#branding in the time of corona

[tarjapearce]

Omg omg could we get a story about how Miguel and wife/reader first meet? Like maybe they both meet from high school or reader was watching Miguel play soccer with his friends in college!

Had this one sitting for a while cause I didn't know what to do. UNTIL, hehehe >:D Carneadas. (Mexican style bbq)

Pt 2

If someone would have told you that you'd find your future husband in a friend's of a friend gathering you would've just laugh it off.

Jessica and you were fresh out of college, and to celebrate it, she decided to take you on one of her outings. A suburban area, nice houses loitering around in every corner your eyes turned, a lot of parked cars and of course, people that clumped in the decored entrance.

Lights and loud spanish music were just the spark to create ambience, the true star of the night was brewing in two enormous pots. The smell of food lingered in the air the more Jessica pulled you within the crowd.

"Remind me again, who are these people?

"Friends of friends. Never been in a carneada before?"

"My family does these once a month, just don't get why is there so much people."

"We'll, everyone's for the food, so... yeah. Just have fun."

You greeted the people as your feet took you to the drinks. Beers, sodas, more beers and pitchers of horchata, Jamaica, and some lemonades were placed on the coolers.

Reaching for the horchata, you grabbed a plastic vase and poured yourself some. To your surprise a man, the biggest one you have seen in your whole life, stood next to you, his eyes focused in the different brands of canned beers submerged in ice.

Your hand reached for a Modelo and popped the lid out with one of your rings. The man eyed you with amusement. He grabbed a Corona but frowned upon not finding the lid popper. He was going to take the lid to his mouth and you gasped

"Wait! No. Don't do that."

"I can open them, thanks" His voice deep.

"Mano, si que eres terco." (Man, you're stubborn)

He blinked at your voice and handed you the beer, you just popped the lid with the corner of the table.

"Don't mess up your teeth."

The man seized you, a lax smile on his lips.

"Too late for that" He smirked, revealing a longer than average canine. Your eyes went up in surprise.

"Oh."

The music changed and you took the drinks to then sit next to Jessica. You gave her the beer. Some people danced, others were lining up for the food.

"What were you doing?"

"Just met Dracula."

Jessica tilted her head in confusion and laughed.

"I'm not joking, the man had big ass fangs."

"Didn't know you were into that sort of things, but we don't kink shame."

"Jessica!" Her boyfriend had swooped off her feet and took her to dance. Great. You were ditched.

At first, you refused to dance, but as the music changed, your feet were itching to do so. Another man was brave enough to approach you and ask you for a dance, then another, you danced with Jess and clapped once the song was over.

You went to the drinks again to refresh yourself, this time you got a Corona and took a long swig of it.

"My, that was so fun."

-----

Even though your evening had been fun, you needed a break from the party. The host, Peter, seemed like a very easygoing person. Jessica was his acquaintance.

You went to the kitchen in search for another glass of horchata, even though beers were tasty and reminded you a bit of home, the horchata was simply delicious. There was no glasses, but spotted a pack of plastic cups ontop. Problem, was that the fridge was a bit too high for your likings.

You pulled up a chair, ready to climb ontop when the same large hand reached over and pulled a couple of cups down.

"Thanks."

"Who said it was for you?"

The man from before teased, you rolled your eyes and climbed ontop of the chair to reach for a cup yourself.

"No te vayas a caer, Pitufina." (You'll fall down, Smurfette)

"Cállate, Drácula." (Shut up)

He shook his head with a chuckle.

What a douche

"Lemme"

"No, I can do it."

"Te vas a caer con esos tacones." (You'll fall down with those heels)

"It's not a big deal!"

"-Ta madre, lo que tienes de bonita lo tienes de terca. Bájate" (Your stubbornness only matches your beauty. Get down.)

Your lips pouted, a mild flush sweeping your face. You took his hand and he helped you to get down the chair. Even in your heels, you still looked small.

"You are supposed to say thanks."

"For doing something myself?"

His smile went a bit wider.

"Food's done. Let's go"

"Wait." You poured another glass of horchata

"Didn't know my recipe would have a fan."

"Meh, my mom's better"

Your smile smug as he deadpanned.

"Just bit more of sugar. And blend the rice well. There are some little pieces of it in the bottom."

He was about to protest when a man, similar to him spoke. His brother you supposed.

"Miguel?" He looked between him and you, "Ya está la carne, hay que servir" (Meats done, we gotta serve up)

He then left

"Wanna go critique my food as well?"

"Ohh, I'd love to yeah."

----

He'd serve the food along his younger brother, you were one of the last ones in getting your portion. He prepped your plate with a little more care, the Birria's consomé (broth) in a side, another little container for the sauces and of course two big loaded quesabirrias and a bunch of different roasted meats.

"Hope it's from your likings, chaparrita"

"We'll see about that, Dracula" You smirked and took the dish, fingers brushing for a moment.

"Provecho" (Bon Appetite)

------

"How was it?" He sat across you once more upon seeing you alone. Jessica had ditched you again. Oh she so owed you this one.

You shrugged with a smile.

"Good? Bad?"

"I'm teasing. It was great. Specially the broth. Thanks for cooking."

He took a swig of his beer.

"De nada." (You're welcome)

"Miguel! Hay que limpiar" (We gotta clean up)

Gabriel's voice boomed behind him.

"Need help with it?"

His eyes stared at you for a moment and pursed his lips, trying to hide a smile.

"Si quieres" (If you want to.)

-----

You had waved your goodbyes and hopped in with Jessica in her car and left. He just then realized that he never asked your name.

Dumbass.

[andavs]

Beers of 9-1-1

Updating my post on the beers of 911 to include the rest of s6 and all of s7! A few more got added because either the show added more, some got used a couple more times, or I just finally managed to figure out the names that have been haunting me.

All of these beers are fictional prop brands, and many have been used in other movies and shows. They come from prop vendors, not the 911 prop department itself.

The show uses a lot of brands of beer! Different brands will peak and get used a lot in one or two seasons, and then they tend to get relegated to background extras, or occasionally a non-main character will drink one. It adds variety and a little realism, so not everyone is always drinking the same beer.

There's been many more beyond these, but they've either been used once, they're only in the background, or I can't read the labels—yet.

Alexander’s Famous Ale This beer was mostly used in season two. Chimney was drinking it in Chimney Begins and then Athena and Hen each had one while discussing the bank heist in Oceans 911—the only time they’ve had beer during their chats. Since then, it’s become a background beer that extras drink, but Ramon was drinking one during Eddie’s homecoming party, and Red was drinking one when he and Buck first met. There was a can of it on a table at the bachelor party in There Goes the Groom.

American Colonial A new beer with season seven that so far has only appeared in There Goes the Groom.

Blind Fox Ale This was the most used beer before Genuine took its place in season six, but as of 7.10 they're tied. It was used the most through seasons two and three. Buck has had it the most (six times), but Chimney, Hen, Eddie, Tommy, and Michael all drank it too. It hung out in the background a bit, and then came back when Eddie and Buck drank it at the bachelor party in There Goes the Groom.

Brenner’s Black Cat Brew This is a mostly background/set dressing beer. Buck, Chimney, and Maddie each had one while talking about the call center takeover in The Taking of Dispatch 911, but otherwise it mostly shows up in the background or in fridges (usually Buck’s).

Cerveza Extra This is a Corona Extra dupe that was mostly used in the third season. Chimney was drinking one in the party for Buck in Kids Today, and he drank several at the bar during Seize the Day. Buck was drinking one when Eddie dropped off Chris in The Searchers, he had one at Eddie’s party in Seize the Day, and then he served one to Connor in Peru in Buck Begins. There were also a couple around Eddie’s house in Seize the Day.

Curson Light This is a Coors Lite dupe that’s only popped up a few times. Buck and Eddie each have one in Fallout, when Buck’s apologizing for not being there during the lawsuit. Eddie has another one in Fools while he’s talking to Buck about Chris, while Buck has a Grand Ale. It was also used for extras in the bar scene in Seize the Day.

Genuine Genuine first popped up in Hen Begins; Hen drinks one while she’s out with Athena for the first time. After that, it didn’t show up again until Hen and Chimney’s reunion in Fear-a-Phobia, but in season 6, it became the most used beer of the whole show.

Eddie and Buck drink it the most (Let the Games Begin, Recovery, Mixed Feelings) but so do a lot of other characters and extras. The guy who blew up his neighbor in Crash & Learn was drinking one, Buck gave one to Connor in Recovery, and Chimney and Maddie had a bunch in their fridge in Lost & Found. A number of the extras around the poker game were drinking it, and they were sprinkled around the hotel room in There Goes the Groom.

Grand Ale Grand Ale was pretty much only used in the third season. Chimney drank it while he and Maddie discussed having kids in Kids Today and during the poker game with Josh in Fools. Buck also had one in Fools while he and Eddie were talking about Chris and the skateboard. Michael had one with dinner in Athena Begins. It got used in the background a couple times, and Rita/Jeanine was carrying one at the beginning of What’s Your Grievance? in season four, but as far as I can tell, it hasn’t come back.

Heisler Gold Ale Heisler didn’t appear in the show until There Goes the Groom at the bachelor party, and so far it hasn’t been used since.

This is such a well known prop beer that it has a cult following. You can get it on shirts. It’s been used in How I Met Your Mother and New Girl and probably hundreds of other shows and movies.

Isla Tropical This is mostly a background beer for set dressing, but Lucy was drinking one in Love is in the Air when Buck and Natalia ran into her at the bar. It showed up a few times in What’s Your Fantasy?, scattered around the college house where Darius lives.

Meichtry Lite & Draft We have yet to see anyone actually drinking these beers, but they are used for set dressing, specifically in Buck and Chimney’s fridges (Recovery, Starting Over), and at the frat house call in Animal Instincts. It’s also a pretty common prop beer that’s been in a lot of shows. (Note the Brenner’s Black Cat in Buck’s fridge on the left behind the ginger beer!)

Mendoza Lager This beer showed up mid-season five in Outside Looking In. Buck was drinking one at the bar, and he had another in Starting Over on his balcony with Maddie. Hen drank a couple on her first date with Karen in Tomorrow. It was also on the counter behind Ramon in Hero Complex.

Penn Pavel’s This beer has only been used twice. In Kid’s Today, Buck had a couple open on the counter when Eddie came to get him out of bed, and then Eddie was drinking one at Buck’s loft during Treasure Hunt.

Rio Negro So far, Eddie’s the only main character who drinks Rio Negro. He and Lena each had one at the junkyard fight in Rage, he had a couple at the bar in Seize the Day, and he had a couple at his parents’ house in Hero Complex. As far as I can tell, this is the only beer that’s this character-specific.

This beer comes up regularly with background extras, usually in bar scenes, and extras were drinking it during the party at Eddie’s house in Seize the Day. In Step Nine, Herman was holding one in the photo on his dashboard.

Samuel Jacksons This is a fairly new one and a Samuel Adams dupe. It first popped up in Boston, while Chimney and Eli were talking in Eli’s basement and there were a couple scattered around in the bagpipe rescue scene, and then it came back in season 7. Buck opened one before Tommy kissed him in Buck, Bothered, and Bewildered, and then he and Eddie were both drinking one when Buck came out to him in You Don't Know Me.

Tux’s Red Ribbon This beer is a Pabst Blue Ribbon dupe and has only been in two episodes. Chimney had one at the party he was hosting at the end of A Whole New You, and then it was the only beer anyone drank in In Another Life. Buck and Chimney each had one, and Buck, Daniel, and Phillip all had one together on Buck’s couch—which is notable as something being off because Phillip is usually drinking scotch. I don’t believe it’s ever been used as a background beer.

[bri-cheeses]

| Sprace microfic | Word count: 960 | Shoutout to Hotshot (my queen) |

-

Spot Conlon was sitting on a fire escape, and he had a secret.

Technically speaking, he had many secrets, a good deal of which were much more sinister than this one. But this, he thought, was one that couldn’t get out. Ever.

“Hey, boss,” Hotshot said from behind him, lowering herself onto the step next to Spot. The sudden break in the serene atmosphere caused Spot’s pulse to jump, but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he simply flicked the ash from the cigar he was holding and shifted over to make room for his friend. He wasn’t sure why his second in command felt the need to interrupt his alone time, but he wouldn’t mind so long as she didn’t say anything.

“So,” Hotshot started, and Spot mentally cursed at his luck, “I thought I’d let you know that the guys have been talking.”

The guys.

Have been talking.

A glower overtook his face. He had a feeling he already knew what this was about, but he had to be sure before saying anything.

“Talking about what?” he asked.

A beat of silence, then a hesitant: “They say you’ve been spending a lot of time at Sheepshead lately.”

“And what’s it to them?” Spot knew his tone was becoming more and more threatening, an undercurrent of danger lurking beneath his words, but he couldn’t bring himself to care very much. This was something good that he had. Something actually, truly good. He wouldn’t give it up without a fight.

“They say,” Hotshot said, continuing on even though Spot refused to look at her, “that you’ve been spending more and more time there since a couple a’ months ago.”

He let out a frustrated huff of breath. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

His tone was biting, and his grip on the cigar in his hand tightened. Hotshot said nothing.

When Spot finally dared a glance at her, he found that she was already looking at him, her expression assessing. He felt his mask harden in response to the scrutiny. If Hotshot wanted to play this game, he could show her that he knew how to play, too—and knew how to play it well.

“Spot,” Hotshot finally said, and her voice was slow and measured as she asked, “Where’d you get that cigar?”

Apparently, she could play it well, too.

“It ain’t your business.” His tone was hard, no room for discussion or argument. Because Hotshot wasn’t supposed to know. No one was, except for himself and, well, the reason he’d been spending so much time at the tracks recently. But Hotshot had guessed anyways.

He looked down at the cigar. He should’ve been more careful—this wasn’t something that he wanted to get out. Not because he was ashamed of it, but because this was his thing. It was something he had that was special, and so what if he wanted to keep it to himself for just a bit longer? He did everything for the Brooklyn newsies. Everything. He deserved to have this one thing, right?

Hotshot sighed. “You know I won’t judge you, even if— even if he is Manhattan.”

“Who said anything about anyone?” Spot said flatly. His hands itched to push himself up off the stair, to stand and leave and avoid this conversation.

“I ain’t blind, Spot. Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you tense whenever someone says his name, or the guarded expression you have when you say you’re going to the tracks, or the brand of the cigar in your hand. There’s only one newsie you interact with who would blow his money on a box of Coronas. So like I said, I ain’t blind, and I sure ain’t stupid, either.”

Spot had to huff a mirthful laugh at that, because maybe she wasn’t, but he certainly felt like he was. At least, he felt stupid in some capacity, to have thought that no one would put the pieces together, that no one would pay attention and figure it out and approach him to ask about it.

And so Spot didn’t utter a word. He could flat out lie to Hotshot, but he doubted she would believe him. He could leave, but she’d just ask him again and again until he had no choice but to tell her. And he could tell her to forget all about it, but Hotshot was his friend and he couldn’t bring himself to do that to her.

A muscle clenched in his jaw. He didn’t look at her.

“Fine. You want me to say it? I like him. I like Race. That’s the reason I’ve been spending time at the tracks, that’s while I have a cigar in my hand, that’s why I’m wary when people say his name or mention Manhattan.” He took a deep breath. “And now you’ve gotten what you wanted, so I’d appreciate it if you just left me alone now. And don’t even think of mentioning this to anyone else. You’ll regret it if you do.”

Usually when Spot threatened people, they didn’t laugh. But that’s what Hotshot did, loudly and heartily before saying, “And that’s the classic Spot I know, always making things more difficult than they have to be. Seriously, was that so hard?”

He didn’t respond.

“But really,” she said quietly, the metal of the fire escape creaking as she stood, “I’m happy for you.”

Then the moment was broken as she laughed again, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, “Now I’m going inside before you throw me off the fire escape.”

When he didn’t answer, she turned and made her way up the rickety stairs. The sound of a window shutting alerted him to her departure, and he closed his eyes.

What had he gotten himself into?

-

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Grey 41

First / Previous / Next

They streamed aboard the frigate. Fen, Northern, and Zhe ran to the command deck while Stormy headed to the AI core. After a minute or two, they could hear her over the ship's PA.

"Fen, this place is brand new! It still has that 'new starship smell'. I haven't smelled that in a millennium at least!"

Zhe sniffed the air, and her ears flicked. "It doesn't smell different to me."

"No, no, like it's a metaphorical smell. The ship is brand new that's all. I'm used to Starjumpers that have been in service longer than nations."

"While I appreciate all of this camaraderie-" Northern began, "The fact remains that we are under attack by the Empire and should leave."

"Sheesh. Is she always like this?" Fen could hear the smile in Stormy's voice. "Sit down then ladies, and buckle up."

As the three of them sat, belts snaked out from the seats and wrapped themselves around them and pulled just this side of too tight, and then when Fen breathed in, they loosened. There was a wobble in her inner ear as Stormy lifted off and the gravity changed from Picaresque to the ship. Fen heard a whining whirr above the normal thrum of the engine.

"Stormy, what was that?"

"Oh, I just freed the weapons. Call it experience, but I think we're going to need them. Speaking of, permission to apply War Emergency Power?"

"Uh, Yes? What's that?" Fen glanced at Northern.

"Ancestors, what a newbie. Northern, explain it please."

Northern ran her hand through her hair. "Human starships have always been over powered. If you run a high output reactor at a lower output it lasts longer, right? So that means that we always have power to spare. War Emergency Power means that you give Stormy permission to remove all the limiters and fuses on the reactors. Power output will greatly increase. She'll be able to wormhole link multiple times in succession - no waiting for the capacitors - all while firing the main battery and the slug throwers."

Fen raised an eyebrow. "But?"

"But it's dangerous." Stormy answered. "It's rare, but reactors can overload. Link the wormhole generator away, blow the battery, hell, blow the whole ship - though that's only happened once or twice. Most of the time a reactor overload is just a hassle." There was a pause and the thrum of the reactors seemed loud on the deck. "We're up next though, so you're going to have to choose."

"I approve War Emergency Power, Stormy, but do be careful."

"Hah! I'm always careful Fen. How do you think I lived this long?"

"Yes, but how many bodies have you gon---eeeeek"

As soon as they cleared the hangar, Stormy applied full thrust and fired a brace of juke charges along the side of the ship. Normally used only for last minute ducking around missiles, Stormy was using them to steer the ship in an erratic way as they thrusted away from Picaresque.

"Contact! Four Super Dreadnoughts trying to hide in the corona." Northern was hunched over a sensor station. "Seems like they're doing some wide angle scanning. They haven't changed their behavior yet."

"Four of them?" Zhe looked over at Fen and her ears flattened. "They don't know about you, right?"

"I don't see why they would. They're looking for the Empress. Speaking of-" She looked up at Northern. "Do you see her yacht in the system?"

"Negative, they must have linked away before the party started."

Suddenly there was a sound like cloth tearing, but lower, deeper. Fen felt it in the soles of her feet. It was the slug launcher. "Stormy, what was that?"

"Sorry Fen, I'm a little busy." Fen's inner ear did backflips as Stormy applied the thrusters asymmetrically and they spun in place. There was a sound like a thunderclap, and then three more in quick succession. The main battery. "Hooo, the Empire loves to pack the weapons on. I swear I didn't have this much firepower when I was a Starjumper!" Stormy is laughing.

"What's going on, Stormy?"

"Just watch on the screen."

Fen activated the screen at her seat. One side was a wireframe map of the system, and the other was a virtualized overview of the current battle. The four Supers were still out in the corona, but there were two battlecruisers that had linked in just moments ago and were firing missiles at the ships streaming away from Picaresque. Fen watched as there were white flashes as the missiles appeared in front of a ship, and rocketed into the nose. It exploded in a silent fireball.

"The missiles have wormhole generators?" Fen's voice cracked and her eyes were glued to the screen.

"Yeah, I remember when they thought of it. Back then the generators were too large and power hungry for it to work. But, I suppose with some of the knowledge transfer from the Sefigans and the Gren's miniaturization tech..."

A lucky shot rang off the hull, sounding like a stick hitting an empty can. The displays at Fen's chair flashed orange and the wireframe of the system was replaced with an overlay of the frigate with sections towards the rear outlined in orange.

"Fen, we've been hit!" Zhe is scrolling through the readouts as fast as she can. "Looks like mostly superficial. The ablative coating on the hull took most of it, but if they hit the same spot again, we're in trouble. Er, in more trouble."

"We're not going to take on four Supers." Stormy continued to evade the shots, but she was right, they couldn't take on the attackers. "Captain, where are we going?"

"I don't know, Stormy, I didn't think I'd have to decide right this second." Fen looked around the room. "I'm open to suggestions!"

"We could go back to the Heap, Daddy told me where they moved to." Zhe looked over at Fen, her eyes bright with hope.

"You know where the Heap is?" Stormy sounded impressed. "I figured that place was just a legend. It's up to the captain, but I'm up for the trip."

A sound like hail assaulted the hull. More lights lit up on Fen's display.

"That'll be the slug throwers. They're too far out to do more than annoy, but Fen, really. It's time to go."

"Uh" Fen looked at the radar, and then the ship schematic and then up at Northern and Zhe. They were both staring at the pads at their stations, trying to figure out what to do next. Fen was pulled against the seatbelts as Stormy did another aerobatic maneuver to get out of the way of something. "Fine, fine. the Heap. Stormy, link us to the Heap please. Zhe give her the coordinates."

"Already entered in, Fen. Stormy, do you see it?"

"I got it Zhe, Linking away now."

****

Fen sat up. She was in the K'laxi ancestral forest again. Ma crouched near her on the balls of her clawed feet. "Hey Fen. Doing some traveling? I don't see you for nearly a year your time and then you show up in quick succession. Makes me think you miss me." Ma winked and her ears flicked.

"Ma, I miss you every moment of every day. So many decisions would be easier to make if you were still with me." Fen pushed her self into a cross legged position.

"Well, I'm only a link away." Ma sat on her lap. "What's wrong hon?"

"Gord removed the Nanites."

"Yes, we know. What do you think of that?"

"I don't know. I think it's good?" Fen shook her head, like she was trying to clear it. "They didn't seem like they had my best interests in mind, but also they had a lot of power. Maybe I could have used that."

"Maybe you could have, it's true." Ma nodded. "But used it to do what? You know what the Nanites want."

"They want me to be Empress."

"You spoke with the current Empress, what did you think of her?"

Fen turned and looked Ma in the eyes. "She seemed... broken? She was trying so hard to look normal, collected. But you get more than surface deep with her and there was this howling, screaming loneliness, this sadness that permeated her."

Ma leaned back onto Fen's collarbone. Fen put her arms around her wife and hugged her tightly. "Sounds like Gord did you a favor then."

"Maybe, but now what?"

"Now what indeed."

****

Fen awoke, still strapped in her chair, to Stormy's voice. "Oh, she's one of those."

"Be nice Stormy, you've had captains that have trouble with wormhole links before." Northern chided. "Fen comes back faster than most."

"My wife's there." Fen's voice sounds fuzzy, distant.

"Your what?"

"Ma-ren. She was - is - my wife." Fen's eyes glisten. "She died back home when we were trying to escape with Gord on Spyglass. Shot in the back by one of Tam'tarr's goons as we were running." She sniffs. "I see her, every time I link. We talk. It-" Fen sobs loudly "-it feels like we're still together."

Fen breaks down, hands covering her face. Zhe undoes her buckles and gets up and hugs Fen. She just stands there over her, hugging for a few minutes.

Fen catches her breath and looks up. "What are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?" Northern asks quietly.

"I mean, what are we going to do? Gord and Chloe and the Empress are off on some kind of mission to destroy the Nanites, and I didn't want any part of that and so we ran away. Gord let us go. Said he wasn't going to make us come with him. We leave Picaresque only to get caught up in a battle with the Empire while they're looking for Meredith. They have no idea who we are or how close we were to her. If they did we'd be captured... or worse. Now, we're in the same system as the Heap, and... now what?"

Northern undid her belts and stood. She came over to Fen and Zhe and hugged them both. She was a little awkward at first, but after a moment squeezed them tightly. "We'll do what we always do. We'll figure something out. If it doesn't work, we'll figure something else out. As long as we're still alive, that's what we do." Northern straightened, the front of her shirt damp. "For now, let's go see Zhe's dad again. Maybe we'll get some work."

The siren was startling. The three of them must have jumped a meter. "Stormy! What's wrong?"

"Sorry to interrupt things, but someone just linked in. It's a Super Dreadnought."

Northern looked down at the ship displayed on Fen's pad. "Fuck me."

[lemon-natalia]

Gideon the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 17

ohh my god, jeannemary and isaac, i just knew their reactions were gonna be heartbreaking and i was right

honestly i was joking in the last post about being able to get them back cuz of necromancy, but they really are all getting to work pretty quickly trying to revive them (or at least their ghosts?)

'walked quietly among the bodies, saying excuse me once when he stepped too close to Abigail's arm' awwww Palamedes, thats such a precious little detail

taking a break from the 'utterly heartbreaking' vibe of this chapter to say what the actual fuck Coronabeth why are you eating Naberius's hair and nails, is that necessary for her brand of necromancy or what??? even Gideon's hotness filter for Corona isn't getting over that one

bro people are dead Harrow & Silas this is not the time for beefing please

gonna assume the soul siphoning attempt failed then, congrats on ending up with two more unconscious bodies than u started with

'He cannot empty anybody here, lest they become a nest for something else' ... a nest for something, not someone ... that sent chills down my spine

also the concept of the bodies becoming not just possessed by something, but a specifically a nesting ground ... love a good bit of Alien™ themed horror

Teacher seems to be more concerned about the fact that there are dead bodies in the lab, rather than whatever killed Abigail and Magnus coming after the others

aaand more ✨~theorising time~✨ as for who's responsible, there are only really two possibilities i can see rn:

the first is that it was another one of the Houses. potentially trying to get rid of competition, or because the Fifth knew something - maybe they found out something else at the dinner other than the location of the lab ... 🧐 however the only one of all of them i can really see as being responsible rn is Ianthe, but i also feel like that would almost be too predictable? theoretically it could be one of the priests of First House as well, but i don't feel like they've been fleshed out enough as characters yet for that to be the case

alternatively, they were by killed a different weird lab monster that the two of them couldn't really fight in the same way as Gideon and Harrow, since Magnus has already been established as not great as duellist .... or some other kind of ghostly creature? there could be a lot of strange shit lurking in those labs

[smolthealmighty]

Spinaraki Week 4 Day 4: Cracks and Home

Old Hag Look at My Life (I'm a Lot Like You Were)

As Tomura’s world falls apart, his grandmother’s vestige comes to his unlikely rescue. It turns out they’re a bit more similar than he thought.

When Tomura Shigaraki came back to himself, his mind was achy from his mater’s reveal, his voice was hoarse from screaming, his body was scattered to the wind with barely any pieces left, and to his surprise the woman who everyone called his grandmother was holding him in her muscular arms. While he appreciated the sentiment, he couldn’t help but wish a certain someone he actually got along with (and who’s arms held the same strength) was comforting him, instead of this hero lady he’d never met but who dictated his fate in absentia.

“I know you’re not happy to see me,” Nana said, “But I hope you’re willing to put up with me long enough to keep you alive. One For All and All For One did quite the number on you, the quirk and the man I mean.”

“If you call getting smashed into bits and having my entire worldview torn into just as many pieces ‘having a number done on me’,” Tomura sarcastically threw back, “Then I’d hate to see what you’d consider to be worse!”

“No, no, I’m not sure anyone could’ve survived that combination. But you’re not just anyone, are you?” Tomura started at that, but his grandmother gently aimed his face to look at her sincere -and maybe proud?- expression as she continued.

“You’ve been through so much, you’re so very strong. And even with everything All For One has put you through, all the lies he spun and all the strings he pulled to mold you into what he wanted, you still managed to untether yourself enough to find your own goal and make your own connections. You found friends, and you dedicated your aspirations to them. You loved them, you helped them. It’s not what I’d call hero work, but in a vacuum I can’t deny it’s heroic. I only wish someone better could’ve been around to guide you, so you had the opportunity to try your brand of heroism, and for that I am sorry.”

Tomura was speechless at the apology that came two decades too late, but when he thought about it, he was -begrudgingly- at least a little bit glad someone had finally told him that not only could he be a hero after all this time, but that he was a hero for the people who mattered to him the most (and if it also flew in the face of everyone who wanted him to fail then that made it all the better).

“Wait,” Tomura asked, horror taking over as an idea of starting to dawn on him, “how the hell do you know any of that?”

“Well,” Nana squirmed, “we are currently in a vestige world residing in your mind, and you’ve got a lot stored up in here. What you’ve touched, what you feel, what you’ve destroyed, what you create, what you hate, what you love…”

“Oh no, please tell me you didn’t see anything weird.”

“Of course not,” Nana reassured, “Falling in love with a close friend isn’t weird at all.”

“Grandma!”

“I can see why you adore him, such a sweet and earnest boy.”

“Grandma!”

“And beautiful eyes and scales to boot.”

“Grandma!”

“Sorry, sorry, I can’t help it,” she snickered in a way that betrayed she wasn’t sorry at all, “It’s just that I can understand how you fell for him, after all I fell in love with your grandfather in very similar circumstances.”

“… Grandpa tied with you in Smash Bros after joining your criminal organization, then endeared himself to the point you didn’t think twice about wiping Mount Fuji off the map for him?”

“No not like that,” she corrected, “We started as friends too, but our shared love was astronomy instead of video games. One time he blind-folded me and had me use my quirk with him steering, and when the blind fold was off, I realized he floated me into an area of sky with zero light pollution, just in time to watch the nova explosion of T Coronae Borealis. My impulsive ass proposed to him on the spot, skipped the dating phase entirely.”

Tomura went bug-eyed at that, but didn’t interrupt as Nana continued to reminisce, “You know, even when we exchanged our vows and eventually had your father, I knew that marrying him automatically put a target on his back. It was only a matter of time before he would get caught in the crossfire of my line of work, and in the end, even all the safety measures we took didn’t keep him safe, but I entangled us anyway. I figured that a life with him in it, however tragic and brief, was worth living more than one where I never knew just how loved and cherished I could be. Especially if that meant I could give that same amount of love back to him.”

“…Grandma,” Tomura mused, “I feel like you’re trying to tell me something.”

“I think you might’ve inherited that outlook from me,” Nana suggested, “Seeing as you were initially on the fence about undergoing the shadiest surgery known to man for the sake of power, only to decide it was worth it literally moments after your sweetie confessed that he ‘loved those warped horizons you made’, thinking that a power upgrade was just what you needed to make him even happier! You’re just as impulsive and intense when it comes to love as I was!”

“Don’t call Spinner ‘my sweetie!’ We didn’t even get the chance to pick out pet names!” Tomura cringed, then cringed harder and pouted after realizing he outed himself.

“Well, maybe you’ll get that chance,” Nana supposed, surprising Tomura with her switch to a serious tone.

“My hands, my son’s hands, your family’s hands have been holding you back for so long. So please, let me use my hands properly this time,” she whispered, moving her arms to cradle him a bit more firmly now that he wasn’t falling apart at the seams, “Let me be the hands that hold you together, that push you forward, that guide you as you take your next steps, and support you now when you need help the most.”

As she spoke, Tomura felt multiple hands slightly nudging him. Looking down, he watched as the other vestiges of One For All pressed the gathered up pieces of him together. A man wearing goggles on his head held one leg, another with a high-collared jacket handled the other. He watched as arms were positioned by two men in similar-looking combat gear, his torso aligned with his head by someone with cracks running down his face.

Once every particle was in its place, a vestige that appeared remarkably similar to Tomura placed his hands over the cracks on his chest, and suddenly that crack began to heal. The cracks did not disappear, but instead were welded together, leaving golden scars in their place. As the other vestiges repeated the process on the rest of his body, Tomura noticed a golden, foggy vestige carefully fusing each finger of his destructive hands to his palms, thankfully without the telltale holes of All For One’s quirk, but also saw that vestige slowly grow dimmer with every piece he fixed.

“You’re not really making them all give up their souls and fade away just to keep my destructive ass alive…” Tomura joked as he turned to his grandmother, who he realized was also fading away as his peripheral vision took on more of a golden hue, “…are you?”

“It’s a shame you think destroying is all you can do, when you know that you’ve had a fair share of creating things too,” Nana remarked, “and I’m willing to bet that the bonds you created with your friends are something not even your hands can obliterate.”

Tomura knew he couldn’t say a thing to disprove that statement, he wouldn’t even dare to entertain the thought of purposefully getting rid of them. “I can’t promise I won’t start another fight when I wake up, especially not if my friends are the ones in trouble. Sorry grandma.”

“That’s alright,” Nana chuckled, the grin on her face identical to the maniacal one Tomura sometimes saw in the mirror, “What kind of Shimura’s would we be if we didn’t act intensely for the people we love, just as intensely as we love them in the first place? Can you promise me something else then?”

“Depends, what is it?”

Nana bent down to whisper in her grandson’s ear, and though her final request made his face erupt into a blush, he readily agreed as they faded into darkness and whatever lay beyond this realm.

“See if you can make that delightful Player 2 of yours my grandson-in-law.”

[go-to-the-mirror]

We return you now to a safe place. The Street Cleaners have passed. Street Cleaning Day, as so many other days, is behind us. We emerge from hiding spots, from secret locations, from places under other places. We step out into the street, and it is as though it is brand new to us. Certainly, it is cleaner now, but that is not all. We have survived all the way from birth to this very moment, and we look at each other, and some of us start laughing and others start weeping and one or two of us break out into a wordless humming song, and all of us mean the exact same thing.

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 15 — Street Cleaning Day)

Somewhere the tiny people of the city below have arrived in Night Vale, and are beginning their war against us, having already shown themselves capable of murder. Somewhere a man in a tan jacket is whispering into the ears of our mayor, and we do not know what agenda they pursue. […] This all happens, somewhere else. But here, Carlos and I sat on the trunk of that car, his car, looking together at the lights up in the sky above the Arby’s. They were beautiful in the hushed twilight, shimmering in a night sky already coming alive with bits of the universe.

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 25 — One Year Later)

But.... In spite of all this, coach al-Mujaheed called a pep rally last Friday, in a gesture of support for Malik Herrera. This, as any time, is when we should join as a town, despite the game that never was. […] Everyone was sad, and everything was perfect. We stayed late into the night under the fluorescent corona of the bleachers, eating damp barbecue, wearing our orange ponchos, and telling those tales we wanted to tell to those loved ones who have left us, telling them instead to those who we currently or may eventually love. Tears were hardly noticeable on our rain-streaked cheeks by the time we said our goodbyes.

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 56 — Homecoming)

And they both take the hand of the person they love, and Amber smiles at Wilson and Wilson smiles at Amber and everyone smiles at everyone and at everything and no one is okay, exactly, but we’re outside and we’re smiling and that is a kind of perfection of its own.

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 57 — The List)

Night Vale isn't a single unified thing that can love or be loved. It's just the name slapped onto a set of borders and rules that some old bureaucrats [..] devised centuries ago. But they don't live here anymore. We do. I do, and I can make it worth it. I can’t just leave it, I have to live it. Live it and make it better. For myself. For Carlos. For my friends. […] And for you, listeners. We will together celebrate another homecoming game. We will together survive another street cleaning. We will together… well we will see.

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 70B — Review)

Our reality is badly damaged, and the only thing keeping it together is our acknowledgement, finally, of this strange town that we live in. No more denial. We must see ourselves clearly or risk losing ourselves forever. Angels are real. Our town is a deeply weird place. We know and acknowledge that it is a deeply weird place. There are dotted lines and arrows in the sky. And I love my family, and I love my brother Steve. He was right about everything. He always has been.

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 110: Matryoshka)

This is my work, listeners. My work is to speak to you all. To talk you through the day. To murmur you into the night. Settling in to be another clear and pretty evening here in Night Vale, this weird, weird town. I hope all of you out there have someone to sleep through it with. I know I do.

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 111 — Summer 2017, Night Vale, USA)

Carlos and I hold each other through the town, passing two teenage boys dressed in scraps of of airplane upholstery, gripping tightly each others’ faces. We help a lost toddler find his parents. We clear broken glass from streets. We walk home. We shade our eyes from the setting sunset which kindles through a hilltop cleft. We talk nonstop about today about tomorrow about yesterday about every possible moment, just talking, and talking, because we almost lost our talk forever. We do not hear the returning echo of sirens across the valley. We do not hear anything but ourselves. Stay tuned next for a silence that is all your own.

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 167 — Echo)

And I say: “Look at the clouds in the sky. They mean nothing, and yet they are there and they are pretty. Isn’t that nice?”

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 181 — C****s)

The day after Valentine’s we said “it’s over” but we did not believe it was over. We believed it would never be over, that we would always be living the same sad and terrifying minute, breathing the same stale air thick with our own fear. But we were not in that moment anymore. But we were, some part of us, still. The day after Valentine’s was a rebuilding, a recovery, a return to form, a back to business. Bury the bodies and stand up the fences, it’s time to move on.

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 202 — The Day After the Day)

“What do we do now?” I asked him. He smiled, “First we go home, eat meals together, remember that we are a community, and that we are better together than we are alone.”

(Welcome to Night Vale: Episode 230 — Carlos, Explained)

[aromantic-pantyanarchy]

I tend to... tolerate rainbow capitalism? I don't super care if WalMart wants to tweet a rainbow and say "hey don't hate gay people". There are a million arguments for an against this, it's fine.

Today at my local pride festival was the pride parade, and I wanted to go see it, I think I only went Saturday last time. And I was like. Shocked at how much of the parade was just corporate brands. I stuck around for 40 or so of the total 160 entrants in the parade and nearly every single one of them were representing some corporation as, presumably, the queer employees of the local branch.

And that felt really gross to me. Like that did feel like our space was being invaded by entities that did not belong. I got no ill will to the individuals in the parade, I don't even think it's bad for Pride to have corporate sponsors or whatever. Corona was sponsoring and that meant there was cheap canned beer on-site, hell yeah. But the parade, the subject of the event, is supposed to be us, the queer people making our voices heard and our human identities known. And that really made me feel like we were getting blacked out for a corporation to step in and "represent" us as middle men. Like don't worry queer Dallas. Fucking DHL Shipping will step in and show everyone what the queer experience is. Fuck off.

Like I said, I got kinda tired of it and left early, so maybe they were just the warm up and some more authentic groups came through later, but I dunno it was just really disheartening to see.

[runningracingdancingchasing]

I find it amazing that you’ve managed to have this blog Running since 2011

Thanks!

I think there was a period of maybe two months in the early 2010s when I took a hiatus as I pulled myself back together after my RP group ditched me (and boy did that leave a scar!), but otherwise I've been consistently here all this time.

I've considered changing my URL multiple times over the years (I was corona-princess back in the day, but I kid you not, I kept getting asks about beer (because of the beer brand) so I changed it), but at this point it's just branding. I don't think anyone would know who I was if I changed it. Besides, I have the handy abbreviation of rrdc for all my tags and side stuff. Can't go changing that.

[alanahsart-blog]

THE ECLIPSE 🌙 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! some writing about it under the cut :,]

THE ECLIPSE.

I watched through the glasses as the tiny sliver of sun grew smaller and smaller, flickering. Dani and I stood from our chairs-- it was cold, and time felt as though it were moving very fast. It felt like approaching the peak of a rollercoaster, blood drawn not from it's own closed system but from this cold and delighted well of excitement, of my brian struggling to catch up. I was desperate to drink in every small bit of everything that was happening around us. The Sun and the Moon-- the color of the light-- the color of the sky, the people around us, the birds. We stood up. I felt as though I needed to move. I forgot I was a person, teathered to the ground, and not the act of watching and the compulsion to move. I could only look through the glasses as that small scarlet sliver retreated. I was filming on my phone, trying to capture both-- swinging it wildly around. I wanted to look away at the world-- I wanted to watch it dissapear completely through the lens. I didn't know which thing to focus on. I needed everything to slow down so I could see it all. Distantly, I heard people cheer and scream-- "Oh my god," "There it goes!" 

The light dimmed and darkened like it was alive, a being settling over us in some silvery embrace. I had read before it was terrifying, it felt more like a hug. A cold hug that makes your stomach drop-- the embrace of some enormous, incomprehensible ghost. I could see it darken through the sliver of peripheral vision at tthe bottom of the glasses, just the grass. I was swinging my head around, or my hand-- it was still and fixed. 

When I took off the glasses it startled me how big the moon was-- this disk of sky, deep and dusky silver as the rest of it, darkest around the covered sun-- from which the white ring of the corona was a thin bright band, with light radiating from it like glowing, spun sugar or clouds. At the bottom of the focused ring was a red bead. At some point, it struck me that a star had appeared in the sky. I had not seen it appear, only realized, suddenly, that it was there.

We could not stop saying "Oh my god." We were standing. I wanted to dance, or run, or pace, or do something. I looked at Dani-- the light was dark and golden. It was warm. The air was cold. The sky was silver and the light was gold. I looked at Dani, the people around us. Everyone was standing and we we were all cast in warm, dark gold. I had a moment where I wanted to grab them, (vaguely, I saw other people grab onto each other. A couple wrapped their arms around each other as they looked up) but I didn't-- I wanted to move, but it was like my mind and body had been severed from each other. A spirit in it's first possesion-- unfamiliar with what it was to exist in meat. 

I stared at the eclipse, fumbled to take some pictures. Through the lens of the phone the eclipse is a foggy dot, across the universe, wrapped in cloth, buried at the bottom of the sea. It's nothing. A phone camera does worse than nothing-- it shows you an image which is so far from what it is to see it and burns that onto it's circutry when I knew it would be difficult to brand any sight so strongly onto my brain. I wanted to capture it, to drink it in because I knew my memory could not preserve the image of it all like I wanted-- and yet the pictures were worse. I shouldn't have wasted time on it. I spent so much time trying to take them when I should have been staring up. It was surely only seconds, but it was too long. Seconds were a fraction of what they were in daylight. I took pictures of us, quickly, tried to get the disk in frame. To tear myself away and find it in the backwards view of the camera felt so dangerous, like it would end any moment and I would not see it. Yet I couldn't stop myself from trying to capture it with some objective sense. Technology should capture the clearest picture. It lasted 3 minutes and I felt like it lasted 2 seconds. It should have lasted years. I tried to drink in everything I could and burn it to the surface of my mind like a brand: The silver sky. The thin white line with the glowing red bubble at the bottom. The cloudy, white corona. The edges of the sky organge like a chemical-burnt film photograph. The dark golden light and the blue silver sky. The single star. Nothing I looked at felt like it could last long enough, and I had precious moments to preserve it. I was clumsy. I wanted to live in it forever. 

I felt light, and dizzy-- I was shaking, and it felt like I was floating. I felt weak and fragile. I kept feeling chills, periodically-- not from the cold, at least not entirely from the cold. I know I looked away from the totality for far too long. However long it really was, it was too long. I felt so strongly that urge to move, to run, or dance. I've said this already, but it was persistent-- this deep compulsion to do something physical, that I couldn't pull my dreaming body to do. All we could say was "oh my god! oh my god!" Every time I looked back at that disk I felt that old plunge off the cliffside. The shock at the size of it. 

Something momentus is happening and all you can do is try to keep up, to accept it, like jumping from the bridge-trellis into the cool water of the river-- when your feet leave the edge and you plunge you have to drag along your mind with your body as it understands that this is happening and that's all there is and you can not stop it once it's started. You exist in this moment where forces greater than you are pulling you along, and their pulling you along is a special, beautiful, primordial terror and comfort wrapped up together. Its a feeling that bypasses the rational mind, the proccesses of thought. It's not fear and it's not comfort, but those are thethe closest neighbors I can name. All you can ever hope is to experiance these things, and understand them afterwards. If you could live in that moment forever maybe you could rationalize it. The movements of celestial bodies. Gravity. ("Oh my god!" Was all we could say to each other, exalting.) I was hyperventilating-- I could not stop breathless laughter, as if my body needed to remind itself it was alive and breathing. That all other rules by which life passes had not also ceased to be. It was exhaltation. While totality occured I felt like I could understand the compulsion for all of the past's rituals, spirtualizations, sacrafices, mythologies. What are god if not forces of nature. What are gods if not the laws by which the universe turns. What are gods if not an attempt to describe the sublime. What is an eclipse if not pure sublimity. Awe, the fear of being pulled along by forces outside your control, the wonder of everything looking wrong-- the organge edges of the sky where there was no setting sun to light it-- the steel sky and the dark, honeyed light. The darkness of the moon's shadow crouching down onto the world to swaddle us in a cold hug.  

There was a pain as it left, a sense of loss. As it left and I had to tear my eyes away because of that brighteness, I felt an accute sense sorrow, that desperate choking down regret of when something ends and you want to live in it forever. I felt-- touch starved. Grief. The embrace had pulled away and I knew I would not feel it again. It was over, and yet-- nothing was real, still. I could not look back at it as often as I had in anticipation of it's arrival-- because the retreating moon could only remind me that the unearthly wonder of that moment had passed.

Still, nothing feels real. The rest of the day doesn't feel like a weekday, and it doesn't feel like a weekend. It feels like a day completely separated from the continuity of time.

[sloanbranding]

Corona's job is beach

When I was reading the case, I very quickly formed mental images of what each brand represented.

For Corona, I thought of the quote from the movie Barbie of Ken saying "my job is beach" because the Corona brand represented something fun, lighthearted, youthful, and relaxing to consumers. Its ads had a tagline "Sun, Fun, Beach" which conveyed to the audience that it was a light and affordable beer for people to have in their leisure time. Their initial efforts in the US also targeted younger crowds in cities that bordered Mexico and emphasized in-person promotions at restaurants, bars and discos, which worked well in attracting university students. Another distinguishing feature of the brand was the "corona and lime" trend that customers started doing, contributing further to the imagery of social gatherings and leisure activities.

On the other hand, when I thought of Heineken, I thought of a rich old man sitting on a couch because their brand was viewed as a premium beer with a strong heritage and quality. The case mentioned the beer carried an image of sophistication and status, with ads showing plain black backgrounds and just the beer. The brand's consistent messaging to consumers was that Heineken made good quality beer that stood on its own. This type of messaging would likely appeal to older and wealthy consumers which was appropriate for the higher price the brand charged as well. However, the brand also carried a perception of arrogance, which stemmed from ad campaigns that said "just being the best is enough." After realizing this, Heineken attempted to reshape how customers thought by creating ads that put less emphasis on quality and status and more emphasis on humor, but I wonder if these attempts came too late.

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

Okay so the hardware store also takes paypal but the shipping goes by individual item for cost and delivery time, so shipping would be 75$ to buy a handful of items

And dollarama has online shopping but only if you want to buy things by the case full and I am not sure it is meant for individuals

The issue I have with grocery shopping online has historically been the potential for the shopper to not pick out the right product or to try to substitute with a brand I can't use, so I don't know if that's ever going to be an option for me

It looks like maybe walmart is the only store I use that will actually make my life easier and safer but they still have each item ship individually, even if the shipping was free. I also don't know if the shipping will continue to be free or if they will start to charge after a month or something.

At least i got the stupid air conditioner delivered :/

Amazon would have a great business model if they accepted unbacked paypal payments and let you lump your deliveries together for a specified time window. And ig if they didn't otherwise suck.

If local stores could just accept your money without a line of credit and could deliver things in a way that makes any sense that would be great...

I swear, if my doctors would just do virtual appointments and I could work with stores to deliver things and take my money, the risk of re-exposure to corona would become limited to medical tests and administered treatments... And then I would happily only leave my house for fresh air and I wouldn't have to worry about needing to run ill times errands that could set my health back for weeks or months at a time.

[andavs]

Drinking Preferences in 9-1-1

Quick note: All of this is free from paid product placement because the show doesn’t have the characters interact with/drink real alcohol brands. They only use real brands for set dressing when they aren’t the focus and wouldn’t really be recognizable unless you already know that bottle/label.

So Maddie and Chimney have Grand Marnier and Monopolowa vodka (real brands) sitting out on a bar cart but the one bottle anyone interacts with is the fake brand of Glencallan scotch. The bar Chimney worked at was fully stocked with real brands of vodka (Deep Eddy, Stolichnaya, Tito's, Absolut) but no one actually touches them.

The fake prop brands fall into two categories: totally fake and generic, and lookalikes.

The totally fake brands are things like Glencallan scotch (a mashup of Glenlivet and Macallan) or the piscos behind the bar in Peru. Buck has Meichtry Draft beer in his fridge, which is a common prop beer that other shows use too, and a lot of characters in the show drink the generic Genuine beer.

The lookalikes are things like the beer Buck serves Connor that's called Cerveza Extra but it's written in a similar font to Corona Extra so to the passing glance, it’s recognizable to most people as a real brand they’re familiar with. When Buck and Hen are doing shots, the tequila is Carlos Medina Especial, made to look like Jose Cuervo. (Judging from the bottle shape and back label, Buck and Taylor were also doing shots of a different fake Jose Cuervo.)

Because they aren’t restrained by product placement, the show can give the characters their own drinking preferences instead of having them all drink the same brand with the clearly visible label conveniently turned towards the camera.

And because I was watching anyway, I kept track of how many times each character drinks what. (Scenes that show them drinking and what they're drinking, not counting up every drink they've had.)

So as of 6x12:

Chimney

Beer: 15 | Wine: 9 | Spirits: 4 | Cocktails: 0

Chimney seems to prefer beer, and he also drinks wine with Maddie pretty often. His go-to spirit appears to be tequila, but he also had scotch while his dad was visiting.

When he’s hanging out, he has a beer or two.

When he's misery-drinking, he has more than two, like when Albert first showed up or when he felt responsible for letting Shannon die.

When shit’s going down that he's not directly involved in, like when the Buckleys were coming or when Karen thought Hen was cheating again, he goes for tequila. It's a fake Don Julio called Señor Suertes.

But when things were really wrong, when Maddie first left and he was falling apart trying to figure out what happened to her, there was no evidence of him drinking at all. The entire apartment was covered in baby stuff.

Maddie

Beer: 2 | Wine: 18 | Spirits: 0 | Cocktails: 0

Maddie almost exclusively drinks wine, and in their new house, she and Chimney have a small, full wine rack on the counter.

She first drinks a beer after dispatch was taken hostage, when both Chim and Buck are also having beer but Josh is having wine. She seems to have another beer at May's graduation party, but everyone's drinks are in plastic cups and look more like juice than their usual prop beverages.

She stops drinking through all of s4 (pregnant) and doesn't seem to have another drink until the balcony with Buck at the end of s5.

Athena

Beer: 2 | Wine: 26 | Spirits: 4 | Cocktails: 3

Athena drinks the most out of the main characters.

She usually drinks wine, but she'll also go for something stronger, usually when she's out at a bar. She often has a glass of wine with dinner, and seems to favor having one after a rough day. After she slapped Harry, she drank a neat whiskey at home. She's added whiskey to her coffee twice.

But like Chimney, when she's spiraling and obsessively cleaning the entire house after realizing Hudson was in there touching their belongings, she was totally sober.

Bobby

Beer: 0 | Wine: 0 | Spirits: 3 | Cocktails: 0 | Club Soda: 2

Obviously Bobby doesn't drink, but when he was struggling with relapsing in Starting Over, he was holding the same prop Glencallan scotch that Chim has. When he did relapse in Worst Day Ever, he was drinking a fake Jack Daniels. In Point of Origin, he was drinking a generic vodka.

(Interesting that he chose a 35 year scotch, which is not cheap, when he previously drank Jack, which is about $25.)

When he's out with people who are drinking, he usually goes for club soda or water.

(The same scotch being used for Bobby, Chim, and Buck could be intentional, but this is also a common fake scotch brand used all over the place, so it could just be that they had it on hand.)

Hen

Beer: 9 | Wine: 11 | Spirits: 1 | Cocktails: 1

Hen is mostly seen drinking beer or wine; beer when she's out at a bar, and usually wine when she's at home or at Athena's. Hen and Karen have a full wine rack in their kitchen (added after s4), but clearly neither one of them will turn down tequila (I like to think it’s Chim’s influence).

Eddie

Beer: 13 | Wine: 5 | Spirits: 1 | Cocktails: 0

Eddie generally sticks to beer. He's also the one we see drink the least out of everyone who does drink, but Maddie's only one scene ahead of him.

We've seen him drink wine a few times (always red) and he also had a cognac or brandy at dinner with Shannon (judging by the type of glass). But when he's most comfortable and relaxed, having a drink with Buck or the team, he's drinking beer.

We don't see him drinking after a rough day unless he's talking things through with Buck over a beer. If he keeps anything beyond beer in his home, it’s kept out of sight. There was no visible alcohol in his house in Texas either.

Buck

Beer: 12 | Wine: 11 | Spirits: 6 | Cocktails: 2

Buck is pretty evenly split between beer and wine.

He worked as a bartender, but he doesn’t seem to have much interest in alcohol beyond having a drink with other people. This makes me think he wanted to bartend for the social aspect of it, not because he particularly cares about spirits or making cocktails.

Buck also doesn't seem to care about the quality of what he drinks. Chimney's go-to bottle is about $40-50, while Buck's doing shots of bottom shelf tequila with Taylor and Hen, and drinking a full pint glass of watery margarita with Lucy. (This man should stop drinking tequila.)

The first time the Buckleys all have dinner together, Phillip has scotch and Buck has wine, but the second and third times, Buck opts for scotch with his dad. These are the only times we've seen him drink scotch, so I assume he did because his dad did.

The only time we've seen Buck drink alone was while he was depressed after the blood clot, as there were a few empty beer bottles scattered around his kitchen when Eddie showed up, and he was sitting with an empty beer bottle when Eddie and Chris came by after the tsunami.

He has a small wine rack on the kitchen counter that has a few bottles in it, and occasionally there's a wine bottle grouped with the olive oil/other cooking bottles.

Random Observations:

Buck and Eddie didn't have a beer together on screen until 3x9, the Kitchen Scene.

Athena frequently drinks wine at Bobby's apartment in s2. They keep alcohol in their home (out of sight) and he has no problem pouring wine for others.

I'm pretty sure that the only time we saw Buck drink in all of s1 was (trying) to have a glass of wine on his date with Abby.

Hen and Athena almost always drink wine at each other's houses. I think they only had beers once.

Anyway, I think prop alcohol is really interesting and I have a passion for label design, and this is what I've chosen to do with that. Hopefully I didn't miss too much.

[dangara2610]

(4/10) Teenager and Young adult Ulla - Part 7

Hello 🪩🪅🌸

My progress got erased because of an internet connection mistake hahaha :'D

< Before :

Whatever, let's keep going but shorter and faster

Once the twins reached 12 years old, they graduated from their school, that was the obligatory age for schooling at the time

Ulf affinities were close to the Humanity University of Greece, so he asked for his parents aprobation to attend.

Ulla was attracted to the idea of keep studying, but there were no universities for Alchemy, the more similar thing would be medicine, on a Convent style, so no thanks.

The family escorted Ulf to the university and gave him as much as they could for his stance, also the promise of him going back to Pittsford for Yule festivities

Ulf got a nice welcome to this new school and he presented his investigation, got nice feed back, got his own book written (and his credit stolen on another book written on another language by one of his teachers )

Got nice experiences, some other were uneasy, but he reached his own goals.

Ulf got back on vacation to Pittsford and decided he wanted to stay, his work wasn't recognized as he liked there, so, he would ask dad to present his investigation to the printers and make a book about it.

Being the dad the name holder/author, the printer would do it with no problem

Ulla wanted a book made by a research of her, but she had no actual research on paper, everything she did was master her alchemy based on other books, so maybe , she would search new ingredients to write about them.

The family restored their own investigation and archeology work, slowly, visiting the next kingdoms in search for any Demanitus trials, sadly, this time they wouldn't have too much luck, finding mostly other antiques, still working to get their funds.

The twins on their own would keep their own studies slipping their paths on weekends, only reuniting for meals and sleep on the portable camp they made.

They got stuck on certain zones because the family got hired on restauration of multiple antiques they found, including Saporian ones, on Corona borders of those years.

After they showed their findings to Lady Clementine, they got invited to a secret banquet, very humble and hided, a nice time and history related conversations.

Few days later, these Saporians group showed the Faber family how thanks to their work at restoring antique weapons, they could buy "customized" new weapons with historical accuracy design, and who made them in such a short time? A mystery.

Then they got stuck on a war, Saporians versus Coronians , their documentation and antiques restored destroyed , saving some few, running away with success, the twins are 18 now.

Go back to Pittsford, save their data and the Ulla's alchemy supplies collection, that's the habit after each travel once there is not school anymore, go back home work with friends and locals for half a year, the other half travel and search.

In Nesdernia, here finally they found a Demanitus trial , Ulf meet befriended some natives who showed more interest on his Siblings dynamics investigation, he shared it with joy, but also, his friends offered additions to his research, he gladly documented it.

Now he had more folklore leyends, proverbs and advices, so brand new for him, never in his Greek university they reached this side of the world's culture, even more, his friends offered new antique old tool...

Divination~, they told him the basics about whenever your beloved one is in danger and you feel a "calling" or a "premonition", one of the strongest syntoms of a deep connection, specially between twins, what if he got the training on divination to know what to do in those cases ?

Even better, what if he could use this to get more info on his researches? Of course as a nerd with information hunger he would like to, but what's the training?, and how to prove this can be reliable?

Methods of Divination are going to be put under Scientific watch, does he believes in magic ? Obviously, but he is also an alchemist and a man of science.

Know if the person he is interviewing is telling the truth, unblock someone's lost memories, read minds, watch the future, watch the past, watch the present, find the soul mate, find the spiritual links, animal spirit, everything

His classic methods playing interviewer + comprobation via divination, yes , people tend to lie, and others says the true, but what if the divination tools are wrong? How to know if he made an execution mistake ? Of if he made it okey? What consequences would be he facing? How much can he use before it gets considered magic abuse ? Is this a menace to the real scientific methods?

Well, the elders of the community would teach him.

Not only that , he meet a woman called Sonia, not native from this place , but thanks to the Seven Kingdoms alliance, is not rare to meet migrates from everywhere, and yep, he was falling in love, as a scientist, yep, not getting carried away, a fine gentleman.

The family noticed he renewed his investigation, and about him dating a girl, this half year they would stay in Nesdernia, so, all the family integrated very good with Sonia's family and Ulf's friend's family.

The time to go back to Pittsford came, and Ulf faced the question of his parents, would you like to stay here? , the answer was yes

Thanks for reading ⭐🌹🫧🥭🍊🪐❄️ Ulf side of the story will continue but with short glances at the next part, getting back to Ulla's side, as the protagonist of this posts , "Alive Ulla AU"

Seee you next time 🌈🫒🌙☘️🎀🫒☘️🎀🏡🎀🌈🫒🌱☄️🍓☄️⭐☀️

[myrmyrtheorca]

9 & 16 , Edgy/misc OC ask meme for myr

Hello JoJo! Thank you for your question 💙💙

9. specific lyric or quote which you associate with [Myr]: oh boy I love quotes I try my best to write them down somewhere so I can check them later for inspiration. Let me scatter some of my documents here *search search check check skip skip*

...aah! Here's a few examples of what I have for Myr! I had more saved up in the actual books but they're currently all on boxes waiting to move to my new place...

"Sono io la morte / e porto corona, io son di tutti voi / signora e padrona, e così sono crudele / così forte sono e dura, che non mi fermeranno le tue mura." - Ballo in Fa# Minore, Angelo Branduardi

[I am Death / and wear the crown, I am of all of you / ruler and mistress, and so I am cruel / so mighty and enduring I am, that your walls shall not hinder me.]

"And couldst thou "faithful" add? 0 name, 0 sacred name of faithfulness profaned! Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew, Army of fiends? Fit body to fit head!" - Paradise Lost, John Milton

I've been there before I felt the fear, I feared the cold Imprisoned in lies Illusions of flames, only in my mind

I opened my eyes To a brand new world A place where darkness Is meant to show your inner light - I Am the Storm, Ad Infinitum

16. What is [Myr]'s pain tolerance like: Myr is really tough when it comes to pain tolerance. She's broken multiple bones during her life because of her habit to climb trees or structures to avoid getting caught after breaking the rules of the Cavalieri, and in general would often get into fights with both normal members and a certain relative of hers (which hopefully I'll be able to introduce shortly after Teodoro!). When she fights she gets tunnel vision and due to her confidence she often gets hurt more than necessary. Since her injuries wouldn't get treated with the appropriate priority while living with the Cavalieri, she learnt to suffer for long periods of time before expecting relief - not saying she'd do that just fine, but she'd definitely underestimate the risks of falling into such situations.

[ciaossu-imagines]

Can you do the ‘Who would be the best Actor in general? ’ for Fairy Tail?

C

Know how I said Haikyuu!! has a lot of characters? Oh boy, does Fairy Tail have it beat by a long shot! Again, narrowing down what is hundreds of characters into one definite gave me huge decision anxiety, so I just made a choice from each Guild and I hope that satisfies!

WHO WOULD BE THE BEST ACTOR IN GENERAL?

From Twilight Ogre, it’s Mattan Ginger. However, I see most of her work being commercials and such. It’s enough where her ego can say she’s an actor and her quirky personality really does help sell some of the more out-there brands, especially with the younger crowd.

From Cait Shelter, it’s Carla. She’s serious about her work, disciplined, and brings presence to all the scenes she’s in.

From Orochi’s Head, it’s Bluenote Stinger. He often gets cast in mook roles in action films.

From Titan Nose, it’s Bora. He’s been a big name in a long-running soap, though his off-screen antics and entitled behaviour makes more headlines than his acting.

From Raven Tail, it’s Flare Corona. She’s made a name for herself playing unhinged women in a number of horror movies.

From Mermaid Heel, it’s Arana Webb. She gets tapped to play a lot of action-y style, superhero roles and is known for being very flirtatious and coy in her interviews promoting her movies and such.

From Crime Sorciere, it’s Jellal Fernandes. Nobody does brooding and handsome like Jellal and because of that, he has a huge cult fan following, normally of the teenage, early-20’s variety.

From Diabolos, it’s Suzaku. He’s normally cast as a leading hero style character, often in historical or samurai influenced films or television shows.

From Phantom Lord, it’s Gajeel Redfox, super action star extraordinaire. He made a big name for himself by doing all his own stunt work.

From Quatro Cerberus, it’s Goldmine. While having a successful career in his youth, he mostly makes cameos in things now that people get wildly excited and enthusiastic about.

In Lamia Scale, it’s Lyon Vastia. He starred in a series of vampire movies, during which time he was stalked so hardcore by ‘Team Lyon’ fans that he had to have 24/7 security during the entirety of filming and had to relocate in between filmings to safe locations.

In Sabertooth, Sting and Rogue are a duo for a bunch of successful, and hilarious, action comedies. They’re so famous for them that fans think it’s a bit odd to see just one of them act in anything else.

From Fairy Tail, Laxus and Lucy both make it big in separate ways. Laxus has a really hot string of movies but then mostly retires into voice-work, while Lucy has a couple of movies where she’s ‘Final Girl’ that have a cult following, before she ends up stepping behind the camera to try directing and acting.