#The other secret is that I am usually zooted out of my fucking mind and I take 5 hours to do a single gpose

[ahollowgrave]

Hey! I love your screenshots so much! Do you have a guide on how you take them? Which mods, if any, do you use? How do you get the camera parallel to the ground at different heights etc? Any help would be amazing. Thank you!

Hey! Thank you! I love them, as well, and it’s always lovely to hear when others do!

Unfortunately, I am not much of a technical writer so I don’t have any guides.The reality is I spend hours and hours taking screenshots and I often feel like I luck into things looking nice.

But I can give you the same tips I give to my friends who have said it’s helpful advice:

Vanilla gpose is very good! You can do a lot in it without the need for 3rd party tools and I’ve found having a good, solid understanding of how gpose works is what really rockets shots into ‘oh wow’ territory. You really just have to touch all the buttons and see what they do and how they interact with each other.

The main thing is, for re/g-shade users: If it doesn’t look good in vanilla lighting, the preset isn’t going to make it suddenly stunning.

The second thing, for everyone, is: Play. Play is very important. If you’re not having fun you’re probably not gonna love the final result. If it feels like a chore, come back to it later! Play a different game!

The third thing, for everyone, is: These are not rules, these are not laws. Just because I do something a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the ‘right’ way to do it. Your eye is what makes your art beautiful.

I'm putting the rest under a cut because this wound up being three pages without the pictures because I ramble.

The parts of vanilla gpose I touch with every shot:

Camera Position: The first slider is your field of view. For portraits I set it to 200, but I tend to fiddle with it in all other shots until I get something I like. The second slider is rotation, very helpful to get to exactly 45 degrees or 90 degrees for shots. But you should also be able to use Q and E to rotate and this is fun to get neat angles on shots! Play with it!!

Depth of Field: I’ll be honest, I turn this sucker off because Reshade has ADOF which I think is better! But, I still suggest playing with this a little bit.

Lighting settings: You have three lights, each with three levels and each able to be a unique color. USE THEM. Find lighting objects in your setting that you can use to base the colors and directions off of. Is the moon full and above? Use a pale blue light as a rim light. 3a. Also, highly recommend looking at RL photography lighting set ups. This has been the most helpful. You can do a lot with three lights!!!!! 3b. Typically, I am mostly using two lights at type 1 or type 2. Sometimes I’ll use a third light, or that type 3 lighting, but it depends heavily upon the vibes. 3c. On this page there is ‘Character Lighting’ this makes your character brighter. I don’t use this at all because it tends to wash out shadows and shadows are an important part of lighting. I DO suggest that YOU use this to see how it works! A little is a lot, you know? 3d. THE MAIN THING IS TO PLAY WITH IT. Get weird with the lighting. Do really intense close up lights! Do funky colors! Cover them in bi lighting!!!!

Lighting Round Two: The one thing that my friends have said is the most helpful is telling them to use the Manual Birghtness Adjustment. This is on the general tab, not with your other lighting settings (circled in red). This controls the light of the WHOLE setting, including the brightness of your three lights. This is what really makes me go OH WOW. Turn it on, wiggle it around, be amazed. (Say it with me: Play with it!)

ADJUST YOUR LIGHTING.

Vanilla Gpose has a Motion Settings tab. This is what I use for my expressions but also a lot of ‘poses’ are just well captured emotes. A lot of this tab should be self explanatory.

The Eyes: The first eye has your subject turn to face the camera. You can have them look in a direction, turn it off, and freely move your camera around. The second eye is eye tracking. This is your friend! The head will stay stationary and the eyes will follow the camera.

Movement: Walk, run, sprint. Forward, left, right, back. Pause, play, reset.

Lip Movements: This, in junction with expression emotes, is very handy! Type 1 is minimal, type 3 is a lot more head movement. Pause, play, reset buttons.

Emotes: You already know what I’m gonna say. PLAY WITH THIS. Almost every emote can have an expression emote overlaid it and have lip movement added.

A personal favorite is /aback, /beam, lip movement 2, eye tracking.

Now. When you enter Gpose your subject is gonna be doing the animation they were last doing. To stop this, ground sit and stand before you enter gpose to start with a clean slate. However, this is also how you can get cool action shots. Using a dummy you can use an attack, reset the dummy, and enter gpose and your subject will be flailing wildly.

Some of the emotes and actions can move very quickly! To move things frame by frame we’re going to use the Disable/Enable Motion buttons. You have two of these at the top of the gpose settings.

Disable/Enable All Motion - This will pause or start all the motion of all the targets in your gpose! My Keybinding for this is 1 and I think this is the default for PC users. Disable/Enable Target Motion - This will pause or start the motion of your current target. (Tab cycles through the characters caught in your gpose.) My Keybinding for this is 2 and I think this is the default for PC users.

To go frame by frame by frame through an emote or action you’re going to freeze the character (1) and then, rapidly, you’re going to hit 1 then 2. (1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2) this unfreezes your subject and then refreezes them. Be mindful of your eye tracking and camera! One last thing: Take a LOT of shots. From all sorts of angles, with all sorts of lighting, with different expression. For every 1 screenshot I post there are about a 100 others that I didn't like as much.

Whew, okay, I think that covers the stuff I tell my friends. Sorry this got kinda long and it might be confusing because, again, I am no technical writer!

Now, I do use 3rd party tools but I’m only comfortable talking about those off anon! Other than Reshade. I understand social anxiety might keep folks from asking directly but I am a nervous person myself and just do not feel comfy talking about that stuff so publicly. But I try to be helpful where and when I can!

Apologies, anon, if this isn’t what you were hoping for in a reply but if anyone else reads this maybe they’ll learn a new trick or idea of idk something!!!

If you read the all thing that's fucking WILD and the only reward I have for you is my love !!

[sakiyo]

COOKING WITH THEM

[HEADCANONS]

how would late night/early morning cooking would go with atsumu, osamu, sakusa and suna

contains: food, mention of w33d <33, dirty jokes

genre: fluff

OSAMU MIYA

this man never passes up the opportunity to cook with you

he totally got you guys matching aprons for this moment

anyways, he’s basically a cooking GOD so cooking with him goes relatively smooth

relatively because you and osamu make your own secret recipes and have a makeshift recipe book

so you’re always trying new things and it’s basically either a hit or miss

hit being that it’s the best thing ever to come out of the oven/pan/pot

or it’s a complete mess and tastes like last weeks gradually rotting leftovers

“i think there’s an eggshell in this..”

“i knew we screwed up somewhere.”

“too much spice!”

sometimes when neither of you can sleep, you both start cooking a light meal in the middle of the night.

but then it just ends up getting burnt because you both decided to fall asleep when it was in the oven

he has a ‘KISS THE COOK :*’ apron and wears it religiously

he’s always shirtless when wearing it, and has grey sweats on to match (ugh yes samu ur such a meal‼️)

there’s also an unspoken rule that you have to kiss him when he’s wearing the apron, so he wears it all the time to steal a smooch from ya <3

“well would ya look at that, i’m wearin the apron, y’know what that means?”

“it means that you’re taking advantage of that apron, ‘samu.”

“guilty~”

atsumu is always your test subject for trying you and osamu’s creations, but sometimes you both purposely screw up just to get a reaction out of the blonde twin

ATSUMU MIYA

ok. atsumu CAN cook...he just...doesn’t.

cut him some slack, he’s a pro volleyball player that probably eats out a bunch most of the time

but once the two of you moved in together he definitely made an effort to cook homemade meals more

he’s definitely not osamu, but he can totally make basic ones

however, the one time that the two of you had decided to try something out of your comfort zone...

atsumu started a fire and the fire department had to come

“do ya smell something...”

“jesus christ atsumu you’re burning the eggs!”

“i thought ya were watching it!”

“you put too much oil, dumbass!”

so pretty much, now the idea of cooking together is pretty much just YOU cooking the food and atsumu handing you the ingredients and chopping up vegetables

when you guys decide to make a meal at like 2 am, it’s good vibes only‼️❌⭕️💢

literally you’re sitting on the counter top and atsumu is trapped between both your legs and you’re playing with his hair while he’s scrolling through his phone as you wait for the water to boil

sometimes you end up sharing a few kisses, which leads to the water spilling out of the pot and unto atsumu’s leg

“yer so pretty at night- OW, FUCK!”

“oh my god atsumu get away i need to check the water-“

while you’re cooking he sneaks up behind you, wraps his arms around your waist and drapes his head on your shoulders

always expect some mellow or soft music (the go to is Easily by Bruno Major) while cooking at night!

while the songs play, sometimes you and atsumu dance together around the kitchen

in the end, the food usually sucks, and atsumu won’t waste a second telling you that.

“i’m not going to lie, this sucks.”

KIYOOMI SAKUSA

this man...

he IS mr. perfect pretty much.

cooking??? he’s got it on lock he can do it all

i personally see sakusa as someone who just doesn’t like to give up easily, so he would definitely try to recreate as many dishes until it turned out properly

honestly, his idea of cooking with you at first was him cooking, and you sitting a fair distance away from the kitchen

and this is just because he’s used to throwing it down in the kitchen by himself

but overtime hes warmed up to you and you both cook together, of course while being marginally clean

sakusa absolutely loves making foreign foods because they challenge him

whenever he flies internationally for leisure or volleyball, he always comes back with at least one cookbook

whenever the two of you have time, you try to finish the recipes in the cookbooks

sakusa always finds it adorable when you struggle to keep up with him (since you aren’t the best at making foreign dishes) and he always finds a way to tease you about it

“you can’t even follow simple instructions,y/n? that’s pretty embarrassing.”

“shut yer trap! i’m trying my hardest!”

sakusa would just laugh and proceed to continuing cooking, leaving you a flustered and embarrassed mess <3

sakusa ain’t too big on pda in the kitchen, because you’re cooking and it can wait

the most he’ll do is wrap his hands around your waist as you both wait for the food

cooking with you can also sometimes be sakusa worst nightmare

you tend to get messy sometimes, you’re never seen without a stain on the side of your face

“you’re so messy, clean up the counter.”

while you’re a giggling fit, sakusa is veryyyy unamused

and he certain isn’t laughing when you purposely get him messy with a stain or two

while he just stares at you in shock, you take this as your cue to bolt and start running for your life cuz baby, he’s comin ‼️🗣

so basically, half of your cooking sessions end up with you getting chased by a flour-clad sakusa kiyoomi around the kitchen

but in the end, you’re always met with amazing food

SUNA RINTARO

suna.

he CAN cook.

but it doesn’t mean he’s good at it.

if it was possible, he would definitely burn water

although he’s usually attentive, he can get super absent minded when it comes to cooking, cause it’s borin and his phone is more important ‼️

like atsumu, suna’s idea of cooking together is once again, YOU cooking, and him stealing bits of food from the pots and pans

“this one tastes really good. we’re so talented babe.”

“we? you were sitting on your ass and i was cooking...but yeah, we’re talented.”

you learned your lesson to NEVER ask suna to cook for you...

when you had asked him to make you breakfast, he had made himself at home in the kitchen, acting as if he was about to bring out a 5-star meal

“you’re going to love this one, babe.”

he really presented a slightly BURNT piece of toast with butter on it, and a glass of water with a shittily cut slice of lemon to go with

“viola, babe, dig in”

“how on earth did you even burn the damn toast.”

he also offered bring you breakfast in bed, and you were met with a half cooked plate of scrambled eggs with half the eggshells in it

“suna...did you even let it cook?”

long story short...baby do better‼️

he’s literally so annoying you ask him what he feels like eating and says ‘you’ as if he’s doing the most 🙄

now you’re just completely convinced that suna cannot cook for the life of him, which is kinda true

but you’d be surprised at how he suddenly turned into a cooking god when it came to baking edibles

sometimes he goes all out, making you wear a coat, goggles and shit

“edibles are delicate and must be handled property.”

“so you’ve become a scientist, suna?”

he gets really into it when making edibles

it’s you and him time, so no electronics in the kitchen! just you, him, and some urban music playing as you wait for the edible cookies, brownies and rice krispies to finish baking

both of you are on the floor in front of the oven, backs against the counter while you just talk to each other

sometimes, if you’re both feeling affectionate enough, you’ll sit in between his legs and rest across his chest

and when the edibles are done, you get absolutely zooted (responsibly of course)

gen taglist: @bokukiyoom

also thank you to viru baby for helping me with these headcanons ily babe!!

*send an ask to be added to general taglist

[c-atm]

Elegant Criminality

  Steven groaned as he walked into the loan office; holding his side, sporting a black eye, dishelve hair, and a bloody nose, not his blood. He looked around the office, hoping it was truly as empty as it seemed. With a painful sigh of relief, he walked to the medical cabinet, getting the first-aid before heading to the back room.

  "That could have gone better...So much for my sweet tongue..Heh-heh..ow!."

  A simple talk became...not so simple. It all started when there was suspicion of foul play in a property they own, A host bar renamed Shangri-la. A place where the clientele had fat, deep pockets, nearly as big as their bellies and deep as their secrets. There's been rumors about the runner Connie put in place being a bit more comfortable with the certain customers outside of the bar. Customers, they weren't exactly used to seeing around their city. 

  No problem as long as they opened their pockets, they basically ignored it. As for the runner, let them have fun. As long as they remember their place, no need to chase rumors. Then once too many times, the weekly total has been lower than its usual amount, it’s predicted amount. The rumors of the bar runner making moves against his team, his family; because of his new friends, started to ring true. 

  Now, while no one took this blatant act of disrespect kindly; Connie, his 'queen' was especially annoyed. Shangri-la was something Connie...Procured from its last owner. It was her pet project; this spot was something she brought in and since then it’s been a little moneymaker and info bank. Having the runner getting out of line made her look bad. She decided on visiting the runner of the establishment herself.

  His gracious lady, giving them a chance to get in line without broken pride or bones. How he admired her elegance and civility, even when dealing with these kinds of riffraff. Still he couldn't allow her to be bothered with such tripe matters.  

  No need for her to dirty her hands or give them her time. It was precious and needed with more pressing objectives. Still, a lesson had to be taught and dues had to be paid. He'd do it himself as a favor to her. She won't even have to worry..

  It was supposed to be a simple sit down, almost a parlay. 

  Supposed to be..

  *Few hours ago* 

  Steven got out of his black Lincoln continental after parking across the street from the Shangri-la, not before his ritual though. He pulled down his driver-side sun visor and smiled lovingly at a picture of his lady, in a black bikini. A candid shot he took on the family's last vacation to their island villa. She'd kill him if she'd ever found out but hell, in this life he could die anyway; might as well have something sweet on his mind if it comes to that.

  With a breath the mafioso walked into the bar.

  "Ain't this a bitch."

  His timing was either fucked up or on the money, cause his surprise visit coincided with the goddamn snake in the grass giving their money to some zoot suits wearing little shits he never saw before. 

  "Really Sam? These mother fuckers got our money."

  The nine of them turned to him standing at the doorway. The face of shock on Sam's face and fear based anger on the other eight. It would've been funny...If he hadn't seen what he saw. With a kiss of his teeth he walked calmly towards Sam and he supposed the head of the group of nobodies, fishing some black leather glove out his back pocket of his slacks.

  "Know you're blind in one eye, but you didn't see us finding out about this."

  Sam was an older mustachioed man, pencil thin; always with a suitcase brown three piece suit and a comb over. He also was an ex info broker. He got caught up selling the wrong info and was chased all through the city by a hitman. Would have been dead if he never ran into this very bar and met Connie..or if the hitman never made her drop her egg for Prairie oyster.  In the end Sam got to keep his life, Connie got a runner for her bar, and the hitman…was no longer available for services.

  So to see the man his lady saved openly betray them, well Steven was not in the mood for a parlay. Steven took the money he was handing out of the punks hand and placed it in his pocket, leaving the stunned, before turning to Sam eyebrow arched.

  "Hey..Steve.. I was just-

  "Betraying Connie..Betraying us."

  Sam took a deep breath before settling into a glare. As Steven was about to comment, a hand rested and gripped his shoulder. It was large and it belonged to an equally large man in a green zoot suit. Steven took a look around at the rainbow of zoot suits. Indigo, violet, cobalt, black, brown, gray, yellow, red and..

  "Get your jolly green giant ass off me."

  Green squeezed hard on his shoulder before talking.

  "Now now..don't yo--Kugh!"

  Steven did not care for his words and showed it by ramming his elbow into his grimy mouth, making him swallow the five front teeth, he knocked out. Green fell back hitting his head on the nearby table leaving him unconscious..or dead. It really didn't concern Steven, not like the blood green left on the elbow of his white button-up. Steven, in a quick spark of anger stomped on greens pointy nose, breaking it and eliciting a moan from the pale skin giant...

  "Oh come on..Have some class, Bastard. blood stains are hard to come o-ugh!'

  Steven stumbled back as red's skinny little fist, popped him in the eye. His nostrils flared as he touched his left eye, feeling the tenderness. He nodded as Red, Yellow Violet and Cobalt stood ready to fight. The other four were busy trying to drag green out the way and Sam was hiding behind the counter.

  Steven stood ready his fist up, held at face level.  His left leg slightly pointed, held forward bent at the knee. 

  "Fucking zoot suit skittles bastards."

  That set them off as red ran forward first, throwing a wild right hook towards Steven skull, only for him to grab the offending arm and pull red close. He grabbed red's tan face in a vice-grip before slamming his skull to the counters  metallic edge. denting it. Steven grimace as he let red crumbled upon himself.

  ' yikes...Gotta remember, this is my lady's place. She'll be pissed once she sees that.'

  As Steven was thinking to himself, Violet attempted to lay a stiletto kick to his throat. He barley ducked the attack, feeling the air from the would be blow mess up his hair.

  Steven delivered a harsh straight the guys solar plexus, making Violet double over, before ramming his knee to the afro bearer face nose. Another k.o.

  Yellow and Cobalt, nodded at each before attacking together, Yellow with a straight kick to Steven's chest and Cobalt with a left hook to his mid. Steven grabbed the foot before grimacing and coughing in pain at the punch.. losing his grip and being kicked back to the wall. 

  Steven breathed deeply as he rubbed his chest looking closely at Cobalt hands…

  'Bitch have knuckle dusters hidden in her sleeves. Ok..Her first.'

  Steven stood up straight and stepped forward, before grabbing two nearby ketchup bottles, wielding them like batons. The two laughed before attacking in unison again. Cobalt struck with an axe kick, causing steven to dodge to the left when yellow fist flew towards his skull, a knuckle duster on it.  

  Steven batted the fist downward, breaking the bottle on the back of their hand, before stabbing the palm of it with the bottle. Yellow screams of pain were silenced almost instantly by the second bottle being broken against their temple knocking them over to Cobalt in a daze before they joined red on the floor. Shards of glass ledge in their face, mixed with blood and condiment.

  Cobalt looked fearful as she looked at Steven, broken bottle in hand. She took a step back before swallowing it down, going for a desperate flurry of punches. 

  "Wild, unorganized, useless . How the hell did I let you get a hit on me?"

  Steven sighedat the thought, dancing through her assault easily, before catching both her wrists and head butting cobalt, breaking her nose. As she groaned, he twisted her arms behind her back holding them against her upper back. He kicked  the knees from under her, making cobalt buckle onto them. Before she could protest, he had the business end of the broken bottle press on her windpipe. He crept down to her ear and spoke in a cold whisper.

  "Here what's gonna happen. You are gonna to leave your friends here, cause you're a coward. Say it."

  Cobalt growled in protest before winching as Steven  gave the bottom of her chin a jagged bloody cut. He didn't say anything as he looked expectantly.

  "I'm a coward."

  "You're not gonna run with these fools anymore, cause you're a coward.."

  "I'm a coward." She teared up as she held her head down, defeat washed over her.

  "You're going to give me the location of your hideout and your brass knuckles. You're then going to walk out of here and out of this lifestyle. Cause…

  "I am a coward." Cobalt cried, heartbroken.

  "And cowards don't belong in the world of mafia. Take your life and blend among the other normal civilians…Coward."

  He let the girl wrist go, before holding out his hand to her. Cobalt almost took it when he spoke.

  "Knuckle dusters and info"

  She sneered as she took off the weapons  and handed them to him. He placed them on his gloved hands trying them out with a few swings, whistling in satisfaction, he turned to the girl on the floor.

  "Info."

  "East ridge Blvd. The old cookie cat factory near the pier...can't miss it."

  He nodded before he did help her to her feet.  He nodded his head towards the door looking at her.

  "Go."

  Cobalt nodded as she walked out, wiping the tears from her crystal blue eyes. She stopped when he heard him clear his throat. She turned to see him looking back at her.

  "Not gonna thank me. For letting you live, unlike these fools."

  Cobalt eyes widened, breath caught in her throat  as the tears ran anew. In her eyes he was a monster...a gentle looking monster.  She grinded her teeth and grabbed the bottom of her coat as she looked down, shame and fear destroying her heart.

  "Thank you, for my life sir!"

  "Hehe. You're welcome..Go.."

  Cobalt walked out of the bar sobbing hatred for the mafia world and herself evident.

  With her gone Steven turned  his attention to Sam, who was quick to grab a pistol as Steven walked around the counter and stalked toward him,  Fist tight, knuckle dusters on and bottle still in hand.

  Sam shakingly held the gun in his hand, scared as hell. "Steven..Come on man...Don't  make me shoot you." 

  Steven didn't say anything as he twirled the broken bottle in his hand, still walking forward, smirking as he did. 

  Sam took a chance and pulled the trigger.

  *click* *click* *click*

  "Forgot to get bullets, deadeye?"

  Sam nearly crumbled in fear as he looked directly into the mafioso eyes. they gleamed like cold artic ice in the sun. He didn't get to plead as the first blow collided with his jaw, blood flying towards the liquor as he stumbled to the left, falling on to the floor. He gazed up and saw Steven looking down rage in his eyes. He spoke to him despite the looseness of his jaw, the filling of blood and the burning sensation in his mouth.

  "Can I asthk refore you do whatsever, shouts shonna do to sme...let me spexplain?." Sam spat our some blood to the side, wiping his mouth.

  Steven smirked, then snorted,  then laughed...The rage in his eyes rising.

  "Really Deadeye?..You openly betray us, betray Connie..and you think you can talk your way out..ok."  Steven crouched over Sam, elbows on his knees, hands still closed into fist. Clicking the top of his mouth with his tongue,Steven stared at the mustachioed man.

  "Speak. Honestly."

  Sam nearly pissed himself at the  cool command, looking at the younger mafia with pure fear, knowing that his life was on the line..or at least his livelihood.

  "Zhose guys..Zhey're new..parz of shome riszing kamily, frim the Motor Zity."

  "You're boring me.." Steven clenched his fist clucking his teeth a few times in annoyance. "Get to the point."

  Sam growled the best he could before speaking.

  "Yous guys kave so manies propkerties in the cifie and so munz influeznce.. brouns to zring aivalies and seing oppozitionz."

  "And you didn't want to get caught in the middle of anything. So what? Were you paying your way to safety?"

  Sam, despite his position laughed; darkly and coolly. "heh..Zou woulz think that, with hos we mezs and all, putz no. I kuts vanted zo pe ooseful...oose ny ztill  as a inro proker. Zomezing, Connie, kuzt Igmored. ..No..She ooses ne as mozhing nore zhan a bamn...BAR MANAGER! Zits enzulting!.”

  “So you betrayed us because of hurt pride, is that what you saying?” Steven threw a quick jab stopping just in time to give his nose a glancing blow. “We gave you a job. .A new lease on your life, and this is what you do!?” 

  "I didn't dezrayed zanione! I zwear! I swas zrying to jet ya'll zome info on them."

  "The money? Why were you giving it to them?"

Sam lips pursed into a thin line as well as they could, swollen as they were. He knew steven well enough...He swallowed some spit and Iron before speaking.

  "Zrugs.  zuns...I swas trying some from zhem.. zee what they got..didn't get much. Zhose suits, just surveillance, small time pushers and muscle. shirst time xoming, but zeen them Around."

  Steven let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head...So Sam was playing nice to gather info...Fair enough, not a traitor..hlHe did step out of bounds though. 

  'Broken jaw and strange talking is punishment enough.'

  That being said, he didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. 

  They already were aware of the Motor city family for a while thanks to the host and hostesses. They were the information system here; could charm the dirtiest and most protected secret out of the most stoned face. Just had to liquor them up a bit.

   Though, he didn't expect the Zoot suits, never mentioned in the reports. Probably, a nobody gang they hired to ensure a presence, before sending a real force. Steven stood up with a little pain in his side from the hit earlier. 

  "Gonna call a clean up crew for these four. You get the bar ready for tonight, and get yourself  proper. Wear a mask or something. "

  Sams' eye widened as Steven started to walk away. He was gonna live another and keep his job. He wasn't even gonna tell Connie. The man got to his feet looking as Steven walked past Red, relief  in his damn

  "Zhan yous." 

  Steven growled and turned back towards Sam, a cold glare present. "Do the damn job you're assigned to. Run this bar.  Nothing more, nothing less."

Sam nodded in fear as he lifted up his hands in surrender.

  Steven scoffed as he turned and head out of the bar. As soon as he walked out  and got into his car, a few SUV's pulled up to 'Shangri-la'. 

  A small army of black vest and white shirt (the same as his) walked into the bar and quickly loaded the knocked out zoot suits before pulling off. One of them gave Steven, a nod before heading off, the army leader; Amethyst.

  "Well she knows..Don't know why I would think differently." Steven kissed his teeth and sighed thinking about going back to the office. 

  * Present*

  Steven grimaced as he looked at the blackish and purple bruise to his left side through the mirror, the knuckle duster really digged in. Still he had worse.

  "That's a nasty one, Biscuit."

  Sucking in his breath hurt, but he couldn't  help it. Her voice came out of nowhere. He turned around and saw Connie already getting some comfrey cream and  bandage wrap from the first-aid, a neutral look on her face. She signaled him to raise his arms so she could dress his damage.

  He shivered at the touch of Connie's meticulously callous yet very soft hands  as she rubbed the cream on the bruise.. Being ever so careful to cover every inch. He nearly purred at the heat of her hand. She started wrapping him with care and tenderness she hardly shows. Making sure it wasn't too tight or uncomfortable. When she was done securing that it would stay, she offered him a kind smile and a stroke of his cheek with her right hand; one he allowed himself to nuzzle into, kissing her palm as he did.

  "My Bisky." 

  The velvety tone of voice made him gulp In a bad way...He knew that tone..She killed people using that tone.

  "M-My rein-Ahhgh!!" 

  He groaned in pain as he felt her vice like grip on his bruise. He looked at her face the same smile was there but her eyes were burning in rage.

  "Who the hell told you to damage 'Shangri-la'. Does my bar look like a fight club!? Do I have an arena or a ring somewhere that I don't know about?"

  Steven grimaced as he clenched his fist to withstand the pain.  "Ugh I'm sorry! Sorry please let go-ho-ho!"

  Connie sighed as she released her hold on him feeling a bit bad about what she did. She rubbed the back of her head as she got his shirt, vest and tie. She stood behind him as she placed the shirt over his lightly tan body,having him slip his arms through the sleeves, tapping his shoulder to have him face her so she could button him up.

  “So you went and talked to Sam yourself, huh?” Connie teased.as she buttoned him from the bottom up.

  “As if you weren’t aware, were you watching the whole time?”

  “I alway have an eye on what’s mine.” Connie gave a small smirk as she looked him in the eye, black meeting brown. She buttoned the second to last button before flipping up his collar and getting the tie, earning a disapproving groan from Steven. 

  ”Shut it...So? What'd you think?”  Connie threw the tie over his shoulders before bringing it to against the collar, starting to Windsor tie it. 

  Steven shrugged exhaling In annoyance “Think I should have hit Sam one more time…As for our visitors."Steven smirked darkly as he slipped his hands into his ladies back pockets, giving her a squeeze. "Maybe we should give them a welcoming party...We got their location after all...The old Cookie cat factory near the pier."

  "Isn't that sweet?" Connie chuckled before pulling him closer to her by his tie, the same smirk on her face. "Can't wait til I finish?"

  "Hey, you grabbed me first, on my side..my bruised side."  He gripped her bit harder, kneading her bottom, making her shiver a bit." Just returning the favor… Eye for an eye and all that jazz."

  "You messed up my bar, Big baby."

  "Your baby."

  She rolled her eyes as they shared a kiss. Her eyelids dropped shut as she allowed him to melt her, hands stroking his cheeks and pulling him even closer as tongues twisted around each other. Breaking the kiss only to reunite as she made him guide her to the table in the center of the room.  Letting out a little giggle as he sat her on the table and stood between her legs palms on her thighs, rubbing them and evoking snarl from the woman.

  "YoHo..I know that sound."  Steven teased as his kisses moves trailed from her lips to her neck becoming nibbles along the way, making his her moan as he unbuttoned  the first two buttons of her shirt to sink his teeth into her collarbone sucking and licking into her brown skin.

  "So I'd this part of ...ah…. Damn...Of your apology for..Hmm UUMMMM.." Connie couldn't  finish, losing herself to the his mouth stroking of his thumb on her inner thighs. Which was why she was thankful when the phone rang..Bringing her back k to a more clear mind. Reluctantly, she moved from him to check the phone.. It was Sam..

  "No..Not yet." She scoffed as let the phone ring out. With a sigh she fixed her shirt., smiling as Steven held her from behind..and feeling his...Charisma...on her ass. She nearly was put to trance again  when he started with the kisses again.

  "Hey.. Later ok..At your place." She turned giving him a tender kiss and little suck upon his bottom lip. "For now...We got to get a team ready."

  Steven smired at the tone of voice and sneer  on her face. Dark and elegant. Civil and criminal. What he expected from his queen. He nodded  as she got his vest and placed it on him. Gripping it by the sides she pulled him in for one more kiss, catching him pleasantly off guard with a  sweet "Chu", she broke the kiss, sniggering at his love struck stare.

  "That was for doing a good job. Now go fix your hair, while I gather some others for the welcoming..and farewell party." With a sinister yet sweet smile,  Connie took out her cell and dialed the first person on her list, walking out as she did.

  He watched her go, paying attention to the sway of her hips until the door closed. He smirked as he turned his attention to his hair. Fishing a comb out of his back of his pocket and running through his hair, back and fro until it returned to its normally slick do.

"Alright. Spinel, Lars, Amethyst and Garnet are on their way there." Connie announced as she walked in wearing the coat of her three-piece suit, completing her outfit.

  Steven whistled before shaking his head, with a smile.  "Called the extermination squad, huh? Well, that's what they get for trying to make moves in secret."

  "No..If they just try to be snakes we would've  just rough them up, but they try to pull shit in bar; even worse they bruised your side and blacked your eye." Determination and slight sadism in her voice as she slipped on some black mid-finger gloves. "Now, now we gotta make an example out of them...You about ready?"  

  Steven nodded before following behind the shorter woman, who was just about withering  in pleasure a few moments ago; now wore a devil's smile on her beautiful features and a grave glint in her eyes. While Steven didn't mind it, he did prefer  her to be a bit brighter.

  "Hold on, Mi Reina."

  Connie stopped for a moment turning back to him only to have him steal one last tender kiss from her. She squeezed his hand to keep from moaning.  He broke it, taking a look at her now gentler smile and now burning eyes. 

  "nāṉ uṉṉai kātalikkiṟēṉ...Damn punk." 

  "Love you too, Reina."

  The two shared a small smile before stepping out into the world they are accustomed to. Ready to once again do whatever needed to obtain wealth power, and prestige. To do whatever  needed to protect what was theirs. A world of criminals, violence, civility, elegance, and family. A world of Mafia.