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cable-knit-sweater · 2 years

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Let Your Hair Down

By @cable-knit-sweater , @controlofwhatido, @cynefinhome & @sparkagrace

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes

Word count: 1.6k

Rating: Teen

Notes: @controlofwhatido said “Someone needs to write a fluff fic about Bucky learning the 'plop' method that's been going around everywhere to really bring out his curls.” And we all had some thoughts. So here you go, Bucky finding his curly hair routine and becoming a YouTuber, Steve getting in the way because he can’t keep his hands off of Bucky. I apologize for the title card 😂

Bucky’s been on the couch watching these videos for over an hour now. Steve hasn’t paid much attention, but apparently it’s about hair, even if terms like “curly girl method” and “diffuser” and “sulfate free” mean nothing to him.

He tries to look over Bucky’s shoulder, and catches part of something that looks like a tutorial for doing curly hair. His lips curl into a smile. Bucky has always spent a lot of time on his hair. “That looks like it’d be a lot of effort, Buck,” he murmurs after the woman in the video shows the products she’s used once more.

Bucky stares up at him with a frown, then turns back to the video, shaking his head. Steve chuckles, but can’t resist running his hand through Bucky’s curls before he walks away.

A couple of days later, the door rings and a delivery guy drops off a bunch of boxes, all with Bucky’s name on them. “Uhm, Bucky?” He asks, walking into the living room with the boxes stacked in his arms. “Buck? I have a package for you.”

Bucky walks up to him, smirking. “I’m sure ya do,” he says, making Steve roll his eyes, but he can’t keep the smile off his face. Unfortunately, Bucky is more focused on the packages when he spots them than he is on Steve’s package, lighting up at the sight of them and taking them from Steve’s hands.

“I have to go shower,” Bucky announces, but he doesn’t move yet, just goes to open the boxes. He takes out multiple bottles, cans and tubs of product, different combs, and something that looks like a hairdryer, but comes with this weird attachment that Steve hasn’t seen before.

“What is all this?” Steve asks, like he can’t see they’re all hair products.

Bucky looks at him like he’s a little stupid, which, fair. “It’s for my hair,” he says dryly.

“Yeah, I can see that, but…don’t you already have stuff that works?”

Bucky shakes his head. “No, that’s not good for my hair. It dries it out. This is specifically for my curl type.”

“But…that’s so many products.”

“Steveee. I need to try out what works best, I’m not gonna put all of this in my hair at the same time.” Bucky goes to explain more about the products, and how he’s supposed to use them. Steve gets lost somewhere around the explanation of co-washing. Still, Bucky seems excited about all of this, so Steve smiles and just listens to him talk.

At some point, Bucky’s excitement is clearly getting too much for him to wait much longer, and Steve lets him go take that shower. He’s only a little disappointed that he’s not allowed to join him.

Thirty minutes later, Steve walks into the bedroom, finding Bucky just in his boxers and sitting in front of the mirror, using a t-shirt to dry his hair by…scrunching it. “What are you doing? Why not use a towel like- wait, is that my shirt?” he asks.

Bucky’s silence betrays him a little. “Uhm yes, it was the best thing to use for this?” He finally says, pausing the tutorial he was playing on his phone again.

Steve chuckles. “Didn’t want to use one of your own shirts, huh?”

Bucky’s head is tilted slightly, curls hanging over his face, but Steve can see him smirk a little through the curtain of hair.

He leaves Bucky to it when he gets slapped with a wet shirt for touching the weird hair dryer thing. It takes a long time for Bucky to finish doing his hair - even longer than usual - but when he walks into the living room, Steve can’t deny that the effect of whatever he did, is incredible.

Now, Steve’s always been a little obsessed with Bucky’s hair. He loves that he’s keeping it longer these days, loves to run his fingers through it, loves the way Bucky looks in the mornings: sleep soft and messy curls in his face. But whatever he did now…his hair looks even shinier than usual, perfectly curled. The satisfied smile on Bucky’s face makes it even better.

He holds out his hand to Bucky, pulling him into his lap. “Wow,” he breathes out. “That is really worth it, god you look good Buck.” Steve’s heart flutters a little at the sight of Bucky blushing and ducking his head down.

“You think so?” He asks.

Steve runs his hands through his boyfriend’s hair. “Yeah, whatever you did, it…it looks amazing.”

“Thank you,” Bucky murmurs, before frowning a little and pushing Steve’s hands away from his hair. “Don’t mess with it too much though, I’m FaceTiming with Nat later and I want to show her.”

“But I can mess with it after?” Steve asks, smirking.

Bucky presses a kiss to his lips. “Yeah, you can mess with it later,” he says back with a grin, getting out of Steve’s lap, probably just in case. Which is smart because Steve doesn’t think he can take his hands off Bucky much longer.

For some reason, Steve thought Bucky would just stick with this routine and that would be it. He’s wrong. Bucky tries out all the different products he’s ordered: masks, conditioners, leave-in conditioners, shampoos, gels, serums…Steve is still not sure what they’re all for, except the obvious ones.

He tries all of them out, asking Steve what he thinks, and usually Nat and Wanda too, because he doesn’t seem to trust Steve’s judgment. Which, yeah, he really shouldn’t, because Bucky could wear his hair in a messy bun every day and Steve would still think his hair would look perfect. The deliveries don’t stop either, new boxes of products arriving at their place almost every week.

One morning, when Steve’s just waking up, he can hear Bucky talking in the shower, but he doesn’t think much of it. Bucky’s been doing that more and more recently.

Slowly, he gets out of bed to get dressed and get started on breakfast. But when he looks through his dresser for a shirt, he can’t find any. He’s starting to get used to not having anything to wear because Bucky’s been using his shirts to “plop” his hair every time, and all his shirts end up wet or covered in product.

Still, he’s thinking about going through the laundry basket to see if there’s anything clean enough to put on. But then Bucky gets out of the bathroom, still talking…about his hair routine?

He’s holding his phone camera pointed at his face, recording himself. Steve stays seated on the bed, giving him a curious look. Bucky looks back at him appreciatively – clearly he doesn’t mind the lack of shirts either – but then continues his story, talking about the next start in his process.

Bucky sits down in front of the mirror again, showing the camera the leave-in product he’s about to apply. Apparently, he already stole the last of Steve’s shirts because he uses it to plop his hair when he’s done doing that. Steve just looks on, not realizing he’s doing it until Bucky pauses the recording and looks at him.

“Steve, what’s with all the sighing?”

Steve smiles. “Nothing. Just love watching you do this.”

“Can you do it a little quieter? I’m trying to explain my routine to people.”

“Aren’t there hundreds of videos already of people doing that?”

“Yes, Steve, there are, but almost none for men. And not so much for my hair type. I’m trying to make men feel good about their longer curly hair too.”

Steve melts at that. “That’s…that’s amazing, Buck,” he says softly. “I’ll be quiet?”

Bucky smiles back at him. “Okay, then you can keep watching.” He winks at Steve before going back to his recording.

At some point, Steve can’t help himself anymore. Bucky’s done with his routine so he’s sure he’ll stop recording soon. He gets off the bed and walks over, doing his best to stay off camera.

When he’s next to Bucky, he’s suddenly hit with the overwhelming urge to have his hands in Bucky’s hair. He gives in to that urge, running his fingers through the soft, slightly wet strands.

“STEVE,” Bucky yells only a second later. Before Steve can respond, he gets water sprayed in his face. Bucky stares at him, incredulous, holding a spray bottle in his hands. “You can’t touch it until it’s set, you’re gonna make it frizzy!”

Steve has to laugh at the reaction. “You mean if I do this,” he asks, running his hands through Bucky’s hair again.

“No, bad boy, stay away,” Bucky says, spraying him again, but he’s laughing too. “Also, go put a shirt on or something. People thirst over you enough as is, begone!”

Steve tilts his head, picks up the wet shirt from the ground and puts that on. It’s a little uncomfortable, but it’s worth it with how Bucky looks at him, eyes darkening, staring at his chest again.

Bucky turns around to face his camera. “Well, that’s it for now, I’ll link the products below, this was the Bucky Curl Method, I’ll see you next week,” he rushes out before stopping the recording. He gets up, crowding Steve a little.

“You’re a punk, you know that?”

“I can’t help it,” Steve says, hands in Bucky’s hair again. “Just look so good when you’re doing that. How am I supposed to keep my hands to myself?”

Bucky pushes his head a little more against the palm of Steve’s hand. “Hmm, maybe…” he says, closing his eyes. “Maybe I’ll do another tutorial. Still a lotta products I need to try and review.”

“Yeah?” Steve breathes, pulling Bucky closer to him. “Does that mean I can mess it up now?”

Bucky smirks at him. “Yeah, you can mess it up.”

And Steve - as much as he loves how perfect Bucky’s curls look right now - has never been able to say no to that.

#maya tries to write #sort of #stucky fic #stucky #steve rogers #bucky barnes #tej 💕💕#cyn 💕💕#linds 💕💕

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fmprojectleonardo · 18 days

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Evaluation

This project will be a massive cutscene fight between two Roblox rigs with camera motion. The animation will have both hand-to-hand combat and air combat. I will mainly focus on the torso movement and the basic swinging and after making the full scene I will then add all the details within the animation. There will be a mix of easing styles throughout the fight to make it seem more creative. For ethical considerations i do not see where I would need to consider any ethical things. The only thing I can imagine is my carbon footprint amount to create the animations. Meaning the electricity that it took.

The time I have used at home was to watch some fight scenes from films and some fight scenes in cartoons to get a better grasp on choreography. In college, I put these films onto my blog and described how the movies used choreography well and how the fight scenes played out. Then I used most of my time in college working on my animations since it is all saved here. I was over-ambitious in my project work because I thought I would have time to make a very large cutscene between two rigs to show choreography skills and smoothness in the animation, along with other animations like walking, running, and attack swings. But at the moment I have only done around 10 seconds of a cutscene with effects and a little bit of map building along with some side animations that I have already mentioned.

My primary observations on animations is the flow of them and how I would picture myself or someone else doing them to see if it is possible. This helped me understand choreography a lot better than just assuming that anything I posed was possible. When I wanted to do a more of a cartoony animation I would go to other people’s developed ideas such as the two roblox animators TBGlitch (Twitter) and blendergod99. These two animators have shown me how to make animations flow and how far back arms and torsos need to move to make certain movements more impactful. These techniques have helped me greatly when producing my fight scene as the swings seem much more impactful to how they would look without their inspiration.

The skills that I have developed in animating were from home. I have been animating for approximately 2 years now and only started blender animating 9 months ago. Before that, I was using Moon Animator (Which I occasionally use to put my blender animations together in Roblox if I want to add in-game effects, etc.). This was appropriate to my development of this project because now I know what the names of the things I need are which allowed me to make this animation pack for my FMP. I have been interested in posing and channel types because you can see how different channel types can completely change your animation from being smooth to snappy or linear. I have not yet mastered Blender animating as I have only been on it for 9 months now, however, I have made a dramatic improvement over the months which has gotten me into commissions for games! I have also used the skills I have learned myself to teach others to become animators like me by providing them with tips I had to work out myself and giving them my rigs.

On the animating side of things, I encountered a couple of issues, where my animations were not smooth in some areas and you could see it clearly when playing the animation regularly. To resolve this issue I remade the previous attack so that the idea for the unsmooth one would work. The other issue was the rig completely breaking and forcing me to reopen Blender to my backup save which was a lot of progress loss. On learning new things however, I kept encountering issues where tutorials to make effects would not work because it was slightly outdated meaning the ways they did it would not work on the current version I am using so I had to understand how nodes would work in Blender myself. Learning how to move the camera along with the animation was something new to me and to make it look decent with the impact was also relatively fun. Learning my own way to make things is more practical for me because then I actually remember how to do them whereas if I watch a tutorial and follow them step-by-step then I end up not learning a single thing.

The animation pack I have produced for my FMP was made with inspiration from some animations off of my pinterest mood board and different games. These games being Dead By Daylight and Street fighters. I gathered references off of these animations and manipulated them in my way so that I could make my own ideas. Whilst working on my animations I also gathered feedback on what to change, which on the cutscene after the first two successful hits there was a debate where after the character who has been hit recovers and lands a low attack as a surprise whilst the other was swinging expecting to land the punch. But after multiple attempts it didn’t work out, so I went with the other idea where both are given time to recover and continue the brawl.

For presenting my animations I used Render Animation Which takes a picture of each frame and puts it together in a video, and depending on what fps settings you had on the animation will set the speed of the animation. For the cutscene that I have made, it is 90 fps. The rest I believe are 60 fps. This strategy would be appropriate for professional practice because the animation would run smoothly and present the animation just as the animator would wish it to, compared to when it is in an animation player.

At first I was very ambitious, I believed that I would be able to make a very long fight scene between two characters. But in the end I spent 8 college days on a single cutscene animation because I was learning new things as I progressed. After finishing 10 seconds or so of a fighting scene I realised 2-3 weeks had passed and that I still had more animations to make so I left the cutscene at 10 seconds. I worked on multiple different animations, recorded and posted them to my blog. However I was not rendering the animations as I just stated above, so these could not be used for the final outcome as I wanted. Overall I have exceeded some of my targets which were learning effects in blender and learning interpolations. I may not have done a lot of animations but I certainly improved in animating.

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kinglazrus · 3 years

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Deep Wounds Ch. 1 - Who's to Blame?

Phic Phight | Next | AO3 | FFN

Submitted by @q-gorgeous: Identity reveal. Dash finds out Danny is Phantom. Could be swagger bishie or not, either or is okay.

Submitted by @aj-itated: Dash catches Danny changing after gym, and spots a huge (poorly stitched) wound on his side. Dash is now convinced Danny is either abused or part of a gang, and has no idea how to deal with either - or how to interact with Danny, now that he can't bully him.

Summary: Dash didn't mean to see it, not that it was his fault. If Danny didn't want anyone to notice the bloody mess on his side, then he shouldn't be checking his bandages in the middle of the boy's changing room. But it's too late, and Dash has no clue what to do now that he thinks Danny might be getting hurt at home.

Word count: 4253

“He’s gonna know.”

As Tucker's shadow falls over him, Danny starts, rudely yanked out of his daydream. The hand cradling his chin drops to his lap, fingers brushing the grass, and he fixes Tucker with a confused glare. "What?"

"You are super unsubtle," Tucker says. "He's gonna knooow."

Tucker and singsong aren’t two words Danny would normally use together, but it is the best way to describe the lyrical bounce in Tucker's voice as he drops onto the grass. Too bad his musical prowess seems limited to teasing jabs and not the screeching caterwaul Danny usually associates with Tucker and singing.

"What are you talking about?" Danny asks, his annoyance mounting.

"Oh, come on." Tucker leans back and sweeps his arm out to the field, motioning to the warm-up game some of their classmates are playing, which Danny had been watching fervently until he was interrupted. His gaze skims over the scuffle taking place over the ball, settles briefly on Dash lounging in front one of the nets, then goes back to Tucker.

"I don't know what you mean," Danny says.

"Tucker, be nice. Don't tease the oblivious," Sam cuts in. Sitting on Danny's left, she is flipping through a book rather than watches the scrimmage. How she got the book past Tetslaff, Danny has no idea. Magic, maybe. The more likely answer is that Tetsflaff saw it and just didn't care since Sam one of the best students in their class.

Danny could never get away with it, though. "Seriously. What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, poor Danny." Tucker tsks and shakes his head. "In time, you, too, shall mature enough to understand your own emotions."

"I'm mature enough to ectoblast you in the face," Danny says.

"That is literally the exact opposite of mature."

"You're the exact opposite of mature."

"Game time!" Tetslaff's bellow cuts off what surely would have been a clever retort from Tucker. Her booming voice, powerful enough to challenge Danny's father's, echoes across the field and brings the scrimmage to a halt. At the far net, Dash rises to his feet and brushes the grass from his shorts.

"Captains!" Tetslaff calls. Valerie and Dash's hands shoot into the air, faster than anyone else's. Sam, still focused on her book, raises her hand half-heartedly, then lowers it to turn the page. No one else offers to be team captain, but Tetslaff doesn't seem to mind. This is how their classes usually go when they do team sports. "You know the drill. Pick your players, take your positions, and for heaven's sake, someone take Fenton."

Snickers break out through the class. Danny drops his face into his hands, muffling a groan against his palms.

He hates gym class for a lot of reasons. For one, sports aren't really his thing. He might be strong, thanks to his ghost half, but that doesn't make him any better at sports. Because of that, he's usually the last picked when it comes to games like soccer. And then there's Dash, who sucks sometimes, but he used to suck more. A lot more. He has mellowed out since freshman year, although he's not opposed to jostling Danny in the hallway now and then.

But the absolute worst thing about gym class is playing when he's injured; it doesn't happen often. Danny's been ghost fighting for nearly three years now, and he doesn't get hurt as much as he used to. Experience has wizened him up to the wonders of dodging. His enemies still get lucky sometimes, though, and last night, Technus got him good. Hacking and slashing isn't usually Technus' thing, but the rabid dishwasher the ghost sicked on Danny was damn good at it. He has the deep slash across his left side to show it.

It's healing well, but a wound like that needs more than a few hours before he is back in peak condition. Sam, whose house was closest after the fight, stitched Danny up as best as she could. Both she and Tucker had gotten good at that over the years, but for all Sam's skill, she was still just a high schooler who learned off YouTube tutorials. Before bed, Danny bound the wound tight, took a couple of Advil, and slept with an icepack slapped against his side.

It still hurts like hell, though.

A sharp whistle pierces Danny's thoughts. He winces at the noise, along with most of the class. Dash and Valerie, the victims of Tetslaff's ire, actually flinch.

"Baxter, Grey, stop bickering," Tetslaff says.

Caught up in his thoughts, Danny hadn't noticed their argument, but it's impossible to miss the tight anger in Valerie's crossed arms or the annoyance in Dash's glare.

"Baxter, Grey made her pick. Mr. Cheong goes with her." Tetslaff points at Kwan, then jerks her thumb toward Valerie. With a despondent sigh, Dash pats Kwan on the back, watching his best friend trudge to Valerie's team as if he was going to his grave.

"They're so dramatic," Danny says.

Tucker nods in agreement. "I know, right?"

Sam lowers her book to stare at them. "You cannot be serious."

"What did we say?" Danny asks.

Sam sighs and rolls her eyes but doesn't elaborate further.

Back on the field, Valerie gestures to the dwindling number of classmates yet to be claimed. "Your next pick," she says to Dash.

Dash scans the lineup, his gaze lingering on Danny for a few moments before skipping right over Tucker to Sam. "Manson, you're with me."

"Ugh, of course." Sam marks her page and passes the book to Danny. "You gonna be okay? How's your side?"

He holds back a grimace. "I'm good. I'll tell Tetslaff I'm sick or something so I can sit out."

Sam nods, satisfied, and joins Dash's team.

"Tucker!" Valerie calls.

"Good luck, dude." Tucker gently pats Danny's shoulder before stepping onto the field.

With his friends gone, and the rest of the class distracted by the team pick, Danny shuffles over to Tetslaff. "I don't really feel good. Can I sit out?"

Tetslaff looks him up and down. "You gonna throw up?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"You got a fever?" Before Danny can even answer, Tetslaff slaps her hand against his forehead. He flinches back, wanting nothing more than to peel her warm palm off his skin. She holds it there for a few seconds before finally drawing away. "No fever. got a doctor's note?"

"Uh... no? I've been at school all morning."

"If you feel like you're about to throw up, book it off the field. Otherwise, you're playing."

"But—"

"Fenton, do you really want to be the only kid in Casper High history to fail gym class?" Tetslaff asks.

The threat might have been more effective if Danny hadn't spent half his high school career one bad grade away from flunking out, but he doesn't have the energy to fight her on it. "Okay, Coach."

"That's the spirit! Now get out there and show me some hustle!" Tetslaff slaps Danny on the back. He bites back a cry of pain as he stumbles forward, one hand shooting to cradle his side. Tetslaff's hand, though broad, missed the actual injury, but the sheer impact made his bones rattle and his wound flair with pain.

"Okay," Danny mutters. Just stay out of Dash's way and move enough to escape Tetslaff ire. It can't be that hard. He presses a hand to his side, feeling the thick gauze through his shirt. Closing eyes so that no one sees them glow, he phases his palm through his shirt and ices over his injury. The numbing cold helps, somewhat, and it should hold up for the whole class.

"I can do this." He falters when he steps toward the field. It looks like Valerie and Dash finished picking their teams while he was busy with Tetslaff and the game is already underway. He hovers on the sideline, unsure where to go.

"Getting worked up already?" Valerie's voice startles him.

Danny flinches and twists toward her, sending a sharp twinge across his ribs. He hisses, regretting the sudden move, and squeezes his side once more.

"You okay?" Valerie asks.

"Just fine. Sorry, what did you say?"

"You look like you're stressed out already. It's just soccer."

Danny rolls his eyes and nudges her arm. "Sure. Tell me that when Dash's team is up by five and I have stop you from kicking his kneecaps in."

Valerie laughs, no denial falling from her lips. "Oh, please. We both know I'd go for the throat. You're with me, by the way."

"Oh, thank God."

"Don't kid yourself, Danny. We both know you'd love to be on Dash's team."

Danny's mind blanks for a moment, his cheeks growing hot against his will. "Uh... what? He literally used to beat me up every day."

"Keyword, 'used to.' And I never said you had good taste." Valerie shrugs. "Except for me, at least. But don't worry about it. Now come on; I want you on defence. You suck at scoring, but at least you can take a hit."

Danny hopes he doesn't need to.

—

No hits come his way, to Danny's immense relief. At least they are playing soccer and not football. Or floor hockey, God forbid. Danny's ankles still smart from the last time they played that. With soccer, there's not a whole lot of opportunity for Danny to get knocked around. Stuck on defence, he even has an excuse to hang back, hold off on all that "hustle" Tetslaff wanted to see. His teammates charge up and down the field, shouting and jeering as they fight over the ball, and Danny gets to trail behind, halfway between the throng and his team's net. He spends most of his time watching Dash. Purely so that he's ready if Dash decides to go after him, not for any other reasons.

"Suuure that's the reason," Tucker says when he notices Danny staring.

"It is!" Danny's protest falls on deaf ears.

Dash catches Danny's gaze more than once. Rather than looking away, Danny can't resist offering a shit-eating grin and a friendly wave every time. If he had any self-preservation skills, he would stop immediately. But there's a reason he's half-ghost now, and it's definitely not because of his critical thinking skills.

He manages to stay out of the action, for the most part, only rushing in when the ball comes close to him. Otherwise, Tucker and Elliot handle the rest. Tucker knowingly spares him the pain of ripping his stitches. Elliot, meanwhile, likes to swoop in at every opportunity to show Danny up. It might have gotten a rise out of Danny any other day, but right now, when his side throbs every time he takes a step, Elliot is welcome to do whatever he wants.

When they have class outside, Danny can't tell how much time is left. He guesses they are about halfway through, and nothing bad has happened yet. Maybe he can get through this, after all.

That's when he jinxes himself.

"Heads up!" Valerie's warning shout comes just in time. Danny ducks instinctively, hissing when his injury pulls. The soccer ball flies over his head, skimming the top of his hair. Then, Dash collides with Danny, his shoulder digging into Danny's side. He cries out as he goes sprawling, hands shooting to his side. It burns, searing across his ribs, almost as bad as when he first got the wound. The pain makes his head spin and his breath ragged.

He must blackout for a moment, because one second his face is pressed against the cool grass, and then suddenly he's staring up into Tetsalff's concerned face, Valerie, Sam, and Tucker hovering behind her.

"Deep breaths, Fenton," Tetslaff says.

It would be great advice if breathing didn't make his chest expand, and his chest expanding didn't make the gash on his side strain against the few stitches that hadn't popped when Dash rammed into him at full speed. What the hell. That was such a dick move.

"Okay, Fenton. You're out for the rest of the class. Go to the nurse if you need to," Tetslaff says.

He nods but makes no move to get up. He doesn't know if he can.

Tetslaff sees his plight, whether she understands the reason for it or not, and barks over her shoulder. "Baxter! Your fault, your problem. Help Fenton inside."

"We can take him," Tucker says. At the same time, Dash whines, "Come on, Coach. There's no way I hit him that hard."

Tetslaff sticks out an arm, holding Sam and Tucker back. "Get to it, Baxter."

Dash groans but relents and steps into Danny's field of view. Rather than kneeling, or doing anything actually helpful, he bends down a little and sticks out his hand.

Danny stares at it.

"Well? You're holding up the game, Fenton."

Danny almost gets up on his own, just to spite Dash, but the second he tries to lever himself up, his side screams, and Danny has to bite back another cry of pain. Reluctantly, he grabs Dash's hand. Dash hauls him upright, far from gentle, and sets Danny down on his feet. Dash starts forward, but Danny hangs back.

"Hurry up," Dash says.

"Just... hold on a second." Danny squeezes his eyes shuts and clamps his hands against his side. The pressure helps, a little. If he's bleeding, it'll at least hide the evidence. He really hopes he put enough gauze on the wound. He didn't exactly think he'd be dealing with this today when he wrapped it.

"Dude, we can take you," Tucker says. He and Sam haven't moved away. Even Valerie still hovers close by, giving Danny a concerned look over his friends' shoulders.

"Manson, you're team captain until Dash gets back. Foley." Tetslaff shakes her head. "Your grades aren't much better than Fenton's here. Let's go, back on the field. It's game time.

"But—"

"It's fine, guys." Danny tries to smile, but he is sure it comes out like a grimace instead. Neither of them look like they believe him.

"Ms. Tetslaff!" Valerie steps in front of the teacher. "Danny's on my team. I want to make sure he's okay. Kwan can take over as captain for me."

"Okay, fine. Now let's get back to the game, people!" Tetslaff puts a hand on Sam and Tucker's shoulder each and pushes them toward the field. Over her shoulder, Sam mouths "Thank you" at Valerie.

"Can we just hurry up?" Dash says. Before Danny is ready, Dash's hand clamps down his shoulder and starts driving him forward. Danny stumbles, nearly tripping over his own feet, and is forced to open his eyes or else go tumbling all over again. Valerie appears on his injured side, walking fast to keep up with Dash's pace.

"Are you okay?" she asks. She reaches toward Danny, but holds back, her gaze flitting down to the hand over his ribs.

"Yeah, totally fine. I, uh, got caught up in that ghost fight yesterday, got a little bruised," he says.

"You should have told Tetslaff. She would have let you sit out," Valerie says.

"Yeah, I should have." Too bad Danny hadn't thought of that lie before. And it wasn't even a lie, technically.

The walk to the gym doors feels much farther than it did at the start of class. Dash yanks the door open once they're close enough and deposits Danny on the nearest bench. "There, you're fine. Whatever."

"Don't be such a dick, Dash," Valerie says.

Danny wobbles, bracing himself against the wall as he sits down. While Valerie helps, grabbing his arm and keeping him steady, Dash doesn't make a move.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asks.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna sit for a bit."

"If you say so." With one last concerned glance, Valerie leaves the gym.

Danny sits, one hand pressed against his side, feeling the deep, pulsing ache that won't leave. The ice he applied earlier hasn't faded yet, but if Danny's stitches are ripped as he suspects, a little numbing cold won't help for much longer.

Dash clears his throat, reminding Danny that he hasn't left yet.

"What?" Danny glares at him through half-lidded eyes.

"Sorry, or whatever. I thought you were gonna move, okay?"

"You sure sound sorry."

Dash bristles. "Whatever, Fenton. I was trying to be nice, but I guess I'll just fuck off then."

"Yeah, you do that."

Dash stomps out of the gym without looking back, slamming the door behind him. The bang echoes through the empty room. Alone at last, a whimper slips through Danny's lips. You would think that, over the years, he would get used to getting injured so much, learn to adjust to the pain. Whoever first said that was such a liar. It never stops hurting. Dizzying pain is dizzying pain no matter how often you experience it.

Danny sits for a few minutes, breathing slow and even, bracing himself for what he knows is coming. Peeling his hand away from his side, he checks his shirt. Faint pink splotches greet his eyes, not a lot, but enough to make him groan. He reaches under his shirt, slipping his fingers underneath the bandages, and probes the tender skin. His fingers come away slick and red.

"Shit." He applies a fresh coat of ice, enough to seal over the wound, and pushes himself off the bet, slick hand sliding against the wood. The entrance to the boys' changeroom lies only a few feet away, but it feels farther. He shuffles inside, bracing one hand against the wall. The hall leading in stretches for a good ten feet before cutting into a sharp right angle and opening into the main room.

The silence inside is just as oppressive as the quiet of the gym. Even though it's the middle of the school day, being here without the chatter of other boys as they change feels odd.

Danny lets himself slump onto the bench, breathing heavily

"I'm gonna kill Dash," he says to the empty room. But knowing his luck, Dash would come back as a ghost and haunt the hell out of him. It seems like the kind of asshole thing he would do

Danny fumbles for his bag, hooking his finger around the strap and dragging it close. It takes him a minute of digging to find his phone, which he stuffed inside at the start of class. He quickly checks the time. There are ten minutes left of class. More than enough time to check his side and get patched up before Tetslaff dismisses everyone to get changed.

The smart thing would be to go into one of the showers, make sure he has complete privacy, but he doesn't want to put in the effort of walking that far.

"It'll be fine," Danny says and gets to work

—

Dash doesn't return to the game. As the gym door slams beside him, he leans against the wall and stares down at his shoes. Outside, he looks composed, but in his head, his thoughts tumble about. He can't shake the image of Valerie's glare. Fenton couldn't take a hit, so what? It's not like Dash actually didanything. He's gotten Fenton a lot worse than that before. It's not his fault the guy was already banged up from some dumb ghost fight. Not his problem.

And yet, the pained cry as Dash bowled Danny over, the sight of his crumpled body on the grass... it makes Dash shudder.

"I apologized," he says. There's no one around to hear it, to justify him. He wonders what his therapist will say about this, if Dash bothers mentioning it at their next appointment.

Valerie's glare flashes through his mind again.

"Okay, fine!" He throws his arms up and shoves away from the wall. One quick moment to check on Danny, then he'll return to the game. He's only doing this so that his therapist doesn't give him that look on Monday; the look that isn't quite disappointed, because she could never be disappointed in one of her clients, but comes pretty damn close.

Dash only receives that look when he does something dumb, like shoving nerds in lockers or taking his anger out on someone else.

Dash eases the door to the gym back open and peeks inside. The bench he left Danny on is empty. A smear of red stands out against the pale wood. Dash creeps inside, closing the door quietly behind him. His heart sinks as he nears the bench, and comes to the unmistakable conclusion: blood.

Not my fault, Dash reminds himself. It does little in the way of reassurance. Walking briskly, he heads for the doors leading further into the school. If Danny is bleeding, he must have gone to the nurse. Which means he will be fine, but Dash needs to be sure.

A low groan stops him in his tracks.

For a moment, he thinks he imagined it, but then it comes again, accompanied by a pained hiss. The sound comes from the changing room. Holding his breath, he turns from the door and enters the changeroom.

Short, sharp breaths greet him, growing louder as he nears the main room. A shaky whimper cuts through, followed by a gasp.

Dash peeks around the corner. He sees Danny's shirt first, discarded on the bench. Next to it is a pile of wrappings. It looks like the ace bandages Dash uses whenever he gets a sprain, although he doesn't remember seeing Danny wearing any. And then, he looks to Danny himself and pales.

One arm drawn back, head tilted forward to see his side, Danny peels a stained gauze pad away from his bloody ribs. Suddenly, Dash can't breathe. His throat feels clogged. His heart hammers in his ear. The gash in Danny's side is easily the length of Dash's hand. It rips across his ribs and curves up toward his armpit, ending just under his arm. Dash doesn't know much about first aid, but the stitches holding the wound together look sloppy. They pull in different directions, turning what appears to be a clean cut into a wobbly mess. Around it, Danny's skin is stained red. Blood seeps between the stitches.

A few small drops slide down Danny's exposed skin as Dash watches, pooling briefly against the waistband of his gym shorts before they are absorbed

"Fuck," Dash whispers.

Danny jumps back, spinning mid-air to face Dash. In his horror, Dash doesn't think to question the impossibility of that action. Danny drops the gauze pad, which lands bloody side down on the floor, and clamps his arm down over the injury.

"What are you doing?" Danny's voice hitches, caught between an accusing growl and a startled squeak.

Dash gapes, mouth opening and closing as he searches for something to say. His mind comes up blank. "Danny, what... what the hell? What happened to you?"

Dash's voice seems to snap Danny out of his shock. All at once, his body goes rigid and his expression turns cold. "Get out."

"You need to go to the nurse!"

"DASH!" Danny bellows.

Dash stumbles back, falling against the wall. Tetslaff's laugh voice is loud. Jack Fenton's voice booms. But just now, Dash felt the floor shake under his feet. Danny's voice rumbled in Dash's chest, knocked him off his feet. The whole school must have heard it, they had to.

"I won't say it again. Get the hell out right now," Danny says.

Dash obeys. Whether it's out of fear or a genuine desire to follow Danny's will, he can't tell. He books it out of the changeroom, across the gym, and bursts outside, only to come face to face with Kwan and the rest of the class.

"Whoa!" Kwan reels back in surprise. "You missed the rest of the game. Val's team won."

"Oh, the game. Right." Dash takes a deep breath, struggling to get himself under control.

"So... you gonna let us in?"

Dash doesn't move.

"Get out of the way, Dash," Valerie says. Pushing to the front of the group, she tries to shove past him.

Dash leaps in front of her. "No!" He can't let anyone else see Danny.

"Dude, not cool. We want to check on Danny," Tucker says.

Dash wavers. Danny's friends have to know what's up with him, right? There is no way he could have stitched that up himself, not with how much struggle it took to even look at the injury. When Tucker and Sam slip by Dash, he makes no move to stop them. Their entrance opens the floodway, and soon enough everyone is pushing past Dash into the gym.

"Wait!" He latches on to Kwan's arm as his best friend passes.

"Did something happen?" Kwan asks.

Dash swallows, unsure how to answer. "Sort of?" Now isn't the right time to tell Kwan, though, not with their classmates around them, and the rest of their friends absent.

"Let's go get changed." Kwan pats Dash's shoulder and guides him forward. Every step closer to the change room, Dash's anxiety mounts. Danny reacted so poorly to one person finding him. Dash can only imagine what will happen—what stricken look Danny will wear—when half their class walks in on his shirtless and bloody.

Except, when they turn the corner into the change room proper, Danny isn't there. His stuff is gone, too. Tucker's crumpled gym shirt covers the spot where the gauze pad landed. There are no signs Danny was there at all.

#phic phight #phic phight 2021 #phanfic #phicc #dp fanfiction #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny fenton #dash baxter #swagger bishie #danny/dash #deepwounds

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cult-of-artemis-and-athena · 3 years

Text

What the fuck is "femininity", anyway? Pt. 2

I was watching a video a few months ago about Evangelical Christians complaining about what they perceived as androgyny - women wearing pants and not having long hair, men not going fishing or wearing beards - and then said something to the effect of "These people are straying from God's design!"

I suppose the Bible does have some parts that can be construed as saying that women should have long hair, men should have short hair, and they should both look different and do different things. However, wearing certain clothes or hairstyles, or doing the majority of tasks don't have a biological component. If men were naturally, biologically, by-God supposed to have short hair, it should grow to be an inch long and stop, right? I've seen some Christians rebut the "only men can wear pants" argument on the basis that the stereotypical Christian man wouldn't like, nor properly fit into a pair of women's pants. I would take that a step further, because I think it's hilarious, and say that if women wearing pants were a 100%, by-God biological impossibility, they would have one leg, or be like nagas or mermaids and it would be physically impossible to make pants for them.

Another example: musical instruments are assigned gender stereotypes for some fucking reason. A friend from middle school said she wanted to play the trumpet, but was given a clarinet because it was a "feminine" instrument. Conversely, I've seen boys who started school band on a flute or clarinet either switch instruments, or quit band altogether. Perhaps small hands make it easier to play the piccolo, and it's less annoying for a strong person to carry around a tuba, upright bass, or bari sax, but there's no reason for the player's genitals to enter the equation. During the 18th century, the acceptability of an instrument for women was based on whether the player had to spread their legs to play it. Pianos, violins/violas, and flutes were allowed, but a cello was indecent. I'm not sure, then, how harps became stereotyped as "feminine instruments" when they're both gigantic and require the player to straddle them...but here I am trying to make sense of nonsense again...

Finally - and this is the big one - there is the downright schizophrenic relationship some male communities have with female attractiveness and things women do, or have done to them, to change how they look in pictures and videos.

I feel I must preface the rest of this point with something: "men" and "women" are not hive minds, and it's important to not strawman half the population based on a conglomeration of the worst representatives you have experienced. If you go outside, in real life, and think about the couples you see, it becomes very obvious that the majority of men you will see are attracted to women who aren't skinny blondes with big boobs/asses and the majority of women you see are attracted to men who aren't 6-/7-figure earners. People who seem to express that they are totally alone and perpetually shit-on by a world of "Chads" and "Staceys" feels like the same type of mindset school kids have, where they obsess over not being included by the popular kids while they're befriended and included just fine by kids they actually have more in common with. It's not a healthy mindset to have, but excusable in school kids because kids are immature by nature and they mostly grow out of it; however, to be an adult and still think like this is a good sign to get help.

I'm talking primarily about the incel community and perhaps some of the groups that this mentality spills into.

A post was going around several years ago and I think the photos were taken from a clickbait which was taken from a makeup artist's portfolio. The MUA might actually have been Goar Avetisyan (https://www.goaronline.com/courses) but the before and after pictures resembled the ones on the link above -- one with absolutely no makeup or hair styling, and then the other with full glam, special occasion makeup and styled hair, a wig, extensions, etc. The way it was presented was "LOOK! HERE'S PROOF W*MEN AREN'T ACTUALLY HOT! WAKE UP SHEEPLE! THEY'RE LYING TO YOU! ILLUMINATI EXPOSED!!!!"

I can see why they're mad, because the dishonesty surrounding makeup, but especially photoshop, plastic surgery, posing, and airbrushing can get toxic. I'm old enough to remember the old-fashioned mindset where women were supposed to hide their "beauty secrets". Don't apply makeup in public, keep your roots touched up so nobody knows they're dyed, and if you have any treatments or surgery always deny having them. Wear your makeup to bed, then wake up early and fix it before your guy sees you.

I couldn't imagine how awful I would feel if I had Instagram or TikTok when I was growing up. I had enough moments of feeling frustrated because I didn't naturally look how other people looked, and I didn't realize that people in TV and movies were wearing makeup, that magazine ads were photoshopped, etc. Just being an extremely average-looking human being with no concept of basic grooming, comparing myself to other kids at school was hard enough without the rapist-run media adding another layer of bullshit.

When I realized the layers of lies, it was like...how long have I been wasting my time and money on this totally made-up problem? How much did I actually improve my life and happiness chasing it? Or, did it actually make me more miserable? How much could I have accomplished if I put the same amount of angst into a different pursuit -- instead of fixing my face, I could have been fixing my art...When it comes to pursuing an unattainable ideal, there is no end to the horror.

So, I suppose, when a group of men (...boys, whatever) realize that "hot women" are a spook, and the the ethereal creature they've been told by society to put on a pedestal is actually not far removed from them, and it shits and farts, it seems very reasonable to feel angry and like you've been taken for a ride by "the system". It can be easy to blame women for this, and hate them. And it's probably easy to get stuck here.

Instead of being perpetually angry, they have to mourn the death of this ethereal spook-woman, and move on with an acceptance of reality as it is. Women, too, have to kill and mourn the spook-woman as part of self-acceptance.

One positive evolution of the makeup fandom is that while the makeup has gotten more intense and elaborate, makeup tutorials have demystified makeup. When tutorials started to become popular, there was a lot of "Excuse my eye-circles, excuse my pimple, excuse my skin, excuse my hair, excuse my lighting, excuse my room, excuse my, excuse my, excuse, excuse, excexcexcexCEXEXEXEXEXEX- *boom*" and thankfully someone eventually came along ($10 says it was a drag queen) and said, "SHUT THE FUCK UP, NOBODY CARES," and eventually the makeup fandom became okay with letting a bare face be a bare face. You wear the makeup, you don't wear the makeup. It doesn't matter. It's just a hobby.

To refer back to my original point, the confusion of makeup (something culturally feminine) with biological femininity has really fucked up both men and women. Everyone is better off extracting the two from one another, and it seems like many people are in the process of doing that. It helps women hate themselves less, and it helps men humanize women and have better relationships.

However, the image of the spook-woman, "10/10 model" is so ingrained in some parts of the culture, as the apex of the vertex of femininity, that despite complaints about how makeup is a lie, discarding that in favor of just a healthy, bare-faced woman feels like embracing post-modernity and a slippery slope to embracing ugliness as beauty. I think the lack of exaggerated femininity that spook-woman makeup provides feels threatening because the woman's face looks more masculine in a purely relative sense. The exaggerated femininity of the spook-woman, as it is for the Evangelical Christians who follow strict gender roles, provides additional separation between the sexes which serves to reassure men who are A) preoccupied with their level of masculinity and B) hyper-aware of their standing toward the bottom of this hierarchy of masculinity. I think the entire hierarchy benefits from them being placated by more separation from women, because if the bottom whatever percent of men are too dissatisfied with their standing, they may start punching upwards or wanting to attack the hierarchy itself. The men at the top don't want that because of the benefits they receive for being at the top.

MGTOW and the incel movement really kicked off after Gamergate, and intensified with subsequent "waves" of feminism. The discontent men direct their frustration at women, but they also direct their frustration at the men not troubled by what women do. There's suddenly a lot of interest in whether you're an alpha, a beta, a gamma, omega, a sigma, a ligma male, etc. and which one is the better type of male to be. There's a lot of hatred for "Chads" and I see a lot of jealousy directed toward men who are married and have families, usually in the form of "She's just gonna divorce you, take half your shit, and then manipulate your kids to hate you. You'll see...you'll realize you should have spent your whole life banging whores."

This all seems like the result of the ol' spending money we don't have to buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like. This is undoubtedly the idealist in me, men and women would be better off to cut each other some slack. We could see one another as fellow tragic, flawed individuals instead of fleshlights and ATMs, escape the Matrix and spit in the faces of our rapist, media elite overlords.

#femininity #performative femininity #mgtow #mass media #makeup #spooks #traditional gender roles #women don't exist #gender roles are a spook #hollywood rapists #jordan peterson #stop putting women on pedestals

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auncyen · 3 years

Text

chasing dumb ideas from work lol

Ren’s Palace takes the form of a video game world, bright and zany. The Shadows have their silhouettes color-coded according to difficulty, the cognitions are NPCs repeating stock dialogue--Mona pops up surprisingly often, considering he and Ren haven’t really hung out since May--and some of the logic used to progress is worthy of a click-and-point game. Which means it’s lucky they have Futaba with them, since she’s the only Phantom Thief who understands the logic of click-and-point games. Still, it’s such a breeze that it takes only three hours to reach the center of the stage, and Oracle complains they never even left the hand-holding tutorial.

Ren’s shadow smiles at them when they arrive, and hands Ryuji a controller for the P4Storm his parents took away from him and sold after his arrest. “Wait--is this the Treasure?” Ryuji blurts. “We didn’t give you a calling card, though.”

“Hmm...we did talk with him about what he thought the distortion might be, though,” Futaba muses. “He’s the NPC who knows the most about our methods, so that might have accidentally triggered the effect. Good thing we moved fast.”

The shadow nods at Futaba’s explanation. “I didn’t want to give you guys too much trouble. You’re my friends, after all.”

“Dude, you gave us no trouble at all,” Ryuji says with a laugh. “You’re way too nice for your own good!” Still, in this case, he’s relieved it’s not coming to a fight. Ren’s a friend, and he hasn’t seemed all there lately--they might have curbstomped his shadow if it’d come to that, and wouldn’t that feel awful.

Ren’s shadow smiles shyly, and waves them off before disappearing in bright light. The PT make their usual escape. The Palace crumbles.

So does the controller in Ryuji’s hands.

Despite the alarm the crumbling treasure causes for the entire group, Ren seems to take his change of heart just fine, doesn’t even throw himself a week-long slumber party like Futaba did. He stays home from school one day, Futaba reporting that he seems a bit sleepy but nothing too serious, and then the next day, Ren gives Ryuji a fist-bump and smile outside Shujin. Ryuji grins and tackles him into a headlock. He’s so glad the change of heart didn’t hurt Ren. Ren’s his best friend. The Phantom Thieves might have given Ryuji a reason to stay at Shujin and not drop out, but Ren’s pretty much an honorary Thief anyway, and he’s been running with Ryuji, and helping him deal with the track team’s problems, and he’s just so good at knowing exactly what to say to make people feel better. Ryuji’s thrilled he could help Ren for once.

And then, days later, he gets a text from Makoto during class, which he knows is urgent because Makoto texting during class: “Ren is still logged in the MetaNav on my phone for some reason. The location and distortion have been erased, but his name is still there. Is anyone else seeing this?”

Yusuke starts typing. Futaba and Ann chime in well before him that yes, they see it too. Ryuji opens the Metanav on his phone. Ren’s name is glaring on the screen, a partially-complete entry that shouldn’t be there at all.

“Class was that bad?” Ren asks when Ryuji trudges out of his classroom, prompting the blond to immediately shove the phone in his pocket.

“Uh, yeah,” Ryuji mutters. “Hey, Ren, can we talk about the--uh--you-know-what?”

“The completely unsuspicious you-know-what, yes, what about it?” Ren answers, because oh good the change of heart gave him his sarcasm back. Actually--that would be good news. It means the change of heart worked and the Metanav’s got some random glitch. “Let’s get off school grounds first.”

Ryuji manages to only jump a little when his phone buzzes.

When he checks, the Metanav has accepted “school” as the distortion’s location, even though the Palace was actually at the scramble in Shibuya and, more importantly, doesn’t exist any longer.

They go to Leblanc, where Shiho and Futaba are both waiting to talk to Ren as well, which helps Ryuji with the conversation ahead. It’s...kind of hard to muddle through ‘hey, we were trying to help you with your heart, but something might have gone wrong and we don’t know what’. It both helps and doesn’t that Ren stays calm the entire time, doesn’t get worried or pissed off that they might have screwed up. Wouldn’t a distorted person get mad? Wouldn’t a normal person at least be nervous?

Then again, Ren’s always had nerves of steel underneath the nerdy glasses. It never made sense to Ryuji why he didn’t awaken to a Persona when Ryuji and Ann and Shiho all could, not until they found his Palace. He’s got the guts for it.

Futaba openly prods Ren on how he views the school, and he shakes his head. “This must be a glitch. You guys have already helped me. I feel better, and everyone else has only needed their heart changed once. Why would I be different?”

Shiho purses her lips but then agrees. Ryuji feels a little antsy, wants to push but also wants to trust Ren, and even if the change of heart didn’t work for some reason, his friend is pushing back now. Ren’s not hurting anyone. His heart is his call just like Futaba’s was hers, and even the hacker, for all her curiosity, respects that. They gotta drop it.

But it stays on the back of Ryuji’s mind for weeks as the entry stays in place, 2/3s complete, and everyone else is worried too because they all like Ren and something does seem a little off about him--like he’s trying too hard to be normal, to convince them everything is fine--and then apparently one morning, right before class starts, Ren startles Ann by leaning over her shoulder and drily reciting: “Ren Amamiya, Shujin Academy, theater”.

The keywords work, Ren supplying them is taken as an implicit request, and there’s a good chance their calling card timer is already running just like the first time, since Ren knows how they work after tagging along for most of the first Palace and helping them with supplies for later ones. So they go.

Ren’s second Palace is a theater. It’s completely different from the video game world, with dark, muted, traditional colors, yet unmistakably Ren’s, and Makoto has to get their navigators back on task several times because Morgana and Futaba are going nuts theorizing (because who has a second Palace to begin with?). Luckily Shiho doesn’t have much trouble leading the group through anyway. Once again, Ren’s Palace is weirdly easy. The Shadows aren’t color-coded any longer, but they also don’t seem to care about the Thieves as long as they don’t interrupt the show on stage. It’s...an improv show, Ryuji thinks? Yusuke says it might be an avant garde direction on a play. (Ryuji has no idea what the difference would be.) What happens is Ren’s shadow is always acting, and sometimes a cognitive audience member will leave their seat and join him. All of the Thieves are there, even Morgana, which the cat seems touched by, plus Mishima, and Ms. Kawakami, and Ms. Chouno, and Ryuji is about to question why Ren has the hots for so many teachers when Ushimaru gets up and that thought becomes cursed, and the newspaper club girl, and that cute gardening club girl, and actually, Ryuji still thinks Ren has some kind of bias for hot girls going on here. Even if the (former) stalker girl is pushing it.

That’s probably nothing to do with the Palace distortion though, since Ren’s interactions are always a simple back-and-forth with the cognition: they request something of him, even if it’s just to talk, and Ren obliges them admirably, or sometimes he acts as though he’s ignoring them at first, only to swoop in at the last second and give them something even better than they asked for. It’s interesting maybe the first couple times? Morgana stands out again because his cognition nags Ren to study and make infiltration tools, something Morgana says he’s never done, which makes sense because Ren is one of those aggravating people who never needs to study to ace exams and Shiho’s always made the infiltration tools just fine. After Morgana, though, it just falls into a predictable pattern, and the only reason to keep watching is to see who else comes up to stage. And once cognitive guest stars start repeating, the Thieves are out. Every improv act has been slightly different, but the flow is so obvious that it’s become mind-numbingly repetitive anyway.

They sneak past security into the back halls and find a dressing room. Futaba and Morgana both detect the Treasure inside. There’s a white-and-black domino mask sitting on a vanity in a dark corner of the room that both navigators swear up and down has to be the Treasure. It almost seems appropriate for a Thief mask. Maybe because Ren’s seen most of the team’s? It fits the theater setting, at least, but...

“Are we just...taking this?” Ann questions, with an uncertain look around the dressing room. “Seriously? His Shadow’s not even going to talk to us?”

“I would not complain about us being proper thieves and going undetected for once,” Yusuke points out.

“Okay, point, but it just...feels like I understand Ren less than I did before the video game place.” Ann sighs. “I thought he was just a quiet guy, but he saw part of Tokyo as a game? Now he’s acting with everyone at school? I wish I got what it actually meant...”

“We can ask him about it later,” Shiho reassures her. “Right now we just have to take the Treasure.”

That suits Ryuji. They take it. The Palace collapses.

The mask crumbles in Shiho’s hands as soon as they reach the real world, and she makes a small noise of distress. Morgana and Ryuji spit out the same curse in a rare moment of heartfelt unity. Futaba, on the other hand, just whips out her phone. “Hey-hey,” their navigator says, “Guess who doesn’t want to leave the Metanav?”

Ren is sympathetic with his thief friends not being able to steal a Treasure, which feels wildly inappropriate to Ryuji because it’s Ren’s heart in question here. Ryuji thinks in his shoes, he’d be losing his mind. Ryuji’s in his own shoes and he’s still losing his mind a little, because the only answer the group can come up with for what’s going on is that Ren’s somehow got three distortions.

No, sorry. It’s that he has at least three. Three may not be the magic number. Ren doesn’t seem to think it is, anyway, because now he puts down his foot. “I’m not hurting anyone. I’m fine.”

“Yeah, you weren’t even down for a day like last time,” Futaba mutters, giving him such a suspicious look that Shiho nudges the girl. Ren is their friend, and he’s been helping them be Phantom Thieves. They’ve got no good reason to antagonize him.

Ren gives her a long, silent look before shaking his head. “You guys should be figuring out your next target.”

They should be.

They do.

Ren helps them less with supplies this time. Ryuji wonders if it’s because of the distortion, and then he catches himself and realizes he’s been wondering if everything with Ren is because of a distortion or not. It’s probably not even Ren’s fault. They’re just not talking to him about Thief business as much, since...yeah. The only upshot might be that Morgana has been making some effort to get to know Ren better. Because Morgana was a jerk when they first found him--he’s still a jerk sometimes, but even Ryuji would say he’s gotten a lot better--and he pretty much brushed Ren off in favor of people who were actually awakening to Personas, like everyone else. They never really argued or anything, though, and apparently judging by Ren’s Palace...s, Ren’s fond of him, and Morgana seems to have finally realized that sometimes, making friends is its own reward, even if they can’t wield kickass Personas. So that’s a thing, now, Shiho passing Morgana off to Ren so they can trot off and do whatever people do together when one of them is a cat (apparently watch movies, get food, fish, and just talk).

And that’s why when Morgana says “I think I know Ren’s keywords” at the start of a Phantom Thieves meeting, Ryuji blurts out “I thought you stopped being an asshole” with a disappointment so deep that it kind of surprises him, because, wow, he really had been expecting that Morgana was just trying to be nice and not obsessed about Palaces and Treasures for once, huh?

Morgana blinks at him across the table. “I have never been an asshole,” he says, outright lying. “Though there are a few things I could say about you--”

“Morgana,” Shiho says, heading off that argument. She looks upset, too. “We don’t have any reason to pursue Ren’s Treasure. He’s not hurting anyone. He...seems to be doing all right,” though the hesitation is audible in her voice, and quickly followed with, “and even if he isn’t, it’s his heart. You’re not getting a unanimous vote here, and if this is why you’ve been friendlier to him lately, I... don’t know what to say, except that I thought you were better than that.”

There are two Phantom Thieves who can scold Morgana and actually make him feel ashamed: Ann and Shiho. Sure enough, she lands a critical hit; Morgana’s ears pin back, and he nearly ducks down under the table to escape her stare before stopping himself. “I’m not asking for a vote,” Morgana says. “If we took his treasure it’d probably just crumble again. But I want to check if I’m right about the keywords. It could be critical information.”

There is a long moment of silence. As much as Ryuji’s still pissed off at Morgana, he can’t deny being curious. If they at least knew the keywords, even if they didn’t go in, they’d understand Ren better, right? Though...after how the last two distortions went...

As it turns in, they go in anyway, because Makoto taps on her phone to open the Metanav, places it in front of Morgana, and when he utters “Tokyo, Metaverse,” the app responds “beginning navigation”, and--

“Fascinating,” Yusuke says.

“That’s not the f-word I’d use,” Ryuji says.

“Huh, Kaneshiro’s Palace is here,” Morgana notes, because that is indeed an effing bank flying through the sky, narrowly avoiding a blimp. The cat continues getting down to business despite the absurdity of the situation he just launched everyone into. “That means both that he’s seen it, and that his mental map of the Metaverse isn’t accurate. It might be based on his most recent memory? We never brought him in the bank, though. What do you think, Or--” He stops when he actually turns to Futaba and sees her face. She’s paler than usual. “...Oracle? Are you okay?”

“My Palace is there,” she says, pointing in the direction where Yongen Jaya would lie. The golden tip of a pyramid gleams over dozens of other riotously colorful, stylistically mishmashed buildings. “How does he know what my Palace looked like? How does he know about any of these? There’s at least two hundred--maybe three!”

Three hundred palaces is a stupid number of Palaces for anyone to personally remember, but it’s especially stupid for a guy who doesn’t even have the Nav on his phone.

the idea: “if persona users simultaneously having a Palace can be justified with wildcards having multiple personas (for one to turn into a shadow while the others remain to use), what kind of shitshow would Ren create if all his Personas just--” and then ng+ shenanigans wandered in

#persona 5 #ren amamiya

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grxceblqckthxrn · 4 years

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TDA characters as types of tiktokers

y’all KNOW i’m bored when i’m doing this shit lmao

i’ll get around to doing the other TSC characters eventually TDA was just the first to come to mind also if you’re not actively on tiktok some of what i say might not make sense ahaha

also i named some tiktokers who yall can use for reference for some of them and from what i’ve seen they’re all fairly unproblematic so you should check them out!!

EMMA CARSTAIRS

okay so she’s DEFINITELY super popular and she uses her platform for good

she’s really funny and a lot of her audios go viral posts videos of her dancing saying that she cant dance but she’s actually really good at it

6M followers and growing fast

hypes up her boyfriend’s account ALL the time

calls out misogynistic/racist tiktokers through duets and KEEPS THEIR TAG IN THE CAPTION

she is not afraid of starting drama lmao

occasionally hops on POV and transition trends but its usually satire

emma can’t act for shit lmao

super active on tiktok and has a spam account

people are always asking her to drop the skin care routine but she doesn’t have one??

*pushes Zara down* “and no one’s gonna help her?? WOW some world we live in”

JULIAN BLACKTHORN

there’s no way he doesnt have an art account lmao

a lot of his paintings go viral but 90% of his comments are 14 year old girls thirsting over him

yall know that pottery guy on tiktok?? the cute one?? (i searched up his account just for this post he’s @/daxnewman769) that’s the best way to describe him

literally all the famous tiktokers commission him

probably has like 4M followers lmao

will occasionally make about how respecting women doesn’t make you a “simp”

doesn’t get into tiktok drama tho

posts candid videos of emma and all his jealous 14 year old fans get so pressed but he shuts down anyone who says anything bad about her

sometimes does painting or drawing tutorials and he’s really good at teaching stuff lmao

CRISTINA ROSALES

omg okay so like yall know those really pretty girls on tiktok who are literal models and are always dropping tips on how to frame your face for pictures and best clothes and poses and whatever ( @/ameliezilber is the first person that came to mind as an example)

thats her

alot of her content is just for the aesthetic

BLING EFFECT

GRWM’s all the time

10 step skin care routine

GOOD VIBES

has a pretty decent following?? like at least 2 million

has a spam but it’s exactly the same as her main lol

also calls out problematic tiktokers but not by name

her entire account is full of body positivity and does a bunch of stuff on loving yourself

sometimes does POVs and all the comments are like “@ netflix hire her rn”

sometimes posts crack videos with emma and cute vids with mark and kieran

MARK BLACKTHORN

does a lot of reaction videos and duets

a lot of his videos go viral but he doesn’t have a huge following like maybe 800k

everyone still knows him

gets at least twenty “are you wearing only one contact” comment about his eyes every post

he’s really funny without even realizing it

sometimes goes inactive for weeks at a time and just forgets that tiktok exists lmao

shows off kieran and cristina ALL THE MF TIME AND EVERYONE IS SO JEALOUS LIKE HOW ARE ALL OF THEM HOT

KIERAN

doesnt have a tiktok lmao sorry

but shows up so much on mark’s and cristina’s that a lot of people know who he is

DIANA WRAYBURN

unironically does POVs but is actually good at them??

lots of videos talking about the struggles of minorities like LGBTQ+ and POC and women

posts a lot of those vidoes that are like “what to do if you ever get kidnapped” “red flags in relationships” “most powerful parts of the body” etc

probably has like 500k followers

at the end of the day she doesn’t really use tiktok that much tho ahaha

LIVVY BLACKTHORN:

does a little bit of everything??

posts dance videos sometimes

omg her transitions are SO good

everyone is in love with her and she has to remind them that she’s a minor (i’m just a kid plays aggressively in the background)

posts videos that are just vibes?? like her skating at night, dancing in traffic with dru/her friends, walking through the city at night etc

lots of lip syncing videos to whatever sounds are popular and all her comments are like “i wish i looked like this” “guess im not eating today” and she gets so upset :((

she wants everyone to know that they’re perfect the way they are!!

also posts POVs sometimes and she’s not that bad at them ahaha

probably has like 1 million followers

doesn’t even need a spam just posts everything on her main

shouts out her sibilings accounts all the time

overall just great energy

TY BLACKTHORN

never posts his face on his main but he does on his spam

yall know those accounts that post fun facts or psychology facts?? his is like that except he talks to explain them and everyone finds his voice SO calming

he posts a lot of content of animals and everyone is in AWE with how good he is with them

his username is probably theanimalwhisperer or something djkfskjd

every single time he posts Kit on his account all the comments are like “OOH ICU” and “SHIP” and “ASK HIM OUT ALREADY”

he gives 0 shits about popularity on tiktok he’s just posting for fun because he likes teaching people about his interests

so he has like maybe 500k followers

lots of philosophical questions that has everyone questioning their existence

ugh i love him

KIT HERONDALE

be honest this is what y’all were waiting for

yall know those unproblematic ppl that everyone refers to as the “king(s) of tiktok”???

yeah thats him

SO FUNNY

LIKE HIS CONTENT IS GENUINELY HILARIOUS

lots of sarcasm and satire

think @/adamkindacool ?? (one of my favourite tiktokers lmao)

does reaction videos for those “pov: im the annoying hot cheeto girl sitting next to you in math class” videos

dark humor (not like rude humor but actual dark humor)

like “i put the baby in the oven and the pizza in the bed” type of jokes back when those were a thing

has like 4M followers but almost every single one of his posts go viral so he’s gaining fast

lots of pranks

starts a bunch of trends

any video he posts of Mina goes viral

sometimes he posts some really weird stuff that has everyone laughing so hard irl (@/benoftheweek)

he NEVER thirst traps but still gets a lot of those weird sexual fairy comments on his posts (iykyk)

TO BE CLEAR I MEAN THE FAIRY EMOJI ONES NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM BEING FAE

reacts to the comments with a video of him just staring at the screen with the “oh to see without my eyes” or “im just sixteen” audio going on in the background which only encourages them to make more weird comments

anyways everyone loves him

any of his povs are pure jokes meant to make fun of pov’ers

posts maybe one serious tiktok every 5 months that talks about being respectful and using your platform for good

“i miss old tiktok”

posts a lot of random videos of Ty where, again, all the comments are shipping them except even more so on his account because everyone can see his heart eyes for Ty

collabs with Dru a lot and does a bunch of duets of her videos

everyone loves him bye

DRU BLACKTHORN

SO many memes

she deletes any hate in her comments bc she honestly doesnt care to respond to them and doesn’t need that kind of negativity in her life

but one time she got a “the f in women stands for funny” comment and she WENT OFF

does really dark povs sometimes that are really interesting

CLOWN MAKEUP + SCARY CLOWN TIKTOKS ( think @/avani ‘s clown make up posts

REALLY good at makeup and sometimes gets julian to do scary makeup on her for tiktoks and povs (like those ones with stitches over the mouth or skin peeling off)

huge ally!! posts a lot about minorities struggles and white privilege, and acknowledges hers

does movie reviews and stuff sometimes

“types of” videos

pulls a lot of pranks on her sibilings with livvy and sometimes with Kit

lots of body positivity + self love

calls out back-handed compliments

also has a lot of content like Livvy’s of just vibing in LA

julian and emma and mark go off at anyone who sexualize her in the comments

probably has like 650k followers

posts a couple of times a week

BONUS:

JAIME ROSALES

lots of skateboarding videos idk he just gives me that vibe

doesn’t post that often but is super popular

like maybe 1.5M followers

really passionate about systematic racism

HATES all those privileged white boys using the “this is america” audio to pretend they’re oppressed ( this is a may 2020 thing so it probably wont make sense to anyone who sees this after lmao)

POSTS A LOT OF THIRST TRAPS LMAO

also posts lots of videos that’s just him yelling about stuff but they’re really entertaining to watch ( like that guy sebastian @/sauceyogranny)

everyone thinks he’s super hot he always shows up in those “hottest boys on tiktok” videos except sometimes he’s just the token POC boy and it makes him mad :(

DIEGO ROSALES

HIS ACCOUNT IS SO PRACTICAL LMAO

lots of tips

“what to do if you’re trapped in the desert” “what to do if you’re kidnapped and stuck in the trunk”

doesnt reply to comments EVER unless it’s to clarify a point he made in the video or answer a question

has like 200k

okay thats it lmao im done bye this took me like an hour to make

i’ll get to all the other characters from the other series’ eventually

also if yall are wondering abt the lack of f*ckbois in this post they’re coming dw

TMI CHARACTERS AS TYPES OF TIKTOKERS

TID CHARACTERS AS TYPES OF TIKTOKERS

TLH CHARACTERS AS TYPES OF TIKTOKERS

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idontfindyouthatinteresting · 4 years

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The Last of Us Part 2: Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

- Confucius

HUGE SPOILERS - DO NOT READ THIS WITHOUT HAVING FINISHED THE LAST OF US PART 2

This game was not for me. Let me be clear by what that means, I played The Last of Us Part 1 only this year, after hearing a lot about it being amazing and realizing I actually got the game for free with my PS4 many years ago and it’s sat in a drawer since. I don’t like horror games, I particularly don’t do zombies. I hit a couple of walls but I finished the game, and I was happy when I did. I felt and was very vocal about how the power of the performances and the narrative got me through that game and left me feeling good about something that was so contrary to everything I enjoy in video games and media generally.

The Last Of Us Part 2 pushed this to it’s absolute limit, came within a hairs width of breaking. When it was done I was overjoyed it was done, that I didn’t have to tear, hack and beat anyone else.

If this game had an Uncharted style quote tag line, it would without doubt be “before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves” in playing this game, I felt like I was burying Ellie, the painful dichotomy of having to physically push her forward yourself whilst the entire time wanting her to stop, every time she hit another mark, every time the rabbit hole got deeper and the people around her suffered, every time her ruthless pursuit of revenge dumped her in another Scrambler hell hole. The violence in this game is suffocating and I would not be critical of anyone who needed to put it aside and take a breath.

As much as the violence is one of the centre tenets of the game, those who enjoy that sort of game, probably won’t be into this one. It is constantly self critical, the effect of what the characters are going through is beautifully translated in the performances and counterpointed when you’re asked to view the last of humanity at war with one another for nothing beyond tribal angst or trek through the museum, zoo or aquarium, taking care of JJ, listening to Dina talk about her faith, in one of the games small moments of peace. Something Naughty Dog does well consistently.

The score, hell the score, from tender solo guitars to that heart pounding combat suite, was perfect. Tension was something I expected from this game based on the first and it delivered.

Gameplay was great, I’ve seen some reviews state that it’s what was offered in the first game, still happy with it. It’s not what you got in the first game it’s more complex, satisfying and flexible.

I love rooting and looting for things, I love the satisfaction of having a full kit and all the materials to craft more. There were minor changes to the system whereby your characters have to read prepper type guides to learn their skills and if you don’t find them you don’t get the skills. As I literally enter a level and follow the wall left until I’ve covered every surface I didn’t have a problem with missing too much (I don’t know how I missed coins, cards and journals my first play through, where the hell are they?!) but if you’re not thorough you’re going to struggle.

There were also new types of equipment and weapons, but also a whole new character. At the start, playing as Abby through the sort of tutorial run, and then seeing her kill Joel, I was not looking forward to playing as her. Concerned about the drive I’d have to play as that character, dreading it, really. You learn to care and love Abby very quickly, and I know I’m not alone in this. In truth, her and Ellie are the same, and if you can manage sympathy for Ellie in her fits of revenge, then you cannot be critical of Abby and what she did. The ultimate comment on the violence, that it’s circular, cannot be without consequence, on your heart and soul, on those around you. Dig two graves.

Abby is an amazing character to be. She packs a punch, her fight against the Rat King my god. A nod and a wink to Daryl Dixon in parts. She sacrifices everything she has to protect Yara and Lev, testaments to how the violence must stop, she’s becoming a protector of that and I’d love to see how that develops in a potential third game.

The most jarring part of Abby’s story is the point where you’re hunting Ellie, hunting yourself. This is an odd sensation, something that I found in Detroit: Become Human when you’re having a foot pursuit with, yourself. When you’re playing both sides, do you want to fight hard enough? how are you supposed to win? The thing, is you’re not. You lose either way. Another point of self criticism in this game.

Joel is a constant specter in this game. In the first game he provides stability, consistency, the moments that he’s unwell and failing are some of the most terrifying, begging for him back. Joel will know what to do. The truth of it is, is that Joel is just swept up in the story, completing his dead friends final wish, a delivery job.

The one act that he has that is his own, the one thing he does to drive the narrative beyond simply survive is take Ellie out of that hospital and lie to her, dooming humanity in the process. The difficulty is of course, I’d have done the same.

The importance of that moment and that decision cannot be understated, that hospital door returns and returns like a fever dream in Part 2 for both Ellie and Abby it was their defining moments for much of the game and truly the narrative is how they overcome what happened in that room. For Abby it houses guilt and Ellie it houses lies.

Still in part 2, despite being dead Joel is stability, familiarity in a strange world, warmth and home. The non-linear elements provide a breath of fresh air when it’s needed. He’s such a likable character, papa bear who just can’t let go and it’s endearing.

I hadn’t seen the spoilers, I don’t know if people saw his death scene before the game came out, but I hadn’t and when I finally did it was truly horrendous. Ellie’s pleads for him to get up I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget them, that if he’d just get up everything would suddenly be fine just proves his role as a source of stability. Just like Ellie the whole game I was waiting for Joel to turn up, to miraculously and inexplicably be ok and sort everything out. The hopelessness of this is very real and powerful.

Sometimes, we watch films, listen to music, experience art that is upsetting, and makes us reflect, this game is that. There are no winners, I didn’t beat this game, this game beat me, relentlessly. But this experience is important, and thought provoking, and powerful. Effortlessly beautiful, all about the details.

This is not what anyone expected from a sequel to The Last of Us, but it’s what it needed to be. It stands alone in this genre but should stand proud.

Play this game, but take care of yourself as you do it. It asks a lot of you.

#The Last of Us #The Last of Us Part 2 #Naughty Dog #I had some feels #I had a lot of feels #mine #review #gaming

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lapinbunwrites · 4 years

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Title: Mystery Date

Rating: G

Warnings: Zombie and Vampire Costume, Alcohol Mention

Relationship: Claude/Byleth

Additional Characters: Hilda

Word Count: 2,083

Ao3 Link

Claude placed his fingers on his temple and rubbed them. He didn’t know what he was going to do for Hilda’s Halloween party. He wasn’t dating anyone at the moment and he didn’t know how to tell her and his coworkers that he recently broke up with his partner. It was a massive dent in his Halloween plans. With the party soon approaching, he needed to find a date.

“Ugh,” Claude moned, slouching his body.

Byleth placed the tea in front of Claude, looking at him, puzzled. “What’s with the sigh?”

“I told a few coworkers that I would go to their party with a date,” he replied, taking a long sip of his tea.

Byleth let out a little snort. “Well-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Claude sighed, taking another sip of his tea. “If the stars were nice, you could pretend to be my date for that night,” he said softly.

“I’m more than willing to,” Byleth said, without hesitation.

Claude spit out his tea, starting to feel his face heat up. “A-Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Byleth smiled.

Claude jolted out of his chair to give him a tight hug. “You are a lifesaver!”

Byleth let out a laugh as he returned the hug. “You’re welcome! Is there anything I need to wear?”

Claude moved his hand to Byleth’s shoulder, shaking him a little. “Yes, wear a costume.”

“I might have one,” Byleth said as he took Claude’s arm off his shoulder. He walked to his room and shuffled through his closet and his dresser drawers. His eye twinkled when he found his costume from last year. Byleth put it on and walked back to show Claude. “Ta-dah!”

Claude laughed as the sheet fell to the ground. “Hahaha! That has to be one of the worst costumes I’ve ever seen!”

“It’s the only one I have,” Byleth sighed, picking up the sheet.

“If you have are free tomorrow, we can go to Fodlan’s Costumes,” Claude said in a sultry voice, trailing his fingers under Byleth’s chin.

Byleth placed his hand on his face, feeling his face heat up as he watched Claude walk to his room.

The next day, Claude and Byleth walked to Fodlan’s Costumes where there were rows upon rows of costumes in clear plastic bags. If you could imagine any costume you want, Fodlan’s Costumes most likely had it. They had anything from cat costumes to zombie costumes. As they moved rack to rack, Claude came across a unicorn head. He smirked when he noticed Byleth had his attention elsewhere. Claude rushed over to the unicorn head to put it on. He walked up and down the aisles, looking for Byleth. His smirk grew bigger as he walked up behind him.

Claude snickered as he placed his hands on Byleth’s shoulders. “Boo!”

“Ah!” Byleth screamed as his body stiffened up, clutching his costume tightly.

Claude laughed a little harder as he put his hands on his body. “I finally was able to scare you!”

Byleth steadied his breathing as he turned to Claude. As soon as he looked at what Claude was wearing, he felt a tickle in his throat. “Pffft ahaha, what is that?!”

“A unicorn head, hahahah,” Claude said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Byleth breathed in and out, in and out. “It looks hideous! Ahahah.”

“Maybe it’s your costume for the party,” Claude jokingly suggested. He took the unicorn head and ran his hand through his hair.

“Oho,” Byleth scoffed. He lifted up his costume up, shaking it. “I’ve actually found one. A zombie costume.”

“Really now,” Claude laughed, turning Byleth around, pushing him towards the fitting rooms. “Why don’t you go try it on for me.”

While Byleth was changing, Claude messed with his phone. He placed it close to his face, sighing. He had so many missed texts from Hilda and they were all about his date. He had to reassure her a million times that he wasn’t going alone. He didn’t stop texting her until Byleth came back. Claude felt his face become red hot when he saw Byleth show off his costume.

“Is everything alright,” Byleth asked, concerned.

Claude placed one of his hands on his face. “Yeah. You just look like a sexy zombie.”

“It’ won’t be like that when I put on the make-up,” Byleth hummed lowly.

“No amount of make-up can make you look unsexy,” Claude laughed.

Byleth clutched his chest and let out a groan.

Claude watched Byleth wobble his way back to the fitting rooms. He let out a low hum as he quickly looked around the area, his heart beating fast. “Byleth is so damn cute in the zombie costume.”

When Byleth came returned, they walked up to the cashier, making their way out of the costume store. They walked around the strip mall, making their way to a store that specialized in theater and special effects make-up. Using what little knowledge Hilda taught Claude, he found some make-up that fit Byleth’s complexion. After they got home, they spent the next few hours looking at tutorials on how to make Byleth a zombie.

“We just smeared the green make-up everywhere,” Byleth sighed.

“Gasp! With all our hard work,” Claude teased.

Byleth started to peel off the latex. “The skin doesn’t even want to go on properly.”

“I don’t think we even stuck in on right,” Claude said, helping him peel it off. He thought for a couple of secs, thinking about the potential consequences of his next idea. Taking one big breath, he decided to go with it. “I do know someone who could help us with it.”

“Who,” Byleth asked, taking a towel to his face to rub off the make-up.

Claude, already texting them. “My friend Hilda. She is a special effects make-up artist.”

Byleth smiled as he rubbed the towel more harshly against his face.

It took Hilda less than an hour to get to their apartment building.

“Where is the star at,” Hilda laughed.

“In the bathroom,” Claude yelled, walking into the living room.

Hilda smirked as she rubbed her hands together. She carefully skipped-not to damage any of her precious supplies-as she followed Claude into the bathroom. “So this is the lucky guy,” she chuckled.

“Yes I am,” Byleth played along as he placed the towel onto the counter.

Claude crossed his arms, tapping his fingers.

Hilda scanned Byleth and their poor job. “Hmph. He’s still cute.

Byleth let out a sigh. "Please help.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Hilda said, placing the bag onto the counter.

She grabbed onto Claude, placing some make-up in his hand and some in Byleth’s. She took them step by step, and in great depth, on how to do zombie make-up. The two looked in awe at how realistic Byleth looked as a zombie, he kind of didn’t want to take it off.

“Claude,” Byleth said softly as he placed the make-up down.

Claude smirked. “Yes?”

Hilda glared at the two of them. “Don’t,” she sighed softly.

Byleth and Claude ignored her and left the apartment. Hilda rushed after them before they were able to scare anyone, scolding them when they were back at their place. She understood a little bit better why they were together. And as payment for their trouble, she stayed over, taking Byleth’s room. While she was asleep, and with Claude’s help, they carefully took off the make-up. After they were done, Byleth snuck into his room, grabbing his PJs, and quickly changed in Claude’s room. Claude looked at Byleth, bundled up under the blankets, and sighed. He smiled as she crawled under the sheets, cuddling with Byleth.

Halloween night came with cool, crisp air. Many were dressed, many were not. Most have not arrived at Hilda’s Halloween Bash, one such ‘couple’ was Byleth and Claude. Claude was helping Byleth get into costume. It’s nowhere near Hilda’s standards, but it’ll have to do for this spooky night.

Claude gave Byleth a kind smile. “Thank you so much for doing this. You’re truly a lifesaver.”

“I’m always happy to help my 'boyfriend,’” Byleth smiled back. He placed his thumb close to Claude’s mouth, moving it to touch his fang. “You fangs look so realistic.”

“Something Hilda taught me,” Claude said, lightly biting his thumb.

“Keep this up, you’ll be reaching for my neck,” Byleth teased.

“Oh, I don’t want to do that. Your neck is my dessert,” Claude smirked, taking his thumb out of his mouth. “We better get going.”

Byleth smiled as they walked out of the apartment building.

They arrived at the party fashionably late. Some treats have been handed out and some were tricked. As they walked around to talk to Claude’s coworkers, Byleth was trick with a fake peanut tube and was covered with the cobweb of shame. At all points in time, Claude was on his toes, foiling every chance someone was trying to prank him. He was also able to trick one of his coworkers by pretending there was a monster hiding somewhere and Claude was able to scare them. After his little trick, Claude took Byleth around to introduce him to his friends. They asked the usual annoying questions of likes and dislikes, where they had met.

“Where did you two meet,” Leonie beamed.

“Uh,” Byleth moaned. He looked around the room, laying his eyes on Claude. They couldn’t tell them that they had known each other for years. “Uh, a bar.”

A big smile swept across Claude’s face as he leaned on him. “Ah, yes! I saw him across the room, trying to convince his very tipsy dad to go home with him.”

Byleth let out a groan as he placed his head in his head. “I remember dragging him out of the bar and on my way out, I saw Claude.”

Claude’s smile grew as big as it could. “Do you remember what he said on the way out?”

“Yes,” Byleth sighed softly. “He clung to Claude and said, 'You’re cute, you should date my son.’ He then proceeded to give him my number.” After a few seconds of silence, Byleth held Claude’s hand, squeezing it tightly, and gave him a kind smile. “We’ve been together ever since.

Claude could feel his cheeks start to heat up and his heart start to beat a little faster. In the moment, he gave Byleth a small kiss on his cheek.

"Awe, how cute,” Leonie chuckled.

“It was embarrassing,” Byleth paused to give Claude another smile. “But I wouldn’t change it.”

Claude leaned in closer to give him a kiss. To his surprise, Byleth returned it.

“You guys are so cute,” she added, taking a drink of her beverage.

The two locked eyes, becoming lost in each other’s thoughts. Leonia took a big gulp of her drink as she wobbled away after her attempts to have another conversation.

Near the night’s end, Hilda hosted her ever famous Couples Costume Contest. Her, along with Marianne and Ignatz, were the judges. One by one, people showed off their costumes. There were aliens, astronauts, cats, deer, and many others. When Byleth and Claude walked down the walkway, people were cheering and whispering, some questioned why they didn’t match. At the end of the walkway, the two looked at their scores. Ignatz gave them an eight, Marianne gave them a seven. They looked over to Hilda, the harshest judge of them all, gave them a five. If it weren’t for Claude’s spot on vampire costume, she would have given them a two for Byleth’s terrible makeup job. After everything, they looked at their fifth-place ribbon, not what they were hoping for.

At the end of the night, and after Lorenz’s and Lysithea’s prodding for more answers, Byleth and Claude finally said their goodbye’s to Hilda and headed back home.

“Man,” Byleth stretched, “that was fun!”

“Yeah,” Claude sighed, letting a smile appear on his face. “Thanks for your help. I owe you one.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Byleth yawned. “I’m happy to help. Whelp, I’m going to bed. Don’t stay up too late.” Before he went to bed, Byleth subconsciously gave Claude a peck on his cheek.

“You don’t have…” Claude trailed off as h placed his hand on his cheek, watching Byleth walk off.

He felt his face get warmer and his heart pound against his chest as a million thoughts went through his head. They didn’t stop as he climbed into bed. Instead of going to sleep, Claude stared at the ceiling, deciphering any emotion that he had until morning came.

———————————————

My gift to baeleths (on Twitter) for the Fodlan’s Fright Halloween Gift Exchange! One of the prompts was fake dating au and hit my straight in the heart. I had so much fun with this one, I hope I did it justice!

#my writing #fire emblem three houses #claudeleth #fodlan frights 2020 #claude x byleth #byleth x claude

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atths--twice · 4 years

Text

Finding the Right Chord

Mulder picks up an old purchase, finding the effect of it is one he did not expect, but is most welcome.

This story came about for a couple of reasons. One- I had been thinking of it for awhile now, and two- I saw a tweet and it pushed the idea ahead. I had a lot of fun with it and I hope you enjoy it. ❤️

May 2017

He had bought it as a joke years ago, bringing it home to see Scully’s reaction. She had laughed and then shaken her head, knowing it would be one more thing that sat in their home collecting dust.

For the most part, that was what it had done, sitting in a corner of his office, a sweatshirt thrown over it one day after a run. He would glance at it from time to time, deciding that would be the day he would pick it up and actually use it.

But then, an email would come in, or an article would grab his attention and it would once more be forgotten.

One night, as he was alone in the house, the silence pressing in on all sides, he stood in the office he no longer used, the desk now sitting in the living room. He looked around the room at his past, at the things that had seemed so important and he shook his head.

He sighed at the numerous articles thumbtacked to the wall, the blurry photos of “evidence,” and the piles of papers containing within them the obsession that had caused Scully to finally leave him, the weight of it becoming too heavy for her to bear.

Shaking his head again, he turned to leave, when his eyes fell onto the item in the corner. Stepping into the room, he moved things out of the way and picked it up. Leaving the room, he walked into the kitchen and wiped off the dust that had settled upon the guitar he had bought as a corny joke.

Staring at it, he let out a deep breath. He had never played an instrument. Well, not in any serious way. There had been music class in elementary school when he had learned to read music and play what was in the classroom, but nothing after it in his adult life.

He held the guitar and strummed it, not knowing if it was even in tune after years of not being used. Messing with it, he tried to see if it changed much, but he shook his head, not hearing a marked difference.

Walking around the house he played it, finding he enjoyed the feel of the strings beneath his fingers. He stepped out onto the porch and sat on the railing, looking out at the sunset as he played a random tune, liking what he had created.

As the sun went down fully, he stopped playing and set the guitar beside him on the porch. Crossing his arms, he looked into the empty house, wishing Scully was there, coming out and giving him a look as she saw the guitar. She would have something witty to say, something he would counter as he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her.

“God,” he said quietly, shaking his head and standing up as he grabbed the guitar and headed inside, missing her greatly.

__________________________

September 2017

“What’s that doing out here?” Scully said, as she set a case file down on the kitchen table.

“Hmm?” he asked, glancing at a photo in the file.

“Mulder,” she said and he glanced up to find her pointing at the guitar. “Is that the same one you bought years ago. I didn’t even know you still had it. Are you… playing it?” She looked at him and he saw something cross her face that he could not place.

“Playing it would imply that I know what I’m doing. So… no,” he said with a laugh and she nodded with a smile, the expression he had seen no longer there.

“Are you going to take lessons? Or just… wing it?” He looked at her and saw that she was serious and not teasing him as he thought she would.

“Lessons? No. I… I don’t think I would do well in lessons.” He smiled at her and she nodded, her smile changing and her eyes shining.

“Wouldn’t take too well to an authority figure?”

“Ha ha. You’re hilarious, Agent Scully,” he said, handing her the file as they sat down. “I don’t know, I brought it out here… months ago. I had forgotten it was there, to be honest.” She nodded and any further discussion of the guitar halted.

After she left, with plans to fly out to Montana in the morning to investigate the case deeper, he looked at the guitar and made a decision. He would attempt to learn how to play, even though it would be slow going.

___________________

January 2018

“So… I see the guitar is still sitting out here,” Scully said, as he took the Bigfoot mold of most likely not taint flavored Goop-O into the kitchen. He smiled as he set it down and turned to look at her.

“It is,” he responded and she nodded with a smile.

“Have you learned to play anything? Or does it just sit there and look pretty?”

“No. The only thing that sits and looks pretty in this house is you,” he quipped with a wink and she rolled her eyes. He grinned and she crossed her arms as she leaned back against the couch.

“So, you haven’t learned to play anything then?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that.” He smiled and she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Play me something,” she said with a shrug and he nodded, walking out of the kitchen.

“I can’t play you something, I can only play one thing. For now, anyway.” Picking up the guitar, he walked over to her. “I looked for a tutorial online and found that this song was the easiest to learn.”

“Wait,” she said, sitting forward and staring at him. “You really learned a song? I was just joking around with you. I didn’t expect you to actually know a song.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” he said with a smile, sitting on the coffee table and taking the pick from the guitar. He strummed a few chords and her mouth dropped open, watching his hands and then looking at him, her eyes wide.

“Now… like I said,” he told her, tuning the guitar and playing the chords again. “It’s the only one I know and it took a little while to learn, so… no encores, okay? No calling out for “Freebird” or anything.” He grinned at her and she nodded, her elbows on her knees and her hands folded against her lips.

Clearing his throat, he started to play, humming before he closed his eyes and began to sing softly.

Won't you let me catch your fall Won't you let me lend a hand Those lonely eyes have seen it all But love's too blind to understand Cause you don't know what you have Til your everything is gone You need someone to show you how to live again

I wanna be there when you're feeling high I wanna be there when you wanna die I'm gonna light your fire I’m gonna fuel your flame I wanna be there when you go insane I wanna be there when you're feeling down And I'll be there when your head is spinnin' round Gonna be your lover Gonna be your friend I wanna be there til the end

He opened his eyes, realizing now how the words of the song sounded as he sang them to her and not just as he had learned the chords.

“I uhh,” he said, putting the pick back and setting the guitar down. “I think I could still do with a little practice.”

He smiled as he looked up at her and saw she had tears in her eyes. Shaking her head, she wiped them away and took a deep breath.

“Please keep going,” she whispered and he stared at her. She nodded and smiled slightly, bumping his knees with her own and breathing deeply again.

He nodded and picked up the guitar, strumming it as he began to sing again, keeping his eyes on hers, knowing the words that were coming and not wanting to hurt her or cause her to walk out the door.

You wouldn't know that I was there Cause I have been there all the time And if I had my way I'd hold you in my arms And leave this madness all behind Cause you got so much to give But you throw it all away And all you got to show for who you are is pain And I've got so much to give If you'd only let me in I'm gonna take the time to show that I'm a friend You'll believe in love again

I wanna be there in the pouring rain I wanna be there when you call my name I’m gonna light your fire I’m gonna fuel your flame I wanna be there when you go insane I wanna be there when I'm outta town And when your damn world is crashing down I'm gonna be your lover Gonna be your friend I wanna be there till the end

She put her hands on the guitar and stopped him from playing, taking it from him and laying it on the couch. He licked his lips, worried that the positive steps they had taken recently were all for naught and she was upset with him.

“Scully, I-”

But then she was in his lap, kissing him, her hands in his hair. He gripped her waist, holding her close as their kiss deepened, his hands sliding under her shirt and stroking her skin.

They never made it farther than the floor in front of the couch, not even taking the time to remove all of their clothing. She still wore her bra and his pants and boxers were bunched around his knees.

“So…” he said, breathing hard as he lay on top of her. “You liked the song?” She laughed, her fingernails scratching at his back a little harder than she normally did.

“Hmm,” she hummed, tugging at his hair. He lifted his head and looked at her, finding her smiling. “I loved it. Remind me later that we should keep a lighter on hand.”

“Oh, I don’t think we need a lighter. You got plenty hot enough.” He grinned at her and she laughed.

“That I did,” she agreed, staring into his eyes and stroking his face. “You should have learned to play that guitar years ago.” He chuckled and laid his head back against her neck, his lips at her throat.

“If I had known that musicians did it for you… well,” he whispered, placing open mouthed kisses on her pulse point, his teeth scraping gently.

“Hmm… no need to worry, I’ll make you a list of other songs to make up for it. Maybe some Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young…”

“Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry. So just look at them and sigh and know they love you,” he sang quietly and she moaned, her fingernails pressing into his neck.

“Jesus, Mulder,” she whispered and he chuckled softly, kissing her throat again, as any other songs or artists were momentarily forgotten.

_____________________

May 2019

Mulder sat on the top of the porch stairs, the spring sun setting as he tuned the guitar that had sat unused for nearly a year. With the pregnancy and then taking care of a newborn, the guitar had once more been a dust collector more than a musical instrument.

He smiled as he played the chords of a new song he had looked up, finding it not too difficult. Trying it out again, he sang the song quietly, trying to get it right before he would sing it for Faith tomorrow.

The screen door creaked open and he looked up and saw Scully standing there staring at him. She shook her head and closed the door gently.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, walking over and sitting beside him on the stairs. He smiled and played the song softly.

“I was thinking about our trip to the duck park a few days ago and then I saw the guitar sitting there and well…” He shrugged and looked down at the guitar, strumming a few chords and then looking at her.

“I don’t know if you’ve really thought this through, if I’m being completely honest with you,” she said and he grinned, knowing exactly what she meant and knowing she knew that he knew.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” he said however, giving her a confused look and she narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m simply learning to play a song for our daughter, one about ducks who get lost but eventually find their way back home, right where they are supposed to be.”

“Jesus,” she growled and he moved the guitar just before she lunged at him, her lips crashing into his as he caught her around the waist, her knees hitting the porch as she straddled him. He laughed as he pulled back and shook his head.

“So, are you trying to tell me that if I play the guitar for Faith, in a completely innocent way, this will happen?” He smiled, holding her tightly as she breathed deeply and sat back on his legs.

“Well… not directly in front of her, but just know that as soon as she is down for a nap, or in bed for the night, I will be coming for you.”

“So many responses I could make,” he murmured and she laughed, leaning closer to kiss him, her fingernails scratching lightly along his neck.

She pulled back and he smiled as she kissed him gently once more, causing him to moan softly.

“Do you know the song well enough?”

“Not quite. I’d like to practice it a bit more, get it perfect before I play it for her tomorrow.”

“She’s seven months old, Mulder. She won’t know if it’s the best song ever or if you completely mess it up.” She smiled and he nodded with a shrug.

“But I’ll know,” he said and she exhaled a deep breath with a nod.

“Fine…”

Moving from his lap, she picked up the guitar. Handing it to him, she moved across the step, putting some needed space between them.

“You gonna be okay?” he asked with a smirk as he began to play the song.

“I’m going to do my very best,” she said, closing her eyes and folding her hands in her lap. He laughed and nodded as he licked his lips.

“Five little ducks went out one day,” he sang quietly, watching the strings as he played. “Over the hills and far away. Mother duck said “Quack, quack, quack!””

“Nope. I tried,” she said and he looked at her, her eyes flashing fire. “Stop. Put the guitar down. It sounds perfect. We need to get inside. Now.” She stood up, took the guitar from him, and walked into the house. “Now, Mulder.” He grinned and stood up, taking off his shirt as he walked across the porch.

He opened the screen door and stepped inside of the house, smiling at the sight of her already half naked, and shaking her head at him. He closed the door and locked it, walking toward her as she unbuttoned her pants.

“I’m sorry you aren’t able to practice the song, but…”

“I knew it well enough when I read the notes. I didn’t really need to practice it.” She stared at him, her pants halfway down her legs. He winked and she shook her head.

Stumbling a little as she pulled off her pants, he caught her and they landed heavily onto the couch, with her in his lap.

“You’re a clever man,” she whispered.

“Oh, of that Miss Scully, I am very much aware,” he said with a grin, as she once more shook her head, before kissing him thoroughly.

_____________________

The song Mulder learned to play is called “I Wanna Be There” by Blessed Union of Souls.

And of course he sings “Teach Your Children” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young... which Scully seems to be quite happy to hear as she waits on hold in Rm9...

I wonder why she likes it so much... 😏

#The X-Files #XF Fanfic #Pre Season 10 #Light Angst #Learning to play the guitar #Music feeds the soul #Sexy times abound

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griffinsandpeacocks · 4 years

Text

When You Dress To Impress (Dress, Taylor Swift)

Hades had been looking for the proper outfit for ages. He and Adam had become a thing a while ago. After the man had helped him settle into the hidden magical pocket of Auradon. It’s much less lively than what he’s used to but he’d deal with it so long as he could keep Mal and the other kids safe away from those cretins that dared call themselves parents. well except Jafar who had agreed to cut all ties so long as he had a solid way to keep Jay both out of the crime world as well as cared for. Hades had helped the man find a job in his firm as an administrator. So long as Jafar managed the flow of work and didn’t do anything that would harm the firm on purpose, Jafar could live in Auradon and not have to worry so much for Jay nor their safety.

(I am using these two images as references and found them by looking through google for black and blue dresses. Basically imagine a slightly fancier version of the above dress with the drape that is shown in the below image, the drape extends to match the length of the dress, just a heads up.)

Now he’s staring at the dress he’d hidden away in a random room of the mansion he’d gotten thanks to Adam’s meddling. It was a gorgeous house and thankfully had plenty of room. After all, he’d taken custody, even if temporary of Uma, Carlos, Evie, Harry, Gil, and several others. He was happy enough Mal and them had friends or at least others who had similar backgrounds so that they could help each other. The dress was black and faded down to blue in an ombre effect around his knees, it went over one shoulder that then had a drape that ran down the back of that side, the back a cross of strips of black that buckled. The buckles were grey steel clasps done to look like his skull in his mark. The shoulder that drapes down had a similar fastening done up like his full mark flames and skull and was what buckled that shoulder together. Of course there’s blue gems glittering around the skulls to give the impression of fire and they glitter through the full length of it giving a fiery effect.

He’s grinning as he turns and sees Harry peeking in the door. He cock a hip and tilts his head as the young boys eyes go wide at getting caught and he goes bright pink and coughs. He looks away and then up at Hades and steps in glancing behind him nervously. This is actually rather unusual for Harry and Hades frowns in worry.

“Is everything alright, Harry?” He asks and Harry nods rubbing the back of his neck with the magically restored hand Fairy Godmother had helped make. After Hades explained the reason he was asking for such a thing, given James Hook had almost ripped the dame thing apart with a meat hook, Harry had had to have it amputated and Hades wanted to give the kid as close to a working one as he could get, naturally Fairy Godmother had been appalled and agreed to help having enchanted some gems Hades had summoned and made them into a synthetic hand as close as they’d get to the real thing without using any darker magic. She even came by and would check on all the kids as Hades had told her he’d taken custody of quite the herd after taking full custody of his own daughter he’d just been unable to leave the other kids she’d known in that kind of life. Harry was still getting used to it though the number of jokes on how much it’d fetch in a black market deal had thankfully gone down.

“I... Um... I’ve seen you go out a few times dressed up and well... Could... Could you show me how to do it?” Harry asks staring down at the floor blushing and Hades paused blinking at the young man and he smiles. He’d rarely seen any other men in the magical society express interest in cross dressing, mostly they were all prim and proper and few cared to deviate out of normal expectation. He walks up to the young man and pats his shoulders.

“I can, come on, we’ll go to my dress up room, this is just storage for that so Adam won’t catch a glimpse until out date.” Hades waves and Harry bounces on his feet grinning and looking up at Hades excited he follows the man and Hades is chuckling.

“To be honest you’ve got a lot of the make up down already given the way you do the eyeliner for your pirate set up that you Uma and Gil share. So I’ll run through basics and if you want a few more pointers we can go from there.” Hades says as he opens the door to a room with some hair accessories so he can pull back his hair having let it grow out again as he spent less time in the non magical human areas and he no longer needed to be fully ‘professional’.

“Alright... Hmm... There’s a gypsy styled dress I have... I wonder if Evie can help either change out the blue for a dark red or if she knows how to just use her magic to change the color...? Oh well at the least let’s see if we can get it to fit on you...” Hades says smirking as he gets to play dress up. Harry get’s a brief run through of some etiquette of tucking and what not and Hades is absolutely ecstatic at the thought of a shopping trip he could go out on and drag Harry along with him, maybe even Evie too come to think of it. She enjoyed shopping, especially when it was to dress someone up.

“So just go try this on and come back out?” Harry asks and Hades nods gesturing him to the small room that was more a walk in closet and Harry goes coming back out a while later asking for some help with the corset lacing. Hades helps lace them back up and steps back grinning as he bounced on his heels. It looks a bit much for Harry but with some adjustments from Evie it would look astounding on the young man.

“Yep, change the color scheme up and make some adjustments and this’ll look astonishing!” Hades says vibrating and Harry does a bit of a turn looking a bit uncertain of himself.

“You think?” He asks and Hades nods.

“I mean we can change it to red, which would suit you much better as your skins a bit darker than mine... And we can have a few things changed up and even altered like a gap along that side to show some leg and give you a bit more movement... Make this part a bit less and possibly grey or keep it black... Less a wrap and more a sash... Hmm...” Hades leans back cataloging what he should ask Evie for then decides to call Mal.

“Hey honey, Evie with you?” He asks and Harry goes bright red looking at him with dread and he winks.

“Yeah...” Mal says and Hades beams.

“Could you spare her a moment, I want to make some alterations to my gypsy dress... I’m thinking of swapping the blue for red and cutting up that sash and the skirt a bit give some leg room.” He says and Mal snorts and asks Evie if she can go help her Dad with his dress and Evie squeals with joy and runs out of the room.

“She is inbound...” Mal says sounding unimpressed and Hades grins.

“Thank you honey!” He says and the call ends. He looks at Harry and smiles.

“Evie does a lot of my alterations, this isn’t going to startle her too much. She’s seen me in a majority of my dresses.” He says happily and Harry relaxes somewhat. Evie pops in roughly three minutes and paused blinking at Harry a moment and narrowing her eyes as if it was an affront to all things fashion.

“I’m fixing this. Now.” She says snapping her fingers and grabbing Harry and dragging him back into the dressing room. Hades waits doing the make up to soften out his features and placing the smoky eye shadow on and adding hints of glitter that flickers blue and white over it before allying a soft lipstick and smirking as he pulls up his hair into a top knot letting the tail hang down and highlight the change from off white pale blue to a fiery blue towards the end. He turns and watches Evie pull Harry out, the sash has been trimmed up the colors somehow changed, Hades swears the girl uses magic, so that the sash is now a deep brown, as well as only being a single short layer rather than the ruffled shift it had been before. The base skirt has become a deep crimson red, and the blouse like part has been changed to black, while the strings of twine at the elbow and wrist are now white. There’s a cut showing some leg as well in the skirt with some ruffle lining it in black, while the corset has been changed to be red and tie with silvery white laces.

(The above is the original example before it’s altered by Evie to reflect more for Harry rather than Hades. Take away some of the wrap into a single layer of dark brown more like a wrap and a slightly shorter skirt piece with a cut lined in ruffle for some leg. Making it look less like a gypsy costume and more pirate-y. I found this on Pintrest, though you can also see it in Google images.)

“That actually looks grand... Much better than what I though it would and of course it must be to your own alterations, Evie, but this is beautiful... Well done.” He praises and both kids blush happily Evie smirking in self assured victory and Harry looking as happy as a clam. Hades checks the time and winced he stands and quickly rushes to the room grabbing the dress he comes back and dresses up checking it all fits proper and showing Harry a more full run down and then asks Evie if she could help Harry with make up ideas and tutorials as his date with Adam was in a couple minutes and he needed to get ready and out the door.

“Unless you’re feeling done for the day, Harry, you can always run away if you feel overwhelmed.” Hades assures pulling on some knee high stockings that have garters to clip to and then sliding on the simple black heels that clip at the ankle. Harry shakes his head smiling and Hades smiles back wishes the two the best and walks down as he’d placing in a sapphire stud into each ear as Adam opens the door to the foyer about to call out frowning as he looks for Hades.

“Oh... You look stunning...” Adam says blushing as he takes in the effort Hades has put into passing as a lovely gothic lady rather than his typical professional gothic masculine self. Hades comes up to the man and pecks him on the lips.

“So you like it? I worried I’d done a bit much.” Hades admits not having wanted to over accentuate and look gaudy. Adam gives him a deeper kiss and pulls back smiling.

“Never, come on or we’ll be late. He chuckles and Hades hooks his arm around Adams and they go out to the party. Hades loves the fact so few recognize him at first glance. Most don’t recognize him at all and he has fun dancing with Adam everyone not aware of who exactly he was and his standing with Adam as he has the man all to himself. He’s practically glowing in the golden happy light Adam has brought into his life. He’s certainly left a mark at least and a golden tattoo has formed around his heart in the shape of a rose. He’d gotten the dress solely for the idea of Adam taking it off, and he can’t wait for them to get home already though they’ve barely arrived. Royal parties were always so boring.

Then again no mater how much wine he drinks the only thing getting him drunk are the kisses they snag in secret from everyone else. The party goes by Hades slowly loosing himself to the need to fly out of the crowd and back home. The chatter and social games are wearing on him. He’d much rather have Adam taking this dress off rather than how well he pulled it off. Eventually they do trip back. Hades feels the world stop as Adam keeps their eyes locked that bright shine in his eyes and Hades smirks and teases.

“Hades.” Adam growls and the god skips off grinning behind him and gesturing him to follow. Adam takes a deep breath as his hands shake but he checks his excitement and restrains his pinning just a bit longer.

“I bought this so you could take it off, hurry up already.” Hades says over his shoulder as he heads up the stairs. Slipping down the hall as Adam quickly follows behind.

Meanwhile Harry slipped into the room Carlos currently has at the house.

“Hey, pretty boy, I was hopping you’d be interested in a date.” Harry says and Carlos is frozen blinking at Harry in silent shock. He looks good and thesmaller boy swallows mouth feeling dry as his cheeks flare into a blush. Harry actually looks really good...

“Ah, yeah... Um... You look... Good.” He says still mildly shocked and Harry saunters up and Harry watches those eyes trace the sway of his hips and smirks as he leans in and traps the other against his bed.

“Well then, I’ll see you then. Unless you’d like to help me get this off?” Harry asks and Carlos doesn’t take a moment to think about it.

“Please?” And Harry chuckles and gives him a kiss. Carlos was the one that kept him steady even when he was nose diving and Uma wasn’t there to tell him to keep his lid. He’d adored how much the scardy cat cared. Now he’s finally getting him exactly how he wants and his hands shake from not touching him. The fact Carlos wasn’t flinching back was a sweet relief. Carlos can’t believe it but let’s the kisses he’s getting distract him and he quickly get’s drunk of the feeling.

#GET UP & WRITE!#GET UP & WRITE! July #descendants fanfiction #decendants hades #Live action Beast #Hades is a brat #adam x hades #hades x beast #Harlos #Harry Hook #carlos de vil #uma #Mal #Evie #Harry x Carlos #jay #Harry in a dress #Hades in a dress

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emile-hides · 4 years

Text

YouWatch

This is a conversation topic that came up playing Overwatch last night; What if the Overwatch cast all has YouTube channels?

And while we voiced our opinions and debated to eachother, I feel the need to share all of my own takes as well.

Now, there’s 32 of these assholes so I’ll put it under the cut. Cause it’s long

Ana

Her channel is called “Grandma reacts”

Her viewers send her videos or shows to react to

She likes to have Jack, Gabe, Rein, and Torb on sometimes for some of the funnier videos

Hates daredevil compilations of people on high places with no safety gear

She swears at jump scares

Ashe

Daily vlogs

She calls her viewers part of the gang

BOB is the camera man and the crowd favorite

She mostly just likes to chat about nothing while wandering around the hide out

BOB makes really cool time lapses of them riding her bike down Route 66

Baptiste

Runs an advice channel

Mostly does Q&A live streams

All of his ad revenue goes to local charities and hospitals

People sometimes donate to him and that also goes to charity

There’s a very slim chance he got overnight famous because he’s so pretty

Bastion

One 12 minute video of him playing with Ganymede in Torbjorn’s backyard

Torbjorn recorded it for him

Brigitte

Tried to do a make-up channel

Eventually devolved into a “How to” builder’s channel

Can put together an Ikea bookshelf in 15 minutes without even glancing at the instructions

Ikea furniture speed runs are her most popular videos

D.Va

Canonically already has a gaming channel

Also has a daily vlog channel where she hangs out with Lucio and Junkrat a lot

Takes requests on what games she plays

Despite mainly being an online PvP gamer, she adores playing story games and voice acting

She cried on live stream when she finished Undertale

Doomfist

Runs Talon’s official YouTube channel

All the videos are join Talon adds

Echo

Her channel is a mash

Will play or do any kind of video that’s popular at the moment

There’s three episodes of a Minecraft LP left to die

Seven vlogs all recorded almost 3 months apart

Two animations she made herself

A couple of reaction videos

And a Pachimari unboxing

She has a lot of sponsors

Genji

Also, canonically, has a gaming channel

Sometimes does videos of sick ninja tricks in his backyard

Has the same channel from before his fight with Hanzo, so there’s a 4-5 year gap between two videos

“So my brother tried to kill me” is the first video he makes when he finally comes back

Occasionally makes “Master reacts to (anime)” videos with Zenyatta

Hanzo

The show off channel

It’s mostly just target practice with his bow and arrow Genji recorded for him

90% of his comments are telling him to put a shirt on and cover the nipple

His channel also went dead after he killed Genji

Might start recording and uploaded unscheduled vlogs during his hobo days

Also does movie reviews

Junkrat

If I may defer your attention to this post

Yeah he just runs a demolition channel

Roadhog makes sure the camera doesn’t get damaged

Junkrat really loves the slow motion effect

Lucio

Like Hana, he has two channels

One is his official music channel with music videos and concert clips

The other is also a vlog channel where he hangs out with Hana and Jamie

He’ll also talk about serious issues and his opinions on them on his second channel

McCree

Much like Hanzo, runs a show off channel

His is more popular because he’s straight up a cowboy though

People think it’s a gimmick for the channel. They have no idea he looks and sounds like that all the time

Mei

Has a scientific fact of the day Podcast with Winston

Talks about big issues

Her channel is very kid friendly and she explains things like global warming in a way they can understand

A lot of her videos will be watched by kids in science class

Mercy

“What to do encase of an emergency” tutorial videos

Gives basic medical training, like how to do CPR

Her videos are short and to the point so they can be played in an actual emergency

Genji is usually the person she uses as an example

Moira

Her channel is like Junkrat’s but more contained(?)

She does dangerous shit with chemicals but somehow it always ends wholesomly

The last minute of the video she speaks in a soothing Bob Ross voice as the lab is on fire behind her

The videos typically end with Angella coming back from her break

Orisa

It’s technically Efi’s channel

It’s a vlog to record Orisa’s progress tword becoming Numbani’s protector

Very popular, everyone loves how wholesome Orisa is

The money from the ads goes to fixing whatever Orisa breaks while trying to be helpful

All rude comments are deleted

Pharah

Show off channel

“99 dunks in a row” and such types of videos

They’re typically sped up with relaxing music

Lucio has appeared to play soccer with her a few times

Reaper

As Gabriel Reyes he ran a prank channel around the Overwatch base

He didn’t do any pranks that hurt or scared people though

Just recorded himself eating vanilla pudding out of a mayo jar to get people’s reactions

His favorite people to prank were Jesse and Genji because they had the most over the top reactions

Reinhardt is unprankable

The channel died with the fall of Overwatch

Reinhardt

Advice channel but louder than Baptiste

He’s full of energy in every one of his videos

Calls himself his viewer’s Grandpa

If anyone comes to him for advice on how to handle abuse of any kind he will adopt them on the spot

Also does meme reactions, sometimes has to have Brigitte explain what makes it funny

Has one video where he speaks quietly called “Grandpa reads a bedtime story” and it’s literally just him reading a bedtime story with soft music in the background

Roadhog

Toy unboxings

All of his videos are silent aside from the cute music he puts of them

The only part of him that’s ever on camera are his hands

Sigma

All his videos devolve into rambles about the universe

Other than that his channel doesn’t have a real theme

He tries to explain scientific principals but quickly turns into a shouting mess about the universe and gravity

Moira is the one to stop recording in the middle of his breakdowns

Soldier 76

Use to run a tutorial channel

Gabe called it “Dad Teaches you” and Jack hates that he’s not your father

He teaches you to cook basic meals and do simple repairs on a car

He talks in a very fatherly voice

Begrudgingly, he became his veiwers father

His channel died with Overwatch as well

Sombra

Gaming channel, but hacked

Does glitched speedruns on live stream

Clickbait thumbnails and titles

“How to get 1,000,000,000 free V-Bucks in Fortnite”

Steals kid’s Fortnite accounts

Symmetra

Stim channel

All of her videos focus on satisfying visuals

Someone asked her to do ASMR once and she hated it. The video existed for less than 24 hours

Torbjorn

Like Brigitte, runs a builder channel

It also doubles as a story time channel as he tends to ramble about the good old days

All his videos are 30+ minutes long

Somehow adds “and that’s how I lost my eye” to every story so no one knows how it actually happened

Bastion guest appears in a lot or Torb’s videos but only because he’s bored and wants attention

Tracer

Animated story telling

Makes animations of their missions and her day-to-day life

Thanks to her chronal accelerator animations take half as long

Still only uploads like two videos a month

Widowmaker

Food review videos

Hates everything, nothing gets high marks

Gets view ship cause she’s hot and very snarky

Winston

His channel is exactly like Mei’s

It’s more popular though because he’s a monkey and thus draws kid’s attention better

All of his viewers are elementary school science teachers and their class

Wrecking Ball

Tried to do a builder channel but all the comments were on how cute he is

Hates being called cute so he made his mech say swear words

He’s very popular with little boys

Also loves destruction and may destroy things for fun

“5000lbs wrecking ball VS Junkrat’s house”

Zarya

Vlogs but like... Work out vlogs.

It’s just time lapses of her at the gym

Insanely popular with lesbians for very obvious reasons

Encourages her viewers to take care of themselves and start slow

Blew a kiss at the camera once, became the most used image of her on the internet

Zenyatta

Most of his videos are relaxing music over beautiful visuals he recorded

The other half of his videos are meditation leadings and yoga

He’s also done videos on the omnic crisis and talked in length on his belief for the future

Has one video of him pranking Genji

#Overwatch #Long post #Under the cut #I'm not tagging every character it's literally all of them #I liked writing these down though #Overwatch Youtubers AU

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therobotmonster · 4 years

Text

It took me 30 years, but I finally beat Battletech: The Crescent Hawks Inception for MSDos.

Was it worth it? On a qualitative level? No. But in terms of nostaliga and as a reminder of what CRPGs used to be? Yes.

Note: Kiddos are encouraged to read this post as a “uphill both ways” rambling old man yarn about “back in my day”

Battletech: The Crescent Hawk’s Inception was an RPG for MSDos and a bunch of other ancient computers. It’s old enough that 3-color CGA is a startup option.

This is CGA, for the kids out there:

And yes, that is a Pre-Lawsuit Pheonix Hawk on the title screen, or, as everyone else knows it, the Valkyrie/Veritech from Macross/Robotech. Also, the Crescent Hawks are a group, so it should be “Crescent Hawks’ Inception’. Get it together Infocom from 1988!

Hilariously, the stolen Valk design pops up throughout the game, from its start screen above to the animated mini-cinemas you get in combat...

To, in a beautiful stroke of irony, the copy protection quiz you take each time you do a training mission.

A copy protection scheme that may have been the easiest to guess in history. For example, the part highlighted in the above screen? That’s the “Foot Unit”

The one place the Pheonix Hawk doesn't appear is as a playable mech or enemy. You find one at the end of the game, and you don't get to use it, as its a sequel-tease. I forgot to take a screenshot, and ts behind a massive door puzzle I didn't save after... so, not gonna.

The game plot is pretty basic. You start off as a cadet training to be a Mechwarrior, the planet gets invaded by a rival house looking for a cache of lost tech on the planet put there by your missing-presumed-dead-father, and you have to gather up his old Mechwarrior buddies the now-defunct Crescent Hawks, and find the cache and get it off world before the baddies get it.

You do this by wandering around a lot fighting random encounters until you hit a couple of story triggers that lead you into a massive locked door puzzle in an underground complex that’s nothing like the res tof the game.

It was a pioneer in making very little gameplay seem huge by throwing a giant map of nothing at you, a tradition that continues to this day. Though the map might have been a form of copy protection, as without the in-box map you'd find stuff by luck alone. In fact, the game is fascinating just in how it weaves the illusion of a lot from very little.

The sprites are charming, at least. All three of them. Yes. There are exactly three character sprites. One human, recolored 3 times, and 2 battlemechs, recolored 0 times apiece.

The Battlemech sprites are charmingly vague, one for the Locust/Jenner non-humanoid mechs, one for everything else. The red mech doesn’t just walk, it STRUTS, and when you get multiple mechs in your squad, they walk in unision, amplifying the effect. As for humans, they had to be to scale (roughly) with the mechs, and at 320x200....

Meet Jason (our hero) and all other humans. Your other party members are red, all other NPCs are gray. This is one of the things I love about this game. He's so delightfully vague in his chubby little... environment suit. When I was 11, this guy was the perfect neutral mask, a bumbly tic-tac man upon whom I could project myself.

That little blue tic-tac man is probably why all ASCII-based games I tried to make in BASIC used the omega symbol as the main character.

For reference, this is Jason from the cinematics, in his EGA red-pink glory. Sadly, he is not a barrel-shaped blue cyclops w' a yellow eye.

The map is, as previously stated, irresponsibly large, as the only random encounters are combat with various combinations of mechs and humans on foot. Humans that will attempt to charge a 30 foot tall war robot with a crossbow. But there's a lot to love in the game:

While deeply exploitable with the save feature, you could invest your money in stocks at the bank, so that while you wander from town to town you make some scratch.

There's a play mechanic where recruits are randomly double-agents that you find out by watching them with the scan option in combat.

The dozen or so mini-cinematics are charming and evocative.

What seems like a pre-programmed loss at the end of the tutorial area can be escaped with some clever piloting, netting you an early Battlemech.

And while it won't dump you into a loss state like tons of games of its time, screwing up by getting your mechs destroyed can make the game substantially harder by forcing you to play the game on foot.

Moreover, it doesn't really have an experience system, you raise in skills with training and use.

You max your pilot skills early and thus you aren't incentivized to fight for XP. Fighting nets salvage, but the parts can only repair your mechs up to normal health, and the scrap-metal monetary rewards are minor. So if you don't need cash you can dodge combat with no reprocussion, and unless you greatly overpower the enemy combat is a matter of attrition. As you're on the run and are being hunted, this makes sense, even if the "mechanic" is probably accidental.

Conclusion:

The game is one of those in-between games, when gaming was moving from early 8-bit pure-play-mechanic style games and inscrutible text adventures to the NES/Shareware era reinessance. Impressive in an era when games came on individual floppy disks, and elaborate pack-ins/manuals mainly existed to make up for hardware limitations.

With some polish, it could have been a great game. If there were more sprites and more mechs (there’s only a handful), more varied random encounters and a lot more stuff to find in the world it would probably have been a landmark game, but it was hamstrung by hardware limitations and overshadowed by the flashier Mechawarrior game, a first person combat sim that featured primitive 3d graphics.

Still it was a game where you piloted a giant robot that came out when I was 11, so the magic was going to be there.

You can play it online for free, here.

#battletech #mechwarrior #MSDos #abandonware #video games #my life #nostalgia #mecha #giant robos

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every1studio · 5 years

Text

SERIES: “stages of love: words left unsaid” [ateez: wooyoung]

genre: a dash of angst + small fluff + some smut + kind of long

ficstyle: bulletpoints + series [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [END]

prompt: inspired by “1,2″ by Lee Hi [listen to Hanbin demo version for max. effects] + “We Don’t Talk Together” by Heize ft Giriboy + “Hold Me Tight” by BTS

note: [this fic as some smut, so if you are uncomfortable with smut; DO NOT READ // also has mentions of alcohol and self-harm ): ]

your heart was caught in your throat when you got that text from Mingi

the one saying that he was still touring in Japan and wasn’t going to meet up with Yunho at the airport

so why did Yunho text you that

why would he lie to you?

all of your trust for him slowly started to crumble

right then and there, you get a call from Yunho

your shaking hands fumbled as you swiped to answer the call

“h-hey?” you didn’t want to suspect him of anything without any evidence

“hey are you free? I... I wanna see you..” you could see his puppy-like smile through the tone of his voice

but this could all be a facade; maybe you didn’t know everything about him like you thought you did

“yeah! sure! did...” you prayed that this conversation wouldn’t be the break of your relationship

“did you pick up Mingi from the airport?”

you hear him nervously chuckle, “his flight got cancelled so I just went to dance studio to get ready for this week’s classes..”

you wish he was telling the truth

what was so bad that he had to lie to you?

you just recently reunited with your best friend from your childhood

not only was he your best friend.. but he was your crush

you couldn’t talk to him in person about this

with the safety of being in your own bed, you HAD to know the truth

you had dealt through too many problems with your love life

you had enough

“I texted Mingi”

there was no reply on the other side of the line

“Y/N...can I please talk to you in person..”

you felt your tightening the grip on your phone

“whatever you need to say, you can say it right now.. if you feel like there’s nothing you NEED to say... then I don’t want to talk to you.. at all”

the line was still on but the only thing you heard was his devastation

“that’s it then...goodbye Yunho”

you hung up the phone and blocked him right away

you didn’t want to feel so pathetic but you did

you clenched your fists so tight you could feel your fingernails digging pain into your hands

but nothing hurt more than having the concept of love failing you

over and over and over again

you got a text from San

-hey! there’s a party tonight at a friend’s place, wanna come with?

that was all you needed to get all of this off of your mind

even though you were more of the reserved type and would consider yourself to be more of an introvert than an extrovert, you wanted to go to that party

and have fun without worrying about anything or anyone

you wanted to feel like expensive version of yourself

you always covered your body but tonight was the night you were going to show off your curves

you wanted to stand out so you found the brightest and tightest dress you owned; which was a bright, true red bodycon dress with piped linings that extenuated your boobs and your chest

it was shorter than what you usually wore but having it be held up by two non functional strings that were meant to be straps that constantly fell off of your shoulders

you matched this dress with some nude, red-bottom heels that your mom got you for Christmas

you let your hair out of your usual messy ponytail and lightly curled it

watching makeup tutorials for fun made you inspired to get more into this new character of yours; your followed an easy smokey eyeshadow look that wouldn’t be overwhelming for some mascara

paired it with a transferproof darker red lip and packed on some highlighter so you could glow to the gods

and pray that with a look like this, you can finally find a guy who appreciates you

San sends you a text saying that he’s at the door as you were spraying on some luxurious perfume

he could hear you trotting to the door in what sounded like high heels

his brows were raised as his eyes were about to pop out of his sockets

you were absolutely stunning and breathtaking and all of the words in the dictionary could not describe how beautiful you looked

San almost forgot the promise he made to himself when you loop your arm around his

“ready?”

he smiles and nods as he walks you to his car

San was trying hard to keep his eyes on the road when you were right there next to him

“so... is Mingi in town?”

you clenched your teeth so that you try and control your tears from welling up

“no... I.. don’t wanna talk about Mingi... or Yunho..”

it broke his heart to see you so sad but he nods and changes the subject

you were so surprised to see that there was a parking lot for house near a college campus

you didn’t know that it was a GRAND party

“how do you know someone like this?” you were in awe as the cool air hit you as you got out of the car

“you could say he is just a classmate who has become a pretty good friend of mine..”

you started to feel self-conscious of yourself; maybe you wouldn’t fit in

right when the door open was when you saw the closest thing you’ve seen of a Greek God

“oh.. San.. is this your plus one?” the boy’s voice was just as charming as his face

San put his arm around your shoulder, “this is Y/N, my friend.. Y/N, this is Wooyoung.. who’s also my friend..”

Wooyoung reached out for a hug, “a friend of San is a friend of mine”

you could get intoxicated by his scent

how could a guy be so infuriatingly handsome in every way?

a group of girls were passing by when Wooyoung politely stops them, “excuse me ladies, could you help my friend here get settled in with some drinks?”

they giggled and nodded as they took your hand and led you into the house

you look back at San and Wooyoung as they nodded at you indicating that is was okay

San turns back to Wooyoung

“so what’s up?”

Wooyoung massaged the back of his neck in a shy manner

“Y/N.. you said she was just a friend right?”

San’s stomach began to churn, “yup.. just a friend..”

San could see the glimmer of hope in Wooyoung’s eye

“it’s okay if I... get to know her?” he moves his head in the direction you walked in

“maybe you should just... yeah... just get to know her I guess...”

you were surrounded by the bunch of girls that escorted you to the table with the drinks

“how do you know such a handsome guy?”

“are you close with Wooyoung?”

“what’s the other guy’s name?”

“you’re so pretty! no wonder the guys are into you! who are you interested in?”

you were so confused by the choices of questions that were asked, you had no idea how to answer them

but before you could say anything, you felt a gentle hand on your back

“sorry ladies, I’m gonna have to steal Y/N from you for a moment..”

they nodded as they giggled about finding San

you looked up and saw Wooyoung

he was such a gentleman; you found yourself blushing

he refills your drink then leads you out to the area where the music was blaring

small talk led to a heart to heart talk

“so... are you seeing anyone?” you were surprised that someone like Wooyoung would be interested in someone like you

“well... it’s kind of complicating but-”

“Y/N?”

that familiar voice made chills rush down your spine

you turned as saw Yunho

with Aurora clinging onto his arm

as if this girl couldn’t stop ruining your life, she had to take your best friend, your childhood friend, your first love

you wanted to hide and runaway; you subconsciously gripped the shirt

Wooyoung reading your body language, he slithered his arm around your waist and pulled you closer

“what business do you have with Y/N?”

Yunho sobered up right when he saw you

he wanted to push Aurora off of his arm but she was clinging in a little too tightly for comfort

“I wanted to check up on her-”

“are you her boyfriend?” Wooyoung cuts him off

but you answer instead of Yunho, “no, he isn’t.. I wouldn’t want a boyfriend who would lie to me...”

you pulled Wooyoung into the dance circle

Aurora wanted to follow suit and tried to drag Yunho

Yunho doesn’t budge, “what are you doing?”

“who does she think she is? now she’s with some rich guy? come on we have to show her that we’re better than her..”

Yunho still doesn’t budge when Aurora tries to tug a little harder

“what is it to you anyways? just leave her alone..”

“because all the guys that I want to be with always talk about her, okay? I’m sick of it!” Aurora screams only for a couple of people around her to hear her through the blasting music

when Aurora went for Hongjoong, all he kept talking about was how amazing you were at composing and singing and playing the guitar

when she went back to Seonghwa to sabotage you, he ended up not going back with her because he was the one missing you and not her

when she dated Jongho, he would say that he would be better being single than ever dating someone as toxic as her, then saw him smiling at your little gestures a couple days after

she was sick of hearing about you and seeing you

she wanted to be the one with the attention; you were in her way

so when Yunho confronted her about ruining your love life, she blackmailed him saying that if he didn’t date her, she would continue to destroy your life in ways that couldn’t even be explained

Yunho only wanted your happiness and was scared for you, so he agreed

he hated every moment of it; she made sure that he would lie to you via texting or calling

taking up all of his free time so that you couldn’t even meet up with him

she even told him that if he told her, she would injure herself because of him

although he didn’t like her, he didn’t want her to inflict self-harm

he knew she needed some sort of mental help so he decided to be her “boyfriend” to help her out

in exchange, he didn’t have the chance of telling how he felt about you and how much he cared for you

seeing you with another guy shattered his heart in pieces but he knew that he probably shattered yours into fine dust

and all of this was his fault

Yunho let Aurora drag him like a ragdoll

when you saw Yunho and Aurora in your sight, you turned yourself to them as you started to dance on Wooyoung

Wooyoung gently sweeps your hair off of your shoulders as he leans in to ask, “are you okay? is there anything I can do? do you want me to kick them out?”

you could feel the tears accumulating as you interlocked your hands around his neck

“please make me forget about him..”

without another word, Wooyoung pulls you in closer to his body and cups his other hand on your face as he leans in to kiss you

it was a needy yet gentle kiss; you couldn’t get enough of it

you felt a little pride swell up inside of you knowing that Yunho and Aurora were watching the two of you

Aurora wanted to copy you and Wooyoung but Yunho just couldn’t take his eyes off of you

he was so angry at himself; he could’ve been the one kissing you and holding you tight

“shall we take this elsewhere?” Wooyoung lets you catch your breath

when your eyes meet his, it’s like the world stopped for a minute

you could tell that he was genuinely worried about you and that you were okay with everything that he asked of

you nodded and he led you to another part of the house where no one was allowed

how classy was it to be escorted to his room while getting frisky in the elevator

his thick thigh kept some friction for you inbetween your legs

your hands were tugging his hair to his shirt

his hands were all over your body yet you were comfortable with it

if anything you wanted more

it was like..

“it’s like my hands are made for your body”

he said exactly what you were thinking

right when you heard the ding of the elevator, Wooyoung swept you up like a princess as he was huffing through his smile

“I’m gonna make sure that you’ll only be thinking about me tonight, princess”

maybe it was the alcohol but you felt a certain type of warm tingling sensation fill you up to the brim

despite of the lust in his eyes, he was really gentle with you

he placed you comfortably on the bed as he peppered you in kisses from your forehead down to your pooling heat as he hikes your dress up to get access to where you needed attention

before he continues he looks to meet eyes with you, “I want to know that you’re okay with this..”

you nod but he wasn’t satisfied with just that; he cowers over you so that you could look at him, face to face

“I want to hear you say if you are.. I want you to be comfortable with-”

you cut him off with a passionate kiss

you had sex before but it was only a one-night stand kind of deal

but this time, you felt like it was going to be different

“I’m okay.. I’ll let you know if it isn’t...”

you could feel him smile through the kiss

“you’re absolutely beautiful... I want you to feel like the most beautiful girl in the world because you are”

he goes back down to take off your panties with his teeth

if you didn’t feel yourself growing wet since you were dancing with him

you definitely did now

Wooyoung leaned in to take in all of your essence; you whined at the lack of pleasure

“Wooyoung.. please..”

“so eager for me..”

with that he dove himself right into your heat; his nose continuously hitting your clit

you didn’t know that he was going to go that hard but you loved every moment of it

he was working you up so good that you didn’t know what to do between pushing his head away or pushing closer to you

you felt yourself quickly spiraling into an abyss of pleasure

“Woo-Wooyoung.. I-I..”

he quickens the pace of his tongue as he adds in his finger

for every time that you clench around his tongue and finger, he adds another finger

by the time he got to three fingers, you were seeing the Milky Way

your body convulsively shook under Wooyoung

he was just in awe watching you come down from your high

you were sprawled out for him; your straps hanging off of your shoulders, hair placed as if you were an art piece from the Renaissance and just panting as you squeezed tears of pleasure from your eyes

Wooyoung leans down to kiss them with the scent of you still covering his mouth, “how’s my baby doing?”

you didn’t know why; you just met this guy and yet you have completely fallen head over heels for him

the way he called you baby made you feel like he was just about everything you wanted and more

“I want more”

that was all Wooyoung needed to unravel

he unbuttoned his black satin shirt showcasing his toned-body

although he left his shirt on, he completely took off everything from the lower part of his body

you drooled at the sight of his proudly standing member; you couldn’t keep your eyes off of it

Wooyoung chuckles as he lifts your chin up to look at him, “eyes up here, princess..”

you too wanted to take off your clothes but Wooyoung stops you

“leave them on.. you look so good I want to remember me fucking you in this dress so that every time I see this dress I can remember how we met..”

Wooyoung reaches over to grab a condom but you gently grab his wrist

“it’s okay, I’m on birth control... I want to feel all of you...”

he lines himself up to your entrance as he leans into your neck, “you really know how to drive a man crazy...”

there was a mix feeling of pain and pleasure as you could feel him stretching you out

your hands ran through his hair as he continued to work on his deep, purple love bites on your neck

you didn’t notice how spacious his room was until you heard the echos of the lewd sounds of Wooyoung slamming himself into you

you couldn’t stop saying his name

it was as if it was the only word you knew

“nngh..Y/N.. baby please... don’t clench like that or I’ll cum in seconds...” Wooyoung grunted

surprised by how much strength he had while still being able to fuck you, he picked you up to flip you around

you were propped up on your elbow as he placed his hands on your raised hips

he never stopped pumping his dick in and out of you

as soon as you were adjusted into your new position, you started to clench around him again; you couldn’t help it

Wooyoung exhales through his smiles as he could feel himself reaching his peak

“baby, please tell me that you’re getting close because I am-”

but you reached it before you could even reply to him

your body shook even harder than the first time he made you orgasm; making you squeeze around him harder than you have before

he came a couple seconds after

you could feel how his thick cum fill you up inside to the point that you could feel it overflowing out of you

Wooyoung lightly swept the hair away from your neck to kiss it before slowly taking himself out of you

you were and looked completely spent

he gets up to get you something to clean you up

you took this time to look around his room

although it was a spacious room, it wasn’t heavily decorated; if anything it was kind of empty, kind of lonely

he returns with his pants back on, holding a wet towel and some water

“you’re really something you know that?” he’s always smiling but you feel like there’s something more to his smile

you chuckle trying to hide your blush, “are you like this with all of the girls?”

he gets up from cleaning you up and fixes your dress and hair

“I actually don’t do this as often as you think..” Wooyoung brushes his sweat-covered hair back so that it’s not sticking to his forehead

“even though you host all of these glamorous parties?” you were feeling pretty exhausted but you wanted to talk to him and get to know him

you didn’t want this to be another one-night stand for the books

Wooyoung wraps his arm around you and has your head in the crook of his neck and shoulder

“hey now, I’m not your typical college fuckboy, you know..”

you both laughed softly over the muffled sound of the party downstairs

“so I’m guessing the guy with Aurora was the guy you were seeing but it was complicated?”

you nodded, “everyone knows Aurora huh...”

Wooyoung sees you sulking, so he pulls you back onto the bed so that your head falls onto his chest, “she’s just a homewrecker... she’s not worth your time, sweetie.. trust me”

“I don’t know.. he was my best friend, childhood friend and first love all in one.. and she’s ruin my life more than just one time a year...”

you wanted to change the topic, “what about you? what’s going on in your life?”

it was like you knew that Wooyoung’s smile was just a mask under his worries, “well.. my dad wants me to take over his plane company.. but I don’t want to. I want to pursue being a pilot. I can’t be a pilot and run a company at the same time. he wants me to run the company, even though my brother is the one who wants to run it...so you can say me and you have it pretty tough huh”

“are you kidding? you’re dealing with grown up stuff and I’m still caught up on the idea of love!”

you didn’t notice that Wooyoung was just looking at you the whole time as you raised your voice

“I think that love is some pretty hardcore group stuff too...”

you nodded and you both just sat there in the dimmed room with the music still playing in the background

“you wanna go back down to the party? to show off your battle scars?” Wooyoung broke the silence, “or do you want to runaway, to start over?”

your eyes widened as you looked up at him, “runaway?”

“we could start over? I know we just met.. but I’m willing to take that chance and give you everything to be happy”

you were feeling kind of skeptical, “you wish happiness upon a stranger at first sight?”

“I wish happiness for a girl who deserves more than what the world has to offer”

you got up from his bed to get a better look at him, “I need a couple days...”

Wooyoung follows your action and grabs your hands, “take all the time you need.. it was just an option... maybe we could just get to know each other before we take a big step..”

Wooyoung escorts you back downstairs with his black denim jacket thrown over your shoulders

you were wobbly from how hard he went on you; he couldn’t help chuckle at his handiwork

you’d jokingly give him a side glare every time he did

you met San on the other side of the elevator

the first thing he saw was how you clung onto Wooyoung

how the hickies he gave you popped under Wooyoung’s denim jacket

to be frankly speaking, San was already heartbroken when he knew he didn’t have a chance with you

but he was even more broken to see that you would never see him the way you saw a potential lover

but nevertheless, he smiles, “looks like the two of you were busy. ready to go home?”

you kissed Wooyoung on the cheek before looping your arm through San’s, “I’ll text you when I get home?”

“I’d rather you call,” Wooyoung said with a seductive smile

San gives Wooyoung a handshake before taking you back to the car

you and San walked passed all the guys that have affected your love life since you started college

Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yeosang, Yunho, Jongho

every time you saw one of them, you clung closer and tighter to San

San stares at all of them; knowing who they were and how they broke your heart

and what he could’ve done to be the one by your side making you happy

earlier when Wooyoung took you upstairs, San pulled Yunho over to talk to him when Aurora went to the bathroom

“are you trying to break Y/N’s heart? you already broke it once and you’re gonna do it again?”

Yunho shoves San, “don’t talk about Y/N like you know her-”

“I know that she loved you.. I know that she was head over heels for you.. I know that Aurora was the bitch that made you lose hope in love.. so seeing her with you? you’re basically ripping her heart out of her chest..”

San shoves Yunho back and walks away

Yunho couldn’t take it anymore

he had to find you

he had to tell you the truth

so when he finally found you exiting the elevator, clearly having moved on with Wooyoung, he lost hope

maybe he should just keep the truth to himself

you already seem like you’re happier in the last hour with Wooyoung than you have with Yunho for all your life

but Hongjoong had words he wanted to say to you too

so did Seonghwa

and Yeosang

and San

and Mingi

and Jongho

but they would’ve all kept it to themselves.. because you were glowing now

you had shelled out of your cocoon and had transformed into a beautiful, unattainable butterfly

these were the boys that left their words unsaid; for the happiness of the girl that they love

PLEASE LEMME KNOW IF YOU WANT A SEPARATE ENDING FOR EACH MEMBER OR ONE FINAL ENDING WITH ONE SPECIAL MEMBER???

[ masterlist + guidelines ]

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sylvia5308760 · 4 years

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Week 9- Digital Iteration & 3d Printing

PRE-CLASS ACTIVITY: Model making case study - Cup

When watching Andrew’s video regarding his experience two main points stood out to me.

POINT ONE: Andrews spoke about how when making sketch models which inform his design gave him more freedom compared to presentation models. As stated in previous blog posts sketch models shouldn't be perfect rather a way to focus on and single (or more) features of the design to inform you about it. For me working with physical and digital modelling I really related to this. As this course is a sketch modelling course it allowed me to be more open with the way I expressed and idea.

When working with the blue foam model I was able to use the tools to take a little more material off to see a further transition of the form which I didn't see in sketching.

When working with Fusion 360 I had the freedom to try different ideas and tools to the extreme to see where that took the form. I was easily able to reset and take another route to create something which informed my design of a form which felt comfortable in the hand.

POINT TWO: For Andrew, he stated that he worked with other materials during this project, namely timber. Timber allowed him to mimic the weight of what is to be a ceramic cup to give information as to how to hold it and gesturing of work.

For me and most students, we were limited to using foam and 3d printing which won’t quite mimic the weight which is one downfall of these materials. Instead, these materials are amazing at informing the form of the design and how it may appear in someone’s hand or in a room.

PART 1: Testing and trying out features of 3ds Max (on a sphere)

Figure 1: Since 3ds Max was new to me I was initially terrified on the initial interface of the software. My first thoughts when learning the navigation and manoeuvring I slowly became more comfortable with the views and basic tools. The class tutorial allowed me to understand and have a better grasp of these selections of tools.

Figure 2 & 3: I further expanding my experimentation on the sphere using the ‘Squeeze’ tool. A simple tool which created significant modifications. Next, I spent lots of time to test the ‘Edit Poly’ tool. This allowed me to select individual sections and slightly tweak them to make slight adjustments. I tested this tool’s ability creating some extreme modifications and then I slowly toned done. This allowed me to see the capabilities of this tool. Made me see how this tool is great to tweak a small section of a model where it would be difficult to do in Fusion 360.

Figure 4 & 5: It was truly amazing how a couple of adjustments such as the ‘bend’, ‘stretch’, ‘squeeze’ tools could have a significant impact on the form of the model. How something as simple as a sphere can turn into a twisted diamond quite quickly. This software showed me how initial ideas can easily be made with a collection of shapes with different modifiers. I tried to experiment with a variety of other tools to see how crazy my form could become. (this, unfortunately, crashed my computer multiple times).

PART 2: Testing and trying out features of 3ds Max (on olay bottle model)

Figure 6: When I imported my fusion model I was amazed to see all the lines and meshing along each surface. It reminded me of the contour lines were drew in week 5 and just by those I gave me a better idea of the form compared to Fusion 360.

Figure 7 & 8: My overall goal during this modification stage was to see how 3ds Max could allow me to make the curves which I struggled to create in Fusion 360. I mainly focused on using the ‘Edit Poly’ tool slowly adjusting the points (figure 7) and edges (figure 8). This took a long time to do. I wanted to find a way to shorten the editing of the entire bottle. After looking at tools, the ‘Symmetry’ tool would allow me to make one side and easily edit the other. This is extremely useful to save time and be more efficient especially when creating sketch models.

Overall the poly tool took me a while to get a hold of. Even though I was pleased with the results I was happier with my initial Fusion 360 model which I was keen to 3d print.

Figure 9: To further expand my ability using this software I played around with more tools and their capabilities. Using the ‘Edit Poly’ tool I was able to use the soft selection function. This allowed me to select sides and sections and pull them out instead of individually pulling each one one by one. This would save me more time in modifying and adjusting my model. This will definitely be a function I will return to in the future.

Overall I was confused about the reasoning of learning new software. Especially just after being introduced to Fusion 360. After playing around with the tools and features I understood that the program allowed for effective quick modifications which would otherwise require multiples steps, and attempts in Fusion 360. These skills that I learnt and experimented with can be applied to future projects of mine.

I learnt the benefits of using 3ds Max and where I can further expand my ability to use this powerful program. I will differently be looking at tutorials and continue exploring the software so I can become more confident in my abilities. More practice now in a variety of programs will help me save more time in future projects.

PART 3: 3D printing final model

Using Cura was very simple. The instructions given allowed me to easily implement my final Fusion 360 model and print it.

Let's see how it will turn out in the final stretch of this project.

#ides1262 2020 week 9 #ides1262

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