#was trying to channel a bit of an x-files vibe with this

[valenfield-inspo]

Jill Valentine & Chris Redfield - Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles/Umbrella's End Moodboard

#valenfield #chris x jill #jill x chris #moodboard #aesthetics #crxjvr #my edits #ngl not super in love with this one but still somewhat pleased with what i could pull together #i mean umbrella chronicles doesn't really give you much to work with #raccoon's destruction part 1 is just a retelling of re1 and i already did a board for that #so i decided to do one for the umbrella's end chapter #was trying to channel a bit of an x-files vibe with this #(ya'll know how much i love associating valenfield with mulder & scully) #i wouldn't mind a remake/re-telling of umbrella's end but eh i don't think capcom would be interested

[stxleslyds]

NIGHTWING #81

UMM... HOW ABOUT NO. 

Ever since Tom Taylor took over Nightwing I have only made a post about one issue of his (I will leave it here Nightwing #78), that issue was beautiful, it was a solid start and the little things that made me feel a bit icky were not mentioned in the post because the issue was good.

Then the issues felt like connectors or just very bland story wise. I had problems with the book also feeling like a Nightwing and (fake) Oracle book instead of just Nightwing. There were many instances where Dick alone could have gotten himself out of situations without Barbara, but because she was there the opportunity to show that he can do things was taken from him. I guess what I am trying to say is that the book has disappointed me but I didn’t feel like making a post because it was too early and this is an ongoing book that Taylor said he planned on continuing for a while, but now I can’t not make a post.

A few days ago, I finally read the Red Hood story in Urban Legends (I have a review for that one too I will link it here Red Hood part 4) and I couldn’t stand how OOC and disappointing the story/characterization has been. I am saying this because I am only reading these two books at the moment, ONLY these two, and all I have gotten from them is shit.

I know it’s still early to say that the Nightwing book is bad but…I hated this issue, I hated it with all of my heart. But now that I am a bit calmer, I have come up with some ideas of what is truly going on with the Melinda situation.

Anyway, let me give you my thoughts.

There are big Wilson Fisk vibes coming from both Blockbuster and Melinda Zucco. Those two will lie, manipulate and be evil every chance they get. They are working together to make Nightwing disappear. I know it. The whole “make us all much wealthier and to extend your power beyond the city” idea does not include Nightwing.

Melinda might not want to burn anything down but she sure isn’t a hero. This woman accepted the position of Mayor after watching Blockbuster kill the former mayor. I understand that talking with the BHPD isn’t the best idea but this woman feels way too comfortable in the presence of a killer.

She is cunning and she has plans, I strongly believe that she might be a villain and that she will betray Blockbuster and take all the power (if it reaches that point) to herself.

Heartless is just another weirdo, he tricks both Nightwing and the reader into thinking that he has a soft spot for kids but surprise! He doesn’t. There isn’t much to say about him, he just has very complex gadgets and doesn’t know how to fight. I don’t even have any ideas about who he might be.

What I know though is that there was absolutely no need for Dick to think that he had “underestimated” Heartless, my love you threw your stick at him while he was looking directly at you, there was a 50/50 chance of him catching it. I swear I don’t understand the need to write him thinking that mostly because Taylor then has Dick swiping the floor with the guy, not only is it a simple fight (for Dick) but it’s also boring for him. Taylor’s writing is so annoying sometimes, he just loves to write extra things that are out of place like the “Tim Drake. Thought of by many as the best Robin” why the fuck did he put that there? Honestly, what was the point of having Dick say that, I don’t read a Nightwing book to have Tim Drake praise. If it doesn’t offer anything to the story that is being told then keep the thought to yourself Tom...

Moving forward the scene in the pier was quite nice, mostly because it’s Dick’s quick thinking that gets everyone to safety, he knows exactly what to do and how to contact the Maritime distress channel.

He has hope for his city, he knows there is good in it and he believes help will show up when lives are about to be lost. I loved that, just like Heartless said, Nightwing IS Bludhaven’s Guardian Angel. Once again, I am having Daredevil vibes from Dick (like from the show)

After the fight we get to see consequences of Dick not healing properly from a shot to the head. He loses his consciousness which is extremely dangerous but luckily Tim is at arm’s reach to help him out of the pier.

There are many things I want to talk about from the scenes that happen after Dick wakes up in his apartment so here we go.

First of all, Bitewing is adorable, she loves Dick the most and was happy to see him awake once more, what a good girl!

Secondly, Barbara, honey, you do not have three names, you aren’t Batgirl anymore, you are a grown woman that needs to move on from a mantle that has other people that can do something else/better with it. And we all know that this Oracle is just the ableist version of Oracle. So yeah…all I ask is for Barbara to move on from Batgirl, Cass and Stephanie are right there, enough is enough.

In these panels we have Dick, Tim and Barbara being kinda dismissive about the homeless kids, and it has been happening for so many issues, what is the point, Taylor? You made Dick a millionaire and you just can’t have him say or think for a second that he will monetarily help those kids and make sure they are put somewhere safe? You are really going to wait up until you have Dick running for Mayor or something to help the kids? I just don’t get it. Kids living on the streets and each time they are mentioned the three heroes of the book act like it’s normal and doesn’t need fixing. What the fuck.

Then we have the gang finding out that Melinda Zucco is the new mayor, the woman has an FBI file and a redacted one! This makes me think two things, either things are like I thought in the beginning of the post (she is evil and very good at it) or this woman is actually FBI and she is undercover (this one is less likely because of what happens at the end of the issue).

What we can see from the file that Barbara found is very little, but in these two pictures we can see that maybe she was put in foster care and x age? Also, she was apparently investigated in April of 20xx, the investigation must have been recent, why would the FBI investigate a minor or college student? What if these files were implanted by Melinda for someone to find them, and for her to have some sort of proof of her lies? If the file is about her being left in foster care or something while would the file be redacted? I don’t know, everything about her is shady and I don’t trust anything from or about her.

This could be a complex and very interesting character but Tom Taylor and DC really love to do stupid shit for shock value (more of this later).

All the new information (the Maroni, Blockbuster and now this very shady Mayor) has Dick saying that it is a bit too much for him and yeah, it is too much, you know who could help? Red Hood. I am of course not talking about current DC comics Red Hood, I am talking about the Red Hood that I would love to see, just yesterday I had an ask about who would I like to see working with Jason and I said Nightwing because Dick puts a lot of responsibility on his shoulders so it would be nice if they negotiated and each could work on different crime areas in Bludhaven, if only DC would hear me…

Anyway, now that we come to the end of the scene let’s talk about Barbara’s shirt.

That was unnecessary and not funny. That’s all it was. Yeah, I know it’s a meme and I know it was included for funny ha-ha purposes but I am not laughing. Bruce has been written as abusive towards his kids for so long, Jason, Tim and Dick have been physically harmed by Bruce and writers use it as just something that happens, there are never repercussions for the Bat. And this shirt sucks because Dick was Robin there and he was a kid, so having Barbara or anyone wearing a shirt with Batman hitting Robin!Dick right in front of Dick is just disgusting. What if someone wore a shirt that had Joker beating Jason with a crowbar in front of Jason, would that be a funny ha-ha too? What about Dick wearing a shirt with the Joker shooting Barbara, is that a funny ha-ha? The answer to those questions is no, it’s not funny.

The idea of that shirt shouldn’t have been pitched, drawn or included after the editor took a look at it.

The picture is a meme in our world, not in theirs. And the readers aren’t laughing.

 Back to the issue, Dick is left alone in his apartment to rest (seriously? You think the man that showed up to help Bruce in Gotham with a knee brace is going to rest?) but he can’t, he just found out that Mayor Zucco might be trouble for Bludhaven and might be working with not only Blockbuster but the Maroni family. He is not waiting one more second to have a chat with her.

Dick is obviously still concussed so of course he grabs a mask that has a camera that Oracle can view, and of course he enters yet another window without being careful.

Melinda and Audre were obviously waiting for him.

But here is where the real bullshit begins. Dick is unmasked.

I am so mad; it’s been four issues and Dick gets his ass in a trap and is unmasked by a villain? Are you kidding me right now?

But that’s not all, after Dick breaks free and accuses Melinda of being the daughter of the man that killed his parents, she pulls out a uno reverse card and says that her actual father is John Grayson, and that she is his sister.

How about no. Absolutely not. Go away.

Let’s re-visit Melinda’s appearances in the book so far so we can start theorizing about her real intentions or if she could be saying the truth.

Back in issue #78 where she is first introduced to us, after Melinda watches Blockbuster kill the mayor, she goes home and tells her Audre that she is now mayor because Blockbuster did what he does, so she knows that this guy is trash and a killer. But that’s not all, Audre asks her if she came across Dick Grayson to which Melinda answers “I am not ready for him yet”. Audre suggests she talks to him sooner rather than later because she might not have “another chance”, and the issue ends with Melinda agreeing with her while she is looking at a Flying Graysons poster with a red circle framing Dick’s face.

That whole thing? Shady. Melinda, obviously, wanted to talk to Dick Grayson, probably to tell him that she is his sister, but why is there a time limit, why is Audre telling Melinda that she can’t wait too long? Is it because her undercover work is ending soon? Is it because it’s not real at all and she needs to tell that lie in order to move forward with some sort of plan? I don’t know…

In issue #79 Melinda (and Audre) are out in the open with Maroni and they are talking about her becoming the next Mayor, Nightwing was watching from afar so this is his first contact with her. And it might be the first time that Melinda and her friend see Nightwing in action too. I cannot tell if she is aware that Nightwing/Dick Grayson are the same person here.

In #80 she doesn’t make an appearance.

But now in #81 she is taking her place as Mayor of Bludhaven, there Commissioner McClean takes her somewhere she didn’t expect to go (she is shown not knowing that Maroni and Blockbuster were in the next room over). Once in the room she refuses to take the cash from McClean but she will take the money as a transaction (for a second I thought she wouldn’t take the money but she did because she is very corrupt) and talks to Maroni once more. Before I talk about what happens with Blockbuster let me say this, she acts so distant to Maroni, she calls him Mr. Maroni every single time and she comes off as cold and feeling no type of way while talking with someone that is part of the family that actually raised her, and this is not because she is in a room full of other people, she did it too in #79. It seems weird that she acts that way with someone that took her under his wing since she was eight years old.

When she sits with Blockbuster he says “tell us your plan for my city” to which she says all of this: “My plan, Blockbuster, is to make us all much wealthier and to extend your power beyond the city. But to do so in a way that builds on the good work you’ve already done I have no interest in burning anything down.”

At the start of the post I said she gave me big Wilson Fisk vibes and that right there is why. She is shady, she has plans on top of plans, she calls Roland Desmond Blockbuster to his face but says that he has done good work for Bludhaven, which is weird because Blockbuster destroys Bludhaven a couple of times a year…

As I said before whatever she has planned does not include Nightwing, and here is where I kinda start theorizing a bit more, what if Blockbuster told Melinda Nightwing’s real name, he used to know who he was once upon a time…

Later in this issue when Nightwing is going to Melinda’s place Audre is already waiting for him right next to the window (with a sword), so, was he making an insane amount of noise or were they told to be ready for him?

Melinda traps him and takes his mask off, she barely seems surprised about Nightwing being Dick, she barely reacts when he jumps at her. She is in complete control of the situation and proves that by disarming Dick, as fast as he accuses her of being Zucco’s daughter she tells him that her real father is John Grayson.

She is in complete control. She has to be lying, she put a stop to whatever Dick had to say and do in seconds. This woman is trained and she is manipulative as fuck!

And if she isn’t lying then fuck DC and fuck Tom Taylor, this woman is either younger or the same age as Dick, John Grayson was not a cheater, the man is dead, has been dead for so long, don’t throw dirt on his name at this point. I refuse to believe this is true.

I honestly think that she is evil, and knows more than we are aware of, her first appearance was shady as fuck, let's suppose that she didn’t truly know that Dick was Nightwing, why on earth did she have a Flying Graysons poster with a red circle on top of Dick’s face? That doesn’t seem like something a sister would do! And why would this be information that is so important that she NEEDS to tell him in a certain amount of time?

It’s fucking insane. Tom Taylor, if she is actually Dick's sister then shame on you. Disgusting, what is with writers and cheating, what the hell is going on? Dick doesn’t need to think back to his parents and see a cheater in one of them. This better be Melinda being a cruel and vile human being that is trying to emotionally hurt Dick/Nightwing so she and Blockbuster can do whatever its they want to do.

That’s all I have to say.

#dick grayson #nightwing #nightwing 81 #dc comics #dc infinite frontier #melinda zucco #nightwing and bitewing #bitewing #blockbuster

[rizlowwritessortof]

Compelled

Have you ever had a really bad day at work? I’ve never had a day quite as bad as Brandi’s - but damn, I’d love to use this method to relieve the stress... 

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Brandi Neal (female OFC)

Word Count: 5075 (blame him)

Warnings: The usual smut, very gentle dom Dean, nothing y’all ain’t seen before in my other fics

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brandi nodded attentively as the homicide detective spoke, but later that day she wouldn’t even remember what he’d said. The shock of finding her co-worker literally in pieces in the office next to hers was taking its toll, leaving her more than a little shaken. “Ms. Neal, thank you. We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions,” he said, leaving her with a sympathetic nod.

“Brandi? Can I get you anything?” her assistant asked, and she drew a shaky breath, shaking her head.

“Thanks, Sarah, but I think I just need a minute to absorb everything. Please, no phone calls for a while, okay?” Sarah nodded with a smile, then turned to let Brandi enter her office and close the door. She blew out a breath, forcing herself to unclench her fists. The stack of files waiting on her desk would at least be a distraction, something to keep her mind off the carnage she had witnessed that morning. As she moved to go around and take her seat, a sharp knock at her door made her jump, and the entire pile hit the floor, papers spilling out everywhere. She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before lowering herself to her knees to begin gathering the mess. “Come in!” she said, her frustration obvious in her voice.

Sarah opened the door, peeking in apologetically. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Neal – but there’s an FBI agent here to see you.”

God, what else. She sighed. “Okay, send him in.”

“Already in. Need a hand?” She bristled at the tone of his voice. He sounded almost amused.

“No, thanks. What can I do for you? I already spoke to the police.”

“I understand. But I’m afraid I’m going to need to hear it again. For our own records.”

She felt her temper flare, channeling it into scooping up the scattered papers. “As I told the police, I walked into Denny’s office to ask him a question this morning, his door was open, and there he was, torn to pieces.”

“Did he have any enemies that you know of?”

“I don’t know,” she snapped. “I don’t know him that well.”

“Is there anything he was involved in here at the office that could...”

“I told you, I don’t know.” She stretched out a hand, reaching for a sheet of paper that had flown a couple of feet away.

“You realize, Ms. Neal, that this is a federal case. We can compel you to speak to us.” His voice was clipped, authoritative, and she bit her tongue for a moment, retrieving the last document and pulling them all together into a messy pile.

When she spoke again, it was with a cold, controlled anger. “I am speaking to you. And I don’t know how you can ‘compel’ me to tell you something I don’t know anything...” She stood and turned, the disorganized mess in her arms, and a pair of striking green eyes froze her in place. “...about.” Her face grew warm, and suddenly she was painfully aware of the wisps of hair in her face, the button that had come undone on her blouse, the dryness of her mouth. My god, he was attractive - chiseled jaw, perfectly sculpted lips, thick lashes framing those stunning eyes. The thought crossed her mind that he could probably compel her to do a lot of things, and his eyes narrowed just a touch as he watched her reaction to him. It was almost as if he could read her thoughts, his eyebrow raising just a touch, his eyes roaming to her now-exposed cleavage, those lips curling into a sinful smirk for just one second before his professional demeanor took back over, and he cleared his throat.

“So there’s nothing you can think of that might have, uh, put him on somebody’s hit list?”

“There’s nothing work-related that I can think of, and I really don’t know him very well personally, Agent...” Brandi answered, swallowing nervously.

“Gibbons. Dean Gibbons.”

“Agent Gibbons. I’m sorry, I wish I could be of more help. I was just unlucky enough to find his body this morning.”

“So you saw no one leaving, anything like that?”

“No. I think it must have happened last night, although I don’t know that for sure.”

“I can check with the coroner on time of death. Nothing else you can think of that might be helpful?” His voice was more relaxed now, almost kind – not to mention deep and rich and sexy as hell, now that she no longer wanted to stab him with her letter opener.

“No. I’m sorry.”

“All right. If you think of anything else, anything at all, please give me a call.” He handed her a business card, and she took it from him, careful not to touch him.

“I will.”

“Thank you for your time, Ms. Neal.” He gave her a nod with a little smile, then turned to leave, and she dropped into her chair, shaking. Her assistant peeked in, a remorseful look on her face.

“Brandi, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Sarah. Not your fault. It’s the FBI, not like you could have sent him away.”

“Well, let me know if you need anything. I’ll try not to disturb you.” Sarah pulled the door shut, and Brandi cradled her head in her hands, closing her eyes. What she really wanted to do at the moment was go home, pour a very large glass of wine and climb into a hot bath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several hours later, she did just that. The bath soothed her, and the wine didn’t hurt, either. She was well into her second glass, feeling much more relaxed, when the doorbell rang. She was only wearing a camisole and a pair of yoga pants, but it was probably just a delivery, anyway. She opened the door, then felt her cheeks flush with color as she looked up into the green eyes of Agent Gibbons.

“Agent. I… wasn’t expecting… how did you know where...”

He grinned. “FBI.”

She laughed nervously. “Well, of course, I mean… Come in, please.” She backed up and let him step into the room, closing the door and turning back towards him, her arms hugging her middle as she spoke. “What can I do for you?”

His eyes swept over her, lingering on her chest for a moment before he met her gaze again and smiled. “Now that’s what I’d call a loaded question.”

“Is this… about the murder?”

“Actually, I’m off duty. I’m here because I picked up a vibe from you today. And I wanted to see if my hunch was right.”

“A – a vibe?” A million butterflies were fluttering in her belly, and she tried to heed the inner voice telling her to calm down, but the delicious curve of his lips as he smiled, his self-assured manner, his focused stare were all making her feel very much the opposite. When he took a step towards her, she backed up against the door, and he brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, his eyes roaming over her again.

“I got the feeling that you wouldn’t mind too much if I – compelled you to talk. Or to do other things, maybe.” The timbre of his voice flowed over her like melted honey, a smoky edge to it that made her insides quiver.

“Wha...what do you mean?” Her voice was nearly a whisper, and she stopped breathing as he leaned in a little closer.

“Oh, I think you know what I mean, Brandi.” He straightened, looking down at her with that piercing gaze. “Now if you tell me I’m wrong, I’ll go. Maybe I didn’t read you like I thought I did.” He didn’t touch her, but it felt as if he did when he let his eyes wander down over her body again, slow and deliberate. “Was I wrong, Brandi? Or do you need someone to take charge for a while?” He raked his gaze back up, staring down at her until she tilted her head back to look into his eyes, her lips parted, the breath frozen in her lungs. She gave him a slight nod, her face hot, and averted her eyes, but he reached a finger to her jaw and held her in place. “Baby, I’m gonna need to hear you.”

“Yes.”

“Yes, Dean.”

She shivered at the authority in his voice, then nodded again. “Yes, Dean.”

He dragged his fingers along her jaw line, down the slope of her neck, resting them on her shoulder. “And you’re sure you want this? Because if you don’t, I can leave.”

“I’m sure, Dean.”

He bent closer, nuzzling his nose in her hair. “That’s my good girl,” he whispered in her ear, then kissed her, assertive, demanding, taking whatever sensible thought or will she had left with him. She wobbled against him as he pulled back, and he took her by the shoulders, steadying her.

“Whoa, there. I think somebody needs to sit down.” He took a step back, stripping off his jacket and tie, tossing them to a nearby chair. She watched as he unbuttoned his cuffs, quickly rolling his sleeves up, then reaching for her hand. “Come with me.” She let him guide her to the sofa, where he took a seat and looked up at her. “Hop on, sweetheart. I’m not finished kissing you yet.” He guided her to straddle his lap, pulling her up tight against him, and she inhaled sharply as she felt his erection between her thighs, unable to stop herself from pushing harder against him. “You like that, baby? Got me all hard. You like my hard cock between your legs, don’t you?” She whimpered softly, nodding as he nibbled at her lips. “What did I say about answering me?”

“Yes, Dean. I like it. I really like it.”

“That’s better. Well, go ahead, take what you want.” His hands gripped her hips, encouraging her to move against him as he captured her lips again, kissing her hard, his tongue stroking into her mouth in rhythm with her thrusts, his big hands squeezing and urging her on. Her heart was pounding, her clit throbbing, her head spinning, and she felt herself beginning to shake, but he grabbed her tight, holding her still. “Not yet, baby, we’ve got a long night ahead. Don’t want to go finishing too early, do we? Just take a breath.” He gentled her down with little kisses, drinking in the soft whimpers from her lips. “Such a good girl for me, Brandi.”

Okay, she was going to come just from hearing him say things like that if he wasn’t careful.

He reached one hand to lift her chin a little, his thumb tracing the shape of her lips, then pushing gently between them. She closed her eyes, running her tongue over the digit, then sucking lightly on the tip, and he hummed appreciatively. “I’ve been imagining those lips around my cock all day long, Brandi. Wanted to take you right there in your office when I walked in and you were down on your knees like you were waiting for me, that sweet ass in that tight skirt… Mmmmm. Would have liked to bend you over your desk and...” Brandi let out a pitiful whimper, sucking even harder on his thumb, and he pulled it out slowly, reaching for a throw pillow and dropping it to the floor between his knees. “Why don’t you get down on your knees for me, sweetheart, I wanna fuck that pretty mouth.”

He gently urged her back, and she lowered herself to her knees, looking up at him as she reached for his belt, then unfastened his suit pants. He was fully erect and twitched beneath his boxers as she reached for the waistband. “Oh, somebody’s really eager to meet you, baby.” Her heart was pounding as she pulled his boxers down enough to free him, letting him bounce free and slap against his belly.

She scooted herself in, snug between his thighs, and he inhaled, a slow hiss between his teeth, as she leaned forward to lick him from root to tip, then wrapped her hands around him and took the head into her mouth with a quiet moan. He swore under his breath as she suckled at him softly, her tongue sweeping over the smooth, hot skin. When she pulled off, nudging the tip of her tongue into his slit and then plunging down to take him in as far as she could, he groaned, his hand moving to grasp a handful of her hair at the back of her neck. 

He swore steadily in a low rumble as she moved up and then forced herself down further each time, fighting not to gag as he breached her throat. She sucked hard, working her tongue over him, finally just letting herself relax as he lost himself and began to thrust, his hand wound so tight in her hair that her scalp throbbed with her heartbeat.

“Fuck, fuck, I’m gonna blow, sweetheart,” he growled, then unloaded, filling her mouth and throat as she struggled to swallow. He finally relaxed enough to let her back away and take a deep breath through her nose, and she continued sucking softly as he finished, untangling his fingers from her hair and slumping against the back of the sofa.

She leaned against him, spent, cleaning him off before laying her head on her forearm, and he reached up to comb his fingers through her hair. “Surprised me there, Brandi. I didn’t intend to come this soon. But damn, you’re good at that.” She smiled, and he moved his hand. “Look at me, baby.” She pushed herself upright and tilted her head back to look into his eyes. “You doin’ okay? Tell me the truth.”

“Yes, Dean. I’m good.”

His lips curved in a one-sided grin. “Damn straight you are. Now I think this party needs to move somewhere more comfortable.” He leaned up and bent to kiss her, fingers trailing down her arm and sending goosebumps over her, making her shiver. “C’mon, gorgeous.” He stood, reaching for her hand, and she led him down the hall to the bedroom.

He stopped her next to the bed and pulled her into his arms, kissing her until she was dizzy, his hands moving over her back and down to grip her ass, pulling her close. “Mmmm, Brandi… Intoxicating, just like your name,” he muttered against her lips, then turned her around so her back was pressed against his chest. His fingers began to work at the buttons of her camisole, slow and deliberate, moaning in admiration as he pulled the last one free and slipped the garment off her shoulders. He cupped her breasts in his hands, squeezing and kneading at them, nibbling at her neck as his fingers began to pluck and tug at her nipples.

“I need you naked and on the bed, baby, on your back,” he instructed, letting his fingers roam over her back as she bent to remove her pants and panties. Before she could move towards the bed, he pulled her back again, one hand slipping down between her thighs to just hold her for a moment, and groaning in her ear. “So wet for me, baby. I can’t wait to taste you.” He drug his fingers through her folds and then let her go to crawl up on the bed, her legs shaking. He had her in such a state that she’d probably come the second he touched her, and she hoped like hell that he was going to let that happen.

He stood over her, looking down at her as he ran his fingers lightly along her jawline, her collarbone, barely grazing the upper swell of her breasts. Then he slid his palms down the length of her arms, taking her hands in his and pulling her arms up over her head, wrapping her fingers around the slats in the headboard. “Be a good girl and hold on tight. Don’t let go.”

She looked up at him, then closed her eyes as ran his thumb over her cheekbone, leaning into his touch. “Yes, Dean,” she whispered, and he bent to brush a feather-light kiss over her lips before he turned and moved down to the foot of the bed.

He settled himself between her thighs, propping them apart with his broad shoulders, and she gasped as his tongue swept over her with a firm, broad stroke. He growled softly at his first taste, going back for more, then taking his time to explore her thoroughly, teasing and nudging at every spot that made her moan and twitch. He tugged at her clit with his lips, then sucked at it briefly, and Brandi’s back arched as she cried out his name, begging. “Dean! Please, please, Dean, oh god, please...”

“You want me to make you come, pretty girl?”

“Yes, Dean, please, please...”

He smiled, slipping one arm under her thigh, wrapping it back around and bracing it across her lower belly to hold her in place. Then he slipped his index finger inside her, stroking and petting at her walls as she whined and sighed softly. After a moment or two, he added his middle finger, seeking until she shouted as he found the sensitive patch inside her, and began to plunge his fingers into her, hard and deep, hitting that sweet spot unerringly. He bent to pull her clit into the heat of his mouth again, sucking hard and flicking his tongue over it until she let out a rasping cry and came, shaking violently, the headboard creaking from her grip as her orgasm surged through her body. He didn’t stop, not until he had sent her rolling into another climax and she was begging him to stop. He slowed, then pulled his fingers from her, gently laving over her and then rising to his knees between her feet, sucking his fingers between his lips to clean them off. “I knew you’d be delicious.”

He moved around to sit on the edge of the bed beside her, reaching for her hands. “Let go, sweetheart,” he coaxed, pulling her arms back down and rubbing her shoulders gently. He leaned down and kissed her, little nibbles at first, then deeper, more intense as she began to respond. He trailed one hand down from her shoulder to palm her breast, squeezing with a moan, pulling away from her lips. He worked his way down her throat and chest, finally taking the other nipple between his teeth and tugging lightly before sucking it into his mouth, teasing it with his tongue.

Her hands now free, Brandi buried her fingers in his hair, grasping the short strands tight as he growled in approval. When he had her writhing from his pleasurable torture, he raised his head and looked down at her, his eyes dark with arousal. “So you got one more in there for me, baby? Because I want to bury my cock in that sweet pussy, feel you come undone. I want you to be my good girl and squeeze me tight until I explode.”

“Oh, god... yes, Dean!”

He stood once again, shoving his hand into his pocket and pulling out a condom, dropping it to the table before efficiently stripping down. She couldn’t take her eyes from his toned, lean body, lightly tanned and dusted with faint freckles and multiple scars, and she wished for the time to explore and learn every mark and swell and rolling muscle of his physique. He turned to rip open the package and sheath himself, and a wanton moan escaped her lips. He smiled, reaching over to squeeze at her nipple. “Like what you see, sweetheart? I’m kind of loving the view you’re giving me, too.” He climbed up over her and settled between her thighs, shifting his hips to make more room, his heated stare making her breathless with anticipation.

He caged her in with his forearms, letting her slip her arms around him, her hands gliding over the smooth muscles of his back as he kissed her feverishly, done with teasing. He moved his hips, his erection nudging against her, then notching at her opening, and he pressed forward, filling her slowly, inch by inch. She pulled away from their kiss, panting, head pushed back into the pillow as she arched up beneath him, trembling. “Dean… oh my god… please don’t stop, please...”

He finally buried himself to the hilt, holding still for just one second before pulling back and then smoothly stroking back in. “Baby, don’t worry, I’m not gonna stop until you’re coming for me again. Damn, you feel so good, so hot, gripping me so tight I can barely move.” He leaned on his left arm, reaching for a pillow with his right, urging her to lift up so he could wedge it beneath her lower back. Then he pulled out and drove back inside her, watching as she gasped, her eyes rolling back in her head for a moment as he hit just the right spot. “There we go. Hold on, sweetheart, I’m gonna take you for a ride.”

He began a steady rhythm, a smooth drag out then a hard thrust back in, reaching the deepest parts of her, his pelvic bone rubbing against her clit with every down stroke. Every powerful thrust sent sparks zipping through her nerves and forced a muffled cry from her throat, and it only spurred him on. He began to drive in hard, their bodies slamming together until she was shaking and begging, for what she didn’t know. He pushed her knee up towards her chest, tipping her back even farther, and groaned as she shouted at the impact when he fucked into her harder and faster, the whole bed rocking with his effort. His teeth were clenched, jaw working as he kept up the punishing rhythm, determined to see her fall apart before he let himself go.

He reached down between them, capturing her clit between his fingers and rubbing, and she screamed hoarsely, going stiff, squeezing his cock so hard it hurt before she began to thrash and quake underneath him. He could hold back no longer, slamming into her with such force that they would both feel bruised later, feeling himself swelling, molten heat exploding from him in seemingly endless streams. All thought left him, the pulsing pleasure, the fierce, all-consuming release the only thing he was aware of, her mindless cries and whimpers almost faded into the background.

His legs were shaking as he felt himself throb weakly, finally empty, and he lowered himself down, his head on her shoulder. His back burned with the scratches he hadn’t even noticed until that moment, her arms now flung out to her sides, her muscles too spent to move them. He winced and grunted as aftershocks still hit them both randomly, weak little whines barely escaping her throat.

He finally mustered the strength to pull out, taking the condom off and disposing of it, then collapsing back onto the bed. She hadn’t moved yet, and he shifted her arm to rest across her ribs, then pulled her close, coaxing her to her side, her head on his shoulder. “Okay, sweetheart?” he asked softly, and she let out a couple of incoherent sounds before finally nodding.

“I’m good. ‘Course, I might be dead.”

“Hey, if we’ve gotta go, that’s the way to do it. Holy fuck,” he breathed.

They laid there, silent, for a few moments before Brandi reached up to lay a hand on his chest. “Dean – thank you. I didn’t know how much I needed this. After what happened… I was acting like I was okay, but I was falling apart.”

He smiled down at her and leaned for a soft kiss. “Don’t need to thank me, you just gave me the best couple of hours I’ve had in… I can’t remember when.” His eyes fell on the clock, and he sighed quietly. “I suppose I should get out of your hair, you probably have to work tomorrow. Sorry about coming over so late – but I’m really not too sorry.”

She snuggled a little closer. “You really don’t have to go, unless you want to.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s nice, having you here.”

He kissed her again. “Well, if you don’t mind… we’d better get some sleep.” She nodded, finally letting her eyes drift closed as he wrapped her in his arms.

The next morning, Brandi rushed around, getting dressed and trying to keep her eyes off the naked man still asleep in her bed. She had gotten up, showered, tiptoed around to keep from waking him, but now she almost wished… But there wasn’t time. She was standing on one foot, reaching behind her to put her foot into the other pump when he cleared his throat and spoke, his voice making her want to crawl back under the covers. “Morning, pretty girl.”

“Good morning, yourself, sexy man.” She smiled as he actually blushed a little, a crooked grin on his face, his hair rumpled and adorable. She really, really didn’t want to go to work. “So, listen. If you have any more questions, or anything, I’ll be in my office all day. My office with the lock on the door, and my own bathroom. Just in case you need anything, you know, at all.”

A low, sexy laugh rumbled in his chest. “I think Miss Corporate Executive is deep-down a very naughty girl.”

“Really not that deep.” Dean laughed as she smiled, shrugging. “I have to be all proper and business-like at work, it’s kind of like – acting,” she smiled, shooting a wink his way. “Pretending to be all classy.”

He cocked an eyebrow, narrowing his eyes at her. “Listen – you’re one of the classiest women I’ve ever met. Nobody says classy means not having any fun.”

“So true.” She finally managed to get both shoes on, turning to the mirror to put on her earrings. “Well, I have to leave. Feel free to use the shower and raid the fridge, whatever you need. But can you lock up, and bring my extra set of keys to my office when you leave?”

The slow smile that curved his lips made her stomach do a little flip. “Oh, sweetheart, I’ll be there. Pretty sure there’s more investigating to do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that morning, he showed up at the office, and she welcomed him in with a smile. “Agent! Please come in. Can we get you some coffee or anything?”

He gave her a little smile and a wink that Sarah, standing behind him a step, didn’t see. “I think I’ve got everything I need.”

“Thank you, Sarah,” Brandi said with a smile, and her assistant backed out, closing the door behind her.

Before the latch clicked, Dean was behind her desk, pulling her up and into his arms, kissing her hungrily, his hand gripping her ass.  

“These damn skirts of yours, they drive me crazy,” he mumbled against her lips, and she giggled.

“Wait till you find out I didn’t put any underwear on this morning.” She laughed softly again at his moan, and his hand moved down to the hem of her skirt, his fingers slipping underneath and pulling the fabric up and out of his way.

“I think you’d better have a seat, naughty girl. Pretty sure there’s some investigating I need to do right here,” he teased, working his hand between her thighs. “Sit down and spread those legs for me, gorgeous. And remember, you have to be quiet. This is a place of business.”

He gently pushed her back until she was in front of her chair, and she sat down, scooting up to the edge as he dropped to his knees in front of her, one large hand on each of her knees as he spread her wide. “Fuck,” he growled, then ducked down and buried his face in her pussy, his tongue thrusting inside of her as she gasped.

“Dean, oh my god...” she whispered harshly, holding on to the arms of her chair for dear life. She had just thrown her head back against the chair, so near the edge that she could taste it, when a knock sounded at her door. Her eyes widened, and Dean looked up at her, his eyes shining with mirth. He gathered his legs in, hunching down farther so he wouldn’t be seen, and Brandi took a breath, calling out, “Yes?”

Sarah stuck her head in the door. “Sorry to bother you, Brandi. The Kowalski contract is due today, do you need me to do anything with that?” Brandi struggled to keep her face composed as the devil between her thighs slipped a finger inside her and wiggled it. She cleared her throat, her hand flying up to rub at her forehead. “Brandi? Are you all right?” Sarah glance around the room. “Where’s Agent Gibbons?”

“Bathroom,” she said bluntly, trying not to squirm. “He’s in the bathroom. Listen, the file with the completed contract is on the table there by my door. If you would please go through it with a fine-tooth comb, that would be wonderful. Yesterday was traumatic, I just want to make sure I didn’t miss something. Thank you, Sarah.” As the girl turned to leave, she continued, her voice a little strained. “Also, please, no interruptions unless it’s a dire emergency. Agent Gibbons wants to go over some company information, making sure it had nothing to do with the murder. There’s just so much to go over, if you could just take messages and put out the small fires, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thank you, Sarah, you’re a gem.”

Sarah nodded and smiled, grabbing the contract and leaving, closing the door. Brandi bopped Dean on the head as he laughed, shoving him back with a giggle. “Now, Agent Gibbons, go lock the damn door!”

There was a lot of investigating done in the next few hours. In her chair, over her desk, on the counter in the bathroom… It all went off (and so did they – a lot) without a hitch, other than the struggle to keep the entire office from hearing what was going on behind Brandi’s closed door. And damn it, Dean forgot to drop off her keys. Guess he’d have to drop by her place again that night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tags for mah babes:

@saenalife​    @deanscarlett​    @jensensgotyoudean​    @jinkieswouldyoulookatthis​    @deansdirtylittlesecretsblog​    @geeklibrarian​    @leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid​    @aprofoundbondwithdean​    @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan​    @mrswhozeewhatsis​    @littlegreenplasticsoldier​    @sleep-silent-angel​    @darcia22​    @winchesterprincessbride​    @cavillanche​ @ellen-reincarnated1967​    @eyes-of-a-disney-princess​      @deanslittleangel2y5​    @melanie451​    @lovin-ackles​    @spectaculacular-sammy​     @bookchic20​    @jodyri​    @selma-jean​           @savingapplepie-eatingthings​    @angelofwinchester17​    @kittenofdoomage​    @masked-maiden42​    @lean-mean-deanwinchester​    @ericuhlorain​    @undecided-garden​    @ceeceewinchester​    @typicalweirdbookworm​          @callmesweetheartifyoumeanit​    @youtoldalie​    @tanithlowisabamf​    @deandoesthingstome​    @jxackles​    @nerdwholikesword​    @soivebuiltupaworldofmagic​    @kreweofimp​  @gabavaldman​    @chaos-and-the-calm67-blog​    @darkx143​    @disassociativedogma​    @ioanashalala​    @jencharlan​    @deansthirstblog​     @dorky-and-i-know-it​    @mischief-maker1​      @winchestersandwordprocessors​    @percussiongirl2017​    @bringmesomepie56​   @akshi8278​    @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester​    @torn-and-frayed​    @sandlee44​    @wingedcatninja​  @evansrogerskitten​   @emoryhemsworth​  @peaceinourtime82​

#compelled #dean fic #dean smut #dean x ofc #gentle dom dean #smutty smut smut #maybe a li'l fluff #this is what happens when i talk to liz about dean #so basically her fault #:D

[sardonicnihilism]

A Biography of the Woman Who Never Was

Part 3 The Young Adult

Chapter 28

"Alright, just put these on," Dan said as he handed Shannon and Sam their headsets. "The mic will allow you to talk and the headphones will allow you to hear the show as it's broadcast."

"I kinda figured that," Shannon said, trying not to sound as annoyed as she really was. Headsets were pretty self explanatory. Having Dan explain how they worked, made her feel talked down to.

"You'd be surprised by how many people don't," Dan answered back, not even trying to hide his annoyance at having his instructions questioned.

"Well here." Shannon held out her bands' demo.

Dan looked at it with a disgusted expression. He didn't like metal music and he didn't much care for Shannon either, who he found to be strange, obnoxious, and dismissive of other people. Still, he had promised Sam he would play it, so he was bound by his word.

"Ok, but tapes, even professional ones, don't sound that good on the radio. I'll play it, I just want you to know it'll probably sound like shit."

Shannon gave him a blank stare, and in a low, direct voice, said, "I'll take my chances."

Dan sighed and shrugged. He'd hoped she would have backed out, but if this is what she wanted, he'd do it. "Well, alright then. Take your seats, we're about to start."

They all sat down, Dan flipped a few switches and he began. "Hey Ship, what's going on? It's Friday night, the weeks over, time to put down those books and prepare to par-tae. I am Dan, your late night man; here with all the best alternative, electronic, goth, techno, and avant-garde music in the four state area."

Shannon listened and was actually impressed. Dan went from a quiet, somewhat stuck up prick, to a personable, energetic dude. It was like he had been saving all his energy just for this show.

"Tonight, I am joined by two very special guests. From Australia we have the very funny and funky Sam Hopwood. And from just down the road in Chambersburg, we have the one, the only, tenth wonder of the world, Miss Shannon Brown. Welcome to the show."

"Thanks mate. I did take a shower this morning, so I shouldn't be too funky," Sam said.

Shannon looked at him, not knowing if he told that joke because he thought it was funny, or because he knew it wasn't and was making a meta statement on the idiocy of radio humor. Either way, she found it to equally endearing and annoying.

"Thanks, nice to be here," she said in a flat voice.

"Alright, alright, alright; to quote the great Mathew McConaughey. Well, as you know, this is your source for all things alternative, and what could be more alternative than Heavy Metal at the moment? Shannon here, has brought in her bands' tape for you all to hear. Before we do, why don't you tell us a little bit about it?"

"Well, the band is called Meathook, after the Cannibal Corpse song, 'Meathook Sodomy'. We've been together for about two years now. The guitarist, Charlie, and I founded the band. I play drums. It's a mixture of hard-core, death metal, thrash, and doom metal. The first song is called 'Blinded Truth'. It's got a cool Morbid Angel vibe to it. I think it's one of our best."

"Ok then; let's give this a whirl then." Dan hit play and turned the mics off. "Alright, I got two more songs cued after this, then I'll turn the mics back on, ask a few questions, then go to commercials. Sounds good to everyone?"

"Yeah, sure," Shannon said absently as she listened to herself coming through the headphones.

"Sure. No problems," Sam said enthusiastically. He then turned to Shannon and said, "I can't say this is my cuppa tea, but I really like your drumming there. You're really good."

Shannon blushed. Compliments always made her feel weird inside. On one hand, she liked them, but on the other, she always felt like she didn't deserve them when she got them. She felt like she was fooling people.

"Thanks, but I made some mistakes here and there. My double kick work is a bit sloppy."

"Well I can't tell. It all sounds alright to me."

"Well, thanks again," Shannon could only say as she blushed even more.

"So how long you've been playing?" Sam asked, trying his best to keep Shannon talking to him.

"Um, about eight years now. I wanted to be a guitarist actually, but thought drums would be easier to learn. Plus I like to hit things," she added with a smile.

"Well it sounds like you're hitting those drums pretty good there." Sam waited a bit, then said, "I can play a few instruments, violin, french horn, but dancing was always my passion. My mum would enter me in competitions when I was young."

"Oh, really," Shannon said. "I thought you moved with a little more grace than the average guy. Did you do very well?"

"Usually somewhere in the top three. Although I never really cared about that stuff. For me it was all about the love of the dance."

Dan sat back in bored, disappointed silence. He had been hoping to at least get a one nighter out of Sam, but seeing how obviously attracted to Shannon he was, he pretty much knew that was a lost cause. *Looks like it's porn and lotion for me tonight* he thought to himself.

The rest of the night went by pretty fast. Shannon and Sam would play off of each other every time Dan came back from the music or commercial. While Dan continued to be disappointed in his personal prospects, he saw how the interaction between his guests gave off a fun, cheerful vibe. The two had natural chemistry together.

When they weren't on, the two would just talk and ask each other questions. Dan was completely irrelevant at these times. Most of what they talked about was geek stuff: X-Files, Star Trek, cartoons and animation. Sometimes Dan would interject himself, but he always felt like he was intruding when he did.

*****************************************

"Alright everybody, that wraps up another show for us tonight. I hope you all had a blast, I sure know I did. Once again I'd like to thank my guests: Sam and Shannon for making this broadcast a little less lonely and a lot more fun. Have a great weekend everybody; 'til next week, same bat time, same bat channel. G'night!"

Dan flipped the switches again and said, "Alright, that's a wrap. Thanks you guys for coming out. I got some paper work to do before Mike comes in and takes over for me. You're free to head out."

Shannon and Sam took their headsets off, thanked Dan, got up and left.

As they walked down the hall to the stairway, Sam turned to Shannon. "I had a really good time tonight. You're a great person to talk to. Easily one of the best convos I had in a long time."

"I agree," Shannon replied, blushing again. "You're a really cool dude." Both fell silent and Shannon couldn't help but feel awkward about it. Somehow it didn't seem right, but she didn't know what else to say. Finally she just said, "I have band practice on Sunday. You want to come hang out?"

"I bloody love to. I mean, not my music, but I appreciate good musicians practicing their craft."

"Cool. So I can meet you at the CUB at about one then. You can ride with me and I'll bring you back then . . . if that's ok."

"Well, it's a date then," Sam said as he stuck his hand out.

"A friendship date," Shannon replied as she took his hand and shook it.

Sam smiled and nodded. "As if there were any other," he returned.

**********************************

Even though Shannon was visibly more muscular than Sam, he insisted on walking her to her car. They said bye one more time, and Shannon drove off. She didn't bother to turn the radio on, preferring the silence. It allowed her to think, to contemplate. The night was the perfect time to think, to clear one's head and gain perspective.

Beside her, on the passenger seat, was a blue notebook with a list of all the so-called forbidden or cursed books she could find. None was the one Jen had mentioned. Maybe it was so obscure, no one had ever heard of it outside the coven. Or maybe it didn't even exist. At least not in a recorded, historical sense. Part of her wanted to drop it; part of her felt like she had to find, or at least find out if it was real or not. She wanted to move on but didn't feel that she could until she put at least the validity of the book to a reasonable rest.

She continued to drive through the night, not knowing if she ever wanted it to be daylight again.

#dark #fiction #drama #queer stories #slice of life

[hana-bean]

Ayumi Hamasaki Picks:  A Song for ×× era (1998-1999)

I’ll admit, I avoided A Song for ×× like COVID for way, way too long. Her vocals were hard to adapt to if you had only heard her I am... material and beyond. I personally found her voice high and squeaky; seemingly years and miles away from the Ayu I was introduced to at 14 years of age in 2002. There were a few tracks in their remix form I was able to stomach but otherwise, this album was an Ayumi I didn’t care to know. In fact, you’ll notice on most of these tracks I note that I prefer remixes over originals.

Within the last couple of years, I listened to this album in its entirety and ultimately fell in love. I realized now how important this debut is in considering and appreciating where Ayu started. Yes her sound is relatively high-pitched and un-Western, but it’s endearing AF. This album is able to span both sides of various spectrums: fun and sad, innocent and experienced, light-hearted and heartfelt. It exudes such a compelling, youthful perspective of love and heartbreak that I can’t help but empathize with it. Honestly, I don’t think I would feel the same emotions if this album was recorded with a more mature, older voice.

---

Rating system:

☆☆☆☆ Love - play this at my funeral ☆☆☆ Like - skippable, but still good ☆☆ Meh - this does nothing for me ☆ Hate - I’ve only listened to this once just to confirm I hated it (⭒ you might see these little guys pop up from time to time, which represent a half star because I can’t make up my damned mind)

For a couple of tracks I give two different ratings because sometimes a remixed version is better than the original.

---

A Song for ×× album tracks

Track 1: “Prologue” Rating: ☆☆☆ Like It’s a prelude. Not the best or worst, but a good one.

Track 2: “A Song for ××” Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Love Are you really even an Ayu fan if you don’t like this song? Kidding! But seriously, I think it’s safe to say that this is a very, very important song to Ayumi; if the number of its live performances aren’t an indicator, the drama from even watching one is enough to move you. One of my favorite live performances ever is from her A Museum tour—the a cappella beginning of the first verse and bridge lures you in and forces you to listen, for her only to then blow you away with the booming orchestral intensity of the chorus. GAH! Fuck me up, Ayu!

Her “030213 Session #2 Take” re-recording of it on the A BALLADS compilation album provides a more organic, and arguably more powerful listening experience. Though she is older, you still can hear the strength of her despair. Her loneliness and strong façade hasn’t left, but has only changed and grew up with her.

The “Ferry Corsten Chilled Mix” from her first ayu trance album is also a total vibe. Great remix.

Track 3: “Hana” Rating: ☆☆☆ Like I’d file this one under: “the remixes are better than the original.” I mean the original is still a good listen, but the “dub’s trance remix” and acoustic orchestra version give it more oomph and dimension respectively (both are found on the first ayu-mi-x compilation). The lyrics reflect a fear of the relative unknown, or rather, a fear of growing, only to wilt or get stepped on. And I love how her considerably sad and pensive lyrics are backed with lively arrangements; it’s one of the many things I love about her music.

Track 4: “FRIEND” Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Love This 👏🏼 song 👏🏼 is 👏🏼 underrated 👏🏼 OMG do I love this song, it’s so fucking wholesome. This track was the one which truly solidified my love for ASf××. Like if this had a music video, I can totally see it popping up on the Disney channel back in the late ‘90s with Ayu dancing at a beach carnival in a pair of Keds or something. Though this song is not devoid of sadness, there is a bit of hope to it, and it’s just simply, super pure. It’s definitely a personal fave. 

Track 5: “FRIEND II” Rating: ☆☆ Meh It’s forgettable... I’m having a hard time trying to remember how it goes. I’m sure if I heard it, I’d be like “Ohhhh yeah!” but my mind is only broken picture links rn.

Okay I’ve listened to it and for some reason I get “Song 4 u” vibes like the very beginning guitar riff sounds like the “S4u” chorus, and even the build to the “FII” chorus is similar, I almost expect “S4u” sung over this. At least she copied herself LOL I mean it’s not a terrible song, but the first FRIEND is the better FRIEND.

Track 6: “poker face” Rating: ☆☆ Meh Yes it’s her first single ev4r so like, it’s all important and shit. But I feel there are better tracks on this album which easily eclipse the song. Though it fits in well with the album as a whole. Perhaps as a single compared to only “FRIEND” it holds its own but honestly, just it being Ayu’s debut song is really the only reason why I even remember it.

Track 7: “Wishing” Rating: ☆☆☆ Like I believe this is the first (and only) slow ballad that pops up on the album, and also believe this was a good foundation laid for the rest of the slow ballads of her career. This song showcases the youth and yearn of her voice very well. Does anyone know if she has even performed this song live?

Track 8: “YOU” Rating: ☆☆ Meh (original); ☆☆☆☆ Love (”Aggressive Mix”) I’ll be real: this original track is boring. Though the “Aggressive Mix” on the first ayu-ro mix album slaps for years and I don’t even really care for Eurobeat. The “FINE MIX” on the ayu-mi-x album is also pretty groovy with that—albeit slow—reggae vibe. I’d argue any remix of this song gives it way more personality and likability. 

Confession time: back when cosplay shows at cons were just like a mishmash of skits planned the day of and walk-ons, I thought about actually doing some kind of one-woman interpretive dance to the “Aggressive Mix.” It never happened so you’re welcome. 

Track 9: “As if...” Rating: ☆☆☆ Like This is just a good bop. I love the fake-out beginning of the slow piano and then: !!!TATOEBA!!!

Also I really appreciate the bass during the verses, like it goes ~BUM BUM~ every four counts and it’s just something nice and subtle which contributes positively to the song.

Track 10: “POWDER SNOW” Rating: ☆☆☆ Like (original); ☆☆☆☆ Love (acoustic orchestra) Three words: acoustic orchestra version. Are y’all seeing the pattern here? But seriously, this song supported by the simplicity of a haunting piano completely changes the mood of this song for the better. I will agree that the original arrangement has a great buildup, but it doesn’t compare to the emotion of the acoustic version.

Also, do any of you fellow old people remember Kazaa? When I was Ayu-curious, I was looking for random songs to download and the acoustic orchestra version of “POWDER SNOW” was one of the first songs I ever downloaded (maybe that plays into my bias). 

Honestly, now that I think about it, it might have been Morpheus at the time...

Track 11: “Trust” Rating: ☆☆☆ Like Also one of the first songs I ever heard from Ayu, so I like it for nostalgic reasons. Otherwise I would have relegated this to the ‘meh’ pile. 

This is one of the first Japanese songs I ever learned to sing, so I gotta give credit to my 14-year-old self.

Track 12: “Depend on you” Rating: ☆⭒ M— (I don’t hate it, but don’t not hate it enough to warrant the full ‘Meh’) This song is overrated :D The only good thing to come from this single is “Two of us.” Next! 

Track 13: SIGNAL Rating: ☆☆⭒ Meh-eh? Well...? It’s a good track, I respect it. Not as memorable as the other songs but it fits well in the album. A good filler song.

Track 14: “from your letter” Rating: ☆☆☆ Like The very beginning with the snaps and twinkly sounds are pretty cool. The song is enjoyable and calls for some shoulder moving at least. There was a remix on AHS a long time ago by sleeperspaceborn which was pretty damned good, and in fact made me like this song. 

Track 15: “For My Dear...” Rating: ☆☆☆⭒ Like Like  Here for the drama and the high notes, shoot it straight into my bloodstream and do not resuscitate. The Acoustic Version is also a great remix, I love how she sounds like she’s screaming over the piano and guitar.

Track 16: “Present” Rating: ☆☆ Meh Like “FRIEND II” I can’t remember this song...

Ah there it is! *proceeds to forget again*

Non-album tracks:

“Two of us” Rating: ☆☆☆☆ Love I absolutely l-o-v-e this song right down to the cheesy, slow dance prom-y feel to it. Hell, even the “touch of mahogany mix” is one of the best remixes; I dare you not to at least bob your head when you hear it. This song can only be found on the Depend on You single and it’s a damn shame it didn’t make it to the ASf×× album. However maybe this can be considered her first slow ballad... but again, solid foundation. The lyrics are once again so pain-ridden and sorrowful, but then when you hear it against that funky rhythm on the “touch of mahogany mix,” you can’t help but submit to the dissonance of snapping along while in tears.

Also Xelakad provided an ah-mazing remix of this song on AHS a while back too. It seriously turns this song into a spiritual experience.

---

Average era rating: ☆☆☆ Like

If I could describe this album in two words, they would be: cohesive and precious. Yes her lyrics reflect hurt, rejection, and cynicism, but against the pop rock beats and her high voice, the album maintains an element of innocence. I believe it was a strong and consistent debut relative to her discography, as we are introduced to a young and weary Ayu who’s uncertain about the future, of love, of herself... *le sigh*

But let’s tie everything up in a nice pretty bow. For the list of Ayu’s creative bests, the common denominator is how much I really loved the drama and uniqueness of the tracks. Given that Ayu’s music style quickly evolved after this album, we conceivably don’t and won’t hear any songs like these ever again, and that’s why they’re just special.

The ‘Loves’ (only in order of track listing): A Song for ×× FRIEND POWDER SNOW (Acoustic Orchestra) YOU “Aggressive Mix” Two of us

Ayu’s creative bests: A Song for ×× POWDER SNOW (Acoustic Orchestra) For My Dear... Two of us

***

Credits: -Album art from Wikipedia -Concert screenshots from eneabba.net/ayu

Disclaimer: this post is solely my personal view and opinion. I am a Westerner with no fluency in Japanese, and so my viewpoint is shaped from English translations provided by ahsforum.com and all the feels from years of daily listening.

#浜崎あゆみ #Ayumi Hamasaki #a song for ××

[itssiennatheasian]

How to Animate a Static Logo

What You'll Be Creating

Today we will be looking at how to animate a static logo, by using a video maker on Placeit. Bright colors, snappy movements, and of course, complete customization—all using Placeit's video maker to animate logos.

Looking for an animated logo from scratch? Check out our tutorial on creating an animated logo using the Placeit Animated Logo Maker. 

Follow along with us over on our Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel:

What You'll Need

To complete this project, we are using the following resources:

Game Monster Logo

Find more resources on Envato Elements!

1. How to Add Your Text and Logo

Step 1

Start by getting your logo ready to upload into the video maker. 

The optimal size is 1000 x 1000 px, with the file saved as a .PNG. Ideally, it should have a transparent background!

I'll be using this Game Monster Logo!

Step 2 

Next, you will want to pick your animated logo template! I will be using this Logo Animation With Retro Video Effects.

Step 3 

Now, it's time to upload your logo using the Upload Image button found on the left-hand side of the screen. 

Once uploaded, you will be prompted to size and crop your logo. Make your logo as big as possible without cropping out any of the images. 

Step 4

With our logo placed, we can add our tagline or slogan.

Change the text by typing in the text field found on the upper left-hand side. I'm going to go with a simple "Let's Play!" in all capital letters.

Step 5

Let's customize our font a bit by changing the font face!

We can do this by clicking on Teko, which is the current font, and choosing from the list of fonts that comes up.

I will be going with RobotoMono as it stays with the retro vibe we are going for. 

Step 6

Finally, let's swap in our color scheme!

All templates will have different areas that will need coloring. In this template, it's the brown and orange color to the left. 

The orange I quite like, but not so much the brown, so let's change it to hot pink by clicking the orange square and choosing #fc1681. 

2. How to Animate a Logo

Step 1

Now, let's customize our logo's animation! 

On the left-hand side, you will see Logo Animation. Clicking it will give you a few choices of different animations and motion for your logo! 

I am going to go with the third choice as it feels very glitchy and sporadic—precisely what I'm going for.  

Step 2

Finally, let's wrap our logo animation up by giving it some music! 

On the right-hand side, you will see Audio Track. Here you can preview the song your logo currently has. 

To change out the song, choose the Pencil Icon. A vast library of music will come up, all sorted by genre. 

Press the Star to favorite a track and the Play button to test it. 

I am going to choose Lily J - Lo-Fi 02, found in the Lo-Fi category!

We've Done It!

And there you have it! Save yourself some time while still getting your perfect opener using Placeit's animated logo maker! 

As always, keep practicing and experimenting with different techniques, and don't forget to post your version below, along with any questions, comments, or critiques!

More Logo Animations 

Here are some more variations using just a few of the templates on Placeit! 

Logo Animation Video With Glitch Effect

Try this animation opener, full of fast glitch effects and a black and white palette! Add some pops of color to incorporate your own channel's color scheme. A personal favorite of mine!

Logo Animation With Lightning Effect

Epic lightning paired with an epic music stinger. This one is perfect for gaming channels or people who love playing action games!

Logo Animation With Electric Bolt Animations

Add some energy to your logo with this fast and colorful lighting bolt opener! 

Logo Animation With Colorful Transitions

Do you love color, but are a minimalist at heart? Try this opener full of snappy transitions, geometric shapes, and a completely customizable color scheme!

Logo Animation With Dazzling Lights

Turn your logo into a big production with this Dazzling Lights logo opener. It comes complete with a built-in countdown to get your viewers excited!

Looking to learn more? Why not check out the following tutorials:

Banner Ads

How to Make a Banner for a YouTube Channel (With a Banner Maker)

Andrei Stefan

twitch

36 Awesome Stream Overlays Using an OBS Stream Overlay Maker

Nona Blackman

Placeit

20 Cool Gaming Logos: Team + Video Games (Online Design Creator)

Andrew Childress

Placeit

24 Best Gaming YouTube Banners Made With a YouTube Banner Maker

Nona Blackman

Resources

32 Best Twitch Banners Using a Banner Maker (Including Offline Banner Designs)

Nona Blackman

Resources

35 Twitch Panel Templates (Using a Twitch Panel Maker)

Nona Blackman

from Envato Tuts+ Design & Illustration https://ift.tt/32Anemd via http://www.webmasterforum.ws/rankwyz-discount-code-2015-coupons/

#Envato Tuts+ Design & Illustration

[andya-j]

My local internet cafe is not much of a sight to behold. I think that’s what may have contributed to it shutting down for a couple months back in June. The exterior was reminiscent of an abandoned shack with its dilapidated appearance and broken windows. However, after they cleaned up the inside, I definitely saw some improvement. Sparkly clean tile floors and beautiful mahogany countertops filled the cafe with a sense of ease and elegance. I always got plenty of work done in there, so the shop’s grungy look never bothered me much, but it was nice to have a change of scenery once the cleanup was done. I was probably the only regular at the cafe, venturing in on almost a daily basis. Plenty of other folks cycled in and out, but nary a familiar face would show up. This was fine, since I only went there to edit my vlogs and website on occasion. Striking up a conversation with someone recognizable was not on the agenda, ever. I was there for some much needed peace and quiet, not small talk. Though I had wifi at home, the thin walls there did little to muffle my father’s drunken ramblings. The cafe was my escape from the unwanted noise. I strolled in on a ‪Saturday morning‬, just five days after the “grand” reopening. I was feeling pretty groggy, still recovering from a cold I caught during the week. The humid August air didn’t help matters. Because of this, I decided to grab a coffee before getting my things set up. I walked across the glimmering, newly replaced floors and heard them squeak under my sneakers. I laughed a little to myself, almost tempted to start turning in place just to hear the sound a few more times. ‬‬ “No,” I told myself, “Grow up.” I ordered my coffee and took a look around the room while I waited for it. I took a mental note of how many faces were in the cafe with me. I was surely going to grab a quiet little table in the corner, away from these strangers. “Small iced regular?” The barista held out my coffee and straw. “Thanks.” I said plainly. I threw down a couple of quarters as a tip and strolled on over to the table I wanted. I spent the next few hours clipping and splicing my videos from the days previous. I was doing a week-long series about the gym I go to. Basically workout tips and some comedy bits with my buddy Jake who works the front desk. I found myself laughing out loud over a protein shake skit we had done. I may have drawn some attention to my little corner of the room. Though the staring eventually subsided, I felt it best for me to leave, as I had been in there much longer than usual. I reached down and unplugged my laptop charger and that’s when my hand brushed up against something. Confused, I took a look under my table to investigate. A sixteen-inch black bag sat just beyond where my feet were settled. It had pockets and a shoulder strap, as well as an abundance of dust coating the leather. Holy crap, I thought to myself. Someone must have left their laptop behind or something. At first, I was going to do the right thing. I very easily could have handed it to a barista and called it a day. I guess, maybe that would have been the smart thing to do. However, a mixture of curiosity and stupidity came over me, keeping me from being honest. Instead, after packing up my own things, I swung the mystery bag over my shoulder and swiftly exited the café. Stupid. I pulled into my driveway ‪at about noon‬, the hot summer sun beaming down on my front lawn. My father was doing his usual, half-assed inspection of the plants in the garden, beer can in hand. I tried to get into the house without a word to him, but he stopped me just as I opened the storm door.‬‬ “Hey, hey, why are you in such a hurry?” He asked, taking a swig of his drink. “Dad, I don’t have time. Important website business.” “Well, well,” He slurred, “Don’t stop on my account.” But you just stopped me, I thought to myself. I pushed through the front door, passing my sleeping mother on the couch, and darted upstairs to my room. SLAM! I shut my door hard behind me and locked it immediately. I tossed my belongings and newly found goods onto my bed and kicked my shoes clear across the room. I was excited to dig in to this lucky haul. Carefully and slowly, I unzipped the top of the bag and pulled it open. I gasped a little to myself. Despite the appearance of the bag, the contents were no joke. A shiny, brand new looking laptop was nestled nicely inside. I pulled it out and observed it with awe. It was certainly nicer than my basic, five hundred gig HP from a big box store. I couldn’t believe what I was holding. I flipped it open and began feeling the keys and monitor. It was in mint condition. I had to be the luckiest guy in the world. Everything was there, including a charger and wireless mouse. I even found a bag of screen wipes at the bottom. I also dug into the pockets, curious as to what treasure I might find in there. What I found was a cell phone. Nothing special, just some cheap Android phone. It was still powered on and had no screen lock on it. Exploring it further, I noticed there were no texts and only one recent call to an out of state number. Being into electronics, I went into the settings to see what kind of operating system it had. It was vastly out of date on software, still set in some variation of the Lollipop OS. That’s alright, I thought. I could still flip it for a quick ten bucks or so. I placed it on the bed next to the laptop and sat for a moment, trying to take in what I had in front of me. This was such a great find, but I needed to power on the laptop and figure out what I was working with. To my excitement, there was no login screen. I was in, immediately after booting it up. I was never as into laptops as I phones, but I could tell right away I was not working with your standard, stock operating system. This thing resembled more of a modded setup that I had seen kids working with back in high school, but I couldn’t name it off the top of my head. Luckily, it was simple enough to navigate. I set it up with my wifi and dived right into the file storage to get some idea of who’s computer I had. I was disappointed for just a few moments, but after clicking around a bit, I did find a folder labeled “A”. Inside was one JPG, titled “one by one”. Intrigued, my stomach did a little flip as I opened the image. I was puzzled by what I found. It was a screenshot from a website. It looked like a post in some forum, from a user named “Anonandon&4” with nothing but phone numbers listed and zero replies. Underneath the list was the tag line “…you know who you are.” Scanning the image for answers, I noticed the address bar for the site. It seemed to be a nonsense string of characters followed by a .onion extension. Onion? Wasn’t that a parody news site or something? I wasn’t too sure, but I decided to dig a little deeper. I clicked on the x at the top, taking me back to the desktop. That’s when I noticed another folder. This one was labeled “PICS” which stirred up some more thrills in my bones. Yes! I cheered to myself. This would more than likely reveal the owner’s identity. I became disappointed as I clicked through the pictures. There was no human life, just shots of different places and scenery. This included a dark image of a barber shop, a path in the woods somewhere, and even someone’s garage. What really caught my eye was the last pic. It was the café. My stomach started doing acrobatics now, my heart racing. Why were there random pictures in this thing? Why was there a screenshot of a message board with a list phone numbers? The files just weren’t adding up for me, but I hatched a half-baked plan. I didn’t know if it was going to end the mystery, but I couldn’t help but pry. I pulled up the pic with the phone numbers, grabbed the Android phone, and dialed the first number at the top of the list. After only two rings, I was greeted with silence. Strange I thought, but I pressed on. I dialed the next number on the list. This time, it rang five times before I got a generic inbox greeting, with the phone number listed. Interesting, but I hung up before I heard the beep. I grew bored of dialing the random numbers. I decided to take a break and put the laptop and cell phone away for a little while. I knew I’d come back to it later. Once the evening rolled around, I waited for my parents to go to bed, and then fixed myself up a snack. This was pretty much a nightly routine of mine. I clicked on the TV as I usually did and settled on the first news channel I scrolled to. This is when things took a turn for the weird. A breaking news story was displayed on screen, one from the next town over. “YOUNG BARBER, AGE 25, FOUND MURDERED AT WORK” “Damn,” I shook my head, “That sucks.” A female news reporter was on the scene, outside of the barber shop where it took place. Wait a second. I couldn’t believe my eyes. That barbershop. It was the same one from the pic on the laptop. I was sure of it. I put my plate down on the coffee table and raced upstairs to grab the computer. I booted it up, clicked on the folder of pictures, and then the photo in question. I ran back downstairs with the laptop in hand and held it up to the tv screen. Yes, it was definitely the same barber shop. Wow, what were the chances of that? I was shaking my head in amazement. I finished watching the news story and began feeling tired. I was about ready for bed, so I grabbed the remote. The news story just after grabbed my attention before I could hit the power button. “COLD MURDER IN LOCAL FOREST.” This one was also nearby, just over the bridge in the opposite direction. This world is terrible, I thought. I hadn’t seen two stories like that back to back in a long time. That’s when it hit me. I scrolled over to the picture of the woods in the same folder. Then, I waited to see if the news story included the location of the homicide on video. Though I didn’t get anything solid to compare it to, I was definitely getting weird vibes. First a barbershop, and now a forest? I had to be grasping at straws, though… right? I decided it was bed time. I had a pretty restless night of sleep, tossing and turning and kicking my covers to the foot of my bed. It was hot and humid and I kept waking up with the sweats. Needless to say, I was in dire need of coffee the next morning. I was probably smart to leave the strange laptop at home, grabbing my own equipment as I headed out the door. I drove rather quickly to the cafe, eyelids still heavy. I got my regular coffee and sat down at my favorite booth in the corner. Only one other person resided in the building, apart from the baristas at work. It was nice and quiet, and felt peaceful. A good contrast from my evening snack and sweaty night of interrupted rest. Still, my mind couldn’t help but wander. The web address from the screenshot I found came rolling into the forefront of my thoughts. What was that onion domain all about? Why did the web address make no sense? It was something like “codeinflux” with random numbers and symbols after it. This was meaningless to me. I decided to do some research. I couldn’t recall the exact website, but I remembered the .onion extension, so I started from there. I was immediately blown away. Apparently, what it pertains to, is web addresses not reachable on normal servers. It takes you through something called “Tor” and is used for some pretty shady activity. I guess it involves what’s called “The Dark Web.” I’d heard a little about this before. I was beginning to feel sick. The websites listed on the Wiki were pretty revolting to say the least; nothing I would ever want to be involved in. The worst part? I was beginning to think the laptop I found was used solely to access this part of the internet. I couldn’t bare the thought of being in possession of it any longer. I had to do something. I stormed out of the cafe ready to spring into action, when I was stopped by a tap on my leg. I looked down to see a homeless looking man, in a black tattered leather jacket sitting up against the front of the building. His face looked rough, complete with a badly shaven beard and cracked lips. He looked miserable. He held out a small plastic cup, looking up at me with desperation in his eyes. “Spare change, sir?” “I’m in a hurry dude, and I don’t carry cash.” “Please?!” He begs some more. He reached out and grabbed my pants leg. “No, get away from me!” I kicked his hand away. The guy looked upset; his eyes were actually watering a little bit. I felt a little bad, but damn, don’t grab me. That’s when the guy did the strangest thing. He took out a phone and started taking pictures of me. “What are you doing now?” I asked, confused as all hell. He didn’t answer. All I could do about it was run to my car and leave as fast as possible. What was that guy’s deal? I called my friend Peter on my way home. I knew he would have some more insight on this whole thing. I was hoping I could bring him to my house and have him wipe the computer clean. Then I could sell it to a random yahoo and be done with this whole misadventure. Once I picked up my friend, I sped back to my house and showed him what I found in the cafe. He was blown away. “This thing is lethal,” he laughed, “It looks pretty customized, honestly.” “Yeah I noticed that, but take a look at these.” I clicked through the photos, showing him the ones that I compared with the news stories. “So, you think this laptop has some sort of connection to the murders?” “I don’t know man, but I think there’s something fishy going on.” He shrugged and took over the mouse for a moment. “Where’s the picture of the phone numbers?” “It’s somewhere in the file storage, yep click there and… bingo.” Peter stared intently at the list and address bar in the screenshot. He also checked the file description and saw that the screenshot originated from the laptop, so it was taken from within the device. My hairs were at attention, all up and down my skin. “So, you tested these numbers out?” “Yeah, with this phone.” I handed him the cell phone that came in the bag with the laptop and he scanned through it rapidly. “Definitely a TracFone, something bought as a burner. Possibly for some sort of business task? Shall we try another phone number?” I nodded and pointed to one just below the phone numbers I tested out. He dialed it in and threw it on speaker phone so we could both listen in. It rang, and rang, and rang. It didn’t stop ringing, so we hung up after the eighth ring. Peter looked at the phone funny, and then up at me. “I honestly don’t know what’s up with all this – did you want me to just factory reset everything?” “Yeah, I mean, is that gonna take care of my problem?” “Not sure. But, I think I’d like have some fun with this before we call it a day.” I gave him a look, a glance of disagreement. I didn’t think that would be in our best interest. “I don’t think we should be messing with this, dude.” “Come on, what could go wrong? You could even film it. This could go viral!” “Well, I’m not going to vlog me hanging around with a stolen laptop. Just do what you gotta do with it and let’s move on.” Peter smirked, looked at the screen again, and then dialed another phone number from the list. Again, we got nothing. This time, just another generic voicemail box greeting. He continued onto the next phone number, and halfway through dialing, he stopped. His eyes were scanning the screen. “Um…” His face was now white as a ghost. “What, why did you stop, you okay?” “This is… this is my phone number.” My heart panged like a club to a gong. “That can’t be.” I scooted over next to Peter and observed the screen. He was right. Just to be sure, he finished dialing and hit send. He put the phone up to his ear and waited. Just as he suspected, his pocket lit up and his ringtone sang away. We both looked at each other in shock. “Dude…” My hands were shaking, and my mouth was agape so far, I think my jaw was brushing my bed sheets. “How?” Is all Peter could muster up from his racing thoughts. “This is unreal, I don’t like this at all. Just wipe the hard drive and let’s be done with it.” “Wait!” He shouted, while looking at the screen again. My heart sank some more, I had a feeling about what he was about to say. “What, don’t tell me…” He didn’t say a word, all he did was start frantically dialing another number. That’s when I felt it, my pocket was now vibrating. I gulped so loud that I flinched. I reached down and pulled out my phone and answered. I held it up to my ear. “Peter.” I said through the receiver, looking at my visibly shaken friend across from me. “This is messed up.” He responded through the burner phone. I ended up driving Peter home shortly after. He had handed the phone over and told me he wanted to leave and take everything in. He left the laptop with me and told me he’d rather not mess with it. We decided to meet up at the cafe and drop it back off right in the morning. We’d wake up early and hopefully be the first ones in. However, I missed my alarm. Apparently, I also missed ten calls from Peter. I opened up my messages and noticed the four texts he’d sent. Damn, I had to get going and fast. I had already packed up everything the night before so all I had to do really was throw on a t-shirt and shorts, and head to the cafe. As I turned the corner to where the cafe was, I had to hit the breaks pretty quickly. What I saw on that road was nothing but cops and ambulances. There were road blocks set up on either side of the ambulances, and the cafe was barricaded. “What in the…?” I was thinking out loud. This was crazy. There were people with their hands on their faces, looking scared and sad. I pulled over into the grocery store parking lot across the street and then walked over to the scene to get a closer look. I assumed Peter was doing the same thing. I ended up in a crowd of onlookers next door, looking at the scene before us. There was blood splatter on the front doors of the café and some papers, among other belongings, strewn all about. More blood covered the ground. Jesus, this was a damned massacre. I could hear the people beside me whispering to each other about what was going on. “They’re talking about a possible serial killer,” one woman said to her friend. “…the kid was about to walk in, and suddenly bullets came in from over there. Nobody saw who fired the shots.” A guy filled his wife in about what he witnessed. I was too curious to just be craning my neck from back there; I needed a closer look. I peered over at the cops who were busy questioning a barista by the ambulances. I crept past the barricade carefully. I slipped past a couple of other baristas and made my way to a second ambulance by the other barricade. The stretcher was in view now, but I couldn’t tell who was in it. I decided to kneel down beside the ambulance and hopefully catch some conversation between the EMTs. I took out my phone and started recording. “We lost him, he wasn’t hanging in there much when we got here but, I was hoping…” “Jan, it’s not your fault… you saved the girl. You can’t save them all, you know?” “I wish I could. I heard him talk before he let go you know? He told me his name was Peter…” My hand jumped up over my mouth as I let out the weirdest sound. It was a gasp, combined with a grunt of disbelief. No, it couldn’t be. “Yeah.” The other EMT said. “We have his information already, guess he was an IT guy for a local business. Smart kid, early twenties.” I stumbled back a bit on my heels, dropping my phone in the process. I bumped into something solid behind me and stood up quickly. I turned around and saw that same homeless guy from the other day. My face was still contorted from the information I just received from my eavesdropping. The guy was just staring at me, stoic. He didn’t even react to me bumping into him. He was glaring at me from behind an unchanging expression. I couldn’t help it, I booked it across the street to my car. I could feel tears forming in my ducts, eyes twitching in the wind from my open driver’s side window. Why did I have to wake up so late? Maybe Peter would have been spared from whatever this was. A drive by? An assassination of some kind? My head was dizzy, my heart was hurting, but I was beginning to make some connection. The pictures on the computer, the phone numbers, the murders. Everything. I was getting an idea as to what it was I was dealing with. The stuff about the Dark Web, the strange laptop, and the phone numbers. I arrived home, heart sick as all hell. My friend was murdered today, and I couldn’t stop it. Maybe if I had never grabbed the computer from the cafe, he’d still be alive. Maybe if I hadn’t been so stupid, I could have handled this whole thing differently, and he wouldn’t be dead right now. To top it off, I realized I left my phone at the bloody scene. I groaned and threw my head back in the driver’s seat. Now what? Well, the phone is near some cops and the EMTs. Maybe if I call, they’ll believe I dropped it before they got there and I won’t get in trouble. I reached back and grabbed the burner phone out of the bag and started to dial my phone number when I suddenly had a thought. If the phone numbers we dialed somehow had something to do with the murders, that must mean… I grabbed the laptop out of the bag, my heart racing and body profusely sweating in fear. This whole thing was unreal. The fact that I was right in the middle of it was even worse. I clicked on to the folder of pictures of scenery from earlier. Again, my eyes scrolled across the picture of the barbershop. Then the forest. Finally, my eyes got to the picture of the cafe. Yes, the phone numbers and these locations have to somehow be tied together, but I didn’t know how. Why was this happening? I was about to leave the folder, but then a small thumbnail at the end of the list of pictures caught my eye. I hovered the cursor over it and opened it up. With some cloud service, the image was revealed. My jaw dropped in utter horror. A picture of my house. I was looking at a picture of my front yard and home. I hadn’t noticed this before, why hadn’t I noticed this? Over in the top corner was a link, one that opened up the full cloud folder from some email made up of more gibberish characters. This folder contained more pics. Pics that were very different from the others. “NO WAY!” I shouted out loud, face contorted in anger and fear all at once. Pictures of me. Pictures of me looking directly at the camera, others of my car. The last ones were of me sneaking into the crime scene at the cafe. That guy. That homeless looking guy from the other day, and behind the ambulance. I have his laptop. He was watching me. How did he tie into these murders? My silent tirade was interrupted by the sudden sound of a jingle to my right. The phone was ringing in my passenger seat. I picked it up and peered at the phone number. I couldn’t handle this anymore, I just couldn’t take it. It was my own phone number. Grudgingly, I decided to swipe and answer the call. “Who… who is this?” I stammered. A gravelly voice answered from the other end. “Spare change, sir?”

My local internet cafe is not much of a sight to behold. I think that’s what may have contributed to it shutting down for a couple months back in June. The exterior was reminiscent of an abandoned shack with its dilapidated appearance and broken windows. However, after they cleaned up the inside, I definitely saw some improvement. Sparkly clean tile floors and beautiful mahogany countertops filled the cafe with a sense of ease and elegance. I always got plenty of work done in there, so the shop’s grungy look never bothered me much, but it was nice to have a change of scenery once the cleanup was done. I was probably the only regular at the cafe, venturing in on almost a daily basis. Plenty of other folks cycled in and out, but nary a familiar face would show up. This was fine, since I only went there to edit my vlogs and website on occasion. Striking up a conversation with someone recognizable was not on the agenda, ever. I was there for some much needed peace and quiet, not small talk. Though I had wifi at home, the thin walls there did little to muffle my father’s drunken ramblings. The cafe was my escape from the unwanted noise. I strolled in on a ‪Saturday morning‬, just five days after the “grand” reopening. I was feeling pretty groggy, still recovering from a cold I caught during the week. The humid August air didn’t help matters. Because of this, I decided to grab a coffee before getting my things set up. I walked across the glimmering, newly replaced floors and heard them squeak under my sneakers. I laughed a little to myself, almost tempted to start turning in place just to hear the sound a few more times. ‬‬ “No,” I told myself, “Grow up.” I ordered my coffee and took a look around the room while I waited for it. I took a mental note of how many faces were in the cafe with me. I was surely going to grab a quiet little table in the corner, away from these strangers. “Small iced regular?” The barista held out my coffee and straw. “Thanks.” I said plainly. I threw down a couple of quarters as a tip and strolled on over to the table I wanted. I spent the next few hours clipping and splicing my videos from the days previous. I was doing a week-long series about the gym I go to. Basically workout tips and some comedy bits with my buddy Jake who works the front desk. I found myself laughing out loud over a protein shake skit we had done. I may have drawn some attention to my little corner of the room. Though the staring eventually subsided, I felt it best for me to leave, as I had been in there much longer than usual. I reached down and unplugged my laptop charger and that’s when my hand brushed up against something. Confused, I took a look under my table to investigate. A sixteen-inch black bag sat just beyond where my feet were settled. It had pockets and a shoulder strap, as well as an abundance of dust coating the leather. Holy crap, I thought to myself. Someone must have left their laptop behind or something. At first, I was going to do the right thing. I very easily could have handed it to a barista and called it a day. I guess, maybe that would have been the smart thing to do. However, a mixture of curiosity and stupidity came over me, keeping me from being honest. Instead, after packing up my own things, I swung the mystery bag over my shoulder and swiftly exited the café. Stupid. I pulled into my driveway ‪at about noon‬, the hot summer sun beaming down on my front lawn. My father was doing his usual, half-assed inspection of the plants in the garden, beer can in hand. I tried to get into the house without a word to him, but he stopped me just as I opened the storm door.‬‬ “Hey, hey, why are you in such a hurry?” He asked, taking a swig of his drink. “Dad, I don’t have time. Important website business.” “Well, well,” He slurred, “Don’t stop on my account.” But you just stopped me, I thought to myself. I pushed through the front door, passing my sleeping mother on the couch, and darted upstairs to my room. SLAM! I shut my door hard behind me and locked it immediately. I tossed my belongings and newly found goods onto my bed and kicked my shoes clear across the room. I was excited to dig in to this lucky haul. Carefully and slowly, I unzipped the top of the bag and pulled it open. I gasped a little to myself. Despite the appearance of the bag, the contents were no joke. A shiny, brand new looking laptop was nestled nicely inside. I pulled it out and observed it with awe. It was certainly nicer than my basic, five hundred gig HP from a big box store. I couldn’t believe what I was holding. I flipped it open and began feeling the keys and monitor. It was in mint condition. I had to be the luckiest guy in the world. Everything was there, including a charger and wireless mouse. I even found a bag of screen wipes at the bottom. I also dug into the pockets, curious as to what treasure I might find in there. What I found was a cell phone. Nothing special, just some cheap Android phone. It was still powered on and had no screen lock on it. Exploring it further, I noticed there were no texts and only one recent call to an out of state number. Being into electronics, I went into the settings to see what kind of operating system it had. It was vastly out of date on software, still set in some variation of the Lollipop OS. That’s alright, I thought. I could still flip it for a quick ten bucks or so. I placed it on the bed next to the laptop and sat for a moment, trying to take in what I had in front of me. This was such a great find, but I needed to power on the laptop and figure out what I was working with. To my excitement, there was no login screen. I was in, immediately after booting it up. I was never as into laptops as I phones, but I could tell right away I was not working with your standard, stock operating system. This thing resembled more of a modded setup that I had seen kids working with back in high school, but I couldn’t name it off the top of my head. Luckily, it was simple enough to navigate. I set it up with my wifi and dived right into the file storage to get some idea of who’s computer I had. I was disappointed for just a few moments, but after clicking around a bit, I did find a folder labeled “A”. Inside was one JPG, titled “one by one”. Intrigued, my stomach did a little flip as I opened the image. I was puzzled by what I found. It was a screenshot from a website. It looked like a post in some forum, from a user named “Anonandon&4” with nothing but phone numbers listed and zero replies. Underneath the list was the tag line “…you know who you are.” Scanning the image for answers, I noticed the address bar for the site. It seemed to be a nonsense string of characters followed by a .onion extension. Onion? Wasn’t that a parody news site or something? I wasn’t too sure, but I decided to dig a little deeper. I clicked on the x at the top, taking me back to the desktop. That’s when I noticed another folder. This one was labeled “PICS” which stirred up some more thrills in my bones. Yes! I cheered to myself. This would more than likely reveal the owner’s identity. I became disappointed as I clicked through the pictures. There was no human life, just shots of different places and scenery. This included a dark image of a barber shop, a path in the woods somewhere, and even someone’s garage. What really caught my eye was the last pic. It was the café. My stomach started doing acrobatics now, my heart racing. Why were there random pictures in this thing? Why was there a screenshot of a message board with a list phone numbers? The files just weren’t adding up for me, but I hatched a half-baked plan. I didn’t know if it was going to end the mystery, but I couldn’t help but pry. I pulled up the pic with the phone numbers, grabbed the Android phone, and dialed the first number at the top of the list. After only two rings, I was greeted with silence. Strange I thought, but I pressed on. I dialed the next number on the list. This time, it rang five times before I got a generic inbox greeting, with the phone number listed. Interesting, but I hung up before I heard the beep. I grew bored of dialing the random numbers. I decided to take a break and put the laptop and cell phone away for a little while. I knew I’d come back to it later. Once the evening rolled around, I waited for my parents to go to bed, and then fixed myself up a snack. This was pretty much a nightly routine of mine. I clicked on the TV as I usually did and settled on the first news channel I scrolled to. This is when things took a turn for the weird. A breaking news story was displayed on screen, one from the next town over. “YOUNG BARBER, AGE 25, FOUND MURDERED AT WORK” “Damn,” I shook my head, “That sucks.” A female news reporter was on the scene, outside of the barber shop where it took place. Wait a second. I couldn’t believe my eyes. That barbershop. It was the same one from the pic on the laptop. I was sure of it. I put my plate down on the coffee table and raced upstairs to grab the computer. I booted it up, clicked on the folder of pictures, and then the photo in question. I ran back downstairs with the laptop in hand and held it up to the tv screen. Yes, it was definitely the same barber shop. Wow, what were the chances of that? I was shaking my head in amazement. I finished watching the news story and began feeling tired. I was about ready for bed, so I grabbed the remote. The news story just after grabbed my attention before I could hit the power button. “COLD MURDER IN LOCAL FOREST.” This one was also nearby, just over the bridge in the opposite direction. This world is terrible, I thought. I hadn’t seen two stories like that back to back in a long time. That’s when it hit me. I scrolled over to the picture of the woods in the same folder. Then, I waited to see if the news story included the location of the homicide on video. Though I didn’t get anything solid to compare it to, I was definitely getting weird vibes. First a barbershop, and now a forest? I had to be grasping at straws, though… right? I decided it was bed time. I had a pretty restless night of sleep, tossing and turning and kicking my covers to the foot of my bed. It was hot and humid and I kept waking up with the sweats. Needless to say, I was in dire need of coffee the next morning. I was probably smart to leave the strange laptop at home, grabbing my own equipment as I headed out the door. I drove rather quickly to the cafe, eyelids still heavy. I got my regular coffee and sat down at my favorite booth in the corner. Only one other person resided in the building, apart from the baristas at work. It was nice and quiet, and felt peaceful. A good contrast from my evening snack and sweaty night of interrupted rest. Still, my mind couldn’t help but wander. The web address from the screenshot I found came rolling into the forefront of my thoughts. What was that onion domain all about? Why did the web address make no sense? It was something like “codeinflux” with random numbers and symbols after it. This was meaningless to me. I decided to do some research. I couldn’t recall the exact website, but I remembered the .onion extension, so I started from there. I was immediately blown away. Apparently, what it pertains to, is web addresses not reachable on normal servers. It takes you through something called “Tor” and is used for some pretty shady activity. I guess it involves what’s called “The Dark Web.” I’d heard a little about this before. I was beginning to feel sick. The websites listed on the Wiki were pretty revolting to say the least; nothing I would ever want to be involved in. The worst part? I was beginning to think the laptop I found was used solely to access this part of the internet. I couldn’t bare the thought of being in possession of it any longer. I had to do something. I stormed out of the cafe ready to spring into action, when I was stopped by a tap on my leg. I looked down to see a homeless looking man, in a black tattered leather jacket sitting up against the front of the building. His face looked rough, complete with a badly shaven beard and cracked lips. He looked miserable. He held out a small plastic cup, looking up at me with desperation in his eyes. “Spare change, sir?” “I’m in a hurry dude, and I don’t carry cash.” “Please?!” He begs some more. He reached out and grabbed my pants leg. “No, get away from me!” I kicked his hand away. The guy looked upset; his eyes were actually watering a little bit. I felt a little bad, but damn, don’t grab me. That’s when the guy did the strangest thing. He took out a phone and started taking pictures of me. “What are you doing now?” I asked, confused as all hell. He didn’t answer. All I could do about it was run to my car and leave as fast as possible. What was that guy’s deal? I called my friend Peter on my way home. I knew he would have some more insight on this whole thing. I was hoping I could bring him to my house and have him wipe the computer clean. Then I could sell it to a random yahoo and be done with this whole misadventure. Once I picked up my friend, I sped back to my house and showed him what I found in the cafe. He was blown away. “This thing is lethal,” he laughed, “It looks pretty customized, honestly.” “Yeah I noticed that, but take a look at these.” I clicked through the photos, showing him the ones that I compared with the news stories. “So, you think this laptop has some sort of connection to the murders?” “I don’t know man, but I think there’s something fishy going on.” He shrugged and took over the mouse for a moment. “Where’s the picture of the phone numbers?” “It’s somewhere in the file storage, yep click there and… bingo.” Peter stared intently at the list and address bar in the screenshot. He also checked the file description and saw that the screenshot originated from the laptop, so it was taken from within the device. My hairs were at attention, all up and down my skin. “So, you tested these numbers out?” “Yeah, with this phone.” I handed him the cell phone that came in the bag with the laptop and he scanned through it rapidly. “Definitely a TracFone, something bought as a burner. Possibly for some sort of business task? Shall we try another phone number?” I nodded and pointed to one just below the phone numbers I tested out. He dialed it in and threw it on speaker phone so we could both listen in. It rang, and rang, and rang. It didn’t stop ringing, so we hung up after the eighth ring. Peter looked at the phone funny, and then up at me. “I honestly don’t know what’s up with all this – did you want me to just factory reset everything?” “Yeah, I mean, is that gonna take care of my problem?” “Not sure. But, I think I’d like have some fun with this before we call it a day.” I gave him a look, a glance of disagreement. I didn’t think that would be in our best interest. “I don’t think we should be messing with this, dude.” “Come on, what could go wrong? You could even film it. This could go viral!” “Well, I’m not going to vlog me hanging around with a stolen laptop. Just do what you gotta do with it and let’s move on.” Peter smirked, looked at the screen again, and then dialed another phone number from the list. Again, we got nothing. This time, just another generic voicemail box greeting. He continued onto the next phone number, and halfway through dialing, he stopped. His eyes were scanning the screen. “Um…” His face was now white as a ghost. “What, why did you stop, you okay?” “This is… this is my phone number.” My heart panged like a club to a gong. “That can’t be.” I scooted over next to Peter and observed the screen. He was right. Just to be sure, he finished dialing and hit send. He put the phone up to his ear and waited. Just as he suspected, his pocket lit up and his ringtone sang away. We both looked at each other in shock. “Dude…” My hands were shaking, and my mouth was agape so far, I think my jaw was brushing my bed sheets. “How?” Is all Peter could muster up from his racing thoughts. “This is unreal, I don’t like this at all. Just wipe the hard drive and let’s be done with it.” “Wait!” He shouted, while looking at the screen again. My heart sank some more, I had a feeling about what he was about to say. “What, don’t tell me…” He didn’t say a word, all he did was start frantically dialing another number. That’s when I felt it, my pocket was now vibrating. I gulped so loud that I flinched. I reached down and pulled out my phone and answered. I held it up to my ear. “Peter.” I said through the receiver, looking at my visibly shaken friend across from me. “This is messed up.” He responded through the burner phone. I ended up driving Peter home shortly after. He had handed the phone over and told me he wanted to leave and take everything in. He left the laptop with me and told me he’d rather not mess with it. We decided to meet up at the cafe and drop it back off right in the morning. We’d wake up early and hopefully be the first ones in. However, I missed my alarm. Apparently, I also missed ten calls from Peter. I opened up my messages and noticed the four texts he’d sent. Damn, I had to get going and fast. I had already packed up everything the night before so all I had to do really was throw on a t-shirt and shorts, and head to the cafe. As I turned the corner to where the cafe was, I had to hit the breaks pretty quickly. What I saw on that road was nothing but cops and ambulances. There were road blocks set up on either side of the ambulances, and the cafe was barricaded. “What in the…?” I was thinking out loud. This was crazy. There were people with their hands on their faces, looking scared and sad. I pulled over into the grocery store parking lot across the street and then walked over to the scene to get a closer look. I assumed Peter was doing the same thing. I ended up in a crowd of onlookers next door, looking at the scene before us. There was blood splatter on the front doors of the café and some papers, among other belongings, strewn all about. More blood covered the ground. Jesus, this was a damned massacre. I could hear the people beside me whispering to each other about what was going on. “They’re talking about a possible serial killer,” one woman said to her friend. “…the kid was about to walk in, and suddenly bullets came in from over there. Nobody saw who fired the shots.” A guy filled his wife in about what he witnessed. I was too curious to just be craning my neck from back there; I needed a closer look. I peered over at the cops who were busy questioning a barista by the ambulances. I crept past the barricade carefully. I slipped past a couple of other baristas and made my way to a second ambulance by the other barricade. The stretcher was in view now, but I couldn’t tell who was in it. I decided to kneel down beside the ambulance and hopefully catch some conversation between the EMTs. I took out my phone and started recording. “We lost him, he wasn’t hanging in there much when we got here but, I was hoping…” “Jan, it’s not your fault… you saved the girl. You can’t save them all, you know?” “I wish I could. I heard him talk before he let go you know? He told me his name was Peter…” My hand jumped up over my mouth as I let out the weirdest sound. It was a gasp, combined with a grunt of disbelief. No, it couldn’t be. “Yeah.” The other EMT said. “We have his information already, guess he was an IT guy for a local business. Smart kid, early twenties.” I stumbled back a bit on my heels, dropping my phone in the process. I bumped into something solid behind me and stood up quickly. I turned around and saw that same homeless guy from the other day. My face was still contorted from the information I just received from my eavesdropping. The guy was just staring at me, stoic. He didn’t even react to me bumping into him. He was glaring at me from behind an unchanging expression. I couldn’t help it, I booked it across the street to my car. I could feel tears forming in my ducts, eyes twitching in the wind from my open driver’s side window. Why did I have to wake up so late? Maybe Peter would have been spared from whatever this was. A drive by? An assassination of some kind? My head was dizzy, my heart was hurting, but I was beginning to make some connection. The pictures on the computer, the phone numbers, the murders. Everything. I was getting an idea as to what it was I was dealing with. The stuff about the Dark Web, the strange laptop, and the phone numbers. I arrived home, heart sick as all hell. My friend was murdered today, and I couldn’t stop it. Maybe if I had never grabbed the computer from the cafe, he’d still be alive. Maybe if I hadn’t been so stupid, I could have handled this whole thing differently, and he wouldn’t be dead right now. To top it off, I realized I left my phone at the bloody scene. I groaned and threw my head back in the driver’s seat. Now what? Well, the phone is near some cops and the EMTs. Maybe if I call, they’ll believe I dropped it before they got there and I won’t get in trouble. I reached back and grabbed the burner phone out of the bag and started to dial my phone number when I suddenly had a thought. If the phone numbers we dialed somehow had something to do with the murders, that must mean… I grabbed the laptop out of the bag, my heart racing and body profusely sweating in fear. This whole thing was unreal. The fact that I was right in the middle of it was even worse. I clicked on to the folder of pictures of scenery from earlier. Again, my eyes scrolled across the picture of the barbershop. Then the forest. Finally, my eyes got to the picture of the cafe. Yes, the phone numbers and these locations have to somehow be tied together, but I didn’t know how. Why was this happening? I was about to leave the folder, but then a small thumbnail at the end of the list of pictures caught my eye. I hovered the cursor over it and opened it up. With some cloud service, the image was revealed. My jaw dropped in utter horror. A picture of my house. I was looking at a picture of my front yard and home. I hadn’t noticed this before, why hadn’t I noticed this? Over in the top corner was a link, one that opened up the full cloud folder from some email made up of more gibberish characters. This folder contained more pics. Pics that were very different from the others. “NO WAY!” I shouted out loud, face contorted in anger and fear all at once. Pictures of me. Pictures of me looking directly at the camera, others of my car. The last ones were of me sneaking into the crime scene at the cafe. That guy. That homeless looking guy from the other day, and behind the ambulance. I have his laptop. He was watching me. How did he tie into these murders? My silent tirade was interrupted by the sudden sound of a jingle to my right. The phone was ringing in my passenger seat. I picked it up and peered at the phone number. I couldn’t handle this anymore, I just couldn’t take it. It was my own phone number. Grudgingly, I decided to swipe and answer the call. “Who… who is this?” I stammered. A gravelly voice answered from the other end. “Spare change, sir?”

From Horror photos & videos October 09, 2018 at 09:30PM

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#Horror Ghost Paranormal

[allisonawakened]

Hi! I'm the one who asked about Ra and the spirit that played on my guitar. You said you think it's an earthbound spirit, and energy like the Cheshire Cat. The same night I had a weird dream in which I got abducted by aliens, I was in a ship, a white room on a metal bed, and a lady was going to operate on me but I knew it wasn't what is said it was and then she started smiling just before I fell asleep by the gas the the smile reminded me of the cat. Was that spirit influencing my dream? Thanks!

Good Morning :)

Spirit tells me you were channeling in your sleep - so Yes, that is validation / affirmation to your question.

The abduction, ship, white room, metal bed, etc. were not part of the message from this Spirit. They’re more a reflection (or symbolism) of your comfort level while channeling in your sleep. For some reason this Spirit makes you feel dis-armed / unsafe. Not in a scary way, more of a vulnerable way. 

Spirits have a tendency to come through while we’re sleeping because our mental defences are down. Our subconscious mind is much more open to suggestion than our conscious / active / aware / in control state of mind. 

Channelling in general while you are sleeping may also make you feel some lack of control. You may want to start doing some dream-work / lucid dreaming or call on Spirit Allies that aid in channeling / dream-work in the future (before you go to bed) in order to feel a bit more in control of this process.

The woman, how she looked, what you felt around her *WERE* parts of the message from this Spirit.

Try to meditate, going back into that experience, to see if you can pick up any further details about that channeling experience, and more specifically, about her. 

One thing I like to tell people, as a fellow Clairvoyant, is that: “what is seen, cannot be unseen”. As soon as us Clairvoyants receive a message, it’s always there in our mind, filed away (mostly because our memories are also visual - so everything we’ve ever seen [ spiritual or not ] is “filed away”). 

If we want to, we can call it back up to notice any additional details / information we may have missed (basically, replay the vision like a movie in our head).

This is good practice as well, to get more visions / details in waking state versus dream state. 

When you experiment by going back through the visions, also try to ask one of your Spirit Guides / Allies to come forward and sift through the information with you. Ask them to give you a sign / feeling / sensation for everything you receive that is truth versus a lie. I started by receiving green checkmarks (representing “truth”) vs red x’s (representing “lie”). Now I have it down short-hand to just a quick feeling / sense / knowing. The more you use symbolic tools with your Spirit Guides / Allies, the quicker this recall / process just naturally happens *every* time you go to access the information / read someone or something.

I mentioned the truth versus lie thing, because Spirits do lie, and this woman has already come forward with that “trickster” / “Cheshire Cat” vibe. Chances are, the messages she gives you will be half-truths. It’s extra work to decipher / sift through to find the truth *on top of* going back and replaying these messages while in meditation, but it’s so-so-so worth it. Even as practice for honing your gifts / abilities.

The only way to get better with these gifts is to practice and challenge yourself to try things you’ve never done before / push your abilities further than you ever have before. The more you do that, the better / quicker you will get with this work.

Hope this helps ♥ ♥ ♥

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