and I want to help him- even if it's only giving moral support because he needs to learn how to do things himself lmao

#i have TONS of other favorites but tumblr limits the amount of pictures i can put in the post lmao #ask #anonymous #twisted wonderland #twst wonderland #twst #twst spoilers #long post

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pliablehead · 7 months

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I guess if I want to write a travelogue/write up post about my 4-stop journey following the first chunk of Everything Everything's 2023 US tour then I have to just... do it!! If this is of interest to anyone other than me then GREAT and if not then it's still special to me to try to write down and remember everything I can uwu

FIRST STOP WASHINGTO-- wait, no, actually, first stop, on my way out of town, the local donut shop in my neighborhood, a place that I absolutely adore and patronize all the time with staff who mostly know me by now/some of whom are my instagram friends/etc. i'd checked with the Pittsburgh venue ahead of time to see if it was okay to send in outside food as a gift to the band even though they have a cafe/bar in their own right, and whoever I corresponded with said it would be totally fine, so I talked to the donut shop manager and set up a delivery of a dozen for the lads for Saturday before their show here. advance paid for that, as well as getting my own breakfast and coffee hehe, and then hit the road. OKAY FOR REAL FIRST STOP WASHINGTON DC!!! This was the second-longest leg of my Car Driving and it was definitely a wee bit exhausting but I had a podcast or two and a ton of E E on shuffle to bolster me through and I made it to my mom's friends' house, where I was staying, with relative ease. The venue was within a not-too-unreasonable walking distance too so after a change of clothes (I had very distinct and deliberate Show Outfits for each night that were fully separate from my travelin' clothes) and a bunch of fussing with the bracelets™ I headed over!! stopped for empanadas and a smoothie on the way and then queued up!!

aaaaahh this was such a nice fun queue. I was maybe about a dozen-ish people back from the front, down about half a block, and once I finished scarfing down my food this was my first real experience with doling out the bracelets. so fun! I'm glad it was basically an instant hit! AND I even got a few trades in this queue--one person gave me a Man Alive / Tin / E E bracelet with teeny tiny beads, super fun, and one person with a SHITTON of kandi stuff gave me one that had the name of a flower genus on it?? i think they said it was?? I love the colors on this one! And one person traded me a Blow Pop. lmao. I should eat that before it sits in my fanny pack for too long. I also really enjoyed chatting with the two guys right in front of me (Nick and Alex?), who were from south-central PA and had a couple other fandom touchstones in common with me (mcelroys/dnd/BDG! I love this Venn diagram!!) as well as a big love for E E. We didn't really see much of each other beyond the point of getting inside but I liked y'all a lot!! Hope you had as great a time as I did!!

Black Cat is where I saw E E the first time I EVER SAW THEM, which was almost exactly six years ago from this gig, which is insaaaane. The space is kind of narrow so there's not a huge amount of stage barrier space right at the front, so Becky and I ended up pretty much at the front but almost aa-all the way stage left/Jeremy-side. coulda been worse hehehe. We kind of loitered and chatted with nearby folks, I think maybe becky checked out merch ahead of the show ? but I kind of just held down the fort, enjoying setup stuff, pete running around etc hehe. getting BLASTED by the AC, which was nice.

the ummmm the opener! our first experience with Pierre! I gotta say his general style is not for me, despite the fact that I do think he's very talented and good at the thing he's doing. this first night especially he was SO sweaty and I felt bad for him lmao, you could like see it dripping off him. i am so curious as to why/how he got paired with the boys for this tour, like, what aligned in such a way that this match was made, because my general vibe on the crowd/his audience/etc was that we the fans of the nerdy white english mathy rocker guys were not exactly his demo LOL. BUT i will say in DC I do think he had one little pocket of strong-contingency fans because I kept hearing big whoops and cheers coming from one specific audience spot and I loved that for him lmao. for some reason i cannot explain I actually almost found his backing/support musician guy (the guy who was basically his version of peter) more compelling. I wanna know THAT dude's story lol.

so when he finished up we had a little interlude aaaannndd the setlist appeared... hehe. I could def have peered up to look at it from where I was, but I was telling myself I wanted to be surprised, and was deliberately looking away........ until suddenly everyone around me was gasping and going HOLY SHIT and I was like, ugghhh okay, I will check JUST enough to figure out what that's all about, and what that was all about was immediately apparent because smack in the middle of the set were a Man Alive track (which we never get in the states bar MY KZ) and something that just said "New Song." AND LIKE, OKAY, THAT'S A JUSTIFIED HOLY SHIT. new song????? so now we had THAT to contend with coming up, and aaaaaaah. ahh. yeah holy shit indeed.

it's also while we're standing there that AG pops into view, (or maybe I first spotted him during Pierre's set? Chronology is irrelevant), back off behind Becky from me in the other direction, and we waved over at him to say hi and he says to us, "All four of them are bleached blond." And my gut instinct was to be like, I DON'T BELIEVE YOU, but also the truth in my heart was that there was absolutely no justification for not believing them, because of course they would, and sure enough these bozos roll out onto the stage and they are all four draco malfoy-ass bleach blond. God it looks a mess on Jeremy LOL and while the color/dye job wasn't bad on Alex, it was clear his finer hair wasn't holding up as well against the chemicals because it was just a fluffy riot mess. BUT GOD IT WAS REALLY SO INCREDIBLY STRIKING OF A VISUAL for them to be all be wearing all pure white/beige clothes and then to have this bleach-white hair and all of it catching and glowing under the stage lights... god... clearly the effect they were going for and it WORKED, IT REALLY DID. I think it looks so damn goofy (mostly on jez) out of context but it's ABSOLUTELY nailing the Everything Everything Gig Costumes energy/uniform thing that I felt like they'd drifted away from a little the past couple tour cycles, I'm so incredibly here for it

The set!!!! The gig!!!!!!! it wasn't a wildly different set from what we'd seen in CA last year, obviously RDF-heavy supplemented with a heaping helping of singles from the other albums too, but I remember thinking Leviathan and Pizza Boy were especially excellent aaaah. And Schoolin'! And the NEW SONG! The two pieces of it I IMMEDIATELY absorbed and retained were 'the image of a little yellow face to tell you that I'm sorry' and 'I love you like an atom bomb,' and I was spouting those two pieces back to anyone who wanted to talk to me about it for the rest of the night. I'm so lyrics-pilled/vocalist-biased. Which was.... Unfortunate, for this DC gig, because I do think the audio mix was pretty rough - at least from where we were standing so close to the front, I wonder if it was at least a tiny bit better further back into the crowd in the area the sound system was probably primarily calibrated for - and we were REALLY losing Jon in the mix, especially underneath how enthusiastically the crowd was singing along a lot of the time. We were on Jeremy's side of the stage and we were really just getting a LOT of Jeremy. (Which, the bass did sound absolutely fantastic, so hard to complain about that, at least, but still.) I was very thankful to be going to a few more gigs beyond this one so that this wasn't my only experience with it, especially New Song!!! Plus there were a bunch of other little tech difficulties too? Near the beginning of the new song, Jon's guitar strap came detached and wouldn't reconnect, and after struggling a bit with that he decided to just drift back and pass it off the stage to their tech guy--but he was still kind of singing/holding the mic, so as he moved on stage, the mic cable yanked the microphone stand straight over, too. Then the rest of the night that stand was pretty precarious and nearly fell two other times, only caught at the last minute by a true homie who was standing directly in front of it in the audience lmao. I think Becky yelled HIRE HIM! at one point. Annnnd also for like a whole verse of NOTLK jez's bass boards just kind of Gave Up. He tried switching to his other instrument but that wasn't working either, and then finally it all sort of came back online, so he played a little stretch with the wrong bass and then was able to switch back to the right bass when there was a lull in his part. SHAMBLES. lmfao. god it was a great gig though. SO FUCKING GOOD TO BE BACK I LOVE BAND UWAAAAAHH I WAS SO SWEATY AND HAPPY

afterrrr da gig, we needed very badly to drink water and so we managed to do that I believe, and we kind of loitered in the Merch Line Situation trying to figure out what was going on. I had kind of resolved not to buy merch until at least NY, part because I really didn't want to be lugging anything around with me for too much of my trip (esp on this night where I walked) and part because I'd read a post that Irving Plaza was among the venues who'd committed to not taking a cut of band merch sales and letting them keep it all, and I was like, well obvi that's where I want to spend my money. Plus it was cash only in DC and since I'd kind of told myself NY I didn't even have cash out, so it was nothing. BUT!!! homie Adrian whomst I had met at the DC Foals show last December had been there, a few people ahead of me in the queue and also rocking out yaayyy, and he was trying to get merch but the ATM inside the venue literally did not have any more cash left inside it to dispense because everyone was taking out so much of it to buy merch AAAH. so he reached out to me like 'you're going to more shows than just this one right?' and asked if I'd pick him up the stuff he wanted later and then mail it to him so he didn't have to contend with international shipping and I was like aaaah absolutely! yay gig comradeship!

so I think becky finally committed to getting in the merch line and I was mostly just waiting With Becky and there weren't a ton of people left because the venue was trying to clear out, but the handful of us who were still there, a wild Alex Robertshaw appeared up near the stage/bar. we vibed out whether he was receptive to Fan Bothering at this time but it seemed legit, so a bunch of us went over and socialized with him and took some pics, got some signatures, etc, woooo. We tried to vibe out from him also if the other guys were gonna be coming out, and when and where, but y'all know Alex is the awkwardest member of this band by a country mile and we didn't really have too coherent of a discourse at this point in time lmao. Not sure who talked to him about what at this point as I was just trying to hold down the fort and be Normal. I was able to give Alex the bracelet I'd made for him at this point (he was so cute studying on it and reading it ahaha - "rave-- kevin-- kevins rave KEVIN'S RAVE" and he smiled and I felt cool), and also meanwhile Pete was still running around stage doing roadietech type stuff and I sort of politely flagged him down like "do what you need to do if you need to do it but also: Hi lol" and I got to give him his bracelet as well! yay ♥. He complimented my shirt--I'd been getting a lot of compliments on it honestly, it's their Yellow Bird Project shirt that Jon designed some time ago, only I replaced the plain white sleeves of the original unisex tee with some sort of vermilion "girly fit" sleeves that are more comfy to me and kind of give the shirt a different look haha--and I sort of joked on that, said as much, oh, I swapped the sleeves out, "It's to cover up how sweaty I get." and Pete gave me a deadpan look and went "You don't even want to go there with me" and I was like "YEP I FEEL MUCH THE SAME" and I think we both enjoyed a moment of feeling very Seen about the sweatiness hehehehehe. I love Pete he is my heckin Friend With no additional merch purchases (merchases) (hm, no) the venue was finally for realsies ejecting us so we drifted back out into the streets and just like... okay... now what........ this was the point at which I think our Band Groupie-ing Crew became me, Becky, Danielle in the fox ears/tail, and a lanky youth named S.P. whom I'd talked to in line earlier while doling out bracelets (he had the good E E baseball cap; he asked for an Arc bracelet and I commended him for being an Arc fan, since I feel like they are a dwindling/rarer breed, and then I offered up my hot take that Violent Sun is just the second coming and second pass at Duet, which he thought was spicy, and then he asked for my most controversial E E take and I told him that I don't really like Tin very much and he told me he doesn't really like Shark Week very much and we agreed to disagree and have a good night LOL) (anyway I digress !). It was a warm enough night and none of us really had places to be so we didn't mind just loitering and trying to suss out some more Guys other than just Alex and Pete, but slowly but surely we became basically the only fans left sticking it out. so we stuck together! We split up to try to find if there was a rear stage door at the back and SP and I went one way (the long way RIP) and Becky and Danielle went the other way and it turns out the way that SP and I went was an alleyway just FULL of rats. Too many rats in DC!! People like to talk about rats in NYC but I saw WAY more in Washington just vibing out on the sidewalks and eating trash. I'm not anti-rat, they live there and deserve to live, but oh man it was just. I did not especially want a rat encounter LOL. The rat alley DID actually lead us to where the bus was though!!, but there was also a venue security guy there who was immediately like "Nope, back up, leave, bye" and we were like. understood have a nice day, and doubled around a different way to meet back up with the other two. wwwwelp.

We loitered a bunch more and eventually saw Alex and his homies like, AT LEAST two more times, but we ultimately never saw anyone else. They p much confirmed for us that because this was the first night of the tour, they had a really intense load-out, and everyone was jetlagged to all fuck, that they probably wouldn't ever make it out, even though at least once Alex had said something ambiguous/optimistic enough to imply that they might yet, but really it just got SO late that we couldn't justify still being there for nothing instead of being like. asleep. lol. SP and Danielle got rideshares, Becky and I walked back as far as her hotel together, and then I hiked the rest of my way back too and went the fuck to SLEEP!!! FIRST GIG IN THE BOOKS!! WHAT A LOVELY NIGHT GOD IT WAS JUST SO BEAUTIFUL TO BE SEEING THEM AGAIN ngl I think the blond is really attractive on Mike with his darker brows/beard and I'm always a sl*t for jonathan so like. beautiful. finally some delicious fucking food

it was super nice of my mom's friend to let me stay with him!!! I was so delighted to see his cats again, I remembered them from the last time I was there like six or so years ago, they're sooooo floofy and beautiful aahh. he also provided me with a white noise fan without me even asking which was SO choice. zzzzz. My plan was to get up in the morning, get coffee someplace nearby at wherever he recommended, and then hit the road forrrr... Philadelphia!!! Night two!!!! I got some breakfast tacos at a hella legit place, messed up my coffee/milk/sugar ratio ever so slightly but not in an undrinkable way, and then frickin. autobot rolled out. This drive was not bad at ALL, I timed it pretty much exactly like I planned it to, which was to: get to my friend's place where I was crashing in philly with, ideally, enough time to take a small nap before I had to do anything else, because, god, despite being pretty exhausted and sleeping okay on the nice guest bed in DC, I had BARELY slept the night before I left just from Travel Antsiness and from both staying up way later and waking up way earlier than I meant to unintentionally, and a second little recharge zzz before I went and did it all over again really hit the spot.

It was soooo nice to see Mads again and to see Mr. Angus and also meet BENNY!! More host cats!! They are suuuch silly good little lads, Mads and I had a ton of Kitty Chat and just vibing out and talking about concerts and fandom and stuff, I was so thankful she let me stay with her and getting to hang out was icing on the cake of this trip! She pointed me toward the trolley I'd need to take to get to the venue, and after my baby snzzz and drinking a ton of water and suiting up in my Arc-inspired look (literally just a sweatshirt dress I bought specifically because it was color-blocked very very much like the jackets/outfits they toured Arc in, I saw it and bought it immediately lmfao) I journeyed into the city, hoping to just find a place to eat in the vicinity of the gig! I was way closer up in the queue this time, the people in front of me were really just like.... the usual suspects, Annika+squad and David+squad (incl. Becky, who'd apparently already been there when I got there but wasn't there when I arrived), and also a super-nice woman immediately in front of me named Robin who I MEGA hit it off with!!! Hanging out with her was such an awesome part of my experience at this gig!!! she's COMPLETELY Offline which is so powerful for her but I hope there's some capacity in which we can continue to be friends because she ruled.

There was a Dominican(? I think) place like one block down from the venue where a couple in front of me had gotten some stuff and so I ran down there to snag food too and holy shit this man gave me so much goddamn food. Just a HUGE pile of rice and beans and some pork ribs, and I got a pineapple fanta, and I just popped a squat on the sidewalk and ate as much of it as I could which was probably not even half of what he gave me but it wasn't even that expensive so god bless. Once I wasn't dealing with my food sitch any more I was freed up to pass out a bunch of bracelets again, and I even got a couple more trades, one that was just a bunch of black beads and a bunch of Xs and one that says 'BUSSY' which I am elated about, thank you so fucking much lmao. Also someone offered to trade me an ibuprofen LOL and I was like no that's fine the bracelet can be free... for now, but I will keep that in mind if I change my mind later LOL aaahhh i was just so excited to give the bracelets out it was such a good vector for socializing and making Friends and Gig Buddies. I did learn p quickly at Philly that I should have made way more Man Alive, GTH, and Raw Data feel bracelets because those were basically the first to go every night and then I got stuck with just sad unloved Re-Animators and AFDs :( I was trying to like! do equal amounts of everything to give everything the love because I love them all! but people got favorites out there damn lmao. I was happy to be able to give Robin the MY KZ one because she said that's the first song she ever heard by them and it's special to her because of that (and then also it's been in the touring set and she got to hear them perform it too yay!!! I don't remember if she said she'd seen them before but it had just been a very very long time, or what, idk, aaaah).

We were R I G H T on the stage at this venue, slightly more to Alex's side this time, and the lip/rise of the stage was not very high at ALL and it felt almost like... intimidating, or like it shouldn't have been ALLOWED, for us to be that close to the stage. :flushed emoji: jeez lmao. I didn't fuck w merch here either but some people around me did I think and I held their spots, and a nice kid from right behind me in the queue brought me a Liquid Death which was so incredibly sweet. Pierre's set passed much as it had in DC, lmao; his other musician guy had a sweet fit on, though, this like two-piece set that was a really really dark/muted camo, a blazer over a black top and then matching like athleisure-fit pants and black boots, it was a fuckin look. They had a song at the very end of Pierre's Philly set that I don't think they'd done in DC (and that I didn't get in PGH either, it turned out), and ironically that was actually probably far and away the song of his I enjoyed the most, so I got kind of into it there at the end! but MAN was I ready to see the boys instead. hnnnn.

LADS SO CLOSE TO ME. JUST RIGHT THERE AND SINGING AND ROCKING. the set was aaaalmost exactly the same as DC, but in Philly they shifted Bad Friday up out of the encore and back into the set proper, and then replaced it in the encore with Violent Sun, which I admit I'd been bummed to not see in DC because I think the Violent Sun/No Reptiles encore double whammy is so incredibly crucial to the vibe. Warmed me to have it back in. Obviously Pittsburgh had so many other contributing factors that put it over the edge, but if it weren't for all of those, I think Philly would've been my favorite/best experience of these four gigs. Jon was spicy (he sang so many of the Original Rejected naughty lyrics, this is where we got 'he's a vegetable now' for the first and only time and also the only gig of the four where he leaned into the 'Arch Jeremy' gag in Arch Enemy, hehehehe, plus also motherfuckin' distant past which is not uncommon), and we got way more of the New Song-- through the whisper network of Becky, AG, David, etc., etc., we'd pieced together enough info to know by now that apparently the title of the song was in the lyrics of the chorus, and so I think it was in Philly that we all pretty much determined/decided that this was Cold Reactor. I love you like an atom bomb and I've become a cold reactor. I wasn't diving as DEEP into SONG DECIPHERING as some other folks were, but I did like kind of working on it at my own pace and absorbing it into my heart and my understanding of the band and what they're about to start doing, and so this was really great, for me, here, beautiful, beautiful. I took almost NO pics and vids at this one because my phone was kind of dying but also mostly just because I was honestly having such an enormously great time and I didn't feel the need to try to do anything other than be present in my body at the gig and experience it live. you KNOW?? LIKE!! MUSIC. man. EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to mention a small tech flub that was actually so charming, where near the very end of Arch Enemy jon seemed to be having trouble with his guitar board in the front, and he spent so long in the outro squinting down at it and trying to resolve the issue that he didn't fully come in on the It's time to show your face! bit at the proper time, and he ended up just saying "It's time to show your face." right into the mic very unaffected and straight-up in his regular speaking voice at the very, very end when the song was basically over. lol. he is cute. everyone is cute.

(I WILL ALSO SAY I got the giggles SO BAD at david and amanda's gudetama they slipped onto the stage, oh my god--I was going to take a joke video just dramatically zooming in on it, as one does, except right when I went to do that it got caught up in jon's mic cable and just TUMBLED AND JOSTLED ALL OVER THE PLACE and that fucking GOT me and I was DYING and it was right at like. the serious, heartstring-tugging, fuck-yeah parts of No Reptiles where I'm supposed to be at CHURCH and instead I'm losing my shit into hysterics over this poor gudetama just rolling everywhere alksdhjglaksd, I had to bury my face in Becky's shoulder for a measure or more and try to recover, oh my godddd. EGGS!) -- (OH ALSO I LMAO I HAVE SEVERAL AUDIENCE MEMBER ~BITS THAT I AM DOING just like, clapping here or there, participating actively in certain parts of things, and one that I kept doing for some asshole clown reason was singing along with/lampshading Alex's quick backing vox on the second verse of Spring Sun Winter Dread-- Philly was probably the place where I was the most prominent/obvious/easy to see doing it, and it made both him and Jeremy REALLY snicker, ahahaha I'm sorryyyyyyy for being obnoxioussssss)

The merch/loitering sitch was sli-iiightly more locked down, in here; there was only so long Marty and I could pretend to be thinking about merch/hanging out with people who were actually in line but not actually being in line before they really truly wanted us to leave, and they were pretty pissed that I even left the venue with an empty/ice-only water cup, never mind any dreams of re-entry. The militant energy of the security at this venue compared to how relatively chill and normal DC had been (for two venues I would say of comparable size/seriousness) was def my least favorite part of the Philly experience. I was outside, finishing my water and chitchatting with some artsy youths who were also unimpressed with security, and Becky's messaging me like "they're in here!" and I'm like "well I'm not and I can't come back so you gotta tell them to come out here!" lmao. But they did!!! All the guys came out before too long and I very delightfully got to talk to everyone. I gave Mike and Jeremy the bracelets I'd made for them - THEY both apologized to ME outright for not coming out to chat the night before?? like hello you’re the band we’re the fans you don’t owe us anything - they kind of came toward my side of the door first, and talked and chatted some, vs Jon sort of peeling the other way to the other half of the loiterers - I honestly have lost track of the sequence of events here and what happened when, but it was largely unimportant hehe. (Gosh, but then I keep randomly remembering other unrelated details. Like, for example, Black Cat gave me their big ol' signature black cat hand stamp, and I'd been thinking, oh this will be fun to watch my four hand stamps stack from these four gigs, the way I got two together from The Altogether/Matt Duncan double feature back in July, and then Underground Arts put theirs on the INSIDE OF MY WRIST and not the back of my hand, and both Irving and T-Bird just did wristbands. BUMMER.) But mostly just Seeing Band, Talking To Band. This was when I overheard Alex definitely confirm to someone that the new song is called Cold Reactor, and he sort of half-seriously half-not said they just didn't call it that on the setlist in case there was another "New Song" they might want to decide to start playing there instead at the last minute, even though the longer this goes on the more confident we are that they're not going to do that and that Cold Reactor is gonna be a new single that probably drops once this tour is over <___< eyes emoji. Also, between Wednesday and Thursday we also knew that the bleach-blond hair is for Lore Reasons, which we assume are to do with Cold Reactor and the album it will be on, because of course it is. stupid. jonathan higgs I want to crawl inside your deranged pisces mind and meld with it vulcan style.

anyway, as far as my short term memory can be relied upon/will tell me is the truth, I think Jon was actually the last person I ended up in contact with on this night; I was drifting over toward him but someone else was still engaged in an active conversation with him, so I was like, well obviously I will wait my turn and let other people have jonathan time even though I'm the biggest jonathan girlie, I can just hang and go in when he frees up, and so I was turned slightly away from him listening in on other convos and talking to Becky and maybe Annika or a couple other people, and then suddenly there's a delicate hand on the back of my shoulder and Jon's right in my fucking ear ominously going "hello." askdjhgka. He was soooo cute and nice, I gave him the bracelet I made him as well (which was "I wanna be there" from Violent Sun and shades of re-animator orange) and he was immediately like Oh, of course you, are the bracelet distributor, and I was like hehehe yes, and he asked if I also had to do with the gudetama and I was like absolutely not I have no idea what is going on there lmfao. and I think amanda and david did take credit for it at that time of course so yes hehe. Ended up in a fun casual chitchat with Jon and Becky for most of the rest of the time here, with her trying to squeeze him for info about the new song and album and lore hehehe and him being his typical cryptic trolly cagey Jon, and it was all in incredibly good fun; he noticed her bracelet too, and she pointed it out like Yes I got the one that says This Is The Prophecy from big climb because it hearkens back to that bit they were doing on twitter from way before that song even came out so I gave her that one on purpose duh lol, and Jon says "Oooh yep I forgot about that. .. Album..." and mimed swiping his hair back like whoopsie lmao and it was such a silly little half-self-neg on Re-Animator lol, and so I said "WELP too bad! because the one I made from you is one of those too haha!" and he took another look at it as if to remind himself about it and then went "Well yeah that one's good" with a wryer wickeder laugh and I was like lmao tell us how you really feel. But like he's right violent sun is perfect and I actually labored so long over what I was going to have jon's say because he was the only person I didn't have a really solid concrete idea of what to make for and ALSO he was the only one I REALLY wanted to get PERFECT because it's important to me and yeah. so it was. reassuring for him to like the violent sun one. idk anyway.

The woman we'd seen running around doing a lot for them, including merch, who recognized us from DC the night before and was fun and glib about it, and who turns out to be: Tour Manager Sam, finally had enough of our fucking about and started very efficiently organizing us all into "everyone who wants a pic with themself + all four guys come get in Now and I'm gonna play photographer and then we all gotta go the fuck home" and I respected it SO much lmao, so we had sort of a rotating queue of group picture taking and then the guys all went back inside the venue (I kind of fingerguns'd Jon like "New York :D?" and he looked at me just SO Put Out and just deadpanned "Of course you're going to be there." of course!! lmfao) and we started talking amongst ourselves just out of reluctance to let the night end/social energy we still wanted to wallow in and that was cute and nice. I said goodbye to some folks who weren't going any further on the tour. I had such a wonderful night. Then, lo and behold, we turn around and Jeremy's up on the stoop of the venue, and he's like, I think I've locked myself out. I am locked out and I also don't have my phone on me. lmfao jez. he goes "I am going to blame jonathan" and we allowed him that. I was like, do you want me to TWEET AT SOMEONE LOL and he was like good god no they'll come back for me eventually, and then yes they did, and THEN we all left hahahaha. becky insisted on sticking with me part of the way to the trolley but I was like, it is coming in 14 minutes and it says it's gonna take me 12 minutes to get there I gotta GO!, and I freaking missed it anyway!!! and then I had to wait like OVER HALF AN HOUR MORE for the next one and i didn't even get ON the trolley till like 12:50 and it was soooo late before I was back at mads's place aiyaa. But, all in all, TRULY SUCH A GOOD NIGHT I JUST LOVE BEING IN AN ACTIVE BUZZY FANDOM SPACE AND MEETING FANS AND PARASOCIALING AND DANCING AND SINGING AND DOING ARTS N CRAFTS. you KNOW?? you know. you're on tumblr you get it.

The Philly to Jersey (pre-NYC) leg of my road tripping was set to be Thee shortest drive I had to make the whole time, so I let myself have time in the morning to keep snoozing and fucking about, even though I once again woke up way earlier than I'd hoped to and didn't ever make it back to sleep after that. But the tradeoff was still super nice and relaxing vibing with Madeline--I offered to buy her breakfast in exchange for the couch-crashin' and we got hella bagel sandwiches and cold brew from a place real close by her apartment, and scarfed 'em down while watching the most recent ep of Make Some Noise and just shooting the shit (again, largely about either fandom or kitty cats. We are simple folk). My sandwich contained salmon, a fried egg, and the most incredible sloppy caramelized onions, what a banger. The last truly good food I truly enjoyed before my mega super Travel Tummy set in and wrecked my whole shop metabolically speaking, rip. I took a little rinsy-rinse shower at her place too, and then finally made myself get up and Go to do the runaround silly business of driving to and parking in NJ, taking the ferry in to Manhattan, and then taking the subway to Allegra's place for NIGHT THREE IN NEW YORK CITY WOOOOO. I LOVE going to E E with Allegra!!!!! Once again I used her place primarily as a spot to change out of my car clothes and into my gig clothes (it's RDF night; I wore an oversized pale beige button-up shirt, actually left over from my Foals Antidotes costume from last halloween hahaha, gussied up with E E pins and jewelry) and to fuck about with bracelets. I made Allegra a special In Birdsong bracelet, the only one I did from that song :) because allegra is my special E E friend!! and she needs one of her special song!!! Fandom... is good. Allegra also had a kickass outfit. We stopped in at a tex-mex place she really wanted to try that was nearby the venue, and i got pretty nervous that it was gonna be a little late before doors for us to be hitting a sit-down dinner spot, but we rushed it along pretty well on the food and got our slice of dessert cake to go in a box and everything was A-OK. And I had time to hit a bodega for merch cash from the ATM and a pineapple soda for fortitude! let's GOOO irving plaza.

God, Irving was kind of a shitshow when it came to queuing and security though. There were a fair few people in line ahead of us, maybe just as many or slightly more than what I'd had in DC (definitely further back than Philly, although in line near us were the same also-eating-Dominican-food couple from the Philly gig, and I recognized them and was glad to see them again-- I FULLY DO NOT REMEMBER/DID NOT CATCH Y'ALL'S NAMES, AND I FEEL TERRIBLE BECAUSE WE HUNG OUT AND WORKED TOGETHER SO MUCH, i am so sorryyyyy), but then because it's not a sweet local friendly indie venue but is in fact Livenation As Hell, there's some person affiliated with the venue wandering up front offering some sort of VIP/fast pass line experience where you can just cough up some extra cash and get in your own special line and get to go in first regardless of how long other people have been queuing--you know the deal. Wack as hell. I think David and Amanda opted for this in some capacity, so I was happy for them about it, but a lot of the other people who ended up doing it had kind of rancid vibes of just like "concert-going" and not the very lovely communal sardine megafan energy everyone else had had thusfar. Also it put us where we were at in the queue standing in a place that just had a really terrible smell of sewage, which persisted almost the entire time we were there only to suddenly be replaced by a very powerful smell of bleach, as if whatever it was was suddenly being cleaned/sanitized. ICKY!! Annika was enough further ahead of us in line that I thought it might have only been over where we were but she said no she was definitely getting it too. new york city babey

Bracelet distribution got a little silly here, too, since the queue was wrapping SO far back and was being policed a little more stringently, but I had kind of figured I may need some kind of additional plan, especially since I'd decided not to wear my fanny pack (bum bag--fanny pack, says Jonathan Higgs in a derisive American accent, even as he's telling me he likes mine a lot, skdjshgalkj smh) since my shorts under my shirt had really capacious pockets and that just made for one less thing to worry about--I snagged a sheet of paper at Allegra's place, along with a gallon-size ziploc bag, and I put all the bracelets in there with a note that said to just take one if you wanted one and pass it back through the queue while we waited. It was kind of a crapshoot how effective I thought this was going to be, especially since I had to kind of wait to deploy it once there was a substantial queue BUT by the time there was a big queue it meant that I couldn't see exactly HOW big from where I was near-ish enough to the front, so I didn't know how far the bag was going to make it, if someone was going to end up stuck with my whole big bag at the back of the line (esp since I had a fair number of extra Philly bracelets left over that I lumped in with the NYC ones just because I still Had them).... whew...! BUT by the time Marty was there, he was further enough back from me that I asked him to kind of check up on it when it made it to him and keep passing it; and, by the time we were going inside, I could see zero sign of the bag itself but I DID catch a lot of people milling around me wearing bracelets, and one or two of them did stop me to thank me (since I'd indicated on my note in the bag that I was the person with green hair hahaha), and then I never saw 'em again, so I guess it was a relative success!! Yayyyyy!! WAY less conducive to making New Line Friends than the DC/Philly setup had been, but incredibly effective at making sure that all my bracelets found new homes rather than me having to take a huge handful home with me again and them just sitting in my house forever LOL. success! :)

tl;dr about the bracelets. not important compared to concert and band. WE GO INSIDE!! They have such dumb security/bag check. a gender-split process where the men get patted down by a dude guard and the women get patted down by a lady guard? In TYOOL 2023? you hate to see it. She felt the Sharpie in my back pocket and made me take it out and surrender it???? MY METALLIC BRONZE SHARPIE ? ? no sharpies in the venue I guess. Talked to at least one other person who got sharpie-confiscated too, but also at least two people who fully didn't and still had markers just fine. Absolute shenanigans. Allegra and I didn't quite get barrier due in part to fastpass line nonsense but we did end up right exactly behind Annika &co. with perfect sightlines, once again stage-left/Jeremy-ward-of-center. we don't hate it! my Philly pals to my left with David, Becky et al in front of them. Me fully surrounded by redheads. LOL.

this was the laaaatest show of my whole run, a whole lot of standing around just waiting for Band, and also definitely the energy of "trying to politely vibe to pierre kwenders's set because he can clearly see me and look straight at me even though I would much rather just skip to the bit I actually came for and don't necessarily need to see his set" just slowly increasing every night RIP lol. BUT WE MADE IT! ohhhh new york. EXACT same set as Philly but I couldn't even be mad about it because I was still so grateful to get a Man Alive song that wasn't just MY KZ (not that I don't love my kz obviously, but it HAS been in the set literally all eight times that I have seen E E live as of this Irving Plaza gig, and something else from that album is fun fresh delicious) (OH, SWEET THREEP OF FRIDAY EVENING, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW) and to be getting COLD REACTOR again, especially becaussseee by this point I knew just enough of the lyrics that I felt confident singing/mouthing along conspicuously with the parts that I Did know, aka I See You Sir I'm Doing The Thing Just Watch Me, god I wish I knew how to be not so fucking extra but then again no I don't. we did get saddled with some Rather Annoying audience members in our near vicinity--a couple I'd spotted in the fastpass line earlier wedged themselves hard between me and my tall redhead/mask-wearing homie from Philly, all like "ummm we're short :)" because they. were, but that didn't give them a right to be pushy and rude, and their vibes were kind of shit because the sense I got was they were mostly there because the girl really loved the band and the dude didn't know much about them at all, and also they were already drunk so early on in the set, and they were talking loudly with some other fans they'd just met and getting Lore™ explained to them and it was just a lot of. loud talking and shoving. in my vicinity. when I would have preferred for there to. not be. BUT Also materializing behind me was someone who said "I saw your bracelets on twitter do you still have any!!" and I had to be like UHHHH FUCK, NO, I turned them loose into the queue, did they not make it as far as you..?? and she sadly said no, and I was like, well the only one I have left is this one I just left on for tradesies/advertising purposes, and it says "akon in the butterfly house" so that's kind of a deep cut, if you're familiar-- and she went WAIT REALLY and seemed SUPER jazzed to get a Dave Sardine-ass bracelet and I was like OKAY YOU KNOW WHAT, GOOD, ACTUALLY, because I'd made four of these and I knew they were going to be the deepest cut/hardest sell and I was really really hoping that whoever ended up with them would actually get and appreciate them. so thank you, andrea, for being that person, and for appearing exactly when the bracelet needed it most. so glad to have hung with you this night. sorry that you too found yourself among the ranks of the sharpie-confiscatees.

ANYWAY, OTHER THAN THAT, THIS AUDIENCE WAS FIRE AND THIS GIG SLAPPED. We were finally in a space and an environment that REALLY lent itself to the crowd actually full on bouncing/dancing instead of just kind of wobbling and vibing and everyone in my immediate zone was really going hard. I LOVE this fucking BAND. I love every song by this band. I love when Jon just points the mic at the crowd and the entire crowd sings the whole song word for word and note for note. I love that Jon was still desperately trying to cram the name of the host city into the start of My Kz, despite the fact that "Washington" subs for "Lucifer" perfectly (he has done this both times I've seen them in DC lol) but "Philadelphia" is WAY too stupid long and "New York City," while a syllable shorter, scans metrically in an extremely busted way and you could have just said EN WHY CEE or. y'know. lucifer. but okay man you do you. Jon was just as rowdy as the rest of us lmfao. he was like, climbing up and down off Mike's riser, he was finding people who were taking photos/videos and staring directly into their cameras (me fucking included--I'm sorry, Jon, you can't make eye contact with me while singing the "When I saw you, I fell in love" part of Leviathan, I am pretty sure that is illegal and a crime against my humanity), and basically all the tracks from Get To Heaven (plus like, Cough Cough and NOTLK) blew the fucking roof off the place. I think he donked some My Kz lyrics hehehe he just skipped to the alt lyrics of the chorus too early without completing the standard chorus first at the end, and a little flubbo in NOTLK and a tiny stutter in No Reptiles too, everyone was just TOO ROWDY and he's THROWN LOOPY and man did we not care. I said multiple times to people on this tour that pretty much the closest things I've ever experienced to true Religion are a) being in an E E audience for No Reptiles and b) being in a Hedwig audience for Midnight Radio. they're the same spiritually in my heart and also like do people who love Jesus feel this way and is this why. insane. the cult leader imagery was Not Wrong!!!!!

I wanna MERCH! I got in the line not too long after the show wrapped, but true to reports I'd heard about the pre-show merch line, it was moving verrryy slowly, with just one guy manning it who was not exactly quick and a card reader that seemed pretty chuggy too (but hey, at least NY was taking card). I'd known I wanted the poster--it's got my favorite neon orange on it, it really really slaps, and I wanted something to get signed--but I let myself talk myself into a t-shirt too, mostly because I was REALLY excited to buy E E merch apparel that wasn't black or white. Yellow!! a really freaking good yellow!! I wish the yellow ones had actually had the tour dates on them like the black and white ones did but the yellow branding has been pretty exclusive to this leg of tour (i.e. vs the red branding of the west coast one last year) and it looks soooo good with my hair that I don't especially mind. I also knew that Adrian wanted a copy of Caps Lock On, but that he also wanted a shirt, but I hadn't heard back from him about which shirt or what size so I just got the book and my stuff and then bounced. Communique from outside was that Alex had surfaced but no one else, but that Alex had promised appearances by the rest of them, but that also Alex was already gone and unlikely to return by the time I made it outside. I posted up with all my friends from inside, god this was SUCH a good sardine squad this night, and it took some waiting but eventually the promises came true! All the other boys surfaced and we had some REALLY great fan chats and mingling this tiimmmmee. oh my gosh. A guy came with a Modern Bison CD that Jon and Jeremy were really truly overjoyed to see and to sign and take pictures with; I talked to Jeremy about the bracelets some more because he'd been wearing the one I gave him the WHOLE GIG IN NEW YORK SO LIKE THAT'S GONNA BE IN ANY PHOTOS THAT WERE TAKEN PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING, oh my gosshhh, he was so nice about it and enjoyed that his Arch Jeremy matched my Arch Emily, the vibes were impeccable; and then I got everyone to sign my poster, but of course Alex was gone already, so Jon offers to forge Alex's signature and goes "look it's like this" and draws some loopy scribble on there and I'm like, lmao, sure.

thing was... I had absolutely heard Jeremy signing something for someone else the night before talking about how he was getting really good at forging Alex's signature for him, since I guess it's normal for him to be the one that disappears the sneakiest (god he really is just the Justin Craig of this band, it's 1:1, huh), and so when I told Jeremy this, he was like "I'll do it" and I was like "no Jon did already do it" and he was going to just leave it then, like, oh, well, okay, but then he saw the mess Jon had made and he was like "--that's quite dreadful actually-- the trick is to not overthink it--" and so now my poster has two forged Alex Robertshaw signatures and zero authentic ones. l m f a o. (To be fair, I do have other things they've all four signed, and Jeremy's fake Alex is at least passable, and Jon's fake Alex is Absolute Dogshit Nothing. I am obsessed.) I even got Peter to sign! He was talking with another fan about a gift she'd given them in the past that had sadly been part of what they lost in their studio fire, it was really heartbreaking to hear. He also thanked me again for his bracelet and told me he planned to give it to his daughter and that she would love it. We took a pic together! Pete the GOAT.

While I was making the rounds with the other boys and other fans, Allegra mostly in tow, swapping sharpies among those of us who still had them, Becky was back with Jon, taking a couple videos for people who weren't there in NY to talk about stuff that they were curious about--I think in the context of Maria, Becky said something like, she thinks the hair is crazy, and Jon said into the camera something like, "If you think it's crazy Now, give it like two or three more weeks, and you're really gonna think it's crazy." SIR WHAT. If the blond is a precursor to something else happening I'm gonna be so the opposite of normal about it, and if the bleach is a stepping stone toward the boys dyeing their hair Other colors I am going to be PROFOUNDLY NOT NORMAL ABOUT IT, AND IF ANY MEMBER OF THE MANCUNIAN ROCK BAND EVERYTHING EVERYTHING HAS THEIR HAIR DYED GREEN ANY TIME IN THE NEAR FUTURE I AM GOING TO BE ABSOLUTELY COMPLETELY INSUFFERABLE. tyler the creator unfollow me right now etc. etc. etc. The more I've thought about it I don't THINK this is what's up--my sense is that any Cold Reactor music video is probably already filmed and ready to drop alongside the single pretty quick after the tour ends, rather than being something they're going to film/put together entirely post-tour, so they probably needed the bleachblond for some energy similar to how I felt about them when they first walked on stage in DC, but Oh man...... OH MAN............ I digress. anyway.

following up from that, Allegra (I think? Or maybe still Becky and allegra was just Present) addressed the notion of the hair being related to the Lore, and like, did that mean lore for the single/the upcoming album ? ? which was what we were assuming, and Jon said some demented and ominous and extremely exciting phrase like, "The lore for this one is.... b o t t o m l e s s" in his always-startling real deep Jon voice, and that was the fucking sound bite of the evening, folks. FOLKS. ALLEGRA AND I WENT ALL THE WAY BACK TO HER APARTMENT JUST CONTINUALLY SAYING "THE LORE IS BOTTOMLESS!" my body is so god damn ready.

We bid farewells to all our friends for whom NYC was their final stop on this tour!! SAD!!!!!! Going to miss all the homies T___T it's not fair that we're not just all going to every single stop on this tour I don't think? it should actually be illegal for us not to be present when the band is performing?? the hugest RIP. Hugs exchanged all around. Me trying to say bye to Jon but he's engaged with someone else so I think I just awkwardly said "See you tomorrow" twice and then we left. becky maaaybe trying to last minute scramble to also come to pgh now despite not really having accounted for it in her plans originally ? ? I was not certain what she intended here but I supported her. yes. me, annika and AG for sure being there at least. we ride. Back to allegra's where I did, unfortunately, sleep ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLY/BASICALLY NOT AT ALL due to being so hot and stuffy in my little nest on the floor that it was making me nauseated, I think I got maybe 2.5 hours tops, but I didn't really have a choice because if I wanted to be back home in time to do ANYTHING other than just rock straight over to the queue for Thunderbird then I knew I was going to have to leave so GOD DAMN early in the morning to haul ass back to where my car was and then drive the seven hours to pgh. But I did exactly that!!!! bitch!!!!! Other than some issues like, managing to make a timely pit stop for gas/potty/coffee, I endured the miserable long roadtrip despite myself, raging my way through the poconos, downing the largest cold brew Wawa would sell me, having a truly tragic car vs quesadilla incident, etc. My BFF Francis even got on the phone with me for the last hour or so and we chatted and I got to give them the whole update on the tour thus far, so fun! They MIGHT try to go to the Chicago stop next week!!! if they feel like they can swing it, and I was like ok no pressure but also it's been an extraordinary experience for me thusfar and I highly recommend. So if you see Francis at E E Chicago please holler at them kindly from me!!! :) But at the very least they said they did want a T-shirt and venmo'd me money to buy them one, since I was already still gonna have to get one for Adrian. woooooo

I got home with, yeah, basically exactly enough time to shower, get my outfit together, and regroup before heading to the venue !!! I JUST BARELY missed the bus that would've gotten me there the most promptly, largely due to not being able to find another fucking Sharpie since irving plaza took my first one lmfao, and it ended up being quicker to walk there than to wait the 36 minutes it would've been for another bus or whatever. I still had MEGA travel tummy so I just snagged an apple and scarfed it down on the walk over. Annika was already there queuing! so we hung out in line together and waited and drank the waters we had definitely brought in from outside the bar and just vibed lol. and she was like, I heard them checking two new songs that haven't been in the setlist yet, and I was like ha ha lol like what, and she said, kevin's car and leave the engine room.

and listen, I was optimistic. that my social media obnoxiousness and well-known, easily observable public desires might yet sway them, because come on it's my hometown and it's the last show i'm gonna see on this tour and I sent them donuts, and those were MEANT as a KINDNESS and an ENTHUSIASM FOR DONUTS and not as a bribe, but if anyone wanted to interpret them as a bribe anyway whomst was I to say no, but like. just because I want the band i like to do a thing absolutely does not mean that they have to fucking do it. I want to be crystal clear that i have never at any point EXPECTED them to do this. i just. hoped. yearned in my heart of hearts. and also had very sound rationale for how possible/likely it was. Here's How Engie Room Can Still Win. yfm. but the soundcheck all but confirmed it in my soul for me. and I was like... glad, that she'd been there and caught it and could tell me about it, because it gave me time to like, come to terms with the reality of it, emotionally. AAH. AAAAAHHH, OKAY. BITCH, PLIABLE HEAD, IT'S ALL HAPPENING.

we lingered and watched the queue form behind us-- I spotted a kid I'd seen at the Philly show, god bless. Everywhere we turn, repeat customers. I was telling my work friend today, I feel like the US fanbase for E E is significantly smaller than the UK audience, but we make up for it in that we go fucking hard. Every US fan is a superfan. there are no half-assed american sardines. and that has been so BEAUTIFUL and means the WORLD to me to be sharing it with the other ones of you. Bracelet sharing rocked at this gig!! I had exactly as many as I'd set aside for Pittsburgh and no more, since all my spares had evaporated up at Irving, A new person ALSO HAD BRACELETS!!! LIKE, for realsies Made For Trading At This Show Specifically bracelets, it was suuuuch a delight, so in addition to my eclectic collection from the previous gigs I now also have one that says RAW DATA FEEL with some truly choice glow in the dark bric-a-brac on there as well, and my heart was so warm aaaaaah. fwiendship :) Also spotted in the pre-doors queue were the Pizza Boy costumed guy and a woman I met at Foals in 2019?? who I guess automatically recognizes me because of the green hair, but just. omg. the community!!!! I'm dying!!!!!!

There was a slight will-call kerfuffle that nevertheless did not stop me from being dead center dead at the front right in front of where jonathan's mic was destined to be, and I was like. god. here we go. the home stretch. This was ABSOLUTELY the WORST place to be to be pretending to be interested in pierre's set, because he kept looking straight at me and dog I gotta admit four shows in I was feeling pretty tired. like, the energy of E E Itself was going to fully reinvigorate me, but nearly everything else on the planet was like totally disinteresting and I wasn't really up for it, especially when it's my semi-sex-repulsed ace-spectrum ass being just really put off by the suggestive gyrations of a performer that is not to my tastes. UM SORRY BYE HAHA. they didn't even play the one song I kind of liked. I managed to miss like two and a half songs of his set being still locked in the merch line at least lmao. literally WHILE I WAS STANDING IN THE MERCH LINE they sold out of the yellow shirt and I couldn't get me and francis matchies so I had to get them the black instead :( but thankfully they still had the one Adrian wanted because idk what I would have done if I had to scramble for a plan B with him on short notice haha. and I had EXACTLY enough cash for the two shirts left from the day before and I was paying Tour Manager Sam with it like oh my gosh I'm so sorry this is like my sweaty pocket cash from last night this is kinda gross and she was just like, No actually that's honestly exactly how I've been rolling as well and it is kind of gross so like agreed hahaha. She's the best. Idk how long she'll be tenured to them but I'd love to see her continue to exist in like their coterie moving forward. impeccable vibes.

also used merch waiting as a way to distribute more bracelets and get a drink of water! WOOHOO NOW I AM READY TO RECEIVE MY COMMUNION THANK YOU. they put the setlists down and there was a very small fraction of me that wanted to avert my eyes but like I. I had to know. and annika said yes there are new songs in the list. and I peered into the list and my song was there.

hey guys. hey guys? look, this was for me. I have to be honest with you. i manifested this. by being annoying on twitter. by being god's specialest costume-making donut-gifting bracelet-slinging weirdo. I'm owning it and it's mine. I was exactly EXACTLY right with "well, if they put Engine Room in they'll probably take Leviathan out, because they'd kind of fill the same role of slow moody song in the set, and then they'll probably swap in a different non-Man Alive song to compensate for Engine Room being there instead," and this is exactly what happened, and so then not only did I get Engine Room but I also got REGRET, WHICH IS ALSO AN EMILY THREEPWILLOW PLIABLE HEAD SONG, BECAUSE HERE THESE NERDLORD KINGSHIT BANDBOYS ARE IN MY GODDAMN BACK YARD, they're in my house and god it took me the whole fucking set up to then to just prepare, like I had to try not to think about it so I could enjoy what was right in front of me. God it was so fucking, fucking good. our position along the stage had Alex's stuff REALLY forward in the mix which was kind of new for me, but jon was just right there and every time I lifted my hands to dance and to yearn it was like, the only thing stopping me from touching you is my own sense of propriety and not any kind of physical barrier or distance, and the person immediately behind me was seeing the band for the first time and felt similarly about NOTLK as I did to Engine Room and those two songs were literally back to back in the set so we kind of screamed and cried and died together, I gave her a huge hug, and LOL SORRY NOT SORRY THAT I GOT MY KZ AND LEVIATHAN TAKEN OUT OF THE SETLIST FOR Y'ALL, PITTSBURGH, I DO FEEL KIND OF BAD BUT THIS WAS UMMM IMPORTANT TO ME, THANK YOU, goodbye. goodbye I left the planet. I thought I was going to cry and I nearly did but I didn't, but I did actually maybe start hyperventilating. like I'm glad I knew it was coming ahead of time because if it had been a full surprise I think whatever was happening to my lungs would have been exponentially worse and I may have even fainted.

(which, btw: jonathan. jon. when he came out on stage, he almost immediately got his mic cable caught on the edge of where his setlist was taped down, and in jerking it around, he whipped the setlist up off the floor and way upstage toward where Pete was; when he finally put it to rights and taped it back down, he just left it where it was at, far enough away from me that I definitely could not read it anymore; and like DID YOU DO THAT ON PURPOSE? TO MOVE IT OUT OF MY LINE OF SIGHT, TO MAYBE KEEP ME FROM READING IT? SURELY YOU HAVE TO KNOW THAT I'D ALREADY SEEN IT LIKE 15 MINUTES AGO. NICE TRY BUT IT'S TOO LATE I SAW EVERYTHING. i love him. i'm in physical pain.)

knowing this was my final one, I went so, so, incredibly hard, I let myself dance and mosh and scream and take way more pics and videos than I had before, I leaned on the lip of the stage, I had an absolute fucking blast. When the set was over a few other people who were more strategically positioned (i.e. people who had not had their most easily accessible setlists unceremoniously yoinked several feet away) snatched up the closest ones way quick; there was a general tension in the crowd at being able to see jon's, but it being further away out of reach, and one ballsy-ass kid (the "Kevin" person who'd accompanied the pizza boy person) actually clambored up onto the stage and ninja'd over and took it for himself, which inspired two copycats to do the same for some discarded guitar picks (and all of which definitely provoked a very loud, unimpressed, authoritative barking of "HEY!!!" from some security somewhere, like, they definitely shouldn't have done that!! yikes!!!!). I, instead, very patiently waited for an opportune moment to get the attention of their short king guitar tech as he was running around doing teardown, and someone else flagged him first and got pete's setlist, and in my final moments I got him to get me mike's. Gang, I'm gonna be real with you, I was not leaving my Pittsburgh hometown show in which they played Leave The fucking Engine Room without a setlist. there would've been blood or at the very least tears. so like. thank god lmao. Satisfied, we got some water and then headed out!!!

It was a long, chilly wait for the boys outside--god, the chilliness was REFRESHING, though, it's October for crying out loud, and DC and Philly and NY had all been muggy sweaty hot with no need for even long pants, much less a jacket, but I was glad I'd had the forethought to wear my flannel around my waist to cover up the YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT printed around the ass of my shorts on my walk over to deter questions, lmfao. We easily identified the spot on the side of the venue where we assumed the guys were coming out, it was all just a matter of time. (AG and I getting some confusing-to-parse messages from Becky? Idk my phone was SUPER dying so I was trying to leave it on airplane as much as possible, I didn't even make it to the end of the night, RIP needing to use my map all day in the car and even with it plugged in spending more than I was juicing of the battery. Listen i needed PICS and VIDEOS!!) I saw Jon first, and he almost looked past me before spotting me there because I was pretty close to the corner of the block, and I just stared at him, and said, May I hug you. and he said, of course! and I hugged him so long and so hard just like, thank you, I was extremely emotional then and I'm also getting extremely emotional now just typing about it, and he was like omg haha what for? Coming to your town? and I was like coming to my town and playing my SONG!!! And then he said something with the tone of a snarky teasy joke but that was like flusteringly truthful underneath about them legitimately rearranging the set quite a lot for me, and I have not stopped screaming internally since then, and Jeremy joked that I'd just seen the exact same set three times and they felt they ought to give me at least something new ha ha ha but like it wasn't entirely a joke, and I just don't even know how to process this. i am perishèd in the soil. anyhow.

I wanted both my setlist and my Supernormal EP vinyl signed by all the boys, and I managed this with relatively little doing ("A deep cut!" jeremy remarks of the supernormal, haha), but I didn't want to be crowding them and getting in the way of other people getting lad time, so I kind of took a backseat and just talked when the time was right, but Jon did kind of keep wanting to talk to me. We talked about the new song, and we talked about the donuts I sent over--oh my GOD, because I was like, they're from that place over there, you can see the big neon donut sign from here! haha, and he was like dyou know what, I knew that's where they were from, because I went over there earlier in the day and got one for myself, I got a huckleberry one and I came back with it and everyone was like, what's that, they were very jealous, and then not too long after that this box of loads of them just shows up-- And like I am a donut fairy psychic wizard. Also everyone who is ever in Pittsburgh should go to Oliver's donuts and eat their fabulously good products. I will shill for them literally any day of the week. This is the second band I have given Oliver's to this year. I cannot be stopped. ANYWAY. i honestly almost could have written that prediction on an envelope and sealed it, that they'd end up wandering in there on their own only for me to send them some too. i was so tickled that jon got the huckleberry one because it's their signature flavor and it's SO PINK and allegra and I had just decided the night before that jon higgs is hot pink coded. like, in the universe where they are dyeing their hair multicolors for the lore. anyhow. it's good shit.

i had SO much fun after this show, even though it was so chilly and dark and we were scrungling around on a literal street corner outside a wine and spirits store, I was like holding people's things so they could get pics and signatures, I was showing off my supernormal booty shorts, I was talking to Jon about lore----- ohhh, my god, I had exactly two bracelets left when the night was over, literally the end of my stash, and it was one Final Form FIRST BODY LAST BODY that I said, y'know, I'm going to save this for my bestie francis when I send them the shirt, because that's the lyric I wanna get a tattoo of, and it'll match with my PLIABLE HEAD bracelet, and it'll be another sort of besties matching thing; and my one lone AKON IN THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE bracelet that remained, where I'd kind of said, well, if this one doesn't find the right home tonight, then at the end of the night I'm going to give it to Jon too. So I dug in my bag and passed it off, and he was like "what does this one say.... kon... Akon... Akon in the house--what is--OH AND THERE'S A LITTLE BUTTERFLY ON THERE, God--" and he was GRINNING and he was SO TICKLED BY IT and Jez chimed in with just like "The attention to detail--" and Jon was like "this is my favorite one actually," he LOVED IT AND I WAS SO CHARMED AND EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT, and then he offered me up something like "you kno-ow, this, the song, of this, there's actually a reference to it in something, something you've never heard-- and--that you never will," doing his cryptic Jon troll grin, "the one thing that didn't make it," with the implied end of that sentence being "onto the album," and 'album' in this case being implied to be Raw Data Feel, which they have very publicly said that for once was an album where they just put everything on and didn't cull any songs or reserve any bonus tracks to release later or whatever. So I said, "Oh, from the one that we've been told had no cuts...?" also not explicitly saying RDF, and his answer to that was vague/nondescript enough but was probably an affirmative, but then he did follow that up with "that's lore that's SO far down the line, WAY WAY out there," and god, just, how deep does this man's brain and nonsense even fucking go. how far into the future is there LORE. BOTTOMLESS!!! I am obsessed with him. i cannot stress enough how blorbo he is to me.

The shorts came back up in conversation too ("Sorry, let me just look quite closely at your ass for a moment--" "It's okay, the shorts are designed that way--") and him saying, yeah, we do talk about some of the costumes still, and then segueing into asking if I had plans for this year and what I was doing, and I said, maybe, I'm not sure if I want to tell you, and he said, Is it to do with us, and I said, Neither confirm nor deny, and he said, Well if it's not, then, I want to know, with kind of a 'duh' tone ahahaha because like true there would be no reason to be coy if it was nothing to do with E E at all, and I explained that like I kind of have to have two costumes ("of course you do."), WELL because y'know the E E ones don't really play to or land with the general populace (a very cheeky "No!") so I have, just, one that's for going to parties, and one that's for fucking around on the internet. He seemed to find that acceptable hahaha.

Anyway what I REALLY wanted with wearing the Supernormal shorts was a group pic of all five of us normal frontways, and then a group pic of all five of us facing backward/ass to the camera a la the picture of them outside the White House, where you could see the goof of my shorts but also all of their butts, but this was an ABSOLUTE DISASTER TO DO when it was so dark that phone cameras were taking everything long-exposure, and also they'd all had just enough beer to not really be following on what the bit was. Absolute shit results on the backwards pic because I couldn't, y'know, see to coordinate it, because I had my back turned. (Me yelling, "Not just MY butt, EVERYONE'S butts, come on!!" into the streets of Lawrenceville.) Utter failure. Didn't care. I love these fucking guys. The vibe was finally kind of winding down, closing-time energy, the guys still had to get on the bus to Boston right away even with tomorrow being their day off, it was a Boston day off and not a Pittsburgh day off where I could offer them free ice cream sadly, so they all sort of bowed sweetly out. Jon gave me his like, I Am Part Of The Band clearance ID badge from the venue, kind of out of nowhere, he was like "sorry this is all I have to give you, it's the least I could do," and I was like WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'VE ALREADY GIVEN ME SO M-- YOU COULD DO WAY LESS ??? but I guess now I have that, too. I tried to give him the King Of Oil sign from my fatberg costume, which I'd initially brought because I thought it would be a fun photo taking prop but the photo situation was the aforementioned disaster so that never really came to any fruition at all, so I was just going to gift it to them, and he said "My suitcase is already so full of so much random shit-- that you've given us--" and then right as he was leaving he just said "Thank you for being such a weirdo" with a voice full of all the kindness and affection in the world and I just yelled "ANY TIME!!" and then oh so tragically the night had to be over.

it's been nice, though, because I'm so used to driving the long drive home at the end of an adventure and having that signify the end, of getting to the end of the car ride and having nothing beyond that but the rest of my regular life; and this time, I drove all the way home, but when I got there, the adventure was still happening, right in my neighborhood, right down the street, and all I had to do was walk back home alone in the dark and climb into my own bed at the end of a long and beautiful night. i can already tell that this is going to be one of my most special memories basically forever, and now every time I drive or ride the bus to and from work each day I will be passing by the place where Everything Everything performed Leave The Engine Room for me, and that's so profoundly special that I don't even have words to describe it. I love this band, I love the people in it and I love the people its gravity pulls in to orbit around it, I'm just so goddamn happy. I don't even know what to say or how to end this.

#everything everything #e e #RDF US tour 2023 #this has been a post #jonathan fucking higgs.#god.#they all just like. referred to me plainly by my name a lot more than i was expecting in a way that was overwhelming #like to one another/other people and not just to me directly #i exist???? sounds fake #i will be thinking about this week for a hundred thousand years #my pliable head IS a walking hope thank you so much for NOTICING!!!!!!#pics to follow maybe on here but maybe just on twitter #where I am yes you guessed it @pliablehead if people want to lurk and see #ok fucking goodnight

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spockandawe · 1 year

Text

Last in first out wouldn't usually be my preference, but I have to dispose of this book tomorrow so my mom can deliver it when she visits, but here we have a present for my aunt for her to give to a former school librarian friend.

'Out of Africa,' by Karen Blixen! I've never read it, and I'll be real, by the time I did this in binderary, I was barely capable of processing words anymore. I still have no idea what's in here, I'm just lucky the formatting was cooperative and consistent. But I did want to give it a very colorful, vibrant treatment. I was out of time to shop, be ut fortunately, I found (double-sided) endpapers I loved, then a fabric to match, and everything shook out from there.

And then.... as you can probably guess from the backgrounds up above, there's also a peller(ish) box. Last time I visited my grandma, I brought some books and boxes to show her what I'm doing with my life instead of producing great-grandchildren. She asked that I leave them behind to show off to visitors, and we compromised and I left some behind, which just so happened to include none of the sexy fanfic that I or my friends have written, lmao

When my aunt showed up to tap in on the elder care rotation, grandma showed her, and she reached out to me to ask if I take commissions. I don't, I give gifts, and I am very bad at planning ahead and didn't realize how bad I was about to burn myself out for no good reason at all, so I said sure. And she wanted an enclosure and most of what I left there was peller boxes, and I was too anxious to ask if she wanted an EASY box or a FANCY box. And then I was blindsided by my mom mentioning she was about to head north!

So I have to drop this off tomorrow, which meant I had to finish it IMMEDIATELY, which meant one non-book binderary project slipped in under the radar XD In a day, I will only have 59 binderary books in custody, which is sad, but it was good incentive to stage photos, and it means I'll have space back soon. We'll see how I space the other photos out, I probably don't want to spoil all the presents for the people I know online, but that means making decisions and I am very tired. But this is an easy one! Huzzah, etc., I should be posting more books soon!

#crafts #bookbinding #binderary #binderary2023 #box making #peller boxes

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