#a car will just bin itself on a pole

[cb-writes-stuff]

Not gonna lie, I think I could trust a horse more than a car. Ironic, considering I’ve never ridden a horse and have driven a car a total of three (3) times before.

[petit-papillion]

i’m feeling pretty down after this quali. i’ve been saying since 2019 that charles will smooth out his wrinkles and learn when he needs to accept something other than p1, but it still hasn’t happened. he lacks the consistency and the mentality to be wdc. different situations, but this reminds me so much of imola 2022; charles didn’t want to settle for p3, so he got aggressive, spun, and lost valuable points. again today he decided to be aggressive and likely lost himself points.

he also doesn’t seem to have the ability to communicate his set up needs, which is not ideal. it’s concerning that he’s more comfortable in this car, but still doesn’t understand it. carlos has come to grips much quicker, and he missed a weekend for major abdominal surgery.

First of all, I want to say hats off to Carlos. To even get in an F1 car and drive it so soon after surgery is a feat in itself. To then be able to perform that well in quali is incredible. Mind you, I am not in favor at all of athletes ignoring their injuries because they just have to compete. I also don't think it is wise of him to return to the track as soon as he did, and I am still concerned he may end up regretting his decision tomorrow.

Anyway. Charles does tend to take more risks with setups than Carlos, which sometimes is the better strategy, and sometimes it isn't. When it is, there's a lot of finger pointing at Charles for binning/bottling it, for taking too many risks, blah blah blah. When it isn't, he is everyone's hero (see Baku, Vegas last year).

I agree he does tend to not want to settle when sometimes it would be better (for the points, for the stats, for his reputation). Which is why I was so disappointed right after quali. Felt like he could've been a little less aggressive in his setup, and been able to pull off a better lap.

But I disagree on him not having the consistency/mentality to be a wdc. The inconsistency comes a lot from him driving a car that is so very obviously not at the same level as the Red Bull. The poles (and recent front rows) he's been able to pull out of his car are a testament to his phenomenal driving skills, and willingness to risk it all for P1.

And that is exactly the mentality you need to be a wdc: you have to want to win so bad, you will not be happy with anything less. Ask Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel what it's like driving a car that does not allow you to perform at your best when all you want is to be fighting at the front, and they'll tell you the same, I'm sure. The difference is they all had a championship-winning car at some point, and they have already proven themselves.

[shaimaglobo]

High Pressure Washers in Oman: Power, Performance, and Precision

In a country like Oman, where the climate often brings dust, sand, and residue to every surface, maintaining cleanliness — whether in industrial, agricultural, or residential settings — can be a challenge. That’s where high pressure washers come in. These powerful machines have become an essential tool across sectors, helping users clean effectively, save time, and conserve water. Whether it’s for cleaning vehicles, machinery, buildings, or public spaces, high pressure washers deliver results with unmatched precision.

Why High Pressure Washers?

High pressure washers use a high-velocity stream of water to blast away dirt, grime, and grease. Their efficiency and ease of use make them ideal for both heavy-duty industrial work and lighter domestic tasks.

Here are a few key benefits:

Efficiency: They drastically reduce cleaning time and effort.

Water Conservation: Surprisingly, they use less water than traditional hoses by focusing pressure.

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From car washes and construction sites to farming equipment and factory floors, high pressure washers are proving to be indispensable.

The Growing Demand in Oman

As Oman continues to develop across industries such as oil and gas, construction, agriculture, and public sanitation, the demand for reliable cleaning equipment like high pressure washers has grown significantly. Businesses and municipalities are looking for durable, high-performing machines that can withstand the harsh environmental conditions while delivering top-notch results.

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Municipal Services: Cleaning roads, public benches, and street signage.

Automotive: Used in car wash centers for rapid and effective cleaning.

Final Thoughts

High pressure washers are no longer a luxury—they’re a necessity in today’s fast-paced, hygiene-conscious world. In Oman’s dusty and rugged environment, having the right cleaning tools can make all the difference in efficiency and productivity.

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Experience innovation and efficiency with Al Ariq Oman — your trusted provider for high pressure washers and more.

[adt1jackwatters3dmodels]

Final Project 5

Unwrapping the glowing lights. Making a new material for it. I've also made the gumboot and monument their own material and have unwrapped both of them together so they stop overlapping.

Taking this opportunity to fix the hand of the person and apply a quick backface cull to the flag (I can't add more meshes because I'm not sure if it would fuck up the re-bake).

Re-exporting and importing the mesh, hitting bake again (this time without the new materials for glass and glow.

I've layered on this font material onto the sign.

Texturing the town hall again. Making it more orangish, and doing the window frames.

I've added a rough wood texture and reduced it's roughness, but upped it's notches an fibers to give a similar texture to corrugated iron.

Adding some wooden textures to the bench.

Adding these really nice wood textures to the train stop and support. It's kind of rustic, which is what I'm going for.

Making the train car look a little worn from exposure.

For the wood on the town hall, i had to make two separate textures masking different sections to make the planks at the point at right angle.

More bench texturing.

Using a few stone textures plus some metallic wear to create a worn, grungy texture. This will further emphasize the broken-ness of the town.

Adding rust and wear to the streetlamps.

Adding wood and mud to the Taihape sign. I went through a few textures for the ground under the sign, but eventually just went with mud.

Adding some moss to the benches in monument park. It just sort of makes sense if it's in a park where the elements are more prevalent.

Making the boot's supports metal looks more in line with the boot itself.

Just mirroring a lot of the wooden textures on this bench and bin to other bench and bins.

Another bing texture.

Went for the street sign colours on the street sign, also the bin. The textures a lower quality because of how small the unwrap was when combined with the long pole, but it doesn't stand out too much.

[allhallowsthemepark]

Attraction: Attack of the Monsters in 3-D!

Aliens! Serial killers! Lab experiments gone wrong! Ghoul City is under attack by all of them and more in this combination dark ride/3-D adventure!

Queue: The ride is located in the “suburbs” portion of Ghoul City, with the queue bullpen dressed to resemble the parking lot at a drive-in movie theater. Along the way, guests can pick up 3-D glasses from a tray next to the concessions counter.

Load: The load area is near the theater “screen.” Ride vehicles resemble convertibles from various decades and seat 4-6 guests in two rows. A sign at the lot exit thanks us for coming to the movies.

Scene 1: Suburbia—two-story houses with white picket fences, shade trees, and privacy hedges...as well as chainsaw-wielding maniacs popping out from behind said hedges, rabid dogs straining at fraying leashes, monstrous bugs tearing up the gardens, and giant spider webs in which suspiciously human-sized cocoons struggle. The car puts on a little speed to get ahead of the threats, turning out of the neighborhood into an industrial park and veering into the first building...

Scene 2: The Lab—The car winds through the hallways of a research facility where hapless technicians are swarmed by freaked-out monkeys, slime monsters, fungus-brainwashed coworkers, and uncontrolled robots. Bursting steam pipes, harsh lighting, radiation warnings, and even pyrotechnics add to the sense of chaos until the car exits the building to...

Scene 3: Street Level—Things are of course no better outside, as the downtown area is plagued by zombie hordes, overgrown animals (and footprints of things even larger), and tentacles reaching out of manholes to grab innocent pedestrians. Swaying light poles and downed power lines, erupting fire hydrants, fire escapes hanging loose off crumbling masonry, and emergency vehicles crashed into storefronts where window TV displays show news reports about the citywide chaos, all testify as to the ravages afflicting the area. The only thing left to do is evacuate...

Scene 4: Utter Devastation—As the car heads for the road out of town, the city's grim fate is visible in the distance. UFOs vaporize skyscrapers with their destructo-beams, kaiju wrench apart overpasses and snack on cars, something begins to crawl out of the ocean up the beach. The ride gets rough as the ground itself seems to break apart under the car, until it swerves off the road into the side of a cliff...

Unload: A crash door opens, and the other side of the wall is painted so that the car is emerging from a drive-in movie screen. Was it just an intense movie all along? Either way, it's over, and guests can deposit their 3-D glasses in convenient bins as they exit.

[amynchan]

"It's Easy."

Okay, but like, Rick.

The whole father/daughter rift in the family that needs to be fixed is a tried and true trope, but almost every time, the father is seen as this character that has expectations of his daughter that she’s not living up to. And our natural instinct is to view Rick in the same way.

He definitely lives up to it in the first bit, tho, doesn’t he? What, with the “failure hurts” and “will you be able to make a living like this,” it’s easy to read into that and say “why can’t you go for something stable that I know you can succeed in?” It’s easy to place him with other parents like Triton from The Little Mermaid, Elenor from Brave, and Jefferson Davis from Into the Spiderverse who just don’t understand their kids and want them to be like them. For reasons that are sound to themselves, of course, but yeah.

But Rick kinda misses something that the others have. The others seem to make their sacrifices while banking on a future where the kid succeeds, and they’d do anything to give their kids that future. There’s nothing wrong with wanting the best for your kid, and that thought process in and of itself isn’t bad, but Rick’s just a touch different, and that shows itself a good chunk into the movie with a pretty solid line: “I’d do anything for that kid.”

As an audience, we’ve been conditioned to think that that comes with conditions and expectations. “I’d do anything for that kid so they don’t have to live what I’ve gone through” or “I’d do anything for that kid if they can succeed” or even “I’d do anything for that kid for the payoff at the end.” And, tbh, I think the studio was banking on our interpretation.

By this point, the audience knows a little bit about The Moose.

We see Katie toss it in the ‘give it away’ bin, then we see Rick find it and seem kind of… disheartened that she’s gone to give it away. Later, we see video footage of when Rick actually gives her the moose. It seems like such a second-thought kinda thing that we almost don’t think twice about it. He’s a nature lover, so of course he’d have a wood carving of a moose on his dashboard. And, as an audience, we kinda don’t give much weight to Katie’s “but this is, like, your favorite thing.” To a kid, anything can be an adult’s favorite thing. It’s a sweet gesture, but it doesn’t really hold weight to us as an audience. Well, it does a bit in that it's a token of Rick's affection, but not much more than that. In this scene, the main thing is that Kiddo Katie’s reassured and that she goes off to camp and that it meant something to her at one point and might as well symbolize how far the two have drifted from one another.

Storytelling and narrative stuff. We almost expect this sorta thing in our stories at this point.

Then, later on in the movie and kinda outta no where, Linda gives us a little bit of backstory that seems so wholly unrelated. The lodge. It’s big, it’s beautiful, and it’s a dream that Rick gave up. When Katie asks “why,” the audience jumps to the conclusion: he did it for her. Why else would Linda tell her this now if not for the fact that he gave the lodge up for her?

It’s a sweet sentiment, but a lot of us know that that kind of sacrifice usually comes with expectations and a bit of guilt. “They gave up their dream for me. I have to pay them back in turn by succeeding.” It’s responsible, it’s expected, and it can be painful and pressurizing.

But then, side note, the reveal of Katie’s lie comes to light. And Rick’s face… the dude has seemed so human throughout this movie, and the whole “I am a dad with emotions and feelings and they’ve been hurt” seriously came through for me in that one moment. He wants to do his best for her, but he’s been hurt. He still tries to do his best, but yeah. Dude’s been hurt.

Seriously. Look at his face.

Look at him. He's in pain.

And then… then we see the moment in the video camera. Linda’s recording, and Rick’s saying goodbye to the lodge. He’s definitely at an acceptance stage about this. Sad, but acceptance. He breaks off The Moose from the pole out front as a keepsake, and Linda says “I know this must be hard for you.” It has to be. That lodge was his dream. He built it himself from the ground up. He carved every nook and cranny of that thing, and it had to have taken him years.

But Rick… doesn’t dwell on it. He takes a momento, sure, but he doesn’t dwell. Instead, he smiles at Linda (and the camera), the only one who’s really gonna remember this at all, and says “Nah,” before going to the car and smiling at babbling, baby Katie, who probably can’t even feed herself right yet, and says “It’s easy.”

Not “It’s not hard” or “I’ll be okay.” “It’s easy.” Also, his face?? Look at his face in this recording!! Look at it!

It’s easy for him to give up the lodge. Why? That doesn’t and shouldn’t make sense. But it doesn’t have to. Because that is Rick loving a daughter who he doesn’t expect anything out of. He’s doing it to care for her and provide for her, to give her what she needs. It’s not a call to the future of “I’ll be okay when this pays off” either. It’s a “right here, right now, this is an easy choice to make because I love my daughter.”

And I think that’s really cool. Katie didn’t get a guilt trip or a pressure of “your dad wants you to succeed and be financially independent so you’ll be okay when he’s gone” or “your dad gave up his dream so you could live yours, so just do it already.” Katie got “this is the love I have for my daughter. I have always had this love, and I will always have this love.”

The execution of it all just makes me so freaking happy.

Also, also, also! Rick and Katie don’t change themselves by the end of the film. What they do is they take a hard look at each other, recognize that the other is trying, and try to give the other what they need. They’ve loved each other and always have; they need each other and honestly always have. It just… takes a while to see that.

And, idk. I just think that’s cool. Rick's worry isn't placed as "succeed or else" that needs to change by the movie's end. I think the way the movie progresses and shows Rick as a character really contextualizes his position as "I love you and just want you to do your thing." And once Katie gets that and Rick is able to see her world a bit through the video (though he still sucks at computers lol), he's able to better support her and she's able to let him.

idk. I just really like what they did with Rick as a character and I love the fact that they developed him out of the motivation of "succeed for my sake," which is usually in there in previous iterations of this classic father/daughter struggle.

Anyways, that's just my thought on it. XD Couldn't get any work done until I wrote this down. Imma try to get work done now. XD

[maniacwatchestheworld]

for fun, I kinda want to start listing the Scooby-Doo gang’s various strange skills. I’m just going to add to this list as I go along in the show. Please tell me if I miss anything major!

Shaggy is a talented ventriloquist (What a Night for a Knight)

Shaggy is a gymnast (What a Night for a Knight)

Shaggy is on the track team (Bedlam in the Big Top)

Fred can tie and throw a lasso (A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts)

Velma can chemically determine the age of objects. In this case a piece of cloth. Also knows how to create a smokescreen. (Scooby-Doo and a Mummy, Too)

Shaggy can also tie and throw a lasso! (Scooby’s Night with a Frozen Fright)

Shaggy knows how to play the xylophone (The Phantom of the Country Music Hall)

Fred knows Morse code (The Phantom of the Country Music Hall)

Have I mentioned that Shaggy and Scooby are hella athletic already? Because they can run a mile in like, 30 seconds if the footage in the cartoon is to be believed. According to Coach Tim Conway, they ran 220 yards in 20 seconds and did a 129 foot pole vault. According to those numbers, Shaggy and Scooby would have been running at speeds that are just shy of what the world record would have been at the time of the episode’s airing (I did the math to see how fast they theoretically would have run a 200 meter dash if they were doing it at the same pace. Their time would be at about 19.88 seconds. Around 20 milliseconds shy of the world record at the time... So if Tim Conway was just a little slow on the timing, they may have actually broken the world record) and they absolutely shatter every pole vaulting record by like... A factor of 6. They are very convincingly the world’s greatest athletes, just as Velma claimed them to be. (The Spirit Spooked Sports Show)

Scooby is able to dig through metal. Specifically, he dug through the bottom of a metal garbage bin he was hiding in. (The Spirit Spooked Sports Show)

Velma can pick locks with a hairpin. (The Exterminator)

Shaggy can rivet using a rivet gun. (High Rise Hair Raiser)

Velma can read ancient Aztec writing. Ironically she does not know Spanish in this episode. (The Fiesta Host is an Aztec Ghost)

Fred knows the basics of electromagnetism and how to make a simple electromagnet... Even though I don’t think that his plan would have actually worked... (Watt a Shocking Ghost)

Scooby-Doo can turn a claw into a key and unlock doors. (Scared a Lot in Camelot)

Scooby’s tail is prehensile. (Probably has shown itself before, but was definitely displayed in Scared a Lot in Camelot)

Shaggy and Scooby are pretty good at using stilts! (Mamba Wamba and the Voodoo Hoodoo)

Shaggy has taken scuba diving lessons. (There’s a Demon Shark in the Foggy Dark)

In fact all of them are experienced divers! (Scooby-Doo, Where’s the Crew?)

Also Fred knows how to control a diving bell... For some reason... (Scooby-Doo, Where’s the Crew?)

Velma also knows Morse! (Scooby-Doo, Where’s the Crew?)

Fred is apparently a very experienced hang glider. He’s good enough at the sport that he is allowed to participate in hang gliding competitions reserved only for the most experienced flyers. (Hang in There, Scooby-Doo!)

Fred knows enough about auto engineering to be able to install an ejector seat (with parachute) into a professional race car, presumably without fucking it up too much. (The Spooky Case of the Grand Prix Race)

Shaggy and Fred are good enough drivers to be able to drive Grand Prix typed cars... Though in a previous episode Shaggy managed to crash the Mystery Machine going 10 miles per hour in the rain... (The Spooky Case of the Grand Prix Race)

Velma can throw her voice now too. Maybe Shaggy taught her? (The Ozark Witch Switch)

Daphne knows how to develop film! (The Ozark Witch Switch)

Shaggy and Scooby can build a perfect 1 to 1 replica of an Italian pizzeria out of coconuts and sand within 2 minutes. (Alaska and Tahiti)

Shaggy is apparently good enough at lacrosse to be able to coach Scooby in it. (Quebec, Canada and Baghdad, Iraq)

Velma can read Native American pictographs. Specifically, Chippewa pictographs. (Watch Out! The Willawaw!)

Scooby-Doo can pick locks... Again... But with his tail this time! (Watch Out! The Willawaw!)

Fred seems to really know his way around an airstrip, and airplanes. (A Creepy Tangle in the Bermuda Triangle)

Fred is definitely able to use a crane by A Creepy Tangle in the Bermuda Triangle. Possibly earlier.

Scooby-Doo can fish with his tail. (A Scary Night with a Snow Beast Fright)

Fred is familiar with and know how to use an electromagnetic crane. (The Creepy Case of Old Iron Face)

Scooby-Doo can turn his tail into a saw, sharp enough to cut through rope. (Jeepers, It's the Jaguaro!)

Fred knows enough about aircraft engineering that he knew and was able to remove all of the spark plugs from an airplane, grounding it. (Jeepers, It's the Jaguaro!)

Daphne can play the piano! From the looks of things, she might be able to sight-read on the piano as well. (The Diabolical Disc Demon)

Scooby-Doo also appears to be able to tie and throw a lasso at this point. (The Diabolical Disc Demon)

Shaggy and Scooby can cook a real good pizza real quick! When they aren’t trying to be ‘creative’ with their cooking. (A Menace in Venice)

Shaggy has experience as a lifeguard, so his swimming skills have to actually be pretty good. (Help Wanted)

Shaggy likes photography as well! He actually is part of his school’s photography club! (Help Wanted)

As I have mentioned before, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are very VERY fast. They were able to outrun (or at least run at the same speed as) a propeller-driven monoplane. Planes of this kind have a stall speed of a bare minimum of over 40 mph. That means that Shaggy and Scooby must have been running at a speed of 40mph as a minimum! (~70 km/h) (The Scary Sky Skeleton)

Fred can run a film projector. (The Ghoul, the Bat, and the Ugly)

Fred apparently knows how to set off explosives... Safely hopefully. (Rocky Mountain Yiiiii!)

[cxptain-carol]

𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 + 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐬 | 𝐥𝐲𝐲

➮ summary: you may be one of the best toy makers the north pole has ever seen but that all changes when yangyang joins your department, determined to dethrone. maybe it would be easier to stay on top if he wasn’t so darn cute.

➮ paring: liu yangyang x fem!reader 

➮ word count: 4.7k

➮ warnings: i don’t know a thing about woodworking, swearing, my attempts at world-building, bts’ jin is mentioned?

➮ genre: fluff, light angst

➮ racially inclusive reader

➮ north pole elves!au

➮ a/n: did i write this for myself? yes. is it cheesy and unnecessary? also yes. all that aside, merry christmas and enjoy this mess!

“I think I’d rather be in the candy cane department over doll-making. At least you get food.”

Hendery shook his head as he idly munched on a frosted sugar cookie.

“It’s not even worth it; you have to spend all day dealing with melted sugar and Kun breathing down your neck.” Yangyang nodded, nervously adjusting his red and green hat while they waited.

The warm room was filled with elves of his age group who hadn’t been assigned to a department yet. There was a crackling stone fireplace at the center, and a group of elves Yangyang recognized from his last year of school sat in a circle before it as they laughed and exchanged candy ribbons. Looking around at all the elves who lounged around, curled up on couches eating snacks, no one seemed anxious about the job they’d be assigned as it was (most of the time) carefully thought out by the North Pole’s career committee.

Out of their friend group, Kun had already begun working in the candy cane department. Sicheng worked in gift wrapping and Lucas, who was in the same age group as the remaining three, had been given his job last week as a reindeer trainer.

There were even more options for work, but most elves saw toy-making as the highest honor. It was no secret that North Pole elves loved Christmas more than life itself and spent every day of the year preparing for it. The spirit of giving and spreading holiday cheer was just second nature to them. After finishing school and being assigned a career, elves dedicated the rest of their lives to their craft. Each department had a Head Elf and each unit—which contained multiple departments—was led by a Director who reported to Mr. Claus weekly and kept everything running smoothly. 

Kun had become Head Elf in the candy cane department to the surprise of many, but it was well-deserved as he had been taught by his parents from a young age and could work faster than any of the older elves who had most likely become sick of dealing with melted sugar all day.

Yangyang, Xiaojun and Hendery eagerly awaited their assignments as they sat in the crowded room, happily taking advantage of the many treats scattered about: it was the North Pole, of course. Yangyang wondered if there was a chance he could end up in one of the food departments, like baking. Baking was led by Mrs. Claus and was known to be one of the most difficult and precise jobs an elf could have. There was no way he could end up there.

Suddenly, the front door of the hall swung open and a large group of elves entered, all but one of them carrying a little sign with their department written across. She stood in the center of the line, a clipboard in her hand.

“I hope you all are very excited to receive your jobs today!” She beamed and received warm smiles from each elf in the crowd before her: it was unheard of for an elf to be bitter for no reason.

“When I announce a department, I will read the names of the elves who have been assigned there and then I trust you can find the correct representative who will lead you where you’ll be working. In case anyone forgot, it is possible to change your department should a problem arise, just bring it up with you Head Elf and the two of you can speak with the career committee.”

“With that, I will begin with the Department of Candy Canes.”

About five minutes had passed and Yangyang had already heard a few departments he would have liked to be assigned to. As the grandfather clock ticked, he grew a little more impatient but much less particular about which job he’d get.

“Next, Department of Toy Trains: Liu Yangyang…” That was all he heard.

Before he could process it, he was standing up from the couch and making his way over to a rather short elf with neat black hair and a ski-slope nose. A few moments later, Hendery had joined him in line and began making polite conversation with the other elf; Yangyang overheard that his name was Ten.

After the list was complete and the new group being called was sled-builders, Ten led the elves out of the hall and into the snow, where the toy train factory sat atop a hill. They made it there quickly and talked energetically along the way, completely unfazed by the cold. North Pole elves spent their entire lives in freezing temperatures and were practically immune to them.

As Ten reached the front doors of the large building, he raised his fist and knocked out the rhythm of ‘Jingle Bells.’ 

Much to Yangyang’s surprise, a pretty elf answered the door, flashing a wide smile at the newcomers before ushering them inside.

“Welcome, welcome. This, as you can see, is the wonderful toy train department!” She exclaimed, opening her arms wide as she signaled to look around the room.

At least fifty elves sat at desks in the center of the room, machines lined up on the walls and a large station full of almost every paint color imaginable standing in the corner. To the right of Yangyang was a cart stacked high with intricately carved wood pieces. To the left was a shiny spiral staircase that led to the second level which bordered the walls, twenty or so more elves working up there, some having extremely loud conversations with those on the lower level.

“I think you guys are going to have a great time working here! It’s a lot of fun as long as you follow the rules and aren’t afraid to ask for help. We just got new paints and I’d hate for them to be ruined so please do seek out Ten if you’ll be painting.” She motioned towards Ten who waved politely.

“Today is mostly just a shadow day for you guys, so feel free to sit by anyone if you know them or if you just want to make a new friend; we’re all very friendly here.” 

Yangyang hid a chuckle as he watched an elf angrily pluck another’s toy train from his grasp and chuck it into the garbage bin as he huffed about wheels.

“That should be it. Feel free to ask me any questions throughout the day. I’m Y/N, your Head Elf.”

Yangyang smiled back at you and made his way over to Hendery who stood looking around the room for a place to begin. He probably should have done the same, but couldn’t take his eyes off you as you walked over to Ten and started up a conversation. It had only been a few minutes but he was already charmed by the cute little smile you wore as you spoke.

“I see you’re fascinated with Y/N, huh?” Hendery’s voice brought Yangyang back to the task at hand.

“She’s cute,” he responded, strolling between the rows of desks to observe what each elf was doing. While at first toy trains seemed like a boring department, it became clear that a lot of effort went into the models and many of them turned out lovely. The best ones were sitting atop an abandoned desk in the back of the room.

“She’s the youngest Head Elf this department has ever seen. I remember people talking about it; she outdid all of the elves who had been doing this for decades. Just like Kun.” Yangyang nodded, taking a seat at an empty table as he watched the elves work around him. He wanted to gain some knowledge before starting; the last thing he wanted to do was look like a fool in front of the best toy train-maker the North Pole had seen in years.

A few seconds later, you took your seat in the back of the room next to Yangyang at the one desk he had been eyeing for minutes now. Humming to yourself, he watched as you gingerly picked up a handful of colorful train cars and carried them to the painting station. He quietly walked over to watch from the side as you sprayed them with sealant and and set them to dry on a floor to ceiling shelf that had to have been holding hundreds of little cars.

You wiped your hands on the front of your apron and adjusted your hat before turning to the boy who had been watching you.

“So, what looks the most interesting? Personally I love the details: carving and painting little designs. Ten’s pretty good at painting in general and there are many skilled woodworkers in here in case that’s more your speed. If you’re a little overwhelmed you can always sit with Eugene over there and make your first wheel and axle.”

A round-faced elf waved joyfully at Y/N at the mention of his name.

“I think I’ll just stick to watching you. I gotta learn from the pros,” Yangyang replied coolly.

“Oh, stop it.” You waved your hand at his compliment and sat back down at your desk, picking up a blank wooden car and your chisel. Yangyang pulled up a chair next to your desk and sat beside you, examining silently as you worked.

You lightly sanded the smooth surface of the car’s side and brought your chisel to it, delicately carving a swirl. The swirl was soon connected to another one in the opposite direction which framed a cluster of holly berries and three leaves. You brushed away the wood shavings and set the car aside, picking up another one. Yangyang was in awe.

“How did you do that so quickly? That was so neat; I thought you only started last year!” You chuckled humbly and it was one of the sweetest sounds he had ever heard.

“Just practice.” You shrugged.

A tall brunet elf with silver-rimmed glasses walked by your desk and leaned over to see your steadily growing pile of cars.

“Looks great, Y/N.” He shot you a thumbs up and you smiled in return. Yangyang was still busy admiring your woodworking skills.

“Yangyang, would you like to try carving something?” You offered, holding out your chisel and a blank car. He happily took them and went to work, swiftly outlining a frame on the car with a pencil before pushing the chisel tip into the wood. He tried his best to keep his hands steady and stay on the line but under your watchful gaze, he faltered. What was supposed to be a perfect line was now bumpy.

“That’s normal at first. Let me help.” You stood up behind his chair and took his hands inside yours, keeping them firm and stable as you guided the chisel tip to carve out a straight line parallel to the rim at the top of the car. Yangyang was trying to focus on your technique but couldn’t; you were so close he could smell sawdust and the bitter scent of wet paint that lingered on your apron.

With newfound confidence, Yangyang successfully carved four frames around the faces of the car and showed them to you with a proud smile on his face.

“That looks great!” You patted his shoulder before standing up from the table. “Sorry Yangyang, but I think I have to help the others out now.”

He nodded, a little sad that you had to leave, but waved as you made your way to the front of the room, a spring in your step.

-

“Is there anything I can do to get her to pay attention to me?”

Hendery looked out at the darkening sky, sifting through soft snow with his fingers and tilted his head a to the left with a pout.

“No, probably not.” 

Yangyang threw his head back and groaned.

“Give it a rest. You’ve known her for one day and think you two are gonna end up together? She seems a lot more focused on toy trains than dating, honestly.” Yangyang’s head shot up.

“That’s it! I’ll get really good at that and impress her!”

Hendery chuckled. “It sounds more like you’re trying to outshine her, not impress her.” He lazily picked up a ball of snow and tossed it at his conflicted friend.

Lying in the snow beside Hendery, Yangyang thought hard about his plan. He wanted you to like him; you just were so interesting to him. While he had started the day nervous about the job he’d be assigned, he was ending it entirely bewildered by Department Head Y/N.

-

“What’d you think of the newbies?” Ten asked with a lollipop between his lips as he hopped up to sit on a vacant desk. The factory hadn’t opened yet and you two were preparing for the day’s work.

“They seem normal,” you replied nonchalantly.

It was too early for you to tell your best friend, but you undoubtedly felt something for the bright-eyed Yangyang you met yesterday. He was just too cute for his own good.

Ten eyed you suspiciously.

“You like Yangyang.”

“Shut up,” you mumbled through your embarrassed smile. Attempting to drown out the sound of Ten’s laughter, you rushed to the back to organize the paints. Ten slowly followed suit, grabbing an apron from the rack and tying it around his waist.

“When do you want to start keeping track of inventory?” Ten pulled the lollipop out of his mouth and cocked his head to one side.

“Today,” you replied definitively. You grabbed your clipboard from its hook on the wall and tucked it in the crook of your arm. Adjusting your elf’s uniform, you ran to the front doors and checked your watch.

“And we’re on in 3, 2, 1!” You pulled the doors open and the usual workers entered in a neat line, Yangyang and Hendery in the back, much to your surprise.

“Nice to see you two up bright and early! Most of the new recruits are late their first day back,” you sighed before marking their names as present. The two waited awkwardly in front of you as you flipped through your papers, finally landing on the right one.

“Okay, so the both of you will be working with Ten on paints today.” You flipped the pages back and smiled. Yangyang looked defeated at the news.

“Oh, and don’t forget,” you turned to the rest of the room. “I’ll be checking to make sure all meet today’s quota. 100 finished trains each.” The announcement was met with nothing but joy, and few shouts of “Sure thing, Y/N!”

You watched as Yangyang followed Ten to the back of the room and put on an apron. After checking a few more elves in for the day, you made your way over to your desk and sat down, picking up an unfinished train car and attaching a little black chimney. Twenty more now donned tiny ebony chimneys and you were on your twenty-first when Yangyang sat down at the desk beside you.

He waved but quickly turned to back his work. Curious, you stood up from your seat and began to study him, He had collected fifty or so blank train cars atop his desk and was carving in little details. They weren’t as good as yours, you noticed, but they were better than what you expected from most elves.

As the days counted on and Christmas came closer, you grew attached to Yangyang but not in the way you expected. He was getting increasingly better at toy-making and met his quota every day, something you didn’t expect from a newcomer. He worked quickly and made seemingly perfect trains.

You started to hate it, just a little bit.

One day in late December, you and Ten sat casually eating candy after the factory had closed. You two had loosened your aprons and taken off your hats as you curled up on the pair of armchairs nestled in the back of the room, discussing the day.

“Did you exceed the quota today?” You asked, practically falling asleep as you talked. That day, you worked extra hard and carved 50 more cars than you needed, just to make sure Yangyang didn’t outrank you. In the recent weeks he began consistently exceeding quotas, but never managed to do better than you, something that you took pride in.

“Yeah, I went fifteen over but I think you should go see how Yangyang did,” Ten replied in a mischievous tone that did not go unnoticed. Puzzled, you stood up from the chair and went to bulletin board hung up across the room. You spotted your name first.

Department Head Y/F/N: 250

You smirked to yourself before finding Yangyang’s name.

Liu Yangyang: 275 

Your eyes widened and didn’t revert back until your feet had carried you back over to Ten where you began pacing back and forth.

"How could he beat me? I mean, I’m Head Elf, not him and Mr. Claus himself recognized my skills!” Ten was thoroughly enjoying himself as he watched you break the situation down. Secretly, he believed you needed to be knocked down a peg sometime.

“I mean, I’m on track to be the Director of Toy-Making next year after some training in figurines and stuffed animals! This is just making me look bad!” You said all of this very fast.

“Relax, Y/N. He’s not taking your job anytime soon. If anything, I think he likes you.” Ten smirked.

“How?”

He sighed, sitting up in the armchair.

“It’s obvious; he’s probably just trying to catch your attention.”

You had calmed down but Ten’s statement left you even more confused as you looked around the room, taking note of the time as your gaze landed on the grandfather clock.

“Well, if he thinks surpassing me at my talent is going to make me fall for him, he really needs to get his shit together.”

With a chuckle, Ten tossed his candy wrapper in the garbage bin and grabbed his coat off the rack, leaving you you overthink in peace.

-

“Good morning, Y/N!” Yangyang piped up from the desk beside you.

“Morning,” you responded blankly. You had planned out your whole day the night before: you needed 325 cars painted by closing time. There was no way Yangyang could beat that. You had woken up extra early and got to the factory before Ten to make sure everything was ready at your desk. Despite how trivial it was, you even dressed up in your favorite red suspender dress with a soft green sweater and matching leggings underneath to keep you warm.

You both worked side by side at the painting station for a few hours before either of you decided to address the elephant in the room.

“What are you playing at?” You suddenly turned to Yangyang, setting down your crimson-dipped paintbrush.

“Hmm?” He faked a clueless look and you rolled your eyes.

“Why are you doing this?”

He cocked his head to one side and let out an exasperated sigh.

“I know it may seem like it, but I’m not trying to upstage you, Y/N. I’m just trying to be the best toy-maker I can.”

You chuckled and moved closer to Yangyang to bump him with your shoulder.

“You’re annoying,” you stated, even though you still wore a tiny smile on your lips which didn’t go unnoticed by him.

“But I also have more cars done than you, so…” He trailed off, smugly motioning at the drastically different size of your piles. You gasped and began working faster, prompting him to laugh. In the corner of your eye you saw Ten and Hendery eye you two curiously.

“Your dress is cute, by the way,” Yangyang said suddenly. You didn’t look up at him; your cheeks had already begun heating up.

“Thanks,” you replied. Even without an upward glance, you were almost positive there was shit-eating grin on his face in that moment.

The awkward silence after that only lasted for a minute or so before Yangyang broke it abruptly.

“You know, if you don’t finish today, I’d be happy to take over as Department-”

“Yangyang!”

You shook your head, tut-tutting at his antics. You picked up another car and swiped your brush across it lightly, watching as the blank surface turned vibrant and bold. You knew you’d never get tired of toy-making when it brightened up the world like this.

“Hey, Y/N, could you grab another paintbrush for me?” Yangyang motioned towards the cabinets a few steps away. Pretending to be irritated, you sighed loudly and strolled over, swinging open a marked door and grabbing a brush. Yangyang had already made his way over to take it from you but as you turned to look at him, his eyes were transfixed on something above your heads.

“Well, oops.” Yangyang giggled at the awkward situation, while you were flat-out lost. Finally catching on, you lifted your gaze and saw it. Mistletoe.

“I mean, you wouldn’t disregard a holiday tradition, would you Y/N?” He jokingly took a step closer.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” You stepped in, holding your breath. The small space between you two had your heart beating so fast you could hear it, despite the whirring of the machines and the loud conversations that filled the room. Without thinking, you raised your arm.

Before he could react, you had swiped your wet paintbrush across his cheek and were running away, the heartwarming sound of your laughter trailing behind you.

-

There was far less tension between you two these days. Nearly all of your time was spent side by side, working diligently with a conversation every now and then. You found yourself slowly becoming infatuated with Yangyang; his youthful demeanor, his comforting voice, and his skilled hands. Even though it was nearing Christmas, you couldn’t seem to help that you were far too distracted by him. 

However, your newly formed crush didn’t stop the competitive nature of your relationship. You two never ceased to tease each other and your days were filled with constant one-upping. While it was fun, even Ten noticed that your efficient ways had begun slipping away. Most days, you were barely meeting your quota.

“Something has to be done about Yangyang.” You bit down hard on your bottom lip as you sat atop a vacant table in the back of the factory. There was no response.

“Ten?” You looked around. You could've sworn he was sitting right next to you. With a sigh, you spotted him chatting up Hendery by the front door.

You hopped off the desk, adjusting the candy cane held tightly between your teeth and brushing off your uniform before you sat down at your own table. There sat an empty crate which you slid in front of you, happily picking up finished trains and packing them inside. You gently cradled a little orange train in your palm, admiring the pretty little rainbow you had carved just days prior. Only a few more days and all the toys in the North Pole’s factories would be delivered to the children of the world.

But as it usually does, time flew past like a feather-light snowflake in the wind and for the first time, were you not prepared. All that playful banter with Yangyang over the past few weeks really set you back, and now here you were, two days before Christmas.

You had closed the factory and said goodbye to everyone that evening, tidying up the facility as no one would be working there the next day: all elves celebrated Christmas Eve in the town square or visited the Claus house to help prepare Santa for his big journey. The partying only stopped on Christmas day when all the elves went back to their school or their jobs.

It was in the silence that you sat down to do your work. You had been calculating everything throughout the course of that day and it brought you to learn that you had 100 trains to finish by the crack of dawn.

A tear threatened to fall from your watering eyes but you blinked it away—it was a hard pill to swallow, but you got distracted and had to pay the price.

As you slowly picked up a wooden car, your tired hands dug your chisel into the polished plane, carving out a heart. At the sound of icy winds rattling the windows, you shook, your hand faltering and creating a faint scratch down its center.

You sighed out, rubbing your temples as you stared at the pile of unfinished cars before you. That stubborn tear was on the brink of escape until you heard a noise at the front door.

Maybe it was Director Jin? He could’ve seen that the lights were still on, you pondered. Jingling your keys in your hand, you ran over to unlock the door.

Lo and behold, in all his rosy-cheeked and messy-haired glory, it was Yangyang.

“Y/N,” he said, breathless from the cold. “Hey.”

“W-Why are you here?” You questioned, stepping back to let him in. You blinked as the cold air pierced you through your fur-lined sweater and tickled your legs until the heavy door shut loudly, causing you to jump.

“Ten told me you were staying after and I wanted to help,” he admitted, nervously shoving his hands into his pockets. You let his words sink in slowly as he waited for a response.

Tears brimmed in your eyes as you launched forward, tightly wrapping your arms around him. He froze at the sudden contact but you felt him loosen up and wiggle his arms out of your grip to hug you back. You two stood like that for what felt like hours, just drowning in the warmth and comfort of each other. Like it wasn’t a competition between a novice and an expert; it was just Yangyang and Y/N.

You regretted letting go as soon as you broke apart but held onto his hand as you dragged him to the back of the room were you had been sitting just minutes prior. He took the seat beside yours and watched intently as you picked up your second chisel and a blank car before handing them to him.

“Could you carve and then I’ll paint? Things will go a little bit faster if we do separate tasks, I think.” You thought out loud as you sifted through the mess on your desk looking for your paintbrush.

“Y/N, look.” You spun around to see what Yangyang held out.

Carved in the side of the train car was a neat rectangle, inside lay a cluster of holly berries and two swirly lines.

“Beautiful,” you said, looking up into Yangyang’s eyes.

“Not as good as what you can do,” he mumbled, setting the car down on the desk.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You yelled jokingly. “You’re amazing!”

“Y/N, I know you’re trying to be humble but you’re literally Head Elf here. You’re like the best of the best.”

You shook your head, your gentle gaze focused Yangyang as you scooted your chair over closer to him.

“And you still managed to outdo me at least ten times this month.” You grinned with satisfaction as his cheeks turned pink.

“About that,” he began, a hint of fear in his voice. You motioned for him to keep talking.

“Well, I may have completely overworked myself to try and impress you.”

You took a second to process his confession before bursting out into laughter.

“Me? Impress me? I was scared you were gonna take my job!” You shook your head in disbelief, an exaggerated ‘humph!’ leaving your lips.

“So, did it work?” Yangyang’s eyes lit up in anticipation as your face changed. You pulled your chair even closer to him and looked into his eyes.

“Yangyang, you didn’t have to wear yourself out to catch my attention,” you hand softly cupped his cheek as you leaned in.

“I was already falling for you.” 

You sealed the last syllable as you pressed your lips to his cheek, leaving behind a smudge of glitter from your lip gloss. You leaned back in your seat, shyly looking away as you felt your cheeks heat up. With a tired sigh, Yangyang pulled you back into him, where you happily rested your face on his shoulder. It was only when you heard the grandfather clock’s ticking in your ear that you sat up.

“Not only that, but we’re also falling behind schedule.”

With laughter filling the room, you two happily began working on the trains once again. As the wind howled outside and bells rang out from the town square, you and Yangyang stayed awake for hours, painting, carving, talking and kissing until the pale pink ribbons of day broke the open the darkness and painted the sky, falling peacefully across the North Pole. Even when you two emerged from the factory far too exhausted to celebrate, you knew you’d never regret the time you spent that night, forgetting the worries of world as you basked in the pure serenity of being with him, something so much better than the satisfaction any fancy title could ever give you.

[leclercnews]

AUTO MOTOR SPORT INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES LECLERC: "DOING EVERYTHING TO CHANGE HIERARCHY AT FERRARI!"

Charles Leclerc, a Ferrari driver. How does that sound? Leclerc: "I like it. A dream has come true and I live it like I did in the first day." How big was the step from Sauber to Ferrari? Leclerc: "Not as big as from Formula 2 to Formula 1. But at Ferrari there are a lot more people, so a lot more resources.  Everything goes much faster. If you want to have something changed in the car, you get it done in a much shorter time. But you spend more time talking or working with the people in the team. When you are at the track and sit in the briefing, a lot of people at home in Maranello listen and want to talk to you, so that they can develop the car further." Is it sometimes too much information? Leclerc: "Not really. You just have to get used to it. Then you don't spend more time with it. It takes time until you know everyone and can separate important from less important. The depth and amount of analysis that takes place in the background is simply incredible. They try to understand everything, no matter in which area. The team helps me to set priorities. With more experience it will come by itself." Are they asking you more questions? Leclerc: "More detailed questions." Can the experience make you even faster, or is this determined solely by your talent? Leclerc: "To be fast, you need the talent first. But then work and experience determine your speed. Experience doesn't directly make you faster, but it opens your eyes to what you have to do to become faster. I'm still in the learning process in using the tools that make the car faster. Differential settings and things like that. At the highest level, little things make all the difference." Why does the Ferrari show such differences in performance? Leclerc: "We understood the problem in Australia. We made a mistake with the setup and just didn't put the car in the right window. The car was badly balanced. In Bahrain the balance was right, in China it was a bit less. We lost everywhere on Mercedes, but not much.  Baku was good again, we were better in qualifying than in the race. It's going in the right direction." Which is harder to understand:  The new car or the tyres? Leclerc: "You can't separate one from the other. That goes hand in hand. We have to understand the whole package." In the first three races the Ferrari was extremely strong on the straights and weak in the slow corners. Why? Leclerc: "That's something we need to understand. But I think we'll be strong everywhere if we just put the car in the right window. The upgrades we used in Baku has brought us one step closer to our target." Sebastian Vettel and you have different driving styles. How do you like your car best? Leclerc: "I can live with a little more oversteer. But generally these cars have a tendency to understeer. When I entered Formula 1 I was shocked at how much understeer you had on these cars. You could never drive them with the balance I preferred in Formula 2. Impossible. That's why last year it took me until the fourth race in Baku to understand that. Because the walls are so close on the city circuit, Sauber gave me a car that is stable in the rear.  That's when I realized that I had to adapt. That brought the change." Why does a Formula 1 car have to understeer? Does it have too much power? Leclerc: "I don't think the engine power makes the difference. It's the downforce. These cars have so much more downforce than in Formula 2, so that you also lose more downforce when you lose the car. That makes it difficult to capture the car. As a driver, you quickly lose confidence." Don't different driving styles make it difficult to develop the car? Leclerc: "No. We just demand a different balance from the car. It's a question of setup. We both still feel the same general problems of the car. That's why the development of the car doesn't suffer with our different driving styles." Three team orders in three races. Is the policy in the team clearly defined? Leclerc: "I don't think anything has changed. I have to show what I can do on the race track and then hopefully the situation will change at some point. Like every driver here, I want to be the fastest. So far I have understood every decision, even if it is sometimes difficult for a driver to accept it. I have a 4-time world champion next to me who is driving for Ferrari in his fifth year. I understand that there is a hierarchy at the moment, but I will do everything I can to change that." Wouldn't it be better to say: okay, the faster one can overtake, but if he can't drive away, he has to return to the original position? Leclerc: "I don't know. I haven't thought about that yet. The guys at the pit wall have a better overview of the race. That's why up to a certain point I'll do what is being asked of me." Last year you didn't have a chance to win in Sauber, now you do in Ferrari. Are you going for victories or do you always have the title in mind? Leclerc: "Both. If I see the chance to win, then I'll try to use it. Victory is what it's all about. But you have to be smart enough to get the maximum points if you can't win. It's a great art to get the maximum out of the hardest moments." How difficult was it for you not to win 2018? Leclerc: "At first I thought it would be hard.  But you quickly set yourself new goals.  You simply seek for the maximum possible result. And that's your personal victory." Do the young drivers like you, Norris, Russell or Albon already race in the same world as Vettel and Hamilton? Leclerc: "I have a hard time comparing ourselves to Lewis or Seb. We are another generation. I didn't drive against them as much as I did against the other colleagues you just mentioned. We grew up together and pushed each other forward."

How much has your life changed at Ferrari? Leclerc: "A little bit. Especially after the first podium. Formula 1 is a weird sport. As long as you don't stand on the podium, people don't know your face. They usually only see us with a helmet. Since Bahrain they can associate my name with a face.  Nevertheless, I am not completely surrounded by fans yet. When I'm in Monaco, I stay at home in my simulator most of the time."

Since the Bahrain GP you are a superstar.  Are you prepared for this role? Leclerc: "I don't see myself as a superstar. And when it comes to that, you can't be prepared. I don't know what to expect. It's nice when people see me like this already. If not, I will give everything on the track to be one someday." You swallowed the lost victory in Bahrain almost emotionless.  What really went on in your mind? Leclerc: "Just as calm. I know such things happen in motorsport. Sometimes a technical problem costs you victory, sometimes your own mistake. I get much more annoyed when I make the mistake. Just like in Baku. That was just stupid. I threw a possible pole position in the bin. That also cost me a chance to win on Sunday. The car had the potential to win. It was my fault that it didn't work." Interview done by: Auto Motor und Sport, Michael Schmidt (auto-motor-und-sport.de) - Link English Translation done by: @LeclercNews Please take out with full credits!

[listing-to-port]

Seven roadside attractions

1. Roadside gravity, in the form of large blocks of neutron star matter erected, monolith-style, at the side of the road, and from which the planet is itself is shielded by a complicated system of handwaves. Naturally this arrangement is frowned on by the physics police, so be sure to visit before it gets shut down.

2. Roadside parking areas, entirely unremarkable except that crack squads of assault badgers attach bungee ropes to cars that stop there. It is believed they do so purely to increase the number of repeat visits that the parking area gets. Not only does this strategy increase repeat visits, it also dramatically reduces the typical time interval between repeat visits. The metrics are incredible. The large debris pile is also becoming an attraction in its own right.

3. Roadside fairy castles, drenched in sticky glamours. Each has its own speciality, but I hear there is one over the mountains now that does not bother with the drivers but lures the cars in instead. A nice enticing trap street for the GPS, convincing road markings, and small groups of apparent pedestrians on either side who will clearly be harmed if the car does not proceed. Then when you think to turn back there is a no entry sign, and the mists closing in. Of course their technology will be obsolete in considerably less than a hundred years' service, but the fairies have never really minded. What they want is to be adored, and any machinery that has an adoration mode will do.

4. Roadside magnetism, conspiring to stick great creaking ropes of cars to both poles of a giant horseshoe magnet held by a badly painted cartoon character. The roadside magnet only appears when the local ridiculousness index is high; watch the weather forecasts for a summary of the expected ridiculousness for the next week or so.

5. The roadside strong and weak nuclear forces, which are fascinating to stop off at if you are taking a femtometer-scale road trip, but otherwise undetectable. The chances are that you will have been here without realising. Check your backpack: there may be very small souvenirs in there.

6. An area of roadside which is not so much attractive as surrounded by roadside repulsions, including: an overflowing bin; the original wishing well, actually as famed in online debate; a patch of nothing; and the national poo museum. You may be thinking that you might like to go to the poo museum but I'm afraid to say it has very disappointing online ratings. Anyway, the area also serves as the poo museum's overflow car park, so it is often quite packed. Come when the time is right and you may even be able to muster up a scratch barbershop quartet from amongst the mingling crowds.

7. A small roadside moon. There may have been one of those nights recently when the big moon comes down the ocean's path to lay a clutch of eggs on the Earth's unsuspecting surface, because this is definitely a juvenile specimen and has probably just hatched. They hang around beside roads so that they can roll along them at night. Needless to say it is best to get off the road if a small moon comes rolling along it towards you. But if it is resting, by all means stop and see it. It will probably be covered in ecstatic moths. The life cycle of the moth is symbiotic with that of the moon, and each moon takes with it a billion moths when at last it takes flight into space.

[snapshots-of-the-young-egotist]

Shout out to myself

for getting into an accident.. blinded by the sun.. the thing about that though, is that it was actually my very best slash very worst accident. I didn't even hit anyone- I really don't even want to mention what I hit because it's srsly so embarrassing . Like, okay. You know those random yellow, stout poles? They literally are there just to prevent people from like cutting through the parking lot. Well guess what! It is also there to make you look like a complete dumbass because only a dumbass could drive through so much empty space and still manage to hit the one thing that in theory should be easy to avoid. This happened in the wal mart parking lot.. I was going to the far right and somehow just cut my corner too short.. and suddenly, there was a very loud crash followed by a pause and some cracking.. and then the laughter from the entrance of the store ensued... which is comical all in itself.. why check on someone when you could just laugh at them!? Right!? Right. . "Everyone inside the car was FINE, STANLEY" - my biggest regret there is srsly not getting out and taking a grand bow. It would've been so cute and I would've done a little curtsy. . So that was several days ago. . Got a little flashback when I went back to the same lot yesterday. Ugh. Last thing I need is my driving anxiety to come back. Idk I've yet to order a new lens. I went to auto for a few things.. I finally got one of those little circular things that pulls dents out and I'm so exited to use it, I've yet to use it. Had a moment of silence for my dignity because that flew out the widow when I went to check out. I get a feeling something is in my shirt and I just happened to glance down, and like some kind of ant or large ant was in my shirt. Very embarrassing to experience in a tank top. Won't go into further details.. but omg - - so with my luck, there were zero ratchets left in the $3.99 bin and I need one of those bad boys to take the front panel off. The thing about these fun tasks that I relish in, is taking something apart. It's exciting to have to memorize where things go. The drivers side lens was completely cracked- and there is limited exposure to the brake line.. but nothing that can't be fixed on a Sunday morning. Do I want to do this myself though! That is the real question.

I know that answer

[splatsune-reblogs]

A Sample From A Splatoon 2 Thing I’ve Been Writing

I’ve been in a huge Splatoon phase since I played S2′s campaign and Octo Expansion back in June/July. At some time back then I had had a few related daydreams about appearing in that world and had written it down in a Google Doc.

Since then it’s become a self-feeding thing, where I’ve since kept adding onto it, and improving my writing, which results in me daydreaming more about that story and my version of the world, and so on.

I’ve actually had this following sample written out in some form or another for a few months, but seems the most relevant to the thread I’m writing out at the moment. It takes place not too long after Octo Expansion, and occurs after a chapter in which Lily, an ex-human from the past, has been exposed during a heated argument.

Enjoy.

Agent 8.

From somewhere deep underground, with the help of Pearl, Marina, and Captain Cuttlefish, who happened to be the leader of the legendary Squidbeak Splatoon, he had been given an entirely new life, here in Inkopolis.

But something about what he was doing right now, sprinting down the street after a fleeing Inkling, beside Marina Ida, felt very familiar.

And yet… after what he’d endured to get here, after what Marina had hurriedly told him about her as she had pulled him along, he knew something had to be done.

With his reddish tentacles styled like a Mohawk, and wearing casual clothing, he didn’t look entirely out of place among the people moving along the sidewalk, though they gave the two Octolings a wide berth as they chased Lily down.

They both wore wireless earpieces hooked up to Marina’s radio. As they listened to Pearls’ impromptu interrogation, they chased the ‘Inkling’ down several blocks, even as she rushed into traffic just to attempt to escape the two.

They both saw her turn down another alleyway. Marina looked over at Agent 8 and noticed he had been carrying his backpack. “Hey, you got any of your old gear in there?”

“Uhh, probably,” he replied. “I still haven’t really cleaned it out.”

“I have an idea. Stop for a moment.”

They halted just shy of the alleyway, and Marina rummaged through the pack quickly. “Come on… yes! Oh! Even better, two!” She pulled two small devices from the pack. They looked like something that would play ultrasonic frequencies to repel mosquitos, but Marina took one and handed the other to Agent 8. “When we catch her, make sure we stick one of these on her.”

Agent 8 nodded. “Go around and we’ll try to pincer her into a corner. And then… what’s the plan? Do we end her?”

“No!” Marina said firmly. “No. Not unless it goes real ugly. Just… apprehend her. Incapacitate her if you have to. Whatever you have to do to stop her being a problem.” Marina started to walk past the alleyway deliberately, as if she had not seen Lily turn down that way. “I’ll signal through the radio when it’s time to move in.”

Marina kept walking around to the end of the block and rounded the corner, leaving Agent 8 alone to listen to Pearl at work. She’d finished having a go at Sheldon and had now moved onto two squids, apparently friends of the fugitive.

“You. Boy. What’s your name?”

“Uh… Roller.”

“How long have you known the human?”

“L-less than an hour really. I was just on their team at Makomart…”

“And you didn’t notice anything weird about them?”

“Not until Lorne and her started talking about coming here and being secretive about Sheldon being their friend…”

“Is that it?”

“More or less. They seemed alright… Are they really as dangerous as you say?”

“For sure. But it’s okay. We’re on the case. That’s all. Thanks kid.”

Silence. Agent 8 adjusted his earpiece, continuing to wait for Marina’s signal.

“What the hell, Pearl?!” A new female voice came in over Pearl’s transmission. “We vetted her! We’ve watched her for weeks! She’s not evil or even dangerous! She just wants her old things so she can live a comfortable life like the rest of us!”

“Do you know that?”

“Yes! Even when she first came here—“

A series of loud beeps came in over the earpiece, interrupting the conversation. Marina’s signal. Time to move.

“What the heck was that?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Pearl’s voice replied, before 8 lowered the volume to a whisper and stepped into the alleyway, scanning for signs of the fugitive, from ground to sky.

The alleyway was quiet. Besides a few locked back doors into various businesses, a dumpster bin, and an employee’s bicycle, there wasn’t many places that Lily could hide.

As he made his way toward the middle of the alleyway, toward Marina, A whirring sound caught his ears. He looked up, in its direction.

Oh. It was just an air conditioning unit. It was situated next to some piping on the wall. It was vibrating though, just slightly…

The Octoling followed the pipes upward.

And there she was, pulling herself over the edge, from the pipes onto the roof.

The human, in Inkling disguise.

“Found her!” Eight called in Marina’s direction, and set down his backpack to get out some climbing rope and a hook. How’d she get up there? He thought.

She’d climbed, of course. She didn’t need ink for that.

Unlike the rest of these fools, she thought smugly, I’m descended from the most well-known climbers in the animal kingdom. She wasn’t as great as climbing up things like poles when she’d put on weight as a human, but now that she was lightweight again, it had been nearly a breeze, once she got a feel for it again.

But the sound of Marina’s friend’s call made her pick up the pace. Now she stood on the rooftop of some building. More A/C refrigeration units up here. One corner housed the roof access, but there was a small gap between it and one of the raised edges that gave her an idea.

She rushed for it, and, transforming, wedged her squid self into the gap. She hoped that nobody would spot the light blue squid in this small space.

She didn’t have to wait long to find out. A hook, like a grappling hook, whizzed by her and wedged itself into the wall. She adjusted her position, getting ready to make another run for it if necessary.

The boy appeared first, climbing up upon the edge, eyes scanning the rooftops around her. Lily, underneath his feet, in the little crevice, stayed absolutely still.

He stepped off onto the ground, next to the stairs leading down into the building, and Marina appeared where the boy was. Neither of them noticed Lily slowly edge her way to the opposite end of the crevice, away from them.

They spread out, searching the roof. Stepping around the A/C units and piping, they covered as much of the area as they felt was necessary. No sign of her.

“Do you think she could have jumped from here to another roof?” Agent 8 asked, walking over to one of the sides facing the next building.

“I don’t think so. Not the way she was acting.” Marina sighed.

“She has their complete trust,” the Octo boy said to her, gesturing at something in his ear. “The girl and Sheldon. Do you think this human did something to them?”

Marina was silent for a moment, looking over at him. “…No,” she finally responded, with a sigh. “They looked completely normal. I don’t know… I’m just scared we’re going to have another repeat of NILS. I don’t know what she’s capable of. We still don’t know what humans are capable of.”

“We should apprehend her soon, then. What do you know about her, Marina?”

“Well… she has access to ancient technology. I’ve seen her with a laptop and a phone. I think the car at the hotel might have been hers. She also hangs out with that one girl you heard from Pearl. I think she’s been her friend since she arrived.”

Lily took advantage of their inattention to inch her way over to the Octolings’ climbing rope, trying to get up onto the ledge without changing and making noise.

Eight turned to look at Marina. “I mean… look, I’m terrified at the prospect of another Tartar too, but I’m not seeing it in her yet. Granted, he played me like a fiddle, and maybe she will play us in… the end…” He trailed off.

“…What?” Marina asked, concerned. She noticed Eight staring off in the direction of the rope they used to get up, past her shoulder.

Marina turned around.

There was a light-blue squid frozen in place on the edge of the roof by the rope, its eyes frozen in their direction.

There she was.

They stared at each other for a few seconds.

And then Lily finally launched herself from the ledge, transforming, and as the Octolings ran over, they saw her rush back onto the sidewalk and disappear from view.

The human was gone.

Agent 8 and Marina both looked at each other, then leapt off from the roof and raced off in her direction.

[shaimaglobo]

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[archer973]

So, life update!

I haven’t been around, besides my queue rolling, cuz frankly life has taken an aggravating left turn into Bullshitville

Took the kiddo to Michigan to spend some time with his Grandma (and enjoy the lack of two inch long mooseflies gnawing on him). Got back home, day later, power’s gone! Figure it is cuz they’re replacing the poles, grumble about bad luck, continue on with our lives.

Power does not come back on. Call power company. Bill is three days passed due, so being the cunts they are, they disconnect (yes I know they have to send a disconnect notice first, CMP is a nasty piece of shit company and is more than happy to bury someone in lawyers). Cue grumbling and bitching, but hey, payday is only two days away, we can deal, no biggie.

Payday rolls around. No paycheck. Husband goes up to HR. Supervisor apparently “forgot” to put in his PTO that he got approved LITERALLY THREE MONTHS AGO. (This is the same supervisor that refused to give him the holiday pay because he had to leave work for an hour to come get me and the kiddo when our car broke down and the tow truck literally could not take us. And because of policy, that meant Husband lost not one but BOTH days of holiday pay).

So no paycheck that week. Which meant no power. So we hunker down, put our immediate perishables in a cooler and bring up the storm water from the basement. But we lost everything in our freezer that we couldn’t grill within the next two days, and we’re getting low on clean clothes, because we literally just got back from two weeks of traveling.

But we deal. Payday comes around again! Hallelujah.

Bill is paid. Power should come back on, right? Wrong. They say it could take until Monday evening (paid on a Thursday, mind you). Another weekend no lights, no running water. Temps got up to 95* with 100% humidity.

Monday rolls around. Waiting with bated breath for power! No power. Company is closed down for the night.

Call the next morning. They say they’ll send a tech! Only one tech in our area, and he’s on a ten hour job. They promise he’ll swing by tomorrow, first thing!

He does. Says our meter is bad. Comes back sometime in the afternoon and replaces meter. Meanwhile, I’m running around applying for different jobs, because Husband’s old combat injury is getting worse and he can’t keep doing the job he’s doing. I haven’t had a shower since we were in Michigan, so I scrub my hair in the sink and try to find the least smelly clothes I have.

Go to interview. Get job! Things are looking up. Come home, still no power. Have to wait for an overnight reset, they say. Morning rolls around, guess what? Still no fucking power.

At this point we are at the end of our rope. Company claims everything looks good on their end, we should have power. So that means it’s something in the house.

(Keep in mind the power was working just fine before they shut it off.)

Husband calls electrician friend of his. Electrician friend suggests a few small things to try. Nothing works. Meanwhile Husband has left Shit Job and started working full time at the garage, which is good, we both like it much better, but he doesn’t get paid until a project is finished and the customer pays the garage owner. Which is why I am picking up the job at the factory, so we have a steady paycheck.

Electrician friend says it might be the electrical box, which is almost a grand just for the box itself. Says that it might have been shorted out by the bad meter when CMP tried to turn the power back on. Electrician friend offers to come up and look at it Saturday (this was this morning, Friday). We thank electrician friends profusely.

We were supposed to dogsit for my mum and go to the Renn Faire. Had to bin the Renn Faire and I came down solo to my mum’s (which is how I’m posting this) to hang with the dog, do a metric fuck ton of laundry, and take my first shower in three weeks. Tomorrow we will find out whether we have to beggar ourselves to try’n fix the electricity, or if there is a simpler (and cheaper) fix.

So if y’all have any good vibes to spare, I could definitely use them, cuz this has been some ridiculous bullshit.

Good news is I start work full time on Monday!

[theonyxpath]

Ahoy there! Matthew here, with a blog post about our upcoming B-Movie sci-fi game, They Came From Beneath The Sea! This game is all about the thrills of the cinema, whether it be special effects, death-defying stunts, awful one-liners, or horrible monsters. They Came From has a rose-tinted view of the era in which it’s set, viewing the 1950s through a Happy Days meets Stepford Wives lens. There’s always a record playing on the jukebox, the guys all drive hotrods, and milkshakes only cost a silver dollar a piece.

Now the preamble is out of the way, I wanted to share a little bit of the chapter aimed at Directors (or GMs, Guides, Storyguides, or Storytellers, as they’re otherwise known). This part is called The Director’s Chair, and it handles different ways of framing your B-Movie extravaganza! Do excuse the page XX’s…

The Director’s Chair

While Directors come with many ambitions, they are as much of a player as the others at the table. Just like the players, who get to enhance their characters as they gain experience through play (see p. XX), Directors in They Came From Beneath The Sea! get to alter their games with a few fun features they should advertise before the game commences.

Low Budget

If the Director decides the story they’re running is equivalent to a low budget movie, they should go out of their way to describe the shoddiness of the sets, costumes, weapons, and acting. Directors of this type should play their supporting characters in stilted or hammy ways, implying washed-up actors pulled in off the lot are the cast of this feature. Monsters should seem less threatening in their description, or have their actions only rarely described. When the low budget Centopus devours its prey, the camera cuts away to the faces of the characters. You never see the full action in a low budget movie.

Consider restricting your plots to a handful of areas, or repeating descriptions for multiple locations using the same, slightly adjusted set. If you want to get truly meta, insert deleted scenes where transitions might otherwise happen. In games on the low budget setting, the highlight reel is more important than the car journey from A to B.

Directors should consider awarding Experience points (see p. XX) to players whenever they act in a hammy or amateurish way, when they describe their characters falling through scenery (or making it wobble) at a dramatic moment, or when harm dealt to an alien seems to do more damage to the costume than the alien itself.

Big Budget

Big budget movies barely scrape by under the B-Movie banner, but plenty of blockbusters have flopped, to later be incarcerated to the bargain bin of a supermarket somewhere. This is your story. Directors should insert characters based on famous movie actors and lovingly describe the effects and visuals surrounding alien attacks. Liberally apply explosions after every gunshot, even when a bullet hits something innocuous like a telegraph pole. Boom — up it goes, the victim of a movie with too high a budget.

In games based on big budget movies, action takes precedent over subtle dialogue. Incongruous styles edge in, such as a martial arts contest between the sheriff and the intruding special agent, a cheerleader who works as a costumed vigilante at night, or the giant monsters when humanoid-sized threats will do.

Directors should consider awarding Experience points (see p. XX, if we’ve not made that clear) to players whenever their characters cause an explosion, when they suborn dialogue in favor of fists, or when they accomplish an award-winning scene (see p. XX) that makes the rest of the players applaud.

Art

Art movies are, by their nature, often B-features. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was common for a confused crowd to stumble away from the French art feature preceding their monster movie, wondering why in hell that skeleton was smoking that cigarette for 45 minutes, and what the voiceover was rattling on about. A game of They Came From Beneath The Sea! with an artistic flair should give scenes over to introspective character moments, inexplicable alien movements, and political and philosophical declarations during the story that bear little relevance to the action. Only in the hours after the game ends will the players start thinking “so the Prefecture of the Pod was an Anarcho-Syndicalist commune after all…?”

No player group wants to walk away from a game utterly confused, but a teased mystery or a montage of events following or running adjacent to the story that seem to bear no relevance, can serve to pique interest or amuse. Consider freeze-framing at the end of a session to explain what happens to each character present. The players may be a little bewildered when they find out Dino, the local circus strongman, was a communist all along, but they may see this as part of the madness of They Came From.

Directors should consider awarding Experience points to players whenever they stand or move away from the group to perform a soliloquy, when their characters make a stunning political or philosophical revelation, or when the characters do something completely incongruous to the rest of the plot.

Exploitation

Exploitation movies existed in one form or other since cinema began and were almost always B-Movies. To those unfamiliar with the term, exploitation in a cinematic sense is creating a movie of a genre or containing content designed to shock or spread controversy. They Came From Beneath The Sea! can enter the realms of exploitation very simply: by exploring the politics of the time through a sympathetic lens. The sad fact is, the 1950s were no picnic for minorities in America or much of Europe. Any game focusing on the struggles of the persecuted could be described as an exploitation feature and should be finely measured to not wade into the realms of offense and ridicule. Careful highlighting of issues of the time, framed within a hamfisted alien invasion setting, is a perfect example of how minorities struggle beneath a tide of violence. It’s not advised this course is pursued entirely for comic effect, unless the humor is “punching up” against the persecutor.

Of course, exploitation also covers the realm of gore, needless violence, and sex. All these things happened to limited degrees in 1950s cinema (more prevalent in European features than American), but an inventive Director may wish to re-engineer They Came From into a splatterfest of green goo and pink guts. Directors should consider awarding Experience points to players whenever they get the better of “the Man,” when they achieve a poignant goal for a persecuted group (including aliens, potentially), or when they do something completely out-of-seeming with the light-hearted B-Movie sci-fi genre.

Tyrannical Director

Some directors (not Directors — you’re all lovely!) are complete jerks. Another word for them would be perfectionists, but it’s rare for actors to experience heavy-handed direction and feel “well, he’s just a perfectionist” when being made to experience take 98 of scene 12.

Directors should definitely advertise they’re playing the role of a tyrant before gameplay starts, as this is the style of story designed to punish characters. Never punish the players but do punish the characters. Make the characters go through the mill, have the aliens deal more damage than usual, cut off glib moments or award-winning scenes with an extra or supporting character walking across the location: do what you must to bring the best out of the characters.

What purpose does such a role serve other than to be the aforementioned arsehole? The Director should have a goal in mind, a Rubicon to cross, an achievement for characters to attain. Once the characters reach this goal, the tyrant should shower them with rewards. They’ve made it! They want Experiences? They have them! They want alien tech? They have it in the next adventure? It’s a fine line to walk, and not for brand new Directors, but consider it a trial by fire for all participants who want a tougher game.

Interested in learning more? Keep up to date with this project and our upcoming Kickstarter by following the Monday Meeting Notes.

[gaypopandlockmein-blog]

omg i love your superheroes au for astro! idk if you take requests for that au but if you do, can you do a reaction (if you do reactions) or a simple scenario for rocky and sanha accidentally hurting you with their powers?

*so I feel it’s important to really build up these two andexplain how the relationship even started (especially in Sanha’s case given howterrified he is of his abilities), so let’s get into that and do this in bulletpoint form*

Rocky

-         Now this human light torch (as he so fondly getscalled by Bin on a fairly regular basis) is actually not all that…peopleoriented

-         Like, don’t get me wrong, he loves being around people andinteracting, but he is a bit socially inept

-         A good example of this is the fact that hethought it would be cool to just, light a kid’s birthday candles with his ownfinger, and that was…it went very very badly

-         Badly enough the fire department was called,Jinwoo had to apologize to everyone for the now toasted birthday party andslightly charred mall, and Rocky was unceremoniously told that he should reallykeep his powers under wraps (that nearly got Myunjun up in arms because anyonewants to talk to his boys like thatis gonna get smacked)

-         So he has kind of become a withdrawn character,which maybe is reason enough for him to pick on Sanha, since the two of themhave a habit of keeping in the shadows

-         That being said, he finally finds himself drawnfrom that darkness when he meets you

-         You’re just a typical student, though youdefinitely have had your fair share of struggles (many of which can be equatedto the fact that you’re a bit of a clutz)

-         It happens to be during one of the few times that Rocky is out and about,sticking to the back and chatting idly with Bin occasionally, that you crosspaths with him

-         At first, he thinks nothing of it, because ASTROis well known around this area, and it isn’t uncommon for them to brushshoulders with the citizens (even if Sanha will shy away and basically circlethe person so as not to touch them)

-         Either way, he’s chatting with Bin, kind ofglancing around and keeping his eyes on the sky and the clouds when he feelssomeone bump into him

-         And it isn’t a gentle bump, no, it’s more of a frantic and aggressive one, as if the person whodid it was running

-         Which, when Rocky turns around, he sees you are,clutching all your things to your chest and not paying much attention to whereyou’re headed (you were on a deadest mission: you were running late for yourclass and honestly, the last thing you needed was a tardy on your record)

-         Just as he’s calculated this, his eyes shift,taking in the swerving car on the road, noticing that the driver is out ofcontrol and you’re about to cross the street and (okay this is super cliché), but he can almost picture the event that’s about to unfold

-         Before any of the other guys notice, he’srunning after you, and there’s a brief moment, one of sheer panic, where youlook up and your eyes lock on the car and everything slows to a crawl

-         Rocky watches as the car swerves, just barelymissing you and smashing into a light pole that comes careening down on top ofthe car

-         No one else has to say a word as a spark fromthe broken light hits the gas that was spilling from the destroyed car, and youhadn’t moved an inch, poised like a deer caught in the headlights (which youwere just a moment before)

-         Just as the fire ignites and seems to be headingright for combustion (and literally everyoneelse is running away from it but you), Rocky comes barreling into you,knocking you to the ground and shielding you with his body

-         The explosion itself isn’t nearly as bad as itcould have been, but the ringing in your ears is deafening, and you findyourself in a haze as you look up to Rocky, who’s staring back down at you, aslight patch of fire on his shoulder that he pats out without even blinking

-         So, needless to say, after the paramedics andfire department and police show up and the zoo is calmed, you find yourselfsitting in the back of an open ambulance, a paramedic carefully checking youover as you focus your full attention on the members of ASTRO who are talkinganimatedly to the police

-         Rocky looks out of it, his gaze focused on thedying embers of the car and what was left of the driver

-         Something in his features has you standingslowly, telling the paramedic you’re fine as you wander over and tap hisshoulder, drawing his attention to you

-         A look of surprise crosses his face, but yousurpass that, thanking him profusely for saving you as you hug him tightly

-         It doesn’t take a genius to know he’s beatinghimself up for not doing more, but you aren’t close enough with most people toreally handle the situation in any better way than physical contact

-         Somehow after this event, it becomes almostregular for you and Rocky to bump into one another, sharing small conversationas you pass and harboring feelings that cause his blood to race with fire andyour cheeks to burn

-         It feels like ages before he finally makes amove (and you were so close to doing it yourself honestly) and then it seemslike it’s smooth sailing from there on

-         The relationship doesn’t burn like an inferno,but smolders just below the surface until it reaches a point where you two areso infatuated it kind of grosses out the other members

-         Of course, after having dated for a while, youknow that Rocky is holding back with you

-         Not in his affections, but in how he handlesyou, or what he tells you when he’s feeling out of sorts

-         He’s keeping secrets, but he swears it’s purelyto keep you safe (even if you know it’s hurting him more not to tell them)

-         Getting him to finally crack is…a mistake in allhonesty

-         You two are bickering and the previously amazingdate is going to hell because he won’t listenand he won’t be there with you

-         He’s hiding secrets from you that you deserve toknow as someone that cares for him, and while Rocky knows this, his emotionsget the better of him

-         Without thinking, he pushes at your shoulder,anger flaring inside him as he does so (he can’t bring himself to talk abouthis past or the things he keeps barricaded in the back of his mind)

-         As soon as he touches you, your skin igniteswith a burning pain that has your breath leaving you and your knees crumplingas you grab frantically at your clothing, trying to get it off

-         Rocky sees this and hears a soft scream and that’sall it takes for him to calm down, dropping to his knees beside you andreaching out, only for you to shy away from his touch

-         You whisper for him to call the paramedics,refusing to look at him, and all it takes is one look for Rocky to see that youneed serious medical attention (the burn is red and sweltering and bubbling andit’s nearing the kind of second or third degree that Rocky has only seen onsevere burn victims)

-         After what feels like hours of being in thehospital waiting room, Rocky is allowed to see you, and he breaks down as soonas he does

-         It isn’t terrible, and the doctor informed youthat with some rest, a lot of ointment and careful cleaning, the wound wouldheal with minimal scarring

-         That does little to appease Rocky’s worries, andhe buries his face in his hands as he whispers he’s so sorry to you over andover

-         His biggest fear was to hurt the ones he caresfor, and he did just that in a moment of stupid and petty rage

-         Your hand touches his briefly, managing to pullit away from his eyes so he’ll look at you

-         And even if he’s scared and maybe you are too,you swear to him that this changes nothing

-         Something was bound to happen at one point oranother, and now you two knew that there was a limit to everything

-         It doesn’t mean Rocky is pacified, but youpromise to yourself – as you watch him begin to fall asleep in the hospitalchair – that you’ll figure out his secrets and mend the scars that he’s burnedinto himself

Sanha

-         In Sanha’s case, it’s even harder to imagine himreally getting close to someone like this, purely because he’s so terrified of his abilities

-         The fact is, he can’t even touch someone, letalone get close like he wants to, and it…it worries him and haunts his dreams

-         Meeting you was a fluke of any nature

-         You work at the local zoo as a volunteer in thereptiles and amphibians house, while also being a volunteer at the library

-         Needless to say, you’re pretty much everywhereSanha is, because he tends to drop in frequently to both these places with asmall smile on his face and a very distant nature

-         He tends to do a lot of hiding in the shadows,guarding himself from others, which you can understand

-         What Sanha doesn’t know is you’re a superhumantoo (or a mutant, as your family liked to call you) and you can see howterrified he is whenever he learns something new about the animals he inquiresabout

-         Sanha usually asks you all sorts of things aboutthe poison dart frogs, which you happen to have learned a plethora of factsabout purely because they are so cool

-         At least, to you they are

-         Anyway, as a mutant/superhuman, you have one ofthe rarer abilities (that is, you can adapt to another mutants powers)

-         It’s not like MJ, who can block and absorb theability, you can actually channel it and therefore adapt in order to keepyourself alive against said powers

-         Of course, this means that you have to be exposedto the ability in order to do so, and while you kind of wish that Sanha wouldjust touch you so that you could dojust that, he’s distant at best

-         Usually he comes in with jeans and long sleeves(even in the middle of the summer), with gloves on and a hat and anything elsethat is needed to protect himself and others from his powers

-         You don’t meanto be fascinated, but you can’t help it really, he’s just this…anomaly

-         As much as you are a rarity, so is he among thesuperhuman classification

-         Getting closer to him is seemingly impossible,merely because (while Sanha will admit he has an inkling of a crush on you), herefuses to believe he can be with someone in any way like that

-         This fact alone is a bit infuriating, as youfind yourself always seeming to gain ground, only to lose it all by the time heappears again

-         And Sanha can’t help but fall for you (you’re literally always there when he needssomeone and you’re pretty and cute and your smile makes his heart race and ifhe could ever kiss someone, he sure as hell wants it to be you)

-         But he keeps himself away (far away in somecases) in order to keep you safe from himself

-         It isn’t until he comes in one day, hoisted byboth elbows by Eunwoo and Jinwoo, that he finally confesses and you manage toget a date from him (you tease him about it quite a bit and he mumbles that hishyungs are just meddlers and wouldn’t stop bothering him about you)

-         The date goes well, and then a few more proceedit, until Sanha starts to think that he couldn’t imagine a day going by wherehe doesn’t get to see you or talk to you in some way

-         He finds himself dreaming of you and thinkingabout how nice it would be (especially during little movie dates) for him to beable to hold you close to him and just befor a minute

-         Much to your chagrin, he does not allow himselfto be any bit of physically affectionate towards you (though part of youreminds you that he doesn’t know that you’ll be perfectly alright)

-         The bubble that exists around your relationshipbursts, as most would in such a strained situation, though it doesn’t end in afight at all

-         Sanha and you happen to be enjoying a perfectlynice day in, watching the rain travel down the window panes as some movie playsin the background

-         Another movie night has come and gone, thoughneither of you is ready to say goodnight

-         As you and Sanha are basking in the silence,lightning flashes outside, and something inside you jumps – not from fear, butfrom the excitement of realizing this might be the moment

-         Because Sanha has looked over at you, and heseems a bit drowsy, and he’s mumbling something so softly you have to leancloser to hear him and his breath is ghosting your skin and you know there’sonly an inch between you both and you…

-         Well you close it before he can second guessanything or really process the action itself

-         As soon as you touch his lips with your own,Sanha is jumping back, nearly falling off the couch as he watches your facetwist in pain and a hand, shaking and sweaty suddenly, reach up to touch yourown lips

-         His heart is racing, panic inching through hisveins as he watches all the effects of poison take over your features, and he’spowerless to do a damn thing

-         Mere minutes pass before you lean forward andtake a gulping breath of air, hands grasping at the coffee table as Sanha just stands there with sheer horror writtenover his features

-         Silence settles in the room, a brief bout ofthunder rumbling through the sky, and Sanha is almost sure you’re dead and heisn’t sure what to do other than start crying

-         Which he does, and it has you looking upsuddenly, eyes wide in shock before you’re hurtling the coffee table andpulling him into you, whispering his name and rubbing his back as you soothehim

-         When his sobs turn to hiccups and blubbering, hefinally manages to pull himself back, staring at you as if you’re a ghost,which you suppose makes sense, given you basically just died in front of him

-         A flush rises to your cheeks as you murmur thatyou’re not exactly…normal and heisn’t sure what you mean until you reach out to stroke his cheek

-         Sanha flinches away at first, so you ask softlyif you can touch him, and he decides that, if you didn’t die before, you shouldbe fine now, right?

-         Which you are

-         The gentleness of your touch has him leaninginto it, craving it more than anything, and you hum softly, whispering that youadapted to his powers, he can’t hurt you

-         More tears begin to slide down his cheeks andyou panic, cupping them and asking if something was wrong, if he was hurt

-         Which he shakes his head to, opening his eyesslowly, lashes dusted with tears and eyes watery as he gives you a smile andleans in close, pressing his forehead to yours and breathing in every bit ofyou

-         His voice cracks as he whispers he hasn’ttouched someone in so long; he thought he never would

-         That alone has you crying too, thinking of allthe years he must have gone through, not being able to get close to anyone orshow them how much he cared

-         How touch starved and deprived he was

-         Pulling him closer, you press your lips to hisagain, murmuring that you’ll never let him go another day without knowing howloved he was

-         And hey, now you could mess with his hyungs andmake them think he poisoned you as a prank, right?