#I'm trying to figure out how those codes could cross

[jb-nonsense]

so it's not the Gale headmorph I used for Gale's brother build I did for laughs

it's literally the basketfullofequipment and making those camp clothing mods that are causing the kiss scenes to bug out

that's really weird

[nevieatiny]

Loveleaf Town

Seonghwa x reader

Summary: You thought playing animal crossing with your boyfriend would be a cute experience, however you forgot that is Park SeongHwa who we're talking about, a maniac who will never let you hear the end of it after finding out about your little secret

Word count: 1,148

Genre: Pure fluff

author's note: Hi, for those who are not that familiar with animal crossing, a treasure island is a completely flat island that is filled with dropped items that you can take for free, you can only access this type of islands if you have a nintendo online subscription so some people consider this "cheating"

btw, if you play animal crossing let's be friends and visit each others island <3

Mi nintendo friend code is: SW-6709-7599-7760

and the dream address of my island is : DA-3239-5826-9743

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"why would you put a tree in there" he watched the screen while eating a bag of pop corn and putting his long legs on top of you

"park seonghwa i swear to god, if you keep questioning my design decisions i'll break up with you" at this point he just stared at you while furrowing his brows "you cannot take constructive criticism for sure" this time you pinched the skin of his leg between your fingers, only getting a high pitched yelp in response "i don't go to your ugly island to tell you what to do" "hey, what do you mean ugly?!"

and that's how your live has been lately after finally buying your own nintendo switch, yeah maybe he insisted a little, but after playing animal crossing on your boyfriend's console for a while you got exited to have your own island (and maybe making him cry on mario kart) but Park Seonghwa took this game way too seriously, his island had a perfectly symmetrical street, post lamps perfectly placed, he even had a mini mart and all the colors of the island combined perfectly, on the other hand your island was not as planned as his, some streets ended in weird ways, all the houses were decorated with different colors because for you it had to match with the villagers personality, there were flowers of different colors everywhere and blank spaces due to your lack of planning skills, but you were happy with your little island.

Now, on the other side "i'm just trying to help you, just look, that space is empty, you could make a little pound in there" "it's going to be an arcade" you couldn't see his face because if you did you will smack him for sure this time, but you could imagine due to the groan he let out "y/n, it's like a 4x4 space, how are you gonna fit an arcade in there?" "i'll figure out"

you managed to make him quiet for a few minutes after asking him to bring you a bowl of pop corn as well, he silently watched you re-decorate your room for a while, that's something he usually did, just watched you play as if it was the most fascinating thing on the world, you thought it was cute, after you purchased the game he insisted on connecting it to the tv so he could watch you play for the first time, and ever since that moment he would just seat with you on the couch to play, sometimes he would bring his own console to visit each other's islands or just to play together, you both agreed to just play animal crossing to be on good terms after you almost ripped each others heads playing overcooked the first time, if you thought that Gordon Ramsay was bad, you should meet chef Park Seonghwa.

"wait a minute" oh no, here it comes " that's a seasonal item, how do you have that?" you knew this moment would come sooner o later, maybe you should've tried to be a little bit more modest with your decorations "... are you cheating?" you dropped the controller on the couch while trying to reach his hand "i can explain" he just moved the bowl out of his way, moving his hand away from yours "no, save it, i can't even look at you right now" and after that he stood up, his head hanging low while heading to the bed room "seonghwa wait " you grabbed his arm, forcing him to face you, but he just avoided your gaze, you love this man but sometimes he took situations to a whole new level of drama "no, you're disgusting, i don't want to see you". this time he covered his face with his free hand fake crying "ok, that was too much" "was it?, im sorry love" immediately after that he gave you a soft kiss while grabbing your free hand "but you're still a cheater tho" you rolled your eyes after hearing that, letting your head hang backwards as a child would do while being scolded "hey don't roll your eyes at me" carefully he grabbed your chin to face him "it's just that i don't want to wait for the store items to change every day, i wanted to have cute things" "yes love, but that's part of the game, building your island little by little" this man and his stupid rules " that's boring tho" "don't ever say that again or I will break up with you"

After convincing him of how treasure islands were just a complement of your hard work (and agreeing to wash the dishes after dinner) he asked you on a "date" on his island, grabbing his own console he sat beside you again all giggly and happy "wait, you're not gonna wear that to our date right?" Park seonghwa you're lucky you're handsome and great in bed "what's wrong with my outfit?" you asked, looking at him directly and tilting your head to the side "it's just... y/n you're wearing socks with slippers and a pink safety glasses" yeah maybe it wasn't the most flattering but in your defense you were wearing comfortable clothes to be on your island "please go and change before coming to my island" "ahhh, ok, but i though you would love me no matter how i look" after he picked an outfit for you himself and making a few remarks of how cute your clothes was because it was all "stolen" from a treasure island, you returned to the airport to finally visit him.

He first gave you a tour (again) of his island, showing you the new outside cinema he builded after the last time you payed him a visit, he constantly had to ask you to follow him to show you around because you kept running away, once he got you to sit at the cafe he so well decorated he started to pretend to be a barista to make you a drink, this man was just a little girl playing with barbies a this point "i have a gift for you" you said while dropping an item to the floor " thanks love, i love this flowers, specially because i saw you taking it from my garden" even after that he changed to equip the flower and put it in his hair "ok, this is the real gift" your rolled your eyes, dropping the construction set, when you saw it you immediately thought of your boyfriend "it's not a Lego set, but it kinda looks like one" he seemed genuinely happy with his little gift "awww, thanks love, I feel like when thieves steal jewelry for their girlfriends" "Give it back" he just laughed, kissing the top or your head "actually, i want to build a Lego room so... how do treasure islands work?"

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UPTADE

Hi! thank you for all the love and support, currently i'm working on the next chapter of "Chasing shadows in water" but i've been having ideas here and there for short scenarios like this one in the meantime, believe it or not this man is not my main bias hahahahah

But anyways thank you for all the love you gave to "Mrs. Park?" and i'll continue to write to give you something to read and entertain yourself as i do while reading the work of other authors on this platform.

[allthingsfangirl101]

Cupid's Little Helper - Keys

I walked into the office, unfazed by the hearts and the cupids everywhere. Valentine's Day at a company like Soonami was a lot like Valentine's Day at an elementary school. Everyone wore pink and red and brought little valentines for everyone. There was also a huge party that started at 2 and didn't end until people went home.

Soonami takes holidays very seriously.

I laughed when I saw the look on Keys' face. I walked over and leaned on his cubicle.

"Why is my favorite coder so pouty?" I teased. I was one of the only people at our company who knew what Keys was actually good at. I often went to him for help fixing a coding issue.

"I'm fine," he said shifting in his seat.

"Keys," I elongated as I pulled a chair over and sat next to him. "Spill it."

"There's nothing to spill," he said very unsuccessfully. He turned back to his computer to look distracted.

"Is it Valentine's Day?" I suggested. "It's just a stupid holiday."

"A holiday that makes you feel like shit for not having anyone," he mumbled.

"You know," I started carefully, "it could also be seen as a great day for you to confess your feelings."

"My feelings?" He asked as his head snapped toward me.

"Yeah," I shrugged. "It's kinda obvious."

"Is it?" He asked, his voice dropping.

"Little bit," I teased. "You come into work already distracted. And every time you get a text, you jump. Is it that one girl? Your old partner?"

"Millie? You think she's the one. . ."

"Of course. I mean, who else could it be?"

I didn't give him a chance to answer me. I turned on my heels and headed to my desk. I sat down and instantly started going through the complaints Keys went through yesterday.

Before I knew it, the Valentine's Day party was in full swing. I ignored it and continued fixing the problem I'd spent the last three hours trying to get rid of. I continued ignoring my surroundings when someone knocked on my desk.

"Come on, Y/N," Keys chuckled. "The party started an hour ago."

"I'm aware," I said with little to no emotion.

"Y/N," he sighed. I pouted when my chair was dragged away from my desk.

"Keys!" I pouted. I spun around and crossed my arms over my chest. "I was still working on that complaint that you sent me. . ."

"I know. I know. I know," he chuckled. "You never stop working, but it's the Valentine's Day party."

"I thought you hated Valentine's Day," I chuckled as I stood up and walked over to the drink table.

"I do," Keys said as he followed me. "Doesn't mean I can't appreciate a party."

A little while later, I wasn't sure where Keys had disappeared. I made myself not care and focused on talking to some of the girls from the graphic design department.

I was in the middle of getting myself a drink when someone walked up to me. My heart felt weird when I turned around and realized it was Mouser instead of Keys.

"You know," he said, overly confident, "your nickname should be Smooth. . ."

"Don't finish that sentence," I cut him off. "Mouser, how many times have you asked me out?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn't give him the chance. "And how many times have I rejected you? So add up those and use that number to help you figure out whether or not you should continue to ask me out."

I started to walk away but he grabbed my wrist. "Come on, Y/N," Mouser scoffed. "All I'm asking you for is one dance."

"I don't really feel like having you grope me to a Rhianna song," I said, trying to tear my hand out of his hold.

"But Y/N. . ."

"Hey, baby," I gasped when Keys wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my cheek.

"Are you guys. . ." Mouser didn't finish his question.

"Yeah," Keys cut him off. "And you are still holding onto her."

Mouser jumped when Keys ripped his hand off my wrist. My heart felt weird again as Keys let go of me and slowly moved me behind him.

"You really need to work on understanding the word, 'no', Mouser. You hear it enough," Keys said.

"I didn't know. . ." Mouser stuttered.

"Walk away, Mouser. Now."

I held my breath, not letting out a sigh of relief until Mouser walked away. The second he was gone, Keys turned toward me.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said, my voice weirdly quiet. "Thank you, Keys. You didn't. . . You didn't have to do that."

"Of course I did," he shrugged. "What kind of guy would I be if I let Mouser hit on you?"

Awkward tension suddenly fell between us. I nervously started ringing my neck as Keys opened and closed his mouth.

"I should. . ." I started.

"I'm sorry," Keys laughed awkwardly. "I shouldn't have kissed you. I just. . . I saw Mouser not leaving you alone and then he grabbed you. . . I just thought. . . Maybe kissing you wasn't the right route."

"I think it was," I cut him off. That tension thickened even more between us.

"You do?" He stuttered.

"Yeah," I said, my voice dropping. "I mean. . . It worked, didn't it?"

"Yeah," Keys chuckled. "It worked."

I cleared my throat as I added, "You better stay by my side the rest of the party. Just in case, you know, in case Mouser sees me."

"He should think that we're together," Keys said, catching on.

After that, we hung out the rest of the night. The more we did, the harder it was to get rid of the weird feeling in my heart. Around nine o'clock, the party was finally starting to wind down.

"Well," I sighed. "I think I'm gonna head home. We still have work tomorrow."

We stared at each other for a minute before I finally broke the contest. I looked away and pretended to check my watch.

"Thanks again, Keys," I whispered. I sent him a smile before beginning to walk away. I didn't get very far away. I gasped when my elbow was grabbed and I was quickly spun around.

The second I was facing whoever grabbed me, they leaned down and smashed their lips onto mine. When I realized it was Keys, I closed my eyes and started kissing him back. The second I kissed him back, neither one of us held back anymore.

"Keys," I gasped when we broke the kiss.

"I'm sorry," he quickly started to explain. "The truth is, I have a really big crush on you, Y/N. I have for a really long time. And when I saw Mouser hitting on you. . . It was stupid. I know that. I guess you could say I got swept up in all the hearts and cupids and the party and. . ."

I cut him off by grabbing his face and pressing my lips back to his. He let out a small chuckle as he instantly started kissing me back. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer.

This time, Keys broke the kiss. When he did, he leaned back and looked deeply into my eyes.

"I know it's Valentine's Day and kinda late," he said, his voice soft, "but would you like to get a drink? Or maybe go to dinner sometime?"

"I'd love to," I said, my face burning. Keys smiled as he reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, his hand lingering on my face.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Y/N."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Keys."

[gogogodzilla]

day 28, dubcon

android!gavin reed x reader warnings: nsfw 18+, fnaf au, reader is a security guard, fingering, slight dirty talk, slight corruption, creampie, unprotected sex, i saw the fnaf movie, and i'm making it everyone's problem kinktober ☠︎︎ main masterlist ☠︎︎ read on ao3

You never thought you’d see the day when an android at a kids' attraction would turn you on, but here you were. 

You took the job out of pure desperation. You were in dire need of cash, and how hard could it possibly be? All you had to do was walk around the complex once or twice a night and watch the cameras. That proved to be very hard when one of the androids you were in charge of turned out to be hot. They weren’t supposed to roam the complex at night, but you made an exception for one of them. 

Gavin was the bassist of the rock band that the attraction was themed after. He was rugged with messy brown hair and startling blue eyes that contrasted beautifully against the black liner surrounding them. Piercings littered his ears, and he exuded confidence. He wore red cheetah print pants that were very tight paired with a denim vest and combat boots. He donned a leather choker with spikes paired with fingerless leather gloves with spikes along the knuckles.

He was charismatic and took a liking to you rather quickly. He was curious about you, for the most part. There were times when you forgot that he was a robot and his personality was just lines of code created by someone. Other times, that fact slapped you in the face. 

He stood too close when you walked, always observing whatever you were doing over your shoulder. This included when you stood over the monitor on your desk and looked over the security footage. You were acutely aware of his body pressed closely to yours and the feelings it stirred up within you. 

“Your heart rate is increasing exponentially. Is something wrong?” he asked, his breath fanning across your shoulder from how close he was. You could practically see his furrowed brow and confusion gracing his features.

You straightened and he did as well. “No,” you assured, fumbling for an answer as your cheeks reddened. “It’s just… you were standing very close.” 

“Does me being here make you uncomfortable?” 

The crease between his brows increased as he searched your features. 

You shook your head, “I like spending time with you… It’s hard to explain.” 

“I’m designed to be incredibly intelligent, even if I’m not programmed to act like it,” he said, crossing his arms. “Try me.” 

You pressed your lips into a thin line as you attempted to explain to a robot that you were sexually attracted to him. 

“It’s a human thing that happens sometimes when we like someone a lot,” you explained as you felt your entire body heat up in embarrassment. 

His eyes scanned over your body as the ring on his temple spun yellow before returning to its bright blue. 

You felt a surge of boldness take over you and you grabbed his hand and pressed it against your chest, right over your heart. 

“When humans like someone their heart starts beating fast, and their cheeks heat up,” you clarified as you brought his hand up to cup your cheek. “Sometimes other physical changes happen.” 

“Like what?” he questioned, and you almost felt bad for what you did next. 

You slid his hand down your uniform and pressed it against your clothed core. His LED flashed yellow once more. 

“We get aroused,” you stated, watching as his eyes darted over your body. “Although, I think my clothes are getting in the way of completely showing you.” 

You grabbed his shoulders and pushed him so he was sitting in your desk chair.

You kept your eyes on him as you slowly unbuttoned your shirt, exposing the lacy bra underneath. He watched with rapt attention as you stripped for him, leaving you in only your bra and underwear. You felt like your heart was going to beat out of your chest as you settled onto his lap. 

You were praying that there was actually something under those skinny jeans. You figured you could make it work even if it was a Ken doll situation. 

You grabbed his hand once again and pressed it to your core. “See how different it feels?” 

“You’re warm,” he uttered, looking down with a furrowed brow. A gasp left you as he slid your underwear to the side and dragged a finger through your folds. “And wet,” he stated, looking up at you. 

“When we get aroused, it can get to a point where it becomes uncomfortable or painful,” you led, hoping he would get your hint. 

“Are you at that point?” 

“Yes. You’ll help me right?” 

He looked almost nervous as he nodded. This was going against everything they drilled into you during your training, but you didn’t care. 

You guided his finger to draw tight circles around your clit. “It’s— it’s almost like playing the bass,” you suggested as you rocked your hips slightly. 

Gavin’s movements were clumsy but he was a quick learner, probably thanks to the supercomputer inside that skull of his. 

He gingerly pressed his finger against your entrance and you gasped. His movements paused, and he looked up at you. 

“Was that bad?” 

You shook your head so fast you were surprised it didn’t fly off your shoulders. “No, that was good. Really good, keep going,” you urged as you jutted your hips against his palm.

He slowly got back to what he was doing. He slid his finger inside you, and you watched as his eyes darted between your core and up at you for your reaction. 

“Move it,” you suggested as you grabbed his hand and pumped his finger inside you. “You can add another, now, and do the same thing you just did.” 

He did as he was told and slid another finger inside you, and you groaned at the feeling. He was focused as he worked you toward the edge, taking in every sound and movement you made. He watched eagerly as your pussy swallowed his fingers whole. Your grip on his shoulders tightened, as your orgasm rapidly approached. 

“Gav, do you have,” you paused as he curled his fingers inside you, eliciting a high-pitched mewl from you. “Do you have parts down there?” you asked, motioning your head to his groin. 

“I was designed to be completely lifelike,” he answered, looking up at you expectantly. 

“Good,” you replied before crashing your lips onto his. The kiss was clumsy and mostly your own teeth knocking against his. You pulled away slightly to kiss him properly, and he was quick to kiss you back. 

You reached a hand down to fumble with his leather belt, your actions uncoordinated with his fingers working against you. 

You forced yourself to focus enough to undo his belt and jeans. You slid a hand under the waistband of his black briefs, gasping as your fingertips brushed against his cock. 

A small whine left Gavin as he buried his head in the crook of your neck. You wrapped a hand around his length and slowly stroked him, loving the little noises he was making. This was completely new for him and you wanted it to be good. 

You took a moment to pull his cock out of his jeans so you could stroke him freely. Your mouth watered at the sight. He was perfect. 

You wondered what noises you could get out of him if you wrapped your lips around him. That train of thought would have to wait though; you needed him inside you immediately. 

He was hard and throbbing in your grip, and his face was screwed up in the cutest way. Damn, you wanted to absolutely ruin him. 

You leaned back to push your underwear to the side and aligned his cock with your entrance. You both groaned as you slowly sunk down onto him. Gavin’s hands hovered in the air, unsure where to go. You grabbed them and settled them onto the plush of your ass. 

“Never felt anything like this before,” his breath caught in his throat as he looked down to where you were joined. 

You began to rock your hips, “It gets better, sweetheart.” 

You flushed as the chair squeaked with each thrust of your hips against his. Gavin leaned his head against the back of the chair, and a beautiful artificial blush covered his cheeks. 

You reached behind you and unclipped your bra, letting it slide off your shoulders and throwing it somewhere in your office. Gavin’s head perked up at your exposed tits, and he reached a hand up to touch one. 

Your nipples hardened under his fingertips, and he leaned forward and hesitated as his mouth hovered in front of your chest. He looked up at you, uncertainty dancing across his features. You carded your hand through the hair at the nape of his neck and pulled his head closer, practically begging for his mouth. 

He darted his tongue out to press a kitten lick against your nipple, and you moaned. Emboldened by your reaction, he took you completely into his mouth. You let your head fall back, exposing more of your chest to him. He swirled his tongue around the sensitive bud and reached up to pinch the other one with his free hand. 

With every drag of your hips, your orgasm was rapidly approaching. You reached a hand down to where you were joined and drew sloppy circles around your clit. Gavin jutted his hips up to meet yours, and he hit that spongey spot inside you that nearly had you coming right there and then. 

“Fuck, right there, sweetheart,” you praised, and Gavin hit the spot over and over again. 

You pulled him closer and arched your back as you came hard around his cock. You cried out his name as your walls fluttered around him and your orgasm washed over you. He finished after a few more rolls of your hips as you rode out your high, a drawn-out groan pushing past his lips.

You jolted as you felt his release coat your walls, hot and steady just like the rest of him. They truly spared no expense when they made him. He froze as his cock twitched within you, and you milked him for everything he had. 

Your hips slowed to a stop as Gavin panted below you, eyes half-lidded and blissed out. You slowly lifted yourself off of him and stood on shaky legs, and your hands gripped his shoulders to keep you steady. 

“It did get better,” he breathed as he looked over you. 

You chuckled, “I told you.” 

You turned to collect your discarded items of clothing and situate yourself. He straightened in your chair and righted himself.

“Glad I could help,” he said, a satisfied grin on his face.

You snorted, “Me too, sweetheart.” 

[agendabymooner]

gorgeous ! max v. x ofc (hearth sister!ofc)

"i'm so furious at you for making me feel this way, but what can i say?"

summary: sylvie edson ford officially signed with red bull after making christian horner (her employer) own up to his mistakes at the spanish grand prix. max verstappen continued to prove his worth as a friend (or frenemy) by dropping off his 'office-warming' gifts, needless to say, she was slowly liking him even more. (1)(2)(3)

content warning: use of explicit language, mentions maltreatment in the workplace environment, sylvie disliking max's outfit

note: y'all thought i'm done for the day? wrong. shout out to tim hortons iced coffee, you really make my heart beat fast ✨✨ anyway, enjoy this part xx

masterlist

The worst that could happen would be that you would end up crying your heart out in the middle of the room and everyone would pity you. 

But Sylvie didn’t think that something worse than that could even happen on the same day she signed her contract with Red Bull.

The headquarters of Red Bull in Milton Keynes wasn’t that much different than the Mercedes AMG office in Brackley— she knew that; she frequented the place whenever Toto would work in the office just to pester him and his staff. 

The difference between the two, however, had something to do with the sense of comfort that she lacked as she stood in front of the Wall of Fame, her eyes staring directly at the images of Christian Klien and David Coulthard. Her figure felt so tense, anybody with a sharp object could cut her easily. 

Her sister, Tilly, had been an owner of this team for two years now, yet she felt like this place didn’t even belong to her family. Sylvie couldn’t even claim that she was proud of being a part of the Red Bull group— she didn’t even know jack shit inside this office. She knew how much she disliked Christian Horner, but that’s the only Red Bull headquarters related thing that remained in her brain. 

Then came her contract. She sat down next to Stevie and Tilly as she continued to skim through the terms and conditions of her contract. It was dead silent, and she disliked every single bit of it. Should she have an office in this place, she’d definitely blast some songs to get away from bullshit. 

Sylvie barely finished reading the last section when she heard Christian speak and clear his throat. She stared at him, hand still holding onto the papers as he stated, “I know that we’ve come across one another in a rather negative manner so I would like to personally apologize to you.” She raised a brow at him, telling herself that it was time for him to own up to what he did or rather what he didn’t do. 

The youngest in the room bit back quietly, “For what?” Stevie coughed next to her, obviously trying not to laugh at her sister’s sassiness as she knew what would happen after Sylvie slipped those two words out. The Hearth sisters knew a lot and one of them was that Sylvie would always make sure that the others would have hell to pay. She was self-aware of the things that she deserved - and she knew that equal respect and dignity were two of those things. 

Christian stared at her for a moment, confusion written all over his face. Sylvie leaned against the chair she sat in and crossed her arms, papers still on her hand as she said, “I don’t know what you are specifically apologizing for, so for what?” 

The Red Bull team principal sighed exasperatedly. Tilly looked over and gave Stevie a wag of her brows, liking the situation that was happening in front of them. 

“You sound like you don’t mean it, Horner,” Sylvie pointed out with a mutter. 

“I apologize for not finding a way to make you feel comfortable in your own working environment,” he spoke like he was a robot who was only coded to speak those words. “I could have done so much better and tried to help you adapt to that situation. But it was a busy weekend—“

“And so will the rest of the race weekends ahead of us,” Sylvie snarked. To say that she wasn’t scared of her future employer was an understatement; Christian just had his own ass handed back to him by making him admit to what he’s done wrong. Now she continued to test him as she said, “I am not saying that I won’t be working hard to continually improve the image of the team, but some support will be sufficient. I like the thought of fending for myself, but that would just mess up my performance as a team player.” 

She was still hurt about what happened a month ago, of course. Being left out like a lost puppy in her workplace environment gave her the anxiety that she never thought would ever come back. The boys from her past definitely made it worse. Being yelled at by Christian about her performance that weekend only put the cherry on top. She couldn’t really cooperate with the team if they left her out to figure shit out on her own. 

So it was only rightful of her to blast him with endless words that could hopefully make them realize that they needed to correct their mistakes as the seniors and veterans of the team. She didn’t care if it could tick him off; she didn’t deserve to be treated poorly on her first weekend. If that was how rookies were treated then she sure as hell would address that matter— nobody deserves to be treated like such.

“I acknowledge your frustration over what had happened in the span of a weekend. As I said, I could have done so much more than berate you in front of other people,” Christian told her calmly, “and as your superior, I’ll gladly work with you to figure out what could possibly work best as you delegate with your peers.” 

“You should have thought of that before,” Sylvie rolled her eyes, grabbing a pen laid out on his desk and signed the contract, not even looking at him in the eyes while she did it. 

She found herself looking around once more, now disappointed that her sisters had left after the meeting. She toured the headquarters with Daniel Haas— some communications officer who happened to be a year or two older than her— leading the way. She had seen the place before she even attended her meeting, so listening to him had no point as she continued to look at him and nod. 

Daniel stopped in front of a door that sat at the very end of the media and communications hall, waiting for her to turn at the door. 

“This is your office,” he told her with a grin before opening it with a key, handing it to her after he swung the door open and turned on the light. 

The office was quite decent, sure. The L-shaped desk took up a quarter of the space, then at the back were empty shelves. A couch sat right in front of the big desk and beside it was a small table with F1 related magazines. 

She could definitely do so much with this office. She wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to decorate her office— one that she would occupy should she have time away from the runway. 

Her phone was the best friend she had that day. She’d been scrolling through Twitter, thinking about her first task to follow. She wasn’t told what to do just yet. 

A knock interrupted her thoughts and a murmur of ‘come in’ slipped out of her mouth, her bright eyes peering up to see Max Verstappen enter her office with questions written all over his face. 

She hated to admit it, but Max looked handsome that day— no matter how much she hated seeing him in his white shirt and skinny jeans— and those running shoes. So fucking atrocious, his outfit was.

“You’d think that being a professional racer would help you afford nicer clothes,” Sylvie’s voice echoed in the office, making him scowl in confusion as she continued, “even Adam Sandler can get away with his basketball shorts.” The silence in the room went away as she chuckled humourlessly. Max only laughed quietly with a shake of his head. 

“My favourite fashion critique,” he huffed, “oh have I missed you.” 

“You need better habits,” she replied, “like dressing nicely. Otherwise I wouldn’t be handing your own ass back to you for looking so horrendous.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” He teased as he walked towards her desk. “I wouldn’t see the Wild Blue Mustang in her prime, otherwise. I got to make some sacrifices, you know?”

She watched him as he placed something on her desk, making her lean over. He stood there patiently, watching as she examined the stuff on her table. 

A box of a mini orange Cadillac figure sat on her desk and a framed picture of them as five year olds. Alongside that would be plaques to place in her door and on her desk. 

“Sylvie Edson Ford Hearth

Community Outreach and Public Relations Coordinator”

The Red Bull Racing logo was engraved on the gold plaque next to her name. Talk about official.

“Thanks,” she said quietly before looking up at him, “did Christian make you act like his personal messenger instead of having someone else pass these to me?”

“Nope,” he shook his head, beaming in happiness as he said, “I wanted to give the plaques myself.”

“And why do I have a toy Cadillac? I don’t recall Red Bull making a Cadillac.”

“This is your first office move-in day ever,” he shrugged nonchalantly, “I’d hate to not be a part of it. You’ve got an adult job now. I missed a couple of your achievements. So… yeah, I got you a Cadillac. Me.”

“You need to stop weaseling your way into the little stuff, Verstappen,” she sassed. “It’s unbecoming.”

“Never,” he cheekily smiled, “besides, it’s easier for me to barge into your life now. Your office is right here! And we work together, too. Talk about advantages.”

Sylvie sighed heavily, rubbing her temples before looking up at Max. “Don’t you have other people to annoy?”

“You’re my top one,” Max laughed heartily, “but I’ll go. I wanted to welcome you to Red Bull. Officially. That’s why I’m here. I’m going to go to my meeting with Christian. So— bye!” 

Hearing the door slam shut, she leaned back against her chair. She thought that the worst case scenario of today was that she could have cried in the middle of Horner’s office. Then she pondered what just happened, and decided that her nightmare had something to do with liking Max, one way or another. 

She really didn’t like it when her demons won and continued to gravitate towards him. She wanted to continue to despise his own being, but loathing could only do so much.

[dangerous-advantage]

throughout usagi yojimbo, there is this running theme of fatherhood, with usagi generally enjoying interactions with kids. if possible, he tends to seek them out (this is just as adorable as it sounds, btw)

as somebody who has long been iffy about the subject of kids/kid fics and media with a big focus on this, i'm surprised to find just how much i like sakai's exploration on the subject.

so, i've decided to delve into (a part of) why i think this works so well for me. for this, i'm focusing on UY issue #54: the return of the lone goat and kid.

(beware spoilers <3)

(caption: a cropped image of the cover of usagi yojimbo issue #54.)

within this issue, we witness the return of the lone goat and kid, betrayed samurai turned legendary assasin mercenary, with his young son, gorogoro.

i immediately liked these characters when first reading, not only because of the general badassery that they tend to exude, but also because they are very autistic-coded (/pos /lh), and gorogoro is depicted as non-verbal.

(note: he could be very young, but i'm fairly certain he just prefers not to talk, and saves his words for very specific occasions. either way, i love him a normal amount totally definitely /j.)

seeing their return was a welcome surprise, and though usagi and yagi are very autistic when interacting (/pos), usagi's soft-spot for kids plays a big part in their relationship, having saved gorogoro from falling to his death the last time they crossed paths.

even more welcome of a surprise was the plot and focus on gorogoro and usagi's relationship. i love to see usagi allowed to just... hang out with kids. you can tell he really enjoys doing it w/out the story putting a huge emphasis on that fact, which is part of why i enjoy it so much.

(the kid in question.)

now, to break this all down nice and simply, sakai's comics are generally so well done that i think you could just read the comic yourself and glean the same idea, probably in a better, more meaningful way than i can explain it.

but i've already committed, so here we go.

when we first meet gorogoro, he's being chased by a bunch of henchmen who intend to use him as bait for the capture of his father (being a very, very, very wanted man. er, goat.)

usagi stumbles upon him being threatened by one of the few other rabbits in this series and proceeds to suplex him after his hat is ruined. after that, we get the first good-parent-role-model-usagi moment:

(usagi participates in 10 out of 10 parenting/responsible adult behavior. to avoid writing this out ten million more times, i will simply be referring to this phenomenon as usagi being 'father material.')

he (re)introduced himself, puts himself in the (well-earned) position of "trustworthy adult" and then tries to figure out where tf yagi is. gorogoro, of course, does not speak, but instead of pushing him for an answer, he comes up with a conclusion and offers a solution.

usagi: "i guess you two have been seperated, huh. well, it's dangerous in these woods. there could be more of those guys around."

usagi: "there's a town not far away. your father will have an easier time finding you there."

he then invites gorogoro to come with him, saying he can escort him to the town. gorogoro seems unconvinced.

this might be the point where a lesser protagonist would try and convince/force the kid to come with them, or even manipulate them in some way (i.e. offering false promises/reassurances or just straight up lying.)

usagi, however, is not a lesser protagonist.

(several more panels of father material usagi content.)

quick side tangent: you could argue this is somewhat irresponsible, but i disagree.

usagi has met yagi and gorogoro before, and he knows that gorogoro is a smart kid. he doesn't have the full story for why gorogoro is here. for all he knows, gorogoro is on his way to meet up with his father somewhere farther on in the forest.

the point is: he doesn't try and make a decision for gorogoro or try and coax/force him into making one. he instead treats him like an equal and offers him the choice of whether to follow him or not.

when gorogoro doesn't seem to actively seek his help, he walks away, giving gorogoro full reins of his decision while also respecting an unspoken boundary that gorogoro has made.

(though, to be fair, he did assume gorogoro would follow him-- an assumption that paid off.)

("i see you decided to come along after all.")

what's important here isn't that his guess paid off, it's that he allowed gorogoro to make the decision. not to mention, he still hasn't quite figured out how to best work with gorogoro, as is showcased in the following panels:

(usagi participates in ableism /j /lh /not serious)

usagi is shown to be "good at kids." he gets along with them, and they tend to like him in turn. but that's not just an innate talent (though aptitude to kids does play a big part of it.)

he invests in positive relationships by treating children not as we often see/think of in parent-child or adult-child platonic relationships, but by treating them like equals. simply, he offers them the same respect he would offer anyone else.

which is so fucking important.

anyway, they get to the town and go to an inn inside, where usagi buys gorogoro food. once again, he exhibits king and father material attributes.

gorogoro doesn't look interested in eating the food. this is the exchange that follows:

and then:

(the 'king shit' in question)

now. let's break this down.

usagi offers food, but gorogoro is distrustful. he employs a tactic that may have worked on other children to try and convince/reassure gorogoro that eating it is fine. gorogoro is, in fact, unconvinced.

then, instead of getting irritated, or continuing to try and (unsuccessfully) convince gorogoro the food is convinced, he uses what he's observed about gorogoro/what he knows about gogoro's life to understand what he is actually saying.

he does not force him. he doesn't get annoyed. when he calls him 'weird,' it feels less like an insult and more like a neutral observation, one that he then uses to better work with/communicate with gorogoro.

('does [he] know kids or what,' indeed.)

in the space of two pages, usagi was able to figure out how to better work with gorogoro, not by changing gorogoro, but by changing his methods.

his outlook is not the one we see depicted in much of modern media-- "the parent is always right, and the child must do as they are told."

instead, it introduces a sense of respect, and therefore trust, into their dynamic. i thought i could only get something this good from roald dahl's matilda, but of course, i should've known to never doubt stan sakai /lh

this of course, isn't the end (but we are close!). a bunch of plot stuff happens, and in the search to reuinte gorogoro with his father, usagi ends up on a bridge, with enemies after gorogoro's head (and associated reward) flanking either side of it.

gorogoro, while still maintaining his distance/boundaries, shows that he trusts usagi by running behind him when threatened.

not only that, when usagi orders him to stay behind him (for reasons of protection,) he does so and continues to do so. because usagi has earned his trust, he feels comfortable entrusting usagi with his safety, where he was less comfortable doing so at the beginning.

(the bridge show-down, with the addition of usagi's killer clapback of a line. 10/10, i laughed.)

there's only one other moment i want to mention, but despite how small of a detail it is, it's what got me thinking about this whole thing.

after usagi realizes he's been flanked on either side and will need to fight his way out in order to keep gorogoro safe, this exchange happens:

one of the very first things usagi must have noticed is the silent boundary that gorogoro put up, one that he's been maintaining this entire time. he prefers space-- i.e., he would rather not be touched, at least not without permission.

in this scene, a lesser protagonist would have snatched gorogoro up by the arm, let loose some feral battle cry, and then rushed all seven henchmen using only one arm.

usagi is not a lesser protagonist.

he takes a moment, however small, to communicate his intentions to gorogoro. "i need to carry you" doubling as a silent question: can i carry you?

while he probably would have had to either way, usagi already built up trust between himself and gorogoro. so, gorogoro obliges.

and then usagi single-handedly (literally!) fights his way through seven guys.

ok, well, that's not quite true-- yagi, the 'lone goat' of the duo (more like G.O.A.T -- yes, i have been waiting for a time to make that godawful pun, and no, this is not an appropriate time, but i had to make it. you don't understand /j /nsrs) shows up on the other side pushing gorogoro's cart, and also contributes to the slaughter.

which leads to this epic, two-page panel:

(its so good ITS SO GOOD--)

after this, the story is wrapped up, the kid is returned to his goat, and usagi and the lone goat and kid go their separate ways (for now.)

as you can probably guess, this depiction of platonic child/adult relationships is very, very important to me, not only because i feel we need more of this in the general media, but also to me, specifically, as a member of the neurodivergent community.

seeing a character that i genuinely like respecting the unspoken boundaries of a nonverbal child character means a lot to me. whether he meant it to be interpreted this way or not, it really feels like we get to see an autistic character having different needs/wants and not being shamed for that by the narrative.

this is only one aspect of what makes usagi yojimbo so great, but it showcases some of the many details that sakai uses to create a well-paced, interesting, and engaging narrative.

gone are the annoying, one-dimensional kid characters and the terrible tropes that usually follow them. instead, sakai treats the children in his characters the same way that usagi treats them: as people, characters that have motivations and reasons and that deserve time and respect as well.

as i stated before, i have long shied away from kid-related stories, especially those with younger kids. but lemme tell you. UY has won me over.

i would happily pay away my livelihood to read 700 more panels with usagi toting around a 6-month-old while he talks about conspiracies with the town inspector (see: usagi yojimbo issue [blank]: [name]), or usagi letting the kid of the family he's staying with admire his blades [insert comic here.]

sakai just gets kids, and now when i'm faced with the question of: is this an example of positive parenting/guidance?, i just ask myself, "would usagi do that?"

and it answers my question.

bonus: usagi and yagi being absolutely not in any way incredibly autistic at each other during The Exchange.

(note: their smiles in that end panel make it all worth it, i think.)

[carmyn-rambles]

Cyphen stared at their computer screen.

Testing with NotSentientAI_version2.exe has concluded. Results: 3/18 goals met.

…This wasn't working. It was not working at all.

Well, okay, it was, but not working well enough. Progress was slow. So incredibly slow.

They had thought they still had a month to try and work on this new AI iteration, but apparently, their brain hadn't processed that it had been July 31st; the end of that month. Things haven't been going well since.

As they tried to re-focus on getting this stupid AI to function anywhere near as well as the first one did, they heard someone in a really loud car pull in to the parking lot. It sounded like Holt's car, but they dismissed that thought as soon as it came; he wouldn't come by, out of the blue. They drummed their fingers against their desk, trying to focus.

They went through a mental checklist to try and figure out what they needed to work on next. This AI was nowhere near complete, and it was so stupidly difficult to get any work done when it was so early in development compared to the last one. They always hated how slow the early stages of development were, and worse, they had the memories of what they'd already done with the first AI. Everything they did now felt inferior to the memory of their previous work.

Cyphen picked up on the sound of footsteps outside their apartment, sounding heavy and upset, approaching from the parking lot. They imagined someone returning from a rough day at work.

Cyphen looked over their code editor, and was about to resignedly get to work once more, only for their attention to get stolen away again when those very footsteps arrived at their door, quickly followed by someone banging on their door.

"C, I swear to god!" Holt's voice rang out, irritated.

Oh.

That had been Holt's footsteps.

That had been Holt's car.

...

Damnit.

"I know you're in there, open the fucking door!" He called out.

"Wait a damn second!" Cyphen called out in response, standing up from their desk, only to lose balance from standing up too fast, and had to catch themselves on the wall. Afterwards, they walked to the door of their apartment soon after.

They unlocked the deadbolt, then the door, and opened it to reveal Holt's feathered face, twisted in anger.

"C, if you screwed everything up, I swear I'm going to pummel you," He pushed a claw into their chest.

Leave it to Holt to shout in the doorway.

Cyphen gave him a deadpan look, pushed his claw away, and stepped to the side, so he could enter the apartment.

Holt stormed in, only to stand right behind Cyphen as they closed the door. “Care to tell me why you stopped giving me updates?“ He snapped, arms crossed.

"There was a delay in development." Cyphen responded, crossing their arms in return.

"That's no excuse to stop sending fucking updates," Holt said, "How the hell am I supposed to know things are going to plan?"

Cyphen looked away with a bitter expression. "They're not."

Holt stared at them. "The hell is that supposed to mean?!" Holt exclaimed.

"Calm the fuck down, it just means I need another month," Cyphen sighed. "The AI isn't ready."

Holt was stunned for a second, staring searchingly at Cyphen's inexpressive face.

Then, he snapped back into action. "C, we don't have another month!" He shouted. "You fucking- this always happens! You just cut off our planned communication when things go wrong," he gestured frustratedly, "even though communication exists to help stop things from going wrong in the first place-"

Cyphen scowled, pulling their arms closer to themselves, not appreciating being scolded like this.

"-or to mitigate things when they go wrong- if you had told me about this random 'development issue,' maybe I could've held things back on my side-"

"Too fucking bad, Holt," Cyphen snapped, fed up with listening to him rant about this. "We're being held up by a month. End of discussion."

Holt stared at them, shock turning to outrage, and he grabbed their throat with his talons.

"We don't have another month," Holt hissed, restraining himself from anything more than a tight hold on their throat, keeping them silent. "Everything's already moving. Either get your damn AI sorted, or find some other fucking solution, because if this goes to shit, I am bringing you down with me." Holt finally released them.

Cyphen rubbed gingerly at their neck before looking up at his expression. They looked away, silent for a few moments. "...Understood, Holt."

There was a tense silence.

”I'm done with trusting you. I swear to fuck…“ Holt grumbled, opening the door and stomping through, only to turn around just before he left.

“This is your last fucking chance, C.” He glared at them for a few more seconds, before scowling deeper, slamming the door behind him when he left.

Cyphen was left alone inside their apartment, with nothing but the light of their computer monitor. They stared at the closed door, and their hands clenched into fists in frustration, frustration with Holt, with themselves, with their stupid fucking AI, with everything-

They slammed a fist against the wall.

And they inhaled, exhaled.

No point in getting upset. They needed to get this done.

Cyphen locked their door, locked the deadbolt, stepped back to their desk.

They checked their deadline, and looked back at their current AI.

Testing with NotSentientAI_version2.exe has concluded. Results: 3/18 goals met.

…They needed to get their old AI back.

[doom-dreaming]

Fic idea: he hasn't slept in weeks, except for a number of naps he can count on one hand. It's been nearly a month, and it's catching up to him in his quarters— he's yawning a couple of times, his sharp blue eyes are tired, and there are slight eyebags. He's never been this tired, he thinks. cortana notices this, and he insists he doesn't need sleep, and obviously, he's stubborn about it.

"I'm fine."

"You're falling asleep standing up."

"I'm fine, Cortana."

"Oh, what, you think if you repeat yourself louder I'll leave you alone? You know me better than that." She crosses her arms and tries to lean into his line of sight. He still wouldn't look at her. Stubborn bastard. "You've been running on adrenaline and thirty-minute naps for three weeks. Almost four."

"Nothing I haven't done before."

"That's the point I'm trying to make. You're not on assignment. You don't have to run yourself ragged for Palmer's training drills." She thinks she sees his eyes flick toward her, just for a second. "...a few hours, that's all I'm asking."

He turns toward the door without saying a word, but she's faster. There's an audible 'click-beep!' as the door locks and the light on the keypad goes red.

He stops in his tracks, but still doesn't turn toward the holodeck. She's expecting to hear her name again, but what comes out instead - in an annoyed growl - is, "Roland."

She can feel the other AI moving through Infinity's mainframe, quicker than lightning, focusing on this room, this holodeck. "Roland!" she snaps, just as his gold glow is starting to layer over her blue. "Do not open that door for him!"

Lovers' quarrel? Roland teases, tactfully keeping the comment inaudible to the human occupant of the room.

Cortana spears him with the digital equivalent of a glare and he backs off. Slightly. The golden light flickers and fades from the holodeck, but she can still feel part of him close by, curious. She doesn't bother chasing him off completely, even as irritating as it is to have him watching over her metaphorical shoulder. "I'm not unlocking that door until you sleep," she grouses at John's still-turned back.

"You're being ridiculous."

"Oh, I'm being ridiculous?!" How could a man be so smart and so stupid at the same time? "You're the one refusing to sleep until you—" she tosses her hands in the air, not that he can see it, "—drop dead, apparently!"

"Commander Palmer's expecting me in forty-five minutes."

"No, she's not. I told her you were unavailable." At this, he finally turns to face her. She's expecting to see annoyance, at the very least, but what she mostly sees instead is...fatigue. The petulant determination in his eyes is no match for the shadows around them. He's exhausted and he knows he is... It doesn't add up.

The energy between them shifts. The fight flooding her code ebbs away. It ripples out like waves, loosening threads of herself she didn't even realize had been wound so tightly, until all she's left with is the overwhelming desire to figure out what's wrong with her Spartan. "...why won't you sleep?"

His jaw tightens and he breaks eye contact, focusing on the floor instead.

She feels Roland finally retreat as her concern spikes higher and she sends a wordless 'thank you' after him. John still hasn't answered. She doesn't push him. Slowly, she sits, prepared to wait as long as he needs. Silence had never been uncomfortable between them, but she finds herself wishing she didn't have to be confined to the holodeck. She wants to reach out, to put a hand on his arm, steady him somehow. Reassure him. It'd been so nice, all those years ago. Circumstances aside, obviously.

His chest deflates in a sigh. "Dreams haven't been too friendly lately."

She hums her acknowledgement. They'd never really talked much about dreams - she usually wasn't in his head when he was having them - but she knew they could be strange. And sometimes painful. Sedatives wouldn't help; he had told her that, once. They forced him deeper, made things more vivid. "...I dreamed, you know. When I was..." she gestures vaguely toward the ceiling. "Out there." She didn't know if that was technically true. She didn't know what dreaming felt like. She knew what it looked like, neurologically, but if that was anything close to what she'd experienced... She doesn't particularly care about the semantics right now. That isn't what he needs. "Mind if I talk about it?"

He takes the bait. She watches him cross the room to his bunk, sitting heavily. "As long as they're good."

His voice is rougher than usual, edged with sleep deprivation, but she can hear the relief, the settling calm. He's grateful to have something else to focus on. She musters a smile and dims the lights. "I wouldn't have offered if they weren't." It was a white lie. Harmless in the short term, forgivable in the long term.

And she begins. Pointedly, at first. Stringing together half-truths of the best parts of what she'd seen, embellishing where necessary. He's horizontal after five minutes, on the brink of unconsciousness after ten. She doesn't stop talking. Not after his breathing has finally slowed into a deep, even rhythm. Not after an hour. Not after two. Not after three. She feels Roland swing by again, but he doesn't bother her, just sends curiosity-contentment-happiness toward her in a rapid succession of data pulses. She echoes back the last two and he's on his way again.

It feels good to be able to say what had been trapped inside her head for months, to try to make sense of it all. And to be able to say it to John without the expectation of any response. She doesn't want to put the weight of it - the reality of it - on his shoulders, too. Not really. She could figure it out by herself. And she would, eventually. But right now? She's just happy to hear nothing but the soft breathing of her Spartan in reply as he, finally, sleeps.

[mezmer]

Essya about song I liek saving for laeter< 3

"Enchanted," by the neo-progressive rock band Enchant, is a haunting exploration of infatuation, obsession, and the terrifying power of unrestrained emotion. The song's narrator is caught in a whirlwind of newfound feelings, drawn to a mysterious figure who evokes both ecstasy and dread. This song serves as an opening to a romantic infatuation laden with confusing self-realizations and pessimism.

The opening lines, "There's an aura around you, I'm captivated by your eyes," establish an immediate sense of enthrallment. The narrator is spellbound, consumed by the allure of this enigmatic presence. The phrase "Why am I so starry eyed?" hints at the dreamlike quality of this encounter, as if the narrator has stumbled into a fairy tale, bewitched by a captivating presence, and questioning how this power can consume them so easily.

The narrator's confession, "I once lived with honor, followed codes of chivalry," suggests a past life of discipline and restraint. This individual was once grounded in principles, adhering to a moral code that valued integrity and self-control. However, the allure of this new love has shattered those foundations, leading the narrator to "falter under the spell of Annowree." The name "Annowree" is shrouded in mystery, adding to the song's otherworldly atmosphere, Perhaps Annowree is a siren-like figure, luring the narrator towards a dangerous obsession.

The chorus, "Oh- this love's not for real, the emotions I feel, oh- stronger than tempered steel," reveals the narrator's internal conflict. They recognize the destructive potential of this infatuation, acknowledging that it is not grounded in reality. Yet, the emotions they experience are overwhelming, "stronger than tempered steel," suggesting a force beyond their control. The narrator is conflicted beyond epic proportions, as conveyed in both symbolism and tell-tale lyricism.

The questions, "Where did you come from? What's your name? Is it all a game?" reflect the narrator's confusion and desperation. They seek answers, trying to understand the nature of this alluring figure and the true intentions behind their actions. The line, "You ignite men's hearts aflame to burn for you in vain," paints a picture of a heartbreaker, a femme fatale who leaves a trail of broken hearts in her wake. The narrator is aware of the obvious danger, and perhaps this plays a part in their pessimistic view of their own infatuation.

The next line, "Like a magnet you draw me, like a spider to a fly" emphasizes the predatory nature of this relationship. The narrator is drawn inexorably towards their beloved, like a helpless insect ensnared in a web. The narrator is aware, and expects their desire to consume them whole. The line, "An empty heart is so easy to seduce and hypnotize," reveals the narrator accepting their vulnerability. Their emotional emptiness has made them susceptible to the charms of this enigmatic figure, adding more context to the predatory imagery preceding this line.

The question, "Is this my destiny?" underscores the narrator's fear and uncertainty. They feel trapped in a nightmarish situation, contemplating their sanity and grasp on reality. The repetition of the earlier questions, "Where did I come from? What's my name?" reveals the narrator's loss of identity. They have become so consumed by this infatuation that they no longer recognize themselves. The narrator outwardly wonders what the way out of this situation could possibly be.

The lines, "And the ones who let their hearts rule their minds will burn their bridges when they've crossed, leave the world behind," serve as a warning. It cautions against the dangers of surrendering to passion without reason, of allowing emotions to dictate one's actions. There is no way back once the heart has assumed control of the mind, drawing a clear line between what the two realms are capable of. The narrator's heart leads them to this dangerous place as they realize that they are on a path of self-destruction, but they are presently unable to resist the allure of their beloved.

The final chorus intensifies the narrator's internal turmoil: "No- this love's not for real". Again, the narrator reflects on a growing awareness of the dangers ahead as they question their ability to break free from this spellbinding enchantment. Adding "No" to the return of the chorus creates a sense of terror and refusal. A desperate plea, "Can I break this spell?" leaves the listener with a sense of foreboding. "Only time will tell" further reinforces the fact that there is no way to know how this fascination ends. The narrator is caught up in a pattern of making assumptions and calculations throughout the song but finally accepts that they can't possibly know what could happen.

"Enchanted" is a powerful and evocative exploration of the dark side of love. It delves into the different shades of lust and love, the loss of self, and the destructive power of unrestrained emotion. The narrator is trapped in a cycle of obsession, unable to escape the enchantment that has consumed them, but also patiently, perhaps desperately, waiting for a sign. The narrator's intelligence and self-awareness could suggest control wanders through their heart, but the emotional event is so awesome that they let control slip away in favor of passion. The future remains uncertain, but the song's haunting melody and lyrics suggest a tragic end to this ill-fated love. The song's enigmatic lyrics and soaring melodies create a haunting atmosphere that lingers long after the music fades.

[glitterdeerswritingblog]

To those who wanted that sneak peak at my progress on my HiredAssassin! Sophie × InsuranceFraudPrince!Fitz, here it is:

The Moonlark crouched behind the edge of the sandstone wall, making sure no one was coming before slipping down the dark corridor.

She referred back to the set of instructions that had been delivered to her via raven the night before—the lines concerning her disguise and entrance earlier that morning crossed off like a checklist—squinting to make out the loopy lettering in the moonlight that filtered in through the barred windows. Another 20 steps, and on her left… There.

As she reached for the handle, she heard footsteps and hastily retreated around the corner before walking around the bend as if she worked here and certainly wasn't infiltrating the palace to assassinate a member of the royal family.

The man—if someone of his age should be called a man—came into view: light brown hair, the color of cinnamon, skin a shade of honeyed bronze, eyes sparklingly teal, broad shoulders inside of a white tunic with a purple and blue embroidered jerkin, his long legs covered in purple pants of silk, and his look completed with a pair of blue studded dress shoes.

The Moonlark swore internally. Of course she ran into Prince Fitzroy Vacker. Her very target.

"My lord," she said in a bashful tone, bowing into a curtsey. "Out to stargaze?"

"Evening, miss," he responded in his royally crisp accent. "I'm simply out to smell the roses."

The Moonlark's brain stalled. How had he just accidentally spoken the code phrase? She stared at him as she replied, "I hope the scent is worth the thorns."

Prince Fitzroy gave her a small smile. "Right this way." He pulled open the door the Moonlark almost entered, letting her in before shutting the door and leading her down the steps of the narrow staircase. At the bottom, he opened another door, this one heavy and oaken, with thick metal hinges and a metal knocker.

He and the Moonlark enter the room, and Fitzroy shuts and locks it behind them. The Moonlark realized it was a wine cellar. The barred window took up the size of the back wall, and the Moonlark could see barrels of alcohol and liquor lined against the sand brick walls.

"Sorry about all of the formalities. I am aware that the pass code was not the greatest, but it was a line from this truly awful book I had been reading and I figured it'd be a funny little thing before I die."

"So, to clarify," the Moonlark said, "You hired me."

"Yes," Prince Fitzroy said.

"To kill you."

"That is correct."

"Okay," she said. "Do you just need someone to talk to?"

"Nope, I'm all good. I don’t really mind, I just need to be dead."

"No offense, but it feels wrong to kill you."

"Because I want you to?"

"Look," she said. "I've been around the marketplace for a while. There's always someone looking to have someone else killed, even royalty. I've seen plenty of hits for your dad, or even a few for your mom out of jealousy, but never have I seen a hit for any of their children. In fact, everyone has always seemed to adore you guys. So I figured when I saw the hit for you—the people's prince and the royals' declared heir—that you were secretly a tyrant. So I came figuring you were going to end up being a dickhead as royals usually are, except… you aren't. You know all of the guards and staffs' names, you ask them how they are and actually listen, you help them out when they need it by having them take breaks and checking if they've eaten or drank, you clean up after yourself so that others don't have to, and you overall treat them like they're human. They all truly love and respect you, even the ones who don't like anyone like grumpy Sir Faxon."

The prince was blushing. "I try my best to make sure they're all safe and happy."

"That's my point. They don't want you dead. No one does. So I'm trying to figure out why you do."

"You know, for an assassin, you seem to care a lot about other people."

"Well, killing someone is undoable. I make sure that my client truly wants the target dead, and not out of a slight or pride. I always give them options for less irreversible revenge. Currently, I want to make sure it isn't out of despondency."

The prince sighed. "I'm not despondent. I will miss my family and my people, but it is for their good." He didn't meet her eyes as he said, "My father is a good king. For the most part, he is fit to rule Eternalia. However, he does have lapses in judgement. Recently, he butted heads with the royal family of Lumenaria. The easiest way to fix the conflict is for my father to apologize and admit he was wrong, but instead he decided my sister should marry one of their brood. Biana has only just turned 19 and I don't want her shoved into a political marriage to fix what she didn't break. When I die, my will gives her all of my money and my life insurance goes to my mother so that Biana can get out and have a normal, happy life."

The Moonlark stared at him until he looked back up to her. "So you mean to tell me you hired an assassin to kill you for insurance fraud in order to protect your sister?"

"Essentially," the prince breathed.

"Well then, why don't we just fake your death?"

Prince Fitzroy blinked at her. "What?"

"Let's fake your death. Honestly I've never killed anyone—"

"I knew it," the prince interjected.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm not an actual assassin. I took the job for the cash because I figured you were a dick. But you have a good heart from what I can tell, and you're trying to sacrifice yourself even though I can practically smell the fear because you're determined to save your sister. I can get behind that. Faking your death means your sister gets away safe and gets your money, and you don't have to die. And bonus, I still get my money at a reduced price, seeing as I don’t have to actually kill you."

"Well, I like not dying," the prince said. "But how does one fake their death?"

The Moonlark gave him a grin. "Now that I do have a lot of experience with. In order for this to work, you have to trust me."

"Okay. But can I bring my horse? I don't want to leave her alone."

"Absolutely." The Moonlark clapped the prince on the shoulder, though she did have to stand on her tiptoes to make the top of her head come to his nose. "Alright, Pretty Boy, if we wanna be out by sunrise, we have to start 20 minutes ago. You have your paper and ink?"

Prince Fitzroy nodded, and the Moonlark said, "Good. I need you to write your letters now. One of them should be a letter addressed to your family saying that you went for an evening stroll and not to worry if they wake up and you aren't at breakfast. To do this right, we're going to make it look like you were eaten by a bear. If that's all you want to say, then that's good enough, but if you want to tell your sister and mother so they aren't too upset, you can write them each notes to explain it, but do your best to use caution and use codes so that someone on the outside won't realize that you're lying to commit insurance fraud, or find out youre alive and try to drag you back."

"Does it have to be that?" Fitz asked.

"Sorry, it's the best I can come up with that doesn't require a witness or removing part of your body for proof. Unless you want to write a note saying that it's all too much and you're committing suicide by jumping off the cliff."

"I'll get eaten by the bear," Prince Fitzroy said with a sigh.

"Alright. In that case, I'll be back in a moment."

The Moonlark navigated her way back to the hall and then to the laundry room. She grabbed two sets of clothing in black, including hoods. She also grabbed a laundered saddle bag and sprinted through the Kitchens, throwing in rations of food and a couple water canteens.

"Put these on," she said, throwing him one of the black outfits once she made it back to the wine cellar. The prince opened his mouth, and the Moonlark said, "I'm not going to watch, but I need the clothes you're wearing right now."

She stared at her feet, and after a few minutes, his old clothes were at her feet. "I am terribly sorry about this, and I really hope these weren't your favorite clothes," the Moonlark said.

"What are you—?" Prince Fitzroy started, but the Moonlark nonchalantly took the knife she'd grabbed and slashed through the clothes. For added effect, she cut a line on her arm and waved her bleeding arm around to stain the cloth.

"You just cut yourself open on our dinner knives," Fitzroy said, rushing over. "Are you alright?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, Your Majesty. I stopped by the Infirmary on the way here and grabbed some medical supplies." Indeed she had, and she pulled out antiseptic fluid and a gauze roll. she quickly stitched it up, taping it on the cut, and said "All better."

"Please don't call me 'Your Majesty' or 'Prince Fitzroy.' It's always made me uncomfortable, and within a few hours I won't be a prince anymore."

"Are you going to change your name then?" the Moonlark asks.

He shrugged.

"You don't have to decide now if you want to," she said gently. "You have a whole new life to live. But in the meantime, we have to go set those letters where they need to be, you need to pack anything you can't live without or you want if you think it won't be noticeable, and then we have to place your clothes somewhere they'll be found but also not somewhere super unusual, and then we grab your horse and hit the road."

Together, they ran back through the darkened palace. They entered his bedchambers, and the Moonlark said, "Alright, I see you have a bag—great—so take your time packing. I know its a lot and that it probably hasn't hit you yet so just… hang in there. Meanwhile, I'm going to get dressed into my own black monstrosity, and I'll be right back."

Fitzroy nodded, and the Moonlark went into his bathroom. When she came back to the main room, Fitzroy was staring at a drawing of himself with his parents, his brother, and his sister. He folded and tucked it into his breast pocket, the tears on his cheeks reflecting the moonlight. He heard her step closer and jumped, quickly wiping at his face.

"All set?" the Moonlark asked him cautiously. He nodded, and she impulsively grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before letting it drop.

"Letter time," Fitzroy said, his voice slightly hoarse.

They walked across the hall to another bedchamber, and when they opened the door, a young woman was sitting on the edge of the bed. Her hair was a darker brown, and her skin was lighter by a few shades, but she had the same teal eyes as her brother. "I could hear you two next door," Princess Biana said.

"Hey," her brother said, his voice croaky.

"So, what's happening?" The princess asked, looking at the Moonlark. "And who are you?"

The Moonlark bowed. "Princess. Your brother here hired me as an assassin to execute him."

Princess Biana glared at her brother. "You did what?"

Fitzroy looked sheepish. "She's not killing me anymore, she talked me out of it."

The Moonlark explained how she'd arrived that morning and followed the instructions he'd sent to her before meeting him tonight to discuss plans. Biana listened intently as she relayed their earlier conversation and their plans to fake Fitzroy's death.

"So," Princess Biana said, "You tried to look out for me once again by almost getting yourself killed? Most assassins wouldn't have bat an eyelash. You're very lucky you picked a woman, and a smart one at that."

"I've already had this discussion," Fitzroy sighed. "But when you get out of this place, send Alvar's raven. He'll find me, and then I'll find you."

"Of course,' the princess said. "Are you guys prepared to leave? Dawn is coming quickly, the sun will be up within the hour."

"We're all set," Fitzroy said. He hugged his sister. "Be safe, I love you."

"Love you too," she said. "I'll be fine, you two take care of each other. Is there anything else I can do to help?"

"Don't find the clothes," the Moonlark said. "If you do, it'll look suspicious and put some light on you, especially since the will is in your favor. But when you find out he's 'dead,' be genuine and don't overdo it."

The princess nodded solemnly. She gave Fitzroy one last hug and pulled the Moonlark in, whispering "Take care of him," giving her a kiss on the cheek before taking her letter from the prince and shooing them out.

"Where should we put the other letter?" the Moonlark asked.

"My dad's placement at the table," Fitzroy said immediately.

They went back to the dining room, and the prince took a deep breath before putting it down.

"What's next?"

"I think we head toward the stables. We don't have much time."

Fitzroy nodded. "Right this way," he said.

They walked out a secret entrance on the side of the palace and ended up by the forest. Sophie took out his bloody, ripped clothing and tossed them on the ground five feet off the path. She reopened her bandage and squeezed out as much blood as she could, dripping it around the area.

Fitz looked at the pile of clothing, and the Moonlark saw something inside of him break. She caught his arm and eased him sitting onto the path a few feet further away as he breathed sharp breaths.

The Moonlark wrapped her arm around the prince as he took gasping, panicky breaths. Eventually they slowed and evened out, and the Moonlark said, "Do you feel… better now?"

The prince nodded. "Yeah. I just… yeah, sorry."

"Don't be. I know the feeling. I get if you have some second thoughts, but—."

"Not at all," the prince said. "It's just…"

"Surreal," the Moonlark supplied. "A lot to take in."

"Yeah." The prince stood and pulled her up. "I'm ready."

"Alright. To the stables."

The word "stables" seemed an understatement. It was a large building of wood with a tiled floor and roof. The sides had plenty of spaces for the horses to put their heads out during the day, though the porticos were covered in a satiny curtain. There was an abundance of hay, straw, and grass for the horses as well as treats of crab apples. The water troughs were large enough that the Moonlark could bathe in them no problem. There were all sorts of horse equipment as well as some gardening and hunting tools.

"Mind if I take a bow and a quiver for the road?"

She gave him a wide grin. "Neat."

"Sure," Fitzroy said. "Grab a shield while you're at it as a souvenir."

She plucked one off the wall and studied it. "Good timing, too. I used my old one for target practice and hit my last shot too hard. Broke the shield and snapped the bowstring in one go." She put the shield on her arm and slung the bow and quiver around her. "Which horse is yours?"

"Verdi," the prince said.

The Moonlark and the prince stopped outside the horse's enclosure, and she let out a whistle. "She's a beaut," the Moonlark breathed, studying the majestic creature. She was white with cream patches all over her powerful body, her eyes the color of honey.

"I've had her since I started learning to ride when I was fourteen." the prince said. He opened the latch to her gate, and she sauntered out, stopping in front of them. "Where exactly are we going?" he asked.

"I'm assuming you don't have family outside the kingdom, and you need to lay low for a bit, so I'll take you to where I call home, and when you get into the routine of normal life and get on your feet, you can go wherever you want. Sound like a plan?"

"Yep," the prince said.

"Alright, give me one moment," the Moonlark said. She undid her hair from the bun she had it in, pulling it back in a high pony instead. "That's better. I was getting a headache from that bun. You ready, Fitz?"

The prince nodded at her. "After you."

The Moonlark clambered up, quickly followed by Fitzroy.

He leaned forward. "Actually, I like that. Do you mind… calling me Fitz from now on?"

"No problem," she said to him.

"And… if it's not prying?" he asked, leaving the question open.

"What's my name?" The Moonlark supplied. "I'm taking you to my house, with my parents and my siblings, so you may as well know. But trust me, if you ever slip to someone and tell them who I am, I will hunt you down and murder you." She took a breath, turned around on Verdi, and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you Fitz, I'm Sophie."

"Nice to meet you too, Sophie," Fitz said with a grin, shaking her hand.

[guz013]

Introducing someone

So, I never made this type of post in any social media, but I waked up somewhat inspired, and it's probably a better or at least interesting move to make this time here

Hi? Who are you?

Hi Tumblr! It's strange to be now here and not just watching from outside through a YouTube video of r/tumblr. I'm Gustavo, a Brazilian 18 y.o. (soon to be 19 at the time of writing) teenager? Adult? I don't know, it's strange to be in this middle-ground of "outside of school and not yet having a job" phase, feeling kinda lost in life and how to define myself in some way.

Why are you here?

I created this (or these) account(s)/blog(s) to be able to have an easier way to share, archive and hopefully have and give feedback about my creations and passions in software/open source development, digital drawing and world building. Being an introvert and having decent social anxiety didn't help when it comes to have people around to share them on a timely basis, so using this platform, even if it is just for myself, could be helpful. I thought on creating my own blog on my own website, but it seems somewhat overwhelming to do it to possibly what will be just microblogging and not full-page length blog posts. And I'm not planning on buying Twitter Blue just to have some more characters any time soon.

"These accounts/blogs"? What?

Yes, for some reason, I feel like it's better to have different accounts depending on what I'm creating or posting. Yes, it is a nightmare to manage, even more when you don't have money to have multiple email aliases. So here I'll have different blogs for different interests, or at least for really different topics, like programming and art. Here they are:

@guz013 - You are here. And I still don't know for what it will be used for, probably just "meta" things. Like, talking about creating, creative process, managing these accounts, whatever.

@guzsart - Artwork, original characters, work in progress and world building. Planning to post biographies of my original characters there, so it can slowly build a world/universe for them that I have in my head for years.

@guzscode - Open source, software and web development, JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, Go, etc. I'm still trying to figure out how I would use it, but probably just work in progress, code snippets, little frustrations with bugs, etc.

@guztav013 - Personal stuff, probably mental health, and mostly also a place to post things that I feel personally proud or would like to just share/archive, like photography, logo design, guitar practicing, obsidian note-taking, Minecraft buildings and my personal lore about them.

Why all of this feels planned? Over-detailed? Complicated? It's just a Tumblr post and blog, my friend.

You're right, but it's something that I struggle with because of my insecurity, anxiety and feeling a burst of inspiration sometimes that makes me have a billion ideas in seconds and tries to plan, organize and perfect everything. It causes to also looks like a brand marketing, formal and unnatural most of the time, but whatever. Probably will write an entire blog post about this in the future (no promises).

"Someone who's trying to improve"? Improve what?

This is just a personal quote that I carry every day, everywhere I go, probably will make a post about it in specific in the future also. But it just represents me in someway, just someone who wants to keep improving and being a better person, like everyone else.

What are those symbols in your profile pictures?

They represent different aspects of my life and personality, written in an alphabet/writing form that I created for my fictional world. They aren't Japanese or any pre-existing symbol.

Do you have any other social media?

Yes, and because of this mental model of trying to separate topics, and also liking open-source alternatives, I have a lot of them, it's a nightmare to manage and cross-post everything manually.

Just being said that, I hope most of my actual content and activity will be posted primarily here, to be honest.

You can find all of them on my website: https://guz.one (if the domain expires in the future: https://guz.vercel.app)

Do you have a cat or a dog?

Yes, their names are Mity and Peta.

-------------------------------------

Thanks for your time reading this. It's the first time that I write an actual blog post, even a more public one. I hope that this inspiration boost that I had this morning doesn't fade too much to stop writing and creating things and sharing here. It was an actual good experience just writing this post, even if it's ends up just being for my self, and hopefully this can also inspire people and me to keep creating and sharing.

"Someone who's trying to improve" - Guz

[assbutt-writes]

A Heart Of Iron Chapter 5

Chapter below cut

TONY

"Let me get this straight. There is a giant evil Grimace-" Tony started.

"Excuse me?" Loki asked, confused.

"You know, Grimace, that purple blanket thing from McDonald's in the 80's?" Tony said, exasperated, "You know what? Never mind. There's a giant evil purple dude that's running around, trying to wipe out half the universe with magical glowing rocks, and he's come to Earth why, exactly?"

Loki rolled his eyes, but said, "The Time, Space, and Soul stones are all here, and in the act of removing me from the scepter's control, a homing beacon of sorts has been activated."

"Okay," Tony said, letting out a long sigh, "So what do we do?"

"We might want to find the person who has the Time stone and tell her what's going on," Loki suggested.

"Alright," Tony agreed, "So, where is she?"

"She's currently at the Sanctum Sanctorum, and it might be better coming from someone who hasn't just tried to take over the world, meaning I should probably stay behind," Loki explained sheepishly.

"Yeah, that makes sense. I think I could wire up some coms to let me tell you if I need help. Do you think we might need a code for 'I need backup asap?'", Tony asked.

"Um... I suppose we could?" Loki said hesitantly.

Tony thought for a moment. What was something that they both would remember, but that he wouldn't say normally in conversation? Maybe something in Norrœna...

"Ooh! Maybe it could be, ‘I'll have that drink now’!" Tony said excitedly.

Loki rolled his eyes. Tony remembered the situation that Loki had been in when those words were said last, and let out a little laugh.

"I swear I didn't mean it like that! I mean, it's something that we both would remember, but that I wouldn't say normally in conversation, at least not in Norrœna," he explained.

"Yeah, that would work. The address is 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, by the way," Loki said.

"Okay. How long do we have?" Tony  asked, mind racing with ideas.

"Based on how long ago I was freed from the scepter's control, a little over 2 weeks," Loki replied.

"Okay. How about we go to bed now and figure this out in the morning? I'm going to need time to make the coms, anyway," Tony said, looking at the clock, which showed that it was well past midnight.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Loki said.

They waved goodbye, and then headed to their respective floors.

Exhausted, Tony went straight to bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

“Excuse me, but does your friend often do that?" an alien with big, black eyes and a pair of antennae on her forehead asks, looking at  Stephen Strange, a world-renowned neurosurgeon.  He hovers cross-legged in the air with green light coming out of a golden pendant he wears and surrounding his hands like bracelets. His head rapidly moves back and forth, and his red cloak floats behind him, fluttering in a non-existent breeze.

"Strange! Are you alright?" Tony calls, looking towards his friend.

Tony starts to approach him, and Strange suddenly collapses, the green light vanishing. He shouts in surprise, gasping for air. Tony catches him, reassuring him, "You're back. You're alright."

A brown-haired teenager wearing a red and blue metal suit with some sort of spider emblem says, "Hey, what was that?"

"I went forward in time to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict," Strange replies, still out of breath.

"How many did you see?" a man with light-brown hair asks.

"14,000,605," Strange replies.

"How many did we win?" Tony asks hesitantly.

Strange pauses, and then says, "One."

LOKI

"Loki? Loki, wake up!"

Loki jolted awake, a million possibilities running through his head. He turned toward the voice and saw Tony standing in his doorway, obviously shaken.

"What's wrong?" Loki asked.

"I had a dream, well, not exactly a dream, though I'm not sure what it was, where I was on a weird-looking brown planet with a bug alien lady, a guy with grey skin and red tattoo things covering his body, a human who had a weird helmet, a human teenager in a red and blue suit that kind of looked like mine with a spider symbol on the front, and Stephen Strange, who was floating in the air with green light coming out of a golden pendant thing and surrounding his hands, kind of like bracelets. His head was moving side-to-side really fast, and when he stopped, he kind of just collapsed and started gasping for air. When I asked him what happened, he said that he was looking into all of the possible endings to the 'coming conflict', whatever that means, and that he saw 14,000,605 possible outcomes. I asked him how much we won, and he said that we only won one," Tony rambled, stumbling over his words.

"Hold on, what do you mean that it 'wasn't exactly a dream'?" Loki asked.

"I saw it while I was asleep, but with dreams, it's kind of blurry and doesn't include the little details, but this one felt exactly like I was there, down to the low gravity and everything," Tony explained.

"Okay. I think I may know what it was. What color was the light again?" Loki asked, starting to figure out what was going on.

"I think it was green," Tony said hesitantly.

"And what did the pendant look like?" Loki asked.

"It was gold and kind of eye-shaped? It had a green gem in the middle with gold curved lines in front of it, and the lines moved when he was doing the weird floating thing," Tony explained.

"That sounds like the Eye of Agamotto, which currently houses the Time stone," Loki said, "And what did the planet look like?"

"The ground was brown dirt, and there was rusty alien tech wreckage everywhere," Tony said confusedly.

"That's Thanos's home planet, Titan. I've heard that the stones have a mind of their own sometimes, and I'm guessing the 'dream' you had was the Time stone trying to help us," Loki said.

"Okay. At least now we know who we're looking for. JARVIS? What time is it?" Tony asked.

"It is currently 3:05am, sir," JARVIS replied.

"The coms are almost ready being made, so I'm gonna go try to go back to sleep," Tony said.

"I'll probably do the same," Loki agreed.

Loki wasn't able to get back to sleep, however, with a million thoughts running through his head. The Time stone didn't give visions to just anybody, so why did it choose Tony? He wasn't the most powerful being on Midgard, due to both his and Thor's presence. Also, who were the people that Tony saw in his vision? Loki knew who Strange was, but what about the others?

TONY

The next thing Tony knew, it was morning, and he was going into Loki's room to wake him up.

"Hey Loki, it's time to get u- Holy shit you look horrible!" Tony exclaimed.

Loki's hair was a tangled mess, and he had dark circled under his eyes, looking like he hadn't slept in weeks, which was probably true. Thanos probably didn't see the need to let him sleep during the preparation for the invasion, so he didn't get any sleep then, and with the combination of the panic attack in his cell and his inability to return to sleep that night, he was definitely exhausted.

"It's fine," Loki said, using his magic to fix his hair and cover the dark circles.

"If you're sure," Tony said, still a bit concerned.

They walked down to the lab, where there were two black cases, each one about the size of a book. Tony picked one up and opened it, showing Loki the contents, which consisted of a red button and a small earpiece.

"This one will be for you. You press this button here and it'll broadcast the feed to the others," Tony said, indicating the red button, "JARVIS is on standby in case something goes wrong."

"Do you remember the code for help?" Loki asked.

"Yep!" Tony said, popping the 'P', “I'll have that drink now’!”

"Yeah. Would you like me to teleport you there?" Loki offered.

"Yeah, that would help," Tony replied, "Maybe you should teleport me a block away though? It probably would freak them out if I suddenly appeared on their doorstep. Although they do work with magic on a daily basis so it wouldn't be too freaky but then again what if someone else happens to see me pop in and gets freaked out so we should probably do it in like a parking garage or something but then what if-"

Tony suddenly snapped back to reality, realizing that Loki was calling his name.

"Tony! Hey, Tony, it's okay. I've figured out all of that. I'm going to teleport you to the exact spot that I've had an illusion of you in for the last hour. No one's going to notice anything," Loki told him, and wow. When did Loki get that close?

Loki seemed to realize how close he was at the same time, and he quickly moved away, a faint blush coloring his cheeks.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. Are you ready to go?" Loki said hastily, not meeting Tony's eyes.

“Y-Yeah," Tony stuttered out, confused as to what had just happened and why his heart was racing. The arc reactor was probably just acting up. Yeah, that was it.

Green light surrounded him, and then he was gone.

[agileisthegayagenda]

The Professional Scrum Developer Cert

"The Agile Certifications that exist are a complete joke and an utter absurdity." - Robert Martin, Clean Agile.

TL;DR: My company asked me to get this, so I did. Even though I only did a couple of hours of study. All the books I had been reading last year prepped me for it... I'm also good at taking tests.

You should ask yourself: Why the hell do I need this?

If the answer is that it will help you land a job, get a promotion, satisfy management, or assist you with a goal to pursue your learning. No harm, it's $200! However, if you want this to show off to people that you are the most Scrum dev, that is just so Scrum, just don't...please.

With that out of the way...

The first thing they asked me to do when I joined my new team was to get the PSD cert. I had other PM style certs under my belt, so this would be, as the very cool people say, 'no problem.' I figured this would be a fun way to make sure I had the terms and ceremonies down for Scrum. (And I was right, because I think tests are fun.)

I started with this assessment test to understand where I was so I could plan where I should go. I'm a massive fan of taking assessments before you study. You see, the idea of pre-testing is it gives you the shape of the test to come. This method helps my mind map out things that will be valuable to know for the test. I scored 60% on my first try, which was not great but gave me information on how to start my next steps. 

After I studied my answers and noted right and wrong answers. From the reading I had been doing, I realized most of the terms in the test had been introduced over the last year.

Clean Code

Clean Architecture 

Pragmatic Programmer

Clean Agile

Test Driven Design 

Scrum: Twice the Work in half the time

Scrum: A Field Guide

Also, the following online documentation and videos helped me understand a bunch:

DevOps Terminology 

More Devops Stuff

This Pluralsite Course 

The Scrum Guide

Tech Debt 

And some of this post on TDD

So, after reviewing some keywords in those books, I made a:

Let's talk about my study guide system:

First, I take my wrong answer pass and use that to build a foundation of what I don't know and mesh this with whatever core competencies list I can find for the certification. I then research videos and articles that can help me fill in my knowledge.

Then, I review this content, taking notes on any terms I don't understand. I then cross-referenced all of these with terms I noted down from the assessment test and refined my study guide. I do this process till every term, and the wrong answer makes complete sense. 

Then I take the assessment again, but now it's speed mode. I try to spend less than 10 seconds on each question (sometimes more if there is a long setup) or less on each question; if I go too long, I skip (or guess and note it down real quick). The thinking is, in a multichoice test, if I don't know the correct answer immediately, I'm gaming the multiple-choice, not actually "knowing." I refined this technique on a couple of Comptia Certs, which also helped me through a good part of my schooling. 

After 2-3 speed runs. I complete all the wrong answers and any notes on terms or concepts I stall or take longer on. Then I take this and make a:

While speed running, I repeat this process until I pass 10% higher on pre-tests and assessments than I need for the certification test. Because certifications often have question bundles, I can buy them. I will often buy one or two if they're cheap. However, for the PSD, the free one is WAY better than the paid one I bought from Udemy. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't have grabbed the paid one.

After this is done, I look at scheduling an assessment. But as it turns out, that's not something you need to worry about with the PSD; you can take it any time after you pay, so keep that in mind. 

Before the assessment, I reviewed the core test competency materials and took a nice mind break. 

 When I feel calm and centered, I take the test. This method has yet to fail me. Is it the fastest way to cram new info in your head? Probably not, but I do learn whatever the cert is trying to teach me, and as a bonus, I feel very little pressure in the tests, often finishing quickly with enough time to review questions I wasn't so sure about. 

How did this serve me for the PSD? It was 95%, not 100%, as the fabulous folks get, but perfection is the enemy of done in my book. And it is very done!

So now that you know how I took it. The real question is, was it useful? 

Yes? We'll see as time goes on.

[dzpenumbra]

6/29/23

I had a weird thought today. I just wanted to put it out there. Imagine an alternate future where in 6 months it is discovered that caffeine causes cancer at the same (if not higher) rates that cigarettes do. Do you think they'd make that public? What do you think would be done about it? Do you think people would really be brave enough to try to institute a caffeine prohibition? Just think of the backlash, good lord. Like... most people would just completely flip their shit. Just a thought, about how honestly... we're all addicts. For the most part, there are very few of us that aren't. I think it's important to be mindful of things like that. It may be uncomfortable because of how difficult that pill can be to swallow, but it can be a good jumping off point for empathy.

Weird start, but whatever. I have still been in a bit of a funk today, but not quite as bad as yesterday. I didn't do much. Yoga and an intense workout. Threw together some soup for dinner. Was going to watch skate videos over dinner on-stream and then either work on that animation idea in Blender, or play around with stuff in the Visualizer program I have. But... I didn't stream. I watched streams instead. RP again. I just... I'm off. I don't know.

I tried to figure out audio routing again. My visualizer program needs the audio routed differently to it than I can do with my audio box. It's frustrating as hell. It's the same problem I'm having with my DAW. So... I can work in it with it sensing audio from my mic... but not audio playing on the computer... which is what I really want to test it with. So... either I take a day and figure out audio routing shit again (oh fucking joy...) or I just... play around in it using oscillators and ramps instead of having it be sound reactive. Which... sucks... but it's something.

I know the "easy" solution here is to reinstall Voicemeeter and route audio that way, but... I just remember having a lot of frustrating problems with it in the past. And part of me is kinda scared of fucking up the setup I have right now. I probably won't, but there's still the possibility. Meh, maybe I'll give it a look tomorrow. That would be a really fun stream. To give a bit of a behind the scenes of how I make those live visualizer things from scratch.

I made a cool one today. They had code built into it that's... it's called "Life" and it's a code that basically has a logic built into it that replicates life forms, kinda? Here, this is it, I found it. https://playgameoflife.com/ It's a simulation that follows certain rules and kinda... comes to life. So I had that as a background, super zoomed out so it was basically a texture. Then I had random colored lines crossing over, kinda like laser light beams. Then used a subtract blend mode to mask the Life texture to the light beams... then I threw the random colored lines into a 12-sided kaleidoscope, which slowly rotated and shifted through different random line seeds. So it made cool mandala-like structures.

I like the Life thing, I'm still not sure what to do with it. I got much more engrossed in the idea of making living mandalas. The kaleidoscope effect is perfect for that, I just need to kinda... figure out what I'm doing with it, because I could make some really cool shit, especially when I get it to be sound reactive.

I also worked in Blender a bit, doing the mitosis idea. I figured out how to do physics and collision, but it was getting stressful. So I decided to just hand-animate a start with it in grease pencil. The splitting animation is going to look really cool, but... I get to a point where I need to turn one object into two objects... (kinda duh)... but I... I don't really know how to go about it. Because the best I can figure is... ugh, how to I explain this... Say we have the first cell, it looks like this: o Then it grows in size. 0 Then it pinches in the middle. 8 Now we have two shapes, they're ready to split. So... in order to do the split... I need to kinda... blink the top of the 8 on the original layer out of existence and simultaneously blink a new clone of it into existence. And that has to be seamless. And that has to happen for every split. So... technically the first cell will be immortal. But it will continually double in size, pinch, then have half its mass deleted and start again. Which, of course... isn't how it works in real life... But that's the only way I can make these new clones actually recognized as individual entities. It's a weird concept, it's a little hard for me to wrap my head around. But I'm pretty sure I have to do it. I don't know. I mean... in my head, it seems like it would save sooo much time to just duplicate a grease pencil object and just have it as a separate object, then if there are any problems... it's separated. Easier to troubleshoot. Idk, trying to think ahead.

Anyway, that was basically it. That was basically my day. A little Risk of Rain at the end to wind down and here I am.

I'm just kinda... bracing myself for my therapy session tomorrow. It's not going to be bad, I'm sure. I'm just... bracing myself for... being told I can't be helped again. I don't know what help to expect, to be honest. I just... feel really fucked. And stuck. With how quickly my thoughts are swirling right now, and how abstract they are? Thoughts like "I just make art that no one gives a shit about", "I need to make money so I can finally break free of my fucked up family and not be perpetually living with this axe swinging over my neck that they might just... stop wiring me money for rent", "I haven't worked a job that someone can vouch for on paper in almost a decade, who's going to hire me", "that job better be in walking distance..." All that is panic. They're rooted in real shit, yeah. But there's no imminent crisis. And yet I feel like a fleet of bombers is going to fly over the horizon any minute. It's the feeling that gets me, and makes me freeze up, it makes me lousy at solving problems. It overwhelms. So... I'm gonna chill on that.

I'm just, again, expecting to hear tomorrow that... there aren't really answers. And I'm just going to have to "figure it out".

Also, I got a text from a family friend about an hour before I got the art commission. I never texted him back. He invited me to go to a gathering at a lake nearby, about an hour away. He said it was a bunch of "old farts". Probably woulda been fun. I felt bad I didn't text back. I still can, it's just hard to explain at this point. I just need to explain... I don't have a car anymore. Because the dealership scammed me on an inspection, which apparently is pretty common, and I ended up having to sell my car because of it. The car was only like 6 years old. And now I'm stranded. Really wish I got a second opinion from a local mechanic. Kinda insisted on it a few times, but my mom didn't... approve... and refused to give me a ride back from that. So... if I went and the car wasn't good to go, I would've been stranded. I don't know, the whole thing was messy. Either way, I don't have wheels anymore. And that sucks. So... last minute plans are super tricky for me, because I'd need to reserve the car and pay for it. It's not the end of the world, but... every time I spend money I feel like I'm bleeding out. It sucks.

Ugh, anyway... I wanna get to bed at a decent hour and it's already 5 so instead of just bitching about how fucked my life is... I'm gonna do tarot and call it a night.

Past - Nine of Pentacles, inverted (Self-reliance, goals achieved.  Confidence and satisfaction knowing your work is done.) Present - Nine of Swords (Internal despair, nightmares, anxieties.  Deceptive fears that appear to be reality, but are really illusions.) Future - V: The Wise One, inverted (Spiritual guidance.  Doctrine and tradition.  Connecting with a spiritual group or mentor.)

Alright, starting off with a card I've only gotten once before - inverted Nine of Pentacles. I'm pretty sure that one is... hmm... I think it's something like taking time to enjoy the fruits of your labor? But I don't know because there's another one that's like Seven or Eight of Pentacles that's very clearly celebrating the fruits of your labor... this one is a bit different. I get nurturing vibes from it, like... kinda retiring and devoting your time and attention to nurturing instead. This, of course, being inverted. I'll come back to it in a bit.

This is connected to Nine of Swords. This is the literal nightmare card. This is illusion, panic, things not being what they seem. Definitely can feel like a difficult-mental-health-place card, too.

This is connected to inverted The Wise One. The Wise One represents knowledge and practices that are passed down generationally, traditionally. Doctrine, ritual, that kinda shit. It often represents a spiritual guide or establishment, a mentor. Again, inverted, so... blocked, out of order, etc.

First, following up on the starting point - inverted Nine of Pentacles. Okay, it looks like Nine of Pentacles is about... achievement. So yeah, maybe less celebration and more... just a content feeling of accomplishment. So I really wasn't far off. The Seven of Pentacles I was thinking of was about evaluating your progress and taking time to reflect. This is more... peace and satisfaction in success, resolution. Definitely not seeing that in my life. I really don't let myself feel that, do I? The last project I felt that way about was like... the Desire Path project, that was a long time ago. I guess the hoodie too, kinda... but not really. And I don't consider that "done" by any means. Okay, so... that concept is where we're starting. That leads to Nine of Swords, very well put in my summary - "deceptive fears that appear to be realities, but are really illusions". Yeah, and it's really hard for me to discern between them from this side of the glass. That's why I yearn for perspective and clarity at times like this, for social contact and just... "please, please give me your opinion on this", which usually comes out as "please help!" And this results in... inverted Wise One... a blockage or refusal to connect with the symbol of... a spiritual guide or group. And that does seem to be pretty explicitly stated as spiritual. Which I have abandoned a few times now. Mostly because I don't even know where to start, honestly. Hmm...

I'm struggling to connect the dots on the resolution. Like... the first two make sense to me... because I don't let myself feel a sense of accomplishment from my work, I'm constantly feeling like I've just wasted my life. Like I've accomplished nothing. And that spirals and becomes all-encompassing anxiety until I become outright agoraphobic. And the end result of this is that... I end up not being able to connect with a spiritual group, or spiritual mentor. In fact, it hasn't even really been popping up on my radar. Though it would be a huge thing, I would think... especially for the work I do? Finding a more hippie-style spiritual person, someone who thinks like me... but is still down to earth and chill, I think they'd get a lot of what I've been working towards. And I keep saying mentor and apprenticeship. Is it time to entertain the idea of a spiritual mentorship again? Like... for this? For reading tarot? I don't know.

These are all ideas, directions I can go with things. Possibilities. Let's see the placeholder card and see if that adds some clarity. Five of Cups. Suffering. Grief. Yeah. That's really a theme through all of this. You know... this is actually making some gears turn. Like... I think of grief and I think... that's why I got my current therapist. For PTSD and grief stuff, support with that. And now I'm thinking... aren't therapists just modern day spiritual counselors? Do they not deal with the spirit? I've thought this for a long time. So... maybe this is just heads up of dissonance that might arise there? Or maybe just a warning that there's going to be distance between me and my spiritual support coming soon. I don't know, not sure how to read this but I thought the therapist angle was worth mentioning.

Welp, I'm gonna go wind down. Not the cheeriest note to end on... but I'm doing okay. I'm gonna go tend to my plants before bed, that'll get me in a better mood. Both my chili pepper and tomato plants are flowering, it's really exciting! Still not sure what to do with the chilis but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Maybe make a hot sauce or something?

[rhyske]

I am the youngest of 5 siblings. I have 3 older half-sisters that I'm not really close with because we have different moms and didn't grow up together. there are only 3 years between me and my brother and yeah we're quite close. we have always played games together oh and we play with my mom as well, she is a gamer too but she mostly plays Elder scrolls online these days lol.

I don't think I'll be saving up for a PC anytime soon, I have a lot of financial problems so it's not really a priority TT_TT. Luckily Xbox has some cross-platform stuff which is nice and I have game pass through a friend so I'm pretty satisfied at the moment. you take what you can get I guess ^^

as a writer, I see issues with both XIII and XV but they have so much potential so I kind of love that about them and the characters are great in both! Though I thought the concept for Stella in XIII-versus was better than what we got with Luna. Luna is fine but it could have been better. I'm not a hater though. I do like VII and X as well but I have never played them.

honestly, I don't remember when I started watching CR but it was ages ago, like pretty early in campaign 2 if I remember correctly. I have started campaign 1 and 3 but I'm not as attached to those characters but I still like it. it's just more work somehow? I don't know how to explain it. I didn't think they were gonna do animated Might Nein before TLoVM had ended either, I CANT TELL YOU HOW HAPPY I WAS TO HEAR THAT. It kind of makes sense since TLoVM was a massive hit for amazon prime though.

I have a list of games I am working through because I haven't really played a lot of single-player games, to be honest. I used to play more fps games like Halo, Destiny 1 or Apex. I played through dragon age 2 earlier this year. I played it before when it first came out and quite liked it but I struggled with it because there was a language barrier (English is not my native language). At the time I was around 13 I think so yeah. I finished it now and I am obsessed. though I am currently working on DA inquisition and might go back and give Origins a try if I'm feeling like it. Then I plan on tackling mass effect!~💜

Oh dang, that's a lot of siblings! And that's really cool your mom plays games too! Mine never could figure them out 😆 Not for my lack of trying.

Oh well that's good! I'm glad you're happy with it (: I wish you luck and good karma for your money situation. Figuring out financials is always so stressful.

See, I think Luna was terrible and useless as a character 😆 I definitely think Versus had good potential too, and I'm sad we'll never know what the plan was for it. No story is perfect, but some are definitely better than others. Mm, I recommend VII Remake. It has some pacing issues, but I actually really enjoyed the game even with that. I played the original VII all the way up to the final dungeon and just never got around to finishing it 😆 I don't know why.

I feel that. I've watched both seasons of Vox Machina and while I like that group, they haven't taken a place close to Mighty Nein in my heart. I don't know much about Campaign 3 except for Sam's "she named all her creations after all her favorite smells" clip 😂

Oh yeah, they decided to continue with a season 3 even though it was just planned for 2 seasons, right? I'm happy Vox Machina is so popular and they're making more! Man, the Mighty Nein trailer picked out such good and memorable lines from all the characters! It makes me so excited!

Oh man, Dragon Age 2 is my favorite (: I hate Inquisition, so I hope you at least like it and don't have my experience! ^^' I enjoy Origins too, but man does it have some coding issues that can really bog down the game. On PC, Origins has a memory leak so you literally have to restart the game every couple hours or your loading screens will get soooo long.

English is your second language? That's amazing! Learning another language is so damn hard, I'm so proud of you! I've been trying to learn another language on and off for years cause it gets so overwhelming. Was it self taught, taught in school, or a bit of both?

[obislittleone]

House Of Memories (10/?)

Obi-Wan Kenobi x Padawan!reader

Warnings: very few tbh... it's just- it's really long.

Summary: Senator Amidala is given three jedi bodyguards after her life is sought after again. Obi-Wan, You, and Anakin must protect her, and figure out why her life is constantly in danger.

A/n: 22 hours from now i will be watching the next episode, and someone said they suspected we were gonna get a shirtless obi-wan (fingers fkn crossed). also thank you guys so much for your feedback, it means the world to me and I love seeing how everyone is enjoying the story! if there's anything specific you'd like to see in this series, please let me know, because I only have so many ideas tbh (although i still have a general plot following the next 12 years oop-)

Words: 4.1k

"Try to contain yourself, Anakin, it's just another mission," Obi-Wan sat down after delivering the news of your three's next assignment.

"Yes, but master, it's a mission with a pretty girl," You smirked across the room, earning a glare from your fellow padawan.

Anakin used the force to make the water you took a sip of flow faster, so you nearly choked on it. You set the cup down, throwing one of the pillows beside you in his direction. He looked so upset that you would possibly tease him about his nerves.

"You've never met her before, she's unlike anyone I know, and I haven't seen her since I was young."

"You still are young, Anakin," Obi-Wan wasn't really paying that much attention to the conversation anymore, as he'd picked up his holopad to check the schedule.

"You know what I mean. I was only a boy at the time," He corrected his earlier statement, standing up and beginning to pace around the room.

"So, what does that make you, now?" You chided, earning the return of the pillow that you'd launched at him. "Don't worry, Anakin. I'm sure the senator will think you are a man's man."

Your valiant attempt at poking fun at him was cut short when your master stood to his feet as well, walking between you both before a worse quarrel could commence in the living space.

"If you both are quite done, we're supposed to report to the senator and her team of security within the hour," He held out a hand to help you to your feet, and let you walk in front of him as you all made your way to the door.

It had been about two months since the kidnapping on Ryloth and the rescue from Hoth, and though it was a traumatic experience for all of you, it didn't take long to fall back into the swing of things.

There were however a few small gestures that had changed, knownst to you, yet somehow unmeaningful. The way Obi-Wan would keep his hand at the small of your back as you would walk through small corridors, the way he would pick up your hand in his and give it a gentle squeeze if he sensed you were anxious.

You dreamt the day he rescued you that he'd been so happy you were in his arms again that he kissed you, only once, and never again. It felt so much more real than your other dreams, but you chalked that up to the fact that he was actually there that time.

You thought about it often, how he could be so relieved to see you that he would go against the jedi code and make such an action of endearment, breaking the law of attachment completely. You knew he never would, so you quietly disregarded those thoughts, leaving them to the back of your mind for only the end of the day.

Obi-Wan thought about it often, too. Although he was ashamed of what he'd done in the moment, the longer he thought about it, the more he craved more actions such as those. He craved something more than a mentorship, and though it felt wrong in the presence of others, there were times, like when he would read to you in the library, when he could contemplate it being the best thing in the world. He knew that someday you would outgrow his teachings and become a knighted Jedi. He knew that at some point you wouldn't be so close to him as you were now, but if there was just the slightest chance that you felt the same way about him, he wanted to give you subtle hints. So subtle that perhaps they might go unseen, but enough to let you know he liked being that close to you, liked holding your hand or placing his hand at your waist when a stranger walked by.

He even helped wrap you in your cloak on the way out of the apartment just now, leading the way, but still making sure you walked next to him, not behind him. Anakin, bless him, in his state of current anxiety, was all too happy to bring up the rear.

The speeder ride to the senator's living accommodations was rather short, and though no one said anything, Anakin's presence left a thick tension in the air, even though you hadn't quite arrived at the real destination.

As soon as you all stepped into the elevator, Obi-Wan could feel how tight the space had become, and all because of Anakin and his worries. Though you teased him about it, you were very intrigued to know of this mystery woman that had him under such a predicament.

"You seem a little on edge," Obi-Wan said, and you snorted at his choice of words. 'A little' didn't even begin to compare.

"Not at all."

Standing on the other side of Anakin, you felt the need to soothe him, if only for the fact that you felt bad about your jokes before. You placed a hand at his shoulder, gripping it softly before letting it fall back to your side.

"I haven't seen you this tense since we fell into that nest of Gundarks," Obi-Wan continued. Surely, he knew what the trouble was, but as aforementioned, he hadn't really been paying attention until now.

"You were the ones who fell into that nightmare, master... And I rescued you, remember?"

Yes, you remembered it well. Although it was Obi-Wan who had clumsily fallen in, and you only slid after him because you lost your balance trying to grab him out of the way. You shuddered at the memory of mud caking your clothes and hands. You hated the feeling.

"Oh, yes," He chuckled under his breath, turning to see Anakin with his jaw and fists tightly clenched. "You're sweating. Relax, take a deep breath."

"I haven't seen her in ten years, Master."

Why did it matter so much to Anakin what this senator thought of him after ten years? He was an adult now and hadn't been when they met. Surely, she wouldn't still look at him as a small child, that would be completely foolish and ridiculous to believe.

"Here, let me help," you raised your hand to the back of his head, closing your eyes and focusing quickly, knowing there was little time before you would step out of the elevator. You detected the nerves, and how they rippled along his signature, causing bouts of fear to arise in him over the small build ups. You grabbed hold of a few of them, not sure if you could carry them all, and pulled them away from his mind, as always, leaving only good things that surrounded them instead.

"That's better, thank you."

You were greeted by the loud and obnoxious voice of Jar Jar Binks as soon as the doors opened. You had only met him once before, for diplomacy reasons, and always thought of him as a rambunctious fella. He was always great for a good laugh whenever in anyone's presence, you could surely say that.

He led you all into the main room, where a group of people surrounded one lovely woman, the senator. You were certain it was her, because even you were captivated by her beauty almost instantly. You well understood what Anakin had been fearing all this time. He feared rejection. He had to have. She was so lovely, and if he felt for her the way you thought he did, it meant he didn't want to lose favor in her sight.

"It's lovely to see you again, malady," Obi-Wan greeted, and you were sure that when you looked over at him, he would be enraptured by her as well. He... wasn't. How strange.

"It's been far too long, Master Kenobi," she smiled, and oh how her eyes shined like stars when she did. "...Ani? My goodness you've grown."

"So have you," Anakin replied, stepping forward with a look on his face you knew all too well. He was trying to be smooth... oh no. "Far more beautiful I mean..."

You raised your eyebrows and widened your eyes in surprise. He was so nervous only a minute ago, he never would have said anything like that. You mentally thanked yourself for helping him in the elevator, seeming that you also helped yourself to be entertained.

"Well, for a senator I mean."

???

What did he think that was going to fix? He certainly hadn't rehearsed his words to her, which was a bit strange, because you remember when he had a crush on another padawan a few years back, and he practiced talking to her in the refresher mirror. He was upset that you caught him, hence the schedule that Obi-Wan had promptly put in place.

The senator seemed to be amused by his antics, as were you, and everyone else in the room.

"Ani, you'll always be that little boy I knew on Tatooine."

Oh man. Oh man. Did she just-?

Well now you felt bad for him. He had clearly been excited to see her again, albeit nervous, and she just shot him down as if he were an enemy fighter ship.

"I'm sorry if I don't recognize you, but have we met before?" She asked, turning to you, and you were quick to forget about Anakin and offer her a kind smile.

"I believe I have never had the pleasure, Malady. I am Master Obi-Wan's second padawan, I've been training with Anakin for the past several years," you bowed to her with respect, but she wasn't one for formalities, you could tell. You sensed it in her.

"How wonderful to hear, I didn't know a Jedi Master could obtain more than a single padawan at once," She seemed a bit confused, and for good reason, but Obi-Wan was quick to step in and clear it up for her.

"She was my designated padawan before Anakin had come to the order, so the council was gracious enough to allow me the honor or training them both."

The way he spoke was always so entrancing. The way he worded his sentences and made them flow like poetry every time he talked. You let your eyes linger on him a bit too long, and it was only when his turned back to you that you broke out of it. Everyone's eyes landed on you again, and it appeared you had missed a question.

"I'm sorry, I missed that," your face became red with embarrassment, and you waited for whoever it was to repeat the question again.

"I was wondering about your Jedi class. Are you a guardian like Master Obi-Wan and Anakin?" The senator asked with a gentle a patient look on her face. You could tell she was a kind leader, and probably beloved by all... except those who were trying to kill her.

"Oh, I'm a consular, although I sense I have some guardian tendencies," you answered, and when you glanced back at Obi-Wan, he was still looking at you with a proud smile. You loved that smile, dammit.

"How exciting, I'm sure everyone in the order is proud to have two such promising future Jedi," she commented, leading everyone into the sitting area to discuss the terms of this assignment.

Not everyone, you thought, knowing that practically the entire council, outside of Master Yoda were not in your favor.

The conversation from this point forward bored you to no end. Running security was not your forte, you much preferred diplomatic missions, where you got to converse on specific topics that otherwise would be forbidden in the order. It was frowned upon that any Jedi have a political opinion, or at least a public stance on one. You weren't exactly into politics, but you enjoyed including yourself in debates when it came to rather intellectual company. Obi-Wan could definitely attest to the fact that you were good at arguing, as well as Anakin, too.

At one point in the discussion, Anakin spoke out about how useless your three's presence was, on account of local security already being there. He was looking into more of an investigation type of assignment, and apparently, this was not what he was hoping for. To be fair, you would much rather be on the hunt for the person that was in charge of initiating these assassination attacks, but you were also looking forward to getting to know the senator. She seemed to be a kind and intelligent woman, whom you would very much enjoy the company of.

"Perhaps with merely your presence, the mystery surrounding this threat will be revealed," she finished the conversation gracefully, standing to her feet and excusing herself to retire.

You and Obi-Wan were following along with the security officer in charge of the senator's day to day travels, making sure you were clear on what the plans for tonight were, but you both overheard Anakin talking about the senator, Padme, as he had called her.

"You're focusing on the negative Anakin, be mindful of your thoughts... She was pleased to see us," Obi-Wan encouraged his distraught padawan, and you couldn't help but smile at the way Anakin had behaved on her behalf. He had it bad. "Now, let's check the security."

-

You were sleeping soundly, laid on the couch in the middle of the night when Obi-Wan returned upstairs.

Anakin had assured you he was fine to take first watch, or any watch for that matter, and knowing how he presumably felt for the senator, you knew you could entrust her into his capable hands while you caught a bit of sleep.

"Has she been out long?" Obi-Wan asked, sitting down beside you for only a moment, resting the back of his hand against the skin of your cheek, before running two fingers through the unruly strands of your hair.

"Only about a half hour or so," Anakin responded, pacing the room with an ounce of boredom clouding his mind.

After Anakin explained to Obi-Wan that Padme had suggested to use herself as bait, Obi-Wan grew a bit more tense with his padawan's decision to allow it.

"I can sense everything going on in that room," he promised, showing his master his confidence in a situation of danger. It scared Obi-Wan, if only slightly, that he wasn't showing as much restraint in this mission as he was supposed to. "Trust me."

Obi-Wan wanted to trust him, really, he did. He wanted to be able to say he was ready for something like this. Normally, he would be considered so, but due to the special circumstances concerning Padme, and Anakin's ever-growing arrogance, Obi-Wan simply couldn't let him take the lead on this one.

Later in the night, Obi-Wan took watch, but Anakin never laid to rest. When he was questioned of it, it was revealed that he was suffering yet again with bad dreams. Ones of his mother.

"Dreams pass in time," was Obi-Wan's response, but it was hardly the truth. He knew the extent of what his and your dreams normally went to, and they never just stopped, but more so got worse as they went on.

"She's been good to help me all this time, I can't bring myself to ask any more of her," Anakin nodded to you, sleeping soundly, dreaming of a specific pair of cerulean blue eyes whilst you snored softly.

"She cares for you more than she will admit," Obi-Wan smiled with a shake of his head. He loved it when you teased Anakin, because it kept him somewhat grounded. You had always been rather humble about your abilities, though in comparison to others, there was so much you could do, including help Anakin with the nightmares.

"She has them too, doesn't she?" Anakin asked, almost certain he knew the answer. He'd heard you next door to him a couple times and had heard Obi-Wan leave his room to tend to you.

"Sometimes," he confessed. He didn't want to expose you, but he knew there was no harm in letting him know he wasn't alone in his struggle.

"Does she ever tell you what they're about?"

Obi-Wan remembered one of the nights you awoke, crying and clinging to him, as you often did in that state of panic. He remembered asking you what happened, and you were very quick to comply. You'd told him that talking about it in the open air always helped ease your mind. Telling him of the things you knew weren't real as he held you, so that you could get it off your chest.

"Us, mostly."

Anakin furrowed his brows and turned his head to you. You had rolled over, and your hair was now falling in mops off the cushion of the couch. You were like his sister, and he cared for you deeply, and he didn't like the idea of you worrying over him in your dreams.

"Sometimes the only thing that can help her sleep again is to feel our signatures near her own."

Anakin thought about that sentence for a moment. He was almost comforted in his own dismay at the fact that you sought comfort in his and Obi-Wan's force presence.

"I don't mean this as a slight to you Anakin, but perhaps you could learn something from her. She keeps herself centered, and shuts out the distractions," Obi-Wan said, unaware that he himself were the biggest distraction you had ever faced. It would do you well to know that he hadn't noticed it, or rather, was ignoring that it could even be a possibility.

"I'm sure I could learn much from her, she's gifted with the force in ways the council does not recognize."

Obi-Wan soon after had changed the subject, unwilling to discuss your constant problems with the council, or rather, the constant problems they seemed to pick with you. It went on for several minutes more before both heads snapped towards the room, and you sat up from your slumber, startled by a riff in the force.

"I sense it, too," Obi-Wan said, and they both lunged for the room immediately.

Upon entry, Anakin jumped onto the bed, killing two small creatures who were being used to do immense harm to the senator, who had also been startled awake by all the commotion.

You were late to run into the room, and barely caught sight of Obi-Wan as he jumped out the window, grabbing hold of the droid that seemed to be a culprit in delivering the death trap.

"Stay here with the senator, I'll go get him," Anakin told you, running out of the room soon after he came. You were in a mess of confusion, still hazy from just waking up, and went over to Padme to see if there was anything she needed. Her lady maids were by her side, so you stood at the edge of the bed to ask:

"Are you alright?"

She seemed to be calming down from a rush of adrenaline, and you could sense her heart beating rapidly, even now, when the threat had initially been disposed of.

"Yes, I am," she answered, her hand over her chest, but she didn't sound convincing. She kept looking around the room, as if she was subconsciously searching for something.

You nodded anyway, stepping back until she dismissed the others away, claiming that you would be fine enough to protect her until the others returned.

"I thank you for your confidence in me, Malady," you sat on the bench that was near her bed, looking out the broken glass window and watching everything with an attuned sense.

"Anyone trained by Master Kenobi must be fit to protect me," she offered, noticing the awkward way you sat and patted the space beside her for you to join.

You did so thankfully, nodding your respects and getting comfortable.

"I'm happy to be in your service, and I hope to be of aid to you in this whole mess," you said, chuckling with your words to hopefully put her at ease. You had stretched your force presence around her as well, hopefully making a difference in her ongoing speedy heartrate.

"I'm very grateful to you all, I know you would probably have other, more exciting assignments right now if it wasn't for me."

"On the contrary, I am thrilled to have a chance to get to know a senator," you smiled, pausing to decide whether or not you should test the waters of her thoughts of your colleague. "I presume Anakin is on cloud nine just being able to see you again. He seems to admire you."

"I suppose he does... I remember when we first met, he asked me if I was an angel," she said, laughing slightly at the memory. You rolled your eyes, because that was absolutely something Anakin would do, even as a boy. "He said I was beautiful."

"I suppose you still think of him as that little boy you met," you were being sneaky, or at least you thought you were. She didn't exactly know where you were headed, but by now had figured out that you were acting on Anakin's interest.

"I'm not sure. He's definitely changed... he's much taller now," she joked, and even you were a bit surprised. Here she was, senator of Naboo, having just survived an assassination attempt, and she was laughing about your fellow padawan, which just so happened to be your favorite past-time.

"As someone who has had to share a living space with him for ten years, I can assure you the only thing that has changed was his height."

She was so easy to talk to, and you could already feel yourself allowing a connection to her, something you did with very few people. Not because you didn't trust them, but often times because they couldn't seem to trust you. You wondered why she was so quick to address you so plainly, as if you had been friends all your lives. You supposed she was just kind that way.

It was nearing sunrise before you had finally been able to tire her out enough that she felt safe to sleep again. It was also the time that Obi-Wan and Anakin had returned.

"Where have you been? What happened?" You approached them with a certain tone of voice, they knew not to beat around the bush. You weren't demanding, but direct, and the look on your face was stern.

"We chased the assassin into a bar in the city. We tried to interrogate, but she was shot by a bounty hunter, whom we think is responsible for all the attempts on senator Amidala's life."

"Do you know where the bounty hunter left to?" You put the pieces together rather fast, and given that said hunter was not in their capture, you knew it was likely that he got away.

"We're not sure, but he left us a clue. I have a friend I can speak with about it, but until then, we need to only worry about getting the senator off world," Obi-Wan said, stepping past you and going to speak with Padme's head officer.

Anakin seemed distraught, and when he sat down on the couch behind him, his shoulders sank.

"Hey lover boy," you quickly regretted the choice of words for the glare you soon received after they were uttered. "Calm down, I have good news."

"No, you don't," he gave you a second look you knew all too well. He was annoyed and preparing for you to tell him something that was meant as a prank.

"Yes, actually. I do," you sat across from him and smiled cheekily. Now he was really afraid. You were up to something, that much he could tell. "I spoke with Padme."

"She asked you to call her Padme?" he asked with a certain jealousy that was completely unwarranted.

"That's not the point. We spoke about you," you watched to see if he would connect the dots, but he only looked at you, an inquisition upon his features. "I think, and I could be wrong, but she gave me strong reason to believe that she might find interest in you now that you're grown."

"You're playing games with me again," his face dropped, and he moved to stand up, but you pushed him back in his seat, looking at him completely serious, now.

"I am not, I promise."

Well, you were good for your word, and he knew because you'd always kept your promises to him before, however small. You felt it was a good part of character to be a woman of your word. This changed things, and Anakin smiled widely, soon letting you mirror him.

"Well then I guess I will be acquiring your help," he said, standing and offering you a hand to your feet as well.

"Help with what?" You mused, following him into the next room.

"Winning over the lovely senator."

-

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