#was gonna include him in the batch from earlier but forgot him

[faces-of-tporr]

Entry #13 - Eucalyptus

Green Steve

He/Him

Aroace

Original Era: Rainbow Quest part of the Timeline

Job: Traveling Doctor

Status: Alive

Character Type: Supporting

————

• Tried to heal Saffron, but was too late

• Fascinated by the alphabet trio- particularly Q; probably due to the fact that Q’s part green steve, or maybe even because of how odd they seem (personality-wise)

[viridianstarlight]

Time to share some of my D&D characters! As I said in an earlier post, these were made in Reroll, a browser program designed for making pixel art of D&D characters, and it works like a doll maker kinda.

Above are the characters from the first campaign I played in very briefly. I never actually played Elri though. He was just a planned backup character that I started before the first session, after realizing how likely it was that Tarloc would die (we had an accidental test session where I realised he loved taking risks, like deliberately activating traps, although I toned down that side of his personality quite a bit when we started playing).

Long post ahead, there’s like 20 characters. Won’t go deep into explaining all of them though.

Next is Nemesis, a tiefling Wizard (Necromancy school) that I played briefly in a different campaign. I had some really great ideas for how her Necromancy skills could play into her story and morals, and some of that came to fruition during the campaign. She had a really interesting personality too, starting off as a bitter woman who hates everyone, meeting a super smiley bard, and gradually deciding ‘I would die for this one and this one only’, but still giving the ‘I hate you’ attitude when the friend nicknames her Nemmie (especially when the party member she hates starts using it).

Unfortunately though, those are the only characters I’ve really played.

And now, because tumblr thinks it’s a great idea to not allow people to have multiple images together throughout a post (like I have at the top of the post), every portrait needs to be full-size. Guess this is gonna be a long post.

This is Seymour Aran. When making the portrait, I forgot to give him an eyepatch. His first name is a pun, since I thought it’d be fun to give a man named ‘see more’ one eye.

He’s an NPC planned for the first session of my campaign, a member of the local temple, and he’s partly to blame for the villain of the first session.

And this is said villain. She thinks the town of Crast (a mountain town built around a coal mine, where the campaign starts) is dismissive and disrespectful towards the dead. So hey, why not change that, by force?

Oh, and she used to be Seymour’s apprentice too.

Tobias is a friendly face the party meets in the first session. He’s the son of another NPC, but because of lore reasons, he doesn’t know that. Oh, and he’s also a bit of a conspiracist

A name some of y’all might be familiar with (it was my first URL on this account), this is my Dragonborn ranger that I wanna play eventually, one of my favourite unplayed characters (although I could say that for a lot of them). He was banished from his clan for not taking orders and killing a pretty important character from the clan. His name translates to ‘stubborn and honourable betrayer who does not belong’.

Another of my Dragonborn, this one’s a Bard. His name translates to ‘traveller who belongs to the keepers’. His clan are keepers of knowledge. He also found another of my favourite characters, Waking Sky, when she was very young, feeling lonely, angry, and afraid, and took her to a monk monestary he knew, who helped raise her and teach her to deal with those feelings.

She’s 19 now, and still hasn’t entirely learned to deal with those feelings.

Yup, blue hair. In world, her hair is actually a mix of blue, white, and its natural blonde, and she has tattoos of waves on her left arm, but there wasn’t a way to show either of those in Reroll, so I settled for this.

Oh, and she’s a Monk too.

Sky is one of my characters that was originally created for an old fan-fiction project with some friends, which ended up being abandoned, and I translated some of the characters I made for that to D&D.

This is one of my Paladins. She calls herself an ‘Emissary of the Light’. She grew up in a cavern settlement with her family, but they were forced to flee when it was invaded by goblins. Only a handful of the dark elves survived, including her mother. Her mother was killed when she tried to return a few months later though, and since then Ulstra has sworn to fight for the very light that blinds her (yeah, playing with the rule that makes dark elves have difficulty seeing in normal light conditions).

Iolanthe is a human Fighter who ran away from her noble family with nothing but her horse, rapier, and the clothes on her back.

Talvani is a half-orc Rogue who was raised by pirates. They found her as a baby (from an island village they raided), and the first mate thought she’d make for some great muscle for the crew as an adult. The captain didn’t like the idea at first, but let it happen.

Could you imagine pirates raising a half-orc child?

Valo’s an interesting character. When I started making him, I wanted to make a Druid halfling, but I also wanted to mix in the charlatan background. Really curious how that mixes if and when I play him.

Arutan’s an undead dwarf from the underground city of Arudel. The city’s dead now, with Arutan being the only ‘surviving’ member. With him being undead though, he’d be kinda complicated to play, so there’d be a lot of back and forth between me and the DM about how that works, if I do end up playing him.

I really badly wanna play a tempest Cleric someday though.

Another character from that old fan fiction project. The next few are from there too. In the old project, Ghost was the best friend of my self-insert character, who became addicted to player-killing (the project was set in an MMO). I’m kinda thinking he might have a similar arc as a D&D character. Of course, being a criminal, I’d probably need to make sure the DM and players are ok with a party member like that.

Another character from that fan-fiction project. Translating her to D&D, I decided to work with the Folk Hero background, which isn’t one I’d done before. I don’t really know much else about her though, aside from the traits I picked and a few ideas they’ve inspired.

Yup, another character from that project. I decided on him being a Guild Artisan for his background, specifically a carpenter. I don’t know much else about him though.

Sarah’s yet another character from that project. She’s a musician, but just as a hobby, rather than as a Bard class. Her brother ran away to join a circus band, but hasn’t been able to commit to one yet.

Yup, another from the project. Skarlet’s a Monk, with the Entertainer background. Apparently I forgot both of those details when I made this portrait though, and thought she was a Rogue with the Assassin background. I might remake this, but I do quite like the portrait. Now I’m conflicted, dangit.

Theriel went on an artifact recovery expedition a few years before present day as a guard to a super secret location. When he realised how dangerous the artifact was though, he made some very difficult decisions, believing them to be best for the safety of the world. And now he’s an Eldritch Knight.

Oh, and Theriel’s the last of the batch of characters from that old project. The character was originally inspired by Jack from Final Fantasy Type-0, particular the character’s ability to make horrible jokes (often at the worst time).

Sunflower is a Barbarian. A few years back, he was fighting in a war as an infantry soldier, and ended up some super powerful magic dude. He has no memory of how the fight went down though. And now sometimes he gets angry, his memory lapses and he can’t remember what happens. He just knows that, when the memory lapse ends, it’s usually with his sword in a bloody body.

[bambamnetwork]

Lost Stars

Author:  TO BE REVEALED

Pairing: Bambam X Reader

Genre: Soulmate!AU, Fluff

Prompt: C2 - Stargazing Confession

Word Count: 2,605

Warning: None

A/N: For Bambam Network’s “Shooting Star For You” Bambam FicFest. 

Holding a black gel pen, Bambam was engrossed doodling on the back of his hand. It was of three hollow five-point stars lined up together, the middle star slightly larger than the other two.

“Are you even listening?”, Yugyeom shouted and threw a crumpled paper on his way as the taller one stopped dancing and sat on the seat in front of the other.

“Huh?” Bambam snapped out of his reverie and automatically covered his hand with the sleeves of his sweatshirt as his friend came closer.

“What’s up guys?” You greeted the two as you entered the dance club’s room.

“Hey, Y/N!”, You fist bumped Yugyeom and Bambam’s eyes automatically went to your hand, the tattoo clearly visible to everyone. Your ‘soulmate’ mark, identical to the one that Bambam doodled on his hand.

“I was just asking Bambam what he plans to do for his birthday.”

“Oh, that’s, tomorrow right?” You asked and laid down your bag on an empty chair and plopped beside Yugyeom.

Bambam straightened on his seat, “Oh. Nah, I don’t feel like celebrating this year.”

“Are you sure?”, Yugyeom asked wide-eyed. He couldn’t believe what he just heard from his friend. The same friend who’s a social butterfly and has been one of the event planners of their club, and of their school batch, and have hosted some of the most epic parties. “May I remind you, this is our 21st year of being alive! The year we’re finally legal! And you don’t want to celebrate???”

“I do! Just… Maybe we can celebrate this weekend instead…?” Bambam tried to avoid both your gaze.

“What’s the matter?” You asked.

Bambam groaned and raised his head towards the ceiling. He doesn’t know how to tell you both that he dreaded this day.

“Oh, you’re thinking about that huh?”, Yugyeom remembered, his face suddenly serious. He now understood why Bambam is hesitant to celebrate.

According to statistics, 2 out of every 15 people on the planet are given a mark. A distinct shape and position of stars on their body that matches with their soulmate, the person they are destined to be with to pro-create.

Some find the existence of these marks to be lucky. Knowing that someone was made for them, to be with them and love them until they die. But there are also some who feels it a curse, making them unable to choose their own destiny.

Yugyeom’s mother was one of those that experienced its curse. She and Yugyeom’s father were childhood sweethearts. They were already in love, and was already a couple before it was the time they receive a mark. They didn’t think of the risk. When they both turned 21 years old, only his father got the mark on his arm. However, thinking that they can control their destiny, that their love is stronger than that, they still went on with their relationship knowing that there’s another person meant for him. They were happy for a while. They got married. And had Yugyeom. Until one day, his father met the other person with the same mark. And his father left them for her.

Growing up hearing Yugyeom’s mother talk about it made all three of you not a fan of the whole ‘soulmate’ mark thing. That is, until you had it. It didn’t even cross your mind that you were going to have it when your birthday came and then the symbol suddenly appeared on the back of your hand.

It was just earlier this year and Bambam can still remember waking up in the middle of the night with you suddenly knocking on the window of his room and climbing over. Your face full of tears, showing him your hand with the tattoo clearly visible on it. Your hand was red, making it obvious that you tried to scrub it off. Three hollow five-point stars lined up together, the middle star slightly larger than the other two.

He didn’t say a word. He just cuddled you that night as you cried yourself to sleep, his hand stroking your hair.

A few days went by and eventually, you somehow just accepted it and moved on.

“Look, if it shows up then great! And if not, then isn’t that great too? You can get to choose your own destiny. Instead of the great stars telling you that you have to be with the person they choose for you.”, Yugyeom said, placing his hand on top of Bambam’s on the table. Hoping to give a little comfort to his friend.

Bambam smiled, thankful for Yugyeom’s words but he still looked defeated at him, “Yeah… I just… I just want to be alone on my birthday. That’s all.”

Yugyeom pressed his lips and, though he does feel a little disappointed, he clearly understood what Bambam is going through, “Alright, bro. Whatever you want. But make sure you’re free the weekend after. We’ll celebrate then.”

“Yeah, I will. Thanks.”

“Okay, so there’s no party.” you summarized, interrupting their ‘moment’, “…But is anyone of you free tonight? I need a favor.”

“I still have dance practice after class. Sorry, I need to prepare for the competition.”, Yugyeom answered.

“I don’t have anything. What do you plan to do?” Bambam asked.

You sighed, “Okay, so… this is going to sound really stupid. But I had a project for astronomy and I forgot all about it. I was supposed to record the position of the stars from the observatory and I haven’t been there yet. And I have to submit it tomorrow. So, please come with me?”

“Yeah, it does sound stupid. But, okay.”, Bambam shrugged.

“Really?! Thanks, Bammie!!! You’re the best!”

Bambam was smiling back at you smugly, but inside, it makes him feel good that you rely on him and wouldn’t want you to ask anyone else.

“But you have to make sure we get home before midnight.”, he warned.

“Yes, Cinderella. I promise. See you after class.”

**

“Here you go.” You handed over a sketch pad and pencil to Bambam as you settled down on the mat under the star-filled sky with your own sketch pad and pencil on your lap.

“What am I gonna do with this?”, Bambam asked as he raised the sketch pad to your face.

You lowered it down from him. “I can’t be the only one who’s doing the assignment, Bam. You have to do it with me.”

“This was not part of the deal you know.”

“There never was a deal.”, you grinned. “Alright, so we have to locate… the big dipper and the Polaris.” You say as you read off the assignment print out. Putting down the paper, the two of you looked at the sky.

“Polaris… is that one?” Bambam asked, pointing to the brightest star above them.

“Yeah, I think so. Then, that would make that one the big dipper?” You asked, drawing the dipper with your fingers pointing at a group of stars.

“Maybe.”, Bambam shrugged, “This is your assignment, I have no idea.”

You turned to face him unamused, frowning. He looked down at you and chuckled. “Okay, okay. Let me google. Hold on.” He flipped out his phone and searched for ‘Big Dipper’

“Hmmm…” he raised his phone, with the image of Big Dipper on the screen, comparing it with the stars you pointed earlier.

“That looks like it.” You whispered, and he turned his head to you and was surprised to see your face too close to his, his lips almost brushing up against yours.

He flushed and cleared his throat, “Let’s draw it, then?”

You were taken aback and cleared your throat too, “Yup.”, you had to control the fast beating of your heart. You had always wondered how Bambam’s lips would feel like.

While sketching you instructed, “It says to include the horizon and landmarks too. And to show the size as accurately as possible.”

“Yes, ma’am.”, Bambam acknowledged. Now focused in drawing the stars on his sketch pad.

After a few seconds, he showed it to you, “Does this do?”

The stars were clearly drawn well. You weren’t surprised. Bambam has always been artistic. He’s quick with the sketch but his drawings are superior to whatever chicken scratches that was on your pad.

You nodded, and gave him a thumbs-up, “Very good!”

“Okay, so now we can go?”, he got up and patted his pants.

You held on to his wrist, “Wait, no! Not yet. We have to plot the stars every hour.”

“Every hour?” Bambam was incredulous, he checked his watch which shows it a few minutes past 7 PM. He plopped back to sit beside you on the mat “…and would you mind telling me how many hours?”

You patted his back, “The teacher said 4 hours would suffice. Don’t worry, it’s just 30 minutes trip back home. I promised to get you back home by midnight, didn’t I, Cinderella?”

Bambam grumbled, but you both know he doesn’t really get mad at you.

The hours went by with you two talking about the usual. School activities, gossips around town, the chances of Yugyeom winning the dance competition, and almost everything else except what was really on both of your minds at the moment. The ‘soulmate’ mark.

Bambam doesn’t want to tell you he’s scared of having or not having the ‘soulmate’ mark because that would make you ask him why he’s scared in the first place.

He’s scared that he wouldn’t be granted to have it. And that would mean you were meant for someone else.

He’s also scared that if he’d be granted to have it, that it would have a different pattern from yours. And that would mean he is also destined for someone else.

He’s scared. And he has been scared ever since he knew about the ‘soulmate’ mark and how it works. Scared ever since he knew he has fallen in love with you. And until now, he doesn’t want to end up with anyone else but you. He’s scared which is why he never tell anyone about how he feels because he doesn’t want to burden you with it.

But what he doesn’t know is you also love him. He doesn’t know that the reason why you tried to scrub it off is because you’re scared the great stars have a different person planned for you than the one who is in your heart ever since you were little. He doesn’t know that it was because of him that you cried that night on your birthday.

���And that’s it!” You cheered as you closed the sketch book and got up from the mat. You reached your hand to Bambam to help him get up and he took it. He gave you his sketch book and you put it on your bag while he folded the mat you both sat on.

“I can finally go home.” He said lifelessly.

“We can finally go home!” you cheered.

You both were walking towards the bus stop.

You stopped to look at him, and quietly said, “Thank you for coming with me. I know your mind is full of worries right now, but you still came with me.”

“You know I’d do anything for you, right?” He said, and his eyes were sincere. You hated him like this. This is one of those moments that he just says something sincere and cool and that just made you flustered and before you know it, you’re falling deeper in love with him. Looking at his eyes, you just felt your heart beat faster again.

His words, which you wanted to hold onto, which made you fall for him further, meant your fear just gotten bigger. ‘What if he never got a mark? What if his mark is different from yours? Does this mean what you feel for him now meant nothing?’

He grabbed your hand and then resumed walking to the bus stop, and you let him. You walked with him, step by step, his hand on yours. And you don’t know why tears are threatening to come out of your eyes.

It was quarter past 11 PM when you arrived at the bus stop, you checked the bus number from the schedule. You checked, and double checked but it looks like you just missed the bus and the next one won’t be out until after another hour.

Bambam breathed in deep. “Great.”

“Sorry, I’m an idiot Bam. I’m so sorry, I didn’t check ahead.” You looked at him and you couldn’t read his expression.

“Let’s go back.” He said. It doesn’t look like he’s angry, but he’s rather calm.

“Go back?” you asked.

“We’ll be waiting for an hour anyway, let’s wait under the stars.”

**

You were now lying on the mat side by side, looking at the stars above.

“I’ve been wanting to tell you something too.” Bambam said breaking the silence.

You looked up to him while on your back. “What is it?”

He was still staring at the sky.

“I love you.” he said it so naturally that it made your whole world stop and you couldn’t speak.

“I have loved you for a long time.

I love you so much, I think this must’ve been what soulmates feel like.

But then, you suddenly had a mark, and suddenly I doubted if I was supposed feel this way or no. Why do I have to feel this way towards you when you were made for someone else? That’s what I thought.

And I prayed every single night since then for them to give me that same mark as you, because I wouldn’t know how to live if it were not.”

He shifted a bit, but you were still silently listening to him.

“Anyway, I debated if I should tell you this or not. To confess to you or not. Because I wouldn’t know if we’re meant to be or not.

Until tomorrow.

But then, I thought, wouldn’t it be better if I tell you this not knowing if we’re soulmates?

Telling you I love you without the great stars forcing me to. Telling you I chose you without the great star’s help.

Isn’t it better this way?”

Bambam turned to look at you now and was surprised to see you in tears and he chuckled a bit, “Why are you crying, idiot?”

You hit him with your fist, “It’s because I love you too, you jerk! But I don’t know what will happen tomorrow and I’ve been scared too!”

He chuckled again and then hugged you, stroking your hair, “Don’t be. I’m still hoping it’s me and you in the end.”

After a few minutes you both got up and prepared to go back to the bus stop.

While standing, your phone alarm went off and you swiped it to turn it off. Your phone shows its already midnight.

You looked at Bambam, sniffing and wiping your tears, you tried hard to smile to him, “Happy Birthday.”

He smiled back, “Thank you.” and slowly, he leaned in and kissed your lips.

Yes, you always wondered how Bambam’s lips would feel like. And it felt like home. Like warm blanket on a winter’s night. Like freshly made cookies. It warms you and you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Wouldn’t want to be with anyone else.

If there’s anything like soulmates, wouldn’t it feel like this?

As he pulled away you both couldn’t help but look at the back of his hand. It glowed as the symbols magically appeared one by one.

Three hollow five-point stars lined up together, the middle star slightly larger than the other two.

[dragondusk-moved]

Old Art Dump Part Uhhh

Ok, so I think this will ACTUALLY be the last art dump for a long time. I finally went through everything that hasn’t been posted yet and moved all my old shit to one folder. I went through both old art tags to make sure I wouldn’t post any duplicates.

I lost track lmao sorry. I think this will ACTUALLY be the last dump for a long time. I put the rest of my old shit in one folder, finally went through it, and put them on an old drive.

Most of this stuff was either not posted publicly (ex. sta.sh) or not at all. I say most because I forget which ones ended up being posted or not,

Cinnadogs, my introduction to closed species. This guy was based on caramel cake. I really wanted to sell it for points but I didn’t know how closed species worked back then yet lol. Owner told me I couldn’t sell it, which i didn’t know I couldn’t just do. Can’t remember of it got approved later down the road but I doubt it

I think I drew this boy in 2014. I rarely drew furries or anthros before I became one a year later. It’s pretty good for that year considering what most of my art looked like then

An ex-character who now belongs Dae, as of what I know. I was testing out a new shading technique. I kinda wish I kept it, it doesn’t look bad oh wait I can literally just use it again

Literally named “FACE.psd”. From one of SSundee’s Minecraft videos. Remember him? Lmao. Yes, Ian named her that.

I wanted to do sketch page commishes on Deviantart, and the example I did, which this came from, was the only sketch page I ever did in this style lol. The file name had Fai The Bat in it. I’ll edit in the artist’s name later I forgot how to spell it lmao

I feel like I posted this somewhere, but I couldn’t find it so. This was a phone drawing of Leppa I made while I was bored during class. Even though it’s messy I like it! except the wings help

And another of Pecha. I like Leppa’s way more though

This one I know I posted on Tumblr BUT I must have forgotten to tag it cause I couldn’t find it at all. So I’m just gonna put it here. This is Hawkfurze’s persona.

An OC Martine, who I never used. I posted a sketch of him in an earlier old art batch. I’m considering selling him but I don’t having any good artwork of him that’s worth selling. I covered his eyes because they came out Bad

Joke art with Ren and an old friend lmao. Ren’s hair makes me cringeee wtf. And it’s not fitting to the scarf at all. I’m glad I redesigned them immediately lmao

And another maus thing, with another old friend. Why is this kinda funny to me now also? Look at the Skittles coming out of Xenon’s mouth lmao??

For xinaug, also feel like I posted here but must have forgotten to tag or tagged incorrectly. Again

Unfinished lineless Larry. I promised myself I would include it twice and I finally did just now. Was titled “shift in perspective”, after the Tristam song of course.

and lastly...

T O I L S

[pastelneons]

1 Month Round-Up

It has been a month since I moved from US to SEAN Licensing, and a lot of things have change since then.

The Schedule

The change of shift is a pain in the ass. Commuting is so hard when you are on day shift (but I’d rather be stuck in traffic than go home feeling wasted and unwell). I mean the travel time is almost the same as when I was on night shift, but it feels more exhausting when you’re battling with tons of people to get a ride home. I tried different ways to go home and each of them comes with a different kind of struggle. Such attempts are:

The usual jeep from Gate 3 to Bicutan – OK if you ride a jeep to Tenement (because go try your luck finding one that goes directly to Bicutan which you could actually sit on) and ride another jeep from Tenement to Bicutan. If waiting on the curb for jeeps with passengers unloading on Gate 3 takes too long, I walk on Sales Bridge to go to the other service road and try my luck to get an empty or half-empty jeep from there (because that’s where the jeeps passing on Gate 3 come from).

PNR – which is the best ride because it’ll take you only 15-20 minutes to arrive at Bicutan. A con is you have to be a braveheart. I tried it once because I have waited for too long on the Gate 3 curb and finally gave up on the jeeps. It was the day of the ASEAN conference??? Whatever that’s called. When the train arrived, I saw that it was like filled-to-the-brim kind of full with people. On the sight of it, I kind of panicked because I thought that I was going to wait another hour to be able to ride another train which, I hope, isn’t as full as this one. Luckily, the train marshal pulled my hopes up when he said that there’s still space on one of the coaches. I got a bit confused because people are on the ledge already and I don’t know if I would fit. But he just told me to go there and I thought that I was gonna be stepping on the ledge with the door opened throughout the whole ride. I didn’t know that the doors actually close, judging by the situation. And then, as the coach’s door was closing, the marshal kept pushing me inside, and then poof, the door had closed and I was held secure. It was one of the most epic rides ever. I cannot forget what one of my friends told us – Kung sa MRT para kayong sardinas, sa PNR naman daw para kayong MaLing – which I can attest to after what I had been through! People are so cramped, it’s like playing Twister on a train.

Pasay – kinda cool but time-consuming. It’s going to a farther place to get a surer ride home. I have tried it only once - and on accident. I thought I saw Sucat, which would pass by Bicutan, on the sign, but got confused when I realized that I was the only one who quickly got in. People would’ve swarmed had it been a Sucat jeep.

I have already accepted the Sparta-like commuting fate that has come along the bargain.  I also leave the house early to avoid being stuck in traffic. I leave the house at 6AM even if my schedule is 9-6PM. It’s such a bad schedule because it eats up all my time. I can’t do much before leaving and after getting back home.

Aside from the commute, one significant change that I dealt with is my body clock. On the 1st and 2nd day, it was a struggle for me to focus on training because my eyes were fighting the urge to sleep. We were on a 7-4 schedule on the 1st week. Whenever I get home at around 6pm, I go straight to bed to have a nap. Although the naps last hours – which aren’t naps anymore. I can’t sleep straight ‘til morning, though, because we have to eat dinner.

It also feels weird to sleep in the sleeping quarters at day time. On my first time to do such thing, I was really wowed by the place. It was my first time to see the place lit. During night time, all I can see was darkness in that place (14th floor sleeping area).

The People

The co-trainees are nice, but I feel intimidated at times because they have more experience than I do. I can sense the air of superiority, especially when they express ideas whenever we talk to the higher-ups.

The trainers have been very helpful, especially Sherrie, whom I never thought I’d be close with. Sherrie and us (Malaysia trainees) really stuck because of the green jokes LOL We really aren’t that close with Eric because he’s at the AU Licensing side most of the time, but I was really touched when he told TL Arlome, the one who interviewed me on my 1st Internal Career Opportunity attempt, that I am a good trainee and one of the bests. Surprisingly, I’ve also become close to Vince, the trainer for HK.  I never expected that we would be close because I didn’t meet him the same time my co-trainees did. I all fairness, he’s one of the kindest people I’ve met so far. He resembles the male version of Marisse.

I also had interactions with people from AU and SG teams during our side-by-side sessions. They were all cool too. They tried to educate me about the process as much as possible – though wat they do differs from what we’ll be doing. The hard part was introducing myself over and over again. I’ve gone through 3 introductions with those 3 people I sat with.

Our Tacloban training room is huge and obviously meant for large groups, that’s why the training supervisor and the other trainers stay there when they don’t have meetings. They’re all surprisingly friendly. That is one thing I like about Ingram Micro. Even when people are in higher positions, they don’t act like it. They don’t hesitate to speak to regular employees and they don’t have that boss-like attitude.

The HK-MY Team is awesome. They are very supportive to us and lifts our spirits up by saying that we can do it. Hehe. We also have a great TL. He’s so chill and cool. He’s been promoted just recently, so I feel like he’s at the same pace of learning as we are.

The Work

First Few Days - The first week was the real struggle of the whole month. Since I came in one week late in the training, Sherrie (one of our trainers) taught me everything about SAP in just one day. I had to catch up with my co-trainees so we can be at the same pace as soon as possible. I learned everything and took the exit test on my 2nd day.. I have to admit that I thought I would fail the test because I never used SAP before. It is 360 degrees different from what we have in US Licensing. After those 2 days of information overload, the training slowed down. Every day felt like we’re just going to work to wait for 6PM. We cannot complain, though, because we’re getting paid without any work. LOL. But still, there’s the lingering feeling of boredom due to unproductivity.

Work Assignments - I was assigned to Malaysia Renewals, and my partner is Jerome. We finally had the WebEx training schedule after 3 weeks of doing nothing. Lucky for us, we had our training earlier than the other two assigned to Malaysia Quote Creations. Jerome and I were given 4 vendors to handle, namely, McAfee, VMware, Trend Micro, and Fortinet. The renewal quoting process for all these vendors seems routinary. The struggle would be the volume and focusing while juggling the four vendors.

Training - We had gone through WebEx training last week. We haven’t tried doing live requests yet, but that should come around this week.

Counterparts – Now this is something interesting. Since we are the 2nd pioneering batch of Malaysia Renewals, a lot of our process resources come from our Malaysian partners. It means that whenever we’re unsure of something, our first line of action is to contact the people from the Malaysia office, which includes the Product Managers, Internal Sales Representatives, and people from the Vendor. I feel like it’s so cool because directly communicating with them gives me a feeling of significance. When I was in the US, only our TL and senior can get to speak with our American counterparts freely. Whenever I try to talk to them for help, there is a feeling of anxiety because I might be bothering them or they may not like to be asked questions. But in our current situation, I believe that the counterparts have been oriented about the need to work hand in hand for us to be able to help them and for the process to be successfully transitioned in the Philippines.

All in all, everything is going great except for the fact that I cannot do much at home and I cannot go to go to places freely whenever I need to accompany my dad to places. Since I already know the cons of this work sched, I need to step my game up and be more organized at home so that my dad and stepmom wouldn’t go hungry and become more at ease while I‘m away.

I’m definitely missing everything about the night shift, especially my friends. It’ll be hard for people to match what we’ve had. It’s a good thing that Sheena is only a few steps away. She’s someone who makes me feel the old feelings J I also miss Microsoft. I accessed Impulse several times and found myself lagging for a few seconds while exploring the system because I forgot some of the jump codes already. So sad L  It makes me reminiscent of the good times and bad times with Microsoft. LOL

This post is getting sad already. I’m starting to miss the old bunch L As they say, change is essential to growth, and a part of change is leaving things and embracing new ones.

[itsclydebitches]

Summary:

Just days after Balem returned to his adult self, Jupiter is thrown head-first into another adventure - one she, frankly, really doesn't have the energy for. But when has the universe ever taken her desires into account? Mysteries, promises, and desperate moves forward; bees, splices, and awkward family dinners. It's enough to make even her seasoned head spin.

...which doesn't even include the chance to play at 'Mother' once more. Only question is: will Jupiter take it?

(DIRECT SEQUEL TO "ROCK THE CRADLE")

Fandom: Jupiter Ascending 

Words: 9,779 so far 

Warnings: Will eventually mention previous neglect/abuse of children

Pairings: Jupiter/Caine 

Where to Read it: Below the cut or on AO3 (AO3 recommended for formatting) 

Chapter Six

“This went from ‘kind of cool’ to ‘seriously annoying’... oh, twenty minutes ago?”

Jupiter irritatingly swatted at another cloud of bees (careful not to actually hurt them) as they made a desperate dive to try and burrow into her hair. Another batch was settling in all the crooks of her body (collarbone, beneath her chin, in the hollow of the backs of her knees), while still others seemed to seek actual skin contact, bypassing her already covered arms and legs to flit up beneath her shirt. Jupiter grit her teeth at the feeling of foreign bodies crawling everything, stupidly glad that her skinny jeans didn’t allow them to burrow anywhere else.

“Enough of you,” Caine growled, mimicking her swat with a lot less patience. Jupiter caught his hand and brought it into her lap instead.

“It’s fine,” and no sooner had she sighed it than the bees were back, landing wherever they could and taking whatever she was willing to give. Jupiter wondered if she looked somehow regal like this—or if she was just a cheap monster out of some low-budget horror flick.

Kiza’s expression suggested the latter. Her phone click-click-clicked as it took a million, horrible photos. No way was she buying her a better phone. This girl did not need more storage space.

Jupiter thought about pointing out the obvious though, that there was no photo album to fill anymore. Or there was, but it was gone, and she doubted Balem wanted her to send updates. The mere thought of him painstakingly adding pages to the back of the book and gluing in new photos was so ridiculous it had Jupiter releasing a slightly hysterical laugh.

Kiza slowly lowered her phone. “You okay?”

“Not really.”

“Yeah. Yeah I feel that.”

The whole party was largely off kilter and a massive swarm of bees invading the living room was only part of the problem. Jupiter was high-strung of course, and Caine had a tendency to follow her in all things, even emotions. Same with Kiza and Stinger now that she thought about it, some hereditary loyalty rising to the surface as they honed in on their queen, and okay, shit, was everyone in a bad mood just because she was?

Three pairs of eyes stared at her intently. Huh. Maybe “I feel that” was less a common phrase and more a literal expression of truth. Jupiter mustered up a smile.

“Whoooo’s gonna explain what’s going oooon?” she sang.

Stinger sighed, throwing up his hands. He obviously needed to do something with them though, and without a weapon to point at a concrete enemy he just ended up fiddling with everything in reach: the throw draped across the couch Jupiter sat on, the edge of his shirt, a pencil he’d stuck haphazardly behind his ear. In the end Stinger settled on pouring her another cup of coffee even though Jupiter had barely touched the first.

That done he spread his arms. Whole strings of bees followed the movement.

“You’re more equipped to answer that than I am, Your Majesty. You say you were visited by a fox splice?”

Caine nodded. “One sent by Kalique. You think there’s a connection?”

Kiza snorted. “Between her suddenly changing the game and an attack on our house? Absolutely. Though what the hell would she want with our honey?”

“Nothing,” but Stinger’s hands made fists just thinking about it. “She has the resources to pull off a theft like that of course, she could hire any group she’d like, but why the hell would she want to? There’s no commercial value to it—at least not compared to her own vast wealth—and as for personal reasons...” he trailed off, shaking his head. “It makes no sense.”

Jupiter scoffed. “When has anything involving Kalique ever made sense?”

“The fact that she’s actually the most logical and methodical of the three is kinda sad. And by ‘sad’ I mean hilarious.” Kiza dodged Jupiter’s whack to the head.

“You didn’t hear anything?” she pressed. “Earlier?”

“Nope. Slept in, did my chores, went to do more chores outside—” Kiza sent a nasty glare her dad’s way. Stinger challenged it stiffly—”finally got to the hives out back, called you, and discovered... that.” ‘That’ was clearly the missing honey, though Kiza made the absence sound like a foul addition instead. Like an enemy. Or no, something that grew. A cancer.

Jupiter felt Caine shifting on the couch beside her. She gave his hand another squeeze and was relieved to feel him doing the same.

“We’ll figure it out,” she said. “I promise. And not to make light of that situation, but...can we focus on one emergency at a time?”

“Dinner,” Caine said solemnly.

“Politics,” Stinger countered.

“Food,” Kiza finished. “Wasted. Which I am very happy to eat for you anyway.”

“You’re welcome to the steaks,” Jupiter sighed, like she didn’t already know that Kiza had squirreled them away for a late night snack sometime. The girl’s appetite was easily the most alien thing about her. “You’ll all come then?”

Stinger’s hand settled on her shoulder. “Don’t be foolish, Your Majesty. Where you go, we follow.”

She actually wanted to say something appropriately thankful in response, but the movement was—once again—ruined by a flash from Kiza and an exaggerated “Awww.” She raised her phone in the air as Jupiter rubbed at her eyes.

“I like this one,” Kiza announced.

“Good for you,” Stinger said. “Caine. With me. I won’t be going into another Entitled’s lair blind. Not again. Kiza? Entertain your Queen.”

“Sir, yes sir,” she said and as the two boys went off to discuss super cool space weaponry she threw herself onto the couch beside Jupiter. A massive cloud of bees rose up like a wave.

Jupiter carefully extracted a bee that had gotten caught in the belt loop of her jeans. “Can you make them go away?”

“I’ve tried.” Kiza actually sounded apologetic about it. “They’re really... just...” she blew out a slow breath. “They need this right now.”

“...and so do you,” Jupiter said, realizing the words were true as soon as she’d said them. Kiza was pressed shoulder-to-shoulder with Jupiter, much like how the bees themselves were seeking her touch. If Jupiter focused, she could feel the lightest tremble running through Kiza’s body. She lifted an arm and settled it around Kiza’s back. The younger girl nestled there, vulnerable.

“It probably seems stupid to you,” she muttered, face now pressed into the fabric of Jupiter’s shirt. “Just honey, yeah? Got plenty of that. And sure, sure the bees themselves are fine, which is the important thing, but... it’s an invasion, you know? Someone was here. In our home. They took something that didn’t belong to them!” Kiza was trembling harder now and it had little to do with disquiet. “Ugh. I sound like dad. I know he’s super mad too, even if he’s better at controlling it. I’m a second generation splice. I love our bees, alright? But even I’m not connected to the spirit like he is.”

Jupiter’s fingers had found their way into Kiza’s hair. She paused there before resuming her slow, soothing movements. “Spirit?”

Kiza hummed. “It’s not really a religion, like you have here on Earth. You gotta remember its all tied up in our biology too. It’s more that we understand all the layers.”

“Like onions,” Jupiter intoned and was relieved when Kiza shoved her lightly.

“Don’t quote Shrek at me. But yes, layers. Or—or connections. Like how one bee isn’t just a bee. They’re part of a hive, an ecosystem; they’re connected to you and to me. It’s the same with honey. It’s not just a food source, it’s something they made. It’s exploration and life and they always create more than they need so we can have some too and—” Kiza drew in a massive breath. “It’s just important, okay?”

“Okay,” Jupiter agreed. She sometimes forgot just how young Kiza was, not only compared to her but their group at large, everyone either in a genetically enhanced middle age or outright ancient. Kiza was the little sister Jupiter had never, but who she was thrilled to have now that she was here.

She also felt a little like a daughter.

Jupiter twisted her earring.

“Good talk,” she said, because Jupiter was nothing if not awkward when it came to heart-to-hearts. There was a little part of her mind that whispered, ‘I love dogs’ and she firmly stuffed it into the deepest, darkest pit she could conjure up. “So… whatcha got there?”

Still curled against Jupiter, Kiza had her phone out again, though for once it wasn’t pointing and clicking. It looked like she was online, though what website needed such a violently blue background, Jupiter didn’t know. She shooed a bunch of bees out of the way to get a better view. Kiza helped by tilting the screen.

“Tumblr,” she said, like that explained anything at all.

“Tumbling?”

“Tumblr. Don’t you ever waste your life online?”

Jupiter considered. “Yes, but you’re talking to the girl who grew up in a poor, super large family that always monopolized the one desktop. Also, excuse you, but I’ve been busy. Saving the world? Or did you forget?”

To Jupiter’s horror, an unexpectedly evil grin stretched across Kiza’s face. “Oh, I didn’t forget, Your Majesty. I documented it.”

“You—wait what?”

Over the next mind-boggling ten minutes Jupiter got a crash course in current social media, complete with the distinction between those parts of the website that humans had access too, and the sprawling, galaxy-wide network that catered to everyone else. Scrolling through pictures, news articles, and GIFs of funny cats was one thing, finding out that Kiza had been blogging about Queen Jupiter on the equivalent of Space Facebook was something else.

“You’ve made me kind of famous,” Kiza said, sounding infuriatingly smug about it. “My follower count skyrocketed when I started posting these pics. I mean sure, we get the stupid anon or two, but pretty much everyone else is supportive. They want to know you, Your Majesty. It’s the classic rags to riches story, plus you’re the first Entitled in, what? Ever, who isn’t a dick? You should totally start your own blog. Provided I help, of course.”

“Oh my god,” Jupiter whispered. Her finger felt numb as she scrolled through an endless stream of stories, questions, and, yes, pictures of her. Most of them were candid, shot when Jupiter had been otherwise engaged. There was one of her upside down on her bed upstairs, a half-piece of toast dangling from her mouth. She couldn’t even remember when she’d done that, let alone how Kiza could have gotten a pic without her noticing. The ones of her and Caine were particularly popular, at least according to the number of ‘notes’ each one had. Jupiter was torn between flattered and mortally embarrassed.

She scrolled down further and found a picture of her holding Balem. Jupiter snapped her hand back.

“You’d be good at it too,” Kiza was saying, oblivious. “You’re pretty, famous, and rich, the trifecta for getting a good following. Plus half of what you say is basically shit-posting, so.”

“Kiza—”

“I can—”

Whoom.

Too late for talk: at that moment a massive crash sounded from somewhere outside; too short to be an earthquake, not quite large enough for an explosion. Still, it knocked Kiza back into Jupiter’s shoulder, the both of them slipping halfway off the couch and their cloud of bees scattering with worry. The two filled coffee cups splattered onto the carpet. The throw fell down across their backs. Jupiter ended up jarring her hip and watched as Caine and Stinger store sideways into the room.

What now? was her first and completely justified thought.

Jupiter pushed up quickly, righting the boys in her vision. They looked ready to take on a whole army together. Which tended to happen when you carried whole armloads of weapons into the room.

“What the fuck?” Stinger growled. He’d already hefted something large and glowing blue over his shoulder, marching towards the door. Caine stopped only long enough to pull Jupiter to her feet.

“My thoughts exactly,” she grimaced.

“You’re okay?”

“Fine, fine. Do we know what—?”

Whoom! Again, but closer and with a bit more... solidity. This time Jupiter felt the foundations of the house shake.

“Oh, but it’s never boring with you, Your Majesty,” Kiza breathed. Jupiter watched with a mixture of disbelief and respect as she began composing a new post.

“We’re talking about this later,” she said and grabbed them both by the arm.

Careful of what they might find, Jupiter, Caine, and Kiza followed Stinger out of the house.