#ALL TYPE TRIMMER

[punkitt-is-here]

Had to write a three-page screenplay script for a "Discovery" for class. Didn't have any further instructions. It's super off-the-cuff, but I wanted to share it. Happy pride <3

INT. COLLEGE DORM - NIGHT.

A college student sits at his desk, sketching. It's a one room apartment, and his roommate is sound asleep. He's sketching in the light of a single lamp, being quiet. The student, GABE (male, 19) is drawing a cartoon version of himself. He's studying outfits from a fashion catalogue, drawing himself in different ones. He bites the tip of his pencil, not feeling the piece he's working on. He rolls his chair back, reeling away from the desk. Gabe puts his hands in his hair, leaning back and looking at the ceiling. He lets out a long exhale. It's late.

After a moment, he rolls back to the desk. Tapping the pencil to his head, he flips through the pages. It's an unremarkable task, stopping on a random page. Oh, the women's fashion section. It has simple, practical outfits for girls, including a jean skirt. Gabe peers at it. Fuck it, it's late. He erases the pants of one of his drawings and pencils in a skirt instead.

He pauses.

He stares at it.

Something here is weird.

He goes to erase it, but once he does, he just draws it in again. This time with more care. More detail. He stares at it again.

Tears well up in his eyes.

GABE

(whispering)

…what the fuck?

Gabe, confused, touches his hand to his eye. He looks at the tear on his finger. Huh? He stares at the drawing again. He looks back at his roommate, sound asleep. He's having some sort of moment, but he has to be quiet. He frantically looks back at his sketchbook.

GABE

(whispering)

Uh…

A beat.

Gabe starts drawing himself again. In the women's fashion this time. It's like a whole different world. He's drawing like crazy. It's all flowing out of him. He draws another.

And another. Slowly, details start to adjust in his art.

Longer hair. Longer eyelashes. Daintier poses. More smiles.

He's got tears running down his face, but he's not wearing any emotion. He's not sure what to think.

CUT TO

An indeterminate amount of time later. Gabe stares at his notebook. It's full. It's lots of drawings of him.

As…well, he guesses as a girl. But he's not one. He flips through the book again, then turns towards the dark window his desk resides next to. He looks at himself. Patchy facial hair and a shaggy haircut.

CUT TO

INT. DORM HALLWAY - NIGHT

Gabe rushes down the hallway, looking frantic. He's carrying a bag.

INT. DORM BATHROOM - NIGHT

It's quiet inside the bathroom. No one else occupies the space. It's just him and his reflection. His reflection? Maybe their reflection. Her reflection? No, that's not right. Is it right? Gabe stares at himself intently. The whirring of a trimmer cuts through the silence. He brings it up to his facial hair, shearing away a week's worth of fuzz.

He looks at himself like it's not him in the mirror. He holds a hand up to his face, feeling it.

It's not enough. Not yet. He has to know.

He gets out his phone and starts typing.

HOW TO SHAVE FACIAL HAIR OFHG

He frantically types, misspelling. He backspaces like his life depends on it.

HOW TO SHAVE FACIAL HAIR OFF ALL

THE WAY

He quickly scans an article and then gets to work, pulling some miscellaneous bathroom supplies out of his bag. Shaving cream. A razor. Gifts for cleaning up at college. He wets his face. Applies the shaving cream. Does careful strokes down his cheeks and neck. Slowly, someone reveals themselves.

They lean down, splashing themselves with water. They look up, and it's a different person. She's completely shaved her facial hair off. Gabe hasn't seen herself like this since she was in freshman year of high school, before facial hair was even an option. She reaches up and touches her face, smooth to the touch. She stares, enamored. A moment. She grabs a towel and dries her face off, and then looks again. She's so…different. But that's her! That's Gabe! Is it Gabe? She doesn't know anymore. A close up to her eyes. Her nose. Her lips. Her neck. It's all so new. She starts laughing. She laughs, and tears well up in her eyes a little. She laughs some more. In moments, she's full on crying tears of joy. She doesn't know why. But she is! That's her!

CUT TO

INT. SECONDHAND - DAY

Gabe is at a clothing rack, searching for something. She looks around, a little embarrassed. She browses for a moment before finding what she wants. She passes by some more racks carefully, trying not to be too obvious. She slips into the changing room, then locks the door.

GABE

…okay.

Gabe unbuckles her belt. In a moment, she's wearing black leggings. She hikes them up, then unclips a gaudy skirt from the clothes-hanger. She stares at it, a little scared of it and what it represents. She bites her lip. She stretches it out and then steps in. She looks up at the mirror.

Oh shit, that's her! That's her!

Gabe is wearing a long, patterned skirt and a tee-shirt. The colors don't match at all, and the patterns don't either.

She looks a bit like a yard sale of a person. But it's her!

She spins around, watching the fabric flow out from her hips in a whirlwind of stripes and insignia. She laughs again.

This is her! This is her!

This is her!

[lynati]

(Oh, the author of this is having FUN!)

"Vance's speech, on the other hand, wasn't just underwhelming but a little uncanny. Despite using room dividers to shrink the space, the campaign could not hide that the crowd felt like a medium-sized wedding, albeit a pathetic one where no one cares for the couple. Vance, perhaps recognizing charisma isn't his strong suit, spoke briefly before bringing up a series of local citizens ready to blame Mexicans for their familial tragedies of drug addiction. He spoke for a couple more minutes, before taking the reporters' questions about cat ladies. 

"Even in his short speech, it seemed Vance — like the Trump campaign overall — is still struggling to accept that they are running against Harris and not President Joe Biden. It felt like the speechwriter had typed Ctrl-F "Biden" and replaced every instance with "Harris," whether it made sense or not. Vance accused Harris of hiding from the press with a "basement campaign." Never mind that Harris is now the young and spry candidate who can keep up with an aggressive schedule, while Trump is the tired old man who can barely campaign between naps. 

"One upside to the Vance event: There was no line to use the ladies' room. Sure, there were women in attendance, but the gender ratio felt like the guest list on Joe Rogan's podcast.

"There was one kind of diversity in this small but weirdly intense crowd. Every type of white man that gets a hasty "swipe left" on his dating profile was in attendance: 'Roided out dudes with bad tribal tattoos. Older men radiating "bitter divorce" energy. Men with enormous beards that have never known the touch of a trimmer. Skinny fascists wearing expensive suits, despite the oppressive heat. Glowering loners staring at the two women under 40 like cats watching birds out a window. 

"There's a lot of chatter in MAGA circles about how the enthusiasm for Harris is "manufactured," as if all the people bringing down the house on an early Tuesday evening in Philadelphia are phantoms instead of real people. 

"But boy, I was there, and they are very real. More than that, the contrast with the Vance event underscored the Democratic messaging about "normal vs. weird."

"The people who flooded the Temple stadium looked like any cross-section of America on any given night. There was old, young and all in-between. There were tattooed hipsters and soccer moms. There were people of every race, dressed in every which way. It could have been a crowd of people chosen at random from the streets of Philadelphia, or any city in America, really. They were brought together by the chant quickly becoming the Harris campaign slogan: "Not going back."

(The full article is longer than this, and you should give the whole thing a read.)

[radioisntdead]

I have an idea.

Mom susan and daughter are reader

How about the reader tries to introduce her husband to her mother??

Good evening my dear! I wanted to see a Susan and Alastor in-law showdown and I wrote a drabble and then some headcanons, so I hope you don't mind, but if you do just let me know and I can replace Alastor with another requested character or an oc or something,

The mother in-law

Susan & daughter reader, Alastor x female reader

Warnings!!

Cannibalism, violent elderly, implied Violence AGAINST the elderly in the headcanons mostly, Susan invading boundaries, Alastor gets insulted by Susan, Reader needs a drink, poorly drawn Cat Alastor in a suit, OOC characters, not proofread, does anyone know a replacement for Grammerly??

Alastor made the most of falling to eternal damnation, seeing it as a new opportunity,

He become an overlord, a cannibal, the feared Radio demon,

It was shocking enough to him that he had met you, and while it did take awhile and a long long friendship he did end up realizing he had feelings for you, a sweetheart of a cannibal, who worked with his dear friend Rosie and asked to court you in the gentlemenly way, with a bouquet of seven roses and a kiss on your hand, He was the happiest lil' deer in all of hell.

He'd take you dancing, you'd do something like reading or taking a nap as he did his radio broadcast, the two of you would go on walks,

It was bliss

Unfortunately or fortunately depending how you look at it, Alastor disappeared for seven years taking you with him, much to the distain of your mother.

During the time away you were wed, it was a small ceremony, only the two of you and the fucked up cat thing that looked strikingly like Alastor you adopted as your witness.

Anyways with the sudden seven year disappearance and marriage, he never got to formally meet his mother in law that you've told him so much about,

So once everything was settled and you got to visit your dear mama a couple of times, you decided to finally introduce them,

Unfortunately they already knew each other.

Oh no.

Alastor wore his best suit, he even put that evil radio cat into a suit, you wore a lovely dress that matched the aesthetics of cannibal town [Or an exact copy of Alastor's regular suit if you wanna give Susan a heart attack]

He walked arm in arm with you to the cannibal town home your mother lived in, and from the moment the door was opened there was only one thought on his mind.

Oh shit it was Susan, you were the daughter of the Ornery old bitch,

How was someone like YOU related to SUSAN??

Were you adopted? You had to be, he refused to believe that old lady had spawned you in any type of way, maybe she picked you up off the street?

Susan grabbed your hand pulling you in and looking over you, not bothering to greet the radio demon beside you,

"Where have you been I thought you died, Why are you with the guy with the shitty haircut that looks like someone went at him with a fucking hedge trimmer"

"Mama I visited you last week,"

Susan questioned immediately as you laughed nervously, barely two seconds in and she had already insulted Alastor,

you look over to Alastor who stood awkwardly in the door way, waiting to be invited in, the cursed cat in a suit standing by him also waiting to be invited in.

"And apparently you already know my Alasto-"

you were cut off swiftly by Susan squinting at Alastor

"You married the fucking embodiment of red-40?"

Alastor blinked, "Excuse me?"

"You're excused." Susan moved to shut the door in Alastor's face but was stopped by you stopping her

"Ma, please, Alastor come on in"

You said gesturing for your husband and the thing to enter, Susan scoffed mumbling about something as she turned around and sped into the kitchen.

Alastor leaned into you, hooking his arm with yours as the messed up cat clone moved around immediately crawling upon Susan's rocking chair.

"My dear it's not too late to leave and dine elsewhere''

"Alastor please, It's just one dinner with my Ma''

"Who's an ornery old-"

"ALASTOR."

It's a very very awkward dinner, Alastor tried to compliment Susan's meatloaf? He got bullied, you did step in to shut that behavior down but that didn't do much, Alastor tried to help wash the dishes after supper? Susan stood over him watching as he washed every plate and each piece of cutlery, judging him.

Susan did not fear the overlord, and you were concerned.

After dinner was finished and dessert was eaten Susan stared both you and Alastor down as you sat on her couch.

"How long have you been married?"

"Six years."

"Where are my grandchildren then?!"

You hold up the mini Alastor, it's tail wagged slowly as Susan looked upon it with a look of disapproval,

"That's a shitty looking rat, is your husband dysfunctional?"

"Ma, can you not- NO, Alastor put away the tentacles she will RIP THEM OFF-''

AND HEADCANON TIME BECAUSE I am not the best at writing action.

You poor soul.

They can't kill each other because you exist,

It's like stopping two toddlers from fighting except one's well over a century old and your married to the other one,

You're an unpaid babysitter I'm so sorry

Alastor was raised to respect woman and the elderly but he is very close to attacking Susan

He can't do much because he doesn't want to get into trouble with Rosie because attacking one of her cannibals no matter who it is, was a whole can of worms he rather not open, and also she was unfortunately your mother,

He's questioning that, like after this dinner expect him to sit you down and just start throwing questions, like how?

He liked Susan's meatloaf well enough, he could live without it though,

Susan runs into him randomly on the street? She asks if she has a grandchild yet, no? He's getting attacked with the cane and asked if he cannot perform properly Violence on the ace deer

She tries to convince you to leave him and tried introducing you to a random cannibal she pulled off the street, but she stopped after you got upset at her.

Assuming you live at the Hazbin hotel with Alastor Susan visits, she somehow got a key to the room you and Alastor shared so you could be sleeping and Susan pops in swinging her cane, dropping lore

Alastor lives in mild fear, he's changed the locks, he's put Niffty outside the door as security,

Susan always GETS IN.

You have boundaries with her but she breaks them and your working on getting her to stop,

It becomes a hotel wide situation of getting Susan to not break in

She oddly enough likes Angel dust and you use him as a distraction whenever she appears without warning,

You owe Angel several favors.

You are in debt.

Susan eventually grows a fondness for the freak grandchild, she gets clothes, dresses him up and calls him sonny,

Alastor's not the most pleased but it's better then getting asked if he suffers from certain conditions

They sometimes fight over your time, like he's taking you out on a date and Susan pops in and drags whisks you away for tea or something,

They can't do much aside from verbal Insults and glares, but they did get into a physical fight, Alastor got hit with a chair, Susan almost got eaten, Alastor sent Niffty on her and she almost got stabbed

You threatened to tell Rosie and they both stopped, thankfully

Susan keeps divorce papers on hand just in case you ever change your mind, she's not afraid to attack an overlord, this woman is down below for a reason and she is FERAL.

If she catches Alastor chompin' down on your arm he's getting whooped with a cane and the both of you are getting a full lecture on if he's doing anything he's not supposed too, and if he is, he needs to go.

Alastor is very adamant that he would never intentionally harm you apparently the BITING DOESN'T COUNT AS HARM???

Dude has a fear of becoming like his father.

They have issues but they agree on things like this,

There's eventually a group meeting about Susan breaking into the hotel and while she's welcome she needs to stop popping in at late hours of the night or at the crack of dawn,

There's a Susan security system set up now.

Susan's never going to fully approve because you'll always be that small child she found on the side of the streets long ago to her and no man, woman or whatever is going to be good enough for her little girl, but she'll put up with it, she knows that while Alastor isn't the best person it could be worse.

She eventually respects your boundaries, yay!

Good evening folks! Thank you for tuning in! I hope you liked whatever this was, I'm slowly working though requests! Now it's 3 am and I'm tired, goodnight! Have a cursed cat Alastor in a suit that I drew with my fingers

He looks like a tatortot

[buggywiththefolkmagic]

Only YOU Can Prevent Witchy Fires

Hello witches, workers, and all in between! Your friendly neighborhood Granny is here to teach you a few things about fire safety!

Yes, yes, I know. “But Buggy, this is tumblr! And you're on a boring witchcraft blog! What do we need a lesson on fire safety for? We aren’t in kindergarten!” But trust me! More than one witch has accidentally singed their hair or set their own altar on fire before! Sometimes we get so into the spiritual that we forget to be mindful of the reality around us.

I’m going to go over a bundle of good tips to keep in mind for making a wax seal over that spell jar or burning a few bay leaves or ingredients to release that nonsense into the air! Even a section for the kitchen witches!

Indoor Safety:

*Those annoying fire alarms? Make sure they are operational okay? Change those batteries at least once a year, preferably twice. (If it is something you are in control of.)

*Always use a fire-safe candle holder for candles! Trim down that wick before lighting! I know it seems silly to use a pair of scissors or a wick trimmer, but trimming down that wick will always make that flame much easier to manage. And that flame? If it gets big enough to cause black smoke ALWAYS put it out.

*Always keep the candle in your line of sight, no meditation with an open flame going okay? Also if your candle is big enough to burn for more than four hours...put it out at the 4 hour mark.

*The longer a candle burns the more carbon gathers on the wick itself and that can make the flame get bigger and more unstable. Those ultra-wobbly flames that flicker and waves like one of those wacky inflatable arm flailing tube men? That is something you don’t want.

*Putting out a candle: We don’t recommend putting it out with your fingers no matter how cool it looks. Use a candle snuffer, or blow it out. I promise blowing out a deity candle won’t insult them!

*Another crucial tip is to keep anything that could catch fire a minimum of three feet or 91 centimeters AWAY from the fire source. That includes carpeted flooring, cloth, hair, rugs, altar cloths, papers, books, all sorts of things! Always wear your hair back when working with fire, and wear close fitting clothing that won’t hang or drape into the fire with your movements.

*Another tip given straight from the NSC is to NEVER use candles or other fire sources while tired or inebriated! That means no 2 am spell jars if you are half asleep! ALSO never EVER leave a candle WARM or actively BURNING! Same goes for any items you are burning down like bay leaves. Burn them in a fire safe bowl that is much bigger than you think you need. Toss the debris around and soak in water to ensure they are safely doused.

*IF you are using wax to seal off spell jars I highly suggest getting a wax sealing kit! Wax sealing kits come with a little spoon that you drop bits of wax into and ‘melt’ them down over something like a tea candle. An example is this: Which you can find on Amazon for roughly $10 USD!

The spoon is perfect for pouring and there’s less likelihood of the candle you would sit on top of the jar from falling off because...there is no candle! If you only have a candle to work with...please don’t burn the candle on top of the object you are sealing, put the candle in a safe holder and hold it over the object once warm to let the wax drip down. Have the object you are sealing sitting on top of a safe ceramic plate or bowl in case of drippage!

But what do I do if a fire starts?

Good question! That depends on the type of fire it is! Here’s a breakdown of the types and methods to put them out: Ordinary Fire: An ordinary fire is caused by candles, papers, cloth, plastics, that sort of thing!

The good news is these types of fires respond amazingly well to plain old water! It’s always advised that you keep a bucket or pitcher full of water within reach whenever using candles just in case!

Electric Fire: Electric fires are caused by a source of electricity, like wires getting crossed and arching.

NEVER use water on an electrical fire! If you do, you'll just electrocute yourself. If it’s safe to do so...unplug the object from the outlet. Turn off the electricity in your house’s electric breaker box. Smother the flames by pouring baking soda onto them.

Chemical Fire: Chemical fires have a chemical as a fuel source, like rubbing alcohol, nail polish & polish remover. Even your nails near a candle can produce a small chemical fire if you aren’t careful! (Dry those nails up good before using candles.) These fires can only be put out with a fire blanket OR pouring a LARGE quantity of baking soda or sand onto the fire.

Cooking Fires: Cooking fires are the most common form of household fire. It can be caused by grease, burning food, or burning cooking oil. Water will NOT work on any fire oil or grease based, it may seem like a first instinct to grab the pan and toss it into a sink with water...DON’T.

That will cause the oil to splatter and can injure you and make any flames spread further! It the fire is small enough and contained within a pot or skillet, have a lid or baking sheet handy and throw that onto the top of the fire, this will smother it out. A fire blanket can also be used for this. Do NOT swat at the flames, this is just a fanning motion and will give the fire more oxygen to grow with! Pour a large amount of salt or baking soda on top of the fire. MAKE SURE it is not flour, as flour will cause the fire to grow quick enough to even explode! Turn off any heat source.

And if the fire is in the oven or microwave? Leave that door CLOSED. It seems super scary but the fire will smother itself out when trapped in a small box. (Of which both cooking items are.)

Outdoor Safety:

Never burn outdoors if it is windy or extra dry! Do not burn general trash, only burn natural dry vegetation/herbs. Always check your local ordinances and make sure there are no burn bans in your area currently active!

If you are going to burn outside, clear away a circular space for the burning items. Far enough away from overgrowth, houses, powerlines, and other such things. The burning site should have plenty of dirt or gravel around it, usually around 10 feet, 304 centimeters circular if burning a campfire-size burning space. Make sure the dirt and gravel is well doused in water to prevent any spreading.

Always stay around the fire until it is completely out. Turn the debris from your burn a few times and douse it hard with water. NEVER leave dry ash on the ground, embers could be still warm enough to catch on the inside of the ash! Keep checking on that burn area for a few days or a few weeks to make sure nothing is left, especially during warmer or dryer months. Don’t toss matches or other lighting instruments just anywhere! Those can still be warm and still catch grass alight.

And there you have it! A crash course on being safe with fire while doing your thing and slinging your spells!

[mysterious-moonstruck-musings]

Destiny & Deliverance: Chapter 28

Destiny & Deliverance Masterlist ||| Main Masterlist Dieter Bravo X OFC

Series Summary: Natalia Cohen is experiencing major life changes, beginning with leaving an emotionally abusive husband. She is learning how to navigate life on her own while dealing with high functioning anxiety, depression, and mild PTSD. Everything is looking up for her. She is a highly respected consultant for a major LA firm, has her best friend, Lauren, by her side, and is on her path to healing. Everything changes when she meets a handsome and broken stranger on a work trip. He turns out to be a well-known actor, with a heart-breaking past. They quickly develop a connection that will forever alter their lives. 

Warnings: Themes dealing with mental health, emotional trauma, alcohol use, and discussions about suicide. There will be fluff, tears, spicy language, and smut. This will be a slow burn type of story. Read at your own risk.

Chapter Warnings: Smutty stuff.

Chapter Quote: “Oh, you know me…I’m really good at operations management. Just working through things to figure out the most efficient process for peak outcomes.”

As I sat in the lobby waiting for Dieter to change into the clothes I had brought for him and complete the discharge process, I could feel my anxiety flaring. He and I hadn’t spent any length of time alone together since he was filming in Canada, and everything felt different now. We had made it clear to each other that we wanted to be together and make this work, but we knew there was going to be some initial awkwardness to get through. We had briefly discussed it with Dr. Rosenberg, but talking about it and experiencing it were two different things. I could already feel the hum of anticipation vibrating throughout my body, but I also still had a deep seeded fear that he was going to change his mind and realize he didn’t have feelings for me any longer. 

Dieter soon emerged from the double security doors that led to the back. He was in a dark gray t-shirt, medium wash jeans that were slung low over his slightly trimmer waist, and sneakers. His shirt was working double time as it stretched across his much broader shoulders and chest. He had spent a lot of his down time exercising and it showed. His hair was still a curly mess, but it looked like he had tried to tame it back some. He had his tote bag stuffed with the small number of personal items slung over his shoulder. 

Several staff members followed to give their goodbyes and see him off, Dr. Rosenberg and Sharon included. Sharon gave him a teary smile and hug as Dr. Rosenberg walked over to check in with me. I stood from my seat as she approached. I knew as soon as she grabbed my hand and squeezed it, that she could sense my nervousness. 

“You doing ok?” She asked quietly with a concerned look on her face. I nodded, giving her a tight-lipped smile. 

“Yeah, I’m good. Just a little anxious.” She squeezed my hand again.  

“He is too. Just remember to talk through it and you’ll both be fine.”

I inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly before I nodded.

Once Dieter was finished with his goodbyes, he timidly made his way over to me with his hands clenching and unclenching into fists. He leaned in to give me a tight hug, reluctantly pulling away with a small smile. I reached down and grabbed his hand, threading our fingers together as I met his eyes. 

“You ready?” 

His eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened, “Yeah…I think so.” 

We held each other’s gaze for a moment, the reality of the situation finally setting in. I could see several emotions playing across his face and could feel mine bubbling to the surface, threatening to spill out. I was suddenly aware of all of the eyes on us. Somehow, I managed to push my feelings aside as we waved to everyone and headed toward the exit.

Once we were outside, away from curious onlookers, I couldn’t hold it back anymore. By the time we reached the car, the flood gates opened, and my legs suddenly felt weak. I leaned against the hood of the rental to catch myself. Dieter quickly pulled me into a tight hug, cupping the back of my head and burying his face into the top of my hair. Both of us stood there, sobbing into our embrace and saying nothing as we allowed the waves of emotion overtake us. It was too much all at once. I felt thankful that he was still with us, relieved that he was healthy, happy he was finally coming home, nervous about how things were going to go, and excited about the possibilities. I somewhat composed myself and tried to verbalize my feelings to him, wanting him to know it was happy tears. He started to shake his head against mine as I mumbled into his neck, “It’s ok. I understand. I’m right there with you. It’s…a lot.” 

He pulled back, looking at me with his tear-streaked face, reaching to wipe away the dampness from my cheeks with his thumbs, “If it makes you feel better, I got emotional about putting on a pair of jeans for the first time in three months. So, I get the overwhelmed feeling.”  

We both chuckled, lightening the mood somewhat. I leaned my forehead against his chest as I grasped onto his biceps, squeezing to make sure he was really there, “It just felt like this day was never gonna come. It almost seems surreal.” 

His rough hands slid up my arms as he kissed the top of my head, “Let’s get outta here before they change their mind about letting me leave.” 

I raised my head, meeting his gaze. He seemed like he was holding back as he pushed my hair behind my ear, giving a small smile before turning to open the driver side door for me. After I got inside, he shut the door and hurried around to get into the passenger seat. As he was getting settled, I reached into the back and grabbed his tablet and handed it to him. 

“Entertainment for the ride, if you need it. I also have your hat and sunglasses.”

He smiled, sliding the tablet between the seats, “I figured I’d just hang my head out the window the whole way and enjoy my freedom.” 

I snorted, “I’m not sure you’ll wanna deal with the skin problems that would result from that.” 

He laughed. I noticed he started to reach his hand toward mine but diverted to rub at his thigh instead. He suddenly seemed unsure of himself as he looked ahead out the window, a deep crease forming between his brows. 

I figured he was most likely feeling overwhelmed and tried not to think too much about it as I started the car and made my way toward the interstate exit. 

We drove in silence for a while. Every time I glanced in Dieter's direction, he was attentively watching the sights pass by, seeing them for the first time. I could tell the wheels in his head were spinning. I imagined this was a lot to take in after being in a facility for three months and hoped it wasn’t too much for him. 

“You were good with driving back, right? I just assumed…”

He turned to look at me, pausing briefly to process my words. He had clearly been deep in thought, “Definitely. I’m not ready to deal with an onslaught of people at the airport. Or paparazzi. They’re always hanging out there…and I’m not sure if I can handle the questions. I need to talk to Elaine. I’m not sure how to answer…things. I know there are rumors about me being in rehab.”

I gave him a tight smile. I wasn’t sure how much he knew about the rumor mill. I knew he had talked to Ty some, but we hadn’t discussed anything related to his work much since it wasn’t the focus of our sessions. 

“Are you worried about work stuff?” 

He sighed, “Yes…and no. It’s gonna be a lot to deal with and catch up on. A lot of rearranging…maybe even dropping some projects. I’m not trying to rush back into things full steam either, so whatever happens, happens.” 

He started rubbing at the top of his thighs with both hands. 

“I don’t think I’ve even told you…Rylee quit after filming ended.”

I looked over at him, confused, but also not surprised. I reached over to grab his hand and gave it a squeeze. The topic seemed to cause him some distress, so I didn’t let go. Instead, I laced our fingers together. He stared at our entwined hands for a moment before he spoke again. 

“I was such a dick to her even though she was just trying to keep me outta trouble. I don’t blame her for quitting. I would’ve too.” 

He sighed heavily as he turned to peer out the window. Eventually speaking up again without looking in my direction.

“Do you think she’ll forgive me and come back to work?” He asked quietly as he rubbed at his scruffy chin with his free hand. 

“I think if you’re honest with her and tell her what was going on…she might.” 

He pinched his brows together, “Yeah, maybe…and apologize…or grovel at her feet…”

He briefly laughed to himself. After a few minutes of contemplative silence, he spoke up again, “I’m also thinking about letting Ty go. I’m not sure how much I trust him anymore…I don’t feel like he has my best interest in mind...and I need people on my team that are gonna be supportive…and not…whatever he is.” 

“You know…you don’t have to get all of this stuff figured out immediately, right? There’s no rush.” 

He finally turned to look at me, his brows drawn together as he pursed his lips in thought. 

“I know. That’s just two things that’ve been on my mind. The rest of it…I’m just gonna go with the flow and not stress about it. There are people that will figure that shit out for me. I was just curious about your thoughts.”

“Well, you know I like Rylee. Hopefully she’ll come back…and if you want me to talk with her, I can. As far as Ty goes, I’ve really only had one interaction with him. So, I’m not sure I can have an opinion on that, but I’ll support whatever decision you come to.” 

I glanced in his direction with a smirk, “He was a dick though…”

Dieter snorted, nodding in agreement. 

Once we reached the halfway mark of our trip, we stopped for food. Dieter really wanted a greasy burger from a fast food place just to make up for the last three months of eating “healthy shit”. He felt like he deserved a cheat day. So, we went to the first drive-thru we saw and ate in the parking lot. From the way he ate, you would think they had starved him to death. 

I smiled at him, “Ya know, you’re probably gonna regret that later.”

He took a quick drink, shaking his head, “I don’t even fucking care. Worth it. Get me some tums and I’ll survive.”

He shoved a few more fries in his mouth before he looked at me with a lopsided grin. I finished my meal and wiped my face with a napkin as I turned toward him.  

“So…we really haven’t talked about it…but where do you wanna stay?” 

He knitted his brows together as a look of confusion and panic crossed his face. He visibly tensed, “I thought I was staying with you?”

My eyes widened as I realized how my question sounded, “You are. I just mean…would you rather for us to stay at your place or mine? Together.” 

He immediately relaxed, “Geez, don’t give me a heart attack like that. I’m too nervous about being alone as it is.” 

I reached over and rubbed his arm, giving him a tight lipped smile, “Sorry. I should have worded that better.” 

He stared at the half-eaten burger in his hand, picking at it as spoke, “Honestly, I’m not sure how I’m gonna feel being back at my place. It makes me anxious to think about it after what happened.” 

I nodded, “That’s understandable. We can stay at my place then. We do need to stop by and get some of your things though. I’ve not been back there long enough to do that.” 

He chuckled, “Yeah, I guess I do need clothes, huh.” 

After he finished eating, we got back on the road. By the time we were turning onto his street, it was late in the evening, and we were both stiff and tired from the drive. We had planned to grab what he would need for a couple of days and return for the rest later. 

As we walked toward the front door, I noticed he was wringing his hands together and his face looked tense. After keying in, he walked in behind me, stopping in the middle of the living room to look around. 

He had a mix of confusion and anxiety on his face, “Who cleaned?” 

I walked over to him, placing my hand on his shoulder for comfort, “I did.” 

His eyes turned glassy as he surveyed the area, “Everything?” 

I cleared my throat as I felt a lump form, “Yeah…I ugh…fixed the drywall damage in the bedroom too and had the broken furniture hauled off. Technically, all you have for a bed right now is mattresses on the floor.” 

I laughed dismissively as he turned to look at me, “You know, you didn’t have to do any of that.”

I met his eyes, fighting back my own tears, “I know. I just didn’t want you coming home to that. It was the last thing you needed to worry about.” 

He pulled me into a tight embrace, “Thank you. For everything. I know I’ve said it a lot already, but I don’t deserve you.” 

I sighed, leaning back to meet his gaze, “Stop saying that. You do too.” 

He nodded, turning away from me as he wiped at his face. He took another moment to look around, shaking his head slightly.

“Alright, let’s…umm…get this done. Being here is making my chest hurt.”

“You sure it's not from that greasy ass burger you ate?”  

He squeezed his eyes shut and snorted out a laugh. When he looked back at me, I could tell that helped him relax some, “You might be right.”

We worked in silence as we gathered his things. He was entirely focused on the task at hand, obviously trying not to think of other things. It took no time at all between the two of us and soon we were loading his duffle and backpack into the car to head over to my place.

We grabbed our bags from the trunk before heading inside. As I moved toward the bedroom, I noticed he had stopped just inside the living room, seeming unsure of himself.

I quirked an eyebrow in his direction, “Something wrong?”  

He laughed nervously, “Umm, where do you want me to put my stuff?”

I tilted my head, confused by his question, “In the bedroom…”

He shifted the bags on his shoulders awkwardly, “Sorry…I just didn’t wanna assume and make you uncomfortable…”

I couldn’t help smiling at him. He was always thinking about my feelings, and I appreciated that more than he would ever know. 

“I’ll work on making some space in the closet for you. I don’t want you living out of a bag anymore while you’re home.” 

The cheesiest smile slid across his face as he took in my words. When I turned to continue toward the bedroom, he followed. 

He stood digging through his bag that was perched on the edge of the bed as I approached him from behind, snaking my hands under his arms to rest on his chest and leaning my forehead between his shoulder blades. He tensed slightly before relaxing into the embrace and grabbing hold of one of my hands, rubbing it gently with his thumb. 

“I can’t believe you’re here. I’m almost afraid I’m gonna wake up and realize it’s a dream.” 

He pulled my hand up to his mouth and kissed my fingertips, “I’m not going anywhere, mi estrella.”

I took a minute to inhale his scent before kissing the back of his neck.

“I think I’m gonna go shower.”

He paused his movements, looking down toward his bag, “I’m probably gonna journal for a while. I’ve been doing that in the evenings before I go to sleep…to wind down.” 

I reached up to rub the hair at the nape of his neck as I moved to his side, looking up at him. He gave me a tight-lipped smile before he started to dig through his bag again, not meeting my eyes. I felt like he was suddenly putting up a wall. He had a long day, so I tried to not let it bother me too much as I headed toward the bathroom.  

After showering and towel drying my hair, I made my way back to the bedroom. To my surprise, Dieter was on his side of the bed and appeared to be asleep. This was certainly not how I saw the evening ending. I sighed, making my way over to my side to get settled in, moving carefully so as not to disturb him. I laid there staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore my intrusive thoughts as I listened to his steady breathing. I was concerned that he was already regretting his decision. However, the rational side of my brain kept reminding me that he would need time to adjust. I eventually managed to fall into a restless sleep.

When I awoke the next morning, Dieter was already up. I wasn’t surprised given his previous schedule the last three months at Sanctuary Hills, but I had to admit that I was a little disappointed. I really wanted to wake up with him. I took a moment to stretch before sitting up to reach for my phone on the nightstand. I immediately noticed the open journal beside my phone. It was ours, the one we had both been writing in. I grabbed for it instead, closing it slightly with my finger still marking the page. I had a sinking feeling, suddenly worried it was a goodbye letter or something else equally distressing. I took a steadying breath as I leaned back against the headboard and opened it. My breath caught in my throat once I saw what was on the pages. 

On the left side, was a rough pencil sketch of me sleeping. On the right, a journal entry from today. 

This is the picture I’ve had in my mind since you left Canada…beautiful and at peace. While you were there, I stayed awake and watched you sleep for hours, trying to memorize everything I could. It’s what kept me going all this time even though I felt like I could never get the details right. Seeing you sleeping this morning made me realize my memory could never do you justice. I was naive for thinking otherwise and for trying.  Today I woke up feeling whole. I can’t remember the last time I felt that. Thank you for making it possible. For the first time in my life, I’m actually excited about the future, and I can’t wait to spend it with you.  D. 

I could feel my heart clench in my chest. Any doubts I was having were now shattered by his words. We just needed to find our rhythm and he needed time to decompress.

After reading his journal entry a couple more times, I finally crawled out of bed. It was a little chilly, so I threw on my robe and tied it shut as I made my way toward the kitchen. As soon as I walked out of the bedroom, I could smell food cooking. I couldn’t help smiling to myself as I rounded the corner and found Dieter standing in front of the stove in nothing but gym shorts, cursing and jerking his hand back as the bacon grease popped at him. I took a minute to admire the lean muscles of his back, and how they flexed as he moved. He looked so fucking good. 

I padded over and hugged him from behind, laying my cheek against his bare back. He rubbed one hand up my arm as he turned his head toward me to say good morning. I nuzzled my nose into the back of his neck and inhaled his scent before responding. 

“Thank you for the note this morning. I needed that.” 

Sensing the sullen undertone to my words, he turned to face me, letting one hand settle on my hip while the other reached to stroke my hair away from my face as he held my gaze. 

His brows pinched together, “Is something wrong?” 

I gave him a weak smile, “No, nothing now. I was just feeling a little insecure yesterday. I thought maybe you were shutting me out or holding back a little…But I realize you need time to adjust. It’s not a big deal. It’s just me being in my head.” 

He sighed, pulling me against his chest, “I’m sorry. You’re not wrong. We probably should have talked about this in a little more detail…”

I felt my heart rate spike as the anxiety kicked in. That was not the response I expected. I pulled back, trying to keep my face neutral as I looked up at him. However, based on his panicked expression, I clearly wasn’t doing a good job of it. He rubbed at his face with one hand, shaking his head. 

“Fuck. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded…I was…holding back some…but only because I didn’t want you to feel pressured to immediately pick up where we left off. In case you needed some time or…wanted to take things slow. I was just gonna try to follow your lead, ya know what I mean?”

I could feel the tension leave my body as he spoke. I smiled up at him, nodding in understanding, “I appreciate that you took that under consideration, but I can assure you that it’s not necessary. I said I was all in for this and that means everything that comes with it. If you wanna hold my hand, kiss me, or anything else, just fucking do it. You can trust that I’ll tell you if you’re doing something that makes me uncomfortable.” 

He visibly relaxed some, smiling as he placed both hands on my hips and pulled me against his body. He nuzzled his nose against my ear, speaking quietly, “I’m sorry. I should’ve just brought it up yesterday. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way.” 

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, fingertips twisting in the soft curls at the nap of his neck, “It’s ok. We’ve just gotta make sure we’re communicating about everything so there aren’t any misunderstandings. Ok?”   

He nodded as he leaned his head against mine. I closed the space between us, gently taking his plump bottom lip between mine. I could feel his grip on my hips tighten slightly as the kiss deepened. I pulled away, breathlessly glancing over his shoulder, “Your bacon is burning.”

His eyes widened as he quickly turned toward the stove, “Fuuuck.” 

Just as I started to laugh at him, the doorbell rang. 

“You expecting anyone?” I asked, surprised that someone would be here this early. He shook his head as he moved to get the bacon out of the pan. 

“Huh…me neither. I’ll get it.” 

As I passed into the living room, the doorbell started to ring again. Clearly someone was impatient this morning. When I opened the door, I found one of the absolute last people that I expected standing there with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked in disbelief.

She rolled her eyes, “Ty told me that Dieter is back and that he’s staying with you.”

“Did Ty give you my address too?” That guy was starting to get on my nerves now. 

“Yes, because I want to see him.” 

I scoffed, “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up like this. I’m pretty sure Gabby told you that he didn’t wanna see you.” 

She sneered, “Like I’m going to believe anything she says. If he doesn’t want to see me anymore, I want to hear it from his mouth.”

I felt the door push open further as Dieter came to stand behind me. I could sense how tense he was from his close proximity to my backside and his sudden and firm grip around my waist. His voice was low and full of frustration when he spoke up.

“What're you doing here, Anna?”

She seemed taken aback by his tone and appearance, staring at him wide-eyed for a moment before responding.

“Ty said you were back from treatment. I wanted to see how you’re doing.”

Dieter scoffed, “Of course he did. Did he tell you what kind of treatment too?”

Anna shook her head, “No. I didn’t ask. I just assumed it was rehab given what happened.” 

Dieter moved forward to stand beside me in the doorway. One arm stayed around my waist while the other rested on his hip. 

“Rehab…of course. That is the rumor, right?” 

Anna's eyes widened in surprise to his response, like she didn’t know what he was talking about. 

Dieter continued, “I wasn’t in rehab. I was in a mental health facility.” 

She had the nerve to look concerned, “What? Why? Are you ok? Did SHE con you into doing that?” 

I was the one with the scowl on my face now. I glanced up at Dieter, I could see the muscles in his jaw tightening.

“She had nothing to do with it. In fact, the hospital was gonna make me go if I didn’t do it myself. It actually wasn’t a bad thing…I learned a lot about myself and I’m a lot better now. Happy even. It might do you some good to give it a try.”

Anna’s eyes flashed with anger, “Excuse me?” 

Dieter chewed on the inside of his cheek, fighting back a smile before he continued, “Given my diagnosis, it’s important that I manage my stress levels, which means cutting the problem people out of my life. That includes you. I don’t need your drama…negative influence…or lack of support. So…this is me telling you that we’re done. For good this time.” 

Anna’s nostrils flared as she took in his words, “So what, she comes crawling back and suddenly I’m the problem again? 

Dieter shook his head, “You know that’s not how it went down. I told you to fuck off before all this other stuff happened because you wouldn’t stop running your mouth and pushing me to do things…and I’m not stupid. I know you’ve been leaking shit to the tabloids.” 

This was new information to me. I couldn’t say I was surprised by it. I was actually proud of him for having the sense to cut her off before now. I gave Anna a smug look. She knew she shouldn’t be here. 

“You know I would never do that to you. How do you know she’s not the one leaking stuff? You really think this is gonna work out between you two this time? You already got rid of her once. You know she’s fucking with your head. Why are you allowing it to happen? You deserve better.” 

Dieter inhaled deeply, pursing his lips as he eyed her. He shook his head slightly, stepping toward her, “Not that I need to explain any of this to you, but I think you need to hear it…I’m in love with her. She’s an amazing person with a good heart. I’m never leaving her again. It should have never happened the first time.”

He paused briefly, watching the fight leave her as her shoulders slumped at his words. He continued in a calm voice, “Ya know, this is exactly what I’m talking about…I’m not dealing with your toxic, mind fuck shit anymore. You need to leave. Don’t come back. Don’t call me. Don’t text me. We’re done. You understand? Is that clear enough for you?” 

Anna was staring at the ground now, unable to look at him as she nodded in understanding. She gave me one last look of contempt as she slowly turned to leave.  

Dieter moved to close the door, immediately turning to pull me into a hug, “I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Don’t let what she said bother you. She’s just trying to manipulate me like she always does.” 

I leaned back to look up at him, “I don’t care about anything she says to me. It’s fine, I can take it. Are you ok though?” 

He let out a measured breath as he rubbed up and down my arms, “Surprisingly…yes. Nothing she says matters to me anymore. She’s not worth the energy to be upset about it.”

My eyebrows arched upward, “I didn’t realize you two had a falling out…”

“Yeah…she kept saying she was tired of me being down and not partying with them, so she was pushing drugs and women at me constantly. When I said I wasn’t interested she would get mad and start running her mouth. I just got tired of it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him playfully, “Women? Hmm...”

His eyes widened as he vehemently started shaking his head, “Oh no, no, I didn’t…not with anyone.”

I chuckled, “I’m just messing with you. Even if you did…we weren’t together.”

His face relaxed, “Don’t worry, you were the only woman on my mind.” I cupped his cheeks, taking in the calm expression on his face before leaning in for a soft kiss. He smiled, nuzzling his nose against mine, “Let’s go eat breakfast and forget this happened.” I nodded as he took my hand and pulled me toward the kitchen. 

It didn’t go unnoticed by me that he handled this confrontation with Anna completely different than the one at the restaurant. He remained calm and present the entire time. It was obvious that he was in a different place now. I actually felt proud of him and hoped it hadn’t caused him any undue stress.

The next couple of days kept us pretty busy. Ty had lined up several meetings to start getting Dieter’s contract obligations figured out before lawyers started getting involved due to delays. Since I had taken time off work, Dieter asked me to come with him to ensure he didn’t get talked into anything crazy. 

As I sat listening to the conversations around me, it was obvious that Ty had a complete disregard for Dieter’s recovery as he pushed him to take on too much, too soon and couldn’t be bothered with the finer details of what would be needed for Dieter’s routine and self-care measures. I could see why Dieter wanted someone else there with him that knew his boundaries. Dieter did push back though. He got what he wanted and if concessions couldn’t be made for him, then he backed out of the projects. Ty was furious, but we ignored his outbursts. By the end of the week, Dieter had decided that he was ready to let Ty go. After discussing the change with Elaine, she happily put Dieter in touch with some new prospects that she felt would be a better fit.

After Ty got the news, it didn’t take long for new rumors to start making their rounds in the media about where Dieter had really been and the state of his mental health. We all knew Ty and maybe even Anna were behind it but had no proof. Elaine had recommended that we not address any of the rumors and deflect if questioned. However, after some thought, Dieter decided that he wanted to release a statement with the truth and maybe even eventually do an interview. He felt like it was his opportunity to address an important topic that didn’t get enough attention and was rather taboo to discuss, especially amongst actors out of fear that it would ruin their reputation. Given his own history and what had happened with his mom, he felt like it was a cause worthy of his support and he felt pretty strongly about it.

Elaine eventually acquiesced and drafted the statement. She ended it with a request “to respect the privacy of Mr. Bravo, his siblings, and Ms. Cohen as they continue to work through his recovery as a family.” Dieter had insisted I be included. He was making another statement without really saying it. I didn’t mind. We were back in LA after all, so we were bound to be seen together. Elaine agreed and thought it might cut back on some of the frenzy and speculation if we were open about being together, rather than trying to hide it. Dieter was anxious, but he didn’t second guess it as he told Elaine to hit send. The news was everywhere within the hour and the response to it was overwhelmingly positive. 

Surprisingly, Dr. Rosenberg gave us a call later that afternoon to check in after seeing the press release. She was very supportive and actually thanked Dieter for being willing to share his story and raise awareness on the topic. We were still having regular calls with her until she found someone in LA that she was comfortable referring us to, but she wanted to continue to check in with us no matter what. We of course were thankful for her continued involvement and care for our wellbeing.  

Later that evening, we had dinner at Gabby’s house. Everyone had called Dieter to check in since he had been home, but it was the first time they were getting to see him. Gabby wanted to give him some time to settle in before overwhelming him with a family get together. On the ride over, he admitted that he was nervous and worried that it would be awkward. However, his fears were quickly put to rest as he was welcomed with excitement and hugs from everyone. Lauren even shed a few tears. There was no awkwardness, only happiness to have both of us home.   

Dieter stayed glued to my side the entire evening, constantly touching me in some way. He seemed happy and was having a good time. He didn’t appear to be anxious at all, so I was hopeful that meant he had other things on his mind. The glances that he kept sending my way seemed to confirm my thoughts. 

We still hadn’t been intimate since coming home. He had relaxed significantly and had been extremely affectionate toward me after our conversation, but somehow, it hadn’t come to that. There were even a couple of instances where I felt like he was avoiding it. I had to tell my brain to stop thinking that way. However, when we got home that evening and a somewhat heated make out session started in the bathroom as we were getting ready for bed, he quickly pivoted by saying he was tired and still needed to do his journal entry before he fell asleep. I struggled to ignore it that time. My gut told me that something was up. 

Several days later, we were sitting on the couch watching tv. I had thrown my legs over the top of his as I laid back onto a pile of pillows. His right hand was resting just above my bare knee, thumb occasionally rubbing in small circles. His other hand was gently massaging my feet. I absentmindedly stuck my hand up my tank to scratch at my stomach. From the corner of my eye, I noticed he was watching my hand, but trying not to be obvious about it. I did a small stretch, causing the hem to ride up further as I slid my fingers into the waistband of my shorts, looping my thumb over the top to rest there as I stayed focused on the tv. I felt the fingers on his right-hand twitch slightly before his whole hand started to rub and massage at my thigh.     

He continued to stare blankly at the tv for several minutes, but I could feel the hardness forming under my legs. I moved slightly, grazing against him. His eyes shifted over to mine, and I smirked, moving my legs again. He grabbed hold of both my feet with his large hand, stalling my movements. 

I bit my bottom lip, narrowing my eyes as I looked at him, “What’s going on in that head of yours today?”

He cleared his throat, “I’m watching tv. The show is on my mind.” 

I slid my hand downward slightly, tugging the waistband of the shorts with my thumb. I slowly brought my other hand upward across my stomach, raising the hem of my tank further, letting it rest just under my breast. Then, I loosely clenched my thighs together. I knew he could feel it because his eyes darted down in that direction before going back to the tv. I could tell he was fighting a smile as his right hand continued its movements. The heat of his touch radiating directly to my core, now causing my thighs to involuntarily clench together, tighter this time. He closed his eyes and tucked his bottom lip between his teeth as his fingers dug into the soft meaty area above my knee.

“Sorry, I’ve got a little bit of an ache…maybe that’s something you can help me with?” 

He opened his eyes and gave me a tight-lipped smile, “Alright, fine. You win.” 

He laughed quietly as he shifted to move up my body, placing open mouthed kisses on bare skin as he went. When he made it to my chest, I felt his hand tentatively sliding toward the waistband of my shorts. I covered it with mine and guided it underneath to where I wanted it. Once he realized I wasn’t wearing any panties, he groaned into my neck. As his hand sunk lower, he groaned again, “Fucking hell, your soaking wet.” 

My breath hitched as he slid his fingers between my folds and got to work. My hands found their way to the back of his head, tightly gripping his curls to pull him upward so I could kiss him even though I was already breathless. It had been too long, and I already felt like I was floating. It wasn’t going to take long for me to finish at this rate. 

Our tongues tangled together as my hips moved in rhythm with his motions. I moaned into his mouth, pulling away to catch my breath. My eyes involuntarily squeezed shut as I could feel the familiar tingle building in my core. Dieter placed his forehead against mine, “Look at me…I want you looking at me when you come undone.”

My eyes met his as my thighs started to tremble. I mumbled something unintelligible against his lips as my release ripped through me. He nudged his nose against mine, watching as I lost it underneath the weight of his body. 

Before I had a chance to completely recover, he was kissing me again. It was almost frenzied as he bucked his hips against my center, nearly making me come for a second time with minimal effort. My hand slowly moved down toward the front of his gym shorts. He broke away, leaning his forehead against mine, squeezing his eyes shut as he shook his head slightly. He sighed and moved to sit up, rubbing at his face with both hands. 

My brows knitted together in concern as I set up at his side, “Hey, what's wrong?” 

He laughed in disbelief through his hands before dropping them to his lap and looking at me with an odd expression that I couldn’t read. 

“I can’t fucking believe this is happening…I’m sorry, I should have said something the other day, but I was hoping it wasn’t actually an issue.”     

I was completely lost, “What’s going on?” 

He looked at me wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open slightly for a moment before any words came out, “I think I’m having…performance anxiety or something.” He laughed again. “Talk about being ironic.” 

My eyebrows arched upward, “Ooooh...Are you sure that’s what it is? Maybe it’s your medication? I mean, the doctor did say that could be a side effect.” 

He shook his head as a deep crease formed between his brows, “I don’t think it’s that…I mean, I still get aroused and can…you know…” 

His lips formed into a line, “Fuck. I can’t believe I’m having this conversation.” 

He put his hand back over his face out of embarrassment. I reached over and squeezed his knee. 

“So, you can take care of things yourself then? Is that what you’re saying?” I wasn’t sure how I wanted him to answer that question. It was going to sting either way. 

“Yeah, I mean after the other night…When I woke up the next morning…in the shower. I felt like an asshole afterwards though.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, looking away from him. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. I couldn’t help feeling insecure over it and he could sense it.

“It’s got nothing to do with you. You’re not doing anything wrong. You’re…fucking perfect.” He reached over to grab my hand, lacing our fingers together, “If it makes you feel better, I was thinking about you when I did it…” 

I gave him a look that fell somewhere between a grimace and a smile, before I let a small laugh escape. Meanwhile, he was slowly descending into panic.

“I promise, it’s me. I’m just getting all in my head about everything and it kind of ruins the moment.” He gestured toward his crotch with his free hand and had an annoyed look on his face.

I somehow managed a neutral expression, “Do you wanna talk about what’s bothering you then? Maybe it’ll help.” I shrugged, giving him a sympathetic look. 

He sighed heavily, “I just…I dunno…I think I’m worried it’s gonna be different somehow…that I’m gonna be different. What if I can’t connect emotionally or feel things like before? I mean that’s always been kind of an important part of it for us…the emotional connection. You know what I mean? That makes me worry it’s gonna be bad for you if I can no longer give you that part of myself because something’s different in my brain.” 

I could feel my chest tightening as I realized this was really getting to him, “I mean, Dr. Rosenberg said how you feel about things wouldn’t change. It’s not like your emotions are turned off. You still feel things.”

“Yeah, but it's not always as intense as before.” His dark eyes were giving me a pleading look. Like he was expecting me to up and leave over this. 

“Well, that’s not necessarily a bad thing in some instances…and who knows, maybe it’ll be even better now since you’re more present and in control of everything.” 

He chuckled, “God, if it gets any better than it was, I may not be able to handle it.”

I smiled at him. At least his sense of humor was still intact. 

“It’s kind of a compounding thing too, because now I’m just like…fuck, I have to be able do this or she’s gonna be unsatisfied and unhappy you know? I don’t want to mess shit up again. Then it’s just…like…these negative pressuring thoughts on repeat, and I can’t make it stop.” 

I gave him a smirk as I moved to wrap my arms around his neck, “You’re more than qualified to satisfy me in a couple other ways…as you just demonstrated. So, don’t even think about that anymore. I’m not going anywhere. We will figure it out together, ok?” 

He nodded, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me onto his lap for a comforting embrace.

I kissed the top of his head, “Thank you for telling me.”

“So, what do you think we should do?” He asked against my neck. 

“Well, I say we just try again when the mood strikes and see what happens. Maybe now that you’ve told me what’s going on…it’ll get better.” 

He nodded before turning to give me a quick kiss.  (More after the gif)

Over the next week, we had a few more failed attempts. It only seemed to be discouraging him further. I could sense it happening each time and there was no way of stopping it. I could tell it was starting to weigh on him, so I decided to give Dr. Rosenberg a call. Apparently, this was a pretty common issue, and she offered a few suggestions. Starting with giving him tasks to focus on while I was in charge of things. I felt like I could work with that. He did like my bossy side after all. So, I started to formulate a plan of action to solve the problem at hand. 

The following morning, I was awakened to the feeling of Dieter’s rough hand slowly sliding up my bare hip to the middle of my waist, then back down again. Once he realized I had nothing on underneath the t-shirt I had worn to bed, it seemed to have the desired effect. His grip tightened, fingers digging into soft flesh as he pulled my ass backwards against the hardness that he had woken up with. I couldn’t help the sly smile that slid across my face, hoping that this might actually get somewhere if I could keep him focused on what he was feeling rather than what he was thinking. 

I did a full body stretch, humming from the feel of it as I leaned my back against his chest. He nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck as he groaned, tightening his grip on my hip further and grinding into my backside. I reached up with my right hand and gently tugged the soft curls at the crown of his head as he ran his nose up the length of my stretched-out neck, then around the edge of my ear. The feel of his hot breath against the sensitive area caused me to break out in goosebumps, putting every nerve ending in my body on alert. 

I turned my head to meet his lips, pulling him down into a slow and sensual kiss. I removed my hand from his hair then lightly slid it down his arm to sit atop his hand on my hip. I laced my fingers through the top of his and guided his hand up under my shirt to rest on my breast, encouraging him to knead it in the palm of his hand. We both moaned quietly through locked lips from the contact as I scooted to lay flat on my back. He settled between my thighs as I hooked my leg around his hip, rubbing my bare center against the hardness in his shorts. He pressed his forehead to mine and closed his eyes momentarily as I continued moving against him.  When he opened them, I could tell he was starting to get lost in his head again, hesitating before he leaned down to kiss me. 

I broke away from the kiss, snaking my left hand up into his hair, gripping it firmly between my fingers and pulling his ear down to meet my lips. I gently sucked on the lobe before whispering, “Lay down on your back and close your eyes.” The distraction of my words brought him back to the moment as he pulled away, looking down at me with a playful but questioning grin on his face. He was clearly intrigued by my instructions as he did what was asked. 

Once he was situated, I moved to slide his shorts down. He raised his hips off the bed to assist in removing them. Once they were discarded on the floor, I slowly crawled up his body, making light grazes across his skin along the way. Placing open mouthed kisses on his muscular thighs before nipping and sucking on them playfully. Eventually, I moved to straddle his hips. I pulled my t-shirt over my head and tossed it on the floor before leaning down to suck on his bottom lip. After grabbing both of his hands in mine, I pulled away from the kiss with a pop. I moved to whisper in his ear again, “Don’t open your eyes. If you do, I'll stop. Just focus on my voice and what you’re feeling. Nothing else.” 

Dieter’s breath stuttered as he slowly shook his head in agreement. The anticipation and not knowing what to expect causing his skin to flush. The idea of giving him a task to focus on was clearly keeping his intrusive thoughts at bay for the time being as he continued to harden beneath me. I sat upright, pulling his hands with me, and placing them on my breast. Encouraging him to let them roam and caress my body. I guided them down to feel up my thighs and around to grip my ass. As his fingers dug into the meaty flesh, I rolled my hips, rubbing my aching wet center against him. 

“You feel that? You did that to me.” 

He groaned at my words and bucked his hips up against me, seeking more friction. I grabbed his right hand and brought it down to rub the slick at my center. 

“This is all for you,” I added before bringing his hand to my mouth and sucking his fingers clean. I watched as his eyes snapped open in shock to meet mine. I stopped and pulled his hands away from my body. 

“Eyes closed or it stops.” 

He huffed loudly, “You’re gonna make me have a fucking heart attack,” as he closed his eyes again.  

I couldn’t help the mischievous smile that slid across my face as I took in the sight of him, already panting and his skin beading with sweat. My plan appeared to be working. 

I took his hands and guided them to lay above his head, momentarily pinning them there to give further instruction. 

“No baby, I’m gonna make you feel good. Then you’re gonna make love to me. Don’t open your eyes again or move your hands. I mean it, I’ll stop.” 

He whimpered quietly as he let out a measured breath, nodding in agreement. I went to work, worshiping every inch of him. Starting at his neck, licking and sucking his flushed skin as I worked my way down his torso. Alternating between light touches in the sensitive areas and deep massaging over his taut muscles. With every movement my wet center rubbed against his hardness as he continued to grind his hips against me, causing that electric tingling sensation to build. However, this time was about his pleasure, not mine. So, I started to move backward to straddle his legs as I continued to work my way down his body with my mouth. He groaned at the loss of contact until I took his dick in my hand and started stroking it, spreading my wetness up and down his shaft as I nipped and sucked on his hip. 

He was beginning to squirm beneath me. It was clearly becoming harder for him to keep his hands in place as he knotted the sheets in his fingers above his head and tightly squeezed his eyes shut. A sweat covered crease formed between his brows as he fought to control himself. I let my hot breath blow against him as I spoke up to remind him not to move or open his eyes before taking him into my mouth. 

His elbows jerked up off the bed and I immediately pulled back, ceasing my movements. He mumbled something in Spanish that I couldn’t quite make out as he put his arms back in place. This was driving him crazy, but it was also keeping all of the negative thoughts out of his head, and I was loving every second of it. 

I took as much of his length into my mouth as I could and used one hand to stroke the remainder of the shaft while the other moved to massage his balls in a wave motion with my fingertips. I could tell it was taking everything in him not to look down at me or reach for my hair. He tried to move his legs, but they were pinned under me, further limiting his response to my actions. He was quickly melting into a sweaty, groaning, writhing mess underneath me as I licked and sucked on his sensitive head. 

Once his thighs started to shake and his balls began to tighten, I removed him from my mouth and stopped my motions. He growled and pulled a pillow over his face, yelling expletives into it. I couldn’t help the laughter that escaped me. I was enjoying this too much. Once he had calmed down some, I worked to bring him back to the edge, again ceasing my motions once he was there. 

After allowing him to come back down a second time, I moved to straddle his hips. I placed him at my entrance and slowly sank down onto his length, allowing him to stretch me in the most delightful way. Once I was able to fully take him in, I leaned forward to grab his arms, pulling him to sit upright and placing his hands on my ass to help guide my movement. Realizing he still had his eyes closed as I placed my forehead against his, a smile spread across my face before whispering against his lips, “You can open your eyes now.” 

Dieter’s eyes slowly opened, revealing that his pupils were fully dilated with arousal. There was no stopping him now. He was focused and determined as he crashed his lips against mine in a passionate kiss before tangling his hand in my hair, gently pulling my head backwards and burying his face into the crook of my neck. I continued to rock against him as he nipped and sucked at the sensitive area just above my collarbone, sending electrical shocks directly to my core with his touch and the scrap of his scruffy beard. My fingers moved to knot into his sweaty curls, pulling him tightly against me as we moved in unison. 

We knew how to do this, how to read each other’s bodies and connect in the most intimate and emotional ways. Though he had been worried about it being different, about him being different, it wasn’t something we would ever lose. It was engraved into our very souls. He just needed to be shown the way back to me, to us. There was no hesitation from him now as he angled my face toward his, releasing his hold on my hair to bring his thumb to rest on my chin and stroke it gently. Our eyes locked into an intense gaze for a time while we continued to move together. My forehead eventually fell forward to rest against his as beads of sweat rolled down both of our faces from the exertion. Both of us taking turns stealing kisses from the other between the soft moans and heavy breathing. Our connection felt just as strong as it had been previously. 

As Dieter got closer to his climax, he reached for my right hand, disentangling it from his hair and brought it to his mouth. After gently sucking and swirling his tongue around the tips of my fingers, he moved them to the bundle of nerves at my center, encouraging me to find my release with him while he worked to speed up our rhythm. With both of his hands placed firmly on my ass, fingers digging into the soft flesh there, he continued guiding my rocking movements against him. His eyes never left my face as he watched me come undone on top of him, quietly whispering praises against my lips as I got closer to the edge. Once my muscles started to clench down around him, he fell over the edge with me. Both of us letting out loud groans with our releases. His face fell forward into the crook of my neck, his hot breath blowing against me as I hugged him tightly, both of us trembling and sweaty from our activities. 

We sat like that for several minutes, giving each other a chance to come down from our mutual high. He eventually lulled his head back to look up at me with a lazy smile on his face, which caused his eyes to crinkle in that way I loved. I leaned down to capture his pillowy bottom lip into a sensual kiss, knitting his hair in one hand while the other slid across the rough scruff on his cheek. He groaned into my mouth before breaking the kiss, then nuzzled his nose against mine. 

Dieter let out a breathy laugh as he started twisting my hair around his fingers against the middle of my back with one hand, allowing the other to wander freely across my body as he studied my face, “I certainly wasn’t expecting to wake up to that. What has gotten into you this morning? Not that I’m complaining…”

“Well…it looks like you did.”

He snorted, “Seriously, where did that come from?”

I ran my hand down the side of his face to cup his cheek, “Oh, you know me…I’m really good at operations management. Just working through things to figure out the most efficient process for peak outcomes,” I said with a smirk. 

He chuckled, “You know I think it’s hot when you’re all bossy. Give me fifteen minutes and we can test out that process again, ya know, and make sure it’s efficient…Actually, if you wanna take it up a few notches, I may only need ten.”

“Is that right?” I mumbled against his lips with a smile, he nodded in response before kissing me. We melted into each other, bodies pressed together as our tongues and hands explored every area of skin they could reach. It wasn’t long before I could feel him getting hard again. 

Hours later, we laid in bed facing each other, with lazy smiles and blissfully spent. I had missed him like this, completely relaxed and carefree. Whatever block he had been experiencing seemed to now be non-existent as he lightly drug his fingers up and down the length of my bare side and randomly kissed me as we talked. The weight had lifted, allowing the spark of happiness to return to his eyes. His playfulness was on full display as he laughed at my words and threw in the occasional innuendo. 

He grew quiet after a time, studying my face. His brows creased slightly as he took hold of my hand and brought it to his cheek for a moment, before closing his eyes and turning to kiss it gently. When he met my gaze again, I could see a range of emotions playing out across his expression. 

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” 

He smiled as he nuzzled his face into my hand, “You’ve always been able to read me so well. No one else knows how to do that.” 

I scratched at his scruffy face and gave him an encouraging smile. He sighed, wrapping his arm around me to pull me snuggly against his chest before burying his face in the top of my hair. 

“I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you…just kinda taking a minute to appreciate what I have and be hopeful for the future…Our future together.” 

I could sense that wasn’t everything, “Is that all?”

He huffed out a small laugh into my hair, “No.”

Of course, I could tell it wasn’t. I pulled away some to meet his eyes, waiting for him to continue. He avoided my stare as he thought through his words. His brows knitted together, eyes turning glassy. I could tell he was fighting back emotions. 

“I just…it’s hard not to be angry about the time we lost. It’s always gonna be one of my biggest regrets.”

I sat up on my elbow, cradling his face in my other hand, forcing him to look at me. 

“You can’t move forward if you're dwelling on the past. You’re gonna have to let that go. I’m guilty of it too. I did it first, remember?” 

His lips twitched upward at the memory. 

“It was months. Why focus on a handful of shitty months when we have years ahead of us to look forward to?” 

He smiled, leaning into my hand before pulling me down to meet his lips. It finally felt like we had gotten over our last major hurdle and could now focus on our future together. 

A/N: And there we have it! Our two lovebirds are finally back together! How excited are you for that? And that journal entry - Swoon! 😍 How amazing did it feel for Dieter to tell Anna off for good and get rid of Ty? Do you think Rylee will come back to work with him? And how about him releasing a statement...Good or bad idea? Also, how adorable is he with all his worries? Poor thing with his performance anxiety...you all had to know his love of Talia's boss lady side was going to come into play at some point, right? So, it looks like I'm still on schedule to have one more chapter and an epilogue to finish this out. I almost split this one since it came in at over 10k words but decided against it. I threw in a few gifs to break it up a bit though. Can you feel that happy ending on the horizon now? Please feel free to show your enthusiasm with messages and reblogs. 😘 👉 In case you missed it, The Knight & His Queen was posted over the holidays. This is a four-part series I completed for the PedroStories Secret Santa event, and it has been posted in its entirety. It's another Dieter Bravo fic where our beloved trash panda takes a dive into the world of mystics, tarot readings, and love. Give it a read. It's fun, fluffy, and fairly angst free.

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[fuckstories]

she got that doraemon pussy. can't even walk right with it so fat. i got that gogo the furry alien pussy. we got different types of pussy. one's for sledging

he got two little bingo balls down there. she's got two fat caterpillars that make u fuck with me. it's probably like rubbing yourself on a pine cone

he's got a tiny, wee willy wonky. i've got a fat whoopee cushion and whenever i sit down a fart comes out. hers is...

she's got an absolute unit... dumptrucks. and his is like... he's got one little finger that i can feel everything through. so you have to ride it like this... "whoopsy... naughty..."

Mine is shaped like a pontoon.. hers is like the queen elizabeth II and I can barely pull out. she just comes snorting up the shore. mine's very calming though, isn't it? It's like a wooden log moving over flat water. my koala bear can't survive those waves

she's got the powertools pussy. mower, snowblower, pusher, trimmer. she can put almost anything in there. i've got a sponge. anything sharp will ruin my sponge, so be careful what you do with that thing. slow down will ya

she's got the holy grail pussy. mine's got a skull-shaped entrance. if you go too deep it's like being squeezed. and when i shake my hips, his dick goes all different directions like a starfish with cancer

he's got a little ittle baby fish. i got the whale turd of love. everytime, his little penis is like bzz bzz up and down. mine's like, kkkKKHHEEEEUUURrrr!

he's got the dumbo pussy. no wait, mine is the dumbo. because i'm a fuckin elephant. she's got an asshole... yes, where the poop comes from. ours is like a reverse teletubbie. only shit comes out of ours. she's got an actual ass, a big stankin butt... and mine's an asshole.

oh! she farted again, sorry that was her

-

she's got the windmill pussy.

[darksilvania]

New forms of ROTOM found in the Kroel Region This forms of ROTOM can be found within the abandoned ruins of the first "Neo-Kroel Mega Plaza", a large scale multi level mall that was meant to be one of Neo-Kroel largest shopping centers, but one day its construction simply stopped and the site was abbandoned in a hurry, after a long series of mysterious accidents and disappearences, among many other paranormal events. This ROTOMS have made the ruins their homes and have possesed the powe tools left on site.

Their types are: Hedge Trimmer - Electric/Bug Power Drill - Electric/Steel Roller Compactor - Electric/Ground Jackhammer - Electric/Rock Cement Mixer - Electric/Poison

After progressing in the history and returning back to the abbandoned plaza, you would gain access to a deeper area of the construction site where larger equipment was stored, if you take the Kroelian ROTOMS to this area and get them close its matching construction vehicle, ROTOM will evolve into ROTOMEISTER

ROTOMEISTER keeps the same typing as its previous form but will not be able to change forms like ROTOM does, but the signature move they had will be also upgraded into a more powerful move

Trimmer Form - Electric/Bug Drill Form - Electric/Steel Roller Form - Electric/Ground Hammer Form - Electric/Rock   Mixer Form- Electric/Poison

They all have the ability Technician, but can have the Hidden Ability "Heavy Gear", this ability raises the pokemon ATK if its SPD is raised, and raises its DEF if its SPD is lowered

And after further progress in the story, you should be able to reach the lowest level of the Abandoned site, where an Item can be found, it is called the Supercharger, this item is special battery that can power up several machines at the same time and was still in its testing phase during the original site construction to energize the machinery

If this item is given to ROTOMEISTER and then it is activated close to the other machines, a new form can be achieved: ROTOMEISTER-V

ROTOMEISTER-V is the combined form of all possible ROTOMEISTER forms, it is an Electric/Fighting type Any signature move it previously had will become a new even more powerfull move called Demolition  Demolition  Fighting Type  PP 5  Power 150  Acc 90%  -A powerful punch using its arm drill charged with all its energy, this move is treated as Electric type as well, user must   recharge the turn after.  It has the ability Heavy Gear by default

This form can be reverted by taking the Supercharger from ROTOMEISTER-V, returning to a normal ROTOMEISTER

[theamityelf]

Yandere Taka and oblivious Makoto? (I really love how you write these two) -@blueboybot

(🤗 Thank you! I'm not sure how well this came out, but here you go!)

------

Taka was not naturally very observant.

That was fine. It was normal. It meant he had to work hard to notice the important things. And he liked to work hard.

Makoto had been his study partner for over a month now. They met up every weekday after school (except some Fridays), and there was not a moment in those usually-two-hours that Taka was the slightest bit inattentive. In fact, the notes he took on even just Makoto's likes and dislikes, during their alone time, rivaled the notes he took for class.

He wasn't very observant, and Makoto could sometimes feel like a hard person to know things about. But he was eager to put in the work.

It wasn't until after their second month studying together that Taka learned he needed to elevate his approach.

It happened when Makoto walked into class one morning. To Taka's eyes (which of course had fixated on him right away, because he was not good at pretending not to be smitten) he looked completely normal. The only strange thing was that he was usually one of the early ones and today he was one of the last in, but that could have been a problem with his morning alarm.

And yet, as soon as Makoto entered, Kyoko asked him, "What happened to you?"

"Huh?" Makoto looked down at himself. "What do you mean?"

"Your hair. It's uneven on one side."

"Oh! Near miss with a hedge trimmer; the guy said he was sorry. I didn't think anyone would notice. Guess I should've stopped by a mirror, but I was already running late."

"A hedge trimmer was that close to your head?" Leon said. "And you're still on time for class?"

Taka's thoughts exactly. He was absolutely brimming with a thrilling mix of attraction and indignation on Makoto's behalf. "I think I speak for everyone when I say we admire your punctuality!" he said.

"Taka, it's 8 am," Junko complained. "Can you talk at people volume, please?"

"And I'm glad to hear the Ultimate Landscaper was polite enough to apologize," he continued.

"Yeah, he didn't mean to be careless. I think he was just pretty wrapped up in what he was doing. The hedges do look fantastic."

So it had been the Ultimate Landscaper. Well then, that guy would be in detention every day for the rest of his time at this school. He was very lucky he hadn't done any real harm.

More to the point, Kyoko's immediate awareness that something had happened to Makoto was a sign for Taka that his work, as yet, hadn't been enough.

He had felt so triumphant to have learned Makoto's birthday, his blood type, his favorite color, animal, food, even song (and it was hard to get specific titles out of him!), but his efforts still hadn't brought his undivided focus to the same level of perception as a casual glance from the Ultimate Detective.

He didn't envy her talent. Quite the contrary: He was excited to learn that he needed to put more work in.

When it came time for their study session that afternoon, he asked if they could do so in Makoto's room, rather than his own. It would help him learn more things.

The first thing he learned was that Makoto didn't lock his dorm room.

At all.

He actually left his key in the room when he left for the day.

Taka saw an opportunity to be helpful. After all, it didn't make sense to leave a room unlocked when an Ultimate Burglar attended this school. So, he borrowed Makoto's key and took to locking his room when he left for the evening.

And locking it again after Makoto left for class each morning.

Which meant, the next time they went to study together, Taka had to matter-of-factly unlock Makoto's room for them both.

"Wait, when did you get a key to my room?!" Makoto asked.

(His startled reactions, and the straightforward way he asked questions as soon as he wanted to know something, were so refreshing, compared to the many people in their class who tried to pretend they knew everything all the time.)

"Sorry," Taka said, blushing a little. "I borrowed it without asking, last time I was here. I wanted to make sure you lock your door more often. There are students here who would love to rob you blind!"

"Ah, I guess it's true that I never remember to lock it. But isn't taking my key and locking it for me a little...?"

"On the contrary! When a friend has trouble with a task, it makes sense to help them out."

"You got forceful all of a sudden," Makoto observed mildly. "Well, if you're just locking it after me, then I guess that's fine."

And he made no further argument on the subject. Taka was in the clear!

Adding Makoto's key to his own key ring made him smile. They clinked together like wedding rings. It made him hopeful that, despite how casually Makoto acted towards him, they might have that kind of future one day.

When he found himself growing anxious, because Makoto looked at a girl for too long or rescheduled their plans or any of the other ways the world seemed unaccommodating of Taka's dreams, he reached into his pocket and ran his fingers over their keys.

And he reminded himself that things didn't have to happen naturally. Love didn't have to be a thing that struck right away. Love, like everything else, was hard work, and Taka was the best at working hard.

Then the Tragedy happened.

...

Taka had his worries about the outside world, but in the privacy of his own mind, it was a relief to be able to barricade all those problems away and just spend all his days with Makoto.

The problem was, he wasn't the only one who wanted to spend time with Makoto, and he wasn't the only one Makoto wanted to spend time with.

Of course, Makoto didn't seem to mind when Taka tagged along on his quality time with others, but the ones he was with would often look at Taka as if to say, 'Do you mind?'

"Is the hall monitor going to be shadowing us the whole time?" Junko said.

"Huh?" Makoto glanced over. "Oh, hey Taka. Did you want to come?"

"The invite only extends to Makoto," Junko interrupted. "I'm the shy type; I can't stand to have too many guys looking at me, you know!"

Blushing, Makoto said, "That...makes it sound like...We're just going to look through your closet, right? For old clothes Hifumi can fix up."

"Exactly! I'm already letting one boy into my room. You think I should let in two?"

"Oh, right. I didn't think about it that way. Uh..."

"That's fine," Taka said. "I guess I'll go spend time with Chihiro."

That was fine. Makoto's gregarious nature was part of what Taka liked about him. And time away from Makoto was time he could spend studying his notes on Makoto. So yeah, it was fine.

(Chihiro got a peek at his notebook during lunch one day and was amazed at all the details. When they took an interest, Taka couldn't help going over a lot of what he'd learned, rambling about Makoto and his many-stage plan to incrementally progress their relationship, for at least a full hour before someone else walked into the dining hall and he quickly fell silent.)

The first serious problem came when Makoto asked for his key back.

It was toward the end of dinner. A lot of their friends had already left for their rooms or wherever else: there was only Taka, Makoto, Sayaka, Celeste, Hifumi, and Kyoko.

"Hey, um..." Makoto scratched his cheek shyly. "You still have my room key, right?"

"Of course," Taka replied. "Are you turning in for the night? Do you need me to let you in?"

"Well, yes, but actually...could I have my key back, too?"

Taka's heart faltered. "You'd like it back?"

"It would be easier on you if you didn't always have to let me back in, right?"

"That's no trouble at all! I've enjoyed walking you to your room."

"...and also, if I ever had someone over, or something, it might be easier if I had the key on me...right?"

Taka wasn't very observant, but he noticed that Makoto was blushing and that he had briefly glanced at Sayaka, who smiled back. The implications filled his brain with heat.

"So, uh, do you have it with you now?" Makoto pressed on.

Taka reached into his pocket, consoling himself with the feeling of the keys at his fingertips. "No, I must have left it in my locker," he said. "Excuse me."

He swiftly exited the dining hall.

That glance Makoto and Sayaka had exchanged. Those shy smiles. Like they already had plans, for once Makoto got his room key. It wasn't right! It was...unwholesome! It was wrong!

Sayaka barely paid attention to Makoto. She had her innate charm, but she wielded it just like Byakuya (who bought Makoto expensive birthday gifts instead of caring enough to make something by hand) or Kyoko (who noticed things without even trying or bothering to spend hours following him). Sayaka didn't know the special way he tied his shoes, or the embarrassing nickname his sister called him over the phone, or what common allergens made him sneeze, or...She probably didn't even know his blood type, his shoe size, his height!

He thought through his options. It definitely wouldn't be right to let Makoto spend time with Sayaka alone in his room. That would seriously complicate their eventual plans to get married!

(Should he maybe inform Makoto that they were going to get married one day? The prospect made him really anxious.)

He could report them to Headmaster Kirigiri (to head off any inappropriate behavior), or throw Makoto's key into the garbage incinerator (necessitating that he sleep in someone else's room), or just refuse to give it back, but then Makoto would be annoyed with him.

For now, Taka settled on returning to his bedroom and not emerging again all night. Makoto didn't come knocking on his door, so for the moment he was fine.

Maybe he should have a frank discussion with Sayaka, warning her that Makoto was spoken for.

But what if she pushed back? What if she insisted on pursuing Makoto? What if she said Makoto liked her more? What if she thought she was going to marry him?

Taka could make them some tea, and lace hers with some kind of toxin from the chemistry lab so she would be too sick to ensnare Makoto. That seemed like a peaceful way of handling things; she would just spend some time in the clinic, and then Taka would have more time to build up the courage to confess his feelings to Makoto.

Unfortunately, toxins didn't come labeled with what amount would make you sick and what amount would kill you. And since it was more important to Taka to avoid doing nothing (to avoid letting Sayaka steal his future) than it was to avoid doing serious damage, he might have been a bit generous with the measurements.

Yes, that was really unfortunate.

But to think about it a different way, at least Makoto hadn't gotten too close to her before it happened! And at least they'd had tea in the rec room and not in Taka's room, so he didn't have to worry about moving her body.

He shut her eyes and folded her hands in her lap, to give her some dignity in death, and took the tea set downstairs to wash.

His heart was pounding with adrenaline. As soon as the teacups submerged in the dishwater, he reached into his pocket to touch the keys.

He relaxed.

It was for Makoto. He'd had to save Makoto from a future with someone who didn't love him the way Taka did. And the world was in turmoil anyway; it might have been doing Sayaka a kindness, to free her from a world that probably wouldn't need pop singers again until she was well past aged-out of the teen pop demographic.

He washed the cups and put them away, deciding to go back to his room for his notes so he could make one of Makoto's favorite meals. A nice, hearty meal to console him through the loss of his friend.

[xappetites]

sort of a continuation of this w/Frank and fBell

Frank is no stranger to barbershop banter, he might not spend all that time in town, even when he’s home, but he’s been getting semi regular post-mission cuts here for long enough to be counted as a regular.

So he doesn’t really mind the ribbing, his barber poking fun at how he should let his hair grow out like the youngins do, and he’ll throw in a perm for free. That is until the grocer down the street, currently getting his beard trimmed, makes an off hand comment about Bell.

“Doesn’t seem like the missus would be a fan, though.”

And it isn’t like Frank’s fucking bothered, it’s just this is the first time he thinks of the situation with Bell —living in his house and sleeping in his bed, making his coffee and strong arming her way into paying at least the electricity bill— as something that might stick. And he needs a minute to sort through the ache in his chest.

A forfuckingever thing, instead of the vague suspicion that he won’t find her there when comes back stateside, the bracing himself for an empty house he’s been doing for the better part of two years now.

“What?” the barber stops, kills the trimmer even, so he can be heard loud and damn clear. “If you ain’t planning on marrying that pretty thing living with you, better break it to her soon then. She’s started raising chickens.”

“Not sure she’s the marrying type.”

It’s not a lie, Bell’s quicksilver in Frank’s mind, half a cool little stream after hoofing it across the jungle for days and half forest fire. The word ‘wife’ itself feels weird, no matter how many times he’s let her know that he loves her as he comes.

The barber drops it, thankfully, though he shakes his head at Frank like he’s the stupidest son of a bitch that’s graced his chair today.

But it distracts him, the whole fucking thing, nags at him like a mosquito bite in the crack of the ass. So he has to bring it up, and he’s sure he sounds annoyed as hell about it, because he is.

Bell laughs —easy, without mockery—, perched sidesaddle in his lap, because of course she does. This is why he preemptively imagines a world without her, practices losing her in his mind so it doesn’t kill him when it happens for real.

“You ever think about tying the knot?”

“I’m legally dead Frank, I don’t think I’m allowed to get married anymore.”

“But you would, if you could?”

“I’d walk my ass hand in hand with you into city hall tomorrow if I had a valid ID, love”

She kisses him to make her point, in that mesmerizing fucking way of hers, and she rides him half to death that night, fingers interlocked and mumbling his name like a prayer.

So Frank calls a guy, someone he trusts to take his payment and keep their mouth shut. An old CIA contact who minds their businesses.

And he thinks he could make it romantic, should probably; he just— can’t wait.

All he does in the end is slide the two cards over the table towards Bell one morning, as soon as they arrive. Valid, legal, forged by the best: a driver’s license and state ID for his best girl, with her name sitting pretty on them, joined by a simple, solid ‘Woods’.

To call her his wife still feels weird, but this is right. As right as her laughter, bright and so sudden it almost makes her choke on her coffee. Right as the way she fits in his arms, talking about rings and looking at him with eyes half closed, like she’s looking at the sun.

[canonical-transformation]

things I do not under any circumstances need: more AU ideas

things that my brain held me hostage until I typed up:

---

Nursery of Worldseed

"When there is nothing left to burn, the embers will turn cold. Only the inescapable long night will remain. The morning that follows, the springtime thaw: this is yours to steward. Love the world where I no longer can, ████; see it to fruition."

— Baba-Dekabrya, Tsaritsa of Everloving Peace, whispered to ██████ ████ ████████ days before the latter ███████ select █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████████

◆ Name: Innamorata

◆ Title: The Flower

◆ Nursery of Worldseed

◆ ???: Dendro

◆ Constellation: Ashvatta Diapausis

A rainstorm recently flooded a basement beneath Zapolyarny Palace. Among the many records lost was the contract drawn up between Her Majesty and her Sixth Harbinger. So badly was the contract damaged, it's impossible to tell whether it is centuries old or merely months. All that is left is an addendum, signed in blood, attesting that both parties were very satisfied by the deal.

Innamorata operates behind the scenes in Teyvat, pruning and shearing, nudging mortal innovation and inquiry away from topics that might draw unwanted attention from certain "people in high places".

Put no stock in the rumours that the Tsaritsa and the Flower are as close mother and daughter. To those who know Her Majesty — an unsmiling clown, a bard with aeons-ringed eyes — such an idea is risible. Her Majesty has long since had no love left to give. Any affection she shows the Sixth is a self-soothing denial of this truth.

Innamorata, too, is playing along with this harmless dream. Whatever she is missing, she knows it's gone for good.

Character Story 1

Those who compile dossiers on Fatui Harbingers may devote reams of paper to speculation on Damselette's heritage or Tartaglia's powers. Yet on the subject of Innamorata, there is little to say. Her name is added to intelligence briefings as an afterthought, a perfunctory inclusion.

This is not a sign of disrespect, nor to suggest that the Sixth is insignificant. There's simply not that much to say.

A joint report from Liyuean and Fontainian security services might read like this:

Title: Innamorata, 6th Fatui Harbinger

Aliases: The Flower, Il Fiora, ████, the Gardener of Sumeru, Bough Trimmer

Vision, Delusion, etc.: Nothing of note.

Age: Unknown, but appears of ordinary age.

Height: 0.1–100'

Weight: unknown

Physical description: Female human with unremarkable pinnae.

Skin tone: See previous.

Hair: Light coloured. Hue and colour distribution are unremarkable. Often worn up in a typical manner.

Eyes: Unremarkable.

Other notes (appearance): Eloquence and bearing unexceptional for someone of her age.

Known activities:

- Fatui counterintelligence, responsible for many of the Harbingers' security measures.

- Monitors various technological and research centres, including the Fontaine Research Institute, the Eight Trades, [...].

- Suspected of manipulation and sabotage of the above.

- Influencing foreign and domestic policy within Sumeru.

History: Recruited by the Fatui some time after the Cataclysm and some time before the first draft of this report was completed.

Allegiance: Like most Harbingers, her personal loyalty to the Fatui and Snezhnaya is ambiguous. Neutral attitude towards Fontaine, Inazuma, Liyue, Mondstadt, and Natlan. Not much else to say.

Motivation: Unremarkable.

Known capabilities: Unremarkable; however, unremarkable. Command of various elements unremarkable, and combined with her unremarkable intelligence, her theoretical power is potentially unremarkable. Rumours of omniscience are unsubstantiated and may be her own propoganda.

Known casualties: Nobody of note.

Known weaknesses: None.

Overall threat assessment: Inconclusive.

(with kudos to @dandelion-wings for the "meme" format)

(EDIT: The rest of this was published!)

[buttersoftheshea]

Feral Frills (Dark/Poison) This Pokemon bears some resemblance to both Weavile and its ancient ancestor- Sneasler. Perhaps it’s an ancient common ancestor? It uses its sharp claws to overwhelm prey, and its vibrant-colored neck frills to intimidate enemies.

Iron Shears (Steel/Flying) This Pokemon bears some resemblance to both Scizor and its ancient ancestor- Kleavor. It’s possible that it was made with the purpose of trimming and maintaining care over hedges. Its wings are actually rockets that allows it to boost up into the air.

I’ve been in a sort of creative and artistic slump for a while, but just a few days ago I got the brilliant idea of ‘what if Weavile had a paradox form?’ And initially I was thinking of a giant prehistoric weasel but then realized ‘no- Paradox Pokemon aren’t natural and only exist thanks to the eldritch mind turtle. There’s no way a paradox Weavile would even remotely be based on a weasel, they made Suicune into a RAPTOR.’

And since I’m convinced Paradox Pokemon aren’t real, I thought of another thing that’s not real- that one acid-spitting dinosaur from Jurassic Park. And how Weavile has frills.

SO, Feral Frills was born in a sketch that I was so proud of I decided to color. And then re-color for the shiny. I know people have played around with the idea of past Paradox Weavile/Scizor and future Paradox Sneasler/Kleavor and I absolutely love all of those ideas. But I thought about how Iron Valiant is kind of a hybrid of mega Gardevoir and mega Gallade, and reasoned that if any of these lines had a paradox form, they’d probably be mishmashes of the modern Pokemon with their respective ancestors. But I still wanted them to primarily obviously more resemble the modern-day equivalent in terms of coloration and whatnot, because I was imagining ‘well what would happen if the crew (the player, Penny, Arven, and Nemona) came across this? How would they react?’

... Probably with a mental breakdown because I’m convinced Penny, Arven, and Nemona have never heard of or paid enough attention in history class to know what Sneasler and Kleavor even are. The only one who MIGHT have a chance of knowing what they are is Nemona, only because “oh damn I wanna fight them” until she’s informed they’re extinct. Then their entire existance just flies out the window to her.

And I think part of the ‘WTF-ery’ behind Paradox Pokemon is that they LOOK like familiar Pokemon, they just... are SOMETHING ELSE. So, Feral Frills and Iron Shears have the main colorations of Weavile and Scizor with some loose elements from Sneasler and Kleavor, like Frills’ gems or furry feet or feathery tufts at the elbows, or Shears’ eyebrows and segmented abdomen and saw shoulder-blades.

Speaking of Iron Shears, I wanted it to be able to form something like scissors to reference Scizor, but with one blade on each hand like Kleavor. Scissors cut paper, axes cut trees, leaves... are somewhere in-between that. So, I made it a futuristic gardening shear robot.

For the shinies, for Feral Frills, I wanted to highlight it being a hybrid of Weavile and Sneasler so I made its shiny just a mishmash of Hisuian Sneasel’s (I’m sorry but I hate shiny Sneasler) and Weavile’s shiny. Hence the yellow and pink feathers. Kinda reminds me of a fancy drink with grenadine in it.

And for Iron Shears, well, officially it would be just like all the other future Paradox shinies. But. I made a different version that would be more like how I would like it- and it was easier to make since, well, both shiny Kleavor and shiny Scizor are green. Even shiny mega Scizor is green, which, yes I did loosely incorporate elements of mega Scizor into the design as well.

As for the typing, for Feral Frills it was obvious- I wanted to make it a Dark and Poison type to pull from Weavile and Sneasler, and also still be an acid-spitting menace. For Iron Shears, it was a bit more difficult since Steel/Rock, drawing from Scizor and Kleavor, wouldn’t really work with my robotic hedge-trimmer idea, but... I remembered that Scyther is a Flying type. So I decided to go with Steel/Flying since it’s metallic and can fly all over- and I didn’t want it to be Bug type either since it’s more of a robot and less of an organic creature. So, Steel/Flying, it can hang out with Skarmory, Corviknight, and Celesteela. Feral Frills can chill with Skuntank, Drapion, Alolan Muk, and Overqwil as everyone questions this eldritch mind turtle-made unnatural abomination.

Anyways, again, sketches that I was so proud of I slightly cleaned up and ended up coloring. I’m proud of these. I love Feral Frills so much I wish it was in the game, and then I think about how it’s not and I weep. I hope y’all like it!

[theharrowing]

Headcanons are supremely exciting! Thank you!!!!

While I am a total Tannie body hair enthusiast... what do you think the manscaping situation is for our dear OT7?

oh boy, oh boy, anon!!! 😂

the way i cackled like a witch when i first read this. i am also a body hair enthusiast!!! i don't think this one requires preamble or explanation; let's dive in! this is not smutty but it is also not fully sfw!

how the members tend to their pube gardens:

Namjoon: a very valiant attempt is made using a beard trimmer, but there are always long hairs sticking out around the base of his junk. shaving all the way to the skin is time-consuming, and frankly, he is self-aware enough to know his own clumsiness could be his downfall, so he always leaves a very short, somewhat messy bush, and is content with it.

Seokjin: the man is not a fan of his own body hair, and he certainly does not want you to see it. Seokjin is a regular at a very discrete waxing spot. he even blushes when the workers--who see body hair for a living--have to witness any growth, and he feels shy the entire time. they service the front and the back for him, and he tips generously.

Yoongi: depending on how Yoongi is feeling, he might trim, shave, or let it stay wild and free. whatever stage of hairiness he may be at, there will be some factoid to back it up, such as not wanting to shave because he read statistics about the risk of getting an ingrown hair, etc.

Hoseok: a trimmer but not a shaver, Hoseok likes to keep everything tidy but is absolutely terrified of the pain that could come with getting waxed and has no intention of using a razor at home.

Jimin: our Jimin got his pubes laser-removed years ago. his bottom is smooth as a baby's bottom.

Taehyung: not the type to conform to silly standards of beauty, Taehyung lets his bush stay wild and free, and he is quite proud of it.

Jungkook: our Jungkook has an 8-step process that involves several tools, and while he likes to keep just a thin layer of hair for aesthetic purposes--and to hold onto a little of his natural musk--he does a very tight, tidy job. his butthole gets waxed, though, and he loves it.

find more headcanons in my master list!

[cherrylng]

Gears & Analysis - Laser Manson [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]

Laser Manson Light artwork with crushed mirror top and laser emitter.

This instrument, with a deliberately split plastic mirror on the body top, was introduced for the recording of ‘Absolution’ and was used on stage until around 2007. The basic specs are similar to the ‘Delorean’, with a mahogany body, bird's eye maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. The sides and back are covered with aluminium plates as on the ‘Delorean’. Pickups are a Rio Grande ‘Bastard’ (front) + ‘Crunchbox’ (but later each were replaced by a Bear Knuckle ‘P-90’ type single coil ‘Mississippi Queen’ + high-gain humbucker ‘Nailbomb’). The same as the ‘Delorean’ with Roland GK-2A, piezo pickup in the bridge, ‘Fuzz Factory’ and ‘Phase 90’ circuits. The main feature that makes this guitar original and different from other Manson guitars is the built-in red laser light emitters all over the body. This is where the name ‘Laser Manson’ (or ‘The Laser’) comes from. The idea of firing this laser beam seems like something Matthew would like, but in fact it seems to have been Mr Manson's idea, not Matthew's. According to Manson, he heard that the band was going to perform at the Reading Festival and came up with the idea as a device to enhance the band's stage presence there. Incidentally, each laser emitter is connected to a microprocessor built into the main unit, which changes the amount of light emitted according to the band's performance. Three 9V batteries are used to emit light. However, the lasers only work well when the stage is smoked or dark, and the guitar is said to be quite heavy.

Controls Laser emitters are located in several places on the body and head, including two on the pickguard, and emit a red laser when switched on. The red laser emits a red light when switched on, which, combined with the reflection of the mirrored plastic on the top, gives the guitar an outstanding stage presence. The unit also has a number of controls, including the built-in effectors (‘Fuzz Factory’ and ‘Phase 90’), each of which is assigned the same functionality as the ‘Delorean'.

Back View The body back is not mirrored but, like the Delorean, is made of laminated aluminium sheet over wood. The beautiful bird's eye neck with a faint tiger's eye can also be seen. There are several small holes in the middle of the body, probably for assigning a trimmer to adjust the output of the laser beam.

Translator's Notes: Again, a typo error from the editors of STYLE.

[author-chan06]

Hello! Welcome to my Tumblr!

Personal:

Names: Ari, Jay, Roman, Blitzø, And Loki! You can use any or all of them.

Gender: Agenderboy

Sexuality: Biromantic Bisexual (Maybe??? Questioning This Rn Might Be On The Asexual Spectrum???)

Pronouns: They/He/It + Some Neos

Neopronouns That I Use:

Xe/Xem/Xyr/Xyrs/Xemself

Ae/Aer/Aer/Aers/Aerself

Ye/Yem/Yer/Yers/Yemself

Qu/Queer/Queer/Queers/Queerself

Voi/Void/Voids/Voids/Voidself

Vae/Vaer/Vaer/Vaers/Vaerself

Sym/Ser/Ser/Sers/Symself

Un/Un/Uns/Uns/ Unself

Nin/Nin/Nins/Nins/Ninself

Neb/Nebula/Nebus/Nebus/Nebulaself

Sti/Stim/Stims/Stims/Stimself

Pri/Prin/Princes/Princes/Princeself

Fandom Stance:

I am a proshipper, a comshipper, and a selfshipper. I do ship things that would be considered “problematic”, but I will not debate the ethics and morals of this on this blog. It’s just not really what I want to do, and it would cause me too much mental stress, as I’m not a big fan of being involved in debates. Any talk of this will be deleted. So anti’s do not interact.

So Tw’s for this blog:

Unhealthy Relationships

Toxic Relationships

Abusive Relationships

Manipulation

Underage/Adult Relationships

Incest

Sexual Assault

Rape

— And Just In General Some Dark Topics

If you don’t want to see any of that, that is totally fine. Just block and move on. If you’re leaving now, I wanna wish you a happy day and a fun time in whatever fandom you’re in! <3 <3

Fandoms And Ships:

I am in a lot of fandoms and I am a multishipper. So these will be the fandoms I’m in and a link to the post that shows my ships.

Batman

Sanders Sides

Hazbin Hotel

Helluva Boss

Gravity Falls

Marvel

The Owl House

Hamilton

My Hero Academia

My Ships Post

My Otherlinks And Fictionkin:

Otherlinks:

Loki (MCU)

Blitzø (Helluva Boss)

All Of My S/I’s

Fictionkin:

Roman Sanders (Sanders Sides)

Selfshipping/My F/O’s:

Remus Sanders (Sanders Sides) & Virgil Sanders (Sanders Sides) & Janus Sanders (Sanders Sides) & Patton Sanders (Sanders Sides) & Logan Sanders (Sanders Sides)

Blitzø & Stolas Ars Goetia (Helluva Boss)

Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)

Tomura Shigaraki & Dabi & Himiko Toga & Keigo Takami (BNHA)

Mammon (Obey Me)

Fizzarolli & Asmodeus (Helluva Boss)

Vox & Val & Velvette (Hazbin Hotel)

Darkiplier & Wilford & Bim Trimmer & Actor & Yancy & Illinois & Engineer Mark

SCP-049 “The Plague Doctor” & SCP-682 “The Hard To Kill Reptile” & SCP-035 “The Possessive Mask”

Slenderman & Jeff The Killer & Jane The Killer & Ticci Toby & Laughing Jack & Eyeless Jack & Masky & Nina & Clockwork & Ben Drowned

The ones with 2 or more people in one bracket thing are Polyam relationships! And I have made separate posts for most of them, if any of these interest you enough that you want to learn more!

The rest are newer and so they don’t have posts yet, but they will soon!

I’m totally ok with other’s who are dating these guys too! And while our relationships may not be the same, I would love to hear you gush about them, as long as you don’t mind me doing the same right back at you about us ahah

Request Rules And Request Limits:

Disclaimer! Any of these rules and limits to my writing have nothing to do the morality of writing these things and I hold no hate or disgust for people who write these types of things, I just don’t want to write these things or I don’t feel comfortable writing it myself.

Here are my rules and anything you might need to know about my requests: My Requests

Are requests open right now?

Requests are closed!

Links:

My AO3

My Old Blog

My Kofi (Not Fully Set Up Yet)

My Personal Tags

Well I think that’s everything! If you want to gush or ask questions or give requests, go ahead! I hope you enjoy your time at my blog!

[the-bad-batch-baroness]

Banner art by @mwolf0epsilon

Name Etymology

Tungst is a shortened version of tungsten, a metal used in a type of welding called TIG (tungsten inert gas). The process requires a certain level of finesse, concentration, attention to detail, and patience. All of these qualities are embodied within Tungst. The only person who's used his full name "Tungsten" was Brett, and he only did it once.

Personality

Tungst is the leader and "tired dad" of Phoenix squad. He does his best to wrangle his unruly squad together and keep them out of trouble, but they refuse to stay in line. Tungst is a passionate person with an incredible sense of justice and becomes immovable when he dedicates himself to a cause. He is mostly level-headed, but can become overzealous and protective of the ones he loves. But most of all, he has a big heart, loves his squad, and will gladly die for each one of them.

Mood Boards:

Here

Alphabets:

SFW Alphabet

NSFW Alphabet

View his tags -> #oc: tungst

Physical Appearance

Tungst has the standard clone physique, but he loves to work out and get those gains. His hair is a little outside regulation, with more floof on the top and trimmer along the sides, the color deviates from the standard clone and is auburn. He enjoys keeping some facial hair. He has a shrapnel scar on the left side of his neck and left ear from the explosion that killed Chance. He also has a memorial tattoo on his chest for Chance, and a phoenix-shaped tramp stamp.

Character Art:

Downtime

Emoji Ask

Greyscale Bust

Character Timeline

Early Cadet Years:

CT-3422, or Tungst, showed great leadership prowess since the day he was decanted. However, as a late-stage clone in the already waging Clone War, his abilities weren't noticed much by the Kaminoans or the Jedi/mercenary trainers. Although, they did notice his stubbornness and propensity to argue, which didn't do him any favors. His squad still looked up to him as their leader. As a cadet, Tungst dreamed of becoming an ARC trooper in the GAR.

Invasion of Kamino:

During the invasion of Kamino in 21 BBY, Tungst led his squad into the fray as part of the frontal assault. With limited resources and training as a seventh year, he grabbed whatever armor and blasters he could find to outfit his squad. During the firefight, Chance left his position behind the barricade with Drip to render medical aid to a group of wounded clone cadets caught in a blast. When Tungst realized Chance had left the group, he went after him. However, before Tungst could get to Chance, Brett grabbed Tungst and yanked him back before another missile hit the same spot. Tungst caught shrapnel to the left side of his neck and left ear in the blast. When the dust settled, Tungst forced his way out of Brett's grasp and ran to Chance. He gathered Chance up in his arms and carried him behind the barricade. Chance died in Tungst's arms a few moments later.

Aftermath of Chance's Death:

After Chance's death, the squad was never quite the same. Tungst blamed Brett for Chance's death and made sure he knew it every single day. When Drip attempted to end his own life over Chance's death, Tungst is the one who found him bleeding out on the floor. After taking him to medbay for medical intervention the Kaminoans deemed Drip as defective and slated him for decommissioning. Tungst begged the Jedi for Drip's life and his pleas were granted, with the stipulation that Drip's record remain spotless for the duration of their training.

Order 66:

Order 66 was just another day for Phoenix Squad. Tungst was the first to receive the news that the Jedi had betrayed the Republic and he shared it with the rest of the squad. Without sworn allegiance to any Jedi, Tungst had no reason to doubt the betrayal, and their training continued without much interruption.

Destruction of Tipoca City:

Imperial Service:

Fanfiction

Icon Guide -> HERE

Updated: 5/11/2024

Navigation Page

*When I commissioned Eps to make the character banners, I sent her some stick figure references I made in Canva. For laughs and giggles, I've added it to the post.*

[viktor-danilov]

Beard Styles

Beard hair is most commonly removed by shaving or by trimming with the use of a beard trimmer.

If only the area above the upper lip is left unshaven, the resulting facial hairstyle is known as a mustache;

if hair is left only on the chin, the style is a goatee.

Goatee: A tuft of hair grown on the chin, sometimes resembling a billy goat's.

Junco: A goatee that extends upward and connects to the corners of the mouth but does not include a mustache, like the circle beard.

Meg: A goatee that extends upward and connects to the mustache, this word is commonly used in the south east of Ireland.

Van Dyke: a goatee accompanied by a mustache.

Monkey tail: a Van Dyke as viewed from one side, and a Lincoln plus mustache as viewed from the other, giving the impression that a monkey's tail stretches from an ear down to the chin and around one's mouth.

Hollywoodian: a beard with an integrated mustache that is worn on the lower part of the chin and jaw area, without connecting sideburns.

Reed: a beard with an integrated mustache that is worn on the lower part of the chin and jaw area that tapers towards the ears without connecting sideburns.

Royale: a narrow pointed beard extending from the chin. The style was popular in France during the period of the Second Empire, from which it gets its alternative name, the imperial or impériale.

Verdi: a short beard with a rounded bottom and slightly shaven cheeks with a prominent mustache

Muslim beard: Full beard with the mustache trimmed

Soul patch: a small beard just below the lower lip and above the chin

Glitter beard: Beard dipped in glitter.[20][21]

Hulihee: clean-shaven chin with fat chops connected at the mustache.

Friendly mutton chops: long mutton chop-type sideburns connected to a mustache, but with a shaved chin and neck.

Stashburns or the Lemmy: sideburns that drop down the jaw but jut upwards across the mustache, leaving the chin exposed. Similar to friendly mutton chops. Often found in southern and southwestern American culture (see, for example, the Yosemite Sam caricature).

Closed or Tied beard: Mostly seen among modern Sikh youth, this is a kind of full beard tied by using a sticky liquid or Gel and stiffens below the chin.

Oakley beard: Described by Indian makeup artist Banu as "neither a French beard nor a full beard". She used the look for Rajinikanth in Enthiran (2010).

Full: downward flowing beard with either a styled or integrated mustache

Garibaldi: wide, full beard with rounded bottom and integrated mustache

Old Dutch: A large, long beard, connected by sideburns, that flares outward in width at the bottom, without a mustache.

Sideburns: hair grown from the temples down the cheeks toward the jawline. Worn by Ambrose Burnside (the namesake of the style), Isaac Asimov and Carlos Menem.

Jawline beard: A beard that is grown from the chin along the jawline. Chinstrap, chin curtain and brett are all variations of a jawline beard with distinctions being chin coverage and sideburn length.

Chinstrap: a beard with long sideburns that comes forward and ends under the chin.

Chin curtain: similar to the chinstrap beard but covers the entire chin. Also called a Lincoln, Shenandoah, or spade.

Brett: similar to the chin curtain beard, but does not connect to the sideburns.[17]

Neckbeard: similar to the chinstrap, but with the chin and jawline shaven, leaving hair to grow only on the neck. While never as popular as other beard styles, a few noted historical figures have worn this type of beard, such as Nero, Horace Greeley, Henry David Thoreau, William Empson, Peter Cooper, Moses Mendelssohn, Richard Wagner, and Michael Costa.

Circle beard: Commonly mistaken for the goatee, the circle beard is a small chin beard that connects around the mouth to a mustache. Also called a doorknocker.[18]

Designer stubble: A short growth of the male beard that was popular in the West in the 1980s, and experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 2010s.[19]

Sea captain: A rounded, bottom-heavy beard of medium length with short sides that is often paired with a longer mustache.