#or maybe……just maybe…….ya books aren’t for me anymore

[jamesscarstairs]

once upon a broken heart still hasn’t got me convinced idk if this is one huge conspiracy that i’m just not in on but yeah

#or maybe……just maybe…….ya books aren’t for me anymore #the shock #the horror #reading

[bakugoushotwife]

kinktober day five: size kink

>>> so obviously there is no other option size kink and toji fushiguro are synonymous in my book! i do call him zen'in in this so i guess we can be mama fushiguro lmao! i hope you guys are having a good time with kinktober so far :D

>>> starring toji (zen'in) fushiguro x curvy!fem!reader >>> cw: size kink duh, daddy kink i'm not apologizing anymore, reader is stuck in a washer, doggy, oral (fem receiving), reader is used to shit men lol >>> wc: 2.3k >>> event masterlist

toji is massive, in every form of the word. he’s tall, towering over most people he comes across at his looming stature. most of the time, tall people were lanky and lean, slender with limbs that stretch for days. he didn’t fit the stereotype. toji was beefy, his biceps were the size of your head and his hands could cover your entire face. his arms aren’t where it stops either, his chest is broad; he’s so impossibly wide, always struggling to find clothes that fit him right. not that you mind too much of course, watching those poor t-shirts try to contain him rile you up to no end every time. he was always there to grab whatever you needed off of high shelves, changing lightbulbs and dusting the ceiling fans because it was all too easy for him to do. he was ridiculously strong, able to open even the tightest of jars and sweep you into his arms like it was nothing. it wasn’t like you ever overlooked toji’s size, it’s just that you never thought yourself all that small. 

in fact, you struggled with your figure a bit, never quite knowing where you fit in for most of your life. boys either made you feel too insecure over your size or only ever wanted you for that curvy and voluptuous figure. at first, toji was no different, knowing how to talk at a beautiful girl when he sees one. he approaches you, lays out some dirty and cheesy pick up line that’s not even remotely close to original, and is honestly surprised when you snort through your nose and roll your eyes. 

“i had more hope outta you, you were actually cute.” you sneer, quickly turning to keep walking down the quiet streets without any more trouble. and that was it–you really weren’t going to give him a second glance even though you admitted he was attractive? he had never really been turned down before, his looks alone enough to open any door. seems with a body like that you were used to gross one-liners. 

“hey, little lady, wait.” he said, his voice a little softer than it had been when he was hitting on you before. you had already walked a few feet away, but noticing the slight change in disposition, you halted. “maybe that was a bit much, i got ahead’a myself.” he says, tilting his head down in an apology. “let me make it up to ya?” 

your eyes narrowed at him. his arms were folded over his chest, the fabric of the struggling shirt expanding to its fullest potential. his hair ruffled a bit with the warm breeze that blew through, the color of his locks as dark as the night sky—though his eyes shone like the stars above too, something in the green expanses of the hazy orbs twisting your gut and making you decide that if anybody deserves a second chance, it was this sexy stranger. could you even be that angry at him for his lewd comment when you were eyeing him down too, only thinking of his physical attributes?

at your hesitation he speaks again. “let me walk you home. it’s late, and like i said, you’re very pretty.” he raises his brow as if asking one final time. you breathe some air out through your nose, suspiciously looking him up and down at the offer. “no funny business, just protection, little lady.” he swears with his hands by his head. 

you hum, nodding your head for him to follow you as you start walking, hips swinging and hair swaying. when he thinks back on it maybe he fell in love right here, watching you stomp towards your house with way more attitude than your tiny body should contain, doing your damndest to try and play hard to get. but toji’s no fool. he follows you, he increases his strides to catch up with a small effort, but he’s walking beside you with a smug look on his face. 

he makes meaningless chit-chat, learns about some of your hobbies and about your job. he gets your phone number, and apologizes one last charismatic time before you shut the door of your apartment and he’s walking back home, thinking of how he rarely plays the long game for a woman. but he knew you were worth it, the perfect little thing to brighten his days. 

unlike you, toji realized how tiny you were immediately. sure, you were curvy and your chest and ass definitely were not small–you even had a little tummy to you, but you were just so short and compact, he knew he could manhandle you like a toy. not to mention how cute and bratty you were, he was all but compelled to be your man and fuck that attitude right out of you. 

so the long game he played, talking to and courting you like a proper adult, though it isn’t long until you’re accepting him into your home and letting him tame that bratty streak of yours. 

and you’re so glad you decided to give the ginormous stranger another go. he earns his place in your heart and in your home in under a year, and you’ve been grateful for his presence around the house. he makes you feel safe and protected, your own personal security guard. no place could be safer than those hulking arms trapping you to a chest at least two times as wide as yours. his hands always felt so warm and rough against your frame, seeing them against your body always made you feel like the daintiest thing in the whole world. god, and the way those enormous fingers moved inside your little hole—

maybe that’s why you thought you thought you could rely on the burly man you’ve come to love to be the perfect boyfriend he’s shown you he can be, despite the weird looks you get walking around in public with toji zen’in. you never minded the whispers or the rumors of his reputation, you knew him better than anyone, another reason you thought that when you screamed out his name for help, that he’d come running to your rescue. 

to which in part, he did, to his credit. when he heard your voice far away in the laundry room hollering for him, sounding a little too afraid for his comfort, he was there in an instant. but rescuing? nah. he couldn’t help but laugh at your compromising situation. you’re face first in the top load washer, your top-half completely invisible, ass and legs squirming in the air. of course you’d fall in, the height of the washer was something you often complained about; you had to basically crawl inside the machinery to get clothes in and out, and it annoyed you to no end. now, the worst had happened and here you are. you couldn’t even just push yourself out due to how high your legs dangle, you’d surely fall. 

you know what they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and as good as toji has been to you, he can’t repress the perverted fantasy his mind drums up at the sight of your tiny body stuck in the washer. you kick your feet harder at the sound of his laughter, to which he can only belly chuckle harder.  

“you need some help, darlin’?” he teases, large hands wrapping around your ankles, halting your kicking immediately. he holds your legs there by his thighs, standing between them. he smirks down at your fat ass jiggling and recoiling as you try to squirm your way up the washer. he chuckles at your failures and the sounds of frustrations that follow, until you finally whine out for help. 

“toji— just get me out of here.” you pout flatly, folding your arms over your chest inside the barrel. he chuckles deeply again, sliding his hands up your bare legs until they came across the mounds of your ass. he squeezes the flesh almost tenderly. 

“but little lady,” he hums as he hooks his fingers under the waistband of your shorts and slowly drags them down your legs. he has to kneel to get the garment completely off, but he doesn’t mind. he decides kneeling is advantageous for him, especially once he sees your pretty little hole clenching around nothing, just eager to be filled. “ya look like a little toy from down here,’nd i’m thinkin i oughta play.” he has to spread your ass cheeks a little bit to see you in all your glory before he leans in to lick a stripe from glistening slit to your puckering asshole. he growls at the flavor, something he just can’t stop himself from doing no matter how many times he gets to taste you. you can feel the soft tickle of his hair against the insides of your thighs, the searing heat of his tongue making your squirm back against him in a desperate search for more. 

you should have known toji would be greedy, taking advantage of your inability to move and abusing that to the fullest. he laps at you, shoving his fat tongue into your tiny little hole, fucking it wider for his cock to use. after all these months of him fucking you open, you were still so tight and small. you hug even his tongue, silky wet walls making his eyes roll back a little bit. his large hands hold your asscheeks, kneading like a kitten making biscuits, even though it felt more like a lion pawing at you. you taste so good, it has his cock jumping against his zipper and begging for freedom. he decides to deny himself that simple pleasure, focused on driving more of those cute little whimpers from your lips. the tunnel of the washer was amplifying all your sounds, and he felt the torture of not having your tiny cunt wrapped tight around his cock every passing second. 

you were panting, beginning to feel dizzy from being nearly upside down. every stroke of toji’s tongue massaging your fluttering entrance and the intensity of his deft fingers flicking your clit combined sent you spiraling, both physically and literally, towards the edge. he can’t help but lean back and watch the way you fuck yourself back on his mouth for more, picking up the pace of his fingers to send you over your limit. it’s so cute to watch your thighs clench down and shiver as you cum, screeching and begging for his dick next. 

and who was the feared sorcerer killer to deny such a sweet request from his beloved? his pants are off, belt clinking against the floor. you ready yourself, feeling the rough warmth of his hands envelop your sides and his hips cleave your thighs apart yet again. he’s so strong, he doesn’t even have to use his hands to toss you around, positioning you exactly the way he needs you to fuck you into pieces. his cock splits your lower lips and he unceremoniously bottoms out, eyes clenched shut at how your tiny cunt grips him. your jaw drops with the feeling of being so full at once, his cock just as broad and long as the rest of him. he kisses your cervix before he’s even started moving and you’re already squirming and crying like always. the stretch burns, every time feels like your first with toji. especially like this, you’re bent in half and he’s so deep in doggy that you’re seeing stars—though that could be due to the dizziness swirling around your head. 

“so tight f’me like always, gorgeous.” he chuffs, drawing back to the tip and plowing his length back in, entranced by how you clench and release around him. you mewl your acknowledgement, your hips eagerly moving back against him for more friction, his strokes deliriously slow. 

he notes your impatience, amused. 

“need more, little thing?” he teases, licking his smirking lips at the sound of your pathetic whines and kicks. you nod eagerly, realizing he can’t see it. 

“yes, daddy, please! need you to make me cum–” 

before you can finish your sentence, he’s punishing you for asking for it. this angle is so unforgiving, you can feel every vein decorating his shaft as he destroys you, the tip colliding with your womb so hard it has your toes curling and vision going white. his grunts are so low and delicious, a reward for the perfect pussy you offer him nightly. it’s so good, he can’t stop until he beats your insides into the shape of the dick making you scream right now. 

your ass bounces around his thrusts, absorbing every snap of his hips into your unsuspecting and fragile body. he loves watching you break, like his own personal little doll.

“cum–daddy oh my god i’m gonna cum so hard!” you whine, thrashing. 

“oh coat this cock, babygirl.” he groans, feeling himself letting go, unable to fight back against your vice grip anymore. “cum with me, need to feel it.” his head falls back as you spasm around him, the vision of your little pussy accommodating his size too much to bear. 

“god, please toji!! cum, cum, i need it so bad.” you whimper, your voice so breathy and tired, so beautiful as you beg for his load. it’s already established that he can’t deny you, so he doesn’t. he slides his cock in and out of your slick one last time, hissing as his balls tighten and explode into your cunt, white-hot and heavy. it fills you to the brim like it always does, even when his enormous dick withdraws from you and the mix starts to escape down your thighs you still feel impossibly full. 

finally, he rights you onto your feet, his strong steady hands keeping you upright as you wobble a bit. when your vision stops spinning and you bring yourself to open your eyes again, you’re met with toji’s smirking face. his eyes are lazy with amusement and love as he looks at you, giving you an affectionate pat to the head. 

“kinda wanted to leave you there ‘nd keep usin’ ya like that.” 

#kyleewritesjjk #kylee's kinktober event #kinktober 2023 #kinktober #jjk x reader #toji thirst #toji fushiguro #toji x reader #toji smut #toji zenin #jjk toji #fushiguro toji #toji zenin x reader #toji x size kink

[beastofburdenxo]

Sick Day

Tommy gets the sniffles. One shot. Tame, just some Tommy language, slight fluff. 864 words.

“Tommy are you alright?” you asked him as he made his way into the kitchen. He looked paler than normal, his normally bright blue eyes a little watery. “Yes love, never better just a little hoarse this morning.” he rasped as he sat down next to you. “Nothing a nip of whiskey won’t fix, eh?” He states reaching for the bottle. You stop his hand, “Maybe you should stay home today, can’t do any meetings with barely a voice can you?” Tommy sighs as he pours a shot, “Can’t do that, these meetings have been on the books for months. I can’t keep them waiting any longer. I'll be fine.” Knowing you can’t convince him otherwise you state, “Well I'll be here all day if you need me. You can always come home if you need to.” With a smirk he stands and puts on his coat. “Always the good nurse, ready to take care of me, aren’t ya?” With a slight cough he walks out the door. Eyes rolling to yourself you get up to clean off the kitchen table, “You’ll be back.” 

Tommy’s morning goes slowly. On top of the boring meetings and being asked if he’s okay by everyone, he can’t stop coughing. He hides in his office to get away from all the prying eyes and countless questions. He's burning up, his head is pounding, and his voice is almost gone. “Maybe I am sick.” he thinks to himself. “I can’t even taste my whiskey anymore.” Laying his head down on the cool wood of the desk, he dozes off. Unknown time passes as there is a knock on the door. “Tommy, last meeting of the day is here....” Finn trails off, “Lord, you look terrible Tommy.” He awakens enough to reach for the trashcan to throw up in. Finn cringes, “Go home, jeez, Arthur and I can handle the last meeting. Can’t have you spewing everywhere.” Tommy finally empties what little he had in his stomach and shakily stands up, “Finn, I'm going home for lunch. If you want to deal with the meeting fine, but don’t screw it up for us. Better yet just send them back home for a few more days. I don’t give a shit if they’re mad. They'll live if they want to do business with us.”  

Finn grabs Tommy by the shoulders and helps him out of his office. “Don’t worry about it Tom, we’ve got it handled. Go home and get some rest, yeah?” With barely a whisper Tommy manages to get out, “It’s just the sniffles, I managed to survive France, didn’t I?” Finn just shakes his head at his brother’s stubbornness. Tommy makes it home, his muscles aching like he got in a fight. You meet him at the door. “Goodness, you are a sight for sore eyes.” Tommy just looks at you with pitiful sick puppy eyes. “It’s just the sniffles. I came home for lunch.” Practically dragging him through the door you reply, “Oh yeah, then what’s this I heard about you getting sick in your office today?” Groaning, he mumbles, “Damn Finn. I'm fine just a little under the weather is all.” You guide him up to the bedroom and help him out of his suit. “Tommy Shelby, you’re not going back to the office you will stay here. I told Finn that when he called to tell me you got sick.” You state, hands on your hips, “I knew you was in bad shape this morning, but no, you wouldn’t hear of it.” 

Tommy just flops into the bed with a groan. Before he could ask for anything you interject, “And no whiskey either young man, just tea and soup.” You hear him grumbling into his pillow at that one. You go to the kitchen to prepare his soup and tea, talking to yourself, “If only he listened to me this morning, he’d probably be better by now, but no, big Mr. Shelby had meetings today!” Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Tommy is delirious with fever. Hair in a mess and eyes glazed over, he can barely see. His poor face was all red and splotchy. With every cough, his head felt like it was going to explode. He feels a cool rag on his forehead, now realizing that you entered the room. “Poor thing,” you coddle, “You are in rough shape. No, certainly no more work for you today.” Struggling to sit up, he takes the cup of tea from you. “You know love, I think I might be a little bit ill.” 

You lightly slap his arm, “Well you don’t say Mr. Shelby!” Drinking the hot tea, he manages to point out, “Well at least I have a good nurse to take care of me.” You bend down and kiss his hot forehead, “That you do Mr. Shelby that you do.” Finishing the tea he resumes, “Does this mean I get a sponge bath from my hot nurse?” You glare at him not trying to sound amused by him, “No, now have your soup.” 

“But nurse I need a sponge bath! I’m all sweaty from the fever!” he teases. 

“Eat your soup, Thomas!”

#tommy shelby #peaky blinder fanfic #peaky blinder imagine #tommy shelby x fem!reader #tommy shelby x y/n #cillian murphy

[leviathans-watching]

i'm literally so in awe how in obey me! they all have such nice nails that don't seem to be ruined at all >__< so if u don't mind may i request how would all of them (could also be mammon centric ehe) react to an mc who gets their nails painted but literally just a few minutes into them, they accidentally get ruined with the simplest tasks they do !!! (may or may not be first hand experience bwahwhaj TT) and tysm and hope you're always doing good !!

the brothers' reactions to you messing up your nails

includes: the brothers x/& gn!reader (no pronouns mentioned)

wc: .7k | rated g | m.list

a/n: okay because i feel you. my nails never look good lol. anyway, thanks for requesting! my inbox is open to chat, req, or leave feedback so come say hello!

please like and reblog if you enjoyed :)

➳ lucifer hears you curse from the other room and puts his book down. “mc?” he calls, “are you alright?” after a moment, you stick your head in the doorway sheepishly. “oh, i’m alright,” you say with a sigh. “my nails aren’t, though. i always mess them up. this is why i don’t really paint them.” lucifer hides his smile. he’s not surprised you already managed to smudge the polish. you never seem to have quite enough patience to wait for them to fully dry. “how about this,” he says, standing. “i’ll do whatever you were trying to do so you don’t mess them up anymore.”

➳ mammon walks into the living room, spotting you on the couch. “whatcha doing?” he asks, and you jump. “you scared me,” you huff. “and great, i just messed up my nails.” mammon grins apologetically. “my bad. but that’s a nice color.” “thanks,” you say. “i bought it a while ago but only now am trying it out. too bad i can’t really do it justice. i wish i’d learned to paint my nails nicely when i was young because not they always come out looking like shit.” mammon laughs. “shit or now, they look nice on you,” he says. “and if ya really wanted, we could go to the manicurist and i’ll pay for ya.”

➳ levi crosses his arms. “it’s been like fifteen minutes! what do you mean your nails aren’t dry yet? come on, let’s just play games.” you shake your head. “no way, levi. just trust me, they’re gonna get smudged. no matter how long i wait, they always do.” after a few more minutes of whining and wheedling, he finally convinces you to play. that, however, doesn’t last long. “oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” you mutter, and he looks over, pausing the game. “look,” you say, holding up your hand. somehow you’ve managed to smudge almost every single nail.

➳ satan watches you begin to put away dishes. “careful,” he warns. “didn’t you just paint your nails?” you roll your eyes. “that was like, thirty minutes ago. they’re definitely dry.” “don’t say i didn’t warn you,” satan says, then begins to help you, pulling plates from the dishwasher. when all of the dishes are finally put away, you turn to him, presumably to gloat about your nails, but the words die on your lips when you see he’s right and that you’ve already smudged three nails. and somehow chipped another.

➳ asmo grabs your hands, inspecting them. “your nails always smudge because you don’t wait long enough. not just for them to dry, but between coats,” he explains. “you’ve got to have patience! beauty is art, and every great piece of art took a while to make.” you laugh. “maybe i’m just not meant for pained nails.” “nonsense,” asmo dismisses. “now come on, i’ll repaint them for you. you better be grateful, i don’t offer my amazing services to just anyone, you know.” “as if you’d let me forget,” you snort, and he huffs out an affronted breath.

➳ beel squints at your nails. “those are messed up? they look fine to me.” you sigh. “they are! look at my pinkie nail! and my thumb, too. how can you not see that?” beel shrugs. “i guess everything just looks perfect when it’s on you,” he says, and you fight a smile, crossing your arms. he doesn’t even mean anything by it, either. that’s probably just what he genuinely thinks. “don’t try to flatter me,” you command, “at least not until you tell me how you never mess yours up! it’s unfair!”

➳ belphie watches you pick at a bit of nail polish, concentrating deeply. “i can never get these to look perfect,” you mutter, “but i can at least get them looking semi-decent. right?” you go in with the brush again, and almost immediately mess up. belphie can’t help how endearing he finds it, even if he’s starting to wonder what the record is for the longest time someone’s spent painting their nails. because you’ve got to be definitely getting close. “just let me do it,” he finally says, leaning over and taking the bottle from you, “or else we’re going to be here all night.”

leviathans-watching's work - please do not copy, repost, or claim as your own

#obey me #obey me game #obey me shall we date #shall we date obey me #lucifer x you #mammon x you #levi x you #satan x you #asmo x you #beel x you #belphie x you #luxifer x reader #mammon x reader #levi x reader #satan x readfer #asmo x reader #beel x reader #belphie x reader #lucifer obey me #mammon obey me #levi obey me #satan obey me #asmo obey me #beel obey me #belphie obey me #anon ask #answered asks #leviswriting #leviswriting-obeyme

[mari-lair]

What do you think will happen to Akane when No 1.‘s yorishiro is destroyed (because story wise it probably will be.)

Once they lose their seat as a school mystery, will Akane not be a part of them anymore? And if so, what will happen to him. I think that the best case scenario is that he will lose his powers but still be able to see supernaturals. The worst case scenario is that his memory of anything supernatural is wiped but I’m really hoping that doesn’t happen.

(I think about this more than I should)

I feel ya! I too think way too hard about Akane’s situation.

The best case scenario to me is that Akane gets the same treatment as the other mysteries that lost their yorishiro and he mostly became weaker. The six years of his contract aren’t over after all, he may lose his seat but not his connection to the clock keepers, the only change is that the clock keeper's boundary is gone and maybe instead of 15 minutes per day, he can only stop time 5 or 1 minute per day.

Cause those that lost their yorishiro aren’t completely disconnected from their school mystery powers (Tsuchi still has access to the books after the library is gone. Yako knows how to find portals. And Mei created something magical in the new chapter for Sakura. )

But since there are three clock keepers, and Akane is only half supernatural, it’s hard to know what would happen... Him losing his powers cause he is the weaker link of the keepers, and there could not be enough power remaining in their rumor to sustain his pocket watch, or something of sorts, but this lost connection not nullifying his ability to see supernaturals, similar to Aoi after her rescue, would be cool. I like your best case a lot.

His memory of anything supernatural being wiped out fuck me up for many reasons but I want to believe it won’t happen both because Aoi got back from the near shore still seeing supernaturals, and cause Teru, a competent exorcist, may have ways to protect his memory from any possible curse.

Now a bit of insanity time: The worst case to me is that Akane should have been dead before the manga even started.

 Akane is a normal boy, he isn’t related to exorcism or sacrifices or anything supernatural. Just like Nene he couldn’t even see them for all his life and only had manual labor to offer when they made a contract.

But this normal boy ‘suddenly’ starts seeing the clock keepers the moment they had everything set up to put their recruiting plan into action.

I can’t say with any confidence they shortened Akane’s lifespan, but I do find it very convenient that the supernaturals whose rumors involve stealing people’s time had Akane able to see them when they needed him to see them.

So I have this theory he is a walking corpse.

He could see the clock keepers at 12, and he is already 15, so if we compare his situation to Nene’s (who has one year to live since being involved with supernaturals, and is the only other human with a supernatural contract) he would be two years past his expiration date. The only thing keeping him alive at the moment is his contract with Mirai and Kako, once the contract is over he is dead, and the destruction of the clock keeper's yorishiro would accelerate his death or null the contract completely and kill him right away.

It would also add another layer as to why Hanako is so fascinated by Akane, and why Mei told Yashiro to seek the clock keepers to help with her lifespam, but instead of showing the three keepers, like usual, it just shows akane. Akane in his two forms.

Him having two bodies (one that is supernatural and invisible to students, so technically, a ‘dead’ body) is already very strange, and if anyone can twist the laws of fate to give someone more time in this manga, it would be the clock keepers.

#tbhk #toilet bound hanako kun #jshk #aoi akane #jibaku shonen hanako kun #akane make me so worried this boy carry so many death flags rip

[mouschiwrites]

can you please do a snake jay X reader basically you know the episode once bitten twice shy well in this jay is parliamentary a serpentine it's been over a month so everyone is used to it but jay is still a bit nervous and anxious about it so the reader help him both jay and the reader just cuddling and other fluff stuff and jay is just happy to have the reader as his girlfriend (the reader and jay are already dating this takes place a few month after the episode so everyone is used to jay being a serpentine only jay and the reader are in this)

This is too adorable!! I really hope I did it justice o7

Word count: 759

Ninjago - Comforting Part-Serpentine Jay

Jay had been staring at the full-body mirror for five minutes straight now. Occasionally he would reach and touch the glass or poke at his fangs or run a hand over his scaly skin, but for the most part he was just staring silently at his reflection. 

You knew that he had a habit of ruminating, which always made his anxiety worse. You weren’t going to let him do this to himself.

You put your book down, furrowing your eyebrows. “Jay,” you called, frowning at his complete lack of response. It was as if you weren’t even there.

“Jay,” you said again, more firmly this time.

“Hm?” He replied after a moment of silence. You could tell he wasn’t really paying attention to you.

Standing up, you made your way across the room. You stood behind Jay, looking into the mirror with him now. You looked at his eyes’ reflection, gently placing your hand on his shoulder as he raised his gaze to meet yours. He gave a small smile, but the disturbed look in his eyes gave him away. It was a look you could recognize a mile away; he was anxious about something. No doubt about it.

You placed your chin atop your hand on his shoulder, pressing your cheek against his. “What’s wrong, baby?” 

Jay lowered his gaze again, watching his hands fidget where they were clasped at his abdomen. He opened his mouth. Closed it. Let a long breath out through his nostrils.

“I look sscary,” he said finally, “like a ssnake.”

“Well, you are part serpentine now,” you hummed casually. You were used to it by now. The others were, too. It was just a fact of life that you had all learned to accept; except Jay, apparently, you realized with a saddened heart.

“People are going to be sscared of me when I try to help them. They’ll think I’m… I’m one of…”

You didn’t let him finish the thought. “People don’t do that anymore, remember? When was the last time someone tried to fight back when you helped them?”

“An old man hit me with hiss walker.”

You suppressed a snort at the memory. Instead, you smiled gently. “That was two weeks ago. Haven’t you noticed that people aren’t scared of you anymore? Just on our last mission, no one batted an eye, even when you took off your mask. Word’s spread that you’re part serpentine; people know this. They aren’t scared of the serpent-ninja.”

Jay’s brows shifted as he thought. You could see his expression soften a little as your words resonated in his head, but there was still doubt. 

“What about the oness who don’t know?”

“Some rock they’d have to be living under. Maybe they’re serpents themselves!” You grinned at the little smirk you got from him. “If they try anything, I’ll beat ‘em up for ya.”

Jay snorted, turning to face you. Still smiling, he planted a quick kiss on your forehead. “Thanks. I’ll hold you to that, you know.”

“You better. No one gets to be mean to my boyfriend for being different.” Then, pecking his face between each word, you added: “Especially (kiss) when (kiss) he (kiss) looks (kiss) so (kiss) cute!”

Jay chuckled, trying to push your face away to no avail. “Okay, okay, enough!”

Things escalated quickly into a play-fight, which ended with you both on the floor, giving up only because your laughter drained your energy. 

You clung to Jay’s side, wrapping your arms around his waist, burying your face in the crook of his shoulder in an attempt to muffle your own giggles. He wrapped his arm around you, his hand resting on the small of your back. Your bodies gradually eased from convulsing laughter to more steady breaths, synchronized perfectly with one another.

Your laughter long gone but your smile still lingering on your lips, you looked up at him. He looked back at you with pure joy in his eyes; no trace of the worry that had plagued him a mere few minutes ago. Now you really beamed. There were few better feelings for you than knowing you had helped your worrywort boyfriend be just a little less anxious. 

You were willing to be patient, listen to him, offer as much reassurance and comfort as he needed. That was why he loved you so immensely. You were the ice pack to his headache, a headache that few people had patience for. But you were special. You, and only you, were the one for him.

“I’m sso glad you’re my girlfriend.”

Thank you for this cute request!! And thank you for reading <33 take care loves!

(divider by saradika)

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago x reader #jay walker #jay walker x reader #jay x reader #jay ninjago

[asshlyyyy]

Hospital Stays (Austin!Elvis x Reader)

Am I starting to hit all the requests I received? Maybe, if they keep being short like the last two I’ve done. So, I changed up the request a bit, just because it kind of linked with the car crash one that I did linked here! I just made the reader sick instead! I hope that is okay!

New schedule will be up in a couple of days once I have a few things written out. Part two of Fairytale will definitely be out at some point. Just look at my new schedule when it comes out!

Original Ask By Anonymous!

Masterlist

Pairing: Austin!Elvis x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Spelling and Grammatical Errors. 

Word Count: 1.6k

“Elvis, you act like I’m dying.’ You stated as you looked over at him. Elvis shook his head and looked up from his book that he was reading.

“You are in the hospital, which in turn shows you are dying.” He pointed out. You rolled your eyes and shook your head. He was always dramatic when it came to you and your health. He often brings up when he first got the call. He thought you were dying. You aren’t… he’s just dramatic.

“I am simply sick. The doctors said I’ll be fine in a couple of days. I don’t want you to force yourself to stay here. It’s boring.”

“Oh please, when you’re around? You’re the life of the party, darlin’.”

Ever since he got told that visitor hours were over the first time he stayed… he bought threw a fit. He ended up making a large donation to the hospital in order for him to stay. He probably could have just used his charms and it would have worked. You weren’t complaining though. You loved when he donated. It really showed off his kind side. 

“Plus, without me, you’d be bored outta damn mind.” You hummed and nodded. He had a point there. You were pretty much by yourself when he wasn’t here. It wasn’t all too bad. You’re parents visited, but they all left. That was a hard few days. When Elvis came and stayed… you were happier, and less alone.

"Okay, Elvis. I get it, you're right." You rolled your eyes playfully and pulled up the sheets on your bed. Elvis held a smug look and got up and came over to you. You turned your head to face him and put a slight tilt to it.

 "Oh darlin', that's all I ever wanted to hear from you." He pressed his lips to your cheek. You pushed him away and shook your head.

"Shut uppppp," you whined lightly and grabbed the pillow to throw at him. He caught it with ease and a laugh left his laugh. You laughed lightly as well but then started to get a fit of coughs. 

Elvis came to a stop and rushed to your side. It's like with every moment you showed any pain or hurt, Elvis jumped to your side. He reached for your water and you shook your head. You waved your hand and held your other to your chest.

"I'm okay, Elvis." You said once you calmed down. You took a deep breath and took the water out of  his hand. You took a sip and closed your eyes.

"Darlin', ya can't just scare me like that."

"You can't die of pneumonia. It's nothing," you shrugged like it was nothing. Elvis gave you a look and placed his hands on his hips.

"Nearly a thousand people die from pneumonia every month," Elvis spoke his facts out, that he most likely asked the doctor. 

"Yeah, well it can't kill me. I gave birth to three of ya kids, and they weren't easy." You shook your head.  

"Yeah, I know and ya never let me down bout that," He pulled up the chair next to your bed.

You were lucky that it wasn't contagious anymore. Still, you kept your kids far away from you. If they were to catch something from you... they wouldn't be able to heal as quickly... or well... ya know. You missed them. It brought you to tears sometimes not be able to see your kids... 

"You miss them don' ya?" Elvis said softly. You nodded your head slowly. "Yeah... I miss them a lot... I just want this to be done... I want to see my kids... I want to see our kids." You replied as you turned your head away. Every time you thought about your kids you became a mess.

It was important to be there with your newborn. This is the most important time in their lives and you are sitting at the hospital. You were great full for yours and Elvis’ parents, but you just wanted to be able to take care of your kids once again. 

"They miss you too... Especially Lil Myra." Elvis mentioned. You smiled softly at her name. 

"Oh, Myra... my baby..." You frowned and started to tear up thinking about your youngest. It may have been almost a year ago that you gave birth to her... but you missed your baby.

Myra was the only girl you two had. Well, to date that is. You two were sure you were going to have another baby at some point. You had two older sons who loved to cause chaos, and you did miss them just as much. 

“They miss ya a lot,” Elvis stated. You smiled softly and looked over at him. You were jealous. He was healthy… he was able to leave the hospital… see your kids. Not to mention… he was attractive… nice… a singer… he had an all. What did you even have?

“Sorry to bother you Mr. and Mrs. Presley. Just have to check on a few things.” A nurse announced as she entered the room. You nodded and wiped your eyes clear of any tears. Elvis moved out of the way and the nurse started to check your vitals and what not. 

“Do you know when I will be able to go home?” You asked her. The nurse looked at you and then down at her clipboard.

“Well, if everything goes well… you should be able to go home in a day or two. You’re very strong, and its all pretty much cleared up.” She explained. This was honestly the best news you heard since you’ve been here. 

“Really? Like you aren’t pulling my leg? I can go home soon?” You asked. the nurse chuckled at your response and nodded. You looked over at Elvis who held a smile on his own face. You were sure he wanted to be home just as much as you wanted. 

After the nurse was done you opened your arms out for Elvis. He got the message and engulfed himself in your arms. You let out a sigh of pleasantly and nuzzled your head into his chest. 

“This is great news. I got to give the kids the good news.“ Elvis spoke. You let out a chuckle and shook your head. 

“Maybe not yet. A lot can change in a few days… I just… I don’t want to get our hopes up just for me to… yeah know get stuck here.” You said. There was always a possibility for that to happen. You could be fine for a few days and then BAM. You get whacked in the face. 

“May I remind you… You gave birth to three of my kids. You are going home in a few days.” He brought up. He was right, and they were not easy ones either. There was just something about Elvis that made labor hell. 

“You promise?” You tilted your head slightly, as you looked up into his eyes.

“Yes, I promise, Y/n. I will make sure of it. I will pay them, and get you a private nurse if I have to. You are coming home.” You hummed in response and smiled. That did sound nice. Even if you had a private nurse. You would be home. Nothing against Hospitals… but totally everything against them. They just brought your mood down.

“You better not break that promise now, Mr. Presley, or I’ll beat ya ass.” You teased lightly. Elvis let out a laugh and kissed your cheek as he pulled away.

“I’m sure ya would Mrs. Presley. I’m sure you would.” Elvis went towards the window to look out of it. You watched him out of curiosity. 

“When you get out, I’m going to take you home, so that we can pick up the kids, and take you to your favorite restaurant. Then afterwards, I’m going to take ya shopping.” Elvis said and turned to look at you. You shook your head in response.

“I just want to go home after this. Spend time with our kids. Eat a home cooked meal. Plus, I don’t want you spending your money on me.” You pointed out to him.

“Darlin’, I’m paying your hospital bill. Not to mention, I always want to spend money on you… and our kids… and everyone I know. For once I can do that.” Elvis said softly and came over to you. 

“I know you do, but you also have to be smart about you. You have to safe your money. We have to think about our children’s future. So, please… once I am free to go home… we go home and have a home cooked meal with our family.”

“Fine fineee, but you aren’ getting out of it. I will take ya out to dinner, and I will buy you something.” Elvis wiggled his finger at you. You let out a groan and playfully rolled your eyes.

“I’m going to bed now.” You stated and turned your back towards him. You just didn’t want to listen to him about spending money on you is all. Cause… you had everything you wanted, you didn’t need more. 

“You aren’t even tired.” Elvis tried to point out to you. You let out a hum and nodded. 

“Mmm, I am now.” You laid yourself down. You pulled the sheets up to under your neck. Elvis walked out and took a good look at you.

“You’re lyin’ to me.” Elvis spoke out. Which, well… you were a bit. However, the more you slept, the more time passed. Plus, it also gave your body time to work on healing you, instead of worrying about keeping you awake. So, double bonus points. 

“Mmm, I’m sleeping. Shhhhh.” You closed your eyes. Elvis let out a sigh and shook his head. He leaned down and kissed your head.

“Sleep tight, my love.”

Want to join my taglist? // Let me know If I spelt any wrong! I have updated my form for my taglist. You will be tagged under everything now in that selected fandom/person. Just makes my life easier.

I’m pretty sure my taglist is not working much anymore. I might start tagging people in comments, but- that might get a bit hard? I’ll have to see, but until I can figure something out, hit me out with some ideas. In the end, you might just have to turn on my post notifications. 

#austin butler elvis #elvis x reader #elvis imagine #elvis #elvis 2022 #elvis presley x reader #elvis presley #elvis presley fanfiction #elvis presley fic #elvis presley fluff #elvis film #elvis fic #elvis fanfiction #elvis fluff #elvis movie #elvis movie 2022 #austin butler #austin butler x reader #austin butler masterlist #austin!elvis x reader #austin!elvis angst #austin!elvis fanfiction #austin!elvis #austin!elvis fluff #austin!elvis fic

[onemustalwaysbecarefulofbooks]

HOT TAKE: Being disappointed about the casting of Annabeth Chase in the Disney+ PJO show does NOT make you a racist!!!!!

I honestly don’t even come on this website much anymore but I am breaking my silence to shout this from the rooftops. I don’t care what the reaction to this is, I stand by it 10000000000% and you’re not changing my mind.

Is it okay to be excited about the casting? Yes!!! Of course!! Is it also okay to wish there had been a different outcome? ALSO YES.

(And for those of you who are ready to click away, or turn into a furious keyboard warrior before going any further, I sincerely challenge you to read till the end. A weak-minded person refuses to examine things from anything other than their own perspective. Prove me wrong!!!!)

Here’s the real talk most of you aren’t ready to hear. If Rick Riordan collaborated with Disney+ to develop an original show with original characters, with a totally new plot and story and everything, and this girl was cast as the main female lead and people said “Ugh, this is so disappointing, why is she black????” THAT WOULD BE RACIST. If, in our current scenario someone said “I really wish she wasn’t black, black people are ugly/stupid/bad actors/etc.” THAT WOULD BE RACIST. Saying “Annabeth was a white girl with blonde hair in the books so I wish she was being portrayed as a white girl with blonde hair in the show” IS NOT RACIST.

We live in a society that preys on the majority of the population’s desire to be good. And I really and truly do believe that--most people are GOOD!! No normal sane person wants to be labeled as a racist. Unfortunately, people with nefarious intentions know this and have begun using this word as a weapon. Don’t agree with me?? You’re a racist!!!!!! In that person’s eyes, they are on superior moral ground, therefore they have already won the “argument”. All productive conversation is shut down. This word has become so normalized that it downplays actual REAL HARMFUL racism that is hurting people around the world on a daily basis. RACISM IS REAL. It exists anywhere that humans look different from each other. It can have devastating consequences. And I find it incredibly disrespectful to the victims of it to throw this word around as loosely as we do now.

All it takes is about five seconds of critical thinking to realize that maybe the majority of people who are expressing disappointment about this are not all evil white supremacists. Guys. Annabeth Chase is one of the most well-known middle grade/YA literary characters of all time. She has been a main character and/or featured in The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian, The Lost Hero, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades, The Blood of Olympus, The Sword of Summer, The Hammer of Thor, The Ship of the Dead, The Tower of Nero, and several short stories and novellas: The Demigod Diaries, The Demigod Files, The Staff of Serapis, The Crown of Ptolemy. Her first appearance was in The Lightning Thief, which was published in 2005. This is a character who has been living in people’s minds for damn near twenty years. She has been depicted by both fan artists AND professional artists alike for that entire time as a white girl with blonde hair. She is smack dab in the middle of the cover of House of Hades as a white girl with blonde hair. We have been staring at her in beloved fan arts as a white girl with blonde hair for YEARS (those of you as ancient as I am will remember the heyday of Burdge and Viria. Shout out to both of them, I LIVED for their work back in the day!). Saying that someone is racist for wanting a beloved and well-known character they have been visualizing for seventeen years to look the way they were DEPICTED for seventeen years RACISTS for doing so is just SILLY.

Saying a character’s physical appearance means nothing is equally as silly. Apparently everyone is too young to remember or has conveniently forgotten the uproar that was heard and felt when Alexandra Daddario portrayed Annabeth as a brunette. If you talked to a PJO fan about the movie back in 2010, I can ASSURE you, one of the first things out of their mouths was: “Annabeth is supposed to have blonde hair!!!!!!!” People did not like that choice of actress and it was simply because she did not resemble the physical description of Annabeth in the books. Anyone else remember the fuss that was made over Daniel Radcliffe not having green eyes as Harry Potter?? Or the bad dye job they gave Josh Hutcherson to play Peeta?? None of those things involved race. Book fans STILL complained about them. The bottom line is this: die-hard fans want the actors on screen to look like the characters they imagined in their minds. AND THAT IS OKAY!!!!!!!

Guess what??? I would be JUST as pissed if they cast Percy as a redhead (and for those of you saying he was cast as a blonde, mark my words. . .they’ll still dye his hair black. And if they don’t at this point, it’ll just be to try and prove a point). I would be JUST as pissed if, down the road, they cast Hazel as a white girl, Leo as a blonde white kid, Piper and Frank as ANYTHING other than Cherokee and Chinese. What they are in the book is what I want to see on the screen. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH BLACK PEOPLE. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THIS GIRL AS A HUMAN BEING OR AN ACTRESS. DIVERSITY SHOULD BE CELEBRATED. I JUST WANT ANNABETH TO LOOK LIKE SHE LOOKS IN THE BOOKS. THAT’S REALLY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s honestly not that deep!!!!!!!!!!!

It has nothing to do with white people vs black people, it just simply has to do with book fans wanting to see what they saw in their minds for nearly two decades play out on a screen in front of them. That’s it!!!!!!!!!

Calling people racists over this is immature and cheap, you guys. People on this site (and in life in general) really need to learn how to disagree without becoming hostile and dramatic. If you’re happy and excited about the casting, that’s great! I’m happy you’re happy. There is so much negative bad shit in the world, anything you can find to be happy about is great. Leah Sava Jeffries is a beautiful little girl. I’m sure she’s sweet and intelligent and an extremely talented actress. I would never ever want to see her bullied or harassed for any of this and anyone who does so should be condemned. (Honestly though, 99.9% of internet “haters” have the intellectual and emotional maturity of the mountain troll from the first Harry Potter so trying to explain to them that this is not only pointless, but morally wrong, is a waste of time and effort). I can say all of this AND also say that she is not who I would have liked to see play Annabeth. That does not make me a racist. It makes me a book purist. Learn to recognize the difference, guys.

#pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #disney plus #pjo disney plus #rick riordan #annabeth chase #percy jackson #anti racist #the lightning thief

[stesierra]

Maybe you'd like to see the first chapter of a different fantasy book? A YA one? This MC is also depressed. Sorry, that's life.

School of Souls

Chapter One

Friday, September 15th, 2023

#

After the funeral, after we had all wept and railed and gushed about how wonderful Dad was, Mom drove me home by herself. Grandma and Grandpa had offered to take me if Mom needed to stop by the office. She’d missed enough work as is, staying home with me while I sobbed and snotted all over her. But she didn’t go in, although the other bigshot lawyers were probably wondering what the problem was. They certainly hadn’t shown up to lay Dad to rest. None of them would stay home with their thirteen-year-old just because somebody died.

I should be grateful Mom put me first. But I wasn’t. I said, as we got off the I-10 ramp, headed home, “If you’d tried harder, Dad wouldn’t have died.”

She slammed on the brakes, and it was a good thing we weren’t on the I-10 anymore, because we’d probably both have died. “Excuse me?”

I rubbed the back of my hand across my nose. “I said, it’s your fault Dad died.”

“Juniper,” she said, enunciating my name like it was a secret code she had to say perfectly to get through to me. “There’s nothing I could do about your dad’s heart. I helped him get on the transplant list. I stayed with him after the surgery. I picked up his immunosuppressants and antibiotics and made sure he took them. But his body rejected the heart, honey. It was nobody’s fault, not even the doctor’s.”

I said, my tone far below freezing, the way Phoenix, Arizona never was, “If you’d just tried, you could have found a sorcerer to heal Dad. And then he wouldn’t have died.”

:readmore:

We were sitting at a light, with people honking behind us, but Mom didn’t drive on home. “Juniper, that’s ridiculous. You’ve been spending too much time on social media.”

I glared at her through eyes that still stung from all the crying I’d done. “Sorcerers are in the news. Sorcerers are on TV. Half the students at my middle school want to be one when they grow up. Don’t tell me you didn’t even think of it. Don’t lie to me!”

“Magic isn’t reliable. And sorcerers aren’t as common as the magazines would have you believe. It really wasn’t that simple, sweetie.”

“Tell me you tried,” I said through gritted teeth. “Tell me you wrote to the Circle and begged for Dad’s life.”

Mom didn’t say anything. She just pushed down the gas pedal and eased us back onto the road. Her silence stretched between us as we rolled past palm trees and the beggars who stood on the street corners with their cardboard signs. Usually I insisted on giving them money. But today I was too knotted up inside myself to think of charity.

Mom didn’t say a thing, and neither did I until we pulled in our driveway, where Dad’s peace roses waited for him to deadhead them. He never would. The roses would shrivel up in the heat and fall off to rot. Nobody would water them, either, and that was a death sentence in the desert. They’d die. Just like Dad.

I said, when Mom turned off the engine, “I’m never going to forgive you. Willow.” And I got out of the car and fled before she could say a single word.

#

Sunday, August 11th, 2024

#

The last time I spoke to my mom, I was on the bus to the Seramia Boarding School, bumping up a dirt road outside of the foothills. Her face contorted in a guilty smile on my phone screen, and her voice came out as a tinny little squeak. “You’ll enjoy the chance to get out in nature, Juniper. Really you will.”

I put my deadest expression on and just stared at the phone.

She forged on, her tone forced brightness. “There’ll be lots of opportunities to hike in between classes. They say the Bighorn Mountains are stunning. You packed your binoculars, didn’t you?”

“I’m sure they are, Willow,” I said bitterly. That’s Mom’s name. When I was born, she kept the tree theme going.

“Call me Mom,” she pleaded. “The way you used to.”

The way I had before Dad died. I lied, “You’re breaking up. I can barely see you. Oh no—”

And I jammed the “End call” button and shoved my phone into the patched backpack that sat at my feet.

I wasn’t the only kid on the bus who was using the last opportunity to talk to family. The school had no cell phone signal, not up in the mountains. It said so clearly in the brightly colored brochure my mom had shoved under my nose. No internet, either. The only way to stay in touch was by magic. And I wasn’t a sorcerer. Nobody I knew was.

A boy near me tangled twiggy fingers in his long ginger hair and said, “Dad, you can’t be serious about sending me away for four years. You just can’t. A boarding school? What is this, the eighteen hundreds? Is there going to be a schoolmaster who beats us with a ruler, too? How about nuns? Are there nuns here?”

I slouched lower in my seat, trying to keep to myself. It wasn’t a religious school we were going to. Mom had reassured me about that, with the most earnest expression on her face. She wouldn’t send me off to some Christian camp that would drum traditional female roles into me, not when Mom was a proud atheist and feminist. The Seramia Boarding School made good kids out of bad ones, but not through religion. So they claimed.

I yanked the crumpled brochure out of my backpack. The front showed smiling teenagers, about my age, with perfectly brushed hair and smart blue uniforms and genuine joy in their eyes. Behind them, pine trees obscured most of the horizon, except where the naked peak of a mountain jutted up above the green.

The brochure said, “Guaranteed results! We take troubled teens and turn out model citizens! Does your son or daughter steal, lie, do drugs or bully others? At the Seramia Boarding School, they’ll find a new way of life. By their eighteenth birthday, they’ll be glad they came! And you’ll be glad you sent them.”

I wadded it back up until I couldn’t see those smiles any longer. Mom was already glad. She was tired of my defiance, tired of trying to deal with my problems, and she’d taken the easy way out. Some feminist she made.

Another girl slid onto my bench, adjusting the dozens of plastic bracelets that hung from her chunky arms. “Got a smoke?” she asked me, peering out from beneath long blonde bangs. “You look like a smoker.”

I shrugged bony shoulders. “Do I smell like one? Bug off.”

She nodded approvingly and pulled out a blunt from her little sequined purse. “Astrid,” she said. “You?” She lit the blunt with a neon-pink lighter and stuffed the edge into her mouth.

“Juniper,” I said, opening my window for fresh air. “What are your parents banishing you for?”

Astrid smiled mockingly. “Arson. You?”

“Pill-popping. What did you burn down?”

“My grandma’s barn. What do you pop?”

“None of your business. Go sit by yourself and inhale smoke until you die.”

She sprang up and blew in my face. “Suit yourself. No one’s going to want to be friends with you, you know. Dumb bitch. And there’s no pills in the mountains.” She flounced back to her seat, leaving me to stare out at the foothills as we bumped up Red Grade Road.

No pills in the mountains. I felt for the hard little pill bottle at the bottom of my bag. The precious contents wouldn’t last me very long. Not with how often I took them. And there were no pills in the mountains. Mom was counting on that, and I hated her for it.

#

The bus jounced and rattled up miles of dirt road, alternatively hemmed in by crowded lodge-pole pine trees and edged by open meadows. Then we trundled across an even bigger meadow and into a clearing in among the trees. A wooden sign declared, “Welcome to Seramia Boarding School! Your life changes today.” A beaming face smiled out at us, and I hated it immediately. But we didn’t stay to look at it. We rumbled on into the midst of what looked like a village from a hundred years ago. I didn’t see a single car or even a golf cart. Five big buildings circled a central lawn that was more weeds than grass. Smaller cabins trailed off into the woods, interspersed with more pine trees. The central buildings were too big to be called cabins—maybe lodge would be a better word—but everywhere I looked they were built out of smooth logs, stained reddish brown. The pointed roofs, made of tin, were colored the same red. A hand painted sign on the left building said Freshman. The other buildings were labeled Sophomore, Junior, Senior and Dining.

A boy with dreadlocks the same color as his dark skin leaned against the window and said, “They won’t let us mingle? This place is going to suck.”

The bus ground to a halt, and the doors opened with a screech. I rose from my seat and grabbed my backpack. “You thought a place that only lets you bring one bag—and won’t let you leave—would be great? You’re not an A student, are you?”

He glowered at me and tossed a dreadlock over his shoulder. “They don’t send A students to shitholes like this.”

That wasn’t entirely true. I’d been an A student once. Before my dad died and I started sleeping through class. Before the pills. But I didn’t say that. I tromped down the stairs and off the bus before any of the others could beat me to it.

Cool air struck me immediately; this place was twenty degrees colder than the prairie that surrounded the mountains. My shorts and t-shirt wouldn’t keep me warm once the sun went down. I hadn’t even packed winter clothes. They’d be provided, Mom had told me. I rubbed my arms as the other teens disembarked and managed to squish a mosquito. It left a smear of blood on my palm. Wonderful. And Mom thought I would enjoy nature.

From the bus window, the place had looked abandoned. But the door to the senior building swung open, and ten teenagers marched out in perfect single file. They lined up in front of us. Despite their rainbow of skin colors and different heights and noses, they looked identical: athletic, in matching blue uniform pants and shirts and with welcoming smiles on their faces.

I took a glance at the other new arrivals. There were ten of us, half male, half female, all a mixture of different races, and we didn’t look anything alike. Half the girls wore tight leggings or jeans, and the rest wore short skirts. I was the only one in shorts, and they were khaki boy’s shorts that came down to my knees. Not fashionable at all, but what my mom liked to buy for me.

The boys wore a mix of khakis and jeans, both long and short, and half of them didn’t fit right. Half the boys had longer hair than I did. I looked back at the seniors. The boys all had buzz cuts, like soldiers, and the girls had their hair neatly trimmed at the shoulders.

A senior stepped forward. The bridge of her hawklike nose tilted sideways from an old break, and a tattoo of leopard spots marked the line of her throat. If she’d worn leather, I’d have called her a bruiser, maybe a biker chick. But her voice matched her uniform and smile perfectly. “Welcome to Seramia Boarding School! I’m Ember Saint James, the senior valedictorian. We’re so happy to have you here. I hope your journey wasn’t too long.”

All us new arrivals stared at her. Astrid said, “Are you kidding? You bused us into the middle of frigging nowhere. I came all the way from Oregon.”

I nodded. They had bused me in a thousand miles from Phoenix, Arizona, where it’d been 105 F. This mountain was frigid in comparison.

Ember’s smile didn’t fade. “Then I’m sure you’re looking forward to seeing your new cabins and getting a nap. You’ll pick your classes tomorrow, so for today you can just get settled in.”

“We get to pick?” the boy with long ginger hair said, screwing up eyebrows that looked like caterpillars. He paced a few steps. “I thought my dad decided all that. You know, before he shipped me here.”

The senior cocked her head. “Do you think you’ll be more motivated to become a model student if you’re given a choice?”

The boy grimaced. “I guess. I don’t really plan on becoming a model for anyone.” He fidgeted with the straps of his backpack. Since I first saw him, he hadn’t held still.

“What’s your name?” Ember asked.

Astrid said sourly, “Aren’t we all on a list somewhere?”

“You are, but it’s polite to ask.”

The ginger boy rocked back on his heels and said, “I’m Kye Wells. What’s your accommodation policy here?”

“Accommodations? What do you need accommodation for?” Astrid asked, grinning at him. “Are you an idiot? Is that why your parents didn’t want you around anymore?”

Kye’s freckled face turned tomato red. “Nothing! Just—Never mind. Forget it.”

Ember’s smile turned sympathetic. “The teachers work with each student as needed. I promise, whatever problem your parents felt they couldn’t solve, it’ll disappear by junior year.” She looked around at the rest of us. “And that goes for all of you. The founder of this place promises it. To you, and to your parents.”

The brochure in my backpack said Beatrix Seramia had founded the Seramia Boarding School thirty years ago, to help troubled youth. “What did you do wrong to get sent here?” I asked Ember, folding my arms across my Gila monster t-shirt. “What was your problem?”

“I was a graffiti artist hooked on crack,” she said, still smiling that perfect smile. “But my parents knew this place could help me. Just like it’ll help you.”

“Bullshit,” one of the new boys said. He towered above the rest of us, and his nose could’ve sliced bread. “You can’t just fix people like that. There’s no way you’ll get rid of my problems without me becoming a totally new person.”

Ember’s smile broadened. “Then maybe you’ll become a new person. But don’t worry. It won’t hurt much.”

But it sounded like a lie.

#

The seniors split us freshmen up and directed us to the smaller cabins. I was in the obnoxiously named Jackalope Cabin, on the far left of the campus, near the trees. As I trudged towards my new home, a whisper of sound intruded in my gloom. It grew louder and louder until I realized a noisy stream rushed by right behind my cabin. The sound of it would lull me to sleep at night. But I refused to be pleased or grateful. Mom had banished me to this place to get rid of me, and one nice feature didn’t make up for it.

The stairs that led to the porch creaked as I tromped up them. Four rustic rocking chairs sat at the corners of the porch. I guessed I was going to share the place with three people. I kicked a chair. We were teenagers, modern teenagers, and our parents thought we’d be willing to live without internet or phone service or television? They thought we’d be fixed if we just sat in old-timey chairs and rocked, like stereotypical grannies? They were nuts. The whole lot of them. Mom especially.

A wooden jackalope leered at me from between the two doors. Its antlers were twice the length of its long ears. I grabbed the handle of the rightmost door and yanked it open.

The hinges squealed as I yanked open the door. A monster lay in the middle of the floor, bat-like wings spread.

I screamed and stumbled back. But the monster didn’t leap up to pursue me. Its long tongue stuck out between its fangs, motionless.

“Hey, it’s dead,” a deep voice said. “I killed it.”

I looked up and came face to face with a boy two years older than me. He was trim and athletic, with the muscle of a runner. He crossed long arms and smirked at me. His hair was a buzz cut, just like the seniors, and he wore the same blue uniform. Were we all going to dress like that?

I took another look at the monster, and the shape of its head and four legs registered. “Is that a cow?” It was definitely dead, now that I looked closer. Its brown eyes stood open, dulled and unfocused, and blood stained its muzzle and dripped onto the wooden floor.

“It was,” the boy said. “Before the heal-transformers got to it.”

I staggered into the room and plopped down on one of the small beds that framed the freakish winged cow. My legs wouldn’t hold me up anymore. “What’s a heal-transformer, and why would anyone do that to a cow?” Its fangs better fit a sabertooth tiger, and its wings belonged on a dragon.

He shrugged and took a seat on the other bed. A door led to the other half of the cabin, but it was closed. “The students who pick healing and transformation as their focus. They’ll transform anything. How else are they going to practice?”

“Their focus?” I said, my voice too shrill. “You’re talking about magic? Are you telling me this is a magic school?”

He gave a lopsided smile. “Didn’t it say that in the brochure?”

I jabbed a shaking finger towards him. “No! The brochure went on about how this place was going to fix us all. It said nothing about making us real sorcerers!” Mom would never let me study to become a sorceress.

“Surprise,” he said.

I took a deep breath, trying to shove down excitement. “You mean tomorrow, when I pick my classes, I’m going to choose classes on magic?” This sounded too good to be true. It probably was.

He laughed at me. “Nope. They’ll mostly be ordinary high school classes. Math, history, etcetera.”

I grabbed that mostly with both hands. “But some of them will be magic?”

“Some of them will prepare you for magic,” he corrected. “You won’t learn to use actual spells until you’re a junior, like me.”

I glared at him, feeling the thrill I’d felt at the idea of becoming a sorceress—which was admittedly partly to spite my mother—drain out of me. “That’s stupid. I want to start now.”

He shook his head and grabbed the flying cow by one wing. “You’re, what, fourteen? You don’t know enough. If you want to break the laws of physics, you have to know what they are. If you want to heal, you need to know anatomy and cells and DNA. Not that I know much about that. I’m not a heal-transformer.” He tried to drag the cow towards the door, but the wing stretched out and the cow didn’t budge. “Help me with this, will you?”

I stared at him. I hadn’t seen a whole dead cow in my life. I didn’t even eat hamburger because the thought of eating something with soulful brown eyes made me sick to my stomach. “Where are you taking it?”

He grinned at me. “The kitchen. Don’t you want steak?”

I lifted my chin. “I’m a vegetarian. I don’t believe in killing animals to eat them.”

The boy tilted his head. “What about killing them to save your life?”

“You mean if I was starving? Maybe if I had to.” People justified all sorts of things when they were starving. Even cannibalism.

His lopsided smile reappeared. “I guess that’s one way to look at it. But help me move the cow, even if you won’t eat it.”

Gingerly, I rose from the bed and grabbed the cow’s other wing. It felt nothing like leather; it was soft and furry and still warm. When I hauled on it with all my strength, it stretched out, revealing a membrane so thin I could see the floor through it. “If you’re not a heal-transformer, what are you?”

He hauled on his wing and I hauled on mine, and slowly we dragged the cow towards the door. He said, “I’m an entroper. Violating the laws of physics is my specialty.”

“And your name?”

We got the cow out onto the porch and began bumping it down the stairs. “Declan Finch,” he said. “You’re my new freshman roommate. I assume you have a name, but no one told me what it was.”

“Juniper Fellows,” I said. “Are you my only roommate?”

“There’s a sophomore and a senior in the other room, but you’ll be bunking with me. I hope you’re not shy.” The words could’ve come out lecherous, but instead, they just sounded like a friendly joke.

I glared at him anyway as we dragged the cow towards the dining hall. “The school expects me to share a room with a boy? How do I know you’re not a sex offender? Maybe that’s why you got banished here.”

Declan’s regal face grew serious. “Every freshman gets placed with a junior or senior roommate, and I’m afraid there’s no extra girl to put you with. And don’t worry. Even if I had been a sex offender, which I wasn’t, I’m a junior. Whatever problems I had as a frosh are long gone.”

I bit out, “You’re claiming you’re perfect? That you’re totally fixed? A brand new person, like that brochure promised? Fat chance. You’re probably a pervert who’s gotten better at faking it.”

I won a grin from him. “I am a brand new person. You’re right. Soon you’ll be a brand new person, too. Are you excited?”

I dropped the wing of the cow and said coldly, “Take your kill the rest of the way on your own. And leave me the hell alone. I’m going to sleep.”

His elegant brow furrowed. “It’s three in the afternoon.”

“I don’t care.” I turned on my heel and marched back to Jackalope Cabin. Once I reached it, I threw my bag down on the bed that wasn’t covered with a boy’s pajamas and fumbled in the bottom for my pill bottle.

I shook four zolpidem into my hand—four times the prescribed dose, but one pill didn’t put me to sleep anymore—and dry swallowed them. They tasted bitter going down.

“I hate you, Mom,” I said to nobody as I counted how many pills I had left. Enough for a month, maybe. When Mom wasn’t looking, I’d gotten multiple prescriptions filled at different pharmacies.

I tucked the bottle away, careful with its precious contents, and threw myself down on the bed before the zolpidem could make the world dizzy and unreal. I don’t remember falling asleep. With a high enough dose, I never remember anything.

@anonymousfoz

@moremysteriesthantragedies

@elizababie

@sm-writes-chaos

@bellascarousel

#writeblr #writing community #writing #young adult #fantasy #School of Souls

[taintedevesayori]

Sayo's Route: Maniac Epilogue

Sayo's Route Masterlist

-Sayo knocks on the door of the Mukami manor. Ruki opens the door

Sayo: Hey, Ruki. How have you been?

Ruki: I’ve been fine, thanks. I didn’t know you were coming over today. 

Sayo: It was sort of last minute. Sorry Kou didn’t tell you…

Ruki: It’s fine. Would you like to join us for dinner? I was about to start cooking. 

Sayo: Sure, if that’s alright with you. 

Ruki: I’m sure the others will be happy you are joining us too. Kou is upstairs in his room, I believe. 

Sayo: Thanks! I’m looking forward to your cooking. Do you want help? I’m sure Kou will be fine for a bit if so. 

Ruki: Fufu…I’ll be fine, but thank you. 

-Sayo goes upstairs and knocks on Kou’s door

Kou: Sayo-chan? Come in~!

-She opens the door. Kou is sitting on his bed, flipping through a magazine

Sayo: Whatcha looking at?

Kou: Wanna see? Come look with me!

-She sits down next to him. She recognizes it as a volume of a fashion magazine Rena used to read

Sayo: My friend liked these ones. She had a period like two years ago when she would buy clothes to try to match some of the outfits she saw in them. 

Kou: Haha really? Have you ever done anything like that?

Sayo: Fufu…No, I didn’t have the money for shopping sprees. I was raised in a church, after all. 

Kou: Hm? Really? 

Sayo: Have I really never told you about that?

Kou: Nope, I never would have guessed. 

Sayo: Well, I was rarely there. The nuns had an issue with the way I acted. They tried discipline at first, but it only made me want to rebel more, so they gave up and wanted me out of the way after a while. So I spent all my free time away from the church. I was usually with my friends, but I would also go to places like the library a lot when they were busy. 

Kou: So did your parents work there?

Sayo: No, I’m an orphan. I don’t know anything about my parents. Just that they abandoned me there when I was a baby.

Kou: Really…? 

Sayo: Yeah. Are you surprised?

Kou: A little…You probably don’t know either, but I met Ruki, Yuma, and Azusa at an orphanage…We aren’t blood related. 

Sayo: But they’re still your brothers…The people you choose as your family can be stronger than actual blood ties. I feel the same way about my friends back home.

Kou: Even though you don’t live there anymore?

Sayo: Absolutely. We’ve always been there for each other. That makes them family in my book. Maybe I see it that way because I don’t have parents or anything like that, but still. 

-Kou smiles, taking her hand in his

Kou: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. The four of us probably understand it better than anyone else could…

*Timeskip*

-There’s a knock on Kou’s bedroom door

Azusa: Kou…Ruki says dinner is ready. 

Kou: Coming!

-The two get up to join Azusa

Azusa: Ah…Hello, Sayo…

Sayo: Hi, Azusa. 

Azusa: You’re joining us…for dinner?

Sayo: Yeah, Ruki invited me. 

Azusa: That…makes me happy.

-The three walk down to the dining room. Ruki has already set out the food. He and Yuma are waiting 

Yuma: Hey, Sayo. Ruki didn’t say you were coming. 

Ruki: You didn’t gather that from the extra seating arrangement?

Yuma: Che…

Sayo: Fufu…Hey, Yuma. Hope you guys don’t mind me crashing dinner. 

Yuma: ‘Course not. Ya ask me, you should come ‘round more often.

Kou: Yeah! You aren’t here nearly enough!

Sayo: I am trying to come more often. It’s just a question of when I can sneak away and if someone comes to drag me back…

Ruki: You know you are more than welcome. Just don’t put yourself in danger. I heard you had to stop Ayato and Laito from getting into a fight with Kou the other day. 

Sayo: Well, yeah…but that was nothing. I stepped in before it could get dangerous. 

Kou: I wouldn’t have let her get hurt in the first place!

Yuma: You better not. 

Sayo: Fufu…You sound like a protective older brother, Yuma. 

Yuma: Hehe…Ya think?

Kou: You’re mine, so he basically is, you know? You pretty much have three older brothers now~

Azusa: Having a little sister…? Fufu…How nice…

Ruki: Fufu…She is a rather troublesome little sister, isn’t she?

Yuma: Hehe…Got that right.

-She can’t help but smile

(Three older brothers, huh…? That doesn’t sound too bad…)

Sayo: Hey, who says I’m troublesome? 

Kou: Ahaha! You’ve been trouble ever since we met you! 

Sayo: Fufu…You don’t hold your punches, do you? 

Ruki: I do believe the Sakamakis would agree you have been causing them trouble with how you have been talking to us as well, don’t you think?

Sayo: You didn’t have to bring them into this…It’s not my fault they want to be possessive. 

-The four brothers exchange glances before chuckling

Sayo: I don’t even want to know what just happened…

Kou: It’s totally your fault that they’re possessive, Sayo-chan. But it’s adorable how clueless you are~

-He pats her head a few times, but she swats away his hand

Sayo: Hey! I’m not clueless.

Azusa: Fufu…It is cute…

Kou: Right?

Sayo: Ugh…

Ruki: Fufu…Get used to it. This is how brothers are.

Sayo: Haah…You guys are lucky you’re easy to get along with.

*Timeskip*

-Sayo is on her way home from the Mukami manor. She stops at a phone booth after making sure she isn’t being followed

Lei: Hello? 

Sayo: Hey, Lei. It’s Sayo. Just calling for the monthly check in. 

Lei: Hey, Sayo! I’ve got great news! Plan Escape Shitty Marriage is a go. My aunt has a room for you!

Sayo: …!

-To be continued

#diabolik lovers oc #diabolik lovers #sayori makina #kou mukami #yuma mukami #ruki mukami #azusa mukami #diabolik lovers fanfiction #sayo's route

[pearblossommina]

ToG Read-a-Long, Queen of Shadows, Day 1

GUYS when I bought these books i mistakenly received TWO copies of Queen of Shadows so I mailed one to my friend! They SAID they’d read along, because they still haven’t finished the series either, but also idk if they’re gonna read along.

Books are hard

(But no one can stop me I’m a huge fan of Celaena and this series sooooo)(shirking literally all other responsibilities)(and reading books instead) (HERE WE GO)

Ch 1

LET’S GO

hi Dorian i’m sorry you’re sad

Listen

I’m sad too but also I am excited to be reading this book

(I keep forgetting that the tone has RAPIDLY shifted and we are in the worst timeline rn) (everything sucks and nothing is fun)

Ch 2

I wanna know what color she dyed her hair

(This is so awesome!!!!!!!!) (I can’t wait for her to start exacting revenge)

(Kill baby kill)(slaaaaay queen!)

Ch 3

I have so much rage in me for Arobynn it’s not even funny

(God he’s so disgusting.)

GET AWAY FROM HER GROOMER.

I have no idea what Chaol is doing but my thought is that maybe he’s here trying to hire someone to help him rescue Aedion?

Ch 4

AEDION, don’t give up. Chaol is planning a daring rescue (I think)

Ch 5

So - who is this lady

I can’t think of any ladies actually.

Does she have a name and have we met her before?

Ch 6

I think maybe we’ve never met her before. She says her name is not important. Well lady, I’m still gonna root for you, even if you don’t feel important.

(Go, weird sewer lady, go!)

Hi Chaol

I missed you

Are you planning a daring rescue? What are you up to?

Ch 7

Oh Nesryn! Hi!

Ooh boy this is rough

I thought maybe they could… be friends… even after the breakup

Guys, guys. You should try and work togetherrrrr

This is heartbreaking, I hate when mom and dad fight.

“Dorian is my king” Chaol, you’re precious and I fucking love you. LMAO you loyal piece of shit. You absolute madman.

“She knew herself well enough to admit that the relief was partially that of a coward- that she didn't have to face Ren and see how he might react to who she was, what she'd done with Marion's sacrifice.” Ugh why is she being so hard on herself????????

GIRL GO TO THERAPY

Ren and Aedion do not hate you, no one hates you, I promise. Not even CHAOL hates you. I think he’s just upset about Dorian and misses getting snuggles. Deep down that’s what every man wants… snuggles. It’s not your fault you guys aren’t in love anymore. Please, please, please stop being so hard on yourself.

I’m just ready to devour this book at this moment.

My hope is that our good guys can conquer and kill some of our villains, but also, I know this is book 5 of 8 and I might have to waiiiiit a little bit before. Ya know. The defeat of evil and the saving of the day.

A girl can dream.

I’d also LIKE TO SEE SOME ROMANCE SJM please my crops are dying

I know it’s hard to work in when everything’s intense intense intense like this but

Can we get some soft moments please

I NEED IT

#tog read along 2023 #queen of shadows #let’s gooooo

[daburuwosagase]

Manga scanning: a practical example

Lately I've been getting a lot of people asking questions about how to scan and subtitle. And it's kinda hit me: there aren't a lot of visible, accessible resources for this, are there? As time winds by, the masters of these arts have moved on and vanished from the internet. So for posterity, I want to talk about my own work process. (Remember to save a backup of this post somewhere if you like it...)

Maybe someone else has already written this up better than me, but it's nice to infodump about the process regardless.

The book I'm scanning is Inazuma Eleven GO: Saikyou Senshu 100-nin Zukan. It was a magazine extra drawn by multiple artists, and to my knowledge it's never been rereleased in tankobon format. Which is a damn shame, because it's full of hilarious gags! Time to bring it back to the world. So, how do we start?

0) Tools and programs

Before anything else, ya gotta have a good, clean scanner. My actual scanning is done with a basic 11x17 flatbed scanner with 1200dpi max. Default OS scanning programs usually suck, so I always download the scanner drivers and programs from the manufacturer's site!!

Other physical requirements are a microwave and some black paper. The digital steps are all done in Photoshop and XNView.

1) Scan the cover

For scan settings, I default to 600dpi PNG. I used to scan things at 200/300dpi, and while this is quicker and more economical, it's not nearly as crisp! It can also cause some weird color banding, due to some scientific phenomenon that still confuses me! Basically, if a scan looks stripey, change the DPI. It's much better to work at higher resolutions and then shrink it down later. I don't have to fret over 100mb+ raw images anymore because I have plenty of external storage! Yippee!!

Before doing anything else, I scan the cover while it's still in the best possible condition. Obviously, opening the book too far will cause creasing near the spine.

Since my edition was a well-loved secondhand copy, there is a LOT of creasing. But I don't feel like spending 3k yen to get a mint copy that I'm just gonna rip apart anyway, so this is where Photoshop comes in!

2) Retouching cover damage

Fortunately, there isn't any color fading to deal with here. The majority of these imperfections were touched up with Content Aware Fill. It's a very powerful tool that assumes what the selected pixels *should* look like based on the surrounding pixels. Use the Lasso or Magic Wand to select the imperfections, and try to avoid selecting pixels you don't want fixed. Content Aware works best on small spots, so you kinda have to break it up by color blocks, but it's still a million times faster and way less depressing. Seriously, cleaning and typesetting let my mind wander too much.

I currently have two Actions shortcuts to make this process even faster:

1) regular Content Aware Fill

2) Expand by 5px > Content Aware Fill > Deselect

When Content Aware fails, this is when I have to go manual. Clone Stamp is my best friend ever. Carefully select a source with the Alt key, line up the dots over the touchup area (toggle Enter for better viewing), and keep brushing! This can be painstaking, but man, I love seeing and comparing the finished result.

Healing Brush is helpful when you have to clone a pattern but the color is different. It'll preserve the source pattern but adjust the lighting to match the surrounding pixels. It's a lot more finicky and will blur colors *too* much sometimes, especially near borders. This tool's really better on photographs, but it still comes in handy.

(I hear that Patch combines the functionality of these two! I wanna try it out next time...)

When Healing Brush can't blend colors well enough, using Clone Stamp in combination with Dodge (lighten) or Burn (darken), with strength adjusted accordingly, is the next best thing. Burn is GREAT on lines that aren't quite black enough! This technique works wonders when touching up gutter shadows especially. I will spend an exorbitant amount of time on retouching if it means I don't have to rip apart my nice books (that being said, it's important to really gauge whether it's worth retouching in the first place! I waste too much of my time on tiny details that nobody else cares about!!)

If being able to see the printer dots bothers you, there's an easy fix: the Surface Blur filter. This is one I've only discovered recently and I'm still playing around with it. On one hand, it gets rid of the tiny white dots and can make scan images look absolutely magnificent. On the other hand, it has some trouble preserving sharp lines and small highlights. Since I don't like altering the original image too much, the scans I post aren't usually blurred -- but it's something you can try out at home!

Hot damn! Look at the difference! Look at my boy Tenma! You'd hardly guess the condition the original is in!

Note that the final version does not have all the creases removed. At this point I had already spent a couple of hours retouching and decided nobody else was gonna care THAT much about the peripheral damage. If you do care that much, feel free to spend *your* time perfecting this.

3) Melt

Now that the cover's scanned... it's time to toss the book in the microwave!

(Pictured is a *different* book, but you get the picture.)

No, seriously. Microwaving is the easiest way to warm up the glue enough to tear the pages out. Or more accurately, gently tug on the pages till they separate from the rest of the bunch. I start from the front cover and tease the pages out one by one. On thicker books, I'll alternate between front and back covers.

I set the initial heating count to 30-50 seconds, and sometimes I turn down the power level if I'm feeling apprehensive. Really gotta play it by ear depending on the book’s size and condition. After tearing out a couple dozen pages, the glue gets cool again and the pages start to resist again. Continuing like this results in the paper tearing!! This is when I chuck the book back in for another 10-15 seconds.

It's a little scary at first, but the toner on the pages heats up too! It doesn't bleed and it shouldn't be *too* hot to the touch though. So it's just something I've had to get used to.

This particular book kinda smelled when I heated it up! I blame either the paper quality or, y'know, being secondhand and maybe not being stored in perfect condition. But the stink was fortunately temporary.

Some people prefer ironing the spine (with a towel over it), but IMO that's more precarious and time-consuming. Maybe it works better for the middle pages though...? Worth trying out someday.

You could just slice out the pages with a knife or something, but with melting, it's possible to rebind the pages later! This is another thing I haven't done myself yet, but I'm excited to try it out with a nice archival glue. I'll update with the results eventually.

So, with the "how" out of the way, "why" would you take apart a book in the first place!? It still feels a little sacrilegious. But scanning pages one at a time gets you the best possible results.

It eliminates three major issues:

1) Gutter shadow

As mentioned before, shadows at the "gutter" (the inside spine) naturally happen because the page isn't lying flat there. It looks bad. And it takes a whole lot of work to retouch.

2) Angled pages

The cousin to gutter shadow, angled pages happen when the spine is a leeeetle more open/closed at the bottom/top. So with a spread, you've got the left page at -1 degree and the right page at .5 degree. Both of these pages are going to have things cut off when they're cropped. And it's going to look very weird when you're flipping through pages and have slightly alternating angles. Rotating these pages so that they're at the same angle is a lot more trouble.

It's really hard to keep the spine open exactly the same way for an entire book! The weight of the scan lid can throw off careful positioning anyway!

3) See-through pages

Manga in Japan is CHEAP and is not printed on the best paper possible. If you have the pages all bundled together, you can see large splotches of black or white from the spread that's behind the page being scanned. Leveling the image can fix this, but it comes at the cost of destroying midtones. Which is to say, any gray in the image becomes off-white or almost-black.

I hope you're beginning to understand how much effort and technical detail goes into the scans you enjoy.

4) Scanning

Same scan settings as the cover (600dpi PNG). I always scan in color, even for grayscale images. And I don't trust the auto settings enough to let the machine fiddle with colors and cropping.

You know how scanners have a little arrow at the corner saying "align here"? Don't do that. The ones I've worked with like to shave off a few millimeters from the edge because they assume there's a margin anyway. So I place my documents about 1cm AWAY from the edge just to make sure the whole page is scanned in. This inevitably causes some slight rotation, which will be fixed later.

A new technique I've learned to reduce the effects of aforementioned see-through pages: use a black background! The toner blends in with the dark backing. This reduces the luminosity of the whites, but that's something that can easily be fixed via leveling later. I do not have black paper around the house, so I resorted to fabric.

For comparison, here's the first page scanned with both a white and a black background. Note that white is slightly brighter, but there are some weird shadowy lines in the background. If you look really hard, the line goes through the screentone on Tenma's hair! Maybe it's excessive, but these tiny details can be weirdly distracting.

This book doesn't have page numbers, so I had to be extra cautious about missing pages (or accidentally dropping the stack)!

5) Leveling

Typically this step is something I leave for last, but since it significantly reduces file size, that's going to make the next steps easier.

So I've mentioned leveling before. But what is it?

Essentially, Levels make black *blacker* and white *whiter*. This is one very easy step to make pages look SO much better.

Switching over to XNView now, I'm setting these pages to about 40-220. Usually this would be a bit too heavy -- this could easily erase something light or turn something dark into pure black. But in this instance, the high dpi means individual screentone dots are visible and any grays are pretty well preserved anyway. So let it rip! XNView batch processing can run through all selected pages all at once and save the leveled copies to a new folder.

There's a ton of dust left still. Leveling gets a *lot* of it, but again, the paper quality is not great in the first place so it's kind of unavoidable. Resizing and cleaning the page later will help somewhat.

6) Rotate

This is the one step I do fully manually. I haven't had much luck with auto deskew/crop before, nor have I tried any different methods for it recently. Please tell me if there's a better way of doing this step that won't sacrifice border pixels.

Anyway, since I scanned slightly away from the edges earlier, the resulting digital image is slightly rotated at a random angle! For some ungodly reason, Photoshop doesn't have a shortcut for custom rotation, nor can you really set an action for it. XNView once again comes in clutch here. The basic steps are:

5a) Click and drag to create a bounding box. This will be used as a guideline to check whether the digital image is actually upright.

5b) Shift-O and test out values from -3 to 3. Ctrl-Z and repeat until it's just right.

After a while, you get a hang for approximate values, but "just right" means getting within .05 of a degree!! Even the untrained eye can tell when something's off by a mite.

5c) Adjust the bounding box's borders to the edges. If the box is aligned to one corner and the adjacent corners *aren't* aligned too, that means you have to rotate until all four corners are aligned. Then crop and save and move onto the next one!

7) Align

This is a new step I've never done before! Given the number and size of pages I'm working with here, I had to think and plan out this process in advance for once. Basically, instead of cropping and resizing each individual file, I load them all in at once so that they're perfectly aligned with each other. This is gonna require a lot of Photoshop automation.

First off, I go to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack. There are four types of pages here: 1 comic on the left, 1 comic on the right, 2 comics on the left, and 2 comics on the right. This process will have to be repeated for each type so that the automation doesn't get confused. Then we check the "Align Source Images" box and let the process run... for a while.

So now I have a single file with one layer for each of the pages, and the comics themselves are all nicely aligned! Yahoo! The edges are mismatched though, so it's time to crop again. There's gonna be some cutoff but that's acceptable in this instance since I just care about the small comics. If I was doing bigger, full-page manga, I'd probably *add* some margin after cropping.

The pages are approximately a 5:8 ratio, so I've decided to crop these down to 2550 x 4080. To make sure that the comics are at the same distance from the margin regardless of page type, I'm using Guides to roughly estimate the comic positions after cropping. I want them to end up at about 70px and 100px from the horizontal and vertical margins respectively. I could also change the size of the canvas instead of cropping if I really wanted to.

Once I'm satisfied with the cropping, I use the Timeline/Animations window to flip through (at about 0.5 seconds) and check that all of the layers look right. There are a couple tears and visible background instances which are quickly fixed with Content Aware Fill and Clone Stamp. Since the background's black, I even had to temporarily change the Photoshop interface color lighter so that I could detect the imperfections better.

Then at last I go to File > Scripts > Export Layers to Files and... wait for a while again. Now we have separate files! And now I have to repeat these steps all over again for the three other page types!

Lastly, it's time to rename the resulting files in order. I actually screwed up on this step. Photoshop exported all the files *backwards*, which gave me file names like "PSexp0025-InaGo01". This is an issue because it makes batch-renaming via XNView a whole lot harder!! Photoshop automatically adds a numbered prefix to all the auto-exported files, and XNView can't remove wildcards from filenames. The result is weirdly staggered out-of-ordered files. It took some careful manual work to fix this, but at long last, we have a whole folder of 90 beautiful pages!

8) Translate (FINALLY)

You see how long it took to get here!? This took at least six hours for 90 pages. After all that work with the raws, finally I can do something with them!

Guess what! If you have a digital edition, you can skip all of these steps! Instant gratification for five bucks! Buy digital editions when you can and give your money directly to the author!!

Anyway, further stages may be discussed in another post once we get around to them. Lassoing translators and typesetters is its own struggle. I hope you learned something new from this post!

#pyroxenescanning

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 1/5

Book Blurb: The heir to an arcane bloodline must outwit their ambitious rival to stop a ruthless magical adversary in Lee Paige O’Brien’s A Hundred Vicious Turns, a YA fantasy debut—first in The Broken Tower series—perfect for fans of A Lesson in Vengeance and Hell Followed With Us.   Rat Evans, nonbinary heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines in New York, doesn’t cast spells anymore. For as long as Rat can remember, they’ve been surrounded by doorways no one else sees and corridors that aren’t on any map. Then one day, they opened a passage and found a broken tower in a field of weeds—and something followed them back.   When Rat is accepted into Bellamy Arts, all they want is a place to hide and to make sure they never open another passageway again. But when the only other person who knows what really happened last year—Harker Blakely, the dangerously gifted trans boy who used to be Rat’s closest friend—turns up on campus, Rat begins to realize that Bellamy Arts might not be as safe as they’d thought. And the tower might not be through with them yet.   Soon, Rat finds themself caught in a web of secrets and long-buried magic, with their friend-turned-enemy at their throat. But the closer they come to uncovering the truth about the tower, the further they’re drawn toward the unsettling powers that threaten to swallow them whole.

Review:

A nonbinary heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines finds themselves enrolling in magic college, facing their ex-best friend turned nemesis, and trying to hunt down a magical map all the while running from a mysterious entity that wants to capture them. Rat Evans is the heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines and has refused to cast spells anymore. Their magical talent allows them to find doorways and paths that no one else has ever seen.... but when they open up a passage to a broken tower and face a mysterious entity... they know they are in danger. Rat is now going to attend Bellamy Arts, a magical school that promises to offer protection for Rat and make sure that Rat doesn't encounter anymore passageways. There's only one problem with going to this school, Harker Blakely, a dangerously gifted trans boy who used to be Rat's closest friend and was the only person who knew what happened to Rat when they encountered the dangerous entity, but now absolutely hates Rat. Rat realizes that the entity is closing in on them and now they have to solve dangerous secrets and figure out what Harker is truly up to if they want to survive.

For a book titled A Hundred Vicious Turns, the only vicious turn this book had was how boring it got. This book features a gorgeous cover, has great representation, and offers a magical school, which should be the formula to a great book I would love right? Wrong. I found this book so boring and I honestly slogged through it, and the worst part is that it's not even that long but it felt like forever. Rat is suppose to be an interesting and complex main character but I found everyone other than Rat to be an interesting character. Heck, even Harker was a more complex and interesting character, I was more invested in the side characters than I was ever invested in Rat, and that's just devastating. I really wanted to like it, but it just fell flat. For a book featuring a magical school, it sure didn't feel magical at all, they were barely even doing school work or school things half the time. Seriously this was such a let down and I won't be continuing with the series after this. The premise was promising and the cover was stunning, but beyond that, this really doesn't have much to going for it.

In the end, if you are looking for a magical school mystery featuring lots of rep, give this one a go, maybe you'll have a better time with it then I did.

*Thanks Netgalley and ABRAMS Kids, Amulet Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

#book review #bookish #lgbtq books #a hundred vicious turns

[solradguy]

i don't know if you're still accepting character asks but if you are; testament

Testament? More like BESTament AYYYYYY. When Testament was announced for Strive, I was listening to a lot of Testament the band at the time. It felt like I’d summoned them haha 

💀 Overall opinion of them:

I gotta admit that I wasn't really interested in Testament until they got added in Strive. Their original design isn't something that usually appeals to me, but I love their Strive redesign a lot!! It's cool seeing them back again, and that they're happy with themselves too. As a fellow LGBT humanoid, any LGBT character getting a good ending is instantly a favorite for me. Guilty Gear having at least TWO (3, if you count the Justice mistranslation) nonbinary characters right from the start with Testament and Baiken back in friggin 1998 is so goddamn cool. Even if Daisuke didn't know the correct terms for everything back then he still at least tried. Thank you Daisuke and ArcSys 🙏

💀 Gender/sexuality headcanons:

Testament is musei, which I think the ArcSys English team decided to translate to agender? I’ve never thought about what their sexuality might be though...hmm... Other than a few close friends, it kinda feels like they enjoy being alone. Maybe they’re aro/ace or demisexual? 

💀 Favorite moment in canon:

Strive reveal trailer with their new design 😩💖💖

I hope we get the bit of lore where Testament realizes they’re not under Justice’s control anymore and can have hobbies and a life of their own again. That would be really nice. 

💀 Favorite line, in canon or otherwise:

Ahh... A lot of Testament’s dialog is just like “DIE MONSTER I HATE YOU” until Strive... Their intro dialog in a mirror match in Strive is pretty good though:

(P2) "You there, arms up a bit. It's more graceful."

(P1) "Is that so? I was just thinking lower would be better."

💀 Characters I love seeing them interact with:

DIZZZYYYYYY. I think Testament would get along with Ky pretty well too. Maybe the three of them have regular tea dates together? It would be cool if Testament and post-Strive Sol got to have a conversation and work out their differences too. Testament seems to have/had a lot of resentment towards Sol because he was close with Kliff while Testament kinda got pulled out of the picture when the whole Justice thing went down. 

💀 Last thing before sleeping headcanons:

Testament’s been confirmed as being a bubble bath enjoyer so they definitely take nice long pre-bed bubbly baths when they have the time too, with music, candles, tea, and a book. The whole shebang, ya know? When they don’t have time for a bubble bath, they still have a pretty lengthy nightly beauty routine. There isn’t a place in this meme template to put it so I’m gonna put it here haha I like the imagine that one of Testament’s hobbies is making their own clothes. One of their hobbies is confirmed embroidery and a few of the others are pretty crafty too. Maybe before bed Testament enjoys browsing fashion boards for outfit inspiration ideas and has a scrapbook of ideas they’d like to try out some day. 

💀 Sleeping habits headcanons:

Probably Testament has a pretty standard bed (though one with a huge canopy) and sleeps like a normal person would, but Gears are FREAKY and I think it would be much funnier if they slept hanging from the ceiling by their feet or something wild like that. 

💀 First thing after waking up headcanons: 

Morning tea, absolutely. Then breakfast. I think Testament enjoys trying new recipes when they can so if they aren’t in a hurry that day, they try something different each morning. Testament feels like the type who would subscribe to all kinds of different topics of newsletters, several of which are from recipe/cooking sites. They have neatly hand-written index cards of recipes they tried and liked that they bring out when guests come over. 

💀 Favorite locations headcanon:

Out in nature for sure, but mostly resting by streams in forests or in the shade on a beach where they can catch up on reading and planning new projects or trips. They don’t like the mountains as much because it’s too windy that high up and it makes it hard to keep the right page open in their book. 

#ask memes #saint oratorio

[falcontheartist]

Did Alessia have a favorite version of the nutcracker? Or a favorite nutcrackteer before she found the story boring?

“Well—Ugh let me remember, it was so long ago—in my grandma’s book she used to read me, there was some guys named “Daemon and Draven.” Apparently they were brothers with the whole “One good one bad” thing. I didn’t know why but I always loved the two. And now that my grandma reads to my little sister Aife now, she won’t stop nagging me about how “cool” Daemon is. Honestly I don’t find the appeal anymore. But every once in a while, when I come to visit, me and Aife would always play “Daemon vs Draven.” I would be Draven and she would be Daemon. It’s the only fond thing I like about the nutcracker now. Me playing around with my sister and all…. Man… where did the time go… Oh wait! I remember a few others now. UGH, there were so many I liked actually. I mean COME ON, there were THREE HANS in that book… or were there four… and there was also an Ivan, Sam, Nathan, Rainer… UGH WHAT WERE THE REST!?… You know what… I think you just sparked an old interest of mine…. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, I’m just messin with ya. The Nutcracker’s still boring and old… okay well maybe the ones from my grandma’s book aren’t—BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT!!”

[!!Credits!!

Daemon and Draven Belong to: @darknesslioness

Hans 1 Belongs to: @shinyzango

Hans 2 Belongs to: @kaleidraws

Hans 3 Belongs to: @hntrgurl13

Hans 4 Belongs to: @ariflorarts ( @theprinceofdolls )

Ivan and Sam Belong to: @ivanandrainfall45

Nathan Belongs to: @ghostlyhybrid

Rainer Belongs to: @theevilemster ]

(… Jesus fuck there’s so many of you…)

[saucymalum]

Checked Out pt.13

Crystal Leigh x fem!reader

Originally Posted on my Instagram

Summary: It's not easy navigating a friendship with someone you have feelings for. Especially when that person is your friends girlfriend.

Also here's a playlist of the songs I listened to while writing this series

Pt.1, pt.2, pt.3, pt.4, pt.5, pt.6, pt.7, pt.8, pt.9, pt.10, pt.11, pt.12,

-------------

I stare at my phone screen frozen and see the notification number rise. Michael says my name and I snap back to reality.

“Who is it?” He asks.

I blink a few times, confused until his words finally make sense, “Oh, uh, nobody. It’s nobody.”

I silence my phone and lock it. They all look at me waiting for me to say her name. I choose to dodge the looks and put my phone back upside down on the coffee table. 

“Today is supposed to be a friend day. And it's almost Christmas so how about we watch some Christmas movies.”

Calum’s eyes scan everybody, ever the observer, and looks at me, “I feel like you two aren’t telling us something.”

I throw my head back in an overdramatic groan and go back to the kitchen. Noah looks over the back of the couch looking at me and sits back forward to the boys. 

“Ah- so- long story short, basically, my mom called again demanding I go to Thanksgiving, which sent me in a uhhh… slight spiral- Oh, and then Crystal and Levi come over unexpectedly because the night before Crystal drunk called Y/N and confessed her love to Y/N-”

“She did not, Noah. We went over this. She's off the table no matter what.” my eyes drift back into my freshly poured glass of chocolate milk and I mumble, “ She’s in love with him.”

He rolls his eyes at me, “Mkay, either way, Y/N, she said and I quote,’ I like you like a fuck ton.’ And THEN followed it with, ‘I mean I really like you’ who says that to a platonic relationship? That was a whole ass confession, man. Which says something about how she and Levi are doing I guess-”

My chest aches to believe him. My eyes burn as I stare down into my glass. God, I wish what he’s saying was true. But what can I really do? All these books always say shit like ‘I don’t want to ruin my friendship or ‘I don’t want to lose her.’ and I always that it was fucking stupid. Just go for it. But I think I get it now. The almost paralyzing fear. Because it’s not just a friendship to me anymore. I wish it was. 

“Even if she lo-liked me, I’m not going to do shit about it. It’s not just about us, she has someone else.”

Luke sits up from the floor and leans back against the coffee table. I highly doubt that’s anywhere near comfortable, “Oooo love triangle. I love those.”

We all look at him confused and he shrugs, his blonde curls bouncing with this motion, “What I like reading on tour and romance is the only thing interesting Amazon Kindle gives me these days.”

That serves as the much-needed comedic relief in the tension-filled conversation and the boys look over at Noah. Calum seems to have been the only one who still held onto the more important detail of Noah's update.

“How are you feeling after your mom called?” Calum asks. 

Noah tenses but looks into Calum's brown eyes and his shoulders sag slightly.

“Honestly?” We all nod but he’s only looking at Calum, “Just- a lot. Horribly guilty- so fucking angry- upset, sad, betrayed…I guess? Like I said it’s- a lot. I mean I always knew she was like this, I grew up with her ya know. But a part of me always just… hoped maybe she’d change. Even though she won’t. Like- maybe, for some reason, she’d see how she hurt me and change her ways. Because she's supposed to love me….But it’s like she just doubled down, gotten-” He clears his throat,” Gotten angrier and more selfish. Stopped caring about my needs. Like I don’t even know if I'm even her son in her eyes? Or just-just like a show dog? Like-‘Oh, that’s my son Noah, he’s studying law and he’s gonna be a good lawyer and get us out of this fucking trailer park.’ Cause apparently, that’s all I seem to be good for.”

He throws his head to the back of the couch and puts his hands over his face. He lets out a couple of shaky breaths and Calum squeezes Noah's hand in support.

“What's even fucking worse, I can’t even bring myself to call my gramps because what if he turned against me too? What if she got in his head? What if he doesn’t accept me anymore? I don’t think I could handle that at fucking all” 

I sit next to him on the couch and he takes my hand into his and clutches it in his strong grip. 

“When was the last time you talked to gramps?” I ask.

“Two weeks ago.” He mumbles.

“How could he switch up in two weeks?” Luke asks. 

I glance at Luke and nod showing I agree. 

‘I don’t know! My mom finally made him understand how awful I am. She’s just going to turn everyone against me at this point-“

“Noah, Gramps LOVES you, ok? He checks on you all the time because he cares. Because he knows how amazing you are. He said he was spending Christmas with us, remember that? We made this whole plan of all the places to show him and people for him to meet. He was so excited.”

“He said he wanted to move in with us.” He chuckles, a tear falling from his eyes.

Michael jumps into the conversation, “ Didn’t you two say that he also tried to hook you up with his favorite waitress’s son?”

Noah cringes, “ Oh God, that was embarrassing. Like- so embarrassing.”

“We don’t have to call him but I think it’d help. To have him too. He probably doesn’t even know your mom called.” I say.

He rolls his eyes in anger and pulls out his phone, “Yeah cause no one talks to him and keeps him in the loop except for me.”

He pulls up Gramps’ contact and hesitates, “Can-can you guys stay with me? You- you don’t have to but-”

There's a chorus of agreements and he hits the call button. Calum puts his arm around Noah and he unconsciously leans into the touch.

The phone rings for a couple of seconds, and then the call connects. 

Gramps’ rough but calming voice comes through the speakers, “I’ve been wondering when you’d call.”

Noah’s lips curl at the end but they quickly fall back to a frown, “Hey- Yeah, I-It’s uh been a bit busy over here.”

“Oh yeah? Tell me about it, it’s boring over here. Tell me all the-what do they call it? The-the tea?”

Noah cringes but a laugh makes its way out, “Oh Jesus, Gramps when I told you about that word I told you to never use it. You swore to me!”

I can already see Gramps’ smirk as if he were here in this room, “Yeah, but what’s the fun in that if I dont get to embarrass you?”

There's a small pause in the conversation and Noah looks over at me. I smile encouragingly.

“My uh…mom called me.”

Gramps sighs, “I knew she would, I should’ve called first.” He takes a breath, “What did she say?”

“Same old shit, you know. ‘You’re an awful son, a disgrace to the family, disgusting, wasted potential. Gonna be a horrible lawyer.’ All the fun stuff- aha-“ Tears prick at his eyes and he looks up trying to blink them back.

“Fucks sake, I love your mother but she has no clue what the fuck she’s talking about. I don’t know where she got this idea me and your grandmother did not raise her like that. If she was still here your grams would love you just the same as she always did. You’re an amazing kid and you’re going to be an even better lawyer.”

Noah sniffles, “I miss Grams.”

“Me too, kid.”

Tears fall from Noah's eyes and his Adam's apple bobs. A small sob escapes past his lips and I give his hand a squeeze.

“Have you talked to what’s her name about this? …gosh what's her name? I’m getting old here kid help me out here.”

Noah gives a weak laugh and swallows the lump in his throat, “Y/N. Yeah, she knows… it’s just hard, I guess.”

“I’ll tell you this. Family is NOT just blood. Those friends you have? Y/N, the blond man, the emo-haired blond dude, and the other ones? They are what matters.”

We all turn our heads to Michael. His teeth are biting into his lip trying not to laugh but we all break into laughter. 

“I don’t know whether to be offended or happy. I mean Calum and Ash got called the other ones!”

Gramps’ voice cuts through the laughter, “Hey! I told you, kids, I’m bad at names! I’m 74 next month!”

I smile, “And we’ll make sure to celebrate your birthday when you get here old man!”

“Aye, only I can call myself old.” 

We all smile at each other, Noah's tears slowly drying. I wipe away the fresher ones and he squeezes my hand as thanks. Calum puts his hand back on Noah's shoulder and he leans into the touch. 

“We miss you, Gramps’,” I say.

“You better.  I gotta go make dinner, but keep me updated would ya? It's boring over here, I'm starting to get too good at Jeopardy."

"We will, bye gramps!" I say.

"Love you, kids.”

We say our goodbyes and then Noah hangs up the call. The room goes silent and everybody is looking at Noah and me.

“How did your lives get so dramatic while we were gone?” Luke asks.

“I was about to say the same thing!” Michael exclaims.

I roll my eyes with a smile and return to the kitchen. I come back to my forgotten chocolate milk and feel it’s still cold so I shrug and take a sip. Still good.

“Are you gonna read the texts?” Calum asks

 I quickly shake my head and swallow my chocolate milk so I can speak, “No. I don't really wanna talk to her. I'm scared honestly.”

"Crystal?" Noah asks and I nod.

Luke groans from his position on the ground, “Oh come on, you gotta.”

“You guys can if you want but I’m too nervous.”

Noah quickly lunges for my phone and unlocks it, ”Well fuck- I’m not saying no to that.”

He quickly read it over as we all wait in anticipation, “What did she say?” Michael asks.

“She says um… she wants to be friends and asks if you could get coffee soon.”

I rub my hands over my face in frustration. I can’t just leave her on ‘read’ now what the fuck do I say? I mean I guess it would be better to tell her in person I need to step back right?

I sigh and grab my phone back.

Next

#crystal leigh #crystal leigh angst #crystal leigh fluff #crystal leigh fanfic #crystal leigh x reader #michael clifford angst #mikey 5sos #michael clifford x reader #michael 5sos #michael 5 seconds of summer #michael clifford #5sos fanfic #calum 5sos #5sos #5 seconds of summer #luke 5sos #5sos imagine #5sos fic #ashton 5sos #ashton irwin #calum hood #luke hemmings #queer