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xx-thedarklord-xx · 3 years

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Curiosity Killed Everything

Harry almost didn’t open it.

After the war love letters flooded in, and quite frankly, he was sick of it. Part of him thought it was sweet, but the rest was annoyed. Where were the love letters before? Why wait until after? Obviously it had to do with who he was as a namesake and not personally.

But as he sat at the Gryffindor table, the ripped envelope drew his attention—almost as if the sender hadn’t bothered to care about its appearance. That and it was addressed to ‘idiot’.

Curiosity was the only reason he opened it.

‘I can’t stand you.’

That was it.

Harry frowned as he turned it over, expecting more on the back. Nothing. He re-opened the envelope, trying to see if maybe there was something else included. No, it was empty.

I can’t stand you. Nothing more.

He couldn’t help it, Harry snorted.

Someone took time out of their day to send a hate letter. One so short. It intrigued Harry more than offended him. He was sure a lot of people didn’t like him, but not many were vocal about it.

He should throw it away. What was the point of keeping it? But there was something funny about the whole situation.

Curiosity was the only reason he pocketed the letter.

———————————-

The longer he stayed at Hogwarts the more he realized Ron was right and that he shouldn’t have come back for a final year. Sure, Hermione did, but she liked schoolwork.

Without Ron by his side, Hogwarts was pretty boring.

The sound of hundreds of birds swooping in signaled mail call. A glance up brought in a new ripped envelope and his lips were already twitching.

Well… maybe not as boring as he thought.

With zero patience, Harry ripped open the envelope, barely paying attention to the owl.

‘Do you even own a hairbrush?’

Without realizing it, his hand ran through his hair absentmindedly. He scowled at the note. Of course he did. It was just that it didn’t matter how many times he combed it, his hair had a mind of its own.

He glared at the note, but yet, still didn’t throw it away.

Curiosity was to blame, probably.

—————————

Mail time was beginning to become his favourite part of the day, and Harry wasn’t sure what that said about him. His secret hater amused him.

‘Your glasses are hideous. They were too big for you at eleven and you’ve still yet to grow into them.’

‘Your pension for danger is appalling, but perhaps Karma for making me have to put up with your existence.’

‘Your not as good at magic as people think you are.’

‘Everytime you open your mouth, I lose brain cells.’

For reasons that were definitely not due to curiosity, Harry had kept all of the notes. Weeks of daily insults were kept in a safe space inside his nightstand. He wasn’t sure what he could blame that on, but whatever it was, he wasn’t going to blame himself.

—————————-

‘You look like a cross between doxy droppings and a passable excuse for a human.’

Harry had barely stopped laughing when Hermione sat next to him for breakfast for the first time in weeks.

“What’s got you in a good mood today?”

“Nothing.”

He tried to move the letter away but was too slow. Quick hands snatched it off the table.

“Harry,” Hermione began with pursed lips and an angry merging of her brows. “What is this?”

“I reckon I’ve got a secret admirer,” Harry said, not able to keep a straight face at all.

Hermione arched her brows over the top of the letter. “They think you look like doxy shit.”

“Perhaps admirer was too strong of a word.”

“Some people are so pathetic,” said Hermione as she shook her head and glared at the note. “What a waste of time.”

“Wait,” Harry said far too loudly when it looked like she was going to crumple it. “I want to keep that.”

“Keep it?” Her tone wasn’t quite flabbergasted, but it was close. “Why on Earth would you want to keep it?”

Harry shrugged as he pulled the note from her hands. “I find them charming, kind of.”

“Doxy shit,” Hermione reminded him slowly. “What is charming about that?”

It was hard to explain his thoughts, so Harry didn’t try. He wasn’t sure himself why he kept them. The letters weren’t exactly nice—okay not nice at all—but they were becoming a constant in his daily routine. Whoever sent them had strong opinions, and a lot of it came off as teasing in a way. Or at least familiar. Whoever it was, knew him, and knew him well.

They could be nicer, but the chances of that were pretty slim.

For whatever reason, he liked the notes, rudeness and all.

————————-

The only other thing that brought enjoyment to his days was Potions class. Oh, he still sucked at it, but that was part of the fun.

“Are you even trying?” Snarled Malfoy, who unfortunately was assigned as his partner for the year. “I don’t even know what this is supposed to be.”

“Erm,” Harry peered into the cauldron. “I think it’s a cheering charm.”

“You think,” deadpanned Malfoy. “A cheering charm isn’t supposed to be the consistency of clay.”

Clay. Harry raised a finger to feel it for himself but before he could his hand was slapped away.

“What are you doing?” Huffed Malfoy, eyes wide. “Whatever you made could be dangerous.”

“You do care,” Harry said as he placed a hand on his chest and batted his lashes.

Malfoy looked seconds away from hexing him, and Harry kinda wanted to push him to that point.

“Lose a limb for all I care,” Malfoy said haughtily before storming off to the supply closet. “Not as if having them did anything for you in the first place.”

Harry refused snort, not wanting to give Malfoy the satisfaction. Instead, he focussed on poking the potion. Clay was a pretty accurate descriptor. Whatever it had started out as, it was not a potion anymore.

“You think I could craft something out of this?” Asked Harry when Malfoy returned and began the potion all over again. “I reckon I’ve got some creativity somewhere inside me.”

Malfoy took a deep breath, one that made Harry think he was trying to calm down.

“You know, I truly lose brain cells whenever you speak.”

Harry froze, the familiar words causing his brain to work in overdrive before blanking completely.

No. There’s no way...

When Harry didn’t respond Malfoy looked at him curiously. “Finally, you’ve been rendered speechless. Maybe I can accomplish something today. Not that you’d know what that’s like, Merlin knows how incompetent you are.”

Well, on second thought.

The rest of the lesson passed in a blur, Harry’s mind too distracted to focus on anything else.

Was his secret hater really Malfoy?

It would make sense. Who else insulted him on a daily basis? Why not add it in other forms as well?

But why?

Why bother sending anything at all. It wasn’t like Malfoy ever passed up an opportunity to insult him. And daily? That took dedication.

Was Harry really on Malfoy’s mind like that?

———————

‘You would look a lot better in some decent robes. You have the fashion sense of an old Muggle a breath away from keeling over.’ That one was almost kind. When Harry looked toward the Slytherin table, he was surprised to see Malfoy already staring at him. They locked eyes—briefly—before Malfoy glanced away, cheeks rosy. Huh. That was new. Harry traced the note with his fingers, still unsure why he kept the stupid things. They intrigued him, but was that all that did? Another glance toward Malfoy had him unable to lie to himself. Malfoy intrigued him too, always had. Perhaps it was curiosity’s fault after all.

——————

Draco pushed his vegetables across the plate, mind focused on the pile of Charms homework that he still had to do. Flitwick didn’t have to assign that much, the prick.

It wasn’t until the normal chatter of other students talking disappeared that he realized something was wrong.

When he glanced up, Draco jerked a little at the sight of Potter standing on the other side of the table.

“You lost little Gryffindor?”

Potter rolled his eyes before extending a hand.

Draco took a shaky breath when he realized it was a note, the same size that he sent every morning. With equally shaky fingers, Draco took the parchment and flipped it over.

‘I can’t stand you either.’

There was a tiny smile on Potter’s face that didn’t match the sentiment. But Draco believed him.

“How much?” Draco asked, unable to quash the rising curiosity.

“I’m not sure,” Potter shrugged. “But I imagine we can figure out together.”

That wasn’t a good idea, but Draco’s life was a series of bad ideas.

What could one more hurt?

#Drarry #draco malfoy #harry potter #hate notes #Lmaoo

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chaoslynx · 3 years

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Re: English major anon. I think they should also follow their passion. Why waste money studying something you don't want to study? I changed from a STEM degree to English and I'm enjoying myself much more. There are many career routes for English such as teaching, publishing, research assistant, social media manager, PR, technical writing, etc! I know there's a stigma with liberal arts degrees, but look around— there's writing everywhere!! You need to be creative with what you do with your major.

Some advice I have is that if you plan to pursue English, it's a lot of reading and essay writing. If you're expecting creative writing classes, well, there is a Creative Writing degree lol! The future isn't set in stone. For now, all I can say is to do something that will make you happy and keep writing!!!

Yes!!! This too, 100%. There's a lot more that you can do with an English degree than just novel writing. I was assuming that that was anon's end goal, but you could totally to go into an English major, learn some helpful skills for novel writing, and then get another English related day job.

I will say that even a creative writing degree will have a lot of essay writing and reading too. Core classes are a thing.

I think the main message that everyone wants English major anon to hear is "do what makes you happy."

If science is cool to you and you can see yourself being happy with that while you work toward writing in your free time? Hell yeah! But if you ... don't like science? Again, that's 4+ years of schooling and who knows how many years of a career that you don't like.

Also not everyone gets their fulfillment from their job. A lot of people are content to work a day job that pays the bills while getting their life satisfaction from hobbies like writing fanfiction. Buuut, if your day job is something that you hate, those free time hobbies aren't even going to get you back to net zero, much less actually gain you enjoyment.

You're gonna be okay though. It's not as big of a decision as it seems, because it's not final if it doesn't work out. You have all the time in the world to figure things out. And you will!!

#i have a lot to say on this topic but i'm on mobile now lol sorry #answers #anon

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revengeworld · 5 years

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The Circus V

Werewolf! Kylo x Reader Modern/Monster AU

Words: +3.200

Warnings: None

AN: HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I’m back! At least for the last parts for the Circus. The next Parts will be posted each Friday until we are done with them. I’m also writing on other stuff but I’m honestly not sure if I will post them. Zero Feedback = Zero Motivation to post them, since it makes no difference to me. So yeah we will see...

MASTERLIST: Can be found in my bio if you are interested in more!

“What happened to you?” Kylo chuckled when he came around the corner to find his beautiful girlfriend covered from head to toe in paint streaks.

“I started your banner!” taking the cool bottle of lemonade from him, Y/N quickly took a few sips before brushing over her forehead to look at her work.

Following her gaze Kylos mouth fell open. With a chuckle she carefully pushed his chin up.

“Holy shit! That's me?” he asked astound and stepped closer to look at his own face on the gigantic Banner.

“Well yeah, who else. But it's still not finished so don't expect too much!” she mumbled a bit worried that she wouldn't be able to satisfy everyone's expectations.

“Oh don't make that pouty face, Moonshine. I look fucking badass.” grinning at the banner he already saw the wolf sketch that would be behind his shoulder.

“This will be awesome, you should really stop underestimating yourself so much.” he mumbled and pulled her closer, to press a kiss on her soft lips.

“I know … but that's how the progress works.” stretching herself, Y/N yawned.

“How about we take a little break?” Kylo already grabbed her by her hip and sat her down on the hood of his car.

“Yeah… the paint needs to dry anyway.” leaning back she already enjoyed the nice sunshine and closed her eyes before Kylo joined her.

“Ah wait, careful...” quickly shielding her ear with one hand, she grabbed the tiny white snake that had been sleeping in her hair again.

“Well … Hello Koh, what are you doing here… again?!” Kylo growled with a sweet tone to the snake who just looked away and curled around Y/Ns fingers.

“Phasma is training for her show and he is still too young so I babysit him.” with a smile Y/N started to pat it's tiny head and the little snake closed its eyes in relaxation.

“Well if you want a baby to take care of, I have an idea...” Kylo growled seductively in her ear and she started to chuckle.

“Mhmm I think I should listen to Poes tip and tie you up at night from now on.” with a teasing grin she pressed a kiss on the tip of his nose.

“I`m not in my rut!” he huffed offended and she just giggled even more.

“You are so sweet when you try to hide the truth.” ruffling through his hair, Kylo quickly pulled his head away, not wanting to give her the satisfaction.

“Oh come on. I`m just teasing, Darling.” Y/N took the last sips of her drink before looking surprised at the little snake in her other hand.

“Did you hear that?” looking over to Kylo he only shrugged his shoulders.

“What should i have heard?” gently laying his hand against her cheek, she lightly shook her head.

“Maybe I just have been to long in the sun.” watching the little snake for another moment, she placed him back around her left ear before sliding off the car.

“I get you some water, then… Don't overdo it please.”

“Don`t worry about me, you have your training soon!” she reminded him and he looked shocked down at his watch.

Running into the tent, he quickly grabbed a glass of water and brought it to her before pressing a strong kiss on her cheek.

“I`ll see you later! Love you! God dammit!”

Watching him run towards the big tent she could only try to hide her laughter.

“Yes you`re right. He is a bit clumsy sometimes.” Y/N answered the little snakes hiss and started to mix her paints to continue Kylos banner.

A few hours later, Y/N had made a lot of progress and the little snake slowly poked his head out between her hair.

“You want to take a break?” she asked it and Koh hissed delighted. For now the Banner needed to dry anyway and tomorrow she would be finally finished with the first one. It was only missing Kylos stage name now. Cleaning her brushes and the glasses she had used, she stepped inside the cool tent. She had already noticed that whatever kind of weather was outside, the tents were always at a comfortable temperature.

“Want to help me choose the colours for your Mamas Banner?” she asked the little snake while placing it next to her sketchbook on the wooden work desk.

Letting out a small hiss, Y/N nodded with a smile.

“I'll get you some water then.” getting a tiny bowl she filled it with water and placed it next to the small snake and watched him drink for a moment, before she pulled her aquarelle colours out of a drawer.

“So what do you think? I put you big in front like you wished for. Phasma right after you with all your other siblings.” Y/N stretched her hand out to the white snake who quickly slithered on it and looked down at the finished lineart she had made.

“Pretty!” the snake hissed and pressed his scaled snout against Y/Ns cheeks just like a small kiss. Giggling to herself, she watched Koh for another moment. So it was him she had heard earlier, first it was a little shock but now that she had time to think about it, it made sense. Since she was here she had noticed more and more magical things inside the circus, little things like the changing appearance of her co-workers, who looked more and more like their original forms. A man with horns, a woman with flowing hair as if she was constantly underwater or the wondrous animals she just had laid eyes on so far. So, that she was able to understand Koh it must have been a part of being here and especially being accepted by everyone, even though she was just a mere human, at least that was her conclusion to all of this.

“So since you're white, how should i paint you ...” Y/N started to mumble to herself while taking a closer look at Koh who rolled himself together on her hand.

“Rainbow.” he hissed and she noticed the lightest bit of colourful shimmer on his small scales.

“Oh I see! I can definitely try something like this!” grabbing another piece of paper she prepared an example and showed it to Koh.

With a small hiss the Snake observed the paper before turning itself to it's own body.

“More shimmer, please?”

“No problem, sweety. Silver or Gold?” placing two containers next to the test drawing the small snake looked between them.

“Silver, please.” he nodded excited and watched closely while she placed a thin layer over the light rainbow part.

“How is that, my little friend?”

“Perfect! Thanks!” getting booped by his snout again, Y/N smiled. It was nice to have the little snake around while all of the others were so busy preparing their acts, since the first date of the show was announced for this weekend.

Working on the colouring for Phasmas Banner, Koh slowly made his way on her head to watch from above while he curled around a strand of hair.

“Can we visit Mama soon?” the small snake asked after a while with a yawn and Y/N carefully stretched herself after putting her brush down.

“Yeah, let's go… I'm creatively exhausted too.” cleaning up her desk, Y/N soon made her way towards the big tent, the sun slowly sinking in the background.

Koh climbed back down towards her ear where he had the best grip and felt the most comfortable.

“Y/N? I was just about to come over to you.” Phasma was approaching them and Koh quickly stuck his head out of Y/Ns hair.

“Mama!” he called with a wide open mouth which made Phasma smile with adoration.

“Are you done already? Koh wanted to watch you rehearse.” Y/N stated and helped Koh from her ear before holding him towards his mother.

Surprised, the tall woman let Koh climb from Y/Ns hand to her own, not taking her eyes off of the young woman in front of her.

“How did you know?”

“He told me.” tilting her head the slightest Y/N shrugged her shoulders as if it was the most normal thing.

“Is that so?” Phasma smiled, not trying to show how concerned she was.

“Yes. She understands me, Mama. It's very nice. We talked a lot today.” pushing his head against Phasmas cheek for a moment, Koh soon slithered up into her hair.

“Let's go together then. Everyone is still in the tent. How did your painting go?” she asked while they walked to the Main Entrance.

“Good! Just need to put Kylos Name on the Banner tomorrow and then I will be starting with yours. Koh helped me pick most colours.” she smiled and the small snake nodded delighted, Phasma could tell he was very proud about it.

For her little child it was of course exciting to be able to communicate with a normal human, but it made her more than worried.

Entering the main tent, Y/N could already see Kylo on the wooden stage in his big wolf form, before someone laid their arms around her waist, it was Rey.

Y/N could feel Rey slightly rub her head against hers and she started to laugh. Since she had spent a few hours with the female werewolf to sketch her, Y/N and Rey slowly became friends after getting over the first awkward hurdle.

“Get your goddamn awful smell off of her!” Kylo suddenly screamed and came running, before turning back into his human form and ripping Y/N basically away from the other before nuzzling his face like crazy against hers.

Starting to giggle, she quickly pressed a kiss on his lips and in an instant he seemed to calm down.

“Come on, at least let me borrow her from time to time.” Rey called teasingly while stalking around them.

“In your dreams, bitten!” growling he wrapped his arms tighter around Y/Ns waist.

“Don’t be so selfish, especially when she smells so sweet at the moment.” Rey sighed deeply as if she was talking about the most beautiful thing in the world.

“Now you've done it!” turning back the black much bigger wolf chased around a brown one which only snickered while running away.

“What is it with them today?” Y/N laughed while watching them before Finn landed right beside her, which made her look up in confusing wondering where he even came from.

“As far as we understand it...”

“More like just assuming...” Poe interrupted.

“We think Rey is teasing Kylo for his rut, since you are ready to have pups.”

“Oh okay… Wait… what?!” first she nodded understandingly before Y/Ns eyes widened in realization.

“Kylo explained to us once that werewolves fall into ruts when they smell that their female is most fertile to have the pups.”

“And he smells that?!” she shrieked while sniffing on her own arm, her cheeks getting redder by the second.

“Your blood does smell a little sweeter than normal, I guess.” Finn agreed nodding.

Shocked Y/N looked at Finn, before she pulled the jacket around her shoulders closer and quickly zipped it up.

“Pervert ...” Y/N crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“No! Please don’t misunderstand I'm not doing it on purpose!” Finn plead to her.

“Vampires and Werewolves just have a very sensitive nose for blood. Believe me!”

“How embarrassing ….” she mumbled and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Don't give it any mind. That's just how these things work i guess.” Phasma tried to calm her and patted her head.

Kylo had thrown Rey off the stage who landed in her normal form next to them.

“Fine big guy. I keep away from her for now until you calmed down.” the young woman bowed and winked to Y/N before leaving the tent.

The black wolf quickly came running again, his mouth curled up into a grin, very proud of himself to have defended his mate, before he turned back and embraced her.

Nuzzling his face against hers again, Kylo tried to get rid of every bit of smell that wasn't his.

When he looked down at her again and saw her flustered face, Kylo bit his lip, she was just too cute and goddamn tempting.

“Sorry for the chaos...” he apologized and she only nodded slightly while avoiding his gaze.

“Are you already done with training? Kou and I planned to watch.”

“Ah yeah sorry … maybe tomorrow. I'm pretty beat too...” leaning with his heavy weight down on her, Y/N started to struggle to keep him up.

“How about we just go home and cuddle… lots.” he suggested with a loud yawn.

“Actually Kylo, there is something I would like to talk with you beforehand. If that's okay with you...” Phasma suggested and looked down at Y/N.

“Oh sure. I will prepare a nice hot bath for you, my love.” standing on her tiptoes, Y/N pressed a gentle kiss on his lips before she wished everyone else a good night and left.

With a heavy sigh Kylo watched her leave before he gave Phasma and the little snake on her head his attention.

“What is it? You look pretty serious.” raising his eyebrows, she suddenly pointed up at the small snake that was just letting out a long yawn.

“Y/N can understand him! I don't know why or how, but she can completely understand him!”

“Are you really sure about that?”

“I didn't see it myself, but Koh and her both confirmed it.”

“Wait… holy shit does that mean she is one of us?” sitting down next to the werewolf, Poe crossed his legs.

“She can't be...” Kylo stated shocked before letting himself fall on a chair nearby.

“She doesn't smell like any of us. And if Y/N really can understand him shouldn't she at least have a similar fragrance like Phasma?” he asked Finn who only nodded in thought.

“Yeah, they have completely different scents.” the Vampire agreed.

“She doesn't have to be a Snake person to talk to him. I mean… Nature Spirits could too.”

“And it seems like Y/N just now started to understand him, right?” Poe added and Phasma looked to her small son who slowly nodded.

“He tried before but today was the day she seemed to really understand him.” she explained to the others.

“That is… unexpected.” brushing his hair back, Kylo took a deep breath.

“Well it doesn't really change anything seeing that she might not know herself.”

“Is it only Kou she can speak to?”

“I don't know… come to my tent tomorrow and we can find out. It just really surprised me...”

“Finn and I could do some research if you want too...” Poe suggested but Kylo seemed to barely listen anymore.

“Yeah, I will try to talk to her about it.” standing up he left the others behind without saying another word and made his way to the edge of the Circus where their tent was.

As soon as he saw her, Kylo grabbed her by her waist and picked her up before letting his lips clash against hers.

With a chuckle she wrapped her legs around his hip and quickly held onto his broad shoulders.

“Don't get ahead of yourself...” she warned with a smile when she felt his firm grip on her behind.

“But you are so goddamn tempting.” kissing along her neck, he could hear her heartbeat fasten before she quickly pushed his face away and laid her hands over his nose.

“How do I smell like to you?” she asked ashamed and for a moment he looked confused at her.

“Oh … the others told you, huh?” nodding the slightest, Y/N laid her head on his shoulder.

“Well to me ...” leaning down to her he let his nose run over the exposed skin on her neck.

“You smell like a warm summer night and since yesterday there is a hint of sweetness that just drives me crazy. Similar to the Cotton Candy that we ate the night we met.” Y/N screamed when Kylo suddenly let himself fall with her onto their bed.

“And it's not just that, if you should think that. You`re drop dead gorgeous and i still can't fucking believe that you are mine. Only mine.”

“Okay okay enough or my heart will explode!” chuckling shyly, Y/N was the one who nuzzled her head against him.

“Are you sure, because I have a lot more.” he smiled while smothering her face with kisses.

“Kylo?” hearing her serious tone he stopped and looked down on her.

“How is that when someone is expecting pups? What happens at full moon when the baby is still in the mother?”

“You were worrying about that?”

“Well when we have pups at some point ...better I will be prepared, right? Besides it seems to be the topic of the whole damn Camp...” she mumbled and her cheeks started to flush with a pink hue. They never had gone further than snogging and already talking about children seemed a little much, but also necessary and she was curious herself.

“Oh sweetheart… let me show you something.” pulling out his phone, he rolled right beside her and showed her a few pictures.

“I asked my mom to send them earlier this week.” he swiped through the pictures and watched intently when she started to giggle.

“Wait, is that really you with little wolf ears?”

“Yeah that's me when I`m two. Werewolves start transforming around their 3-5 year. It will be just like a completely normal pregnancy my mother told me.”

“So you were an early one, huh?” she grinned.

“I always was. When you hit puberty it's starts that the full moon takes over.” he explained while Y/N had taken the phone from him still staring interested at the pictures until she saw a small Kylo in a tub.

“Oh no! Your bath!” suddenly jumping from the bed she run to the back of the tent.

With a smile on his lips Kylo shook his head before his eyes fell back on a picture with his parents. A heavy sigh escaped his lips before he followed Y/N after a short while.

“Maybe you should join me… you are still covered in paint, my Moonshine.” laying his hand on her hip from behind, he looked over her shoulder while she added something into the hot water.

“I would just ruin the nice water and we two would both be stained. So you still have to go in alone, my love.” leaning against his chest, she felt him press a kiss against her head before he buried his face in her hair.

“Maybe next time then.” he said teasingly before turning her around, pulling Y/N into a soft kiss.

“I love you, Moonshine.”

“I love you too… my big bad wolf. Now get your butt in that tub!” she chuckled before giving him a light slap on his butt just like he would always do.

“Yes ma’am.” pressing a quick kiss against her temple, the werewolf let her leave and soon was laying in the tub, just letting the hot water soak in and his sore muscles relax.

Now waiting for Y/N to come out of the bath, Kylo was just rubbing his hair dry while trying to think of a way how to start up a conversation about the fact that she could speak with the little snake.

It was something that he just couldn't wrap his head around, for him her scent always had stuck out of the crowd of normal humans, but that she might be one of them was a light shock for him.

Of course it didn't change anything about his feelings for her, he was just worried under which circumstances she lived beforehand since she didn't seem to know herself.

Hearing her little footsteps come closer he looked up to find his girlfriend in her favourite pyjamas and dripping hair.

“You stole all the towels!” she pouted and he quickly took the towel he just used to throw it over her head to ruffled her hair dry.

Letting herself fall into his lap, she waited patiently with a smile.

Just these small moments were something that always made her day and it seemed like for Kylo it was the same, that he literally forgot to talk with her and soon the were cuddled up in their gigantic bed.

Tags: @kyloren-supreme-ben @celestiaelisia @sdavid09 @ayatimascd @acunningstargazer @agirlwithlonelymusic @ev3e

#Kylo Ren #Kylo Ren AU #Kylo Ren Imagine #Kylo #Kylo AU #Kylo Imagine #Kylo Ren x Reader #Kylo Ren x You #Kylo x Reader #Kylo x You #The Circus #werewolf!kylo #Werewolf Kylo #werewolf au #revengeworld

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twoidiotwriters1 · 4 years

Text

Starcrossed Losers XIII (Josh Wheeler xReader)

A/N: I really like making song-fics, so I absolutely loved this. I think this might be sort of a thing that could stay? Feel free to tell me if you like it or not :)

Words: 6,521

Warnings: Cursing and a hint of abusive behavior cause Maya is evil.

Previous chapter // Next chapter

Wesley managed to thrill everyone with the dance and now they’re all helping with the decoration and the stage, which means the pharmacy is all alone cause the kids are too busy to try stupid dares that will harm them and that’s great for me, it means I finally have precious, beautiful free time to rest my wrist properly.

I’m sitting on the garden chair next to Wesley and Josh, above the beds where we usually sleep. Wesley has a tablet on his hands and is selecting songs for the playlist.

Josh and I are chatting about nothing and everything, it’s been two days since we had time to talk and... actually, I think we’ve only had time to talk like one or two times before everything exploded in our faces. Which is not a lot, but it’s enough to make us feel comfortable around each other.

More than comfortable in my case.

“You have any plans for the dance?”

“Like what?”

“Like wearing crazy outfits for the occasion,” Josh insinuates with a little smirk.

“The correct term is cool, not crazy,” I stick out my tongue, “no, I don’t have anything in mind. Why, you got some ideas?”

“I’m not really good with clothes,” He squints, “but I’m sure that whatever you choose to wear will look nice, everything looks nice on you”

“Okay...” I’m unsure of how to reply without crossing a line, I suck at it, so I just end with: “Thanks”

“I-I mean...” Josh suddenly changes his demeanor, like he didn’t mean to say what he’d said, “Not that I’m being weird, it’s just true. You look good, you’re... nice?”

I frown, understanding zero shit of what he was trying to say. I laugh it off and start to play with the bandages on my own hand, messing them up. Josh chuckles lightly and reaches for the loose part of the bandage, fixing it for me.

“So...” Josh speaks up tilting his face a little to the right, now talking to Wesley, “Which are you gonna choose?”

I lean my head so I can see Wes over Josh’s shoulder. He takes longer than expected, raising his head with a funny expression on his face.

“Choose?”

Josh chuckles and finishes up, gently letting go of my wrist he turns around to see our friend.

“Songs!” He points towards the tablet, “For the homecoming dance playlist?”

“This is no mere playlist,” He replies, finally going back to his normal self, “this is no mere homecoming dance do-over.”

He jumps off the platform with Josh going next and landing on the bed. I stand up from the garden chair as well and I stop for a second, stabilizing my body so I can sit on the edge and then jump with the impulse my healthy hand can give me.

I see Josh, waiting in case I need help. I think that’s sweet, but luckily I’m able to do it on my own and he looks really satisfied when I rush over to where they are.

“We rescued these kids from Baron Triumph,” Wesley continues, “this is a Saturnalia to the wonder of life, drinking from the water fountain of youth...”

I laugh under my breath and Josh discretely nudges my arm so I cut it out.

“Tonight, we stare the Grim Reaper in the face and we say,” he raises his left hand as he speaks, “if you like it then you should’ve put a ring on it”

I laugh again, this time Josh and Wes do it too.

“This is the soundtrack of our lives!” Wesley exclaims, taking a drag of his cigarette.

“That sounds like a lot of pressure,” I tell him.

“I can handle a little pressure,” He winks, “if you wanna help, I’ll give you two some privileges since you’re also saviors of these kids. You get to pick one song for the playlist.”

“One song? How generous of you,” I joke.

“Hey that’s more than any of them is getting,” He points at me, “so pick wisely”

“You heard him,” Josh raises a brow, “better get to work”

“Sure thing, boss,” I turn on my heel, moving towards the pharmacy.

I see Eli talking to KJ and I get to hear a bit of the conversation.

“Someone’s gotta make sure you ‘fugees are copacetic. You remember ICE?” He gives KJ his board and opens his hoddie to reveal the print it has, “Well, I’m the new ICE.”

He’s gonna get his ass kicked soon, and at this point, I can’t wait to see it.

“Okay, I need you to sign this oath of allegiance. Basically, you gotta do what I say at all times and you can’t make fun of me behind my back like Dana Rappaport did when I sharted in the third grade... Oh! And also it automatically casts a vote for me as Gender-Neutral Homecoming Royalty.”

KJ gives him the board back with a dick drawn on it and turns around, done with the conversation.

“This counts as a vote!” He exclaims as she walks away.

“Okay but what about making fun of you on your face?” I speak up, smirking, “Cause I have lots to say about your excessive use of bad T-shirts...”

“Hey, my T-shirts are the shit!” Eli replies.

“Sure...” I get to where he is and take the board from his hands, reading the papers, “You know, if you really want to win you have to find a different way to do it cause intimidation won’t work on them. It won’t work for you at all considering how tiny you are.”

“Fuck off, Y/N,” He frowns, “if you’re not gonna vote for me, then step out of the way”

“Who said I wasn’t going to?” I smile.

He stops and turns so fast for a second I think he might have hurt his neck.

“What?”

“Yeah, I think you deserve a victory after all the ass-kicking that we’ve put you through”

“You’re fucking with me”

“This is my way of making peace with you, I don’t wanna fight,” I raise my hands, “if you don’t trust me or don’t want my help, I get it...”

“No!” He looks over his shoulder to where Josh and Wesley are, preparing some stuff on the stage, “Talk now, knock-off Doc.”

“Bet that one gave you lots of satisfaction,” I chuckle, “Whatever... What you should be doing is give the people what they want from a leader: Order, equality, promises. Tell them that if they vote for you they’ll get their own comfy bed and bags of twinkies with chips, we’ll make schedules so they don’t have to worry about looking for stuff on their own once we run out of food...”

“That sounds like a total nerd-campaign”

“It’s a good campaign! Wesley, Josh and I brought them here. Now what? We’re not doing anything for their comfort, that merciful human could be you. You were the one who controlled the mall in the first place, convince them that you still have that power and they’ll vote for you”

“But I don’t have that power anymore, do I?” He asks bitterly, “Not after you assholes took everything from me”

“Maybe. You forget something important: As much as I find you annoying, I’m still the only one that trusts you a little bit, I can talk on your behalf, you can be sure they’ll listen”

Eli seems to think about it, then gives me a curious look.

“Why do you wanna help me?”

“I already told you,” I roll my eyes, “we’re gonna live under the same roof, I want things to be friendly between us. I don’t want any beef with anyone right now...”

As I say it, I catch a glimpse of Maya on the other side of the hall, helping some kids to carry a few sets of tables.

“Fair,” He nods, eyeing me carefully, “but if it doesn’t work-”

“It will,” I finish, patting his shoulder harshly, “get back out there and win tons of fans!”

I continue my way towards the pharmacy and find Alex there. It’s still completely empty except for us. He’s too focused on the book he’s reading to notice me.

“Boo!” I slam my hands against the table and Alex jumps, scared shitless. I let out a loud laugh and step back so he can’t hit me with the book.

“Asshole,” He leaves the book facedown on the counter, “Where were you?”

“With Josh and Wesley, talking about the dance,” I raise a brow, “why aren’t you helping with the decoration?”

“I don’t know, I’m not into it,” he shrugs, “it won’t be the same, you know that right?”

“Of course I do, Mr. Sunshine,” I scoff, “I was against the dance too at first, now... I guess everyone could use a break. We’ve been through a lot these months”

“You’re right about that,” He sighs, “Josh’ still bummed out about Sam?”

I told Alex the whole story, obviously. How Josh and I met, how everything went downhill after that and why I decided to stay. (I let out a tiny detail of the story, which is my stupid crush. He doesn’t need to know about that.) Now he fully understands why I can’t leave. Better yet, he also wants to stay and be part of our little... whatever we are, I still can’t find a proper name for us.

“He tries hard to hide it, but three days aren’t enough to get over someone’s death... If you ask me, I think this dance is kind of therapeutic for him”

“Maybe,” He tells me to move away and when I do he jumps over the counter to my side, grabbing the book and walking with me towards the exit, “You're helping with the planification?”

“I’m more like a back-up,” I smile, “whenever they can’t figure something out they ask me, apparently my creativity is somehow precious around here”

“It always was”

“Aww, that’s cute,” I nudge his arm.

Alex laughs and puts his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer and ruffling my hair. Around us there’s a lot of movement coming from all sides, so no one really pays attention.

“Stop!” I grin, pushing him away, “I take it back, you’re an absolute heathen”

“Wow, careful there, you might hurt my feelings,” Then he asks me “What are your plans for the dance, then?”

“Have fun, try to keep my wrist away from any harm and dance a lot, I guess.”

“You going with any of your new friends?” I’m relieved to hear how friendly the question sounds, yet another confirmation of how things are back at the usual routine between us.

“Well, I didn’t ask...” I frown slightly, “like you said, it’s not like the real homecoming so I was going to assist on my own”

“We should go together!” He offers excitedly, “a way to affirm that our friendship is stronger than ever. What do you say? Should we go to the do-over dance as a platonic couple like the good old days? We could even get matching outfits!”

“Oh, those good old days,” I shake my head, smiling, “sure, why not?”

“Cool!” Alex raises his hand and we high five.

The music blasts on the speaker closest to us and raises its volume quickly, gaining our attention. So do the screams coming from one of the stores at our left. Crumble is there covering her ears and closing her eyes tightly, she seems to be suffering.

“Hang on,” I tell Alex and I walk over to the stage at the same time Angelica rushes out of the store.

“Turn it down! Turn the music down!” She urges them, climbing up the bench.

“Guys!” I scream, “Stop the music!”

I climb beside her and disconnect the speakers.

“Hey!” Josh pouts.

“The ghoulie part of the witch is super sensitive to loud noise,” Explains Angelica in slight exasperation.

“Shit! I was only playing this on chill,” Wesley complains, “I barely got to thumping, What happens when I get to cranking?”

“If you pump up the volume tonight, we’ll be doing the electric slide with a horde of ghoulies,” She says, then jumps down from the bench and goes back to the store.

I do the opposite and finish climbing until I reach the stage.

“Don’t take it personal, you know how important Crumble is to her investigation...”

Wesley gives me a side-eyed look.

“Hard to make the soundtrack of our lives with no soundtrack.”

“Maybe this is a bad idea,” Josh offers, it’s the first time since he found out about the dance that he doesn’t sound optimistic, “recreating what we will never have again...”

I look over at Alex, he reached over to the bench already and is listening. I know he’s thinking how he just said the same thing, but now that he heard it from Josh, it seems like he feels bad about it.

“You’re missing Sam pretty hard...” Mumbles Wesley.

Josh scoffs.

“We were gonna go to the dance together... She was gonna be Homecoming Queen”

I know I shouldn’t let his words get to me, that’s just another reminder of how my feelings are completely onesided, that I’ll be better if I keep my distance with Josh. Safer.

I walk away from their conversation and start to tie the net with balloons that Wesley wants to put above his DJ table, Alex appears again in front of me and hops up to the stage, crouching beside me and helping me.

“You’re okay?” He asks under his breath.

“I’m fine, I don’t know why hearing him talking about Sam gets me down... Maybe he makes me think about Katie too,” I lie, What else can I do?

“How are you dealing with that?” Alex puts his hand on my shoulder as a way of comfort, “Have you talked about it with someone?”

“Yeah,” A bitter smile appears on my face, “with Josh”

“Josh,” He chuckles, “sounds like you got to know each other quite well during these days, even if it was on such short notice”

“I guess we both have things in common”

“Like what?”

“We can’t keep our mouth shut,” I smirk.

Alex laughs and his hand falls from my shoulder, he shakes his head.

“I really missed our talks.”

“I missed them too,” I push him lightly, “don’t get sappy, though. We have a dance coming our way and I need you ready to impress.”

“Enough with the sappy then,” He stands up, finishing the net.

“You can pull it up now!” I speak up to the guy next to the column, he obeys almost instantly, pulling the net above our heads.

“Look at that,” Alex raises a brow, “someone’s learning how to be a leader.”

“Shut up, I’m no leader,” I roll my eyes.

Which reminds me, I still don’t know what’s the answer to that question. Who am I?

Strangely enough, that same question brings out the answer to another thing, and it’s about what Wesley said a few minutes ago:

The soundtrack to our lives.

I love music. I think Wesley is right, music has its own way to tell stories, it helps you get in the moment, attach ideas, make a memory special. That’s how I decide that from now on I’ll attach a song to this... whatever it is that I’m doing. Maybe it won’t be helpful at all but it explains a bit better how I feel during these times.

It is extra? Very. I’m doing it anyway. You better wait for those songs, buddy. Maybe that will also help me pick one for the dance.

When I'm getting off the stage with Alex we run (again) into Wesley and Josh. They were doing their own thing around the platform, but apparently, Wes is leaving.

“...I’m heading out, gotta feed Triumph and Turbo”

“I’ll go with you,” Josh replies.

“I got it,” Wes shrugs, “you use your survival skills to solve this noise issue.”

“I can help you with that,” I say, gaining their attention.

Wesley turns around and smiles.

“I knew I could count on you, Y/N,” He winks before heading out.

Josh looks at me with a small smile, then before Wesley leaves, his eyes widened slightly, something just came up to him.

“Hey, uh...” He turns back to Wesley, “What about Mastermind by Delton 3030 for the soundtrack?”

Wes nods, a knowing smile on his face.

“Right? Yeah?” Josh turns around, quite pleased with himself.

“Is that the song you’re gonna go with?” I smirk.

“Well, it was either that or... uh, one that’s a bit too much for the occasion, I think”

“Really?” I raise my eyebrows, “Which one?”

“No,” He blushes, “don’t push”

“You guys are making the playlist?” Alex asks.

“Wesley let us pick one song for the playlist. Only us,” I shrug, “because we saved your asses”

“Josh was the savior, you were only around.”

“She helped,” Josh replies, standing next to me and putting an arm around my shoulders, “she gave me a motivational speech before the fight, so... uh, yeah.”

“What a great comeback,” I tease him, “I still get to pick a song and you don’t so I’m winning.”

“Rude,” Alex huffs, “anyway if you guys need help let me know, I’ll be around”

“Sure,” I nod.

“See ya,” Josh waves, then he looks down at me, “don’t pick a song yet?”

“It’s been like thirty minutes since he told us, I need more time”

“I already chose”

“Tell me what was your second option, c’mon” I try to tickle him but he moves away.

“No!” He laughs, “It’s a dumb song”

“No song is dumb. Unless is like, a sexual song. The misogynistic type of song you know? Or a kids’ song, the ones that only have like one line that repeats itself over and over for two minutes-”

“Okay!” Josh interrupts me, “If you find a way to fix the noise problem I’ll tell you”

“I’m in,” I nod, shaking his hand in an overdramatic way that makes him laugh, “I’m so gonna win”

“Is not a competition,” He clarifies.

“It is now,” I wink at him, starting to walk away.

“Why do you have to be so annoying about stuff like this?” He pouts, “Y/N, where are you going?”

“I’m gonna fix the noise problem!” I speak up, already turning my back to him.

I decide to go with the genius of our little group.

“Not a clue, ask someone else,” Angelica tells me as soon as I ask her.

“Come on!” I scowl, “You could help! You just don’t wanna do it cause it’s not fun”

“Exactly.”

I hear a skateboard passing by and thinking it’s Josh, I turn around to tell him to convince Angelica. Only that is not Josh, it’s KJ. She’s using Josh’s skate though.

“Where did she get that?” I ask, turning back to Angelica.

“I gave it to her,” She shrugs.

“You gave-? Josh is going to kill you if he finds out”

“He’ll find out, that’s the point,” She rolls her eyes, “I want to set KJ and Josh together”

“You what?” I ask, accidentally kicking the table.

“So he forgets about Sam and stays with us,” Angelica replies matter-of-factly.

“He’s already with us,” I say, “Why would you do something like that? You can’t force him into another relationship!”

“Why do you care so much? It’s not like you care?” Although she’s got her back facing me, I know she’s smiling.

“Oh,” I whisper, stepping closer to her, “I know what you’re doing, you little creep”

“Do you?”

“You’re not trying to set them up, you’re trying to see if I get jealous!” I whisper-yell, “You think you’ll manage to get something out of this?”

“I will,” She turns around, satisfaction all over her face, “I just have to see the ridiculous doe-eyes you make whenever Josh does as little as brushing his fingers with yours to know you wanna get in his pants. Which means you’re staying as long as he stays. Which means I was right and you can die mad about it.”

“You’re not,” I hiss, “I don’t want to get in his pants and I can leave anytime. I chose to stay cause-”

“You like him. Don’t even try to convince me otherwise, I remember how you used to act around him the first day and I see how you act now, is not hard to see. I won’t tell him... but-”

“No but,” I cut her out, “I won’t play your games.”

“You guys look cute together! You’re equally dumb and cheesy!”

“See that’s rude,” I frown, “So what if we have things in common? He’s hurting, if I date him now I’m just the rebound, I’m not desperate enough to agree to that”

“What if he likes you back? What if he wants to be with you right now? The only thing stopping him it’s that he thinks you’re with that guy you hang out with, or that he thinks you’ll say he’s an asshole for not waiting longer to end his mourning?”

“Does he?” I cross my arms.

“I don’t know,” Angelica replies carelessly, “I could find out if you want.”

“This is stupid,” I shake my head, “let it go, okay An? We’re here and I promise we won’t go, at least for a while. You can live with that, right?”

“I can’t. I need results, not sappy promises,” She says dryly, “and KJ and Josh are the fastest way to get them if you’re so reluctant to give it a try cause you’re a coward. Step aside and let me take care of this.”

“You know what?” I reply harshly, “Do whatever you want, the only thing you’ll do is push Josh and me even further away from you”

I hold my anger as best as I can. I remind myself that Angelica’s a scared kid, she needs to feel safe. I understand why my tendency to be impulsive annoys her. Maybe she feels like she can’t count on me. That kinda hurts, if I’m honest.

It’s not really her fault, one day soon she’ll see she doesn’t need to play with our minds for us to stay with her and she’ll stop.

I’m officially upset though, so I go to the second floor to get my skates and have a little fun around the mall.

I make sure no one sees me. Technically, I’m not allowed to skate because I could worsen my wrist, but I think I’ll be fine. It’s a mall, nothing dangerous.

While I’m putting them on, back on the first floor, Maya walks up to me and throws a piece of paper.

“What’s this crap?”

“Glendale. I was looking at the map and I realized there’s this small corner at the limits of the city where no one goes cause it used to be the place where gangs lived but now is empty. There’s a mansion-”

“The mansion’s fucked. Josh used to live there, the giant pug ruined it”

“Of fucking course,” She rolls her eyes, “are you sure he’s telling the truth?”

“Why wouldn’t he?” I look up at her.

“Maybe he said that so you wouldn’t go there to steal his resources”

“Why would I even think of stealing his stuff? I have my own,” I reply, completely disinterested, “Listen just stop, okay? I’m not going.”

“You’re wasting your time here,” She kneels in front of me so she’s at my eye level, “so is Alex. When they get tired of you, they’ll kick you out with a dumb excuse and... and then you’ll be sorry you didn’t take my offer.”

I’m about to reply when I see a hint of fright in her eyes. Along with something I hadn’t seen before: desperation.

“It’s you who is sorry,” I finally understand why is she so obsessed with getting us back, “you didn’t leave the tribe to look for adventure, they kicked you out didn’t they?”

She stammers, stepping back from where I’m sitting.

“N-No! I got bored of their rules! That’s it!”

“You never learned to play by the rules, that’s true,” I half-smile, “but that’s what it’s like to be part of a tribe, Maya. You have to follow the rules and be a good team player”

“They never appreciated my skills!” She replies bitterly, “they threw me with the rest instead of having me in their front lines!”

“That’s because you are like the rest! Like me and Alex! The only ability you have is the ability to keep relationships for your convenience...”

“I don’t have anything to prove to you,” She snarls, “the main loser of our former group. Ha! Like you could do anything to get to me.”

“Very welI then, better keep my mouth shut,” I stand up with my skates tightly laced on my feet, “if you excuse me...”

I leave the store, I turn right on the hall and I see KJ on the other side, she’s using a different skateboard so I assume she already ran into Josh.

That’s not what gets my attention, what makes me stop is the set of headphones she’s using: No cords. I make my way towards her and touch her shoulder, signaling her to take off the headphones.

“Sorry, it’s just that I noticed your headphones and I wanted to ask you something...”

She replies in Chinese and I interrupt her.

“KJ, I know you can speak English I heard you talking with Burr on your first day of school”

She gives me a stern look and shakes her head. After I insist, she sighs heavily.

“What do you want, Y/N?”

I smile, happy of how I always noticed this kind of silly stuff back in school.

“Your headphones,” I say, “we have a problem with the music. Crumble can’t stand loud noises and neither can’t the Ghoulies outside the mall, so they’ll try to murder us if we blast the speakers. You know if there’s a way to connect a bunch of headphones to a single dispositive?”

“Maybe,” She tilts her head, deep in thought, “I can try to figure it out, later though, right now I’m skating”

“That’s okay,” I point to my skates, “cool if I join you?”

“Sure,” She looks at my wrist, “but no talking. I don’t want the guys blaming me in case you get hurt”

“I’m fine,” I roll my eyes, “let’s go”

I’m happy to see my skills are intact, I turn and jump without falling (my knee is much better now, thank you very much) I skate backwards and I don’t crash against anything. KJ is amused and is looking at me with a tiny smirk while she keeps on skating without showing off. Am I showing off? Yeah, a little. I really missed my skates and I’m proud of all the things I learned on my own.

After a while, I hear another set of wheels and when I look over to my right I see Josh. He tries to look upset because he caught me skating, but a smile makes its way out. He shakes his head and speaks up.

“Having fun?”

“I had missed this,” I nod, “it’s a crime to have these beauties collecting dust”

“It will also be a shame if you hurt yourself more and can’t go to the dance” He adds in what it tries to be an innocent tone.

“You say that like you’re not as dumb,” I reply, “between you and me, who has the most injuries inflicted by their own hand?”

“I... think that’s me,” He scoffs, “fine, I’ll leave you alone.”

I look at KJ and she’s trying to hide a smile, I wink in complicity and keep skating in silence.

Something funny happens, I start humming this really corny song I was obsessed with a few years ago. I have no idea why it comes back to me right at this moment, I assume it’s cause I used to hear it a lot whenever Alex took me on one of his skate rides.

It’s a good song and it’s a nice moment to introduce you to the soundtrack of my life. There you go.

Y/N from a year ago always thought that I would sing this to Alex on one of our dates, which is kind of ironic cause the song it’s pretty much about this dude in denial about loving someone who he knows is not the one but he’s so desperate to have, that ignores it all just to have her.

Music is funny like that. I never stopped liking this song, even after I realized what the lyrics said. Now I’m here, my mind is already giving the lyrics a new meaning. One that takes me to Josh.

So when I discretely move over to Josh’s side, I stretch my hand out to him with a teasing smile. I expect him to roll his eyes and push my hand away, instead, he holds it. It’s like someone turned up the sound inside my brain.

“Put your hand in mine You know that I want to be with you all the time You know that I won't stop until I make you mine You know that I won't stop until I make you mine Until I make you mine...”

I know, I know. This is so ridiculous that there’s no way it’s actually happening. Well, the part about the song isn’t. The music is not really playing, I added the song in my head. I hum without saying anything to Josh, I hold his hand and both of us have this dopey smile cause we know we look silly and someone could easily tease us if they see us holding hands and skating together. We do it anyway.

I don’t know why he does it but I do it because it’s stupid and cute and it makes me giggle like an idiot. It’s been a while since I felt this, so I decide to give in for a brief moment, I don’t have to look badass or cool all the time anyway.

‘What about Sam?’ You ask with tons of worry. Don’t get all stressed, I’m just fooling around, this doesn’t mean I’m making a move. I’m just enjoying our time together. Besides, Josh seems happy, if he were acting uncomfortable I would immediately retreat my hand and apologize.

I respect his decision and that means I only do the things he lets me do. You know, consent and stuff. If he needs more time to recover I’m willing to wait... Not that I’m waiting to make a move. Of course, I’m just saying that- I mean, if there’s ever a slight chance, I wouldn’t refuse- ugh, nevermind.

“...You need to know We'll take it slow I miss you so We'll take it slow...”

“Hey,” His grip on my hand tightens for a moment to get my attention, “what were you doing with KJ?”

“Oh,” I smile, remembering I have news for him, “fun story... I saw her when I was getting ready to skate and I noticed she had her headphones on...”

Josh looks over to her for a few seconds and jerks up, turning back at me with an excited smile.

“I thought of something”

“What?”

“Hold on,” He releases my hand and moves over to KJ’s side.

As soon as he’s over there, KJ moves slightly to the right and I look forward, noticing the janitor’s cart in the middle of the way.

“Shit,” I whisper, now also moving to KJ’s side to try to prevent the accident.

I’m too late. Josh is way ahead of me and he stops in the last second, crashing and falling.

“Josh!” I stop a few feet away, waiting for his reaction, “Dude, are you okay?”

“Ugh, yeah I’m fine,” He grunts.

“I’m dying to point out how you said I was going to be the one injuring herself when you just broke your own record of self-inflicted wounds but I’m truly worried about your state so I won’t say anything”

“Thank you for not mentioning that,” He pushes himself up and looks around, “fuck, that thing came out of nowhere”

“No, I’m pretty sure it was there before,” I offer a hand, he takes it with a grumpy expression, “cheer up! You were telling me about how you just realized something when I was telling you about KJ”

“What? Oh! Right,” Josh smirks, then he grabs his skateboard and adds, “you’ll find out soon enough”

“Oh darlin', darlin', baby, you're so very fine You know that I won't stop until I make you mine Until I make you...”

With that, he skates away and I decide to catch up with KJ. When I reach her I poke her arm and she takes off her headphones.

“Yes?”

“Can we start with the headphones now?”

She looks over to the watch on her wrist and nods.

“Let me change first, I’ll see you in the main hall.”

“See you,” I turn over to go back to the pharmacy.

I find a whole scene when I get there: Maya is going from one side to the other, fucking up all the work Alex and I made during the whole week. She’s pushing boxes and bottles, searching frantically for something.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask loudly.

“She’s looking for a knife,” Alex says, he’s at the counter with his arms crossed and looking like he’s dying to kick her face, “she thinks you took it”

“She was the last person I talked to, of course she has it,” She points to me, “Where is it?”

“I don’t have your knife,” I reply calmly, “I have my own weapon”

“A fucking hammer,” She states, “obviously is not as good”

“Fuck off,” I scoff.

“You fuck off,” She walks up to me, “first you tell me you don’t want to come, then you steal my stuff?”

“How are you so sure it was me? There’s like forty people in here”

I see Angelica curiously peeking through the entrance, I remember how she threatened to do something if Maya ever tried to fight me, so I try to finish the conversation before Angelica gets involved.

“You know what, I don’t have to prove anything to you,” I repeat her words, “I don’t have your knife. Period. Now-”

“Is this your knife?” I hear Angelica behind me.

I turn around to see her holding a purple pocket knife.

“How did you..?”

“You little rat!” Maya walks over to her and starts to pour her anger and frustration onto Angelica, “didn’t your parents teach you to ask before taking things from others?”

“Calm down,” Angelica frowns, “you sound like a fifty year-old virgin”

“Give it back!” Maya snatches the pocket knife from Angelica’s hand.

My friend hisses and I see her hug her hand tightly against her chest. It’s the first time I see that look, she’s scared.

I’ve had enough.

“Get out,” I say coldly.

“What?” Maya turns around, frowning.

“Get out of our mall.”

“You can’t-”

“You have no self-control and you use any excuse to insult people. You can scream at me as much as you want, but I won’t allow you to scream or touch Angelica like that ever again.”

I grab the backpack that I’m sure it’s hers and I extend it to her, waiting.

“Who the fuck do you think you are to just kick people out of the mall like it belongs to you?” She asks, refusing to take the backpack.

She’s being so loud that a few kids are staring now.

It comes to me as I stand there, in the middle of the pharmacy with two people that I care about deeply. To be honest, I feel a bit dumb about not realizing sooner.

“I’m the healer,” I reply, “you injured An’s hand. My duty is to make sure she won’t get hurt again so I make sure by kicking you out. How’s that for a contribution, huh?”

“That’s not what I’d meant...” She mumbles.

“Doesn’t matter,” I throw the backpack to her feet, “you have twenty minutes, take enough stuff so you can make it on your own for a while and go”

“You’re gonna let her do this?” She asks, this time looking over at Alex.

“You heard the boss,” Alex replies, indifferent, “good luck out there”

Maya gives me one last glare before turning on her heels and walking away in indignation. I let out a heavy sigh, I suspect that during that whole exchange I wasn’t breathing.

Angelica gets closer to me and I look down at her hand.

“Let’s fix that,” I point to her hand.

“That was really badass,” She replies, “I’m sorry I called you a coward, I hope you’re not angry about it”

“I’m not, you were sort of right about it. I am a coward when it comes to... you know, admitting my feelings”

I see how her eyes light up at my statement as we walk over to the counter.

“I’m right? You like-”

“Shhh!” I search for Alex and I find him leaning over some boxes, he’s not paying attention to our talk, “Yes, you are. Promise me you won’t say anything, not even to Wesley!”

“Why not?”

“If something happens I want it to be because he wants it, not because you two forced him into dating me, that’d be embarrassing for both of us, understand?”

“Fine,” She picks a box of bandaids and hands it to me, “but you should definitely go with him to the dance, I bet you’d have fun.”

“I can’t,” Before she starts to complain about how I don’t have the guts, I add: “I already told Alex I’d go with him.”

“What?” She frowns, “You said you didn’t like him!”

“I don’t! This was our way to say ‘hey, everything’s okay between us now, we’re friends again”

“When you fix things with a friend you give them something, like a gift,” She complains, “you don't cock-block them!”

“He’s doesn’t know!” I grumble, “Don’t worry, I don’t have to try anything right now, remember how he’s still sad about Sam?”

“About that... after you left he came to the store and I asked him stuff”

“About what?”

“Sam, KJ (and yes, he’s not into it, shut up) and... about you”

I try to keep my hands as steady as possible while I put the bandaid.

“And?”

“Since you’re so scandalized about making a move before a proper period of mourning, I’ll keep it to myself,” She smirks.

“Traitor,” I mumble, finishing my work and standing up, “get out of my pharmacy before I kick you out as well”

“As you wish, all-mighty Healer,” She teases, bowing before me.

I like how it sounds. Not the ‘all-mighty’ thing, but the last part.

Y/N L/N: The Healer.

Taglist.

@letsbloodmagic @slythermyg

#twoidiots writing #daybreak fanfic #eli cardashyan #daybreak #josh wheeler #josh wheeler xreader #angelica green #ms crumble #wesley fists #netflix

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anxiouslyfred · 4 years

Text

Kitten Cuddles

Next time I do something where I seet amount of characters and which ones for a month of prompts I need to check the busy days, those can have single characters.

On that note it’s 10:51pm, I’ve just got in, have barely a page of my notebook filled for today and somehow have to make this prompt include King Creativity, Roman, Thomas and Virgil? sorry if it make zero sense

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Romulus had once dreamt of being an artist when he was younger. He had never managed to achieve that dream but was thrilled to see his child going for it, and his son doing the same in his own way.

Where he had let art become a hobby as he opened the pet store and looked after his twins, they were making waves and becoming known. Remus mainly through his graffiti and the unconventional motivational posters but Roman was reaching art galleries while still returning home.

Roman was currently on the floor of the kittens room, trying to do some sketches, when Romulus popped his head through the small window he added to check on the cats. “Are you sure you wouldn’t find it easier to take a picture and work from that?” He asked.

“Dad, it’s the challenge that’s making this fun, even if I’d love them to stay still for a little longer than they are doing.” They insisted, waving him away as the door opened.

A cheerful person had walked in carrying their toddler. While the man seemed fairly upbeat the child was peering around nervously but also in some disappointment as they approached the counter.

“Welcome to King’s Creature Comforts. Are you looking for a pet today?” Romulus greeted, giving a small wave to the toddler once the pair were close enough.

The man cleared his throat. “Yes, we want to get a kitten and a friend told me you have some rescues as well as some that would be new pets?” He explained, seeming to scan the store in hopes of spotting the cats.

“They’re kept in a back room where we can let them roam freely. Roman will be able to help you select the perfect kitty for you. I’m Romulus and if you like I can gather either the basics or a cat lovers basics while you meet the cats?” Romulus offered, already gesturing and leading them around the counter and too the door of the cats room. He didn’t open it straight away though, waiting for their replies.

“This is Virgil and I’m Thomas. I just adopted him last week and thought a cat might be a comfort for him since he’s scared of dogs and worried about a lot of other things.” The man introduced himself, nodding at his son with a small smile. “What’s the difference between the basics and the cat lovers basics?”

Romulus chuckled a little, trying to stay quieter around the clearly nervous child, “The cat lovers has a few toys, a scratching post and some treats included in it, plus a book to help you understand you cat. I’ve had a lot of people complain because they expected cats to communicate like dogs and they really don’t.”

“If you could get the cat lovers basics and if there’s a choice of colours maybe alternate purples and red?” Thomas decided, smiling and nodding at a slightly awed look he was being given by his child. “It’s going to be our cat, of course some of its things will be in your favourite colour.”

Letting the father and child have their moment Romulus opened the door a fraction. “Roman, please can you help Thomas and his son Virgil find the perfect cat for them?” He asked, making sure to close the door a little more as a couple of cats came to investigate it.

They nodded, folding up their sketchbook and shoving things back into their art bags. “Of course,” Roman scooped up the closest cats and opened the door wide enough for people to enter while still keeping 3 cats in their arms mostly comfortably.

“Hello, I’m Roman, what type of cat are you looking for? We have a few kittens, and a lot of characters among our older cats too.” They greeted, blinking at the beaming smile directed at them contrasting with the suspicious glare from a child.

“Quiet!” Virgil’s first word since entering the store was definitely a demand and made Roman realise they had immediately gone into their presenting voice which had to be quite loud to be heard in busy art galleries.

Thomas let out a light snicker,, letting his son down as he began wriggling at the sight of so many cats. “Remember to be gentle with them, Virge.” He cautioned, before grinning back at Roman. “I was thinking of a quieter cat, but really it’ll just be whomever Virgil decides. Preferably not a kitten though.”

“Of course, a lot of our quieter cats tend to hide in their raised cat beds so I’ll see if I can tempt any out.” Roman nodded, moving to where they would be but keeping an eye on the toddler that seemed to be trying to pat a cat sniffing him in slow motion.

Thomas spotted the action as well and gently guided Virgil’s hands to stroke along the cats body a few times before she decided to wander away. On the next cat Virgil tried to mimic what he’d been guided through with adorable seriousness, only needing Thomas to soothe how much he pressed in the action this time.

Seeing the exchange was what changed the course Roman took, hoping they were right about the motherly cat they’d failed to sketch multiple times that day. She wasn’t the quietest of their feline inhabitants but rather the most patient, often looking after the kittens although she’d never mother any herself.

Thomas looked up as the dappled grey cat was brought over, and Roman knelt beside him. They both waited until Virgil finished stroking the cat he’d been meeting before Thomas softly got his attention.

“This young lady is Duchess. I thought you might like her, Virgil.” Roman introduced, releasing the feline from their grasp but letting her remain on their lap as Virgil toddled over.

Seeing the Duchess immediately start nuzzling into his hand made Virgil giggling, plopping backwards to sit down and carry on trying to stroke her while she tried to clean him.

“Mine?” Virgil asked after a while, looking up at the adults in the room until Thomas nodded.

“I think we’ve found the perfect cat for our family. Thank you Roman. Do I need a carry case or something to take her out of the room?” Thomas double checked, happy at seeing his son bonding so well with a pet. It was almost the most relaxed he’d seen Virgil since the adoption although the single word sentences did betray his uncertainty of the situation.

Roman shook his head, picking up the Duchess as Thomas once more carried Virgil on one hip. “Dad, Romulus, will have a carry case for you outside already. Just don’t let any other cats escape with us as we leave.” They laughed, easily opening the door for Thomas and Virgil to leave and keeping the other cats away with some treats scattered away from the door.

“Looks like you’ve found a cat, then.” Romulus was already checking with Thomas, ever ready to make sure customer satisfaction was high.

“And you’ve gotten everything I could have thought I’d possibly need ready too.” Thomas agreed.

#king creativity #roman sanders #character thomas #thomas sanders #virgil sanders #funbruary #cats #pet cats #pet shop #child virgil #nonbinary roman

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punkpoemprose · 5 years

Note

Accidental Marriage with a twist of enemies to lovers AU, Kristanna. Smooches! KP

This evolved into a law enforcement, accidental marriage, enemies to lovers AU and I will not apologize. I probably should, but I won’t. This has zero research behind it. I just watch a lot of Chicago Med, PD, and Fire.Thank you KP for facilitating this hot mess.

Universe: Law Enforcement AUWord Count: 1997Rating: T (Teen & Up Audiences, Anna wants to see Kristoff naked, but like, this is subtle, not tasteful, but subtle)

Anna grumbled as she looked down at her hand. It was of course bare, but she was reminded on the ring on her kitchen counter back home. She’d screwed herself phenomenally while drunk the week before. Married. She was married. And not just married, but she was married to Kristoff Bjorgman, the single most disagreeable yet excessively attractive firefighters she’d ever had the pleasure to work with.

“Morning schnookums,” he said with a grin as they walked onto the scene. The fire had long since gone out, but that was, of course why they were there. Arendelle was a small community, and there was no official fire investigator for the town, but somehow Anna as the detective with the least seniority on the police force, and Kristoff as the firefighter who had volunteered for the job, ended up a team. She swore, this being the second time they’d had to meet together in the week for work, that he was lighting fires himself.

“Mr. Bjorgman,” she answered in response, not giving him the satisfaction he desired, but also failing to call him by his title of Lieutenant in hopes of him taking the hint that she was, absolutely, not in the mood.

“Mrs. Bjorman.”

Anna huffed, “Could you please, for once, not.”

He sighed and shrugged, “Sorry, just trying to make light.”

“We’re at a crime scene,” she said with a groan. He was almost a living embodiment of why there was a rivalry between firefighters and police. Police always had to be the serious ones, firefighters however, could be total goofballs.

“Well since you won’t see me outside of work…” he paused, thought better of it, and then sighed, “so what are we looking at canary?”

“I end up in a burning building, dying of smoke inhalation once in my life, and you call me canary every day after.”

“Well you don’t like it when I call you feisty pants, or schnookums, apparently. Want me to try a different nickname until one sticks, or?”

Anna shook her head, deciding that getting to work was the best thing they could possibly contend with, that was, at least, until the end of the month when they’d finally get their annulment sorted out. She swore she was going to throttle her Captain if he ever suggested “Vegas R&R” for the force and the department ever again. She counted her blessings that as far as she was aware, no one knew about their impromptu marriage but the pair of them, an Elvis impersonator, and the state of Nevada.

She started walking towards the wreckage of what was once an Italian restaurant.

“Come on hose hauler, we’ve got work to do.”

“Careful,” he said, following her with what she imagined to be an overconfident grin on his face, not that she knew, she wasn’t turning around to look “If you keep calling me by a nickname too, I’ll start thinking you like me.”

***

She was screwed. So, so screwed.

“Kristoff,” she said shaking him, “Kristoff you have to get up, come on!”

But it was clear that he was not getting up. He was breathing, and had a pulse, so that at least wasn’t one of the things panicking her most at the moment. He wasn’t dead, at least not yet, but if she couldn’t get him moving, they both very well might be.

He hadn’t been setting fires after all. They’d ended up following the trail of a serial arsonist for the last week, and now when they finally thought they had the guy cornered, he’d taken them by surprise. She’d found Kristoff just as the blaze started. Her best guess was the guy had blitzed him, and knocked him unconscious. It was the only way she could imagine anyone knocking Kristoff out, particularly because he was built like a brick shithouse.

She wasn’t an expert in fires, that was his shtick, she was just police support, but she knew that the fire must have been fed with some kind of accelerant, because it was hot, spreading faster than she could have ever thought possible, and it was choking. She knew what she had to do, but wasn’t sure if she could manage it.

“Come on big guy, please get up. If you have to get hauled out of here by a canary you’re never going to hear the end of it. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll make sure every firehouse in the state knows.”

He wasn’t waking, and Anna was left with the realization that she really was going to have to haul him out. She’d passed the physical examination to join the force. Not necessarily with flying colors, but it had more to do with her clumsiness than anything else, but even that examination had only required her to move 165lbs of dead weight and Kristoff was a dense man.

“Look you’re supposed to be the one carrying me,” she said as she did her best to pull him off the floor and onto her shoulder. She wasn’t going to be able to carry him out in the way he would have been able to carry her, but she could at least get him somewhat upright and drag him along.

“I expect an over the threshold carry as recompense, okay?”

She couldn’t believe that she was joking with an unconscious man as a building was burning down around her. The damn hose hauler had gotten to her.

“I can’t believe I’m married to you, you massive…”

“Anna!”

She thanked God when, after dragging him just a few feet, she saw running towards her, in full fire gear, Kristoff’s Captain. At least he’d called for backup before getting clubbed. She thought, as she made it out of the building with him, that she might just take back her “goofball” descriptor of his character. Maybe “well-meaning comic” was a better title.

She did know one thing for absolute certain as she unloaded him from her shoulder into the awaiting arms of a paramedic. For the past few weeks since their accidental marriage she’d been thinking about him… differently, to say the least, and when she’d been imagining his body on hers, this was absolutely not how she’d fantasized about it going down.

***

“Hey feisty pants.”

She didn’t rebuke him for the nickname. He sounded groggy as hell, and for what they’d just been through she imagined he earned the right to give her a nickname or three.

“Hey canary,” she said with a chuckle that only barely hid how choked up she was. She’d been doing a lot of thinking the last few hours since she’d been cleared and they’d told her she could wait for him to wake up.

“Oh no,” he said, taking stock of his surroundings slowly, and in a almost comical manner that made her smile. “Smoke inhalation? The whole house will laugh me out.”

She grinned, “Nah, I’m just teasing. You were knocked out, your house credit is in tact. Though I’ve heard the firehouse dog is holding your absence against you, so you might need to do some work there.”

He chuckled, “Not the house dog, my dog. His name is Sven, he’s just the house dog when I’m on shift. And when I’m in the hospital apparently.”

She smiled, “I didn’t know you had a dog Bjorgman.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me Bjorgman,” he said, despite being laid up, he clearly could not stop picking on her. She was grateful. If he did anything else she’d be worried he’d been hit too hard.

“You’re right, but that’s probably not a great thing to admit when you’re married.”

He frowned, “About that, look… Anna.”

“Anna?” she asked, “I didn’t think you knew my name for all the creative names you’ve come up with for me.”

He chuckled, slipped her a wry grin and then readjusted himself on the hospital bed slightly, “Well I had to know it when I asked the department to assign you with me.”

“You did what?” she asked, not entirely certain as to whether he was screwing with her or not.

“What can I say?” he asked barely hiding another grin, “I like red heads… ow!”

She almost felt bad for smacking his chest, but the doctors had already assured her that other than what they assumed would be a mild concussion and a headache, he would be alright, and he deserved to be swatted for that comment. And it wasn’t really a smack as much as it was a “love tap”. She flushed at the thought.

“Not really… I mean, well yeah, I do, but your file photo was in black and white so I swear I didn’t pick you for your hair. I did pick you though, you were green, but everyone said you had great observational skills and I needed that. No one told you that you were picked?��

“Frankly I thought it was hazing.”

He gave her a look as if he were wounded, but the seriousness didn’t last long enough for her to even think about it much.

“Fair. But, Anna…”

“Yeah Kristoff?” she said, softening, even giving him a soft smile. He’d started to grow on her, at least a little bit, and she knew he wanted to say something serious for once, so she’d give him the chance.

He grinned broadly when she said his name, but then gave her a more serious and meaningful look. “I know the whole drunken Vegas wedding wasn’t something you wanted, and honestly I didn’t want that either. At all. But you know what they say about drunk actions are sober thoughts? Well, uh…”

He raked his hand through his hair nervously and Anna smiled, even when he grimaced, clearly having touched one of the tender spots, either where he’d been struck, or where he’d hit it when he’d fallen.

“I was going to ask you out before all that. I know that I’m a little bit of a goof sometimes, but it’s because I like it when you smile, and if you’d let me I’d like to maybe do more of that.”

“You don’t need to agree just because we’re already technically married,” he added, “especially because I already signed the paperwork for the annulment, we should be good there, so you can say no and I won’t ask again.”

Anna grinned, “Well we have been in a few Italian restaurants in the past few weeks, what’s another one?”

He shook his head and chuckled, “I actually think that one you dragged me out of was the last one in town, so we’re either going to have to go for a drive or pick another cuisine… by the way did the catch the guy? Did he confess? What’s his beef with Italian food?”

Anna laughed, and his eyes lit up. It felt good to watch.

“Yes, and I haven’t heard. I’ll bring you a copy of the interrogation records, but not on our date.”

He smiled, “Look I’m just glad you agreed, you can bring whatever you want. I’ll be honest I was weighing using the ‘we almost died’ line.”

“Smooth,” she said with a chuckle, “How about you and Sven come to my place for some arson-free Italian? I’m not much of a chef but I make a decent lasagna.”

“Inviting me on a date at your house Anna? Very forward of you. Isn’t that a third date thing?”

Anna rolled her eyes and laughed before leaning in and pressing a kiss to his cheek, “We’re married.”

“Oh I’ll take advantage of that excuse until next Friday…”

Anna grinned, she knew he was looking at her lips.

“I want you to…” she responded, knowing what he was thinking by the look in his eyes.

He smiled softly and tipped his head up to press a cautious kiss to her lips that said he’d found one fire he was ready to investigate with her without bothering to put it out.

#law enforcement au #Kristanna #Thanks for the prompt KP #Look what you made me do #Lol #I love itttt #I have a feeling this AU is going to pop up again around Advent season

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eiriini · 4 years

Text

Meta: Personality Analysis

Disclaimer: I, in no way, am a psychologist nor claim to be good at this. This is purely for fun, and for character growth. Also, this is based on the way I write Kamui/Corrin. Some of her personality is divergent from canon, due to past interactions in the four+ years I’ve written her.

Edited: August 15th, 2020

Also this got even longer and I’m sorry.

Enneagram: Nine

Nines are accepting, trusting, and stable. They are usually creative, optimistic, and supportive, but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace. They want everything to go smoothly and be without conflict, but they can also tend to be complacent, simplifying problems and minimizing anything upsetting. They typically have problems with inertia and stubbornness. At their Best: indomitable and all-embracing, they are able to bring people together and heal conflicts.

MTBI: ENFJ “The Protagonist.”

Protagonists are natural-born leaders, full of passion and charisma. Forming around two percent of the population, they are oftentimes our politicians, our coaches and our teachers, reaching out and inspiring others to achieve and to do good in the world. With a natural confidence that begets influence, Protagonists take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community.

Four Temperaments: Sanguine

Your temperament is sanguine. The sanguine temperament is fundamentally spontaneous and pleasure-seeking; sanguine people are sociable and charismatic. They tend to enjoy social gatherings, making new friends and tend to be boisterous. They are usually quite creative and often daydream. However, some alone time is crucial for those of this temperament. Sanguine can also mean sensitive, compassionate and thoughtful. Sanguine personalities generally struggle with following tasks all the way through, are chronically late, and tend to be forgetful and sometimes a little sarcastic. Often, when they pursue a new hobby, they lose interest as soon as it ceases to be engaging or fun. They are very much people persons. They are talkative and not shy. Sanguines generally have an almost shameless nature, certain that what they are doing is right. They have no lack of confidence.

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Good, "Rebel"

A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he's kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society.

Chaotic good is the best alignment you can be because it combines a good heart with a free spirit.

Chaotic good can be a dangerous alignment when it disrupts the order of society and punishes those who do well for themselves.

Astrology: Taurus

Strengths: Reliable, patient, practical, devoted, responsible, stable

Weaknesses: Stubborn, possessive, uncompromising

Taurus likes: Gardening, cooking, music, romance, high quality clothes, working with hands

Taurus dislikes: Sudden changes, complications, insecurity of any kind, synthetic fabrics

Practical and well-grounded, Taurus is the sign that harvests the fruits of labor. They feel the need to always be surrounded by love and beauty, turned to the material world, hedonism, and physical pleasures. People born with their Sun in Taurus are sensual and tactile, considering touch and taste the most important of all senses. Stable and conservative, this is one of the most reliable signs of the zodiac, ready to endure and stick to their choices until they reach the point of personal satisfaction.

Taurus is an Earth sign, just like Virgo and Capricorn, and has the ability to see things from a grounded, practical and realistic perspective. They find it easy to make money and stay on same projects for years, or until they are completed. What we often see as stubbornness can be interpreted as commitment, and their ability to complete tasks whatever it takes is uncanny. This makes them excellent employees, great long-term friends and partners, always being there for people they love. Earthly note makes them overprotective, conservative, or materialistic at times, with views of the world founded on their love of money and wealth.

The ruler of Taurus is Venus, the planet of love, attraction, beauty, satisfaction, creativity and gratitude. This tender nature will make Taurus an excellent cook, gardener, lover, and artist. They are loyal and don't like sudden changes, criticism or the chase of guilt people are often prone to, being somewhat dependable on other people and emotions they seem to be unable to let go of. Still, no matter their potential emotional challenge, these individuals have the ability to bring a practical voice of reason in any chaotic and unhealthy situation.

Taurus – the Wandering Bull Being the one who betrayed their best friend, goddess Hera herself, this is an unfortunate being that has to wander the Earth in order to find freedom. As if something was always poking them behind their back, reminding them of happiness that once was, stinging and pushing forwards, they close up in their own worlds, lonely and separated from their core. To find love, a Taurus has to travel the world, change perspective or make a shift in their entire belief system and their system of values.

Conclusion:

There are some contradictions in these results, but overall, it is her at a basic premise. She tends to be very strong with her foundations, doing whatever she can to keep by them. Most of the time, she will listen to what others have to say, for they can hold more wisdom than her. However, there are just some things that she won't change on. Her Nohrian family knows this the most, and there are some thing that they've tried to change about her. Especially Leo ( sorrcerii ).

When it comes to the vices, she holds those in as much as possible. The insecurity, the side of her that may be uncompromising -- her reaction to sudden change that isn't what she planned for. Things like that. As a tactician, she likes to be as many steps ahead of her enemy as possible. In mundane life, she tries to put that side of her away. But there's always going to be a part of her that takes notice of every little thing. She notices how someone reacts to a gift, a conversation, and logs it away. However, unlike the standard, she tends to be rather lenient. She's also like clay; she picks up on traits. For example: because of Jeanne's ( noircisaint ) influence, she has more of a backbone than the 'standard' Avatar. With Zero ( echoedfates ), more of her playfulness comes out. He’s shown her that it’s OK to be a bit of a prankster -- well, more than she was before -- and it’s OK to put the title away when it’s just them. That there’s a difference between ‘princess’, ‘general’, and ‘wife’.

In her Type Moon verses, Makoto ( dekirukoto ) and Yi ( einhcrjars ) have taught her it’s OK to let her guard down. Especially while in Chaldea, and around them. That it’s OK to love, and even though it may hurt when they are returned to the throne, that things don’t have to stay at a standstill. That, hey, it’s OK to be you -- even more now than you were.

However, that doesn't mean she'll bite the bullet on it's first fire, and will always try to resolve a conflict before it arrives. Her anger is one of a slow fire, unless you pour the right amount of gas.

Kamui also holds in a lot more than most people. Even around those she calls her confidants and her retainers, she rather watch herself burn and suffer than those around her. She's very much a 'the world must be saved instead of myself'. Yet, over time, she's grown to understand that some people don't deserve it. Later on in the game, and depending on what route/verse, she will show some aggression to those who she deems deserves it. Which, as we know, is extremely small. ( Base game alone, Anankos, Hans, Garon, and Iago are the ones who get no special treatment from Kamui. And if she's acting nice, it's an act. )

There are times where she’ll return to a child-like state as well. There were many things that she didn’t get to experience, which lead her to have an imaginative mind and, at first, such a naive personality. Even during and after the war, she still retains it, since it’s so ingrained. It’s hard to ignore, hard to hide, but over time she comes to accept it. This is why she’s always reading; always wanting to learn; always wanting to experience what others have. A void can only be filled so much.

However, even though she may not seem it, she is rather intelligent. Because of lack of human contact outside of her retainers and teachers, she can come off as an 'airhead' or 'aloof'. Over time, that fades, and her true colors begin to shine more. She's able to find hoops she can jump through, but only will if the time seems right. Calculating outcomes begins to come second nature to her.

This is especially true when in Conquest, where she goes and knocks out almost all the Hoshidan soldiers she fights, just to put on a show for King Garon. In the end of that route, TECHNICALLY, she committed treason and blasphemy against Nohr. But thanks to Xander, she was absolved, and history wrote it to be that King Garon was dethrone on the basis of madness and insanity, dying in a battle in the Hoshidan capital.

And that’s it on this segment of, “Carrie adores Kamui too much, and has a problem.” Back to your regularly scheduled fluff! Thank you for reading this, and I’m sorry this turned out so long. asdfg

#∘OOC #∘Headcanon #Long post//#Someone remind me to doc this thing at a later date -wheeses-#*-wheezes-

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undertheinfluencerd · 3 years

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Atypical Characters Sorted Into Their Hogwarts Houses

The characters in Atypical all possess traits that would see them do well at Hogwarts. Doug is hard-working and stoic, Paige is Newton High’s answer to Hermione Granger, and Casey would definitely make a great Quidditch captain. Like their counterparts in the Harry Potter universe, these characters are all well-developed, flawed, and relatable.

RELATED: The 10 Best Atypical Characters

So, would Izzie get on well with Draco, and would Paige and Hermione be vicious rivals? Would Sam ignore everyone and thrive in the Care of Magical Creatures lessons? In another world in which the Atypical troop weren’t Muggles but witches and wizards, this is where the Sorting Hat would have placed them.

10 Sam – Ravenclaw

Just like his fellow Ravenclaw Luna Lovegood has some positive and negative traits, Sam is often in a world of his own. He has some non-mainstream interests and is prone to faux pas, such as breaking up with his girlfriend in front of her whole family during a fancy meal.

Despite this, Sam is highly intelligent and creative. He knows everything there is to know about Antarctica, worships his tortoise, and is a talented artist. Sam values intelligence, academic achievement, and likes to spend time alone, for example in his bathtub, where he goes to sit and think. He would do well in Ravenclaw, and would probably become the resident expert on Hogwarts’ history.

9 Casey – Gryffindor

Casey is ambitious like a Slytherin, but not of her own accord, which aligns her more with Gryffindor, particularly when combined with her bravery and willingness to stand up for what is right.

The people around Casey push her to work hard and aim high. Much like famous Gryffindor Harry Potter himself, Casey just wants a normal life but receives too much pressure from her friends, teachers, and family — particularly her father — who have high expectations of her track running and prospects of going to study at UCLA. Casey is great at sports and confident, though, and would be snapped up for the Quidditch team were she to attend Hogwarts.

8 Doug – Hufflepuff

Doug works hard but doesn’t boast about it. Very little screen time is dedicated to his job as an EMT, but he does it day in, day out, with zero complaints. It’s a highly important job and takes real bravery to accomplish successfully.

RELATED: Ted Lasso Characters Sorted Into Their Hogwarts Houses

Doug is quiet and stoic and always has his kids’ backs, even if he occasionally pushes them too hard. For example, he confronts his friend who says that Sam made family holidays difficult and acted in a socially unacceptable manner. Doug is in the same house as his EMT prodigy, Evan, and after a rocky start to their friendship — Evan was, after all, dating his daughter — the two make a great team.

7 Evan – Hufflepuff

Casey’s first-ever love interest, the easy-going Evan, is modest and street-smart. He may not be the most academic or ambitious, but he works really hard at whatever he does, such as in his job at the pizza joint, and later at his EMT training.

Evan works hard for personal satisfaction rather than external glory or praise, even when Casey tries to push him to aspire for more. He doesn’t value success in the same way as others, but he does place a premium on being a loyal friend and someone who can be counted on, all of which are admirable Hufflepuff traits in Harry Potter. Dependable, fair, and loyal, Evan is happy being himself.

6 Paige – Gryffindor

Paige is confident, intelligent, and destined for success, even though she doubts herself at times. She is good at advocating for people, as Sam tells her, such as when she was responsible for organizing Newton’s first-ever silent school dance, which she did so that Sam and other students on the spectrum could attend without being spooked by loud music.

Paige is the sort of person who will go on to make a huge impact on the world and change it for the better, as is exemplified when she takes a job at Habitat for Humanity at the end of the fourth season. Sam even says that she is smarter, more loyal, and has cleaner shoes than he could have ever imagined. Paige is certainly destined for greatness, like many of her fellow red-and-gold housemates, and would likely thrive in all of her subjects at Hogwarts.

5 Izzie – Slytherin

Izzie is a person around whom drama seems to swirl, which other characters, including Doug, have noticed and criticized. On that basis alone, she could qualify for either Slytherin or Gryffindor — she draws attention to herself and seems to hog the limelight.

However, when Casey first started at Clayton, Izzie was very cruel to her, and even when they started dating she was ashamed of her. Izzie also cheated on Casey and hid part of her life from her. Izzie may have redeemed herself by the end of the series, but these negative traits still qualify her for Slytherin, the house which contains the likes of Draco Malfoy, who also made some mistakes and is a notorious bully and keeper of secrets.

4 Julia – Ravenclaw

Sam’s therapist Julia is a high achiever. By the age of 26, she had already qualified as a therapist. She is bright and book smart and knows a lot about the human condition. Although her job involves speaking to people all day, she also enjoys time alone and enjoying the little things, like sitting and eating a cookie by herself.

RELATED: Notable Ravenclaws In Harry Potter, Ranked By Power

Julia can also behave a little strangely — as do other Ravenclaws like Professor Trelawney and Gilderoy Lockhart. When Julia found a chocolate-covered strawberry under her sofa, she fixated on it for months. She became so obsessed that it was partly responsible for the demise of her relationship.

3 Elsa – Gryffindor

Elsa values academic achievement less than her husband Doug. Instead, she just wants her children to be happy. She may have made a huge mistake — cheating on Doug — but it doesn’t undo the multitude of kind and caring things she has done. Elsa has made Antarctic pemmican and hoosh food for Sam, arranged for Casey’s friend to come over and talk after they fell out, and picked up Izzie from the bus station.

It took courage to tell Doug that they should split up or decide to recommit to one another rather than remain in a limbo stage, and to start up her own haircutting business. Elsa wants to fix everything, which is courageous and exactly makes her a Gryffindor.

2 Zahid – Gryffindor

A light-hearted jokester and caring friend, Zahid taught his best pal a lot of life lessons and wouldn’t be out of place hanging out with Fred and George Weasley, who did the same for their younger brother. Zahid is often the source of comic relief and lightens the mood, whether he’s referring to his parents as “roommates,” trying to hug Elsa, or asking Sam why he’s in bed wrapped up like a “skinny white burrito.”

While he can be led astray, such as by his horrid ex-girlfriend Gretchen, Zahid is ultimately a good person, loyal, and stands up for Sam.

1 Kathy – Slytherin

Kathy has many traits that define a Slytherin. She is prejudiced and discriminatory — for example, she kicked Elsa out of the peer support group, which was the one place she had to vent. Kathy also criticized Doug during his talk at the group, rather than listening to him open up about his struggles raising Sam.

Kathy boasts about a famous psychiatrist she knows, similar to how members of Slytherin like to seem more important than they are. There aren’t many Slytherins in the Atypical universe, but Kathy definitely flies the flag for the green and silver house.

NEXT: Which Atypical Character Are You, Based On Your Zodiac Sign?

#Undertheinfluence #weed

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vorthosjay · 6 years

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GDS 3 Essay Response

In case anyone was interested, I entered the GDS. Since others seem to be posting their essays, I figured I might as well too.

If you made last night’s deadline, good luck!

1. Introduce yourself and explain why you are a good fit for this internship.

My name is Jay Annelli. I work in Emergency Management [Note, I’ve redacted more info about myself here]. As part of my job, I’m expected to deal with unexpected events at any given time and develop creative solutions to problems under severe time and financial constraints. This usually means working collaboratively in cross-cutting teams to create the best possible outcome, whether it’s a plan, a process, or the response to an event. I strongly value collaborative working environments and the pit sounds like exactly the kind of place I would thrive.

Because of my work in Emergency Management, I work well in stressful environments and roll pretty easily with sudden shifts in priorities. For instance, last year I was given five weeks to move our entire 30,000 square foot warehouse operation, a project that should have had months to plan instead had weeks. I’m used to projects being suddenly cancelled or having to re-work them from the ground up based on new directives with little time. But those same experiences have given me the skills to sell projects to senior leadership, and with government work I know how to slowly get traction for an idea while completing competing priorities.

I’ve always been a jack-of-all-trades, and thrive in positions where I have a lot of different kinds of tasks to complete. I’ve got experience in everything from legislative analysis to warehouse logistics. And I love Magic, and have turned my hobby – passion about the lore – into a paying freelance gig. The reality is I’m not going to be the best designer ever, but you don’t need great designers because you’re not working in a vacuum, you need people who can come together and make great design teams. I’m an experienced leader and manager and work well in team environments where I can complement my teammate’s skills. More so, I recognize the process through which work gets completed is often more important than the skills of the individuals performing the work. R&D has gone through some fairly major organization shake-ups lately, and it would be my hope to help continue to improve processes.

2. An evergreen mechanic is a keyword mechanic that shows up in (almost) every set. If you had to make an existing keyword mechanic evergreen, which one would you choose and why?

Storm! Because NOTHING could possibly go wrong with that idea…

In all seriousness, Dash is such a quintessentially red mechanic that I’d like to see it appear more often. There aren’t a whole lot of current mechanics that would make good evergreen mechanics, but cards like Ball Lightning and its kin were a staple of Magic for years. Red is all about short-term thinking and temporary gains, or making moves before the outcome is determined. While Impulse Draw has been a great way to try and overcome Red’s weaknesses, there’s still pretty clearly more work that can be done. Giving Red access to low cost but temporary creature spells really plays into the same flavor for red. It also gives the player a choice when combined with Red’s traditional looting. Do you cast the creature permanently at a slightly overcosted mana cost? Or do you keep it in hand and for fuel for your later game looting effects, like Cathartic Reunion?

Existing Dash cards focused on the ability to have surprise cheap attackers, with one or two covering Enter the Battlefield effects. What I think would be interesting are abilities that punish or reward the use of Dash versus hard casting. For example, if a Dash dealt damage to its owner when it returned to its owner’s hand, or included a more powerful “at the beginning of your upkeep” ability if the player manages to hard cast it. I would argue that it could be pushed into more colors than Red and Black, as long as the abilities involved were representative of the colors.

3. If you had to remove evergreen status from a keyword mechanic that is currently evergreen, which one would you remove and why?

Defender! I’m actually surprised that defender is still around after all of these years, as it’s by far the least useful keyword ability. Now, the idea itself is fine, but with ‘unblockable’ no longer a keyword, it doesn’t make sense to me that its counterpart hasn’t been similarly de-keyworded. One of the biggest problems I see with it is that the game places all sorts of conditional “this creature can’t attack” restrictions on cards, but none of them use defender. For instance, why wouldn’t River Serpent have defender, when for all intents and purposes it has conditional Defender? Magic doesn’t keyword “can’t block”, either. Defender has gotten a little bit of “Defender tribal” in some sets, but I’m not sure there are any cases where the use of ‘Defender’ is advantageous over simply saying the creature can’t attack. There are a handful of cards that care about creatures with defender, but a switch in the wording might make them even more useful, if you concentrate on creatures who can’t attack.

Besides the templating issues I mentioned, I just don’t think the keyword is needed to accomplish the intended effect most of the time. Most of the time creatures with defender seem to just be intended to be solid blockers, and the circumstance in which someone is going to be attacking with a creature that has zero power are rare enough that I’m not sure why Kinjalli’s Caller can get away without defender but a Pride Guardian needs it. In some case, creatures with defender have evasion and there might be an issue with abilities that can actually give them power, but in those cases simply giving them the ability to block the evasion (like if Wall of Air had reach instead of flying) removes most of their attacking potential, anyway. And in those few cases where an aggressively costed creature is necessary, “This creature can’t attack” doesn’t take up much more card space than “Defender”, which usually gets its own line on the template anyway.

4. You're going to teach Magic to a stranger. What's your strategy to have the best possible outcome?

If I had an optimal environment, I would stack two decks that allowed the game play out in a mostly scripted fashion, slowly introducing concepts over the course of a game, with the game playing out in favor of the person I was teaching. I would start with the pre-game basics: explain the library and graveyard, and have us both drawn seven cards, keeping our hands revealed. I would explain the most important parts of a card: the artwork and flavor text. Wait. I want them to have the best outcome… so instead I might explain casting costs and card types. The new player’s expectation is ‘What do I do?’, so I show them the land, and how tapping the lands allows you to pay for the other cards. Ideally I’d have one-drop that the new player could cast to feel some satisfaction on their first turn. This would go back and forth, with each turn explaining a new card type.

If I’m being honest, I’m stealing this from the 7th Edition tutorial, which had you play a scripted game out against the computer while learning each part of the game. The Duels of the Planeswalkers games fulfilled a similar function, and I’m the living embodiment of that Onion joke about someone explaining the rules to a game and insisting it will be fun. So if I REALLY wanted the best possible outcome, I’d get hired by Wizards of the Coast and sketch out a plan for a contemporary update of that 7th Edition Tutorial, maybe even a short web game, which I believe also existed once, so that there’s a consistent learning environment available so people don’t have to rely on potentially not-great teachers to know the game.

5. What is Magic's greatest strength and why?

Magic’s greatest strength is its versatility. It’s amazing that there are over a half-dozen ways to play and that there’s a huge Magic fandom that’s all over the map when it comes to gameplay. The framework on which the game was build is so adaptable that I was seriously playing kitchen table magic for years before I even learned there were more formats than just casual. Most of those more competitive formats just don’t appeal to me (although I recognize their value and find them interesting). Other major competitors, like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Hearthstone, just don’t have that. Their frameworks, in some way or another, pidgeon hole them into specific playstyles. As much as Magic’s extensive rules cause me consternation, I know they’re the building block that makes everything else work. Whereas in Magic it just means an idea needs some creative problem solving to come to fruition, other games don’t have that extensive framework and thus don’t provide players with the same layers of choices.

Versatility allows choice, and choice is the key to a fun game. You want to allow enough that players can get creative. The same card can be used in entirely different ways even in the same format. It’s something that’s always fascinated me about the competitive scene. And then between formats, the card has entirely different value. I wish this answer felt like more just vomiting back things I’ve read on the Mothership for the last decade or so, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

6. What is Magic's greatest weakness and why?

Magic’s greatest weakness is its complexity. In the last answer I talked about how the rules are an extensive framework from which a lot of different games are built, but they can also be a huge barrier to entry. Complexity is a good thing, but Magic sometimes has far too much complexity for its own good. Even learning how to parse the Magic jargon is a challenge. In my career in Emergency Management, one of the major tenets of Incident Command is to avoid acronyms and jargon, because they’re hugely cultural and often feel like learning an entirely new language.

That’s not just limited to how people and players talk about the game, but how the game talks about itself. Keyword abilities are probably the most difficult. There are dozens of evergreen keywords alone, from activate to vigilance, that a new player needs to learn as a baseline before they can even start to parse deciduous mechanics, and then set-specific mechanics. Most Magic players who engage online have long forgotten what a barrier that is, which of course creates a disconnect between new and established players. And Magic players aren’t always the most patient, so when you sit a newby who still has to ask basic questions all the time, a single negative player is going to hurt their interest level.

Most of Magic’s players aren’t engaged online or at tournaments. They play at home like I used to do, and they buy packs from sets that look cool. I had no idea Kamigawa wasn’t a resounding success until I actively engaged online. To me, it was the cool plane of Samurai. When they open a pack and it has abilities with no reminder text, that’s a distraction from the game. Stopping to look something up online costs time and goodwill, which inevitable costs players.

7. What Magic mechanic most deserves a second chance (aka which had the worst first introduction compared to its potential)?

Level Up honestly has a special place in my heart, and I can’t help but feel that there’s a whole lot of space left untapped there. I think too many of the Level Up cards didn’t make each level feel important, and I think Monstrosity stole a little bit of its thunder. One of my biggest issue with it is that each level didn’t feel like a tangible benefit. I would probably change it look more like a Monstrosity variant, a place to sink larger amounts of mana to get a progressively more impressive creature. This would especially be useful as Monstrosity has some major flavor limitations. The template seemed to have been Figure of Destiny, but I don’t think any of the existing Level Up cards capture that quite in the same way as Warden of the First Tree. Warden of the First Tree could easily have a Level Up cost of {1}{w/b} and be a very similar card (although not exactly the same).

Sets like Ixalan that need some low cmc mana sinks could instead use a mechanic like Level Up. The original flavor was meant as a nod to Zendikar’s Dungeons and Dragons “Adventure World” theme, but it could easily be expanded beyond that. There seems to be design space, like with Monstrosity, to the actual ‘Leveling Up’ process. None of the current crop use one time effects upon reach certain levels, and that seems like a great way to make each level interesting for commons and uncommons with the mechanic without them all being Warden of the First Tree levels of power or complexity.

8. Of all the Magic expansions that you've played with, pick your favorite and then explain the biggest problem with it.

I would pick Return to Ravnica, although the biggest problem is the same as the original Ravnica block. With the ten guilds, the blocks tried to do too much, and failed to make all ten guild mechanics equally satisfying. There’s a lot of nostalgic love for those sets, but honestly I think the new set paradigm is going to be far better for any future Ravnica blocks. There just aren’t ten equally interesting mechanics to go around, and at least three of the guilds felt weak because of it. Return’s biggest problem is that it introduced new mechanics when it didn’t really need to, or used mechanics with limited design space to replace mechanics with equally limited space. Not every guild needs a keyword mechanic to be engaging, and in fact I would say most don’t, especially the guilds more focused on creatures, like Boros or Gruul, that could get by with some interesting effects on various cards but whose most interesting cards rarely seem to use their mechanic - or don’t need it to be a keyword mechanic.

Conservation of space is obviously going to be an issue as we start returning to planes like Ravnica a third, fourth, or even fifth time. You can’t burn through ideas at the rate that Ravnica has been if you’re going to still have something interesting for future returns. Ravnica is a lot of fun and a very satisfying place to set a product, but I think re-using other well liked mechanics rather than constantly trying to come up with new ones will by far serve design better.

9. Of all the Magic expansions that you've played with, pick your least favorite and then explain the best part about it.

Born of the Gods I would have to say is at least one of my least favorite sets, although it’s hard to say the definitive least favorite. Heroic and Inspired are two of my least favorite mechanics ever. But I really love the world of Theros and I think from a flavor standpoint, and the use of Bestow in Born of the Gods was stellar. It showed what the evolution of a mechanic in a second set should be, with cards like Eidolon of Countless Battles being particularly potent as both a creature and an aura. Most of the Bestow cards in Born of the Gods are simple designs that take advantage of the premise to create solid effects that work both as creatures and auras. The best designs don’t need to be fancy, they just need to make the most of a mechanic.

But the real reason I picked Bestow is because of Chromanticore, which to me exemplifies what makes Magic fun. Sure, there are more competitive cards out there, but for the casual player nothing captures the imagination more than a card like Chromanticore. Chromanticore is a big, splashy creature that demands you build around it. It has a soup of abilities that would make it appealing as a creature on it’s own, but the chance to cast it as an aura is incredibly tempting. Every set needs a card like Chromanticore that’s shiny for the casual crowd and may even entice a few more competitive players to build around it.

10. You have the ability to change any one thing about Magic. What do you change and why?

Mark Rosewater’s “Sorceries with Flash” instead of Instants really appeals to me, but I suppose he’s written about that so much that I would again just be regurgitating things I’ve read about the game online. So let’s expand on this in a way I’m not sure I’ve seen before, and talk about how to reorganize how things are typed. Supertypes always seem like a waste to me. Legendary Artifact Creatures or Legendary Enchantment Creatures usually mean the the sub-type (aka the good stuff, if you’re like me) can only support one type, maybe two if both are very short words. I’m not sure there’s really a good reason that can’t be represented some other way, either in a different frame (Legends are supposed to be different and special, after all) or with some other kind of symbolism on the card.

The sorceries with flash idea sounds really good on paper, but we get back into the issue of jargon, and another word new players have to learn. I would instead make Instant a subtype of Sorcery, opening up a few new avenues. You could also have ‘interrupt’ sorceries, that can only be cast in response to something. That’s an element of the game that was streamlined for good reason, but could open up some new design possibilities. I like otherwise how Enchantments are handled these days, so it’s really reworking supertypes and sorceries that I would change if I could change how types work. The legends issue has implications for tribal decks, so I think that’s what I would focus on, as it seems the most achievable.

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freeguestpostingsite0 · 3 years

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Share your submarine stories

Regardless of whether you understand what you need throughout everyday life, why you need it and you endeavor to accomplish it, you're probably going to in the end be driven off track. Consistently you plunge into the little errands believing that they'll lead you to the master plan. You check up your more modest errands with connection to your present objectives to guarantee you're on target. But, there are times when you get crashed. Regardless of whether it appears as though you are seeking after the objectives you've set, something doesn't feel right. You've lost your drive and don't feel the energy. You can't see what could not be right from your present viewpoint.Share your submarine stories The more you're in the doing, the more presumptions you make around your objectives and their accomplishment. Before long you think you have everything sorted out, and from your present point of view it sure appears so. On the off chance that you would attempt to revise your objectives, you'd get a comparable life plan. Thus you feel stuck and befuddled. Rude awakening is a more thing than a registration and revamp of your objectives. It's a five-venture measure intended to raise your mindfulness, interfere with the psychological examples and off base presumptions, carry your attention to the genuine reason throughout everyday life and plan your life from that point. You expand your view and dispense with snags first and glance around after. An incessant rude awakening is essential to guarantee that you have picked the correct objective and you are going directly at it. Share your submarine stories The submarine allegory Consider your life a submarine journey towards the island based on your very own preference. You should be lowered to travel viably yet the water is dim and you can't see your objective while submerged. You arise only for some time and set the privilege course.Then you go down and swim towards it. The ways gradually push you off base. Your navigational gear is additionally a spot discalibrated. You can attempt to address your course while submerged, however your figurings are incorrect in there and can trick you. Except if you arise and recalibrate your course, you will miss the island. As you search for your island over the outside of dinky water, you may likewise see a superior, more excellent island close by. At that point you will compliment yourself: 'I'm so happy I have reappeared and checked my course. Presently I have discovered the island I genuinely needed to show up at'. An individual story I'm composing this post on the grounds that a major rude awakening as of late turned my life around. Some place about a year back I understood that the region of connections is firmly falling behind all the rest. Consequently I made it a main objective to improve it. In those days I was firmly development situated, extremely otherworldly and madly upbeat person. At the point when I've begun to look all starry eyed at, I put relationship aptitudes before otherworldliness or business. My extraordinary instruction here followed the concentration and soon enough a large portion of my objectives were hovered around connections. The main thing I needed to show in my life was a magnificent personal partner.I have connected my life's motivation and feeling of satisfaction with social achievement, as the most noteworthy type of experience, development and fun. Multiple times during that period I've accomplished something like a rude awakening. Each time I understood how much energy I've been placing into the connections, disregarding the genuine reason for my life, which was a lot further and more extensive. What I neglected to do each time was to intrude on my example of franticness about pulling in the correct companions and private accomplices. I didn't dive profound enough into the central presumptions and the realignment with the genuine motivation behind my life was just impermanent. Following a month or something like that, I returned to dismissing everything except for the connections. It wasn't a particularly awful year from the outer viewpoint. I've grown a ton and experienced bunches of accomplishment in each region. The issue was that I've connected all my feeling of achievement and internal drive with the connections. I accepted that I won't be content until I locate a genuine companion or a sweetheart. Also, sufficiently sure, I felt like a disappointment increasingly more regularly. The days from February first to fifth I've named as my days off from life. I joined a gathering outing to the agreeable retreat in the mountains, far away from human progress. I requested a solitary stay with no flat mate. I didn't do anything yet practice truly and reflect. There were young ladies I preferred on the camp yet I chose not to play with them, despite the fact that I could. I didn't mingle, compose articles or make monetary arrangements. I was simply being there, getting a charge out of the nature. During the second day I accomplished an exceptionally tranquil state where I once in a while felt as though I had no name. I genuinely reconnected with my spirit. There was no expected character, no commitments or objectives - simply being. The greater part of the reasoning cycles vanished. On the fourth day I asked myself 'What is my life truly about?'. The appropriate response came in pieces from profound inside me: 'You're here, in this body to have positive effect on the planet. You develop, and as you develop, you share your affection and satisfaction with the world'. What's more, that was it. That was the point at which I understood how deluded I was for such a long time. There was no satisfaction in 'Make money. Discover a companion. Fabricate a site.' sort of things. How is it possible that I would have been zeroing in on those so much, failing to remember the basic explanation of my reality? Developing and offering the best of me to the world is so extraordinarily satisfying that I currently feel no hole that any companion or close accomplice would need to fill. I was unable to see it previously, from the low-mindfulness, destitution point of view. I was too up to speed in my reasoning. What occurred on those occasions is that I interfered with the points of view that tricked me. I've changed the very establishment on which I was building my life. Does it mean I squandered a year expanding on wrong establishments? Not under any condition. The development and outside accomplishments are still there, however now they have an alternate importance. I'm currently following the correct track and appreciating each progression of it. On the off chance that I went marginally around it previously, fine. I've gone farther all things considered, I've simply expected to correct towards where I truly need to go. Concerning the progressions on the reasonable level, I actually well in my connections. In any case, I found that specific activities and convictions of mine were incorrect of my newfound life's motivation. I let go of some absolutely manipulative strategies for starting connections that were a good time for the two players and effective, yet disaligned with adoration and truth. I invest substantially more energy composing articles, as this is as of now the best mechanism for my message to the world. Rude awakening versus life objectives check Try not to tragically think that rude awakening is simply considering your life reason and picking better objectives. You can examine your life all you need, however in the event that you continue to make similar oblivious presumptions, you will wind up getting the comparative answers.To see through your present imperfections in reasoning, you need to raise your own mindfulness. As uncle Einstein intelligently put it, "an issue can't be tackled on a similar level that it exists". You may even raise your mindfulness for a second and see the master plan, not the same as what you expected it would be. Yet at the same time, on the off chance that you actually hold similar restricting convictions in your psyche, they will in the end lead you off track. Glance around from the valley and, regardless of how hard you look, the view is more/less the equivalent. Cut down a couple of trees and you can see more. Hop around and you'll get short looks at a greater picture. However you can't remain up long enough to precisely store it in your memory. Move up a slope and you will see it all and that's just the beginning. Do you understand what is the issue here? I challenge you to liberate yourself from your present point of view check your existence wth the master plan. Realign with your spirit and see from that level how well your psyche and body works. Try not to follow your objectives aimlessly, trusting that satisfaction anticipates you at their accomplishment. You will probably wind up arriving and asking 'Is this all there is? What's the point?'. Ensure your life's motivation is the genuine reason why you're in this world. Ensure your objectives are straightforwardly lined up with that reason. Do the rude awakening! Stage one - open your chakras This is a basic, yet very successful contemplation practice. As an initial step you need to deliver the energy stuck in your chakras, which is fundamental for getting an away from of your world. I do it at any rate once per day. You'll get by with it once every month. On the off chance that you believe it's an underhanded work of satan or whatever, don't call it opening your chakras. I'm not going to challenge your major conviction framework. Just reevaluate it so you can even now profit by it. Consider it a remodel of the place of your spirit and you're painting the various pieces of your body in the correct tones. Whatever works :- ) Really, there's no doctrine, magic or shrouded truth to it. You simply play with colors on the body parts in your creative mind and it causes you to feel much improved. In case you're interested to peruse more about chakras, I emphatically suggest Erin Pavlina's article. Here I'll simply cover the unclogging cycle saving you as meager detail as you need to get by. It's simply a groundwork for the rude awakening at any rate. There are seven significant chakras in your body and every one is spoken to by a shading: * Root chakra - red tone, in your feet, speaks to actual endurance, feeling of personality * Sacral chakra - orange tone, lower mid-region, speaks to passionate dependability, sexual energy, inventiveness * Solar plexus - yellow tone, sun oriented plexus, close to the stomach, speaks to individual force and adequacy, mental energy and core interest * Heart chakra - green tone, heart and lung region, speaks to adore, compassion, recuperating, association with others * Throat chakra - blue tone, throat, speaks to correspondence, self-articulation * Third eye - dark blue, indigo, purple tone, third eye, in your brow, speaks to clairvoyant capacities, instinct, deliberate focus * Crown chakra - White or violet tone, at the highest point of the head, speaks to association with God, Universe, Divine, internal harmony

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wolfmatirx · 3 years

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13 Things You Can Do Right Now to Motivate Your Tech Team in 2019

Handling an all-star tech team starts with the right people--hiring credible individuals and maintaining an open mind regarding what they will attract --and never really ends if you are doing it right. In my previous blog, I shared with some of my adventures on how best to make an All-Star Tech Fantasy Team. In this guide, I'm going to talk about 13 things you can do immediately to inspire your technician team.

Who are we speaking about?

Millennials now take the largest portion of their international workforce and the percentage is significantly higher in tech companies.

While they've altered the dialogue about what people want from work, we have reached a country where mild-to-moderate pampering is forecast to be a typical part of job: fully stocked bars, catered lunches, and also the occasional staff retreats. In startups and big companies alike, such generous, borderline lavish perks have increasingly become the standard, not the exception.

But the question is, how does the ordinary employee actually use the Xbox One at the company gambling den, or is he too busy for that? Does she need to edit spreadsheets sitting on this purple beanbag? Are employees really pining for ping-pong tables and much more "rest time" at work (presuming their boss won't give them the stink eye after that)? Or are those perks miss the point of what actually does motivate your tech team?

So what do they need?

Regular Review of Performance-Based On Tangible Metrics

'Of everything we have done to enhance employee satisfaction, the best impact has come from our daily performance encounters. There we concentrate on how our staff did with essential metrics that the day before.

Motivate your tech team: feedback

Feedback

This millennial cohort is hungrier for opinions and a clear path of growth than any other generation.

1 way to feed that hunger is creating a mentorship program where junior employees are matched with senior administration. Encourage routine weekly meetings that have a nurturing environment for workers to ask for review, get compliments, and air grievances. Mentors lead together with the responsibility of their mentee's professional development -- by outlining goals to delivering reviews.

Employees will feel much more strongly linked to the company if someone with skill and ability helps them propel forward.

Give More Shout-Outs

Multiple around happy hours or pricey dinners aren't the only ways to celebrate victory. If an individual went over and beyond the call of duty, a simple company-wide email or handwritten note can be just as powerful.

Try devoting the end of each all-hands meeting to give employees an chance to publicly recognize somebody else's work. This seems simple, the positive effect on a person's sense of self-worth and value to the company is priceless.

Rethink Team Structure to Motivate Your Tech Team

A recent Deloitte survey found that 63% of millennials think their leadership abilities aren't being fully grown, making them much more inclined to switch jobs.

Buck the trend by producing a structure for new initiatives which give individuals who might not be at the managerial level the opportunity to direct and take ownership of projects. It reveals a willingness to invest in your employees' ability while raising their morale and dedication.

While you're at it, do away with closed-door meetings. Nothing produces a sense of seclusion -- or fuels the gossip mill -- like seeing the same group of individuals whisper behind the glass walls of this conference space. If it's not strictly confidential, speak out in the open.

Switch Perks Into a Motivator

If your business finds itself at the financial position where scaling back perks becomes necessary, consider sharing the cost of supplying free lunch or gym memberships so it becomes a concrete figure to employees. 9 out of 10 will probably be amazed by how large the number is, guaranteed.

Here are the earnings figures we need to reach to bring it back. Instill the message that in case you want it, you got to work for this. By doing so, you are going to learn quite quickly who truly believes in what the company is attempting to achieve, and who's quite literally in it to get the free lunch.

When executed successfully, perks do exactly what they're supposed to do: boost productivity, inspire your tech team, and foster a stronger sense of internal community.

As a venture-backed startup, these ups are especially large. So creators may feel that the downs don't deserve public attention among their own team. Fight this urge.

Open New Opportunities For Them

Aside from a great civilization, a recognition system, and an enjoyable work environment, the key thing to inspire your technician team is new chances. For example: handling a new project for which we may not have shown skills yet. Believing in the team and each person, and demonstrating it daily, is the best morale booster one could give.

Give Them Work-Life Flexibility

Propel your technician: work-life balance

Nevertheless, the secret regarding the equilibrium is about acknowledging the pendulum will swing anywhere from zero to 100. And it may change- per week. Allowing workers to plan ahead based on upcoming work or personal deadlines and to receive the job done and where they need makes the happy staff and contributes to better productivity.

At Wolfmatrix we speak on Slack and via video conferencing. In addition, we utilize Trello and JIRA to assign projects and also to ensure deadlines are met.

Heal Them with Respect

Respect is the title and keeping employees happy is the sport. 'Respect' may sound easy and maybe even clichéd. Nonetheless, it is heartbreaking to see just how many businesses and managers still aspire to employ the best employees in the talent pool, trust them with the works and responsibilities, expect them to create excellent results as a bona fide worker but somehow wind up treating them such as sleazy shirks whose supreme aim in life would be to deceive the employers. There's not any quicker way to demotivate an employee than that.

Personally, a tool I vow by to cope creatively with my mates (who have diverse sets of abilities and openness ) is your Skill-Will-Matrix.

Have a peek at this and you will not again danger micromanaging your employees who only needed your advice. You will never again increase responsibilities hoping to inspire your technician team whereas all they wanted was a bit of enthusiasm in the job.

Instill A Sense Of Belonging To A Larger Goal

Imagine this; you own a wagon filled with products you need to market in the nearby village. There, a group of merchants are awaiting you. You're leading the wagons in the front and directing directions. A bunch of men are pushing the wagon from behind to make sure things are moving ahead.

There are hills and streams and gardens along the road. Flowers blossoming, butterflies trees and flying dance. But just the chief sees it. What do the men pushing the wagon see? A wagon filled with loads they need to push until somebody comes to purchase them!

Motivate your team

Yes, the leader is you. The merchant is the client. The wagon is your business, the products being your services or products. The opinion is the vision and those men are the workers. They don't see exactly what you see unless YOU tell them what lies ahead and how beautiful your perspective is!

Got my point?

Keeping staff happy and also to motivate your technician team normally boils down to rest and benefit. They need the chance to recover from the cost that tough work requires. Ensuring there is a lull between projects goes a ways to prevent burning out your workers.

Show Them The Results Of Their Work

I discover that software development teams would be the happiest when folks utilize and appreciate the goods they deliver. Pride of ownership is greatest when we hear continuous feedback from actual customers even if these opinions is sometimes negative. There's nothing worse than working on a product which no client is using and not one of your employees care about.

Challenge Them

If you're searching for engaging top gift, give your team members jobs that challenge them, with plenty of opportunities to learn and develop professionally. Give developers the chance to touch the entire heap and perform with a great deal of different technology. Let them find out what they like doing before they narrow their focus. Permit them to take the lead on high-profile projects. However, make sure they have realistic deadlines and suitable service to do a fantastic job. Encourage team members to speak at public events, write articles and volunteer locally.

'My staff enjoys challenges, so that I enjoy giving them puzzles, scenarios, and job issues to decode. When they solve it figure it out, they're enthusiastic and amped to keep on working.' Chalmers Brown of Due shares his tried and tested strategy.

Need a shortcut to inspire your tech team or seek the services of a driven developers' team with the hassles? Wolfmatrix can be of assistance!

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gunnerpalace · 6 years

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Currently, I am worth about $-24,000 alive, and $77,000 dead.

According to American capitalism, I should kill myself. It’s a simple value proposition.

Spare me any bullshit about how precious human life is, or about lifetime earning potential. Economically, nobody cares about the supposedly priceless uniqueness of an individual, and nobody cares that the average person makes approximately a million dollars over their lifetime.

In this country, all things have a dollar value, and are evaluated by short-term performance returns. Sometimes, in our infinite generosity, that's annually. Mostly, it's quarterly. And for speculative investments, it's moment to moment.

Let's speculate about me. I scored an averaged 99th percentile on the U.S. Armed Forces’ Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. (By USAF’s MAGE scoring, 98th, 99th, 99th, and 98th.) I’m in the top 1% of the population, which means I can be rapidly trained to do almost anything you can imagine. I have a four year degree, specifically a BA in Creative Writing. What is my value?

The answer is basically zero.

Some jackass would inevitably snark about picking the wrong degree. Sure, true enough. In retrospect, I should've been a geologist. But in other places, that degree would still mean something. Hell, even here there was a time, not too long ago, when that degree would've meant something. It used to be that in this country you could be a secretary with a high school degree; now employers want a Bachelor’s in “Secretarial Science” (as if every other degree doesn’t involve utilizing office software) and three years of experience for an intro level job.

No one is really going to take a gamble on me. Why bother? Loyalty to employees is dead. It's an employer's market. There’s no reason to train anyone anymore when you can demand they be qualified out of the gate. (Nobody ever bothers to discuss that employees don’t show employers loyalty because employers themselves stopped being loyal in the eighties; another part of Ronald Reagan’s amazing legacy, along with neutralizing unions and ushering in seemingly permanent wage stagnation.)

I haven't had a real job in almost five years. The main reason for that is because I haven't bothered trying very much. The main reason for that is because it's degrading. The labor market is irretrievably fucked. Ability is largely meaningless. (So is hard work, by the way.) You're expected to take the lowest of the low jobs, or even unpaid internships, and suck it up. Sell yourself! (Quite literally, wage slave, because the real meaning behind that phrase is “lie and grovel in just the right ratio to win the right to eat.”) Welcome to the gig economy!

Another jackass would say, "Well, it's your own fault! You didn't try!" And that makes a lot of sense if you're someone who's been indoctrinated into believing that the value of a human life stems from the hourly earnings it yields. Prosperity gospel is one hell of a drug, and you better believe it’s not limited to theological sermons.

It doesn't have to be this way. Forget whatever some libertarian or conservative naysayer wants you tell you, because America isn’t the only place in the world. Not everywhere thinks that human beings are cogs in a machine whose only reason for existence is revenue generation. (And you know what? They often work better as a result it.)

And you know, I just don't feel compelled to bust my ass for minimum wage when a fucking beach bum can almost become Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, a conman with dementia can become President of the United States, the world's official richest man is a slaver, and the world's unofficial richest man is a murderous gangster. If these are the people who are in charge, then honestly, I’m qualified to be Emperor of the entire fucking human race.

Success has got nothing to do with your value. It's got everything to do with your luck. The luckiest, most ruthless assholes are the ones who succeed. As someone much smarter than me put it:

BILL MOYERS: Why do you think, David, that we tolerate such gaps in between rich and poor?

DAVID SIMON: You know, I'm fascinated by it. Because a lot of the people who end up voting for that kind of laissez-faire market policy are people who get creamed by it. And I think it's almost like a casino. You're looking at the guy winning, you're looking at the guy who pulled the lever and all the bells go off, when a guy wins, and all the coins are coming out of a one-armed bandit. You're thinking, "That could be me. I'll play by those rules." But actually, those are house rules. And you're going to lose. Most of you are going to lose.

You know the best part? The smart ones who made it know it's bullshit.

And it'll only get worse when a quarter of jobs disappear over the next decade.

That's why the smart ones who made it and know better are building doomsday bunkers and preparing for the end of the world as we know it.

You don't hear anything about this, because the people in charge don't give a fuck about you. It's not a problem for them. In fact, they welcome the chaos. Robots and software don't ask questions. Robots and software don't demand a living wage. Robots and software don’t expect work-life balance. Robots and software don't want healthcare, or retirement plans, or maternity leave, or breaks to poop. Robots and software don't crave basic human decency.

When everything goes to shit, when there are food riots, when the oceans rise, when the very air boils, when you die in some horrible way or another, they will be safe and sound, at least for a little while. (And maybe it won’t be quite so bad, but still, who do you think will have it the easiest?)

Why do you think Elon Musk is trying so hard to get to Mars? (And no, he's not the real-life Tony Stark he so desperately wants you to think he is, or even Nikola Tesla 2.0, who you should also stop worshiping, nerds.)

Don't get me wrong, I'm very aware that I'm privileged in even having a chance to opt out of participating in this system. Believe me, I know. And I know that I won't be able to do it forever.

But none of that changes the fact that according to American capitalism, I should kill myself—preferably as cheaply as possible!—and offer up my organs to be parceled out to more deserving individuals, because I'm a "failure at being a good person."

Well, I want to live.

I want to be a stay-at-home husband. I want to make banana bread and grow a little spice garden. I want to do part-time work that stimulates me intellectually and creatively. I want to be a fucking human being whose value comes from self-satisfaction and personal improvement.

And so if American capitalism judges me as deficient, as subhuman, as excess, as waste, if under its paradigm I should just die, then I say fuck it, the horse it rode in on, and its riders.

It is and they are the ones that should die, screaming.

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chicagoindiecritics · 4 years

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New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: REWIND REVIEW: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

(Image: hollywoodreporter.com)

For an occasional new segment, Every Movie Has a Lesson will cover upcoming home media releases combining an “overdue” or “rewind” film review, complete with life lessons, and an unboxed look at special features.

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Big as a billboard in some places and as small as a mobile ad in others, the marketing imagery of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker touts the tagline “The Saga Will End.” There’s something to be said for finality, especially with a 42-year-old franchise as venerated and cherished as this one. The virtues of remembrance, culmination, gratification, and other such lofty notions loom so much larger when an entity is billed to be the last of something important. The movie in disc form hits store shelves everywhere today.

LESSON #1: THE DEFINITION OF “FINALITY” — Diving deeper beyond the basic “something that is final” meaning, the dictionary of this galaxy describes “finality” as “conclusiveness,” “decisiveness,” or “an ultimate act, utterance, or belief.” J.J. Abrams’ massive space opera follows his own The Force Awakens and Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi to aim so very badly for those traits. In many peaks of scope and emotion, his movie achieves such finality. In others, overindulgence and disarray put question marks on the value or vindication of all this promised fulfillment.

Going back to the tagline, the key word out of that poster’s sentence becomes “will.” As grand of a finale as The Rise of Skywalker builds itself to be, the likelihood of its stewarding studio turning off this cash cow is zip, zilch, and zero. This saga had an ending already in 1983 and another in 2005. Those had legitimate finality. Time will tell if this one, and its willy-nilly trajectories, will resonate strong enough or long enough to be of honored and revered significance.

ANTICIPATORY SET AND PRIOR KNOWLEDGE:

.Announcing his presence to the galaxy (and to us immediately in the yellow title scroll), a resurrected Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has elevated the First Order into the Final Order with his Sith influence and the manufactured might of a colossal new fleet of Star Destroyers. His orders to his acolyte, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), are simply to “kill the girl.” That embattled female target remains Rey (Daisy Ridley), who has spent the undetermined amount of time since the Battle of Crait on the sidelines away from Resistance efforts to continue her Jedi training under the tutelage of General Leia Organa (the late Carrie Fisher).

LESSON #2: CONFRONTING FEARS— As she continues to grow in immeasurable power and skill, Rey endures visions abound of possible future fates that hinge on an eventual rubber match with the former Ben Solo. Matching a quintessential Star Wars motif, Rey has become the next emerging hero obligated to stare down the opposition with a will strengthened by summoned bravery. With “never be afraid of who you are” encouragement, Rey’s fears are hefty emotional obstacles made thoroughly compelling by Daisy Ridley’s lead performance, her best in the series. She may not be given the best scripted material (more on that later), but the actress squeezes every drop of rooting vulnerability out of this crucial plight.

Meanwhile, Rey’s supportive comrades and Resistance operatives, including Poe (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega), and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), help her stay a step ahead of Kylo Ren and his masked squad of weaponized knights. Flanked by their handy droids, the tight crew zealously join Rey’s pursuit of items and information deemed vital for the fledgling revolutionaries being able to bring the fight to Palpatine instead of awaiting overwhelming decimation. The invisible ticking clock urgency to blow enemies away and prevent “all for nothing” disappointment sets the plot off on numerous (as in too many) busy-bodied and lightspeed races and chases with weakly-presented MacGuffins in the crosshairs.

LESSON #3: THE VALUE OF PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL SUPPORT— Long has Star Wars been about populating a heightened unity in support of influential individuals. Call it amassing an army or the intimate recruitment of trusted friends. For Rey, her verbalized chant is the powerful wish of “be with me.” It is answered with “we have each other.” Whomever stands behind the lead antagonist or comes to the aid of the lead protagonist does so with fervent dedication and multiplying motivation. True to this now ancient battle of dark versus light, not all assistance entering the fray comes in corporeal form.

MY TAKE:

J.J. Abrams has always been more than capable at delivering sheer adventure for the silver screen. His urge for kinetic energy is answered by the polished production teams. Borrowed from good buddy Steven Spielberg, two-time Oscar-winning production designer Rick Carter teamed with VFX concept artist Kevin Jenkins to create otherworldly arenas of flash and flair. J.J.’s trusty cinematographer Dan Mindel (five previous collaborations between them) captured the accelerated action set to every possible hymn, horn, and hurrah from retiring composer legend John Williams. Merging four decades of cues and themes with impeccable placement and push, Williams earned that 52nd career Oscar nomination. Flying through this fantastical world will always remain a rousing treat. The wonderment and magic is there.

That said, no amount of razzle-dazzle filling eyes and ears can cover up the glaring examples of questionable creativity and incomplete development enacted by Abrams and lead screenwriter Chris Terrio. Even in a third film meant to wrap up storylines, The Rise of Skywalker compels itself to introduce even more tangents and swerves. It has characters that answer questions with more questions and moments ringing with vague parables rather than stamping cemented mythology. The arcs for Ridley and Driver fare the best, but the periphery is scattered with superfluous glaze. The isolation elements of The Last Jedi slowed matters down to create tangible suspense. This overpacked trilogy capper favors sprinting set pieces instead. Moving at a rush does not automatically or always create one in return, magic be damned.

To explain more crosses into spoiler territory, but there are downright mistakes here that expose the distance between forming merely a sense of finality, albeit a forcibly telegraphed one, and garnering a true, earned, and fitting consummation. Gauge all of this ambition straight toward the many synonyms of “finality.” Measure this film for “decisiveness,” “totality,” “resolution,” and even “integrity.” You may find its force more thin than thick.

3 STARS

EXTRA CREDIT:

(Image courtesy of Disney)

For the first time in quite a while (re: see every Marvel disc release in ten years), Disney has finally put out a stellar disc release worthy of full purchase ahead of merely a digital download of the feature itself. All it took was a legitimate and immersive behind-the-scenes documentary that actually showed the full filmmaking process. Little seven to fifteen minute featurettes can’t do that, no matter how many of them you pretend to pack on a second disc, not when half of them feel like sales pitches instead of documentation.

The Rancor-sized beast feature in question is the feature-length The Skywalker Legacy documentary. Running a rich 126 minutes, the documentary follows the film’s production process from pillar to post. The access and observational intimacy into the process is phenomenal. Best all, they merge little flashbacks to the making-of footage of the original trilogy, making that “legacy” in the title the perfect term.

Those callbacks are some of the best moments to savor in the documentary because they each pile on a full circle of reflection and completion. For example, to see and hear Anthony Daniels compare walking onto the Tunisian heat with uncertainty in 1976 to stepping off the set in the same costume for the last time over 40 years later as a legend is beyond a treat. It’s a moment of pure satisfaction. Moments and threads like that are echoed and repeated for Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and the memory of Carrie Fisher, especially how this production had to remember here while finding a way to go on without her.

Probably the best legacy moment captured in The Skywalker Legacy is when director J.J. Abrams brought composer John Williams on the set to film a first-time cameo. After Williams finishes shooting his bit, J.J. has the octogenarian look around the “junk” around his character’s workshop table. Each tarnished prop in view was purposely constructed to represent all 51 of Williams’ Oscar-nominated scores. That’s an incredible display of easter eggs that will drop your jaw and just a taste of the complete devotion and keen respect J.J. Abrams operates with the entire shoot.

The figure to watch (and being watched) the most is Abrams. His insistence, no matter the time, resources, and expense, to shoot with as many physical layers of creation and authenticity as possible is extremely commendable. From black bean quicksand and an alien festival to the wild energy of scene-stealing stunt coordindator Eunice Huthart, the massive volume of sets, costumes, vehicle rigs, and puppetry is off the charts. The armies of people who train and put their heart, soul, and sweat into work that may only be seen mere seconds or minutes on-screen is dizzying. All the while, his skillful focus and constant smile make the pressures and expectations and returns look invisible.

Outside of the feature-length centerpiece, there are few more samples of blockbuster dessert. They come in the form of five smaller featurettes. Even these still beat the Disney/Marvel entries of talking schills and put their focus on the stories behind the movie.

One of the best of them is “Aliens on the Desert.” It’s a quick six minutes, but it outlines all of the set-up work in Jordan, where the visiting humans are the foreigners to the rugged vistas, that happens even before the circus-level main unit arrives. The scale of teamwork and practicality from the gear-loaded teams is something not normally shown for behind-the-scenes material that more often loves their headliners. The 14-minute “Pasaana Pursuit” feature is similar in its background focus.

If artistry gets you awestruck, you will enjoy the “Cast of Creatures” featurette. Like their shining moments in The Skywalker Legacy, the merger of makeup, engineering design, and puppetry have long made the fictional living things in Star Wars more tangible than any CGI power. This short is a tribute to the folks underneath the heavy gyros, foam, and rubber shells. The new droid D-O also gets a quick five-minute-and-change video on its character genesis of the more mechanical nature.

The final featurette is “Warwick & Son” and it’s the smile-inducing parting glance to the special features and nine-film saga. This snippet chronicles actor Warwick Davis returning to the Ewok role of Wicket and the chance to bring his aspiring actor son Harrison in to play his Ewok kin. Like the legacy circles earlier, to hear and see Warwick’s journey and sage maturity being celebrated is delightful. This caps a truly fantastic disc of special features.

LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#867)

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