#edit: added some folks I forgot

[qualitytrees]

Top Nine People You Want to Get to Know Better

thanks @underthepiano for the tag <3

favorite color: green. specifically olive, but I like all the different shades/variations except for the super bright eyestrain-y ones

currently reading: the red badge of courage by stephen crane. I'm into history, especially military history, so, as one of the first modern american war novels, it has been on my list for a while

last series: z nation. started it cause my ex showed it to me when we were dating ~two years ago and only just got around to finishing it earlier this year cause it was about to be taken off of netflix

last song: nochentera by vicco

sweet, savory, or spicy? savory

currently working on: duolingo spanish streak (17 days, lol). all the bs that comes with being the training officer at my volunteer agency (I love the place, I promise, but there is so much that we don't have a process for/policy on or is stright up missing, alas, we eat the elephant one bite at a time). going back to school this fall, hopefully (dropped out in my early 20s and I'm praying I have the maturity to make it this time). all the job applications that come with being a newly certified paramedic

tagging, only if yall want to: @go-sullivan @kasadilla11 @oldtshirtsouls @risingatlas @sandstonesunspear @avidreaderffn

+ any mutuals I have forgotten (my memory is swiss cheese)

[canon-in-too-deep]

Free Pride and Prejudice Typeset (Illustrated)

*Collapses.* It is done. I present to you, Pride and Prejudice! By Jane Austen, and Illustrated by Hugh Thomson! Use it for reading, bookbinding, or whathaveyou, the unimposed pdf is sized for half letter (letter folio). And oh god this one was tedious uh, fun to do! All the illustrations are included in this typeset, PLUS all the dropcaps! See below the break for more interior shots, and details about making it. Edit: I FORGOT THE LINK! Here it is: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1S2wl_PuxCupofnDpqGuk7VjMHYFMWC6g?usp=sharing Also, as always, please leave credit if you use this typeset! It is free for personal use, just consider leaving a like/reblog if you can, and follow this blog for more free typesets! You can also support me on Ko-fi!

So I kept the title page simple for this typeset, since there's so many beautiful illustrations going on by Hugh Thomson. Just look at this! There's even an illustration for List of Illustrations!

...the list was it's own pain, and a lot of the illustrations had to be manually added in 😅 Twas a fun morning of cross referencing pictures and page numbers. I really loved the drop caps in this book, so I had to make sure to include them all! Each one was unique, and there's a ton of fun detail in these drawings, but the pic quality in the scans was a little rough. Here's hoping they translate okay in the pdf.

I just really love how this one turned out overall. I tried to have most of the illustrations at the largest size I could fit within my margins so that they could be properly admired. The original peacock version is so gorgeous, and of course Austen's writing is always an absolute joy to read. Anyway, here's hoping this typeset was helpful for folks!

Any errors, feel free to let me know! There was a lot of lines and files that needed to be manually placed and formatted, so some stuff might have gotten bumped around as I adjusted. If you've made it this far, thanks for stopping by!

[localcuttlefish]

asks you about the lightning never strikes twice au

You and @thecatchat have opened Pandora’s Box, I will take this as my signal to never shut up

Strap in folks this is gonna be a Long Post, but I added visuals so bear with me on this

This AU relies heavily on a few assumptions about character personalities, and a few assumptions about how the entities work. 

Here’s my basis of knowledge upon which this entire AU is built:

We know Tim is mentally and emotionally checked out for the majority of Season 3. He’s antisocial, cold, and resentful towards anything regarding the institute and/or it’s employees. He doesn’t give them the opportunity to get close to him anymore, and therefore, he isn’t really fully informed as to what the archival team is looking into all the time (as evidenced by MAG 104: Sneak Preview).

This means he wouldn’t know much (or care much) about Jon going out of his way to seek out Jude Perry, and subsequently seek out Mike Crew. 

The events of MAG 091: The Coming Storm occur as normal. What I want us to focus on is the audio after the statement, of Daisy disposing of Mike’s body and attempting to execute Jon as well. We know that the location Mike is buried in has to be accessible by car, specifically by standard undercover police vehicles, because the audio recording is implicitly either from the trunk of the car or in a closed bag in the car. I tend to make the assumption that the burial location is in a clearing through a patch of woodlands off the shoulder of the highway, because Daisy would know that the highway is a very difficult place to thoroughly search for cadavers, and Jon confirms that he was dragged through a forest to be executed in MAG 132: Entombed. If I remember correctly, Daisy frequents this place, as confirmed by Basira in MAG 091: The Coming Storm. We will keep the presumed location of Mike’s unmarked grave in mind.

Now here comes some big leaps of logic from me. This is where it starts to get funky.

We know that in order to become an avatar, like, a real one, full blown inhuman, you need to die, or at least come close to death, as explained in MAG 121: Far Away.

Up until this point, Tim has not encountered such an event. He’s been tricked into a binding contract with The Eye after being traumatized by The Stranger, he’s held his own against The Corruption, he’s been trapped in The Spiral, he’s inflicted his loneliness upon himself, and god knows to what degree The Web has been stringing him along as it did to all the archival employees, but none of these experiences killed him, or even came that close to it. 

As much as I love Desolation or Stranger aligned Tim, we always forget that he is first and foremost an employee of The Magnus Institute. He’s got that Eye alignment set up for him from the start. Being that he hasn’t died, he isn’t an avatar, but he can tap into the power of The Eye to some degree, much like how Jon in S3 could, but obviously Tim’s dominion of The Eye would be much narrower, since he isn’t The Archivist. 

I would like to think Tim’s abilities are almost mundane to some extent, since he resents the entities and tries to distance from them as much as possible.

Perhaps he’s just really good at finding hidden things. Like in MAG 039: Infestation, when he conveniently fell into multiple canisters of fire extinguishers in a seemingly coincidental stroke of good luck.

That’s the assumption I like to make.

We also know for a fact that trying to escape The Magnus Institute will cause sickness. It happened to Tim when he tried to get away in MAG 090: Bodybuilder. We will keep this effect in mind for later, trust me, it’s important. 

Jumping back to Mike, we know that avatars of The Hunt are the only beings that can really put down another avatar (I forgot which episode this was explained but I think it was from late S3 or early S4, if I find it I’ll edit this and put the exact episode). Daisy, at the time of MAG 091: The Coming Storm, is not confirmed to be an avatar for certain if I remember correctly. But for sake of covering all our bases, let’s say she is. In MAG 132: Entombed, Daisy clarifies that The Hunt “was in me all my life. Telling me who to chase. How to hurt them.”

Daisy was never hunting Mike, though. She was hunting Jon, and Mike just so happened to get caught in the crossfire. Therefore, I would make the argument that The Hunt did not put Mike down, but it sure looks like it did at face value.

So, when she puts a bullet or two through Mike, I’d like to think that’s not enough to really do the job permanently. But what does incapacitate Mike is being completely separated from The Vast, stuck in The Buried. Almost a fairytale-esque sleep-like-death. 

From that, I would dare to assume Mike isn’t dead, but in a painful, paralyzed, eternal stillness and silence, being crushed on all sides and totally severed from that which he serves. He can’t even scream in the few fleeting moments of lucidity in his entrapped state because Daisy broke his jaw when she first attacked. He’s stuck in a half-coma underground.

The last piece of setup for this show is the fact that Tim values autonomy. We see this as he gets more and more frustrated with Jon hovering over him with accusations and micromanagements throughout S2, and Elias trapping him in his current job via supernatural means as revealed in S2 and S3. Granted, he’s not as outspoken about it as Melanie is in comparison, but he still values autonomy. He even dared Elias to kill him if Elias wanted to take away his freedom of choice so badly. “Kill me or fuck off.” (MAG 104: Sneak Preview)

From this, I’d like to assume that he tries to get away in smaller ways, like driving far away from the city of London just to see the stars. Simple things like that, so the institute doesn’t drag him back on a shorter leash, kicking and screaming. 

So, we have the setup. Where does that lead us?

We have a tired and stressed Tim, driving out on a long empty stretch of highway, feeling more and more unwell the further he gets from the institute, until he sees an undercover police vehicle whipping out of a shoulder on the highway. Once again, he has conveniently found something meant to be hidden. 

And of course, being of The Eye, he investigates. Almost instantaneously he no longer feels unwell. 

To his horror, he unearths Mike, discovering the potter’s field Daisy has been steadily adding to over her years in the police force. 

What really wakes Mike up, though?

Well.

There’s a few more fine details, but this is the general gist of it! Feel free to ask more, I’m gonna continue to put out content for this AU but I would love to know what people want to see from it!

[sunghanne]

STAR RACER － ENHYPEN GREASE AU SERIES | PART 3 🚦

racer!enhypen & flaggirl!reader

PARTS: PROLOGUE, PART 1, PART 2 , PART 4. coming soon...

TITLE: ST★R-RACER : PART 3. MAKING ENEMIES

feat. ENHYPEN, TXT, STRAY KIDS?!

PLOT: in a small town during the 1950s, seems the only thing keeping careless teenagers entertained are drag races where only the elite participate. and those elite are known as star racers.

WARNINGS: coarse language, sexual themes, sexist remarks, ooc idols, illegal acts, violence, tba...

TAGLIST: @lalalalawon , @strvlveera comment your @/user to be added!

WORD-COUNT: 8.5k

NOTE: heyy, in hopes to keep the 1950's setting authentic, there are sexist jokes so please watch out for that. because the reality is, that mindset was not rare to come across during those times. this chapter is NOT EDITED at all. i'm sorry if its not my best one. likes, reposts and comments are all heavily appreciated, thank you and enjoy!!

"ow, that hurts y/n! you've never done this before have you?!" the whining male cried out as you shushed him with a harsh tug of the tuff of his dark hair, his yells echoing off the bathroom walls.

you shot him a death glare through the mirror of your bathroom, standing behind riki's sitting figure with foil and bleach encased around his head like someone's grandma with a head of rollers, "no, but i know what i'm doin'! i saw this on a commercial, it's a piece of cake," you reassured, even snorting quietly in your throat at the stupidity in your words. riki wasn't sure whether to be even more terrified than before at such unhelpful guidance.

"if i come home bald, you're gonna tell my folks exactly what you'd done," he huffed as you painted a thick coat of hair dye on a handful of his strands. you tutted at his childish nagging and focused on the task at hand.

"the ladies are gonna be all over you," you sang while lifting a foil-covered bunch of his hair and waving it in the air for him to see in the mirror. his dark eyes shot open at the new colour enveloping his virgin hair, "look at that."

"shit, how many times do i gotta do this?" he asked when a concentrated yellow appeared from his roots to the ends of his hair.

you hummed at his inquisitive question and with a cheery smile you replied, "only around four times." his head was thrown back while he wailed out with a mocking cry, like a child on his first day of school. you nudged his head back forward with the bleach applicator in your hand so the foil wouldn't fall out of place.

"i better win this upcoming race," he sulked while sitting up properly as you enforced harshly. you giggled and immediately started teasing him if he didn't win, he'd be on a permanent ban from racing ever again. except, when the day arrived. you didn't know what kinda racer yang jeongin really was.

"shit," you cursed out aloud, having to almost yell it to be heard over the jostling barracks, feeling guilty, "we missed riki's takeoff," your eyes searched for sunghoon's and he ducked his head low am tousled some of his light silver hair in a fluster. you originally wanted to be cheering your heart out for riki's first race back in action but you were so lost in your conversation with chan and felix that you forgot all about it.

"right, yeah," sunghoon plainly responded, eyes scanning the scene of the flag girl skipping off to her side of the track, "he's made in the shade. let 'em be," he nonchalantly finished while the crowd's volume gradually decreased and currently in a waiting period.

definition:'made in the shade'. > success guaranteed.

"yeah, she'll be right," felix grinned, most likely referring to his mate, jeongin. you were curious about brace boy, particularly that last conversation he looked like he held with riki where riki held his pinky up and did a promise in the air. your attention was placed back onto felix who has turned away with a hand tucked into his pocket.

definition:’she’ll be right’. > he/she/they will do fine.

"you're a star racer?" you questioned the freckled-faced male diagonal from you and he shone a proud smile at your acknowledgement.

"that's right. why is everyone always surprised when i tell them this?" felix asked while turning his head to his familiar, chan. his voice uncertain and high-pitched at the backhanded reaction from you.

"you're just so friendly, the other stars i've met are too busy touching their gearsticks to come up to another star and chat," you explained and his nose scrunched at your misleading metaphor of gearsticks. sunghoon snickered beside you quietly, silently agreeing in his mind. you weren't entirely off the mark saying that, hell, soobin never cared for his opponent at the beginning or end of the event. too busy stroking his machine on wheels to unsuspecting girls from his side.

"aw, that's real peachy of you. where's this star of yours?" he wondered while pressing a flat hand above his brow bone and squinting his eyes, deliberately looking over sunghoon during his theatrical act. of course, only chan found this bit funny. sunghoon on the other hand was driving forward to brush his hand on felix's shoulder to spin him back around to where hyunjin stood.

"cut the gas. i need another weed," sunghoon demanded the childish counterpart of his, hiding his internalised annoyance for being overlooked. felix let out a toothy laugh and called out for the red-haired male several metres from where we stood.

definition:'weed'. > a cigarette.

hwang's fierce eyes faltered at the outlandish male calling his name in a deliberate baby voice and reluctantly came to his heed. leaving the makeshift spotlight of the lamp post behind him, his charming features were illuminated in the natural moonlight, half of his face hidden in the shadows. and as he approached even closer, he was surprisingly almost as tall as sunghoon.

"what is it?" he grizzled out, annoyance evident in the way he spoke at felix's antics. the male in question patted his disgruntled friend on the back and gestured towards sunghoon with his free arm like a tour guide.

"a cig for the gentleman here," the playful boy announced and hyunjin's dark pupils shrunk upon landing on sunghoon.

"park, where's your little groupie?" the newcomer asked, their voice tainted with boredom like he didn't care about the answer regardless. you were curious about their history together so you kept a keen eye on their interactions. hyunjin's slim hand hid in his jacket's pocket and when he retracted it, a cigarette was flown at sunghoon in an instant. your friend paused and reeled forward to catch the stick, startled. "need me to light it for you too, eyebrows?"

sunghoon's brows dipped at the name-calling from his opposite, ignoring such disruptive teasing and lighting his cigarette smoothly. he sighed peacefully, blowing smoke that lapsed the red-haired male in spite. the misty effect around the said boy with the mole beneath his left eye made you want to jump out of your sneakers and hope to catch a ride with him home. he had no reason to look so effortlessly gorgeous. eyes starting to water from the lack of blinking, a carefully placed hand spun you around towards the upper slope of the concrete walls.

"hitting the road so soon? tell lee i said hello," hyunjin's voice poured and you felt sunghoon's nails almost dig into your fabric-covered arm in frustration. he couldn't answer why the other men weren't with him, it'd only open more holes for the opposition to pry. so for your safety and his, the only thing he could do was turn his back and exit without a word.

"want a drink?" he questioned to break the defeating silence on the way up the slope. it felt like it was the two of you against the world, a familiar feeling with you and sunghoon being placed in difficult positions to crawl out of. it was so lonely, jungwon and sunoo didn't come with you and jake was somewhere in the crowd preparing for his upcoming race.

if you weren't sure which of the two boys from earlier would be against jake, you'd be safe to assume ruby locks. chan the creep was a close competitor but something about his appearance didn't scream racer. the reason you weren't familiar with this handful of boys was that they were not in town often. why? because they were from a nearby suburb and only came to your drag strip because it was better than whatever set-up they had. this only lead you to ponder what kind of people they were.

"yeah, please," you agreed to sunghoons suggestion and he changed directions of your footing to a nearby huddle of people around a foldable table, impatient hands of money held out to whoever was running the alcohol-selling get-up.

the rumble of an engine, the screech of tires, the painful sting of car oil and your sweet face amongst the strands of hair flying behind you. that's all heeseung could recall in his last moments of racing before everything turned cold.

when he saw you and sunghoon running away from him, getting chased by soobin, beomgyu, taehyun and kai, he knew he was at a loss. he fidgetted with his door lock, hands soiled in grease resulting in his fingers being slippery with the hard surface. then, with a dip in his legs, he limped out of his messy car and turned right back around to look at the state it was in. just his luck, the white shine of his vehicle was ruined by a clear brown slick splattered inside and outside it.

"fuck. fuck, what am i gonna do," he cursed while his wet fingers came in contact with the back of his hair, jostling his strands in frustration. he had two options, go to you and the mobs surrounding yeonjun or hit the road. he couldn't go home like this, and neither could he relish in humiliation from everyone. so, weighing his options, he began his journey up the closest slope with heavy footsteps.

he loathed the way his favourite jacket was now dirtied with car oil and his footsteps left marks on the dry pavement behind him. he just prayed to god that they would dry up by the time anyone else came to find him.

this side of town for heeseung was unexplored. the neighbouring school's turf, that's all he took in as his head turned while walking past the tall, brick building. the school for the higher-ups. the school where students probably didn't spend their after-school time in gas-ridden garages as he did. he had made quite the change in progress from the race track he crawled out of and now found himself deeper in the bramble bushes on the opposite side of town.

he smelled awful, like a gas station set on fire. he still wore his damp jacket, knowing it was a smarter idea to throw it off but the evening breeze was way too cold to discard it so easily. and, part of the boy believed there'd be a chance to save it when he got himself out of the mess.

a deafening beep of someone's car brought the boy out of his clashing thoughts when he found himself crossing a road, green appearing on every street light around him. his eyebrows furrowed and he clenched his teeth in annoyance, throwing up a middle finger to the driver as he picked his pace up while meeting the other side of the pavement.

he wasn't the type to dawdle stupidly. he was irritated at his thoughts tuning him out of the real-world enough to make him senselessly cross a road.  also half irritated at the scare and the loud beep made his heavy shoulders flinch. he was wondered what was going on in the drag strip right now. the other school was having their bash and you were probably with the other boys heading home or to sunoo's diner for burgers and shakes.

just his luck, the neon wiring on a shop's board spelled '24hrs' stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the dark windows of already closed establishments. he'd found a 24-hour dry cleaner and maybe he didn't hate the previous rage road for rushing him to it. the entrance bells rang as he stepped in, his hand leaving a thin coat of car oil on the door handle.

the cleaning service smelled of lavender-scented washing detergent and the warm smell of an iron pressed to clothes, a nice change from his burnt tire-smelling 'cologne'. behind a run-down service desk was an employee, looking up from her newspaper, glasses tilting up her nose bridge. her face was partly distorted behind the tip jar that only had two coins in it. the stranger's mouth was parted, most likely surprised a customer even came in at this time of night or maybe at the appearance of heeseung who looked like he'd crawled right out of some swamp.

heeseung was just as surprised to see a girl his age working, assuming it was a family-owned business and she was most likely forced to stay late nights as punishment for bad test results. but, he knew he would be able to use this to his advantage.

"pick up for, er, nathan," he fibbed while fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket, praying to whatever god above that there was a customer named nathan. the girl's eyebrows raised, realising she actually had to do her job. so with the fold of her newspaper, she jumped down from her seat and tiptoed towards the long hanger racks with a collection of clothing hanging.

heeseung tailed behind her, proceeding to the opposite side of the two stripes of clothing racks and clicking the hangers together as he frantically sought clothes that could do the trick. long floral nightgowns, tuxedos, and even a wedding dress yet, no clothing fit for a teenager. "i'm sorry, no clothes under the name nathan," the employee fret while turning around to look at heeseung's opposite spot to hers.

he clicked his tongue in annoyance, not replying but only heightening his pace in scrolling through articles of fabric till his hands paused at someone's long pair of coveralls, clean and freshly ironed. he unhooked it and held it to the girl observing and smiled, "found it," he responded and the girl pushed her glasses up her nose bridge at the awkward feeling of being bested by a customer.

"really? oh, there we go then," she replied without a console and padded back towards her counter, leaning her elbows on the surface while picking her newspaper up. heeseung was silently celebrating in his mind at his successful act, treading towards the girl whose stationed right at the exit.

he calmly slid off his oily jacket and threw it on the edge of the counter she didn't lean on, a few rolling coins with it, "thanks, buttercup. i'll pick this one up next," the boy spoke with a wink at the broad. then, he pressed forward and left the building, stolen coveralls folded over one of his arms. as he disappeared from the store's large windows, he couldn't help a long arm of his being pulled back to his side in a celebratory dance, hoping on his light feet to an imaginary beat in his head as he skipped past dimly lit buildings.

you and sunghoon were regretful forgetting to watch riki's departure. because when he rolled in a fraction of a minute after jeongin, that's when hell broke loose.

you leapt up from your sitting position and pulled sunghoon with you to the middle of the track where riki had just parked. before getting a word in, the protruding male shoved through the circle of students encasing jeongin and raised a fist to the unsuspecting boy's face. about to strike, he was roughly pushed to the floor and met with the untamed clashes of three pairs of shoes.

"watch it, greaser!" chan yelled before laughing and settling his foot right on top of riki's reddening ear, earning a hiss of pain from the younger. your eyes widened in worry while you mirrored riki's shoving tactic to maneuver the crowd out of the way for you and sunghoon. you'd never expect such a rocky entrance from your friend.

"beat it!" you yelled while trying to shoo off hyunjin, felix and chan who had been kicking and stomping on riki's fetal position. sunghoon aided you by rutting his shoulder into the trio of men to make space for you. you placed your drink on the floor while ducking down to help riki up. he was roughed out, swipes of dirt in the pattern of shoe prints all over his clothes and face.

"what's the big idea?" sunghoon grumbled while glaring at the prosecutors, chan swiped his nose, sniffing inwards while his eyes searched the crowds like he was expecting someone. the look in the other two boys echoed the same reaction and sunghoon was taken aback by their behaviour. they were waiting for everyone else, jay, jungwon, sunoo and heeseung to interfere but no one came. sunghoon could tell, another light of pride flickering off in his mind. they weren't here.

only jake was running down the concrete slopes while his dark leather jacket flew behind him with every airy step he took.

"what's our prob? like you didn't just see your yoot strike ours first," hyunjin replied while his shoulders seemed to relax at the lack of our crew members. your head turned to riki as he grappled onto your hand and slowly unfurled himself, wincing during the gradual motion.

definition:'yoot'. > a younger sibling.

he wasn't looking at hyunjin, nor sunghoon at that. he was only staring at one boy. the boy with a sadistic grin spread across one cheek to the other, braces shown and all, "what happened, riki?" you questioned lowly in case you'd tripped on a wire that lead to the alarms going off in his head. his eyebrows furrowed while he wiped the back of his palm against his nostrils, a crimson fluid left behind on his pale skin.

"take a look at it yourself, this brute just dented jay's ride," he explained while your head flicked back to the boy's car he had borrowed from jay to use. jake positioned himself next to riki and viewed the area like a radar, a serious scowl on his face from his usual sweet smile.

"no rules in drag racin'," jeongin spoke up, and it was the first time you'd ever heard him. he sounded youthful and the cruel smile still on his face only added to it.

"you wanna pay for your damages? go ahead," riki rasped, a clothed arm against his nostrils to try and soak up his bleeding nose. the boy opposite to him only raised an eyebrow, looking over to his older peers like riki had just told a bad joke.

"i'm not the one losing the race, why would i?" jeongin rhetorically questioned while his smile finally dropped and only then did he finally give you the creeps. riki seethed through his teeth and stepped forward with hunched shoulders before he was stopped by sunghoon's hand.

"relax, he's just tryna bug you. ts'only the first race. jake and i got this," sunghoon reassured and rubbed his hand on riki's shoulder. the younger affirmed with a nod of his head and took a few steps backwards, almost bumping into you if you didn't move away at the right time.

"come on riki, let's get you fixed up," you persuaded the other and tugged on the cuff around his free hand. he reluctantly turned around, his eyes being the last of his body to disappear from the four boys.

"his mom came to pick him up, ain't that nice," you heard jeongin mock, only earning a small snicker from the crowd here and there. but you didn't care. cheaters would never have real skill and that's that.

you lead riki back towards the slanted pavement, in hopes of finding some tissues or an ice pack around somewhere. as you left lightly, you heard jake's voice question sunghoon about what happened and the crowd slowly disburse in preparation for the next race.

with a cold glass of beer against riki's sore face, his eyes never lifted off the concrete you two sat on. you clutched onto your long skirt and bit your bottom lip while mindlessly tracing your eyes on the tire tracks left in the dirt as jake and hyunjin already started their race.

"so... what really happened?" you asked the boy gently and he groaned at the forming bruise on his cheek that hurt every time he tried to speak.

"that son of a bitch' decided to play dirty when i was ahead of him for half the race," his voice was nasally due to the two twisted tissues stuffed up his nostrils and you could laugh at his state if it wasn't such a serious situation.

"he just rammed into you?" you questioned in uncertainty a boy so sweet looking like jeongin could be so fierce on the racetrack. but riki wanted to prove you wrong.

"yes. before the race, he told me no hard feelings for whoever won. so much for that act," he spat in betrayal, his gold locks draped around the sides of his face like a curtain. you assumed that's why riki held his pinky up before his race, motioning a promise to that flawed oath. you lightly chewed on the insides of your mouth, thinking his outrage seemed justified.

"what a joke," you commented while tucking a piece of your hair behind your ear and looked off towards the distance to not pile on the shame the boy was already drowning in.

"ts'tough. i wanted to win so badly. now everyone still thinks i'm a joke," he vented while continuing the shield on his expression. you immediately consoled the doubtful boy, a gentle hand stroking his back soothingly.

"that's not true. shit, i doubt anybody could handle the stress of being crashed into during a race," you pleaded while trying to cheer the boy up. he lifted his face slowly and his bangs fell to their correct placement, eyes lightened at your encouraging resolve.

"think so?" he asked in a low voice and you nodded with a small grin at his change in attitude.

"keeno," you responded and he sighed in relief while closing his eyes and rocking his head back.

definition:'keeno'. > keen, sure.

"this little kindness thing you do, is this what you learn in bible study, y/n?" his tone suddenly changed as he teased you with his usual banter. your eyebrows furrowed before you abruptly tore a tissue down from his nostrils and he cried loudly at the sting and the gush of blood that came out with it.

jake won his race. you were glad to see the smug grin wiped off of hyunjin's face upon his arrival. this glimmer of hope made your shoulders lift at the chance your crew could still win the night. it was you, jake and riki sitting together along the pavement waiting for the winner. riki's previous beer was now being used for its actual purpose and he gulped it down without a care in the world once his bruise stopped hurting and his nose quit bleeding.

jake was talking about how some pack of girls kept crowding around him like flies when he first arrived, hence his disappearance when you and felix first met. you thought it was a little funny why jake was always trying to run away from his group of fans every time he raced and riki made some comment about how jake probably swung the other way which he immediately denied.

the topic changed, rotating between what holiday jay was forced upon by his father, whether riki's voice had dropped yet and if heeseung was going to come back or not. where would he be? what could have taken him two weeks of his life from racing? not only was the absence at his desk at school starting to grow a pit in your stomach but also the doubt whether he was coming back or not.

you and the seven boys were childhood friends, in preschool, middle school all the way to high school the seven of you were inseparable. heeseung wasn't the kind of person to throw away years like that just for some hurt pride. so he had to come back.

the loud echo of an oncoming vehicle's radio sounded from atop the slope opposite your side. it was a roofless, bright blue automobile but the pack of men inside it is what surprised you the most. the two boys in the backseat were standing up and cooing like wild animals, fists in the air that held bottles of liquor. the people sitting on the concrete slope had to jump and run out of the road for the vehicle barging through them to avoid being squashed flat.

the men standing up only held onto the top of the front seat headers to retain their balance as the car veered forward down the slope dangerously to the point it could almost tip over. the air out of your lungs was socked out at such a stunt as the rolling vehicle came to a halt once it met the flat ground. the bass of the radio reflected off the pavement and you could hear your ears thumping to the same rhythm of the music before it clicked off and the four men jumped out.

"yeah, the boys!" chan's loud voice yelled while he ran from his previous viewing position to greet the other individuals with bear hugs and handshakes. your head steered towards the two boys beside you, curious about their reactions as well. jake's lips were parted and with clenched teeth, he fidgeted in his position steadily. riki's eyebrows were raised far enough for his forehead to crease in interest to what the appearance of these newcomers entailed to the event.

your eyes squinted while watching the figures below where the three of you say upon and their interactions. they behaved like sleazy, booze-infested apes who only knew how to communicate by yelling and wooing at everything. "who are they?" you questioned, not directed to either of your friends but jake took the initiative.

"that's the rest of their gang," he cooly replied and his lips licked out of habit and discomfort. if sunghoon didn't win, he would be the bud of jokes between the just-arriving men.

"shit, there's a mob of them," you cursed while counting up the numbers of your crew. four to eight did not look appealing to you at all.

"they're bad news," jake quietly continued while his eyes traced the furthest he could of the race track for any sign of sunghoon or felix. and you believed him. the appearance of such a feral group muddled with the only familiar handful of men you knew from them completed a perfect puzzle in your head. they were much worse than yeonjun and his group. way worse.

heeseung didn't have anywhere to stay the night. but when the company of his worn coveralls found him tiptoeing in the night, they invited him in. the owner of the repairman company, an old, balding man asked heeseung where he found the uniform which the boy answered shamelessly. unexpectedly, the old man laughed at such brutal honesty and offered heeseung a job.

so for the upcoming days, heeseung spent every day and night on the job, using the telephone outlet to call home and promise his temperamental mother that he'd be home soon and was just out with the boys. the owner of the establishment loved heeseung and his surprising work on vehicles.

"you seem to know a lotta 'bout cars, son. your old man a mechanic too?" his low antique voice asked while heeseung lay on a creeper on the undercarriage of a car, toying with something. a bead of sweat rolled down his dirt-staining temple while he licked his lips to answer.

"nah. just a knack i picked up," he lightly responded in such a bent-over position, his voice was coarse and throaty.

"impressive. skilled with your hands, aren't ya," the old man chuckled at his gag and heeseung just softly chortled at the dirty joke.

"no sweat," heeseung replied while focusing back on his work. that was the domestic dynamic he held with the owner who so generously offered food, shelter and a job to him. but all things come to an end and heeseung had a group to return to and a race to win.

and that's where heeseung found himself, sprinting out of the joint with nothing but a cigarette in his mouth and handfuls of scrunched cash stuffed into his pockets and crowded against his stomach as he ran away with the infuriated man behind him. of course, being at such old age made the owner give up easily and retreat to inside the store and to the nearest telephone for the police.

heeseung was smiling, laughing breathlessly at such a successful act that merely took a week and a half to achieve. the loud steps of his black converses came to a stop in front of the only store with a neon sign at this time of night. the dry cleaners where he could finally collect his jacket.

he swung the door open, ignoring the glare of the same girl at the run-down counter as he raced to the hanger racks to find it. the loud scratch of the girl's chair bounced off of the poster-ridden walls when she stood up in disbelief at the return of the boy who left her with a hand of dirty pennies and a destroyed jacket.

"nathan?" she abruptly spoke up and heeseung's pace faltered for a brief moment while he ignored her calling. she had a lot of questions in mind as to why he was running with wads of cash glued to him and why it took him to long to collect his jacket.  "those aren't yours, are they?" her glasses adjusted on her nose bridge as two shakey fingers pressed against them. she was referring to his coveralls now soiled in stains. he had almost forgotten the fake name he used so he didn't even realise she was referring to him.

"s'course they aren't mine. you realise this world is full of cheaters," he rhetorically asked through messy heaves of his chest while still flicking through articles of clothing. he was drenched in sweat and, motor oil and dirt, almost as dishevelled as the girl first saw him. her hands, once preoccupied with the newspaper she once read grasped onto her long red polka-dot skirt, uneasy with such a mean response.

the brief moment of silence broke at the relieved sigh that left the tall boy's parched lips as he found his beloved jacket. before he could pad back towards the entrance, the bright flash of red and blue reflected off the windows as police cars drove past at a deathly slow pace. they were searching for him. heeseung's dark eyes widened and he ducked down in an attempt to hide before his vision was clouded by red and white polka dots. "nathan, behind here," the gentle voice above the endangered male brought him back to reality and the crisis he was in.

the employee gestured to behind the front desk and he complied, side shuffling on his aching knees behind it. the girl was like his reflection, mirroring his positioning to take light steps and use her wide skirt to cover his face while he made haste getting to behind the desk. he met with the grim dusty table legs and leaned his back against it with a clamouring heartbeat. the unnamed girl returned to her usual position, reading a newspaper but all the tiny printed letters were too blurred by her adrenaline to actually process anything.

police cars swarmed by, their loud tires burning rubber against the road outside and their brash sirens singing out. heeseung was more than grateful for the little helping hand as he would've been toast if he was still out in the open. the only thing he thought about was the son of a bitch who ratted him out and sent a flock of police after him. he'd understand one or two cars but half a street full was asking for too much. it wasn't like he robbed the man's entire life savings, only a till full.

his partner in crime only took the flashing reflection in her glasses as a signal that the police cars had finally passed by and she craned her guilty head down to the man below her. his pearly white teeth shone, smirking in his pleasing tactic of avoiding the authorities, "thought you were a good girl. turns out y'not," was the only sentence he formed as his nerves calmed as his breathing regulated.

the quiet girl suppressed the tint of red growing from one of her cheeks to the other at his words, turning away in an instant to not blow her cover. "hit the road, hood," her voice changed while she referred to the criminal acts of the boy and now realised the kind of character he was.

the smoke of heeseung's cig left an imperfect line in the air as he stood up cautiously, eyes darting through the wide glass panes to see if the coast was clear. once he confirmed it was, he graciously stepped out of the desk and back on his previous path to the exit. the nickname 'hood' amused the boy, as well as the sudden fierceness in the girl he only thought was innocent.

"thanks, sweetheart. my name's heeseung," he revealed through a light whisper before he ducked out of the thrown-open door and to the opposite direction the police cars came from. the employee raced to the doorway upon his departure and leaned her head out of it to watch as the male escaped to an alleyway hidden in the shadows.

a knot in her heart snapping at the thought it would be the last time she'd ever see the boy. she knew from the beginning the coveralls weren't his and she knew his name wasn't actually nathan. because the tag on the jacket he left behind was claimed with blue pen that spelled his real name. all she knew about the dangerous boy was that she had fallen head over heels for him.

heeseung swerved past tight corners, cautiously avoiding the open from the fuzz that was most likely circling the area. he was trying his best not to move so violently and risk papers blowing out his pockets so he stopped once and found himself in an alleyway between some grocery store and two large skip bins where the stink was more detrimental than being caught by the police.

fortunately, there was a telephone hooked to the wall of the grocery store and as long as it wasn't hooked up to the services of the actual store, this could be his one-way ticket out of this muck. so, within two beats he held the phone up to his ear and dialled the only reliable service he knew. park jay.

sunghoon lost. the ear-defeating celebration from the pack of animals in the middle of the track only rubbed salt in the wounds when sunghoon exited his vehicle and scrambled his hair in his fingers out of frustration. jake stepped forward and rubbed the dishevelled male on the shoulder out of encouragement but he didn't bite into it. the cold winds brushed against the equally cold atmosphere and it sucked having two losses in a row.

you stood beside riki and began to turn away as sunghoon and jake were an inch past you when felix's loud voice yelled, "that race was child's play. i thought you had more fire in you, but i guess you put out," he mocked cruelly, indicating something unrelated to racing.

"s'got a broad with 'em. whaddya gonna do on the way home? this a gangbang?" another male you never met before slurred out, clearly mixed with alcohol. the disgusting comment made your nose scrunch and riki's steps froze.

"ey, let me tap in then," another one drunkenly laughed while his arms were slung around chan and the previously spoken male.

"what'dya meant to do the other 23 hours and 45 minutes in a day, han?" hyunjin teased immediately and han was laughed at while the other boys yanked his clothes mockingly.

the laughing group of hyenas in contrast to your silent crew made you grow embarrassed by the inappropriate remarks. well, until riki's fist banged into han's snickering face and made the boy almost collapse like a folding chair. your eyes shot open, sunghoon and jake immediately spun back around to stop the incoming throttle the seven active men were about to induce on riki.

the mobs of drunken teens were reeled around the scuffle, making it almost impossible for your two friends to pull their youngest out of the rut. your fingernails seeped into riki's shoulders as you attempted to help them hold riki back from going any further than a punch against han and the other men did the same with the said male.

"bust a gut, but you'll be blown off when i get my hands on you-" riki hissed out, voice hindered by the violent thrashes he used to try and get out of the lock sunghoon and jake had on him. han's lips were sneering in anger, cheek reddening while fought against his kind.

definition:'bust a gut'. > laugh out loud.

'blown off'. > defeated in a race.

"bite me!” han yelled before getting shoved to the ground by felix and chan, the two men who were slightly guilty for their friends' behaviour having met you beforehand. you stole a glance at felix, eyebrows furrowed in anger at the switch of personalities the men had around their friends. you thought they were cool at first before their true colours showed.

"cool it!" chan shouted while han was still itching to get his hands on riki. riki finally complied with the grip on his arms, calming down his heaving chest that was so clouded by anger and humiliation.

"i'm warnin' you ever utter a word about y/n," sunghoon rasped, for once his pink lips not clouded by the smoke of a cigarette between them. felix gulped down dryly, eyeing you through the gap between jake and riki's shoulders sympathetically.

"these chicks're only good for one thing," the male with dark hair who previously brought up the idea of the 'gangbang' spoke so confidently and your stomach turned at his controversial words. riki's body jerked at the immorality of the other and sunghoon called out for him to relax.

"fuck up, changbin, for fucks' sake," felix cussed in irritation while turning to his aggravating companion who never got the hint of the situation. you hand rubbed at riki's warm back to continue to settle him down as a blanket of intense silence ensued, consisting of death glares being shot from one boy to another.

"if you're cruisin' for a bruisin', this is our turf and we can get you kicked out anytime y'want," sunghoon warned lowly and felix's head angled downwards at his threat. before he uttered a word, hyunjin stepped forward with his red hair stealing the attention of everyone else.

"how 'bout we settle this? let's cop this side of town so you looneys can't reach us," hyunjin suggested and it piqued interest with his clique nodding in agreement.

"this s'not your turf and neither is it ours," sunghoon retaliated referring to the other side of town owning it. and to be exact, he meant yeonjun and his lackeys' ownership. hyunjin's head tilted in amusement, one eyebrow raised at the correction.

"well then, better defend their turf or you'll be bruised by 'em too. lets race. same spot, same time, tomorrow," hyunjin gambled and for one, you knew bets like these never ended well. you bit your lip uneasily and stole a glance at sunghoon. his eyes didn't falter, and neither did he move an inch from his position when his hands clapped against hyunjin's in a passive-aggressive handshake.

"winner takes the turf," he concluded while he released his hand from hyunjin's robotically and started to turn around to his vehicle parked behind him. you, jake, and riki copied his mannerisms and with hunched shoulders, you refused to return the sorry gaze felix conveyed to you. the tension in the air broke and was followed up by the loud celebration of the opposition's win.

sitting on four leather seats, you and the three others leaned on the counter, chewing your nails anxiously at the upcoming rumble in 24 hours. "i mean, surely you can bring your salt shakers and maybe sprinkle it in their eyes," jake humoured while looking over at sunoo who burst out laughing at the idea.

definition:'rumble'. > a fight among gangs.

"effective, don't you think? five bucks if i land it in jeongin's eyeballs just for you, riki," sunoo joked, previously hearing all about the events thirty minutes ago. riki just sighed out a less than enthusiastic laugh, clearly still torn on jeongin and his personal fight.

"you learnt better than that to set up bets again," you spoke with upturned eyebrows, staring at sunoo with a smile on your face to try and get him out of the habit.

"five bucks is not gonna empty my wallet," he replied while pouting his lips slightly to exaggerate his pronunciation.

"you paid your debts back?" you questioned, sounding a little more surprised than you intended to and the male was almost insulted.

"yes, actually," he rolled his eyes at your tone and then shifted his gaze to sunghoon whose head was in the clouds somewhere, only the fog of a cigarette blowing out of him. your eyes traced the long, slowly wavering line of smoke all the way up to the ceiling that danced before it disappeared into the air.

"sunghoon," you called his name and only his eyes moved to the direction of your voice, which you flinched in your seat, "oh my god. he's possessed."

sunoo and make cracked up quietly, not wanting to bring the male back to his right senses by being too loud. because for some reason, sunghoon's spaced-out periods were entertaining to watch. "must be heeseung's ghost. hey hyung," sunoo piled to the humour and you chewed the inside of your mouth not to giggle as well.

"stop," you begged while silently laughing while tugging sunoo's wrist to try and stop his hand from waving like a robot at sunghoon as if he were greeting heeseung.

finally, sunghoon's eyes blinked and he awoke from whatever curse was placed upon him, "fuck. we are so canned this rumble," he groaned while his hands clawed at his roots, palms drowning his eyes in darkness while he covered them.

"cool it, hyung. we've got weapons," sunoo calmly reassured while sliding a bottle of ketchup to jake which the male effortlessly caught and raised in the air playfully.

"'m being serious. six of us and eight of 'em, if they don't bring any other hobos with them, we're dead," he responded while his hands dripped from his anguished face and resided on the table.

"it was your bet, jackass," jake's brows crossed as he placed the bottle on the table and crossed his arms. sunghoon grunted while he slowly looked back at the other.

"yeah, i know that. how else would i have gotten them off us," his dark faze darted to riki's unsuspecting face next, "some fucker decided to strike 'em first, not once but twice."

riki's mouth fell open in treachery at his scolding, "lay off, hyung. you saw the way they were talkin' to y/n," he retorted while his blonde hair bounced with every word he spoke.

"i saw, we were jus' outnumbered. it was a bad move," he explained as quickly as he could before you got the wrong idea. his reasoning made sense but riki still thought he was getting heat for shit.

"whatever," the younger scoffed, pride partly hurt when he recalled the amount it took to calm him down from lashing out at han further.

"hey, riki. you wanna drop jay's ride at his garage for jungwon in the morning?" you asked the other to change the subject and ease the growing pressure in the room. the boy nodded his head and jumped up from his stool without another word and you trailed behind him to the entrance, "catch you later."

"i don't get it, he would've done the same for you," riki opening complained, hair grasping at his roots in stress as he steered with one hand. you leaned your chin on the back of your palm, listening intently to his worries while the gusts of cold night winds blew past you through jay's roofless automobile.

"no one was in the right in that situation," you responded and riki's eyes flicked up to you in the rearview mirror for a split second while he tried to piece together why, "i don't care about the shit they said. i know the only girl they'd ever kissed is probably their moms so why should i," you grumbled and a quiet noise in riki's throat signalised that he was laughing just a tiny bit.

"so you agree with sunghoon hyung then?" he mindlessly questioned as he turned a corner and the come and go of neighbourhood lamposts illuminated him briefly.

"i didn't say that. riki, he would've done the same if heeseung or jay was also there. but they weren't. can't you see that their absence is affecting him more than you think?" you asked with a simple reflection and riki's lips closed while he thought about it for a second.

"you're confusing me," he blabbered while his eyebrows furrowed at your complex analogy. you hummed for a second to piece together a version that maybe he would understand.

"i'm saying that he was trying to keep you outta trouble. he was scared of them and scared you'd get hurt even more," you finalised and riki released the grasp he had on his blonde tufts while he sat up straighter.

"hyung doesn't get scared, y/n. we could've taken them, easily," he contradicted whilst he pulled up to jay's father's abode. you clicked your tongue at his stubborn disregard and unlocked your door to step out.

"you didn't see it but i did," you swore before knocking on the garage door a few times and awaited a response. jungwon was usually still here at this hour so you had nothing to worry about. riki stayed inside jay's car and tapped his long fingers on the steering wheel to an imaginary beat. the garage door finally revolved upwards and you saw the expected boy alone in the empty garage. your eyes widened at the lack of heeseung's car that left behind a few splatters of oil in the centre of the room it used to be in.

"where's heeseung's car?" you asked the boy and furrowed your eyebrows at the last remnant of the boy being gone. jungwon's cat-like eyes peered back at you and stepped to the side of a wall to make way for jay's car.

"what do you mean? i gave it away," he quietly muttered while carefully scanning your shift in expressions. your heart panged at the very words and although you expected it since it was a race for the pinks and all, this just revealed that the only reason jungwon spent late nights at the garage was to clean the vehicle for the enemy.

your mouth pursed and you steered your gaze away from jungwon, hurt, "oh. right," you mocked remembering the bet. you tried to hide your solemn expression through a thick lie, "i forgot."

riki turned off the engine of jay's car and stepped out after parking it in the middle of the garage, he tapped the hard metal of the vehicle and looked up at jungwon, "it's dented. when i took it out for a spin, i didn't know if be racing with some psycho," riki explained while jungwon walked away from you and towards the rear of the vehicle to see the damages.

"that's totalled," jungwon's eyes widened at the large vacant indent captured just beside the boot of the car. he slipped his white thick gloves off and placed them in the pocket of his coveralls, "you guys win or lose?"

"lose," you softly responded laced with a layer of anguish and defeat. jungwon's lips just downturn at the disappointing reply.

"i was about to catch some z's so i'll head out nd fix it tomorrow, cool?" he questioned the male who was striding closer towards him from the hood of the car.

riki's eyes show up and he immediately shook his head, "you gotta fix it sooner or later, i don't want jay to flip when he sees i've broken his car," he wailed while he put his palms flat together as if he were praying.

"don't flip y'lid, rug rat. jay isn't coming home anytime soon," jungwon conceived while he buttoned down his coveralls and took his arms out of the sleeves, revealing his clean white tee in comparison to the dirty pair of coveralls he wore. he linked the two sleeves of his coveralls and tied them around his waist, settling on his hips. from the lack of fabric around his forearms, you could finally see what laid underneath that baggy fabric. well-toned biceps formulated by the tired labour of car work.

"first thing in the morning," riki pleaded next and earned the eye roll of the older male as he turned on his heel and began to walk the other way.

"they still at the diner?" jungwon asked, knowing the usual routine of the guys after a race and completely disregarding riki's whining.

"i'll tell you if you promise to do it tomorrow!" riki yelled out from within the garages jungwon was already skipping towards the direction of the diner anyways. you just gave the asking male a nod at his question and that's all he needed to go. the male now left with you sighed through his nostrils and you made haste in clicking the automatic door button to start to close the door, leaving the boy inside. he screamed out and jumped out of his frozen position to meet you outside, making you laugh out at his skittish behaviour.

sunghoon was worried about being outnumbered. if sunoo and jungwon came with us tomorrow, that would be six to eight. it would be fine if the race really was just a race. but from the intense atmosphere where the bet took place, you knew it would most likely result in a rumble regardless of who won or not.

rumbles happened every blue moon or so. your crew never really thrived on gang fights but only did when it was necessary. and to get these stray kids off your turf was definitely needed. so you needed allies, at least a handful of them for undeniable succession.

that's where you found yourself outside snob-high. the place where you wanted to find the very man you dread. choi yeonjun.

[sandinthepipes]

Hello fellow dyslexic/adhd/others who would like to enjoy fanfics through their ears, I just spent the entire day testing android apps to find one that doesn’t suck as much.

TL;DR - these two T2S, Audify

I feel like I need to share this because 90% the apps don’t even allow a web page as a source, let alone get past the log in page, and I cant be the only one who doesn’t want to download every single fic.

“Oh, but doesn’t android have a built-in text-to-speech function in the accessibility settings?” I hear you ask. Yes, but it sucks ass very badly. Firstly it only reads in the system language, so it doesn’t really work. Second, you need to highlight all that you want it to read, and seeing that I read a minimum of 15k words in a sitting, I’m not gonna do that.

Also I’m broke, I imagine you are too, but even if I wasn’t I’m not paying for this, if I did I wouldn’t even be supporting a human being, so no.

I’ll immediately break your trust with the first point, but it’s what I’ve been doing until now, and now that I know what the android mobile experience is like, I feel the need to include this. The best solution I’ve had so far (which works wonders, let me tell you) is letting Siri read them on the iPad. It’s only doable when I’m at home and it’s still an apple product, so that’s why I began the research. However the positive points are INCREDIBLE so I’m going to ads it to the list because I said so.

First of all it’s built-in and SO EASY to access, you literally just swipe with two fingers and it stars to read. It reads the punctuation, you might think that’s a given and so did I, but no. A question sounds like a question, an exclamation point does why its supposed to do, short sentences sound what they’re supposed to sound like. In apparently all the apps ever created, you won’t find any of it, just flat, monotone voices with flat little pauses. Overall excellent experience 10/10.

Cons: it’s on apple, I consider apple the same as Disney, I would love to not give them more money so that they can make the market increasingly worse. Every now and then a system update will fuck with the tts function and it will be unusable for a while. Sometimes it doesn’t like the text format on some fics. It’s not portable.

Now that we got that out of the way let us get to the meet.

Speechify - it sucks bad. At least the free version, but seen as it costs almost 10€ a month I’m not even going to consider the premium version. Fuck that. You can’t increase the speed, and as somebody who hasn’t watched a single YouTube video on normal speed since they added the function I can’t do that, too slow, I forgot what we were talking about once we get to the end of the sentence. Also you can only use those weird very robotic voices, and they’re not even that many. Don’t recommend. I felt like I had to include it since it was one of the few who allowed browser navigation and well, it’s speechify. Also you can’t t have saved more than 3 “files” per time. Doesn’t have sleep mode.

Audify - works exactly the same as T2S, but it saves the history and has a bit more customisation for how it reads and what it reads (which you don’t really need for ao3, but if you wanted to read, say, Wikipedia with all the notes and stuff, now you know). Has the sleep mode. - EDIT: the double tap to start reading works slightly better than T2S on websites with weird formatting. But unlike T2S you can only have one tab open

T2S - cute. It works. Again, no emotions, but it reads what it has to, nice voice selections, easy to use. The premium version adds literally nothing, they’re a good app, what they have, they give. Also you can customise the interface colour if you want. Has the sleep mode. - EDIT: this app allows you to have multiple tabs open at the same time, unlike Audify.

That’s all folks. Now go and be free of your reading impediment, or be free in your multitasking, or whatever you want to do. I’m done, I’ve given my datas to all kinds of shady apps, I need to go do damage control

[tired-reader-writer]

G-witch AU Infodump

Enabled by @werewolfcoochie @marchdancer @sharpdistances @germanpillow @kallista-dragonsoul and @iwantthatdickgrayson here is me infodumping about random shit in my G-witch AU:

After being rescued by Ellyus, El4n takes on a new name and identity— one he would choose for himself— though Shin Sei doesn't quite have the means necessary to turn his face into something else, nor does he remember what his original face is supposed to look like anyways.

Anyways, his new name is Nary, bc “nary” means “nothing, none” and he's basically someone who has nothing, starting from scratch with a clean slate and even before that he had nothing. Also it's a reference to @stil-lindigo 's fantastic poem-comic here and @telamont 's fic may the little garden where you smile, last forever since I read both of them at roughly within the same timeframe and they double-teamed up on me in terms of brainrot. I am not sorry for this.

I'm still struggling over his new surname however, though Frey is a temporary placeholder— as a reference to the goddess Frigg whose divine domains included clairvoyance and prophecy, and though Nary himself is no prophet his love interest is so hmmm. Does Ellyus count as an Odin figure? I'm not well-versed with Norse mythology. (what El definitely is is a trickster/prophet/fey type character)

Shin Sei in this AU is comprised of the friends and families of the slaughtered Vanadis researchers who want justice/vengeance for their fallen loved ones— and so support Prospera in her schemes. There's also mercurian folk in there but yeah.

Ellyus gets his mother and Shin Sei to fake/develop a new identity and backstory for Nary/El4n. It's up to him whether he comes back to Asticassia but I like to think he does.

He dyes his hair the same colour as the woman who's presumably his mother, the lady with the birthday cake? Yeah? The same brown.

He still wears soft earrings bc this analysis of El4n's gender thing lives in my head rent-free. He also wears a lot more feminine clothing because he can. (EDIT: added the link that I forgot to add bc fucking hell I knew I was forgetting smth)

He has a new hairstyle. I actually have a design in mind but since I can't draw right now... lemme dig up my gallery in hopes that there's something that looks like it—

(I'm not sure if I could share these, as far as I could track these were drawn by the original artist of the comic this character is from, I eventually seek to replace these w my own drawings when I can.)

He probably ends up taking the surname of some Shin Sei employee, though argh, it fucking pains me that we know practically nothing about Shin Sei!! Who's Godoy and what does he even do?!

The Plant Quetta attack does not happen. There will be another attack to replace it, alright, but it's been moved down the timeline. I don't know when it'll be or by whom, but it happens on Earth, while Ellyus is there. Why is he there? Dunno, probably some GUND-ARM related reason. He's one of the main mechanics of Aerial after all, and someone who's heavily involved in the production of GUND-prosthetics.

Speaking of Ellyus' engineering work, Shin Sei did develop the drone technology Prospera mentions in the witch trial— it's just that Ellyus is the one who created it. Maybe he could also be present in the trial room? His presence wouldn't really help against Delling but hey, it's the thought that counts. Besides, he (and we the audience) already knows Miorine will come to save the day.

Delling is fucking dead. No mercy for the fucker, he probably dies in the same attack that lethally wounded Ellyus? Or perhaps after that, in another incident. Vim Jeturk is accused of the murder, and subsequently silenced by Prospera and/or Shaddiq.

Shaddiq takes the presidency. Ellyus left behind pre-recorded video messages tailored to each recipient, he sat down and recorded them before he died, set to automatically be sent to the ppl he wants in the Know after his funeral, and Shaddiq and El4n's messages include the entire backstory, basically, and so Shaddiq knows about Quiet Zero and who it's for. He seeks out Prospera and basically proposes an alliance— much of their goals align, he can use QZ's might to strong-arm favorable negotiations for Earth, he knows who QZ's for and realizes that Ellyus can be “alive/free” again like Ericht since he's deduced that the night Ellyus went missing from his hospital room and came back dead was actually him being uploaded into a GUND-bit.

(It's part of Ellyus' machinations, to protect Miorine from Prospera, to bridge Shaddiq to a strong ally who shares a lot of his goals, and... yeah. Fuck Spacians, this alliance is gon be a bulldozer.)

Shaddiq does not ally with Peil.

Peil will meet a karmic end. I don't know how yet, but El4n and El5n are involved. Anyways, that'll probably happen during or after the struggle for the Benerit Group presidency.

Guel actually learns something beyond “daddy good”, dammit.

Miorine and Prospera have a... complex, shall we say, relationship. Prospera holds back from roping her into revenge unlike in canon— mostly because of Ellyus' pleas to not let GUND-ARM be ruined/soaked in blood, partly because Miorine is the one who resurrected and kept true to GUND's ideals of medical research and stuff. Prospera hates her bc well, Delling's daughter, but on the other hand... a successor of sorts to carrying the GUND research torch. Miorine doesn't trust her, no, buuuut she still can't deny that together w Shaddiq they're... actually doing decent work. (Again, unlike in canon LOL)

Suletta's off to the side having her own Identity Journey. The video message to her also explains her origins and everything, so she now knows she's a repli-child. I don't know what I'll do with the journey proper but I want the eventual outcome to be: “I am not Ericht, I was never a Samaya and that's just fine. I'm Suletta, and the name Mercury is mine in a way it isn't for mom. I still love you, mom, Aerial/Eri too, but I am a Mercury and I'm proud of that. I still love you but I'm me and you're not my entire world.” kinda deal. Basically, independence, loving her family on her own terms.

No Plant Quetta means no tomato paste and no divorce! Huzzah! (I mean, another attack still happens but due to Ellyus' and Miorine + Earth House's influence Suletta focuses more on disaster relief and evacuation and stuff.)

Adding a new layer to Ellyus' non-linear time thing (I've posted about it, I've linked to it before in another post, it can be found in his character tag), he's allowed to make phone calls to One (1) person in the past. That person happens to be Jeru Ogul, aka Shaddiq's child self, way before he's learnt to put up barriers around his heart.

(Ellyus was never meant to be human. If the G-witch cast proper is comprised of 3D beings and us the audience 4D, he'd be like, 3.5D. That's why he's allowed time shenanigans by me. Only as far as I allow it, though. He's a plot device, a robot w its guts exposed. I have also posted about this before. I won't link to it here bc well, I already have before and ppl didn't seem all too interested in the makings and structure of his character. Meta-narrative fuckery ftw.)

The calls are sporadic, but kid Jeru comes to hold this mysterious friend person in the phone very dear to his heart. Their non-judegmental and gentle encouragement was one of the things that kept him going in those days.

He's buried the memory now, in the deepest layers of his heart, under twenty vaults, along with the tender hurt and angry child self that was Jeru Ogul and everything that it represents. It fuels him, it's his impetus, but it's hidden, carefully so.

It's a surprise to the both of them when they find out.

(basically, Doylist reason was that I needed a narrative tool strong enough to break through his walls and allow him to be changed for the better, to stop having tunnel-vision, and Ellyus became the narrative device responsible for that task)

This development allowed for Shaddiq to be more proactive and open. To the point he might actually ask for Miorine's support/help during the competition for the presidency. I'm still contemplating it.

I don't know what I'll do with Dawn of Fold yet.

Not the Space Assembly League, really.

Somebody help.

Well, that's it for this episode of info-dumping! Thank you for enabling me, I was afraid to do it bc it's disheartening to scream your heart out into the void and have no response.

[glouchyouchy]

Hi! You may have noticed that I recently added a part to chapter III.1 ( chapter 7 numerically ), and may have wondered why I even bothered 😂 Well, several things were on l my mind that I wanted to resolve :

1.1) Show how Ezra ( in this story, at least ) is trying to keep a low profile in the world at large ( i.e. he wants to ‘stay dead or missing’ ) because he is far wiser now than he was as his teenage self, back when he was last in the known Star Wars galaxy. He doesn’t necessarily want to attract any attention to himself being one of the few surviving Jedi, for many reasons that you can glean from reading the fic ( 😁 );

1.2) Show how Ezra interacts with other people outside of his immediate ‘family’ ( i.e., Kanan, Hera, Zeb, Sabine, and even Kallus, Hondo, etc. ), particularly ‘ordinary’ folk who don’t have the desire or capability to be active in the larger conflicts of the galaxy;

2) Portray Peli the way I see her, since a) I absolutely ADORE her character ( from The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett ), b) I’ve mentioned her several times already throughout the fic and it didn’t feel right to not have her make what is essentially a ‘cameo’ in this story;

3) Flesh out how I would imagine the Phantom II would… Progress. 😊 Ever since I was young, I’d always been an enthusiast of impossible technology ( which is the main reason why I LOVE sci fi, steampunk, etc etc, and of course, Star Wars )… So this is a way for me to indulge that side of myself.

Well, speaking of indulging THAT… Here are some sketches of the Phantom II ( or rather, what I called the Phantom II.1 in the fic 😊 ). Ever since I saw this little Sheathipede that Sabine modified to fit the purposes of the Ghost crew, I’ve been OBSESSED at imagining how it could be improved to be more capable and be on par with the best starfighters out there.

I designed it to basically be sufficiently armed, agile, and quick enough to be competitive in a dogfight with any ship; be capable of functioning as a residence / base of operations for a lone, maybe a couple of ( very close ) Jedi; be a viable research / exploration vessel that can sustain its crew for very, VERY, long periods of time ( hence it being equipped by a refresher ( since sanitation and hygiene is key to comfort and health long-term; also, it functions as a water recycling facility for the ship ( from urine, waste water, even excess moisture from the atmosphere of the ship )), conservator ( food and water ), and utility room ( to fix broken or cobble together new equipment, fix clothes, fix the ship, etc )).

ALL VERY RELEVANT, since being in a completely new, hitherto UNEXPLORED galaxy is a major theme that I’ve delved into in this fic…

Hope this helps in visualizing what I have in mind! 😊 See you on February 14 ( it’s for the Sabezra event on that day, but I forgot what exactly it was called! ( UGH I’m so forgetful nowadays… having just turned 36 a week ago does that to your brain 😂 )) for the next update for my fic ( The Mandalorian and the Jedi ), in case you’re interested. 😊

Happy weekend to all,

glouchyouchy

[ EDIT : Finally managed to squeeze in the time to add this sketch ( the one I was talking about above ) :

I’ve always wondered if the ‘fin’ of the Sheathipede could possibly be used to conceal some hidden features / armaments… So here it is :) I imagined that it’d look cobbled together from parts lying around in Pelli’s hangar :) ]

[gemsofgreece]

hi! is there any attraction/place in Athens that you would highly recommend visiting? Maybe, hidden gems, or underrated places that are awesome? :') i apologize if this is a popular question that you get haha

Hello @dandelionesa ! You would be surprised at how little I know about Athens. I have been few times in my life there, despite being a native Greek living in the country all my life. I mean, I have lived there for a month once but I didn't explore at all beyond the neighborhood. So, I can tell you all the significant places not to miss but I lack the personal insight in little known gems.

Another thing about the blog is that if you visit from the browser, I have an option called "The Regions" which is essentially a travel guide about all main locations in Greece. It is not complete yet but the Athens one is. You can find it in: The Regions > Sterea Hellas > Attica for feature references. But, here, I am gonna screenshot the sightseeing recs mentioned there.

These are about Attica, the region that encompasses Athens. Most attractions are naturally inside Athens but there are some important ones like the Vouliagmeni Lake and the Temple of Poseidon that include driving / travelling outside the city.

The list is concise so I don't explain what each of these places is but they are worth visiting if you have the time. Of course, to do a proper journey of Athens, where Athens is going to be your focus, that takes time. It is a large place. Most people stay in Athens for two days before going to the main part of their vacation, usually some islands. You can't say you did Athens in two days though. Whoever says that to you, don't believe them. You can do Acropolis and like two-three museums at most in this time.

Apart from the ones above I also found some recs from other websites about hidden gems:

Philopappos Hill (that's not a hidden gem, I just forgot it in my own list lol)

Hellenic Motor Museum

Pnyx

Museum of the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation

Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments

Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum

Benakis Museum of Islamic Art (NOTE: this is a different museum than the main Benakis one which I mention in the list above, if you can do both great, but if you can only do one, then the main must absolutely not be missed)

First Cemetery of Athens (yep, it's a valid rec)

National Observatory of Athens

Watch open air cinema in Thiseion. Or in the rooftop of Cine Paris.

The Greek National Opera (Ethnikí Lyrikí Skiní)

The Nautical Museum on the cruiser Averof

The Benakis (another Benakis) Toy Museum

I don't know what's wrong with me and I forgot to mention above:

Kapnikarea Church

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens

The UNESCO Monastery of Daphne

The New National Library (Stavros Niarchos Foundation). The one I mention in the first list is the Old National Library. Both are worth a visit for different reasons.

Go to Glyfada and along the Vouliagmeni coast for swimming (Vouliagmeni is a lake right next to the sea beach)

The Orthodox Church of Saint Dionysius of Areopagus

The Catholic Church of Saint Dionysius of Areopagus!

I was sleeping on the fact that there were two churches of those!

As you see I also added some recs for experiences i.e cinemas, theatres and so on. These are if you take your time in Athens, explore or stay for a while. Note that some might be less available in the summer, for example in summer the National Opera operates in open air performances like in the ancient Odeon of Herodes Atticus. If you stay and explore, check for concerts in theatres and stadiums. Concerts in Greece are real nice and vibey.

In retrospect, thanks for sending this ask because I realised I have a shitload of editing to do in my original list.

EDIT!!! The Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens!!!! Srsly what's wrong with me lol

EDIT 2!!! Kotsaná Museum of Ancient Greek Technology!!! :@@@

[spitinsideme]

Peach blossoms and wolfsbane

By writer anon

Chapter 2 part 1

Yellow Smooth Violets

Tw:Homophobia briefly mentioned

Author’s note:Hello! I’ll be using flower language in these chapters from now on due to the fact that this is a Victorian era fic and back then people used to use flowers to communicate in secret so I thought it was fitting I’ll put the flowers symbolism at the bottom of the page! Hope you enjoy! I’ll also be adding music to certain parts too to help elevate the ambiance the story has Without further ado lets get into the story!

Edit note: there isn’t any music in this chapter since I couldn’t think of anything for it sorry! I’m open to some suggestions thou!

The train gently moves along the track swaying the cars ever so slightly. The train whistle blows and the train pulls into it’s stop. Agatha looks up from her newspaper and folds it neatly before getting up and stretching. Then she turns to her very sleepy body guard and gently taps her wake. “Winona we’re here hun wake up.” She said in slight hush tone. “Waz that Waz happin.” Winona drowsily says. “Welcome back to earth cowpoke we are about to get off the train.” “Oh finally i’ll go get our bags from the over head. Winona groans and stretches up and out of her chair. She yawns showing off them sharp pearly whites once more. Agatha could not and would not miss an opportunity to tease her loyal guard.”You sure you ain’t part dog or something? With teeth like that you otta be tearing meat off a bone.” Winona may be tired but she isn’t a fool and whips her head around “For the last time I ain’t no damm house pet.” She said with a growl. Agatha snickered “ Ya know what you are right you are more like a stray instead of a house pet.” Winona huffs” Why do I work for you again.” Because I’m very nice and sweet.” Agatha said with smirk. And with this Winona finally laughs at something Agatha said howling with laugher Agatha now agitated asked”And what is so funny?” Winona barrels over and wipes a tear from her eyes “ Ya know that was the funniest joke you said all day.” She barked. Agatha fed up with Winona shenanigans” Just carry the damn bags to the carriage. Don’t forget you to have to dress up for the ball.” She said “Ugh don’t remind me.” Said Winona wincing at the idea. They finally exit the train and walk a few paces away from the station to find their carriage. The driver opens the door for Agatha while Winona helps load up the suitcases and bags. She eventually also climbs in the carriage. As they are being pulled along the road Winona takes in the scenery of the city noting that it’s smells like grime and smog. She sighs she has only been in England for a short while but she already misses the Country side. Some time has passed now and As the carriage pulls along wheels turning on the the now dirt road Winona sees that the city getting smaller and smaller in the distance. She feels as though she finally gets to breathe and takes a big whiff of the country air. “Ahhhh this is much better.” She said. Agatha looks up at her “ Heh you were never really a city slicker.” She said with a smile. With a big toothy grin Winona replied “Yes ma’am I ain’t much of a city folk.I prefer to be wild and free in the country side. City is much too stuffy and even dirtier than a hog’s pen.” Agatha nods in agreement. “ Indeed the city ain’t for folk like us we enjoy the simpler things in life. I just wish my damn husband felt the same materialistic bastard.” “Why marry the fella if ya don’t fancy him?” Winona asked Agatha sighs “ It’s cuz my daddy caught me kissin a woman so he tied me off the nearest man.I don’t like men in that way so being married to him is the absolute worse it’s like bein in a jail cell with no door or window.” She said with a sad tone in her voice. Winona recoils a bit from what she heard “ Damn forgot bout all that sorry. Men are fowl creatures in my opinion so never felt the need to have one in my bed.” Agatha with an empty laugh states “Yeah just be lucky then that you don’t have to lay next to one and be grateful you have freedom in that regard.” Winona head hangs a bit low and she now is clasping her hands and twiddles her thumbs. An awkward silence fills the carriage then after it seems like an eternity Agatha clears her throat “Anywhosit I hope you did actually pack something nice to wear. This is a formal event not a night at the saloon here.” She said. Winona scoffs “ Yeah I know I got somethin don’t you fret. You just worry about rubbin elbows with them other rich folk.” She said with a small smile. They let the carriage fall in silence for the rest of the ride…

To be continued in part 2 of chapter 2

(Tumblr wouldn’t let me fit the whole thing :(

From,

Writer anon

verg long story .. eoah .. vrrh good do far 👍👍

[starry-mist]

S6e1 thoughts:

Well here we are. I have zero desire to rewatch most of s6 so far, but I swore I’d see this through.

The scenery. I’ve actually visited the areas where they filmed a lot of this and it is exactly as gorgeous as it looks on TV.

The whales. There’s some reused footage here, but overall, whales are amazing. I’ve been whale watching twice in my life and the experience is unreal.

And on we go to the opening for our main cast and we have…Charlie working out with Rex. Joe stepping out of his office. Sarah in the lab. Jesse geeking out over tech. And this opening sequence sets the tone for everything I dislike about this season so far: the “supporting” characters, who spent so much of s4 and s5 coming into their own, are back in their little boxes, and it’s suddenly the Charlie and Rex show again.

Ugh I want to change the channel.

There are a handful of same actor/different character folks and I cannot be bothered to look them all up because I’m not making an effort for this disappointment of an episode.

Yeah okay Charlie’s hair is different. I don’t personally find it distracting.

There are one or two decent team moments I guess.

This is basically just a “visit Newfoundland in the summer” ad masquerading as an episode.

Reduced screen time for Mayko plus Sarah being basically just a glorified fingerprint analyst in this episode does not fill me with the warm fuzzies.

For the record, if I were to contemplate an alternate episode order for the season as aired thus far it would be 4, 2, 1, 6, 5, but honestly I don’t think the placement of 1, 6 and 5 matter. (Edited to add that oops, I forgot 3 🤣 But I don’t think its placement matters either.)

In truth, I may have been a little too harsh on this one the first time around, because as a filler episode, it’s not their worst. However, as a season premiere, and in contrast to their strong previous season, it’s far from their best.

Let’s pretend the whole gang was on the boat tour at the end. They most definitely weren’t, but you can see Sherri Davis on the top level and Sherri-spotting is always fun. Also please remind me I’ve meant to write a fic where one of the previous two times that week Charlie and Rex went on the whale tour, they took Sarah.

I’m curious to see how I feel about episode 2 because I recall it being my least favourite so far, but that’s a problem for tomorrow me.

[naomiknight-17]

I had to edit that 'my oven exploded' post because several people thought I actually had a large explosion in my apartment

No I just... that's how I talk. I'll say stuff like "Oog I'm gonna explode" because I'm stressed or tired. The cat was sick? He exploded. Toilet clogged? Exploded.

I had already put "*Dramatization" after the title and illustration but I added clarification that there was no ACTUAL mushroom cloud atomic blast in my kitchen. There may have been a very tiny explosion when the igniter malfunctioned and broke, but it didn't damage anything but itself. Idk I am not an appliance repair dude

Anyway. I forgot that 1. Posts escape my immediate circle where people know I talk funny and 2. Some folks take things extremely literally so I need to be careful what I say

Sorry to anyone who was concerned or confused

[shadowmaat]

All the news that's print to fit

A gentle reminder for everyone (not just the "kids") to pay attention while reading/listening to news. Especially online. As the ad nauseum statement goes: you are not immune to propaganda.

Remember that Newscorps are biased. Whether it's the writers themselves, the senior staffers, or their corporate overlords, most (if not all) newscorps are going to be biased in certain directions. In extreme cases they'll even make shit up to fit their view. Fox is the most obvious example of this in the US, but it's far from alone. You may know what "local" sources can't be trusted, but if you really want to be diligent it might be good to find out what sources in other countries might be known as bad. (And yes, sometimes the lies come direct from the government, too.)

Beware of clickbait. News sources are unanimously desperate for attention (and clicks). This means their headlines will sometimes be deliberately misleading. Read the damn article, first. Then find articles from other sources to get a more rounded picture.

Never trust an inflammatory headline. For the reasons already explained above. Do your research first before deciding how to react. And by the gods, don't spread stuff until you're sure you understand it. As someone who has hit reblog before looking stuff up, I know how easy it is to get caught by this one. And speaking of reblogging...

People on the internet sometimes lie. Shocking, I know. While some folks can easily get caught up spreading misinformation by not properly reading things, there are also a lot who find it fun to deliberately spread BS. You should be extra suspicious of anyone sharing headlines without linking to the source. I've seen folks sharing Onion headlines as they're legitimate news. The source is carefully cropped out so no one will notice. It happens the most, though, with clickbaity headlines meant to outrage and mislead.

Check the timestamps. Make sure you aren't reading/sharing something from years in the past. This applies not only to the origin of posts on places like tumblr, but when articles were originally published. Again, it's usually a case of deliberate cropping so folks can't tell that the headline they're reading is from six years ago.

There's more, I'm sure, but that covers the bare basics. Another big issue is that I'm pretty sure this stuff simply isn't taught because people assumes that "everyone knows." Except everyone doesn't, and even the ones who do can still get caught up.

Be careful out there, folks. Not only of the, ha, "fake news," but of the real stuff as well. There is an endless amount of world events to inspire outrage; don't let yourself get overwhelmed by it all. Care, by all means, but don't burn yourself out on it, either. You need to take care of yourself, too, so you can keep caring about others.

EDIT: I forgot to mention AI as a recent danger as well. You've probably heard about how lawyers have submitted paperwork that cites imaginary cases, and kids have submitted essays comparing real things to something that doesn't exist, and most importantly the mushroom guide app that misidentifies/makes shit up and can literally get you killed, well. Same can go for news stories. Some of the more fandom-oriented sites are already replacing their staff with AI and I wouldn't be surprised if it's seeping into the mainstream news as well. I haven't heard any stories of newscorps getting caught yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

[delightful-mirth]

Browsing through a hard disk, I stumbled upon an old edit I did of Hogwarts castle with many Pride flags on its spires. Now I’m going to tell the story behind this picture.

Back in June 2020, after Harry Potter’s author started vomiting her anti-trans rhetoric, I found a nice picture on Instagram of Hogwarts castle from Universal Studios Park in Florida with many Pride flags photoshopped on it. The message was about Hogwarts always welcoming anyone, no matter what HP's author says. The trans flag stood out higher over the other flags to show particular support to the group that was, and sadly still is, being targeted. Since I liked it very much, I shared it here on my Tumblr blog, crediting the people who made it (as I always do whenever I share something that it is not mine).

The thing is the Lesbian flag was nowhere to be found, but I honestly didn’t notice when I posted the picture. Why the authors omitted it, I can’t tell. Probably their focus was on the Trans flag, or perhaps they just forgot. Whatever the reason, they surely had nothing against lesbians: they included the Lesbian Pride flag in other edits they made.

After I published it, the post went literally ablaze, with an incredibly large number of interactions that just kept skyrocketing by the minute (which is unusual for a blog consisting mostly of reblogs like my own). While the picture and the message were generally appreciated and understood, a lot of people were vocal about the missing Lesbian flag, accusing me of omitting it on purpose and, long story short, of being lesbophobic (no matter how I clearly specified that I merely shared and didn’t make the edit).

Out of rage and concern that some trolls might go on Instagram and harass the original creators, I impulsively deleted the post. What made me particularly angry was both the accusations of discriminating against Lesbians, whom as a Gay man myself I actually see as sisters in this heteronormative world, and the fact that none of those folks who complained had never bothered to reblog any of the important articles and petitions about LGBTQ+ rights I shared on my blog. A missing flag in an edit I shared caused much uproar, but LGBTQ+ people (including Lesbians) being persecuted and killed was treated as an inconsequential matter here. And this is the issue with many toxic tumblrinx, who see themselves as experts and activists of LGBTQ+ rights, when all they do is shipping same-sex fictional characters, prioritizing them over actual LGBTQ+ people.

Someone commented that I shouldn't use the “big tags” (I guess they were referring to #transphobia and #trans rights), for “this crap.” Well, whenever I used the big tags for really important matters, this person never showed up; I know because those posts usually get three reblogs at best.

There were even people who took the time to make memes about the missing Lesbian flag. Again, they had time for this, but they could never spend a few seconds to reblog important posts I shared. But also: they opened Photoshop to make those memes, but none of them thought about using it to add the missing flag.

I suspect that maybe not all but certainly some of those people who stirred such a shitstorm were transphobes, who tried to shift the concern on transphobia to something else.

The specific Gay/Vincian flag was also missing in the picture: since I am a Gay man myself, was I self-discriminating?

So, after I took down the picture, I made an edit of my own with my limited Photoshop skills. Not only I added the Lesbian flag, I added even more Pride flags that were absent in the edit that caused so much controversy. Of course, not every existing Pride flags as that would be impossible, especially considering that more and more orientations and gender identites are costantly identified (mind you, I said “identified” not “invented”). But of course, all of them are valid and identified in the Rainbow Pride flag and its variants.

At the time I didn't post this edit of mine, because right after finishing it, I believed that Tumblr simply wasn't worth it, given what had recently happened. And if I believed that it was possible to separate the art from the artist then, I'm not exactly sure about it anymore in Harry Potter's case. I think that the whole series is tainted by the author's hateful views, and that just keeping it relevant, even without buying official merch, will still fill the author's pocket. However, to give some sort of closure to this matter, here it is:

[snotsloth]

Despite turning my brain to mush at work today, I did write 2337 words of my NaNo project. Currently at 15,936 words total!

Today, Brychan and the tadpole squad fought some goblins, and met a dashing and mysterious folk hero. (It's Wyll. They met Wyll.) Brychan broke up a fight and Astarion lost his patience with Brychan's seeming inability to say no to anyone in need of help, even with the ticking time bombs in their skulls.

Favorite passage from today is actually edited content from a previous partial draft. It didn't go towards my total word count for today, but since I read over it and tweaked some stuff, I'll share it here.

“Damnable roach!” A new voice called out over the cacophony of the battle. Brychan looked up to the cliff ridge and saw a man wielding a rapier leap over the edge to face a cluster of goblin sharp-eyes.

“Provoke the Blade,” the man shouted as he drove his foil into a goblin’s heart, then spun around and used his momentum to fling the dying creature down on the heads of their comrades below. “And suffer its sting.”

The Blade of Frontiers? Brychan wondered to himself. What in the hells is he doing here? Brychan had heard of the notorious monster hunter during his brief time in Baldur’s Gate. The man who called on the fires and miasmas of the Nine Hells to defend innocent farmers and villagers from the great beasts of the Frontiers.

He cut quite the dashing figure, tall and lithe, favoring quick footwork and lightning-fast flourishes of his enchanted blade over brute strength. His lightly padded red tunic complimented his dark brown skin, and his hair was twisted into neat ridges that ran from his brow to the nape of his neck. As Brychan watched, the Blade seemed to disappear with a pulse of sickly green light and a puff of black smoke blasting outwards, engulfing the nearby goblins who choked and fell back as if struck.

The next moment, the Blade appeared on the floor of the clearing with another plume of poisonous smoke and plunged his rapier into the shoulder of another booyag. However, he failed to notice the ravening worg coming up behind him.

With barely a thought, Brychan threw a booming thunder wave towards the creature, knocking it back against the cliff wall. It clipped the Blade’s shoulder, spinning him to face Brychan from across the valley. Two eyes, one a deep, warm brown, the other pale stone, widened in shock. Brychan pulled the air up beneath him and flew to the Blade’s side, where he shot a bolt of lightning towards the stunned worg, ensuring it stayed down.

“My thanks,” the Blade said with a lopsided grin. “Not every day someone saves me from a beast.” He deftly dodged the rusty blade of a goblin and with a sharp “Ad te!” he shot fire from his left hand, knocking them back, and engulfing them in flame.

“No worries,” Brychan grinned back, shaking a stray strand of hair out of his face. Then he turned to shout to Lae’zel who was at the heart of the melee. “Lae’zel! See if you can push them against the cliff. We can keep them from bolting this way!”

Lae’zel nodded, her face stern as ever. Though Brychan thought he caught a sparkle of delight in her eyes as she swung her longsword in a mighty arc, pushing the crowd back towards the western cliff face.

A goblin sharp-eye screamed as she fell from the peak of the knoll. She landed in a crumpled, insensate heap. Looking up, Brychan saw Astarion peer over the edge and salute him with a pilfered goblin bow when he caught him looking. Astarion ducked back under cover, the only clue to his position, a steady stream of arrows, sailing through the air and embedding themselves in worg pelts.

Caught up in checking on his new comrades, Brychan forgot to keep watch on his immediate surroundings. Suddenly the Blade’s arm caught him around the waist and pulled him out of the path of an arrow. Brychan stumbled and caught himself with his free hand against the Blade’s chest.

Another goblin threw himself at the two of them, catching the Blade on the back of his thigh, chipped blade tearing through leather armor and tender skin. The Blade hissed through his teeth and stumbled against Brychan.

“Shit!” Brychan cried out, ducking below his new partner’s shoulder, trying to prop him up with limited strength while he also jabbed the goblin with the tip of his staff. He sent a wave of thunder down the shaft, throwing the goblin back into the pack where Shadowheart easily finished him off with a firm crack of her mace against his head.

“We’re thinning them out!” Lae’zel yelled. “Keep up the pressure!” She was right. There were more goblins dead or unconscious on the ground then remained standing. Both paths of escape were blocked, one by Brychan and the Blade, the other by a rain of magic missiles from Gale at the top of the knoll. At first glance, Brychan could count about three goblins, and one bugbear still in the action. Thank the gods all the worgs were finally down.

Seeing the Blade’s injury, Shadowheart dashed over to the two of them, ducking under the injured man’s other arm, and saying, “Go, I’ve got him taken care of.”

Brychan nodded and released him to to her care. Taking a deep breath and drawing the winds up from beneath him, Brychan shot into the air.

“Lae’zel! Fall back!” Brychan shouted. Lae’zel disengaged from the remaining knot of goblins, longsword brandished to push them back if any followed.

Letting the static build in his limbs and thunder rumble in his chest cavity, Brychan took another deep, calming breath, and let go. A great bolt of lightning shot from the crystal on the top of his staff and into the chest of one of the goblins, instantly turning him into a charred corpse. A second later, a mighty roll of thunder threw the last two back about ten feet, already unconscious.

Lae’zel braced against the thunder wave and then charged back in, skewering one goblin. Leaping down from the rock formation, Astarion slit the throat of the last one.

Spirits buoyed by the appearance of the Blade of Frontiers and the success of the others, the three original adventurers descended on the remaining bugbear and made short work of him. As he fell, the ivy covered gate began to rise.

“That was the last of them. Inside, all of you. More may follow,” the older tiefling on the ridge called down. Everyone ran into the shady shelter of the gate. Brychan did a quick sweep of the valley. Everyone from his group was still standing. Only the Blade had sustained a significant injury.

It looked like Shadowheart had managed to seal the wound, but not fully heal it. The Blade leaned heavily on her shoulder, wincing with each step. Brychan trotted over and slipped under his other shoulder, offering what little support he could so as not to jolt the injury needlessly.

They were the last three through the gate and, as it lowered behind them, Brychan could already hear raised voices clashing further in. He craned his neck to see what the fuss was about, but he couldn’t quite discern the source of the commotion.

“Go on,” Shadowheart said. “I’ve got him from here.” She cocked her head towards a large boulder on the side of the trail, indicating that she could let her charge rest there as she finished cleaning and bandaging his injury.

Brychan nodded and then slipped away to jog towards the small crowd forming a few yards away.

[azula-nyx]

Welp, I have finally finished this little pet project of mine, for now.....

If I still were into the game (I'm not active anymore becauseeeeeee: losing my account + lame sequel = lost interest in the game; yeah, I'm still salty) this could be considered as a proper gardienne. But since that's not the case here, you better take this as more of a representation of my virtual persona in a general sense if you will..... Editing and creating stuff with the PNGs from the game is the only reason why I'm still into the fandom at all XD

I think this is the most artistic I have ever been in a while. If inspiration hits me yet again, I may be tempted into making her wardrobe or even making her a backstory for the game route….maybe (her name is Lilith, for now; idk if I will ever change it)

Now, credits due:

Eye mesh + Lip mesh (you will find that they are in separate groups, but the author is still the same)

I was given permission to re-mesh and edit the original file; if you want to use their stuff, ask permission

Hair; the link takes you to the page where you can get the hairstyle (it’s the “peluca California sun” from mclul, which I used the base and for the hair texture itself).

The braid part comes from this edit of the original beemoov mesh (from this group). The mesh/structure of the “horn” updo is actually an original edit of mine…. and yessss, I definitely got inspired by Jude Duarte of The Folk of the Air iconic hairstyle

Skin details:

Beemoov: eye veins mesh (if you search for it, you won't find them as actual veins, they are more of shards of ice for the eye area), the chest tattoo, the star details at her shoulders and arms (It's actually from a cloth article of the game) Cheekbones + nose: from this group (I used various parts). The actual base mesh it just the base with the regular pointy ears; the glowing hands and miniveins + long ass ears are personal edits

Clothes + Accessories (if I didnt mention some things here its because: A) I forgot and I will add it later, B) Its a personal edit):

Barfei (or you can always search for the tumblr account under the same name) underwear + the lower cape thing, braid pin, the actual heel of the shoes Beemoov: jacket, earrings, halo (I recolored it a lot), pants and shoes (edits made from beemoov clothes; the heel part was added)

Background: also from beemoov

The PNGs from eldarya you can find them here Also, you can find PNGs from mcl and mclul here

[jezabatlovesbats]

Music Mode Ideas, Portal Hallway Arc Edition

I was gonna put the entirety of Season 1 into the first post, but I was hella tired, so yeah.

Episode 5

This arc follows Jesse and their band as they go on their first tour. This means that Axel and Olivia are present the entire time. The band has an awesome concert jam session at the start of the episode.

On their way out, they run into Aiden, Maya and Gill, who are now decked out in neon jackets with glowing patterns and roller skates.

They turned the Ocelots, the pop band Lukas was in, into a pop rock band called the Blazing Skates.

The Blazing Skates are always skating around, a la the Electric Skates from the Spongebob Musical. (That’s my inspiration for them ‘cause the Electric Skates remind me so much of the Blaze Rods.) That’s their gimmick.

Ivor tells them that he mapped out their tour route. It's different from their original route, but they decide to go with it, since their tour is called the Exploration Tour. They want to adventure in-between shows.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot- Ivor makes independent folk pop, plus Japanese indie production. He writes whatever he wants, doing it purely for fun.

In Sky City, unauthorized music is prohibited, and Isa is really strict about what kind of music she listens to.

This changes when she meets Jesse, so at the end, she decides to try being experimental like them.

Milo is an alternative rock artist who runs his own rock club. It’s made with soundproof walls so the guards can’t hear what happens in there.

Episode 6

Cassie Rose does evil showtunes. The last thing TorqueDawg heard when being shot was a haunting, theatrical melody coming from the walls.

Sparklez: "Come on! You don't know me? I'm the genius behind 'Fallen Kingdom' and 'Revenge!' You know, creeper..."

Yeah, you probably can guess what the YouTubers do here- they make parodies.

Something Hino said: "Dan: Creeper..." "Sparklez: Aw, man!" "Stampy: You're SERIOUSLY joking at a time like this?!"

Basically, Cassie turns this into Murder Mystery: The Musical.

Episode 7

I've always gotten some kind of Western sci-fi vibe from Crown Mesa. So, in this AU, it's very much Western.

Harper makes country music. More specifically, it's old-timey bluegrass. The stuff you hear at the Country Bear Jamboree.

She invented PAMA to make things more efficient, but also to make things more fun for the citizens by having mobs do Western dances.

PAMA, of course, wanted to make things more "useful." It makes everybody line dance under its control, and it wants the lines to be as precise as possible. Perfectly synchronized hoedowns.

Episode 8

The Games are an athletic Battle of the Bands that no one can ever win because Hadrian and Mevia are full of themselves.

Hadrian's style is EDM, and his office is decorated with several gold and platinum records.

Mevia makes marching band music, having a contemporary classical kind of vibe. She's a very hardcore drum major.

Otto's music is a Minecraft equivalent of calm gospel hymns. He's usually singing the praises of the Admins.

Harper used to sing Admin hymns with him, adding some of her bluegrass to them.

Em and Nell are an indie duo. They make some pretty kickass workout music.

The Games offer a cash prize to whoever wins, so Nell and Em are trying to win so that they can fund their music.

By the end of the episode, Jesse and their friends convince everyone to band together, both figuratively and literally.

This arc follows Jesse and their band as they go on their first tour. This means that Axel and Olivia are present the entire arc. The band has an awesome opening night of the tour at the start of the episode.

After the show, they run into Aiden, Maya and Gill. They're now decked out in neon jackets with glowing patterns, roller skates, and colorful safety gear. After The Ocelots disbanded, the three of them switched to a pop-rock style, and became The Blazing Skates. Their gimmick is that they're always skating around.

Ivor, who's coming along, tells the band that he revised their tour route. It's different from their original route, but they decide to go with it, since their tour is called the Exploration Tour.

In Sky City, unauthorized music is prohibited, and Isa is really strict about what kind of music she listens to. This changes after she meets the band and sees their performance. She decides to stop being so strict about music and try being experimental like Jesse.

Milo is an alternative rock artist who runs his own private rock club. It’s made with soundproof walls so the guards can’t hear what happens in there.

Somewhere down the line, Ivor reveals to Jesse that he's been reluctant to sing for a long time. Throughout the Portal Hallway arc, Jesse encourages him to start singing, and he fully becomes part of the band. He begins to write whatever pieces he feels like writing, doing it out of fun, and feels more confident in his abilities as a musician.

Episode 6

TorqueDawg dies at the end of the band's concert in this venue, which freaks everyone out. The last thing he heard when being killed was a haunting, theatrical melody.

The YouTubers make Minecraft parodies of popular songs. When they meet CaptainSparklez, for example, he mentions tunes like Revenge and Fallen Kingdom.

Basically, Cassie Rose, who sings evil showtunes, turns this stop into Murder Mystery the Musical.

Episode 7

In this AU, Crown Mesa is very Western.

Harper makes country music. More specifically, it’s old-timey bluegrass. She invented PAMA to make things more fun for the citizens by having mobs do Western dances with them. PAMA, of course, decided that things weren't "fun" enough already. It makes everybody line dance under its control, and it wants the lines to be as precise as possible. This means that every hoedown has to be perfectly synchronized.

Episode 8

The Games are a Battle of the Bands that no one can ever win because Hadrian and Mevia are full of themselves.

Hadrian’s style is EDM, and his office is decorated with several gold and platinum records. Mevia makes marching band music, having a contemporary classical kind of vibe. She’s a very hardcore drum major. Otto’s music is a Minecraft equivalent of calm gospel hymns. He’s usually singing the praises of the Admins. Harper used to sing songs with him, adding some of her bluegrass style to them.

Em and Nell are an indie duo who specialize in blood-pumping workout music. The Battle of the Bands offers a cash prize to whoever wins, so Nell and Em are trying to win so that they can fund their music with it. In fact, most people are trying to leave the Old Builder's world with the money.

By the end of the episode, Jesse and their friends encourage everyone to band together, both figuratively and literally. They all come out to support them at their concert and play along with them.