#and this was just supposed to test how well my markers work on it

[sunshine-biter]

I can keep him in my wallet now

[taeyongsfemdom]

Can we get a scenario where the reader drugs Taeyong with an aphrodisiac and he becomes insanely horny and wants you to breed him. It's one of those futa reader and taeyong having a pussy type shit while becoming bimbofied in the process (mentally)

Oh fuck me anon-

You finished filling the glasses of wine for you and Taeyong, your hand grabbing the bottle of pills on the counter which was an aphrodisiac that you've been working on at the company and it needed a test run.

“Let's see how well you work on my rose, little pill. Supposed to kick in after 30 seconds after ingesting"

Your fingers pop it open as powder sprinkles into the glass of white wine, not even altering the color of the liquid as you swirled it around like it was potion, a smirk appearing on your lips as you headed to the living room. Taeyong was sitting there drawing on a pair of shoes he bought for himself recently, various markers and paint covering the coffee table which made you smile along with the cute little pajama shorts he had on that were pink.

"Have a little drink with me?" You said as you crossed your leg over the other, the slit of your nightgown shifting around, handing him the glass as he smiled at you.

"Now you know I don't do well with alcohol, goddess"

"I know but it's just one glass, and I don't wanna drink alone. Plus, we have fun when we're drunk!"

He giggled as he clinked his glass against yours as you both sipped, your eyes looking at him instantly when he took a big sip.

"This tastes really good! Is this a new kind you bought?"

"Nope! It's the one I always bu-" your eyes widened as his glass was already empty and his cheeks were a little red

"Beat me to it! You drunk that fast" His cheeks started getting real red as his head fell into your breasts, his arms holding his stomach as he fell back on the couch.

"God, I don't feel very good......" those slender legs shifting around as a damp spot appeared where that pretty cunt is, heavy breaths leaving his lips as you took another sip from your glass while standing over him, your hand rubbing his cheek lightly as your cock stiffened up under your think nightgown.

"Oh my my! Now what's got you so hot and bothered, little rose?"

"W..what was in that w-" a finger touched his lips to silence him, his hands trying to soothe the ache in-between his thighs as he got even more hot while he failed to suck your finger, his brain shutting down from not being touched.

“My special aphrodisiac must be kicking into your system, I like watching you go into heat like a sex deprived animal..makes you look so desperate” you bit your lip as he twitched on the couch while eyeing your cock that was hard and throbbing, his legs opening up for you he pulled you closer….begging you to fuck him.

“Please…breed me, I wanna be filled up and full of your cock” your hands tore off those tiny sleep shorts and you could see how wet that cunt was, dripping with sweet pussy juice, your thick tip pressing against his hole.

“Gonna have you knocked up with at least three of my kids inside that womb of yours, little rose”

[diefxrguns]

𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐄𝐓

✯pairings- erwin smith x afab!reader

���a/n- might be some mistakes, apologies. Do not share on tiktok without my permission. not glamourising pedophilia, Y/N is 18

✯synopsis- your teacher develops strong feelings for a specific girl in his classroom

✯ c/w- smut, teacher x student relationship. choking, spanking, and more- not comfortable? dont read.

"teacher's pet, if I'm so "special. Why am I a secret?" ✧

Your eyes couldn't concentrate on the board infront of you, never in your life have you felt this way for somebody.

Despite all the love letters from boys in your class and offers to go out on dates, boys your age-just didn't do it for you. Ya know.

There was always something about older fellows, but not to old. Maybe 25-35 since you were 18. It was appropriate after all- well for some people atleast.

Your mother would die if she saw the things that kept you up at night, on your laptop a stash of porn videos. All in the same category of porn. You had a thing for manthers, not the creepy pedophilic one's. The men who are like 30 with 20 year old girlfriends. Sounds normal right.

So when your new teacher entered the classroom, you almost fell out of your seat. His arms, his hair, everything about this man was just so fucking sexy.

He wore a blue button up shirt, that was long sleeved, but the sleeves were rolled up a bit- revealing his toned forearms. His pants were black and his blonde hair was combed back.

He had to be in his early 30's, but my God did he look so delicious.

He's an English, History and Biology teacher so he would be teaching you English and History, since those are the classes you had.

He started off by introducing himself, and went straight to work. Instructing the class to open their books on page 116. He got down to business, you could tell he was one- track minded.

His voice was so deep and demanding, but somewhat calm and smooth. He explained the work diligently. Making sure everyone understood the English lesson- before dismissing the class and closing the whiteboard marker.

As the days passed you did nothing but gawk at him, in classes you barley even payed attention. And oh- he knew you weren't listening. How your pretty eyes just stared into space, he knew exactly what you were looking at. He's way smarter then he looks.

There was one particular day, after class. You were looking at him the whole time, and he knew- but it bugged him because exams were coming up and you never took notes once. He knew your grades were sky high, and he didn't want you to fail your examinations. So he called you after class.

" Miss Y/N, please stay behind and take a seat" he said, as you were on your way out the classroom.

" Yes" you said in timid voice because of how shy and slightly intimidated you were

The older man sat on a chair opposite you, his back hunched and his elbows on his knees, he removed his glasses and looked you directly in the eye

" You're not paying attention, you think I don't know, you think I don't see how much you're looking into space during my lessons"

" Mr Smith, I'm really sorry " you said with fake sympathy, in all honesty you didn't give a fuck about his lessons. He's eye candy- who wouldn't look at him.

"Your results went from 93 to 50, your practice test results where lower then I expected. A five star student, became mediocre over night. I advise you tell me what's on your mind Y/N" he said straightening his posture and leaning back, never breaking eye contact with you

" Mr Smith, I've just been distracted lately, ya know, Like something is really troubling me". What you just said was true, something was bugging you. Everytime this fine ass man opens his mouth, breathes or even looks your way you cream your pants, leaving a stain on your lacey panties. That's the real problem.

" Ah, I see. Well, as your teacher I suppose you need to trust me with whatever it is you're going through. You need to get it out of your system so we can work through this" he said

" Well, I...um, i- I got dumped by my ex boyfriend and.. well he, he really hurt me. Its bothered me alot" you lied through your teeth, you never had a boyfriend. You just said that so that Erwin could feel sorry for you.

Immediately Erwin stood up and knelt down to your level, holding your hand gently. In this moment your heart was racing, you didn't know how to react.

What the fuck was actually going on here? Your teacher( crush) was kneeling down holding your hand, this was to much to handle.

" Y/N, I need you to not focus on other boys ok- they're a waste of time, I need you to think about bigger things. Like college and a husband maybe? You need a man that's going to take care of you, love you..."

Your chest was rising up and down as you took intense breathes, he was so close to you. His warmth was radiating off his big body onto your smaller one.

" After school I'll take you to my place, so that I can prepare you for upcoming examinations... Sound ok?" He asked as he stood up fixing his tie and getting his things

" ye-yes, it sounds awesome" you said standing up in a hurry and giving your teacher a big smile.

Everyday afterschool Erwin took you to his home.

He lived in a very spacious house, it was small but modern and fancy. A two story home with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

He had two cats aswell, a grey one and a white one. Grey one named Oscar and the white one named Bunny.

His home smelled like vanilla and sandalwood, it was clean with grey and white accents. He obviously lived alone, but damn how can such a handsome and astound man be single.

He sat you at the dining room table with your books and tutored you, and helped you make notes for your exams.

He spent three hours after school tutoring you.

You were beyond grateful for this opportunity, because it made you and Erwin closer.

Even though you never really spoke about personal things, subconsciously your souls were somewhat aligned. Almost like you had a connection that you couldn't explain or describe, you just felt comfortable around each other.

A little to comfortable

After examinations, you stopped going to Erwin's home. There was no need afterall, I mean he stopped tutoring you because exams were over.

In all honesty you missed it, you missed him. So one afternoon you went to his house to give him some treats, just to say thank you.

You knocked on his door, patiently waiting for him to open it

And in that very moment your heart shattered, the pain you felt when the door opened, only to be greeted by an older women, her late 20's to be precise. Her ginger/ strawberry blonde hair was wavy and shiny. And her body was curvaceous and slim

Her nails painted red, she wore a tight black dress and heels, with pearls around her neck- and the cherry on top of the cake, was the 24K diamond ring she wore on her ring finger, indicating she is married.

Your face went red, not with anger. But with sadness, you felt like a fucking idiot. Falling for you teacher.

" Oh hello dear, you must be Erwin's student, please come inside. He must be thrilled to see you" she said, in a nice tone of voice as she let you inside

" Erwin! Honey, your student is here to see you" she yelled for her " husband" as she told you to sit and offered you a cup of tea

" Oh my, Y/N. This is rather unexpected. Why have you come?" Erwin asked as he dried his hair, obviously he just came out the shower.

You tried to swallow the lump in your throat, your eyes were visibly watery indicating you were about to burst into tears.

But you had to suck it up, and pretend like nothing was wrong

" I..I um- I brought you some gifts, just to say thank you for helping me with studying" you said handing him the gift bag

A smile appeared on Erwin's face as he opened the bag filled with chocolates, and sweets . But at the bottom of the gift bag was a letter, expressing your feelings to Erwin- and how you really felt about him.

He opened the letter silently, and reading it rather quickly before clenching his jaw, his smile faded into a puzzling expression. And he looked at you for a mere second before sitting on the barstool next to you.

His wife still making tea for the both of you including herself.

" So Y/N isn't it? How is school treating you?" She asked sitting across from you and Erwin.

" Well... Its, it's, it's great actually. Thanks to Mr Smith, your husband." You said, in a fake- nice tone of voice.

She didn't catch on to your obvious sarcasm but Erwin knew exactly how you felt about her, as said before he's smarter then he looks.

" Oh well, Erwin here isn't my husband, not yet. He's actually my fiance, we're getting married...soon I suppose" she said giving you a smile and sipping on her tea.

" That's wonderful news" you said sipping the tea.

Erwin sat in silence, drinking his tea and staring elsewhere, not daring to make eye contact with you or his fiance.

" Oh my, I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Mari Dawk" she said flashing you another smile.

" You see Smith and I met in our military days, he just caught my eye, he was one with the ladies too. She said waffling on about how her and Erwin met and how they got together. But in all honesty you weren't listening, frankly you didn't care, you were to hurt to listen to these stories.

She talked to much, but she was extremely friendly. You could see why Erwin was engaged to her, Mari would make a wonderful mother.

A few minutes passed and it was time for you to leave. You couldn't spend more time in this house, with Erwin and this woman.

So you said your goodbyes and offered to clean up.

"Can I help with anything, washing my mug?" You asked Mari

" No that won't be necessary Y/N, go home and get some rest it's late " said Erwin in a monotone voice.

You shut the door behind you and made your way home...

A few days passed and your behaviour changed drastically, you barely ate and you no longer enjoyed your usual habits.

You were on a break so you never saw Erwin.

When school was back on, you payed attention in class and actually wrote notes. He noticed your change in attitude towards him.

You no longer smiled at him when you entered to classroom, you no longer greeted him or said goodbye.

It was like you changed...

When the history lesson was over, you were the last student to pack your bag. Getting ready to leave, when Erwin closed the classroom door, locking it

" Why did you lock the door? I need to go home it's afterschool" you said in a cold tone of voice, not looking at him once, packing your textbooks into your backpack.

" Y/N, please stop this little act you're doing. You think I don't what you're up to? " Erwin said standing with his hands in his pockets, a few steps away from you.

" I don't care, if you don't mind I'd like to leave Mr Smith. I don't have time for this. If it isn't about schoolwork I'm not interested" you said

" The letter you wrote to me, well... It made me emotional Y/N" he said stepping closer and closer to you, only inches away

At this point you felt so broken and drained, it wasn't exactly his fault. How was he supposed to know you liked him and besides it's his life, he can't just dump his fiance for you.

" Mr Smith, I appreciate everything you've done. I'm sorry for that letter, I wasn't in the right head space. I just had a small crush, it was nothing serious. Please go back home to your wife and forget everything. " You said tears threatening to spill from your eyes as those words were so hard to say.

You couldn't lie anymore, you loved Erwin Smith. His smile, the way he comforted you and motivated you. His kindness, his leadership, his empathy. Everything about him lured you in. You still had feelings for him, you tried ignoring them and ignoring him. But truthfully you were hooked like a worm on a fishing rod.

As you were about to walk past him, he grabbed your arm. Forcing you back to him, his arm was strong. At this point you couldn't break free from his hold, even if you tried.

He held your waist, and placed a hand on your back rubbing it gently.

Things were getting out of hand, luckily there were no surveillance in his classroom.

" Y/N, I know I hurt you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry for leading you on. Truthfully I knew you liked me, I knew from day one. And I liked you too. Not in a daughter way, I like you romantically, I don't have feelings for Mari anymore. She cheated on me with one of my friends, and she came back. The only reason I let her back into my life was because my morals were telling me, that loving you is wrong. " The blonde man said with pain in his voice, he was being serious, he was genuine.

A passionate kiss was placed upon your pink lips as Erwin held you tightly in his arms.

Your hands made their way to his neck, rubbing the back of his neck slowly. Enjoying the kiss.

Erwin began to move his hands from your waist to your ass, lifting up your skirt as he squeezed your cheeks.

He broke away from the kiss

" Do I have your consent Y/N?" He asked as he looked you dead in the eye waiting for you to respond

" Yes, yes you have my consent" you said.

He kissed you even more, before bending you over his desk. Only to pull your panties down

" hmm, won't you look at that hey. All wet for me already, I haven't even touched this pussy yet"

He began rubbing your folds gently, making you whimper from every touch.

Erwin flipped you over, you sat on his large desk with you legs spread for him to see.

He unbuttoned your school shirt and threw it elsewhere.

And unclipped your bra, letting your pretty breasts drop.

He couldn't believe it, the sight of your pretty body, made him so fucking hard.

He gave you a kiss before flipping you back over again and kneeling down to your pussy. His tongue flicked across your already- wet folds, earning moans from you everytime.

He eventually inserted his cock into your pussy, fucking you slowly at first. Gradually he fucked you even faster, causing you to moan loudly.

Echo's could be heard throughout the empty classroom, as well as moans and pants.

The both of you came a few times, before deciding it'll be best to leave the school, before you both got caught doing your lewd activities.

And after cleaning up the classroom and getting dressed, Erwin grabbed you and kissed you once again

The words " I love you" falling from his lips

All rights reserved ©

[chaos-lioness]

Happy Rosh Hashana guys have some marker experiments with my new favorite Jewish character of all time, Brian Jeeter. And Krejjh!!! ID below, lengthy design decision ramblings below that :)

[ID: A marker drawing of Krejjh and Jeeter from The Strange Case of the Starship Iris. Jeeter is a light-skinned human with short curly hair. Krejjh is an alien with four arms and mid-length hair in elaborate braids. They are lying on a mattress together with their arms and legs overlapping, partly covered by a blanket. Krejjh is face down and their limbs are spread out across most of the mattress. They are drawn in purple. Jeeter is face up and smiling slightly in his sleep, and drawn in blue. He has visible top surgery scars and oxygen tubing leads from under his nose to a machine beside the mattress. Also on the floor are two pager-like devices, a pile of notes and books, and a tablet showing two figures in elaborate hats. END ID]

Marker test number two has been marginally successful!! Still trying to figure out how best to get a degree of smoothness. My main regret with this is Krejjh’s sleeping position honestly. ‘Krejjh is exhausted flops face down and takes up the whole bed’ is, I maintain, a hilarious idea. But now we can’t see them smiling back at Jeeter! Their fancy braids are supposed to be a Dwarnian thing, I wanted to give them something appearance wise that could have cultural significance. I figured Dwarnians might have a variety of hair textures just like humans, so I wanted to go with something that works similarly for lots of different types of hair. I have them on a mattress to drive home the makeshift way they’re using the new ship (I intended this to be set mid season 2). The stuff on the floor is supposed to be coms, linguistics research, and everyone’s favorite Dwarnian soap. Also, big thanks to @high-voltage-rat for answering my hopefully spoiler free vague questions, this was a good drawing to have a resident Biomed Person for! Believe it or not a lot of work went into figuring out where Krejjh’s extra arms should go that would not have been possible without her anatomy textbooks and well-informed suggestions. (The muscles for the bottom arms are upside-down versions of the musculature in human shoulders (and Krejjhs’s top arms) if anyone was wondering. Also the bone structure is behind their digestive organs, so their stomach pokes out more than a human’s… which you could also see if I chose their sleeping position better. Alas.) Also for telling me enough that I could Google the right words to figure out an oxygen tank but Future but like the Right Amount of future. (The nose piece is name dropped so I left that pretty much unchanged, but rat said you’d usually need pressurization at night so the ‘tank’ is a little more flexible and technologically advanced than what we have right now in the real world. So it can act like a cpap and it squishes but you still gotta lug it around, keeping it nice and cannon aligned.) Finally, they’re so uh. Scantily covered because the ship is allegedly kept at 37 degrees… which for a while I thought was Celsius but maybe it’s Fahrenheit?? Anyway. 37 Celsius is really warm. So. It was the only logical way.

[theflyingfeeling]

so yeah, I went to the BC signing session at Nokia Arena today, because what else would I, a full-grown adult with a respectable dayjob, do on a wintery Saturday if not stand in a queue freezing my toes off surrounded by sugar-high teenagers for hours, just to exchange a few words with some band dudes? 🤡

(wrote this for me as to remember at least something about it afterwards, but you may read this as well <3)

The queuing part was every bit as shitty as it always is when queuing to any BC event really, but I was in high spirits and great company who were polite enough to laugh at my shitty amazing jokes 🥰

Niko was so soft and nice and aaaaaaaaaa the way he laughed so heart-warmingly at the silly (practiced) thing I said?? 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 I want to put him in my pocket <3

So when I was a kid I used to collect stickers (this is relevant, trust me), especially dog stickers because dogs are cute, and I happen to have a full page of dachshund stickers that look exactly like Rilla, so I thought I'd give Aleksi a couple of those, and the other day I jokingly checked my local supermarket's sticker selection to see if they have any more fun stickers I could give him, and lo and behold I actually found some cool Spider-Man ones, and naturally I JUST couldn’t help myself 😂 and awwwwwww the way his entire face brightened up and he went "NO WAY!! 🤩" when he saw the dachshund ones aaaaaaa 😭💞😭💞😭💞😭 he said he'll put them on his laptop where he has also collected other stickers 🥺💞 I gave them in a Minigrip bag so that he hopefully won't lose them before he gets home (see the picture below for the stickers)

Aleksi’s hair looked super fluffy btw 🤲 you're welcome for this crucial information

The last time I saw Olli at a signing session I was so blown away by his beauty that I could barely speak a word to him, so this time I was determined to actually have some sort of a conversation with him, and I did succeed, even if we only talked about the weather (my go-to conversation topic) 😂 it's difficult to translate the Finnish word tarjeta, but basically I asked him how's the weather been in Oulu, and he said it's been cold ("Mites Oulussa on tarettu?" "Kylmä on."), but apparently he actually likes cold weather, my reply being "well I don't you fucking weirdo &lt;3"

Joonas heard this intellectual exhange of opinions and put in his two cents as he told me how they had recently visited Oulu and that it had been significantly colder than in Helsinki 👍

Also, as you may have seen from pictures by now, he was wearing no shirt under his blazer and yeah, I may have taken a good look at his rug while he was signing my totebag 👁️👄👁️ In my defence, he had it out for everyone to see, so where else was I supposed to look? His eyes? 🙄

At that signing session I went to in Stockholm last year (see the link above) I didn't manage to say a damn thing to Tommi lol (I blame Joel and Olli), so that was my other goal for this time and yaaaay, success! I didn't say much to him though, just "hi" and "ah darn, is that bloody marker not working? and here I thought I had bought a good one" ("Olin ostavinani hyvän tussin")

For context: I had brought my BC totebag (which I bought exactly 2 years ago tomorrow and have used maybe twice during all this time) with me for them to sign, and as I wasn't sure if they'd have fabric markers, I had gone and bought one for the purpose myself, and I had tested it (on paper) at home, but I guess the cold weather had affected the ink, so it was working quite poorly. They all did manage to scribble down their autographs though, and the extra time it took for them to do so offered me some extra time to chat with them, which was nice actually 🤭 (hehe sneaky meeee)

To Joel I said the new song is great ("Helevetin hyvä se uus biisi"), which he was pleased to hear. He gave me back my totebag but not my marker, so I had to ask for it lol, to which he said his brain was not working properly anymore (felt 💀), to which I said that at least he hasn't been standing in the freezing cold for hours, to which he said: "yeah, you're the actual heroes here" and hell yeah we are lol, I wouldn't do this shit for any other band 😌

Then he tried to give me the autograph card of the next person in line dfdggdgdgddd poor Joel, I guess his brain really wasn't working

Afterwards my mouth was SO dry from talking so much in such a short time lol, but I was happy I got to say most of the stuff I had wanted to say to them. I was planning to show Aleksi a picture of our family dachshunds like I had done in Stockholm, but with all the hassle with the marker I kinda forgot about it (I kept grumbling about the shitty marker to literally all of them except Joel), and anyway I didn't want to slow down the queue any more than I already was 🙈

After the signing session we had pizza and went to the local Christmas market that just opened today and I bought some organic coffee beans for my brother for Christmas, so all in all I had a lovely day (ignoring the cold-as-balls weather) 🥰💞

here are the stickers I gave to Aleksi:

and here's my freshly-signed totebag (why is Olli's autograph so cute 🥺)

(I know it looks like there are some strange stains on the tote but there really isn't, as I said I've barely ever used it, so I guess it's just the fabric doing a weird thing in that lighting)

[plotwholls]

“I hope you… I hope you never learn my real name,” Phantom spits, but it doesn’t sound angry, it sounds pained, as it clutches where its ribs should be. Valerie just snarls at him. “‘Real name’?!”

Phantom gave her a look. “Do you seriously think my name is Phantom? I was alive, Red.”

Valerie felt… confused. She didn’t lower her aim though. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Phantom looked… tired. Pained. Bitter. Valerie didn’t like it. It made her feel Bad. “It means I hope you never find out my real name.”

Something in the pit of her stomach rolls, and Valerie hoists her weapons higher. Her face twisted, as if she wasn’t feeling conflicted. “Well, I ho—”

“I’m so tired,” His voice was so soft, she nearly didn’t hear it. “I just want to rest.”

She’s pretty sure her jaw dropped. “Then rest in your grave!”

She had never seen Phantom snap into something so feral. For the first time, she felt afraid of Phantom. Then, barely a moment later, the terrifying, unexplainable vision folded and forced its way back into little Phantom. His face had dropped even more, and something in Valerie’s throat dropped with it. Then he spoke and ripped the floor out from under her (metaphorically), “…I don’t have a grave. No one even knows I’m dead.”

The next day, Valerie still couldn’t get it out of her head. No grave? Not even anyone to mourn him?

It had to be some kind of trick— it had to be. …Right?

Valerie shook the thoughts from her mind. She had better things to do than think about ghosts.

Three hours later, Valerie concluded that, no, no she did not have better things to do, even as she stared down at her English test.

She couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Not even a grave.

“I want to lay your body to rest,” She declares the next time she catches up to him. “Or at least make you a grave marker for you to put over your body.”

His jaw dropped, just a tad more than should be possible, like it was half unhinged. He shook his head, and his jaw snapped back into place. “Wh-what? You would do that?!”

Something twisted in her gut, and she glared. “Manipulation or not, everyone deserves proper rites! Tell me yours, I’ll do them!”

He looked at her with big, glassy eyes, then gasped, “Yeah, sure, just— I— there’s no body.”

She frowned. That complicated things, but changed nothing at all. “And? Tell me how to lay you to rest!”

Ectoplasm started to leak from his eyes like tears, and Valerie felt panic rise up, remembering the littler Phantom, but he spoke quickly. “Just a grave marker. I don’t care what it looks like or is made of. Construction paper and crayons, for all I care. I— thank you—”

“You don’t— don’t thank me,” Valerie tells him, something hard working up the back of her throat. “You don’t need to thank me.”

He grins, and it’s stained by ectoplasm, but Valerie faintly realizes this is the happiest she’s ever seen him. “What do you want me to write on it?”

Valerie didn’t go out as Red Huntress again until she had the marker in-hand, which took three months— two to work up the pay for it, one to order and get it delivered.

She presented it to Phantom as casually as she dared (which, given how reverent he was being of a FedEx-plastic-wrapped package, was not casual at all).

“Can I see it?” He gasped out, and suddenly Valerie remembered that the Drs. Fenton were pretty sure a ghost touching their own grave could permanently disappear them. Slowly, gently, Valerie kneels down, and rests the package on her knees. Carefully, she cuts it open, and peels back the plastic, revealing her carefully-chosen, white stone plaque, with stark black lettering:

DANNY

friend, brother, & sometimes a son

‘90-‘04

Valerie stared at the writing again, and looked back up at Danny Phantom, who was once again crying, probably at the fact she’d paid extra to have a moon and the Cassiopeia constellation engraved above all of it.

She wondered if her Danny felt like that— only sometimes a son.

[dausy]

I wanted to start a new sketchbook with gold acrylic paint marker for the shine. I think it looks fun in real life but I don't think it equates well online.

anyway, my husband comes home in a couple days. I have cleaned a lot. I did like a full house cleaning almost including scrubbing the toilets and washing rugs. I got new sheets for the bed. I was going to get things like new toothbrushes and soap but he said he wanted to get those on his own.

I can't really shop for food because unfortunately sometime this week they are having a surprise power outage to test emergency response. So electricity and everything is supposed to be out for 12 hours. They said try not to stock the fridge full of food and buy a bunch of bottled water. I have like no food in my fridge anyway. So my husband will just get off the plane and be hungry...

I also mowed the weeds Im growing instead of my lawn. I replanted a bunch of grass seed.

He doesnt know social media but I did get a welcome home cake and I put it in the freezer because Im not sure how long cakes last and Im not sure exactly when he'll be home and I wont have time to go pick it up later in the week. I peeked in the box and it got a little discombobulated 8( and the top layer kinda slid off. I had to prop it back on...atleast I got to taste it I guess.

Ive also been having stomach problems again but some of that might be my own fault. After I eat I feel like my stomach is pressing on my aorta or something important and it creates a pressure that goes up into my head. Then I cant tell if Im hungry or full.

anywho, going to die tomorrow at work. Im 3 nurses short and they just keep adding patients on even though Ive reported I have no staff. Its gonna be very suspect of a day.

[dynamic-k]

Me me has a quetions :3 when did you start writing and where do your ideas come from?

-BK

Ooh, that's a tough one.

Hmm. Well, I know I started getting a like for writing in the 3rd grade. I'd done some random school two-paragraph assignment and Mrs. Meusen, my lovely teacher whom I still remember to this day, had returned everyone's papers with our grades.

And she liked to write custom messages along with the overall score and stars.

She told me in her little markered note at the top of my paper, that my writing was well structured and I make a good author. Something like that, I don't remember exactly how it was phrased, but it was a compliment to my writing.

I have no memory of what I wrote, though. It wasn't significant.

That was probably the first jump-start encouragement I got, though how it affected me in the future was probably subconscious for the most part. It's not the driving force that I remember on a regular basis as "Ah, yes, this event here is what started it all."

That long ago compliment just came to mind when I really started thinking about what the answer to your inquiry was.

My ideas just spawned into existence from my imagination. I was always the kid that found immense joy in reading books and also staring off into space. The wall. The ceiling. Out a window.

I once got lost in space during my 2nd grade Spanish class, while we were doing TESTS.

And I was lost in space, not really looking at what I was looking at... Well, I was apparently looking at someone else's test, lol. Got scolded. XD

My dreams were often the source of cool ideas also. I had entire MOVIES worth of action and everything. Sleeping was always a well anticipated privilege...

I wonder why. 👉👈

I remember my very first fanfiction was written for a comic series, Mega Man by Ian Flynn.

Cool robots, action, adventure, fights, suspense, a whole assortment of my favorite types of things to enjoy from any media, be it novel, comic, or movie.

It was... really bad. My family tells me it was good for my age at the time. The ONE friend I randomly decided to share the old google Docs with also gives me positive feedback, but... ehhhhhh.

There's reasons I haven't continued it further for years. It was pretty bad, in my eyes. I definitely had so much fun writing it though. It was a self-insert, sort of? But with an OC that had cool characteristics I just liked. Not really me, but a character that was an amalgamation of ninja skills, smarts, and powers. And was very much, as the term goes [that I would learn about just a few years later], a "Mary Sue". An overpowered character.

At least, my character still had a plethora of issues, and as the story progressed, I found ways to insert Nora [the aforementioned OC] into problems and lessen the overpowered aspects a bit.

I learned from that work. A lot.

I guess, if anyone is really interested, I can post the links to the old docs. I don't suppose I mind all that much, though I'm warning you all. I ATTEMPTED ROMANCE.

AND IF YOU ALL KNOW ME AND MY CURRENT HABITS... YOU KNOW I SAY ON A REGULAR BASIS THAT I CAN'T WRITE ROMANCE.

It was written by 13-year-old Scarlett. She doesn't exist anymore.

I think I somehow got off topic, why am I talking about my first fanfic...

Anyway!

I wrote a lot of other stories also.

I had originals.

I had fanfics. [My hyperfixation on Beyblade Metal Fusion remains dormant to this day, but I still remember all the ideas I never wrote down yet]

I had dreams that I attempted to normalize and remove dream-weirdness from for story material.

I had school assignments that were fairly tame as far as action, but I kept the docs anyway.

And then I tried to publish stuff.

[By this, I mean, on the Archive. I had technically posted fanfiction before on fanfiction.net but we don't talk about those abominations...]

I was in a Lego Monkie Kid hyperfixation at the time, and was currently on the cliffhanger of season 4. [Before the special came out, I mean.]

And I had a very very vivid dream scenario one night, where my brain decided to imagination its own ending and wrapped up plot for the cliffhanger of season 4.

I decided to post it. And I still have more ideas that I have yet to sort out and add more chapters to the fic, but that was the first published work on the Archive, I think.

And... it was romantic focused, actually. The one OC was a character that fit well into the series, and wasn't just an annoying rendition of overpowered characteristics. (I TELL YOU. I LEARNED FROM "NORA")

And, well, my dreams are good at imaginating romantic scenes. It's just my brain doesn't know how to make it sound good with words yet.

I'll get there... 😅

To get back to the point I seem to keep deviating from as I reminisce over older works and my author journey as a whole: I have come very far.

My first Alan Becker fanfic, was A Second's Tale. Which, until Super Sticks appeared, remained my most popular fic.

It started so SO simply. All I knew was, "NEW HYPERFIXATION GO BRRR!" and "I wanna write a fanfic and post it"

Then it escalated.

The AVA/AVM fandom is still my all-time favorite, and I think it's honestly going to stay that way forever. It's definitely the longest fixation I've ever had.

All my others are dormant, or active in spurts. I have a list of like, 60? 65? fandoms I'm into, lol.

Uhm, anyways, yeah.

That's the summary.

Man, that's another thing I suck at. Summarization.

Look at this long schpiel of words!!

No one gonna read this. XD

TL;DR

I have come far from the 3rd grade.

I still aim to make a difference. Make someone's day with my weird unique sense of humor. Make others inspired. ;]

And my imagination go brrrr for ideas. Dreams are just the best thing ever.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk--

[theleetoalerandalertoalee]

This was a request from a while ago and I’m so sorry @m3li0das I seriously forgot abt it man😭

Anyway I know this is probably kinda short but I’ll remake it some other day I just didn’t want to keep you waiting any longer since I felt baddd

Lee!Kaeya x Ler!Albedo

“Hmm, the indigenous flora of Wolvedom…surely, this has to do with the elemental energy from Andrius, but why does it create these wolfhooks?”

The Cavalry Captain tosses his lucky coin in the air as he speaks, “possibly it’s the same answer as to why cuihua trees in Inazuma grows lavender melon and sunsettias in the mainland of Teyvat.”

“Perhaps, Kaeya, perhaps.”

“Then the real question is, why does it take the form it does, right? Electro is manifested in a purple color, hence the hue of lavender melon…so, if this is caused by Andrius, why is it not a cyan or a blue color? Since the wolf lord controls cryo and is immune to anemo.”

“Well, I don’t think it has to do with the color of the berry itself, but the way it is perceived by the native inhabitants. Wolves lack the cones for viewing colors, for they only have two. They can only see yellow and blue, not any other color.”

“So, what are you implying, Albedo?”

“When it rains, familiar scents in the air are washed out, making it difficult for wolves to find their way back to their den. With the purple contrast of the berry, wolves see them as blue against the landscape of yellow. Using the fallen wolfhooks as markers, they can find their way back to their home.”

“That was quick, as expected.”

“Yes, so I will collect some wolfhooks as samples.”

“Very well.”

Albedo gathers some berries and seals them in a bag, “there, we may return to the crafting bench in Mondstadt City. I still have to visit Klee before I head all the way back to Dragonspine, either way.”

“Is that all you needed me for? A shame,” said Kaeya, “I thought the party wasn’t going to end so soon, after all, you invited me to come.”

“Hmm, now that you mention it, I could use a test subject, but I thought after what happened last time…you’d decline.”

“Nonsense, I’d always be happy to help.”

“Oh? Are you sure?”

Kaeya nods, walking towards the alchemist, “what do you need?”

“Well, these hooks are quite peculiar. I’d like to test them.”

“How so?”

“I’d like to see how they react to human skin, since it’s already evident they are prone to getting caught in fur.”

“True. Well, go ahead.”

Albedo picks a berry out of the bag of collected samples.

“Ready? It’ll be very quick.”

“Ready when you are.”

“Good.”

Albedo softly drags the hook of the berry along the rim of Kaeya’s ear. The Cavalry Captain smiles softly, the sensation creating goosebumps along Kaeya’s skin.

“Hm, it’s very sharp, yet not at this strength. Interesting,” says Albedo.

“It’s…not painful, no…hehe.”

“What does it feel like?”

“It…it feels like…the writing end of a quill.”

“Oh, does it?”

Albedo moves the wolfhook to behind Kaeya’s ear, “how is this then?”

Kaeya jerks his head to the side, “hehehe- the same just more…ah, more…”

“More ticklish?”

“Yes- hehehehe.”

“Fascinating.”

Albedo moves the rigid berry down to Kaeya’s neck, and the Cavalry Captain flinches.

“Oh? Are you alright?”

“Yes, it’s just a bit rough.”

“Hm…why is that the case?”

“Well it’s not tingly like a fingernail. It’s sharp like an Abyss Mage’s icicle.”

“Surface texture, of course.”

Albedo puts the berry back in the bag of samples, “in that case, may I try something else?”

“Okay.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Mhm.”

Albedo drags his fingernails up and down Kaeya’s neck, “how is this?”

“Aha…hahaha…much less harsh than the wolfhook, yes.”

“Hm, I suppose I’ll have to add microscope work to my experiment.”

“Hehehe- why?”

Albedo looks up at the giggling man, “it’s like the difference between getting a papercut and being cut with a knife. The knife cut will hurt less, because the surface is microscopically smooth. The papercut will hurt more, because the surface is rough and rigid.”

“Hehehe, smart.”

“Thank you,” Albedo ceases his experiment, “I know what I must do now. I appreciate your help, Kaeya.”

“Anytime, shall we head to the city?”

“Yes, let’s.”

Kaeya bows playfully, “allow me to personally escort you back.”

“You’re too kind.”

[chipped-chimera]

Thought I'd do a little bit of a personal update! I'm doing the reorganising thing which is still slow but really motivating - enough that I'm having good energy days where I'm getting more done! I should be able to start work on the new fish tank soon!

More commentary/thoughts/where I'm going creatively below the cut. (It might be a bit heavy, you've been warned - check tags for more info)

EDIT: Fixed Tumblr borking this, now looks like how this WAS SUPPOSED TO oof

So I'm in the process of redoing my entire office just to fit this fish thank (which has now been leak tested so we're good to go), as well as reorganising based on tips I picked up from this book for people with ADHD that I've found massively helpful. Honestly it's been great for helping me just THROW SHIT OUT because while I can have my moments of ruthless detachment and clear inventory my family is very much a 'use/reuse/reappropriate' kind of deal, which while great often gives me hesitation throwing stuff out primarily because of that pressure - especially when I'm stuck living with them. Now I know it's necessary to get everything to a state where it will STAY organised.

It's also let me take inventory of the stupid amount of traditional media art supplies which have been sitting there since high school in near pristine unused condition (we are talking a LOT of very useable acrylic paints here) and get them all organised. After chatting with my psychologist yesterday I've bought more/replacements for things I had to throw out (literally dry as a bone markers) as she literally said she 'very much encouraged' my idea of starting a visual art diary to help process emotions and stuff.

I know over the years my inspiration to do stuff has withered, usually because it's been hammered by bad moods (caused primarily by external forces I could not control on top of my already battered neurology). I know now because of shit in my past that has been largely unresolved, art has never been an outlet for emotions for me because I'm so afraid of taking up space. Despite emotions being a powerful source for art, I rarely draw on them both because I have spent so much time trying not to feel them or hiding them because unfortunately my history is one of a lot of rejection, right down to a very young age where my caregivers should have been way more on the ball. It's helped me acknowledge my way of expressing love and affection is kind of fucked - when I feel close to someone or like them a lot it has the opposite effect where I instinctively want to pull away from them because I'm scared I'm going to 'ruin it', like my life is tainted and by associating with them I'll drag them down somehow. I know it's silly but it's very hard to get past because it's automatic - that was the only way I was guarenteed to get affection, if I was the most borin, biddable, palatable child in existence who caused no problems, even if it meant enduring physical and emotional pain alone. I inherently find it hard to trust people being genuine about liking me as a person because I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop when they realise I'm too much hassle - which unfortunately was the circumstance my relationship ended around so yeah, that did not fucking help. Basically I go from being really comfortable around someone to masking intensely and yeah that is NOT GOOD. I also legit feel the reason I have alexytheimia is because I had to develop a buffer so early in my life just to survive as far as I have.

I'm hoping art journalling will help me process some of those thoughts and feelings and I still want to try and show them, just to show myself they DO have value, they are a valid part of the human experience and they should be allowed to take up space - I do not need to hide them away or cut pieces of myself out to become more 'palateable' to people. So yeah um, I guess there will be some vent art, I don't know if I'll post only to my art blog or here because it's more sketchy shit and I reserve the art blog for finished pieces now ... either way knowing me it's going to be highly metaphorical and symbolic so I don't know how 'triggering' it could be but either way I'll probably tag the absolute shit out of it just to make sure I don't adversely effect someone (yes I am aware of the irony in me saying that as it's basically me trying to 'not ruin' things again but even putting it out there at all is a big enough step - also tags are just basic decency).

So uh ... That's what I've been up to? Also why I've been kind of shit about WIP Wednesday tagging and responding to other tag games (which I am now once again remembering a bunch of that I STILL have sitting in my motifs cause I still wanna do them ; m ;) I think I tend to get something like reverse SAD this time of year, arguably for the same reasons SAD develops - it gets so damn hot that I have the curtains closed in my office (which has the biggest window in the house) all day to keep the heat out. So arguably I have just made 'tiny dark winter' for about two months because I ain't going outside when it's over 30C (aka the temp tomorrow. And the day after THAT. Fuck I hate summer). Just instead of dark and cold it's dark and sweaty - feeling clammy also being a sensory problem for me so all around BAD TIME until the season changes :/

Outside of all that I'm speculating writing a wlw romance in a western setting because I have had on off cowboy rot since forever and I should probably do something with that already. Currently speculative Native American love interest/secondary protagonist with a background that probably touches on maybe the boarding schools and then reconnection with culture. We've had similar stories with our indigenous population in Australia unfortunately (colonialism is a plague) so I can sort of have some understanding but I probably need to hit the books on that one. For any Americans/Canadians reading this if you know some good books, PLEASE send me your references, I really want to make sure I do this right. I reblogged a post a few days ago about how Native Americans are often dehumanised in westerns and they just become part of the landscape, and I really want to push against that. Also do some contrasting against how oppressive western colonial era culture was by comparison to native culture honestly because I feel that would be a really interesting dynamic. Idk when/if stuff with this project will start happening but we'll see.

If you read this far, thanks! It's pretty validating to know people care this much, since it's hard for me to believe people do care a lot of the time because of all the above bullshit. So just so you know, I love you guys 💖 and you get a bonus cat:

Tiny p.s. living with my parents now is very different from when I was a child, I know the people who caused me hurt are long, long gone. They are not the same people anymore - so I am okay! It's still frustrating but more for the reasons of wishing I had my own (bigger) space to live in and put all my stuff and just 'I am a 30 year old extremely supressed lesbian speed running puberty and this environment is not conducive to exploring that' if anything. While I'm out with my Mum I can't like ... talk about that shit lol. So yeah, frustrating but for entirely different reasons. Just clearing that up.

[skygodtraumabond]

[A thudding on the roof of the scam van can be heard, and upon opening the back of the van a Dustox with a scarred wing flutters in, settling down on the mattress and allowing two (2) packages to be retrieved, one addressed to Marny and the other to Ray.

The package addressed to Ray is wrapped in a brown paper and string, but has had yellow markings that are vaguely reminiscent of their tattoos doodled on it in what looks like yellow marker. Inside there are a variety of fruits and berries, a chocolate bar, a tin of what look like homemade gummies that have a sweet-peppery scent, a bundle of lavender colored incense and a completely unsuspicious jar of pecha flavored poffins. There is a note attached.]

Ray,

I was out at the market district this morning and I thought I might put together a bit of a care package for the two of you, since I've been wanting to mail something anyways. Just my way of saying I've been thinking of you I suppose.

I have finally finished a bit of a project I've been working on ever since that first time I saw you in the scam van. I see how much stress that motion sickness puts you through and I though maybe I could find some way to help with that. the gummies are made with that meganium tea, and I've been doing a lot of testing to try to find the right dose to calm the nerves and effects without adding too much in the way of drowsiness. Well, unless that's what you need. It's one for the nausea, two for sleep. I was hoping perhaps this might help with the nightmares too, as it does for me, but you'll have to get back to me on that.

It's also much easier to get a wide variety of fruits and such here, it's been a very interesting experience, so I picked up a few more unusual ones for you. And of course everyone deserves a treat now and then, yeah? I heard the poffins were good as well, so I thought I would send some too, do let me know how you like them.

Yours,

Amy.

P.s. The incense is for Nerve. I thought you might be running low, so i picked some up. I hope it's the right kind.

[A letter is sent back in return. It is sent on harbor mail—likely left over from when they were spending time in Slateport. Inside the envelope with the letter itself are a few pressed Kalosian flowers and small clippings from old local newspapers. They're mostly cutouts of the pokemon photos and drawings within.

The letter itself has a few tear stains on it. Seems someone got a little emotional.

The letter reads as follows:

"Amy,

Thank you. Thank you so much. I was running out of incense to burn, and this will definitely soothe things until I can find the herbs needed to make my own again. I'm sure she would love it. If her spirit still carries on these winds, I hope she can feel it. It seems to help quite a bit with the shadow effects too. Funny how, even in passing, she still helps me breathe.

I'm a bit nervous about these gummies. Not just because of your cooking skills, but because I don't know how I'll do with them. I remember I had a much stronger reaction than either of us expected the first time you gave me Meganium tea, and though I don't remember much after that, I at least had your arms to wake up in. Still, I suppose medicated gummies are more of a science thing than a cooking thing, so I guess I'm going to have to trust that it'll be okay. Because you're the scientist. Maybe I can get Marny to supervise whatever happens. She could be your long-distance lab assistant. :)

I think all of us deserve a treat here. Things just keep happening all the time. Poffins are an odd find in Hoenn, but I'll be sure to get back to you on those. I'm holding onto Marny's package right now for when she gets back. She said she was going to visit her parents, insisted I should stay here so her and her new Honedge could bond more. It makes sense, I guess. It's incredibly protective of her, and having me tag along to her family's house could cause it more stress than I care to inflict. I'm still worried about her, though. I trust the Honedge to fight for her, but I'm worried that it might not be experienced enough to defend her in case something goes wrong.

I'm going to go out for a walk. I need to distract myself, and besides, I'd feel bad about spending all this time in Kalos without sending something good back. Maybe I could battle out the funds for some treats. You deserve those too :)

Clear skies be with you,

Ray

P.S: Please give Jester the biggest hug for me. She deserves it.]

[nevada-got-screwed-over]

Taglist: @averagejoey2000

Original Inspiration / Masterpost

Chapter 15 / Chapter 17

Theta!South AU. I Guess.

Chapter: 16

Words: “oh man this stats-coding class has so much stats-coding” (2,341)

The officer rolled his eyes, scoffing as he stuck another cake pop in his mouth. Spam calls were getting on his last nerve – didn’t the precinct have the money to get those filtered out? He would have to review the budget once he added in the extra cash…donations. Precinct 42 made more money smuggling illicit goods through the city than they ever did doing their jobs.

Any cop worth their salt knew crime paid, and it paid well. 

Then why the hell should they still subject to the annoyance of spam bots like the same civilians they bullied into submission? It was the fifth time a variation of the same area code had called, no ID but a clear spam marker on the answering machine.

Another call, another cake pop.

Desk duty was never his forte – he much preferred the rush of cracking the skull of whatever poor idiot he wanted to arrest for drugs they didn’t have. But, as head of the precinct, he had his duties. And sometimes that meant eating cake pops at 2 AM and ignoring the spam calls that came to his office as he tried to sort through paperwork.

Somebody had to make the police’s tax fraud schemes look good on paper.

And he couldn’t do that being pestered by spam calls. He was running out of cake pops and patience.

“Officer Oliver Stark of Precinct 42 – is there something I can help you with?” His cheeriness was a veneer, he fully expected a robotic voice to inquire about his car’s extended warranty or announce with false confidence the imminent UNSC investigation of his taxes (he, of all people, knew his paperwork was in order). He was not expecting a child.

“Uh, hello officer – uh, Mr. Stark –”

“Who – how do you have this number?” He could understand the child calling the emergency services line, but his office phone number was off the books. Wasn’t it? He couldn’t remember if he skirted that requirement of the state transparency laws –

“Um, you aren’t – you aren’t Oli?”

“Who’s Oli?”

“My math tutor – he was supposed to help me study for the test tomorrow…well, today I guess…”

“I’m afraid you have the wrong number.” Stark cringed as a strangled sob came through the audio feed.

“Oh – oh, I’m – I’m sor- I’m so sorry mister. Oli said – I’m sorry I’m not good with numbers that’s why Oli’s helping – sorry –”

“It’s fine kid. Hope you can find his number.” He had taxes to do, after all…

“B-But!” The kid sounded panic, sniffling away his sobs. “You – um, you’re an officer you said – like the police? You help – you guys help people, right?”

Fuck taxes. This would be amazing for the press, and maybe get some of the heat from the city officials off their backs for the whole Lozano mess a few weeks back. He could see the headline now – Adorable! Local Officer Helps Kid with Math Homework. No, he was well known enough in this city, it would use his full name.

“Sure thing kid, Officer Oliver Stark at your service.” He just hoped it wasn’t calculus. Or tax related.

--

“Target is distracted,” South confirmed, Theta pinging her helmet as she relayed the news to the pair already inside the precinct building. Guards were laughably stupid and easily overpowered. Isaac – Felix, Locus was insistent on codenames, at least during business – had two bodies in the broom closet before Locus even had to bother wiping out the cops supposedly watching the security cams.

Still, she had raided Insurrectionist outposts with worse security. Maybe this place would have better coffee at least. She stalked behind the pair, clearing each floor of any surviving officers still choking on their own blood. The occasional civilian secretary working well past their job description was happy to quietly evacuate the building and forget they ever saw the mercenary.

Although, the orchid pink helmet would make her difficult to forget.

Through it all she could hear Theta’s performance, perfect and rehearsed with the head officer following the very script the AI had predicted. She had initially shot down his idea – Sam and Isaac knew about the Project, but she wasn’t willing to risk letting them know she took more home than just bad memories.  But, with some pleading and – well, he couldn’t quite give her puppy dog eyes, but she was sure he was using them – she conceded that it was a damn good plan.

The other mercenaries thought she had written up the AI, and without Sirius – Mason had picked the coolest codename of the three – to check her work, the other two were content to assume she was simply a highly competent coder. Which was a safer assumption than letting them know a UNSC AI of black ops caliber and intelligence was actively distracting their main target.

“On level 12, meet up so we can breach –”

“I’m here.” South was a little disappointed Locus didn’t startle as he lowered his hand from his radio earpiece.

“You sure they won’t see us coming with your, uh,” Felix gestured to her helmet.

“Oh, and neon orange is very subtle.” She smirked behind her visor as his eyes widened with genuine offense. “Besides, by the time he sees us he’ll be dead.”

“Shut up and focus. We need him alive.” Locus grumbled, fitting another clip into his pistol. “Just long enough to get what we need from him. He still distracted?”

Letting Theta watch so many old theater videos was worth it; he was playing the officer perfectly, sounding very earnest in his confusion about factorials even as he ran the statistics on their mission’s success. 99.765%.

“Absolutely. Didn’t even hear us clear this floor.” Theta had a tap on the cameras; even if the feed to the security station was cut, he easily hijacked the system and identified potential hidden weapons in the office. “He can be armed at a moment’s notice, try not to get shot Felix.”

Before Felix could protest her comment, they were through the door.

“Okay, thank you so much mister!”

“Mister Oliver Stark, Precinct 42. But find your friend’s number next time you need math help. And do let your mom know Precinct 42 isn’t a tutoring service.”

“Fuck you!” The cheery child replied, his giggle cutting off as he transferred to South’s implant. The rush of syncing up flooded him with her anxiety, but his giddy excitement easily overpowered it. Felix had a knife to the officer’s throat before he could grab the pistol stowed under his desk.

“We can work this out,” His voice was smooth and confident. “Whatever you want is yours – weapons, drugs, women, men, hell we have a few kids if you’re interested. For the right price, of course.” Only Theta and South could see the tremor of his raised hands.

“Oh, you hear that guys?” Felix crooned; his grin hidden behind his bandanna. “Whatever we want.” Even Locus chuckled darkly as he shook his head.

South wanted some coffee.

--

The first gig was small; some petty revenge and shutting down one of most corrupt precincts in the city – they made sure to send a message to the other corrupt precincts with the body count. And Oliver Stark’s decapitated head settled neatly on a pile of incriminating invoices to and from human traffickers, illegal arms manufacturers, and drug dealers.

A taste of the life Sam and Isaac had thrived on since the war ended. South felt alive, Theta felt useful, and they made good money. Syncing with Theta in her skull, her bike helmet modified to be more and more like her old helmet every job – the monotony of civilian life was finally breaking, the weight in her chest every time she visited her own grave was lifting.

She was doing good in this world – and she was feeling great. Even if she had been miserable, she could feel what it meant to Theta every time a text came from her partners in not-quite-crime. He wasn’t made to bounce between projectors all day, monitoring news feeds for any mention of the Project while he spiraled in his own thoughts. Working with the mercenaries was more than a distraction from his growing anxieties, it was fulfillment of his purpose – to help his assignee complete their mission objective.

It was a satisfaction South could feel, but hardly fathom.

So why was this new job turning her stomach and driving Theta away from the very thought of it?

“South, we would be set for life,” Isaac scoffed, as though she somehow didn’t understand the exorbitant amount of money promised. “No more jobs, just one last big payday.”

Maybe the finality was souring her opinion, but Theta had no coherent input. Even he wasn’t sure why neither of them could be convinced of the job.

They had hashed out this conversation on more than one occasion – but seeing as they were shipping out the next day, she hoped they would leave the topic be for one last night drinking together. She was sorely mistaken.

“It is off planet. She has friends she’s leaving behind.” Sam was curled over a drink, looking out the window at the dim city skyline. There were still no coasters in sight.

“So?” He threw up his hands, gesturing to himself and his partner. “We knew Mason well before you did; and – what? Why the cold feet after these past few months? Why wouldn’t – you’d have enough money to buy this whole damn city if you love it so much.”

“I just – it’s too vague. Asset reclamation even at the scale you’re talking about for the paycheck you’re promising…” It sounded like something the Project would do. “There’s a catch we’re not being told.”

“Who gives a fuck?” He annunciated every word, still incredulous that South wasn’t sold on the idea of hopping on a ship to the middle of nowhere to locate and retrieve material assets for a client that hadn’t even show their face. Isaac’s manic expression calmed and he breathed deeply. “Okay, close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Just, close your eyes and imagine the most…self-indulgent, ridiculous retirement you’ve ever heard of…”

“A planet consisting solely of island chains with a bar on each one.”

“Really? Thought there’d be, like, more chicks and guns in your fantasy.”

“You said the most self-indulgent ridiculous retirement I’ve ever heard of, not my self-indulgent ridiculous retirement.” She opened her eyes and shot him a scowl. “Listen, I appreciate the offer, but you two work just as well on your own as you do with me. And if this gig is as big as you say it is, there will be someone else to hold your hand with any tech issues you run into.”

“But –!”

“Thank you, Isaac, Sam. If either of you buy an island chain planet feel free to invite me for drinks, but I’m just not feeling this gig, alright?”

Isaac opened his mouth to protest, but Sam beat him to it.

“You sure, South?” He wasn’t looking at her, so he didn’t see her eyes soften and the tension bleed from her face.

“Yeah, sorry Sam.” She sighed, turning to the door. “We had a good run these past few months.” A smile twitched at her lips. “Don’t get shot Felix.”

“One time, one time I take bullet to the leg – you aren’t even there, by the way – and still, somehow…” His rantings faded as she made her way to the elevator, Theta humming softly in her head.

“Why aren’t we taking this job?” He was being rhetorical; she was just as conflicted as him, their shared thoughts bouncing back and forth between unsatisfactory explanations. Too far. Too sketchy. The secrecy of the whole gig just, didn’t feel right in her mouth. Not enough detail. Meg’s kid was too small – what if she needed a babysitter?

“Okay, that’s a bit much. You wouldn’t be a good babysitter.”

“I babysit you just fine,”

“Ugh, shut up! I’m not a little kid!”

“You kind of are, kiddo,” Theta responded by sticking out his tongue; in her mind, behind a helmet, which she couldn’t see through. The smile that scrunched her face might have looked a bit out of place as she mounted her motorcycle in the parking garage. A small thought scratched her brain, Theta drifting away from it as anxiety churned in his circuits. She wondered what his face looked like – whoever he was based on.

“Hey, you’re always yelling at me for trying to find stuff about the Project.”

“Having a single thought about something is leagues different than tapping UNSC private coms and nearly getting the whole apartment SWATTED because you forgot to reroute your server connection.”

“Fair point.”

“Exactly.”

The ride home was quiet, her helmet’s HUD as complex and streamlined as her power armor. Theta pinged the security system of the apartment, running through the cameras for intruders and even peeking at the nanny cam to glimpse the infant sleeping soundly in his crib.

“Do you think Alex can meet me someday?”

“Sure, you two can have a playdate.” The groan from the AI echoed in her skull as she shed her jacket and glanced at the gift basket on the countertop. She almost forgot about the weeks she spent housesitting while the family visited their proud parents, now grandparents.

‘From the Wu’s – Thanks!’ She rolled her eyes at the goodies piled high in the gift – definitely some of Mason’s baking and spare electronics, mixed with medical supplies from Megan. Her neighbors knew her too well. But, as with most midnight visits to the mercenaries’ home, South had a sleepless night and was hoping to catch a quick nap before her shift that evening.

“Wake me if something exciting happens,” She said, Theta desyncing – despite their comfort together, it was no easy to task to rest easy with an AI that couldn’t sleep.

“Sweet dreams, South,” His yawn was realistic, well-practiced and calming. She wasn’t sure she had felt so safe, so content since she and North were children.

[sirwow]

Torn Tapes; Pt 1

The wind blows softly as the start of springtime rolls in and the spruce forest buzzes with life. Grass and sticks crackle under the footsteps of 3 boys traipsing along a trail. Lazarus, Azazel and Cain chat while chewing on their own candies and Cain dragging a box.

Az: “Augh.. never liked how taffy gets stuck on my braces.”

Cain: “Then why do ya keep buying it every time we go to plums?”

Az: “Well it tastes good! Besides you eat jawbreakers and complain about your throat hurting.”

Laz: “Az that’s not how jawbreakers work..”

Az: “Throat, mouth, jaw. Same thing. Anyways, how long is that old generator supposed to work for Cain?”

Cain: “Donno.”

Az: “What do you mean you don’t know? You’re a techie!”

Cain: “I’m a mechanic not a electrician, Az.”

Az: “Like I said, same thing.”

Laz: “Well regardless we should be able to power that old tv in the treehouse with it and play some games. Besides if it’s only an hour or something I’ll just bring mine.”

Az: “Alright alright..”

The three continue through the woods with the old generator and up to a old treehouse. Trash bags of rubbish and tools surround a near cleaned treehouse. The treehouse sits with a combination of fresh planks and old untouched by rain. Cain walks behind Az and Laz with the generator but the wheels of the generator catch on something hollow in the ground and trips up Cain onto the floor.

Laz: “Woah you okay?”

Cain: “Ugh yeah.. fuckin generator got stuck on something. Sounded kinda weird too.”

Az: “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Cain: “Sounded hollow is what I mean, now shh..”

Cain goes to the dirty and dusty bump in-front of the generator and taps it with his knuckles. A wooden clicking returns and Cain stands back up with Az n Laz by his sides.

Cain: “Sounds like a box there.”

Az: “Ooh, you think it’s treasure?”

Cain: “Why don’t you find a shovel over there n figure out.”

Az: “Alright but I call dibs on whatever’s in it!”

Cain: “Hey Lazarus mind helping me get this ol thing up there while Az digs himself a hole?”

Laz: “Oh yeah, of course!”

Laz and Cain lift up the generator cord to the tree house and plug in a old box tv together. The tv beams on and sits idle with nothing inside. Along side the Tv inside the treehouse is a new small beanbag, a bookshelf filled to the brim, a rug and scattered papers of future plans and Az’s doodles.

Az: “Hereees the box!” Azazel plops down the box in the center of the rug

Cain: “That was fast.”

Az: “Well it was a lot looser then it looked. Now com’on let’s open it!”

Laz pops open the dusty box and inside sits a large book and several tapes, unnamed. The three start taking things out.

Az: “tapes and a book? What a lame treasure.”

Cain: “Oh boo hoo.“

Az: “I’ll boo hoo your face.”

Laz takes out and opens the book as Cain and Az bicker. It’s a picture book dated 6 years back. The first page immediately catches him off guard.

Laz: “Hey guys? This book has photos of our siblings.”

Az: “Wait really?”

Cain: “Huh?”

Laz lays out the book on the rug with the first picture being a fuzzy image of a younger Judas and Eve. The photo is titled with marker as “photo test” in neat hand writing.

Cain: “Well I’ll be damned. I remember eve hangin out with Judas but she never talked bout it much.”

Az: “Judas never told me anything about his friends.. something about wanting to keep it to himself.”

Laz: “I wonder who took it. Looks like most the first few are of Judas and Eve.”

Az: “Well that one’s of Magdalene.”

Cain: “It’s Maggie. But yeah that’s definitely her. Whats the other pages got.”

Laz flips the page to pictures of an in progress treehouse with a folded up blueprint in the pages.

Laz: “Guess her and whoever her friends were the ones to build this place.”

Az: “No wonder it was so shotty when we found it. A bunch of kids made it!”

Cain: “Uh-huh, we’re also kids Az.”

Az: “Teens! There’s a difference.”

Cain: “Hey. Is that Mary?”

Laz: “What?”

Cain: “Ya sister! Look!”

Cain points to the edge of a photo where a younger Bethany can be seen flying and lifting a plank up to the tree for Eve. Laz takes the book to look closer.

Laz: “..What..? But she..I..”

Laz flips quickly to the next page with Cain and Az looking over his shoulder to peek. The next few pages have multiple pictures of Beth but Laz keeps flipping until coming to a torn page with half a photo still on it. The photo obviously had Judas but Bethany’s pigtails could be seen past the tear.

Az: “Uhm.. you okay Lazarus?”

Laz: “Did you know Judas and Bethany were friends..?”

Az: “I-I thought you did..”

Laz: “No she- I was always sick in my room and she never really told me about her friends other then Maggie.. but she wouldn’t lie to me..”

Az: “mmh..”

Cain: “Well- uh- maybe if we watch these tapes we could figure some more out!”

Laz: “..Yeah. Yeah let’s do that. Besides the rest of the pages in this book look torn up, no point in trying to read torn truths, haha..”

Az: “Yeah let’s see what these old things are. What’s the first one?”

Cain: “Just called “Test”. Guess we better test it out.”

Laz: “I swear to the lord- just put the tape in you dum-dum.”

Cain and Az giggle n Cain after slides the 1st tape in to watch.

End of Pt 1

Next part will be linked once it is up

[theroguescientist]

I’ve been wondering for a while now what my students actually think of me. Do they like me? Are they scared of me? Do they laugh at me behind my back? How can I know? Well, recently I got what I think might be an unexpected answer.

Wednesdays have been busy days for me this semester. The only time during the eight hour work day when I could possibly sit down and eat something was during my office hours. After that there was another class to teach, and teaching it in a bad mood would be unfair to my students. Usually this wasn’t a problem. Students only showed up at my office occasionally and never took up the entire two hours. Until that day.

There was going to be a test later that day. The material was pretty difficult and we hadn’t had quite enough time to study it, so I wasn’t surprised to hear a knock on my office door, even if it did come before I was done eating. This time it was about seven or eight students, nearly half the group. The office became a little crowded. All right then. I smiled apologetically at my coworker sitting at the other desk, put away my lunch and picked up a whiteboard marker.

Two hours later my tea was cold and most of my lunch was still in a little plastic box on my desk. The students were still there, taking turns solving calculus problems on the board. They were doing alright on their own, but occasionally turned to me for help. All right. We had ten more minutes. The boy currently holding the marker didn’t seem to need much help.

”I hope you guys don’t mind.” I picked up my lunchbox. ”I’m still listening. I just need to...” I took a bite of my lunch and tried to swallow it quickly.

”Aww, with the chopsticks!” Ever since I got the hang of using chopsticks, I hadn’t really thought much about it, but the girl’s tone of voice seemed to suggest that a thirty-something nerd hurriedly shoving rice into her mouth while watching someone solve a math problem was somehow the cutest thing she’d seen all day.

In that moment it occurred to me that these people do like me, but at least some of them, like me the way they like a fictional character. Like I’m not a complete, real person to them, but I am interesting and occasionally endearing. I suppose it makes sense that the relationship between students and their teacher is less direct, less real, but not less impactful than with other people they interact with on a regular basis, but it’s still feels a bit odd.*

But I guess I can use this to my advantage. After all, if they’re paying attention to me in case I do something interesting, that means they’re paying attention.

(Also, we need some whiteboards in the hallways. I think my students will like that.)

___________________ 

*Then again, here I am, telling little stories from my life to strangers who have no way of knowing if any of them are true.

[irlbop]

Welp. I’ve been wanting to post one of these for a while but I guess now’s a good a time as ever:

May I present

A List of Youtube Channels I Would Recommend (Subject to Change Seeing As Ain’t Nobody Loyal Apparently But Whatevs!!!!)

Kennie JD: A reviewer of things from dating shows a la Love is Blind to Tubi movies to Filipino movies, etc. offering some very thoughtful commentary. All while putting her makeup on 😘 Best known for her Bad Movies and a Beat series but really everything she puts out hits. Including her video on the Try Guys Incident.

Athena P: Yet another reviewer with insane makeup, but this one takes the tv shows from childhood and explores the “lore” suggested or outright shown. Absolutely hilarious in her delivery and her fans are called Butt-Lovers! 🍑💥🫲🏻

Studson Studio: A craft-tuber who makes fantastical builds ranging from a recreation of Howl’s Moving Castle from trash to a custom action-figure of Ganondorf from Tears of the Kingdom. Frankly it’s astounding how this guy can just look at a piece of supposed garbage and know exactly what to do with it! (Here’s an idea for a drinking game: Take a sip every time he uses a horseshoe! [You will die💖])

North of the Border: Another craft-tuber but with slightly more…distinct tastes… The mans be making some cursed content is what I’m saying. Creative and bold, but cursed. Beware any uploads that have “realistic” in the title.

OwONekko: An art YouTuber with brutal (and hilarious) thoughts about some of your favorite characters’ designs. She tends to veer towards redesigns like with the fusions from Steven Universe, and designing human forms for non-human characters such as the Heeler family from Bluey

Truegreen7: A popular Pokétuber with a host of playlists and prompts to choose from! Perhaps his most popular being when he invites other artists to a challenge where they are given a prompt and are meant to create a Pokémon from it. However, he also had videos where he has friends randomly pick traits and he makes a Pokémon from them, or he gives himself a prompt such as Pokémon based off his own fears. Always a pleasure when he uploads!!

Microwave Society: Three friends who get together and review…things. Usually it’s movies, especially ones from childhood. Sometimes it’s products from, like, Temu. Either way, they’re going through A Time so you can have a good time.

Razzle: Also a group of friends getting together to review movies. Sometimes they even act out entire scripts to movies. What makes them different from MS, however, is…Well, they drink while doing it. Which lends itself to sone absolute bangers of jokes and quotes.

Pidgin Doll: Admittedly I mostly just watch his Shorts. But in my defense, even those are wonderful to watch. His doll designs and paint marker drawings are gorgeous and unique with their fashions and makeup, and almost every video comes with a little tidbit about either his childhood, his art journey, or just whatever inspired him to create what he did.

Something Wicked: A craft-tuber who makes clay models based off of illustrations from old works and texts. And I mean, like, creatures from alchemical tomes; beasts from 17th century logs; face-butted devils and the sort. He doesn’t have much uploaded so far (admittedly only four at the time of this posting, but that’s because the amount of time, care, and detail he puts into each piece deserves it. Plus you get a nifty lesson in art history or just history in general as he goes into the design choices!

The Harry Gold Show: Welcome to The Harry Gold Show, hosted by the ever forthcoming Harry Gold! He’s…disturbingly good at what he does. And what does he do? Art. Of varying mediums and designs, though mostly digital. Though he has recreated the art style of a dead artist as a gift for his dad. Let me put it this way: There’s a reason some joke that he will give AI a run for its money when it comes to replicating styles (he even did a video putting that to the test!)

Dollightful: This cutesy custom doll-maker has a whole host of “dollightful” designs to observe! From a series based on dragon girls to rainbow girls to a vampire with great taste in art, you’ll always be left cooing over the cuties.

HeXtian: Where Dollightful’s dolls are cute, HeXtian’s dolls are sexy. Complete with snatched waists and (usually) red-bottomed heels, his dolls are ready to to show up and show out and make you wish you could dress like them.

[stationerybear]

Thoughts about Pilot FriXion Erasable Gel Pens

I'm going to be honest, I didn't love these at first, but they've grown on me a lot over the last few weeks of using them. It's become my go-to pen while at work (and is gradually becoming my go-to at home, as well), where I am oft to make mistakes when writing, and being able to erase saves me from using up a roll of Wite-Out after just a few weeks. More thoughts and pictures under the cut.

Like I said, my initial impressions of the pens were Not Great. When I first tested it out, I was really disappointed in how light the ink was. I would definitely consider the pigment more of a dark grey than a black, but I suppose that is the cost of it being able to be erase via friction. It doesn't bother me all that much anymore, but I do still prefer the look of my Uniball Signo 207 Micro gel pen.

I will say, the ink in these pens is very runny/wet when it first drops to the paper. The ink drops to the paper pretty inconsistently from the Frixion Ball Clicker pen I originally bought in size 0.7mm, so some strokes of the pen will look darker than others or just darker in different parts of the pen stroke. I don't find this quite as noticeable with the Frixion Point Synergy Clicker pen in size 0.5mm. I wouldn't say the ink flow is super consistent with either pen, but there's rarely any skipping or near complete lack of ink flow, like I tend to get with a lot of my Paper Mate InkJoy gel pens. At a glance, it looks almost as consistent as my Uniball, so I can't complain too much. (Dated writing is the FriXion Synergy and the "testing 1 2 3" is the Uniball Signo.)

Despite the ink being pretty wet when it drops to the paper, once it is dried, I have no problems with it streaking when rubbed or marked over with a highlighter or marker. It does take significantly longer to dry on smoother paper like the Tomoe River Paper found in Hobonichis, but it takes almost no time to dry on the paper I use in my 6-ring journal. Even though it smudges more easily on TRP, it's at least erasable, so mistakes are less noticeable than if I were to use Wite-Out. (Below are notes I took in my A6 Hobonichi notebook about music a student was sharing with me at work.)

A downside about erasing with this pen is that even though most of the pen's pigment is lifted, there is still a ghost of where the pigment was left on the page. It's hardly noticeable unless you know to look for it and if it's already been written over again. Also, I've found that thinner paper will warp and form a slight divot in the paper from being erased, and if you erase of the same part multiple times on thicker paper, it will have the same results. And I suppose this is just a natural result of using a hard tip that needs to be pressed hard and fast enough to the paper to create friction that will remove the ink. It can also be harder to get the ink to drop onto the paper where it has already been erased over more than once. Not really things that make or break the pen for me, but it kinda killed my idea of using this pen for temporary/daily checklists I could reset by erasing at the end of everyday. (Below are close-ups of writing tests. There's a lot going on with these pages since I used them for a lot of tests, but the main focus is meant to be the FriXion pens.)

I guess all that's left is the aesthetics of the pens. I wasn't super fond of the bodies of either the 0.7 or Synergy 0.5 pens, but I did have a slight preference for the body of the 0.7 body after having both. I originally planned on just putting the 0.5 ink refill into the 0.7 body, but the eraser on the Synergy pen is slightly more tapered than the 0.7 and works better with the thinner pen tip. I'm also not generally someone who prioritizes pen aesthetics for the most part. I like have cute/pretty pens, but I generally prefer something that suits my functionality needs.

Overall, I do really like the functionality and convenience of these pens, and while I do wish they were able to produce a darker black and more consistent pigment, I don't really have any qualms with how these pens look on paper with what I use them for.