#if anyone is interested I am willing to compile a post of my favorites

[aheckinmess]

In response to the results from my "What Am I Working On?" poll, I've decided that for those of you who want to see what's up ahead, I would be delighted to share it with you!

For those of you who do not want to be informed about upcoming writing and fanfictions, whether it's because you don't want to be disappointed if it's not posted or because you would rather be surprised when it comes out, I will put a divider here so you DO NOT have to read it if you don't want to. The only news I am sharing below this line is new and upcoming writing information. Read at your own discretion.

I wanted to take all of your responses into account, and this is how I am able to do so!

TLDR: You want writing news? It's down below. You don't want writing news? Don't read.

Writing News & Updates

Welcome all of you who want to be kept in the loop with updates and other fun ideas headed your way! Bear in mind, the ideas that I share with you will take some time to write, but I figured you all might be interested in seeing what's happening in addition to the regularly updated stories I have going on right now.

This is a compiled list of both current and future works that I'm working on.

CURRENT WORKS IN PROGRESS

My Hero Academia Imagines/One-Shot Compilation:

This work gets updated regularly every Saturday/Sunday right now. Should I ever need to skip a week, I will post an update about it. In addition to this, I'm willing to consider different requests should anyone have them, so feel free to drop a line in the comments (or in a message if you're more shy, like myself) and I'll let you know if I can work it in as a prompt.

A Reader Rendezvous:

The hope is to keep this updated at least once a month. There are a lot of prompts I have as works in progress for this compilation, but work has been busy so I haven't had a lot of time to focus on my x Reader imagines/prompts. Trust me, I'm as upset by this as you are. I have so many good prompts that are basically finished and just need editing! However, I don't work on these as consistently as I do the prompts for my MHA Compilation with Ichijiku (since it's updated every week), so please be patient with me. Same as before, though, requests are allowed.

Cursed, Not Cute:

This work is being updated spontaneously when the muse speaks to me. I went from writing 4 chapters back-to-back in May, and then not posting chapter 5 until Aug. 18 of this week. (although chapter 6 is in the works now). However, I know that it's a fan favorite, so rest assured that it's not forgotten. Since this fic doesn't have as clear of a direction for me right now, there may be long stretches between chapters, but I will try to keep it consistent.

Season of Serendipity:

This work is being updated spontaneously when the muse speaks to me. Similarly to CNC, this fic doesn't have as clear of a vision right now. Since I'm more hyper-focused on My Hero Academia at the moment, Jujutsu Kaisen kinda gets the short end of the stick right now, but I promise these stories are not just being dropped in favor of MHA fics. They all get just as much love!

Bashful Beginnings with Bengal:

This work is being updated spontaneously when I have time to get chapters written. I got into Batman: The Dark Knight in high school and was crazy about it for a while! Then, it died out and my friends rekindled my love for it by introducing me to Wayne Family Adventures on Webtoon. So, I've been writing about my OC, Bengal, for a few years now, but I haven't had time to edit her story in order to make it as polished as I'd like in order to post it. However, more chapters will be added. I just don't have a clear timeline for it. I'm going to say I'm shooting to get another chapter out before the end of September!

Apricity:

This story is completed. This was meant to be a 3-part one-shot series! Now, that's not to say that I won't eventually add onto it, but for the time being, it is complete and can be read as it is.

Hollow Harmony:

This story is completed. This was meant to be a 3-part one-shot series! Now, that's not to say that I won't eventually add onto it, but for the time being, it is complete and can be read as it is.

FUTURE PLANS & PROJECTS

By the Books:

Calling all Aizawa lovers! This is a fanfiction that I've been working on since I first got into My Hero Academia about two and a half years ago. Shouta Aizawa has always been the holder of my heart since I got into the show, and that will never change (although Enji Todoroki also holds my heart in his hands)! I don't want to give too much away, but just know this is an OC x Aizawa fic that is somewhere around 721 pages of nothing but slow burn, angst, and tasty delicious ✨C H A R A C T E R   D E V E L O P M E N T ✨. My hope is to have enough of the fic edited by the beginning of 2025 so I can start posting at the beginning of the new year.

Eye of the Beholder:

Once again, Aizawa lovers, this is for you! Especially if you love Dadzawa! Instead of having an Aizawa x OC fanfiction for this, this is a good old-fashioned Dad!Aizawa-Finds-Child!OC-and-Adopts-Her fanfiction. The idea for this fanfiction was actually born from By the Books, when I was wondering to myself how my character might act if she was hit by a de-aging quirk. And then Eye of the Beholder was born! This story was only just recently thought up in the past year or so, so there's only about 200ish pages for this one.

Ice Ice Baby:

While I know Enji Todoroki isn't a fan favorite in the fandom, that certainly hasn't stopped me from loving him (I mean, more for me, am I right?)! The idea for this story was born because I wondered how Enji might react having someone as emotional as me as a child. From observing the family from the show and manga, it appears most of the Todoroki children are all emotionally distant/have tucked away their feelings. Yes, part of it is because of the emotional abuse, but as someone who grew up in a similar household and still ended up a squishy, emotional bean, I decided LET'S EXPERIMENT! So, we get to see the havoc my little soft OC bean reaps in the hearts of the Todoroki family as she slowly pulls them back together. You can hate it if you want to, but I think it's absolutely adorable (and also about 250ish pages) and I'm rather excited for it. Consider this your warning about it if you don't want to read it.

Might:

We all love some Papa Toshinori. I just think it's absolutely cute and based on the AU fanart and fics I've seen of him taking care of Shigaraki, I decided I'd try my hand at writing some of it. This fanfiction is going to be Toshinori's goddaughter and her life of trying to be a hero after her parents die and Toshinori is left to care for her. It's got a little canon divergence, but a lot of the main canon events will be taking place for some tasty delicious ✨C H A R A C T E R   D E V E L O P M E N T ✨ with a lot of fluff and angst sprinkled in.

Permafrost:

Once again, I have an obsession with Enji Todoroki. Simply put, with enough love and affection, I think his redemption arc and character development could have been kick-started. So, this fanfiction idea was created before Ice Ice Baby with the same idea of "How would Enji Todoroki's character arc have changed if he had someone to actively show him love and affection up front before his children were born?" (Note: I am not saying that Rei did not love Enji. I am, however, saying that I read her character as being much more passive in her affection, as well as marrying him out of obligation instead of someone who might choose to marry him for different reasons.) So basically, think of this as my Todoroki family fix-it fic!

Other Ideas:

I have at least 300+ prompt ideas for MHA that all have little summaries written for them so I don't forget what my ideas were, but they haven't been written yet.

For JJK, I don't have much in the way of a full-fledged fanfiction planned out. (That's a lie: I have a fanfiction plotted out, but it's in collaboration with some friends, and thus I would have to speak with them before deciding to post anything.) However, I do have ideas for a compilation of one-shots, much like I have with MHA.

Also in the way of JJK, I have a Bartender Sukuna AU that I've started writing. It was inspired by someone on Instagram named pikkufrog, but it has my own spin on what it might be like. Maybe once I've gotten part 2 finished, I'll post it as a little two-part one-shot story. Or maybe it'll end up a full series, who can say?

I have two 30-day OTP challenges that I've been working on that I think would be fun to post. One is for Aizawa and one is for Enji. They both have very different plotlines but are both full of cuteness and angst. (Perhaps a dash of spice here and there.)

I've considered an Arranged Marriage AU for Sukuna in JJK as well, but we'll see if the muse sings to me on that one.

Finally, my big, ambitious project is to make a full-fledged fanfiction for every major character in MHA (and yes, I have compiled a list - we're at 38 characters thus far). Yes, it's a big undertaking and no, it won't happen overnight. However, since I enjoy the fandom and I like creating fanfiction within the world, I figure as long as I'm having fun with it...might as well!

CONCLUSION

In closing, I have a lot of ideas swimming around my brain constantly. Not all of them will ever see the light, but for the majority of these that I've shared with you, I want to give them a chance at life so I can share them with all of you! I hope this update gives you a look at what's happening, as well as some anticipation for what is to come.

TLDR: I have a lot of ideas for MHA and JJK. Most of them revolve around Aizawa and Enji, with a dash of Toshinori. Yuji, Sukuna, and Gojo are the ones I typically write for in JJK but those ideas aren't as fleshed out since I'm obsessed with MHA.

HAPPY READING!

[nakitengoku]

oc interview: 💙Vex💙

Shoutout to @mail-me-a-snail for tagging me in this post and also egging me along with getting into Cyberpunk 2077 and subsequently creating Vex 💫

(I don't have a single good photo of Vex so you instead get the Compilation of sillies I've drawn, many featuring Snail's Vance!)

💙 Name?

"Name's Vex, but call me anything you like."

💙 Nickname?

"Some people used to call me V, but that was a while ago."

He used to be called Ghost when he was younger, being able to slip into the background unnoticed at any moment, but he later grew out of that. When he eventually adopted the name V, it was less of a nickname and more of a stage name. It's mostly forgotten now, but some hardcore fans will still recognize and call him V.

💙 Gender?

"Prettyboy 💖"

💙 Star sign?

"Oh, I used to be really into these! If I remember right, My sun and moon are both Libra. Missy could probably tell you more about what that means though."

I decided to take one out of Max's book and use the first time i drew him as his birthday, which if we're going by the absolute first concept, was September 26, 2022. He's changed a Lot since then. Also, reading up on libras with Vex in mind is just 💥

💙 Height?

".....5'8."

He's actually 5'7 and a half.

💙 Orientation?

"Anyone able and willing. Why, you interested?"

If he cared enough about labels, it'd probably be pansexual. But by the end of the day, he doesn't really care what he gets called. As long as he gets what he wants out of it, anything's fine.

💙 Nationality/Ethnicity?

"White."

💙Favorite Fruit?

"Oh man, okay so I've only had it once at an after party forever ago, but it was this round, redish purple thing. When I bit into it, it was a little tart at first, but the inside was such a sweet taste that I was in heaven. By the time I finished and threw the pit away, there were no more left and I nearly cried. I haven't seen it since and I can't remember the name but man. Best organic thing I've ever tasted."

If you give this man a plum, he'd kill someone for you. Which isn't a lot given that that's his job, but still. He'd do it without expecting to be paid in money.

💙 Favorite season?

"Fall, for sure. While I was in Atlanta, they had these parks with trees that would change their colours to these gorgeous shades of reds and oranges. God, kinda makes me wish I could grow something like that here."

I don't actually know the plant life in Nevada or how much the temperature differentiates between the seasons in Night City, but I imagine that what shrubbery they do have there have leaves that are always green or simply non-existent. Vex saw a plant change colour outside of blooming and immediately fell in love with it.

💙 Favorite flower?

"Officially, Lilacs. But between you and me, I'm very partial to forget-me-nots."

He used to be gifted Lilacs all the time during his first career by Jonathan, his producer, but Vex always found himself enjoying the little forget-me-nots that acted as accent flowers than the actual lilacs themselves.

💙 Coffee, tea or Hot chocolate?

"Hot chocolate. Although, I will drink coffee in a pinch."

This man has the biggest sweet tooth. The amount of sugar he puts in his coffee before he chugs it down for the caffeine should be illegal. [I cannot judge bc I am the same way <3]

💙 Average hours of sleep?

'We talking Mean, Median or Mode?"

It varies so much that the actual average ends up being about 6, but um. Do not be fooled into thinking he's actually sleeping 6 hours every night. Think more along the lines of several all-nighters followed by crashing super hard for a day or two.

💙 Dog or cat person?

"Oh, a cat person. I'm just not home enough for a dog."

💙 Dream trip?

"I saw a pamplet once of Crater Lake in Oregon. It was something about the ten deadliest lakes in the world or something, but I'm just into how Blue it is. If I could, I'd visit the rest of those lakes too, but. Eh, I doubt it."

💙 Favorite Fictional Character?

"Hmm, it's a toss up between a side from this really long and old comic from the 2010's and the protagonist from a just as long manga from the 2000's. I think their names were Kanya and Ruffy? It's been 15 years though so don't quote me on that."

It's Kanaya from homestuck and Luffy from One Piece. He likes Kanaya because of her fashion sense and her dealing with the responsibility of her entire species on her shoulders. And he likes Luffy for his optimism and stubbornness. At one point, he imagined finding friends like Luffy did, being surrounded by so much devotion. The reasoning has since faded and he just barely remembers much about them now.

💙 Number of Blankets you sleep with?

"Eight. I like the weight and warmth."

His AC bill is through the fucking roof but he refuses to take a single blanket off, instead insisting on just making the rest of the room freezing. Giving him a weighted blanket wouldn't fix it, but he'd probably go down to five instead of eight.

💙 Random fact?

"When i was really little, my mom used to take me to a church. Don't think it exists any more, but I remember the Stain glass windows, how the light shone through and fell onto her. In normal lighting, I remember her looking pale a sickly, but once a week, with a statue of a half-god watching over us, my mother glowed. She was gorgeous.

"Anyway, I stopped going after she died. For a while it was because I never remembered what day it was, but later it was because I realized I only ever went to see my mom glow."

~~

Thank you for tagging me, Max! This was much longer than what i thought when i was getting into it but I'm still glad I did it.

I can't think of anyone specific who'd want to do this, so if you see this and want to give it a try, please do and tag me! I'd love to see your little blorbos :)

[pluviophile-imagines]

The Every Gagamaru Ever Album has been updated bc I finally got current on blue lock 🫣

[hxneyandespressx]

if i were a man (i’d be the man)

summary: jj holds a press conference while on a high-profile case. she has to deal with the stupid male reporters. after the conference is done, jj goes to the nearest bathroom, away from the crowd, and screams and swears to her heart’s content

word count: 6.2k 

content warnings: mentions of emotional and verbal abuse, guns, violence, blood, suicide

a/n: inspiration for this fic is from criminal minds season 4 episode 16 “pleasure is my business”

☆。*。☆。

It was a rough start to a Wednesday morning for a particular FBI agent. She almost twisted her ankle on her early morning jog, got stuck in traffic, and had to wait in a long line for her co-workers’ coffee orders. Soon enough, she started to wish that she took the metro instead. Media communications liaison Jennifer “JJ” Jareau woke up today and chose violence. She huffed in frustration at how her morning went.

Walking toward the bullpen with the coffee orders in her hands, JJ was greeted with “hellos” and “good mornings”. Not wanting to have her co-workers profile her, JJ bottled up her frustration and grumpiness and put a smile on her face. It was a rule amongst the group to never profile each other. With learning an assortment of profiling tactics, JJ knew how to form a realistic smile without genuine happiness. Creases around the eyes, smile lines contoured the mouth, sparkles in her baby blue eyes. The short blonde perfected the fake smile that could fool anyone, even expert profilers.

“Good morning, guys.” JJ said with a bright smile on her face. She held two cardboard trays filled with various coffee orders. She placed one of the trays on Emily’s desk, so she can pass out the orders to her co-workers. She called out the order name as she passed the cup to the person.

“One French vanilla latte for Ms. Garcia. Two black coffees for Emily and Derek. And finally, a coffee with extra cream and sugar for Spence.” Everyone said their thank you’s to the blonde. Then, there was one coffee cup left. A cappuccino.

“Happy Wednesday, my nerds.” Rossi said as he approached the group of tired agents. JJ smiled and handed the cappuccino to the elderly man.

“Grazie.” He thanked the media liaison for her efforts to bring his favorite morning beverage. The group spent some time chatting nonsense before the case briefing. Thirty minutes went by and all of them disbursed into their desks to finish up the paperwork. JJ headed down to her office to work on choosing the next case after the one that was currently ongoing.

After settling in her office chair, JJ took a look around her office. Messy stacks of pending files scattered her desk. Empty coffee cups and water bottles lined the file cabinet. JJ checked the time on her watch. 8:12 AM. About two hours to kill. The blonde put her hair up into a ponytail and took in a deep breath. She dove into the nearest pile of manila files, looking through all the documents and photographs to determine which case for the BAU team to take on after the current case.

As the clock ticked closer to 10 AM, JJ picked up today’s case files and head out of her office. Strutting through the bullpen, JJ entered the briefing room slightly out of breath.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone,” JJ said while passing the manila folders out to her co-workers. After handing out the necessary materials, she grabbed the remote from the center of the wooden table.

“Sam Winchester was found in Fulton Park, in the Stuyvesant Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Eighteen stab wounds to his chest and neck,” JJ explained as she clicked on the remote to switch between the crime scene photos. “He is one of the victims dumped at various locations of Brooklyn that was found last night.”

“Hold up. One of the victims?” Derek asked.

“Yeah. So far this killer built up a rep sheet of five kills.” JJ stated. Hotch raised one of his eyebrows at the new information.

“Seven? Why haven’t the NYPD notified us immediately after the first three kills?” Hotch asked the media liaison.

“Probably the department thought they could handle the crimes,” JJ explained. “That was the case until they realized that they needed help.”

The young blonde switched to the next slide, showing one of the other victims dumped in North Williamsburg.

“What’s interesting about the locations is that the first victim was drowned in the Hudson River. And as more victims appear, the disposal methods get more dramatic. Maybe it plays some role in the unsub’s pathology.” Spencer said as he looked at the screen, observing for any patterns.

“Like with one of the recent victims, the disposal site is in Cobble Hill. It’s typically occupied by those who are relatively wealthy.” Rossi said to continue Spencer’s thoughts. “This unsub is getting bolder with his disposal sites. I’m concerned with there being an end game to this.” Emily stated. Everyone at the round table shifted through the various crime scene photos and documents. Rossi took hold of one of the crime scene photographs: a reversed ten of cups tarot card. “It is also apparent that the unsub is leaving tarot cards at the scene of the crime.”

“Tarot cards? What’s the significance?” Derek asked.

“Maybe to tell of the inevitable fortune the victims faced?” Emily said. 

“Well, each card has a different meaning when it is upright and reversed. And usually, when doing a reading, three to five cards are pulled to tell a fortune.” Penelope explained as she typed away on her work laptop. It had not surprised anyone that the technical analyst had an interest in tarot readings and astrology.  

“You know, the first documented tarot packs were recorded between 1440 and 1450 AD in Milan, Ferrara, Florence, and Bologna when additional trump cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack. These new decks were called carte da trionfi, triumph cards, and the additional cards are known simply as trionfi, which became "trumps" in English. The oldest surviving tarot cards are the 15 Visconti-Sforza tarot decks painted in the mid-15th century for the rulers of the Duchy of Milan. The Duke of Milan described a 60-card deck with 16 cards having images of the Roman gods and suits depicting four kinds of birds.” Spencer talked about the history of tarot cards, with hand gestures to accompany his little ramble. When he finished, everyone at the table stared at him. The young FBI agents sheepishly smiled as Emily poked his left cheek.

“Since when did you learn about tarot cards?” Emily asked. 

“I learned about it when I took a college course on the Italian Renaissance.” Spencer sheepishly smiled.

“Well, whatever it is, it seems like there is a story to be told––or rather to be heard.” JJ said as she stared at the crime scene photos, her eyebrows knitted together in bewilderment.  

“That’s what we need to find out. Wheels up in 20.” Hotch called out. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The BAU members sat comfortably on the jet, each in their little world. That was until the unit chief called on everyone for a case discussion. 

“Let’s go over victimology.” Hotch said to call on the group. Everyone moved closer to the unit chief to better discuss the case. Derek sat in an armchair, with Emily next to him. Across from them were Spencer and JJ. Hotch leaned against one of the seats, practically sitting on the adjustable arm of the plane seat. Rossi sat on the tan velvet couch, adjacent to JJ. 

“Reid.” Hotch called on the genius of the group. 

“White. Male. Between the ages of 45-55. Jobs ranging from a stockbroker to assets protection manager. All of them have cheated on their wives multiple times and some even had sexual harassment accusations.” The young curly-haired man said to start the discussion. 

“Even if these men cheated on their wives and got those accusations, they still didn’t deserve the multiple stab wounds to meet their end.” Emily said. 

JJ looked through the case file to see the reports on all five victims.

“The victims’ names are Igor Andreevich, Lucas Duncan, Hunter Mcevoy, Sam Winchester, Jared Kalinski.” JJ called the names out like it was a roll call. 

“These are the five victims that this unsub killed so far?” Hotch asked. The blonde nodded her head and said “yes, sir” in response.

“As the victim count increased, the more stab wounds appeared on the body.” Rossi said to point out an observation.

“But the M.E. said that most of these stab wounds were created post mortem. Meaning that the initial stab was to get the job done efficiently and he went back in to fuel his rage and/or sexual needs.” Spencer

“Are we assuming his sexual orientation? Because there aren’t many homosexual serial killers, kid” Rossi said. 

“It could be a possibility. We have to consider our options.” Hotch said. 

Just then, the laptop turned on and showed the beautiful Penelope Garcia. 

“How’s it going, my crime-fighting musketeers?” Penelope asked. Everyone, even Hotch, smiled at her cheery greeting.

“Garcia, start compiling files on each of our victims,” Hotch told the technical analyst. “Everything financial and personal. Bank statements, credit card bills, investments, wills, trust funds. Anything that will tell us more about the victim’s lives.”

“Faster than a Hotch rocket.” After that was said into the air, Penelope felt embarrassed while Hotch looked at her with his usual stone-cold face. Derek sighed and shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee to hide his second-hand embarrassment for his babygirl.  

To break the silence, Rossi grunted and coughed into his fist. 

“Based on the jobs these men had, we could safely assume that they were killed in the financial district of New York. Then, the unsub transported the bodies to a dumpsite.” Emily said as she read off from the case file in her hands.

“But why from Manhattan to Brooklyn? That is a lot of weight to carry.” Derek asked. 

“Maybe Brooklyn holds a lot of significance to him. Something from his childhood and he can’t let go.” JJ said. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement as they all closed their files. 

“Once we land, do you want me to get in contact with the media to inform the public?” The media liaison asked the unit chief.

“No. We need to hold back on it. Giving him the media’s attention is exactly what he wants. He wants his story to be heard and we will not give him that.” Hotch explained. JJ nodded in response and wrote down media concerns in her small blue notepad. 

“Dave, You and Prentiss go to the crime scene,” Hotch instructed the group. “The rest of us will get up to speed at the precinct.” Everyone nodded in agreement with the unit chief.

After discussing the victimology and the nature of the case, everyone separated and occupied their own space on the jet. Derek on the couch, listening to music. Spencer by the window, reading the Hound of the Baskervilles. Rossi and Hotch in the back, conversing whatever two elderly men talk about. 

The blonde media liaison stared out of the window until she felt a presence next to her. She looked away to find Emily standing in the aisle with a cup of coffee and a bag of Cheetos in her hands.

“Want some company?” Emily asked as she took the empty seat.

“I don’t mind at all.” JJ smiled at the brunette. The shorter woman felt special that Emily did this for her. She took the Cheetos and the coffee mug from her co-worker. As she grabbed them, their fingers brushed against each other. A little pink blush formed on JJ’s cheeks. Not wanting Emily to know about the silly crush the blonde had on her, JJ covered half her face with her beloved blue blanket. Emily chuckled at JJ’s actions and placed her hand on the blonde’s right shoulder, closing her eyes for a quick nap. 

JJ carefully took some of her dark blue blanket and wrapped it around Emily’s right shoulder. She looked at the brunette who was sleeping on her shoulder and softly smiled.

The blonde took sips of the coffee as she stared out of the window. The sunlight bounced off the water particles in the clouds, creating a mini rainbow over the tops of the white clouds. The media liaison took in the silence as a treat, before landing into the chaos of New York.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

A government-mandated black SUV arrived at the 25th precinct. Everyone––sans Emily and Rossi––got out of the car and was greeted by a lively short woman. 

“Detective Miller? We spoke on the phone.” JJ shook hands with the short woman. 

“Please, call me Kennedy. Thanks for coming in.”

“No problem. These are agents Hotchner, Morgan, and Doctor Reid.” JJ introduced them while gesturing at the person, in respective order.

“Hey, why don't you go on inside and make yourself comfortable.” Kennedy said. The remaining BAU members nodded their heads and made their way inside the busy precinct. Police officers swarmed everywhere as the federal agents weaved their way to an empty conference room. 

Everyone worked at a swift pace to get everything set up. JJ and Derek went with a police officer to get boxes filled with case files and other materials. Hotch talked with Detective Miller to get information on how her officers dealt with the unsub so far. While all this is happening, Spencer worked on the geographical profile, so the agents know where to look for the unsub. 

“What do these tarot cards mean?” Hotch asked the group. Everyone shook their head “no”, signifying that they had no clue what each card meant. 

“I’ll call Penelope and ask her about the meanings of the cards.” Derek said as he took out his flip phone to dial Penelope’s number.

“Live from Quantico, Virginia, it is the Divine Miss Penelope.” Penelope greeted the group. 

“Hey, sugar mama. I need something from you.” Derek said.

“Talk to me.”

“I need you to interpret the meanings of the tarot cards that were left at the different crime scenes.”

“Ah- I’ll be your little witch today. Hit me with have you have.”

“Alright, I’m putting you on speaker.” Derek puts down the phone on the wooden table, so everyone could hear what the technical analyst has to say. 

“Ten of Cups, Garcia.” Hotch said. 

“When upright, the Ten of Cups embody happiness, joy, contentment, and emotional satisfaction in your family, relationship, or companion. It represents an idyllic state of comfort, harmony, peace, and love which makes you feel like you are in paradise. When reversed, it could mean shattered dreams, disharmony, or a broken family.” Penelope explained. 

“Reversed Wheel of Fortune card.” Spencer called out. 

“When the wheel is reversed, it means that luck has not been on your side and misfortunes have been following you. When it's associated with this card, you must understand that these are due to external influences that you cannot control.” Penelope said. 

“Reversed Justice card.” Derek said next.

“A reversed Justice tarot card could indicate various things. One Justice reversal meaning is to show you are living in denial. You are not willing to accept the consequences of your actions or others. You are running from your guilt. You must, however, be aware that these are actions that are in the past. Other Justice reversal meanings could be injustice, retribution, dishonesty, corruption, dishonesty, unfairness, and avoiding accountability.” The technical analyst interpreted. 

“Lastly, the reversed Emperor.” JJ said the final card they had. 

“The Emperor reversed is a sign of abused authoritative power. In your social life, it can manifest in the overreach of power from a father figure or a possessive partner.” Penelope described the final tarot card.

With all the information in their heads, the BAU members felt puzzled about how to move forward. 

“How are these cards related to the crime scenes?” Derek asked. 

“It’s like a performance,” Penelope chimed in. Everyone turned their heads to listen to the cheery woman on the phone. “Like there is a story behind these killings. The cards are telling how the unsub is feeling. She wants us to know her story.” Everyone stood in shock when Penelope made a breakthrough in the case.

“Wait, Garcia. You said ‘she’. Why do you think it is a woman?” Hotch asked.

“Well, sir. The first victim was drowned, with no signs of sexual assault on his body. Doesn’t that usually indicate that the unsub is a woman?”

“Not necessarily but it is a quiet and efficient way of murdering someone.” Hotch explained. 

“Female serial killers are a fascinating field. We don’t have much information on them. But what we do know involves throwing the riles completely out of the window,” Spencer started going on one of his rambles. “For example, female serial killers typically don’t leave a signature.”

“But this one leaves tarot cards at the scene.” Derek pointed out.

“Maybe it was what Garcia said: she’s telling us her story.” JJ said. “Alright. Let’s start from the beginning. What could be inferenced from her childhood?” Hotch asked. 

“She could have had a domineering father who worked on Wall Street. And with that dynamic, he could have sexually and emotionally abused her, making her feeling like damaged goods.” Spencer explained the backstory of the unsub. “Also because the victims cheated on their wives, we could also conclude that the father also cheated on the mother, who always forgave her husband and tried to rationalize to stay for her daughter. And that made the unsub feel rage and being inferior. That she didn’t do anything to help her mother and herself.”

“But there is no indication of sexual gratification.” Hotch interjected. 

“However, there’s a reason why there are so many lacerations on the later victims. It could be the rage from her abusive father that this unsub is using against the victims, who acted like surrogates.” Derek said. 

“The stressor?” Hotch asked. 

“To follow her father’s footsteps, she may have also worked in the financial field. As a stockbroker, a financial analyst, or even as a secretary for a company,” Spencer said. “And as she continued at her job, she had a bunch of little comments and slights against her”

“As for the trigger, maybe she got passed up for a promotion by a male co-worker who was less qualified than she was.” JJ explained. 

“Any sane person would get miffed about it, but she’s built differently,” Derek said. 

“So much so, she killed five men so far.” Hotch said. 

“And she did it in an efficient manner where no one had any idea until now,” Derek said right after the unit chief. “But how did one woman kill five men in one borough and disposed of them in another?”

“She must know the area like the back of her hand. Brooklyn is what? Around 72 square miles?” JJ said in response to Derek. 

“Uh, 69.5.” Spencer corrected JJ. The blonde sighed, not surprised that the boy genius would know the exact measurement. 

“And the fact that no one has seen her either abduct or dispose of says she knows the city and its patterns well.” Derek said to continue what JJ had said before she was cut off by the boy genius. Just then, both Rossi and Emily had returned from the latest crime scene. In Emily’s hands were coffee cups on cardboard trays while Rossi had Chinese takeout. Everyone shared the food as they continued to work on the case. Being the little tease he was, Derek flung a wonton piece at Spencer, who was struggling to eat with the wooden chopsticks. The wonton piece gently hit Spencer’s forehead and the boy genius pouted, hiding his frustration at both the chopsticks and Derek.

“The M.E. said that the cuts were clean, no serrated edges. It would have to be a very sharp knife to be able to cut through human skin like nothing.” Emily said, to drive the discussion about the M.O.

“A knife like that could get the job done efficiently. Could be the work of a throwing knife. Take out the victim with a single throw to have them die quickly, then she stabs them to feel something.” Derek said. 

“Throwing knives? What is she? A secret agent of the Dai Li?” Rossi joked sarcastically. 

“From Avatar the Last Airbender?” Hotch retorted, remembering that his son Jack watches that show on Saturday mornings. 

“What’s Avatar the Last Airbender?” Spencer asked. Nobody bothered to answer the young man’s question. 

 “But this one is different. It’s like the more she kills, the more anger builds up inside and it gets released on the victim when she goes back in.” JJ stated. 

It became silent in the conference room, quite the opposite to the noise of the New York precinct in the evening rush hour. Tired from both traveling and working, Hotch could see that the rest of his team was also exhausted from the day. The unit chief called everyone to head to the hotel and rest, as they can always come back to the precinct tomorrow morning. 

Slowly one by one, each of the agents packed their things and get out of the New York precinct, and hopped into the cars, praying the soft hotel beds would lull them into a deep slumber.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Day Three at the New York precinct. All the BAU members were getting irritated that they hadn’t proceeded much on the case. Derek tossed a small basketball up and down to pass the time. Spencer twirled a pen as he stared at the geographical profile, the gears turning in his mind. Both Hotch and Rossi were discussing the case quietly while JJ and Emily doodled on each others’ arms. The blonde was innocently drawing hearts and flowers until Emily came up with an idea. Feeling a tad mischievous, Emily took her sharpie marker and started to outline something on the media liaison’s left forearm. JJ raised an eyebrow, questioning what her co-worker was doing. As the image came together, JJ gasped softly, however, not surprised that Emily drew a vagina. 

Emily quietly laughed as JJ, annoyed by the brunette’s actions, took her sharpie marker and tried her best to transform the vagina drawing into a flower. Taking her time, and with only a sharpie, JJ showed off her artistic talent by creating a masterpiece: a carnation blooming out of a vagina.

Emily rolled her eyes when JJ stuck out her tongue at the brunette. Taking Emily’s right arm, the media liaison started to outline a grid for a game of tic tac toe. The brunette started the game by marking an “x” in a spot and JJ took her turn. The two women continued their game of tic tac toe and 

Everyone was silent in their own world until Hotch’s phone rang. The unit chief picked it up and it was a number he couldn’t recognize. Hotch silently motioned Derek to call Penelope to start triangulating the call’s location. 

“Hotchner.”

“Hello, Aaron.” A sultry voice talked. On the other side of the call was the unsub, Taylor Evans. 

“Seems you know my name.” Hotch asked.

“I researched you in preparation for this phone call,” Evans said. Through the phone receiver, Hotch could hear the soft whooshes of pages turning. 

“You reading a book? What’s the title?”

“Le monde comme il va by Voltaire,” Taylor closed her book. “Have you read his work?”

“No, I haven’t. You seem highly educated.” Hotch stated. 

“You seem to know a lot about me.” Taylor retorted.

“But I don’t know you that well since the start of this phone call.” Hotch responded. 

“What would you like to know?” Taylor asked. 

“May I know your name, for starters?” Hotch asked. A cold laugh could be heard through the landline speaker. 

“Evans. Taylor Evans.” the unsub replied. 

“Nice name,” Hotch complimented her to bring her guard down. 

“Now that we are acquainted, you can ask me questions.” the unsub’s content sigh could be heard on the landline. 

“Has life been hard on you?” Taylor asked, wanting to jump the gun. 

“I try my best.”

“Try my best,” Taylor said mockingly. “Is that the best you can do for your family?” A sarcastic tone filled Taylor’s voice, not liking what the unit chief said in response to her question. 

“With what I’ve got.” Hotch said. 

“You got any children?” Taylor said to divert the conversation. 

“I have a son.”

“How often do you see him?” 

“I try to see him every week.”

“Do you see him every week?” Taylor tried to put Hotch under pressure, to get him to crack. 

“No, I don't get there as often as I want.” A pitiful sigh was heard on the phone.

“I believe you, but don’t compare yourself to the men I see and work with. You are nothing like them. You’re just another whore.” Taylor said with such disgust in her tone. 

“How am I a whore?” Hotch asked. 

“You come when called on short notice. Begging to be put to work. Saving your reputation. However, even though you’re a workaholic, you make the time to see your son. You care for your son. You want the best for him.” Taylor explained. 

“You’re right. I do want the best for him” Hotch said. The unsub sighed, wishing that she had a good man, like Hotch, for a father.  

“Enough about you. What do you have to say about me?” Taylor asked the unit chief. 

“You've been betrayed so many times, You don't know who to trust, And that's why that first murder felt so good. But each one since has been less and less satisfying.” Hotch explained. 

“Good deductive reasoning,” Taylor said. “But how do you know if what I find provides me less satisfaction each time?”

“It’s a part of your nature. Until you hit a psychotic break and start devolving.” Hotch said. 

“Hm. Want to find out, Agent Hotchner?” She hung up on him after that last sentence. Everyone in the conference room stayed silent in awe. The unsub injecting herself into the investigation surprised all the agents in the room. 

“She contacted us,” Spencer said in astonishment, breaking the silence. 

“She’s getting impatient. Have Garcia look up everything on Taylor Evans. We need to find if she lines up with the preliminary profile.” Hotch instructed Derek. The olive brown-skinned man did exactly what the unit chief said: call Penelope and extract as much information as possible on the potential unsub.

“Her use of the word whore is interesting,” Spencer quipped. “It suggests she's trying to disassociate herself from her actions.”

“But she's become more personal with the murders,” Emily said. “This doesn’t make sense. She is contradicting herself.”

After gathering the information, and debilitating on the facts, everyone came to the same conclusion: Taylor Evans was their unsub. 

“Reid, tell Detective Miller that it’s time to deliver the profile.” Rossi said. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Every law enforcement officer occupied the main space of the precinct. All of the BAU members stood at one side, making it like a stage. JJ stood beside Emily, thinking to herself that she could have been this girl in a way. Both her and the unsub look eerily similar, maybe even mistaken for each other. 

“We wanted to give out the profile as soon as possible. We’re looking for a white female, between the ages of 20 and 25,” Hotch said to start the profile. “Her name is Taylor Evans. Dirty blonde hair with grey eyes. She’s organized, methodical, and knows how to blend in with the crowd.”

“When this unsub kills, she does so mercilessly and without an ounce of pity. She also wants her victims to know they are going to die by her hand.” Rossi said. 

“That’s why her preferred weapon of choice is throwing knives. They provide a clean cut. No mess required.” Emily said, slowly rocking on her heels. 

“With her choice of weapon, she can be quick and efficient with her kills, as murder is her only goal,” Spencer paused to catch a breath. “But all the bottled-up rage gets released when she goes in for a second time, post mortem, and stabs the body multiple times.”

“It is a way for her to get sexual gratification. And revenge, from her years of being emotionally and sexually abused by her father,” Rossi said. “The victims fit the description of her father and they are surrogates for him.”

“She is also a textbook psychopath, exhibiting all of the classic traits: incapability of feeling any empathy towards others, neither guilt nor remorse, and claiming no responsibility for her actions. Like others of her type, she is highly intelligent, manipulative, and narcissistic.” Spencer explained the unsub’s pathology. 

“Evans had received higher education. She graduated with a business degree, most likely a subconscious influence from her father. With the business acumen and the social skillset, this unsub can easily blend in with all the other business people and manipulate them.” Hotch explained, walked slowly around the large room. 

“Based on her background, she came from a wealthy family. However, the family wasn’t perfect. Her father constantly cheated on his wife. The mother always forgave him. As a young girl, Evans most likely has experienced emotional and sexual abuse from her father. It was a way for him to control his daughter, and she had resented that for years.” Emily said about the unsub’s childhood. 

“She mostly has experienced misogyny in her professional life. Had little comments and slights against her. Perhaps a less qualified male co-worker took a promotion that she deemed herself to be of a better fit,” Derek explained about the stressor. “Something in her work life triggered her to start killing the men who represented her father.”

“With this profile, we should search for Taylor Evans’ location and any potential victims. We suggest going public with the information as soon as possible… Thank you very much.” Hotch ended the profile with his parting words. Everyone at the precinct was disbursed from the room to get back to their work. The agents huddled together to prep themselves in case something big were to happen. 

“JJ, I would like for you to conduct a press conference,” Hotch said.

“Why is that, sir?” The media liaison asked. 

“I would like to draw her out. Have it known that we are after her.” The media liaison nodded her head in agreement and left the main room to work on getting a press conference together.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Before entering the press room, JJ took a deep breath and exhaled to calm herself down. Thoughts were rushing in her mind. Don’t let them get to you, JJ. She neatly fixed her hair to seem presentable. Taking her golden heart necklace, the media liaison kissed it for good luck. 

The media liaison walked into the conference room with great confidence and stood behind the mahogany podium. Standing tall, JJ was not willing to lose a fight with the media, especially with a high-profile case. 

“Ok, can I have everyone's attention,” JJ said to gather the media’s attention to her. “Please, if you could just take your seats…”

“There have been a series of murders that appeared in random locations around Brooklyn. There is sufficient evidence that the victims were murdered on Wall Street then transported to their disposal sites.”

“We believe she may have experienced a psychotic break recently, causing the unsub to escalate to murder to regain a sense of control. You should increase your patrols in and around Wall Street… “

“Why would you focus your profile on the finance guys when the unsub has also contacted members of the FBI?” A male reporter interrupted the media liaison.  

JJ stood at the podium in shock. How could he know about that? We kept that under wraps. 

“I- How did you obtain that information?” JJ asked. 

“I overheard one of the cops saying it.” The journalist said casually. The blonde’s right eyebrow lightly twitched in anger. What couldn’t those cops just shut their mouths, JJ thought.

“What you heard from these officers isn’t true,” JJ lied to keep confidential information private. “Now, do you have any questions about the case?” A new wave of hands came up. JJ took a few more questions to answer. After a while, it was time to end the press conference.

“If anyone works in or around Wall Street, and sees anything unusual, please do not hesitate to call the number on your screen. Thank you.” JJ said her final statement, ending the press conference. As she walked down the steps down the small stage, a reporter called out her name.   

“Agent Jareau! I have something that may be of interest for you!” A different male reporter called out. JJ turned to face him, excepting the same male reporter from earlier. Trying to keep her anger inside, she greeted the news reporter with dignity. 

The male reporter handed the media liaison a letter. JJ took a look at it and was surprised at what she saw: the signature of their unsub. 

“How did you get this?” JJ asked the man. 

“It was sent to me yesterday, directly to the New York Herald.” The man said. JJ called for one of the officers by the wall to collect the letter for evidence. 

“We are going to take this in for evidence processing. One of the officers here will take you in for some questioning.” The man nodded as another officer whisked him away for interrogation. 

JJ sighed and went to search for the officer that unknowingly leaked information. She saw him with another cop, talking, against the wall outside of the press conference room. 

“That information was not for the public!” JJ said, angrily at an NYPD officer. 

“Listen, lady. I don’t know how and where he got the information from,” The beat cop explained himself. “He could have been creeping around the crime scenes or the precinct. 

“Keep your mouth shut, pal, as this case is private and under federal jurisdiction.” JJ huffed as Derek grabbed her shoulders and slowly tried to drag her away. The blonde complied with her co-worker, not throwing a fight as this was not her battle to fight in. 

Once Derek loosened his grips, the media liaison dashed out of the conference room to find her own space to calm down. 

JJ speed-walked once she was out of the hallway’s vicinity. She rushed into the nearest bathroom. Breathing heavily, the media liaison slowly walked into one of the stalls and locked the door. Taking a deep breath, JJ prepared herself for the biggest scream she would take in her life. 

“Fuck. These little shits. Those bastards. Assholes. Son of a bitch. Fucking shit. Why can’t they keep their mouths fucking shut! Those cocksucking motherfucking god damned jackasses!” JJ yelled at the top of her lungs. Her chest fell hard as the blonde was taking deep breaths. She felt better after taking out her anger by screaming. Feeling a little tired, JJ sat on the closed toilet and placed her head between her knees to calm herself down. A few minutes went by, and someone knocked on the bathroom door. 

“JJ… Are you okay?” Emily’s voice could be heard on the other side. JJ sighed while getting up. She opened the stall door and tried to make herself more presentable. Unlocking the silver lock, she opened the door slowly to reveal a relieved Emily Prentiss. 

“Ah–,” Emily gently grabbed JJ and brought her in a warm embrace. They stood together in that position for a few minutes before heading back to the conference room, where the others were, preparing themselves to capture the unsub tonight.

Later that evening, the BAU team, along with SWAT, raided a luxury apartment building in Downtown Brooklyn. Upon entering the only penthouse, Derek broke the door with his strength. The group of agents entered the area and in the middle of the living room, was Taylor Evans. Black mascara ran down her cheeks as she held a gun in her left hand and the final tarot card in the other. 

“Just in time for the show, agents.” Evans croaked. Her sad grey eyes filled with tears, her cheeks flushed from her mental breakdown. 

“Taylor… Listen. You’re young. You don’t have to do this. If you come with us, you can get a lighter sentence and live your life.” Emily said to calm down the broken girl. 

More time passed by as Emily and Spencer tried their best to negotiate with the unsub, but the end was already written. Taylor Evans planned to do an end game, one where she put herself out of misery. 

“I’m sorry….” the blonde girl whispered. In a swift motion, Taylor pulled the trigger onto herself and shot herself underneath the jaw. Her body dropped quickly but Derek ran up to the body to catch it. 

“Damn it,” Derek said. “She was young. Broken. Felt like she had to prove herself that she was something.”

“There was nothing we could have done to help, Morgan. She already had planned her end. She was long gone before anyone else could have noticed.” Hotch responded to Derek’s little monologue. 

Right next to her body was the Emperor card. A beautiful deep purple with gold lining depicting an emperor. The gold detailing reflected against the tall mirrors in the room. The card was reversed, like if she purposefully did that to tell the end to her story. 

taglist: @homosexualyearning / @ssajelle / @iconicc / @sunlightgalaxy / @jemilyology / @pumpkin-stars / @lgbtbau / @drinkingcroissants / @abbyprentiss / @pen3mily / @morcias / @hotchsbabygirl / @gravelyhumerus / @notsosmexy / @rxcklessly-bratty / @hqtchner / @girlbossjareau / @pagetsimp

[ardeidae]

chain of iron ranting

honestly tbh i’ve kinda just been struggling over this book like . i love it but there are so many things that i cannot get over so...i thought i’d compile them in one post just to get my mind off them

positives

of the many, many character relationships, i found myself caring the most about jordelia (w/ some matthew) and grace w/ everyone (surprisingly). it’s pretty obvious why i care about jordelia—from all the domestic scenes to the almost absurd amount of miscommunication and heartbreak, i want to slap them both in the face and just get them to be happy. ofc, i understand why they aren’t, but i’m mad (and waiting for chain of thorns).

ofc, when we talk about jordelia, we have to mention matthew. i am literally praying that matthew and cordelia aren’t the final couple—which is funny, because pre-chain-of-iron i was rooting for fairstairs. but i’ve backed up on that decision. we saw real, genuine james in this book, and all the scenes with him and cordelia convinced me that jordelia (hopefully) is what we’ll get in the end. and besides, cordelia’s sorta said that she can’t love matthew in the way he wants her too, and i’m half-convinced matthew doesn’t actually love her in that way either—half-convinced, though. chain of thorns chould change my mind, i’m open to suggestions.

grace is slightly different. we got a look into just who she is, and i find myself...not liking, but understanding her better. the moments when she stops herself from using her power on christopher is one of my favorites (i’m still mad she pulled a one-eighty at the end though and pretend like it was nothing)

i love alastair in this book (...though i found myself not caring about him with thomas, which i found curious). we see more of the mature side of him, and he’s really one of the only characters who isn’t flat-out lying in this book, which is refreshing. i found his attitude towards his father interesting, and his little thing about the child not having a father was heartbreaking. loved him here.

negatives

now that i’ve got the stuff i liked out of the way...the negatives. i found myself—surprisingly—not too fond of jesse and lucie in this book. i understand lucie’s motivations—she both “loves” jesse and owes jesse for james’ life, even if jesse won’t hold her to that. but man, i don’t understand all the secrets. when lucie stood in front of cordelia, who was trying her damn hardest to not run a sword through lucie, all she could think about was jesse. jesse’s dead, and while she might have the power to save him, that isn’t a healthy relationship. they’re cute—i’ll give them that—but chain of gold didn’t give us a glimpse into how far she’s willing to go for jesse, and i don’t like this new development. she’s putting jesse over everyone—over cordelia, over her entire family. and i’m not happy about it. imo this is a fantasy—lucie getting to be the main hero of her story, only it’s not a story that can have a happy ending. at least, in my opinion.

speaking of that, i thought there were several things that were forced in this. it might be because i hate that cordelia ran off with matthew (though i understand why she did it), but i think the whole “james lucie will only listen to you” argument is stupid. we’ve never seen a case of this before—of lucie listening to james over her parents—and i feel like it was a plot device used only to make sure james didn’t run after cordelia and matthew.

i also found the whole “win a game, get a question” thing a bit peculiar. it’s rarely used as more than an exposition device, and we see it used once so that cordelia can find out why the merry thieves hate her brother (to my memory). i think i would have liked it better if we’d gotten more moments with this—after all, they play chess or some other game every night, and we could have gotten so many moments (i’m still mad that we never got the end of the scene where cordelia is like “if you wanna know who i had a crush on you gotta beat me at chess” like i want to see competitive james).

the...meh

there was stuff i wasn’t too excited about here either. the plot was decent—i didn’t expect the lilith twist—but something about the pacing felt old. too slow in some places, and too fast in others. also there’s more than one plot line here, and while the murder one was cool, the resurrection one felt a bit...messy. it kind of splits into two—what lucie’s doing, and what grace is doing, and lucie’s gets a lot more of the spotlight. not really a decision i liked—i find grace’s motivations and how far she’s willing to go more interesting, and i’ve already discussed why i didn’t really like lucie in this book.

i found anna and ariadne boring too. i’m not a person who cares about...steamy scenes that much, and steamy pretty much defines most of their relationship throughout the book. i would have liked it better if we spent more time on it, but this books juggles a lot—and i mean, a lot—of relationships, and it felt underdeveloped.

i also had some qualms about the dialogue. maybe it’s just me, but sometimes it took awkward jumps to reach certain conclusions (like there was a checklist for certain dialogues) and it didn’t feel natural. but that’s just me being picky.

...oh and i’m on the edge about alastair and thomas. the fact they spent their time together making out isn’t something i liked. i would rather have them talk, because that’s kind of what their relationship needs. i completely understand why alastair turned him down at the end, and while i pity thomas, i can’t say i disagree.

i also can’t understand why magnus and james spent so long in the spiral labyrinth. i read the short story at the end, and it kinda felt like a reason to just not have two trustable, actually sane adults to help. maybe i missed something (i was running on very little sleep by this point) but i didn’t get it.

...well that was me ranting. i don’t expect anyone to care, but i like writing things down. anyway (if anyone has finished this to the end, in which case, i’m thankful) have a wonderful day :)))

[ckret2]

So I've been deeply pulled into the Radiosnake pairing bc of your fantastic writing! Problem is, now I have fic ideas but no knowledge of the Hazbin background. Can you tellI me where I can get more Hazbin info? I've only watched the pilot and read your stuff. I heard there were comics??

That is an excellent question anon, because right now it is really hard to get Hazbin background easily.

Okay, so, the canon info on Hazbin Hotel can be sort of sorted into four tiers, from most to least canon.

Tier 1: The Definitely Canon

There is, of course, the pilot. And then there is an Angel Dust prequel comic, only seven pages of which have been released so far. We’ve been told it’s gonna be finished and we’ve had glimpses of in-progress prequel comics for a couple other characters—most prominently Alastor’s and Charlie’s—but so far that unfinished Angel Dust comic is the only one that’s been officially released.

Finding the in-progress comic pages is... a challenge. Nobody, as far as I can tell, has been specifically collecting all of the pages we’ve seen so far. I was able to scrounge up:

Couple more Angel pages

some Alastor pages

another Alastor page

a random Alastor panel

another random Alastor panel—I’ve seen the full page of this before, Alastor goes “Hello ladies!” and they go “HELLO ALASTOR~<3″ but I can’t find the full page now

There’s a smattering more canon panels on the artist faustisse’s twitter, but I haven’t dug them all out, and some of the posts I’m gonna link in a lil bit have a glimpse of another panel.

If you haven’t already heard of Helluva Boss, I recommend looking into it as well. It’s a second series being created by the same folks, different cast of characters but set in the same version of Hell, so any canon details we learn in Helluva also apply to Hazbin.

Helluva’s pilot is here. Plus a cute music video here.

Earlier this month, during a BLM charity stream hosted by show artist Ashley Nichols—she runs regular streams under the title “HuniCast”—they released a few sneak peaks of future Helluva scenes, all compiled here.

And that’s it for canon. Two pilots, a music video, a smattering of future scenes, part of one comic, a few WIP pages/panels from other comics.

Tier 2: Pseudo-Canon

Everything else we currently know about Hazbin (and Helluva) are things that the creators have told us. Consequently, they’re all pseudo-canon—and likely subject to change in the future as the shows and comics are further developed and released. Some details that were released/described in the past have been contradicted at other times, or else radically changed by the time the pilot came out.

(For example, when Alastor was first created years and years ago as an OC with no plans for Hazbin, he was a demon deer who could shapeshift into a human shape—now he’s a demonized human with a few deer traits. And Charlie and Cherri Bomb used to look very different.)

So until and unless they make it into canon, all these pseudo-canon details are subject to change and should be taken with a grain of salt—but, they also comprise most of what we know about the characters’ backstory and the as-yet-unaired characters.

Pseudo-canon info on Hazbin is scattered mainly between two sources: the creators’ twitter accounts, and livestreams where they take questions and talk about the making of the show. If you and livestreams do not get along (my ADHD and livestreams do not get along), or if you don’t want to wade years and years back into twitter accounts to dig up every scrap of info on the characters the creators have ever mentioned, collating all the pseudo-canon info is gonna be hard. (It’s gonna be hard even if you do want to sit through the streams and dig through all their tweets.) Lots of fans, me included, depend on the absolutely heroic work of various fans who are willing and able to watch hours-long streams and collate a list of canon factoids released during the streams. I’ve reblogged as many of these posts as I’ve been able to find:

Alastor’s sound design (on twitter)

Alastor's Sound Design (post I made with screenshots of weird—but very interesting—subtitles slipped into the aforementioned video)

Sir Pentious and Cherri Bomb’s sound design

Niffty and Husk’s sound design

Charlie, Katie, and Tom’s sound design

Intro song’s sound design

Happy Hotel’s sound design

details from Faustisse (including a pic of a couple costume designs. Most of these posts come from zatyrlucy, who’s been doing a fantastic job of going stream-by-stream to get lists of details from the regular streams by Ashley Nichols and by comic artist Faustisse.)

more details from Faustisse (including a pic of the Von Eldritch family dining room)

Faustisse 3 (better look at that table)

Dollymoon’s Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART ONE (Shoutout again to dollymoon for compiling these, we’ve never spoken but I am eternally grateful for this service. Dollymoon’s posts are THE single most reliable compilation of Hazbin Hotel’s nebulous pseudo-canon facts that I have found to date, including both links to the sources and timestamps where applicable. Dollymoon’s URL has changed since making this post so the “read more” link doesn’t work but the “source” or “reblogged from” links direct correctly to the new blog. Incidentally, the risk of other blog creators deleting their blogs/posts or changing their URLs is why in info posts like these, I always link to my own reblogs rather than their original posts—their original posts might vanish without warning, but I know I ain’t gonna delete my posts, so these links will still work in the future.)

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART TWO

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART THREE

Faustisse 4

HuniCast - Australian Wildlife Relief charity stream

I think this was a faustisse stream (the original source deleted these posts, so the comic pages that were originally behind that read more cut are now gone.)

Faustisse stream 6?

And those are all the masterposts of factoids I’ve managed to collect. If anyone has more masterposts, chuck ‘em at me.

Even this isn’t all the knowledge that’s been released about the show. The posts that dig the farthest back are Dollymoon’s, and even they don’t comprehensively cover all of Hazbin’s production. A couple of these characters, Vivziepop created as a teenager, so there’s some truly ancient concept art floating around out there that will have details that probably aren’t canon anymore... but might still be until something happens to actively contradict them.

Tier 3: The Wiki

The wiki is kind of an absolute mess. It’s a chaotic blend of things actually seen in the pilots/comic, things mentioned at some point in some stream somewhere, and wild fan speculation based on what they headcanon as plausible based on the above, all mixed together with very little indication for which is canon, pseudo-canon, fanon, or speculation. Most of the statements on the wiki don’t have citations.

(And, on top of that, half the main characters’ info gets split up into separate tabs instead of just having a normal-ass wiki page, AND their image galleries are on COMPLETELY SEPARATE pages that are linked to in one of the tabs, and the most important characters all have TWO SEPARATE GALLERIES. Which doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of the facts hidden underneath those tabs, but nevertheless drives me up the wall.)

Some things on the wiki were added according to info released so long ago it’s probably changed by now. Some are possibilities that got reported as facts. Other things on the wiki have unambiguously changed, or else are just flat-out incorrect. (For instance, at this moment Alastor’s page still lists him as an overlord, even though it's been confirmed that Alastor is not an overlord despite his power level because he isn’t interested in and didn’t pursue that position, per this stream. For a little bit, somebody’s fanart of their headcanon human Alastor got added to the wiki as concept art.)

tl;dr: the wiki should never be trusted as a primary source. The wiki’s better than it used to be. Even so, at this time, it’s only trustworthy to fill in the gaps of what you already know is true from other, better sources.

The thing it’s good at is it more or less compiles all the known info all in one place. Trying to figure out who the hell this Vox guy is is really hard if you’re reading for mentions of him in compilations of a dozen different streams, much less if you’re trying to comb through those dozen streams yourself, plus a dozen more, plus three different artists’ twitters. In comparison, it’s really easy to, say, just go look at Vox’s wiki page, where all the trivia is compiled. (And Vox’s page is actually one of the better cited on the wiki. Look at all those numbers!)

So, if you need to find out who this character is you’ve never heard of before, if you want to see a full list of the thus far named characters, if you don’t remember whether Alastor likes coffee or tea, if you want to know what Angel’s twin sister looks like, if you need a reminder of Sir Pentious’s death year... check the wiki. It’s an okay starting point.

But, if you see a “fact” on the wiki that you yourself don’t remember from straight out of the pilot, and it doesn’t have a citation that links to a tweet or a stream... regard it suspiciously. And do not trust it unquestioningly as fact until and unless you have seen the source.

Tier 4: Noncanon Creator Shitposting

I’ve mentioned Ashley’s HuniCast streams a couple times. The biggest draw of them is that she usually gets several of the voice actors in the streams, where they’ll happily say nonsense in their character voices. For the most part, they’re not sharing any actual canon info they’ve been given on their characters, just goofing around pretending to be their characters. Nevertheless, a lot of the things that happen in streams get accepted as broad fandom headcanons, like Alastor being into dad jokes. (My favorite, for obvious reasons, is this one.)

It’s easy to find the source audio for all this wonderful nonsense by searching youtube for “HuniCast highlights,” and then rummaging around for animatics people make out of the audio. The only one noncanon video of this sort I can think of that didn’t originally come from HuniCast is a lone one from Alastor’s singing voice (who’s a different voice actor than his speaking voice).

So, obviously, none of these are canon. But they do come from some of the people actually involved in the creation of the show, and they are in the characters’ canon voices, so a whole lot of people treat them as semi-canon anyway. (Even the wiki lists “dad jokes” among Alastor’s likes, which to my knowledge hasn’t come up anywhere except for HuniCast streams.) Since they’re so broadly-known, they’re worth knowing about as important sources of fanon, even if you don’t want to adopt them into your own headcanons. They’re basically the same level of canon as blooper reels.

[purplesurveys]

754

Does anyone know your bank pin number other than you? Who? I don’t even have one of those yet.

Have you ever had a boyfriend/girlfriend who was depressed? I'm not sure. I know she's told me before about being diagnosed with depression, but I’ve forgotten if it’s mild or severe, or if she has the whole thing or is just showing symptoms of it. She only mentioned it in passing so I figured it wasn’t something she wanted to touch on further.

Would you be able to climb out your bedroom window to sneak out? Probably but I’d have to be really careful to not end up shattering my legs or any other part of my body haha, but knowing me I’d probably land badly. I live on the second floor but the house isn’t that high, so I think I could give it a shot.

What would you do if you found out the last person you called was pregnant/got someone pregnant? I’d be very confused because she’s very gay and also because she’s only been staying at home since March.

Can you taste the difference between brand name food and store brand food? I wouldn’t be able to relate since store brand’s not really a thing here. Only SM makes their own stuff but they’re purposely cheaper because they’re meant to be of lower quality to begin with. Other than that, we don’t really have a choice but buy brand name.

Would you be embarrassed to buy pads/tampons/condoms? Which one more? Just the tampons, probably. I never need condoms so I have no reason to feel awkward buying them, and in fact I’ve volunteered to buy them for Angela whenever she feels shy haha; I definitely have no reason to be embarrassed buying pads because periods are a thing. I will likely feel most awkward getting tampons since I don’t know any one person who uses them where I live and it’ll most likely be seen as an unusual purchase since they’re quite uncommon.

If a stranger went in your room, would they be able to tell what gender you are from just looking at it? Probably. I have a poster of Nam Joo Hyuk, several Audrey Hepburn memorabilia, and a lot of pink stuff so it very much looks like a stereotypical girly room. I do think it’s kinda balanced out by the amount of WWE merch I own, but yeah otherwise my other stuff screams girly.

Are your parents gullible? When it comes to home stuff my mom is basically a witch; she can immediately tell if my dog peed somewhere, if I lost something, or if a dining chair isn’t positioned right. But when it comes to fake news on Facebook she will occasionally flock to them hahaha I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to remind her that phones DO NOT emit radiation from 12AM to 5AM and that it’s only a ploy to get people to sleep early lmfao. My dad is pretty intelligent and won’t be easily fooled about anything.

Do you still own a VCR? I know my parents owned one but I don’t know if they still brought it here when we moved 12 years ago or if they already threw it out.

About how much money have you spent on food in the past two weeks? :( Zero pesos. The only thing I’ve spent on this entire quarantine was a bottle of soju I asked my dad to buy and I paid him after.

If you were in a car accident would the last person you kissed care? Yes.

If you were looking for a new pair of shoes where would you go? UPTC since they have like ten shoe stores there.

How much was the last pair of shoes you bought? I haven’t had a new pair in like a year now, but the last one we bought cost arounddddd ₱4200, if I remember correctly.

What color is the computer/laptop you’re on? Did you buy it yourself? Gray. No, it was a gift from my parents.

Do you have a second home? I guess I count my childhood home my second home. My grandma and cousins remain in that house, so we visit from time to time and when we’re there I’ve noticed that I still retain the same tendencies and habits from when I still lived there.

Would you be surprised if you saw the last person you texted smoking? I’ll use the last person I chatted in this context since I haven’t texted in a hot minute, and that person would be Andrew. I’d be quite concerned since they’ve told me they’ve quit smoking, so there must be something extremely stressful going on for them to start smoking. I’d check up on them immediately.

Does the smell of cigarettes, weed and beer repulse you? I do super hate the smell of beer even though I have no other choice but to drink it sometimes; I still find the smell of cigarettes disgusting although my contempt for them has lessened over the last few years seeing as a lot of people I know are smokers so I’ve been around that smell a lot, and also because I’ve started too. I’ve never been around weed and I don’t know how it smells.

Was the last person you kissed younger or older than you? Younger by a month.

Do you think people have any misconceptions about you? Not really? What I get most frequently is people thinking I was grumpy at first, but tbh I am pretty grumpy so they aren’t far off from the truth. With me it’s usually a what you see is what you get thing whether someone’s meeting me for the first or the 78th time.

Have you ever purchased Girl Scout cookies? Nope, not a thing here. I’ve always found the variety of cookies so fascinating though and I’ve always wanted to try the Thin Mints and Samoas since they’re what I hear about the most :(

Do you like waffles? They’re okay, though I only ever eat waffles with fried chicken and never just by themselves. I prefer pancakes.

Do you watch birthing videos on a day-to-day basis? Nah man wtf? I have no reason to be doing that lmao.

Do you find piercings/tattoos attractive? I don’t find either attractive. I get curious when I see tattoo because I wonder what the story behind it is and what it means to the person who has it, that’s all. As for piercings, I don’t really like them < Pretty much. Like I don’t go looking around for tattoos on a person to find them attractive; I just like hearing the histories behind them. Same with piercings, I don’t need them to be attracted to someone.

Would you talk to someone you don’t know on the internet? Only on social media that I’m already familiar with and comfortable in, like on this Tumblr, or Twitter, sometimes Facebook. I wouldn’t go to like Quora to ask something or join forums or even post anything on Reddit.

How often do you drink Monster? Never. Energy drinks scare me lol.

Have you ever made totally pointless videos with your friends? I’ve made those for myself, but not with friends. I remember filming a house tour with my flip phone’s video camera back when I was like, 8 hahaha I was ahead of our time for sure.

Do you like to buy those Warped Tour compilations? I don’t even know those existed. I just knew of Warped Tour and that all the cool bands of the time would play there, but that’s it. I’m clueless about everything else that goes on in there.

Do you like sitting on the inside or outside of a restaurant booth? You mean just a restaurant? Inside, for sure. I would never agree to eating outside and am always willing to wait a few extra minutes. I hate having to contend with passersby while I eat my food as I feel that it ruins the experience as well as the time I have with the person/s I’m eating with.

Do you own a nightgown? No but I had duster dresses that I’d wear to bed as a kid, if that counts lol.

Have you ever made a house out of a giant cardboard box? Probably not. My mom wouldn’t allow us to play with those and she’d immediately view them as trash that needs to be thrown out.

Have you ever made a tent out of sheets in your bedroom? No. I usually used the sheets as a cape or robe, then I’d pretend to be a queen.

Do your grandparents know how to operate a cell phone? My paternal grandparents do. My maternal grandfather used to regularly use a phone before he passed. My maternal grandmother refuses to learn :(

Have you ever had sex or something like it? Hahahaha ‘something like it.’ Yeah, I’ve had sex.

Have you ever read a George Orwell book? I tried reading 1984 when I was like 13 but didn’t understand it from the get-go. I haven’t continued it since but honestly I’m very open to revisiting it one of these days.

Have you ever worn fishnets? I don’t remember ever doing so. I feel like it’d be so uncomfortable; I hate wearing stockings as it is.

How many piercings and tattoos do you have? I only have my ears pierced and no tattoos < Sameeee.

Is someone in your family affected by Asperger’s? Nope.

In a hotel do you always nose through all the drawers and cupboards? Hahahahaha yeah, just out of curiosity. I’ve never seen anything interesting, but I keep trying.

Would you rather go out to eat or be eaten out? Be eaten out right now. I’ve had too much abstinence from sexual activity for my own liking lol < Ok it’s 1 in the afternoon but SAME lol

Do you always wear your seat belt? Honestly, no and it’s a shitty habit that I need to correct ASAP. I never notice that I’m not wearing them until it’s one of my parents riding with me and they scold me for driving out of the village without a seatbelt. I do put it on when I enter bigger cities with more police patrolling the area like Ortigas and Makati, or when I drive out of town, but usually it stays off.

Have you ever liked someone much older than you? No. I’ve had a crush on a teacher, but I obviously didn’t legit like him haha.

Have you ever been in a play? Just the annual school plays we do that all students are required to be a part of. I forgot to mention this in a recent survey but I was in an acting club in Grade 1 and I played Cinderella’s prince in our culminating play, heheh.

Do you have any secrets that nobody knows about? Sure.

Is there ice cream in your freezer? Yeah. My parents love ice cream so we always have an ample supply of their favorite flavors. Sometimes we’ll also have a tub of cookies and cream since it’s our (the kids’) favorite flavor.

Have you ever started to laugh but played it off as a cough successfully? For sure. I always laugh at inappropriate moments so I do fake coughs a lot.

Have you ever liked the lyrics of a band but hated the music? I suppose so. Hate is a strong word and I’d rather not use it, but while the music my girlfriend listens to wouldn’t be what I’d tune into on a regular basis, the lyrics are admittedly very well-written and intelligent and reflective, and I don’t mind it when she shares her favorite songs with me :)

Does your bathroom have a window? Yes but they’re high up on the wall.

Do you go somewhere to get your eyebrows done? No, I’m really scared of threading :( Everyone always gets out of the salon with their eyebrow area all red and tingling and it’s enough to scare me off of threading forever lmao. I’m not very conscious about how my own eyebrows look, so I just let them grow out.

When you were younger did you read the A Series Of Unfortunate Events books? I’ve only seen snippets of the movie.

Who was the last band you saw live? Paramore. I miss them already.

Do you believe prayer really works? I’m not gonna invalidate the fact that it works for a lot of people. But it’s just not my cup of tea, and I honestly don’t know how to feel whenever someone says they pray for me since I don’t believe in it anyway. Of course I thank them, but on the inside I’m always a little puzzled.

Are you a fan of the band Gym Class Heroes? Never been. I know Stereo Hearts and that was always a fun song to sing, but it’s not my favorite either.

Frosted flakes or frosted mini wheats? I don’t really have either, but I’d go with frosted flakes I guess?

Have you been on a date in the park? I would love to have one of these if we actually had parks. How nice would it be to take a long stroll, have a picnic, and just sit on a bench talking for hours?

Ever dated someone you were best friends with first? Yes. At first I didn’t want to risk it since we were reeeeeally close, but I don’t regret asking her out.

Are there any diseases/health problems that run in your family? Thankfully no. Although my grandpa and his sister did pass from heart attacks and I’m starting to be scared that it might develop to be a pattern for some of us. But other than that, both sides of the family are relatively healthy.

Do you have asthma? No. But Gab does and I get really worried once her breathing becomes labored at night. I keep telling her to get a new nebulizer after her old one broke, but I dunno what’s become of that request of mine.

Are tongue piercings slutty? No, and it’s not like being slutty is a bad thing lol.

Is there anybody you think is hot over the age of 40? No one in real life but I do still have a crush on CM Punk who’s turning 42 this year hahah. I don’t think that crush is ever gonna go away.

Last person to take off your pants, besides you? Gab.

Do you remember those cool highlighters that smelled like popcorn? I knew about markers and ballpens, but not highlighters.

Might you enjoy hanging out in the woods for day or two? No thanks. I’d rather have somewhere to go home to or rest at by the end of the day, and if I was gonna do this I prefer to be with someone who knows a thing or two about surviving in the woods.

Have you ever written something on a bathroom stall? Nope. The worst thing I’ve done was write on one of the desks in grade school.

Least favorite alcoholic drink? Out of the ones I tried, I didn’t like whisky at all. Too bitter for me < Twins. I hated the ever living shit out of Jim Beam and Jack Daniels when I tried them.

Have you ever kissed someone named Paul or Luke? I haven’t. I have a cousin named Luke that I used to babysit and I kissed him a lot when he was a baby, if that counts lol.

How did you meet the last male you texted? I met them at the Marcos heroes’ burial protests. I have no idea how I started talking to them, but I think it was because they were wearing a Nexus shirt and I told them I like it, and we started talking from there.

Have you ever had an embarrassing email address? Yup. I wasn’t allowed to make an email address when I was young so I had to sneak around and make a fake Yahoo username so my parents would never find me. I don’t remember what it was anymore but it was for sure embarrassing so I’m just grateful my brain threw that memory out.

Do you put shampoo in your left or right hand? OMG this survey is so long. I put it on my left hand.

Do you have a bull ring through your nose? Nope, no piercings.

Do you and your dad get along? Better than my mom and I.

Can you see your purse right now? Nah, it’s in my room upstairs.

Are you wearing any perfume? What kind? I am not. I haven’t had a reason to in a while.

Are there products in your hair? Just shampoo and conditioner.

When you get colds, do you use nasal spray to help get your nose unstuffy? No. Whaaaat, those exist? I just blow my nose or just live through the stuffiness.

Do you actually like sneezing? I love it, it’s such an underrated sensation lmao. It feels better when you’ve actually been needing to sneeze for a while and it finally comes through.

Have you taken a shower yet today? Nope, I usually take them at night.

Do you have one best friend who is always there for you? I have two.

Do you wear skirts a lot? Not really, I don’t like skirts because I feel exposed wearing them. I prefer shorts.

Do you wear sweatpants a lot? Nope.

How many pairs of jeans do you think you have? I can remember five pairs right now, but I have many other kinds of bottoms in my closet like culottes and leggings.

Do you like hoodies? They’re okay. I find them more comfortable if they belong to someone else, hah.

Big ones or the form fitting kind? Form-fitting if I’m buying for myself; big ones if I’m borrowing from Gabie.

Do you wear polo shirts a lot? I never wear them. My mom made me wear them often as a kid and it made me feel like a boy, so I’ve kinda had a predisposition to be wary of them as I got older since I was teased frequently enough about being a tomboy as a kid as it is.

Did you ever actually have a rubber duck? I think we probably did.

Are you one of those people who claim to live with no regrets? I have one big regret and the rest of my ‘regrets’ are small and are stuff like “I regret not picking up food on my way home because I’m now hungry.” The way I’ve always thought is that I did the things I did before because I chose to do them and I was happy to do them, and I’ve honestly felt barely any regret even though things didn’t turn out the best. There’ve been mistakes but I’ve just chosen to learn from them instead of regretting them at the same time. Do you love your computer? Love it.

Do you drink coffee? Yeah. I’ve been doing it a lot this quarantine but I think it’s been giving me headaches, so I stopped for now.

Do you basically like all of your clothes? No. There are some at the bottom of the pile that I’m no longer crazy about anymore.

Do you shop mostly with your parents, your friends, or by yourself? My mom. She tends to know what looks best on me, and she also pays for the clothes hahaha.

[cassafra5]

Where Have I Been?

I’ve been a bit nervous to post this.

Two month or so ago, I teased at a possible announcement and something I was very excited to share with you all. I had been given the opportunity to work on a temp-to-perm basis for a comic start-up headed by Marvel alumni. I applied on a whim to be a freelance Storyboard Artist, but I was instead offered the chance of working in a full-time Editorial and Admin position with a few hours dedicated to storyboarding and participating in creative meetings each week. As someone who's always wanted to get into creative work, this was a really huge deal for me and I was excited to learn and be able to have projects to add to my portfolio.

Now, part of the reason I held off was because I wanted to make sure it was solid before I made the announcement. It was a dream come true and it seemed too good to be true ... and it was. 

Read below if you'd like to hear about how I unwittingly signed up to take care of a herd of entitled neckbeards and had to work on preventing them from literally walking into glass instead of actually storyboarding as advertised.

TL;DR of my experience:

2018 unfortunately was a pretty rough year. The good news is that I managed to push for a mutual termination of contract and should be a lot more active very soon now that I’m not as emotionally drained by an incredibly toxic environment.

Credit to @kirain for looking through this and helping to edit it when I just rage-typed all of this together lol;

I walked away from my interviews in tears after being told that my work really had potential. I told them I had been a comic fan since I was a kid and this was something I was excited about. I grew up with family trying to dissuade me from doing art and I had friends/partners who really weren't interested in my work. I am by no means a professional, so I threw up whatever I could be proud of and applied to the role on a whim. So as you can imagine, having real professionals say I had potential was something amazing to me. 

My first day, they sat me at a desk with a tablet and computer and I was super excited to start learning and was immediately approached with a Sexual Harassment plaque and told to mount it. Weird but alright. It was a start-up and I already assumed we’d all be helping out with small jobs around the office. I helped them fix their scanner and they suggested I move it to my desk. I was a bit confused but did so. I asked if they wanted me to set their computers up for it but they waved their hands at me and said we could do it later. 

This would eventually result in me scanning every single document for every person in the office, and also measuring the office for furniture that they would randomly decide not to get. When I had a day off, I came back to piles of documents they refused to scan themselves since "that was my job". I got chastised since they wanted them in a hurry and it should have been done sooner ... i.e., the day I was off.

Alright. 

I also ended up doing the following duties:

Calling the IRS every single day because the Controller was too uppity about something that was in the mail and somehow thought they could track it...DURING THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. I was required to do this and told it was part of my job.

Calling Instacart at the behest of their Legal Counsel, a man who bitched on the phone for 2 hours because he didnt want to go downstairs to drop off a faulty computer part, and having to tell them that their avocados were too soft and their almond milk had too many ingredients. I was required to do this and told it was part of my job.

I had to ask for multiple vendors to provide quotes and COI and do site visits to our office for things that they, on a whim, would decide they wouldn’t want....resulting in multiple vendors getting angry at me.

I had to get what “everyone wanted for Christmas” for their luncheon...they expected me to get cakes same day from a fancy bakery, as well as LOBSTER (one of them said this was apparently a Christmas tradition of theirs?) Mind you, they repeatedly spoke about budgeting since they were working on investment money and the owner repeatedly would mention how “every day we weren’t producing was a day we died a little more.” I guess that death would have been from gout.

I had to take on dealing with all building requests. Fine ...until they started to tell me I should be reaching out to building management about the "radiation coming out of the cable box". They said it was shooting at a person given their angle and, because I'm *that person*, I mentioned it'd probably be more of a radius vs a direct shot. They started talking about it causing a mushroom cloud over the office. I laughed. Apparently it wasn’t a joke :/ They also complained about the fan making noises and being able to hear people partying and singing songs ... during the holidays ... when people normally do that sort of thing.

I also had to deal with things such as their electrical work and assistance with general interior work in the office...for some reason

They put me in charge of the Party Committee for a Housewarming Party where I was the only one actually making arrangements. This would be fine but the office was sublet and, due to their clumsiness in handling their electrical work before I got there, part of the office has no electricity and there was also a fallen over power beam in the middle of the office...but I guess that can be an accent piece.

I literally had to rename their files. Rather than renaming documents themselves, they would email me to rename them and reupload them because they couldn’t be bothered to change them themselves.

I made the mistake of telling them I had worked with DocuSign in a previous job. What resulted was them forcing me to teach it to them...but then they would argue with me about why it couldn’t mail merge or allow them to revise their documents. A Docusign rep mentioned they could just do their work outside of Docusign and import it since the whole point is to maintain the integrity of the document but they just kind of blamed me for not knowing enough about something I had only briefly used in another completely different setting.

I was literally approached by the person who should have been leading me in storyboarding and told that I needed to look into “distraction graphics” for the office because he was concerned that the two head people (WHO WORKED AT MARVEL) kept bashing their heads on the glass and he was afraid they’d go through the glass eventually. My literal reaction:

Yeah...he didn’t laugh. It was apparently serious and I had to have some very awkward talks with some window vendors. Do you know it apparently costs more than $3.5k to cover glass that you could probably avoid if you just looked up from your phones when you walked?

Frustrating, but whatever ... it wasn't a big deal and so long as I got to do some creative work, I was willing to tolerate it. 

I asked the person in charge of art and asked when we'd be able to work on creative and was told that my role was mainly in admin and to "leave the storyboarding to the storyboarders".

I guess I just imagined every single mention of that during the interview process.

I was taken aback but he assured me it was fine since I could work in production and work on other items, like cutting comics up for Webtoons. This wasn't what I wanted, but fine ... maybe I could get something out of this regardless and learn, even if I was just cutting up and processing other peoples' work. By the way, they ended up not even letting me do that.

And here’s where I get to the owner of this establishment...

I got called in to meet with him and told I would be given a special project. He wanted me to suggest a few themes that would be used for a promo project the company was working on. Okay ... this could be good. I started thinking of all my favorite genres and comics and wrote out a decent list. I asked him if it there was a limit and he said there was no limit, so I made a comprehensive list.

He brought me back in a week later and ripped my report apart.

First, he didn't want Marvel and DC included, but then he got upset when they weren't. 

Star Wars and Serenity weren't Scifi, according to him; they were "Space Opera". So that had to be done. They were set in space but apparently that wasn't scientific. Alright. 

Spongebob and Ducktales were irrelevant, but apparently The Simpsons was super relevant. 

He smiled at me and told me I needed to redo it because I obviously didn't know what I was doing. Okay ... sure. Then he kept changing his mind. We started this before the holidays and I worked on making a very sortable report in case there were anymore last minute changes.

Me and another co-worker who were avid comic book readers spent a lot of time looking at sales numbers and articles to compile what we should focus on; however, for one reason or another, the owner would dismiss everything we brought up since he "hadn't heard of it". Deathstroke apparently never existed. Teen Titans also ... totally not relevant. Although he said he was open to ideas, he'd bash every single suggestion, answer every question by asking us why we'd ask such "stupid questions", and he literally asked us to bring in articles and statistics just so he could completely dismiss them. He was completely un-open to hearing anyone else's opinions and already had a dead-set idea of what his audience wanted ... despite having told us he hated comics and that "normal people [like him] don't read comic books". He knew what these idiots wanted, and it was just a matter of making us redoing the report over and over until we happened on the right combo HE wanted. I.e., pretty much the top comics he last saw at the dawn of the early 2000's.

I literally had taken pics of a few bestseller displays I’d seen in stores (Newsbury Comics, Barnes and Nobles etc) but he literally said that that didn’t mean they would sell. What does Best Selling even mean then?

But it's cool to just completely dismiss your customer base and act like you know better, right?

I ended up having to work until 10:00pm one night in order to make all necessary changes and print covers for him to review. What started as a simple list of themes became a report that had over 600 rows in Excel. Even then, 80-90% of it ended up not being used. I was so exhausted at this point and burnt out. I loved comics ... but having to rip them apart by category, put them back together, eliminate whole categories because he didn't want them, and then having to remake them after he changed his mind was agonizing. 

I had another meeting with him and he smiled at me and simply said, "Aww I thought this would be a fun project for you, since you're a fangirl after all"

He was taunting me. This was a game to him. Of course, I should have expected this from someone who literally made a cheat sheet so "idiot comic book fans" would get his jokes. I'm not joking. It actually exists and I'm sure it's something Marvel would rather not even remember.

A couple more weeks passed and, at this point, a majority of the office depended on me to get people's food choices for their snacks, following up with building maintenance, and I barely had any creative projects whatsoever. I did get to create the party invitation the main art guy refused to make but he pushed me to make in Canva, because he thought Canva was the end all and be all to graphic design and that it should be used for all presentations for our LinkedIn. Pretty much everything Canva (something used mostly by Instagram and Twitter users) probably wasn't meant to be used on.

Keep in mind that this person was in charge of creative and was also in charge of gate-keeping me from doing the one thing I was tolerating everything for. I had literally repeatedly asked about the storyboarding during the interview process and even though they had changed the duties, they always confirmed that storyboarding would be a part of it. 

Last week, I asked the main art guy again about my job description and about how he had mentioned storyboarding being off the table entirely. He immediately got defensive and reminded me that I was an admin. I mentioned I still had the job descriptions and emails mentioning me having a hand in creative, and he accused me of talking back and said that he could tell from how I looked that I thought he was an idiot.

He also accused me of not being enthusiastic about his projects. I was confused since I was actively asking for projects and had literally been trying to find some way to take on creative assignments. He got even angrier and said I wasn't telling him how much fun I was having and how excited his work was making me.

What?

It suddenly dawned on me that every talk I'd had with this guy about how excited I was to learn from him/to work on the team gave him some sort of weird satisfaction. I mentioned that I didn't think I should have been sending him emails about that, and he asked, "Why not? You shouldn't assume I don't want them. I want you to tell me my stuff is fun and how excited you are about them!" I was ... very uncomfortable. This grown man. This grown ass man wanted me to fawn over his work and send him emails about how excited I was about his work. About HIM. What a narcissist.

He made enough commotion that the owner brought us in. He sat us down and said something about him being a bit familiar with this sort of thing, having gone to marriage counselling himself. I was already uncomfortable and that really didn’t help. 

What ended up happening was they berated me in his office and told me I was "too honest", and I was told that I didn't know my place.  I was told that at the very top were the two Marvel alumni, then underneath there was everyone else and I was right at the very bottom of everything and I should know my place.

These were the two people who had told me I had potential and who had made me so happy just a couple months prior. I was frozen in place as they grinned at me and told me that obviously there was some misunderstanding on my part. They then told to run along while they thought about what they could throw at me to make me happy. The guy who yelled at me was not chastised or told his behavior was wrong in any way, shape or form. I got dragged into a staff meeting afterwards, where the owner proudly told all of us, "This is the best company you can work for, where you can work with people you like." And in the same breath, he told everyone not to fuck up or otherwise it would be "resume time".

I felt broken the rest of the day, where I heard them blatantly laughing and insulting the creators they were going to work with. One creator was commented on as being able to "...work as a writer but you shouldn't look at her stuff unless you want your eyes to bleed.” They said worse stuff too and laughed like a bunch of entitled douchebags on DeviantArt trying to get kicks off of stuff they thought were cringey. It was insane. These were supposed to be professionals in the field. It made me uncomfortable to think what they said about my own work when they told me I had "potential". Some of these were small time Tumblr creators like me who probably thought this would be their big break too...

I thought about putting in my two days, the amount that was specified in my contract, and worried about what they'd try to do in the time I had left. I was miserable and scared and nervous.

On Friday, the owner approached me and asked me for my portfolio while smiling to himself. I was skeptical and asked why, and he firmly said, "Because I want to see it." I sent it and prepared for the worst.

He brought me in for a two minute "friendly" chat in the conference room, and once we sat down, he mused over his computer and said it was "coming back to him” I did art.

He remembered now. It had been so forgettable, after all. Aww, maybe there was something there.

With a smile, he told me I "shouldn't take it personally", and that only one artist so far had been able to get along with him and work with what they wanted. They'd thrown out 8 artists after they just simply "didn't work". They admitted that they had promised me storyboarding, but no one was working to their intended vision. That they hadn't really figured out a place for me in the company, but maybe going out on a business trip would help him clear his head and he could find something I could do. "I guess we've been letting you down a bit, haven’t we?" 

I felt like at this point he wanted me to act desperate and happy for the possibility of a chance and buy into it and take his offering with gratitude...

...but I was done with his shit. 

I told him that I had started at his company a few months ago and that if they hadn't figured out where I was supposed to be in all that time, then maybe it wasn't a good fit. He was quiet and didn't seem prepared for it. "Well ... what do you think we should do about it then?"

"If it's alright with you, I would like to terminate this contract immediately." I said it through gritted teeth. I'm not a confrontational person, but after everything that had happened, I was worried I'd lose it. I could feel myself shaking, but I just couldn't deal with it anymore. "I didn't appreciate being told I was at the bottom of the food chain and I really didn't appreciate you allowing me to be treated this way. Frankly, after that, it's taken every bit of motivation out of me and I'd like to end this. Now." I was trying to be professional and control myself, but I was quietly seething with every word. I told him I had saved all my job descriptions and had the contract if he wanted to review it, and I knew that what they had been telling me was bullshit.

He was really quiet and his eyes were wide open. I really think he expected me to be grateful and happy and willing to do more and more for the company just for that little chance. He mumbled something about not prolonging my suffering and told me to just assist in transitioning over my duties and typing things up. 

Once I did, I asked if I was free to go and he said I was and I left. It was so much of a relief not to have to come back to that office.

So this is what happened with something I thought would have been a great in to an industry I was excited about. I got used up (and not even for the skills I actually have under my belt) and kept around as an emotional punching bag, and for the dumbest things imaginable and essentially just assisted them with setting up their office after they'd sublet it.

On the plus side, I feel like it was a big deal that I could actually stand up for myself, even if it happened to be to someone like that. Even though I'm not a professional and even though some people would consider me insignificant, I feel like there's never a reason to make any person feel insignificant and like they're the lowest of the low. I hated how they spoke about other creators and I hated how they spoke to me, and there isn't any reason anyone should have to deal with people who are just bent on being condescending.

Ironically, around this time, Steven Universe released an amazing episode and the ending theme kind of hit home with me. I loved its message and I think that ep. kind of helped me in a way.

2019's off to an interesting start, I guess ... but I guess I can be proud that I'm stronger despite it. I am passionate about my art and do want to be able to work professionally but there’s no reason to ever tolerate disrespect and dishonesty in a company.

In the words of Raul Julia/Gomez Addams:

Hopefully, one day, I’ll get my break but this definitely wasn’t it. 

If any of you guys are in NYC and happen to come across a mildly shady startup toted to be headed by Marvel alumni, maybe just be a bit careful. I normally don’t post about stuff like this and honestly tend to get quiet when things happen because I have trouble opening up about personal issues but maybe it can help someone or at the very least be an interesting read.

[quicksilversquared]

Keeping Up With the Ladyblog

A reporter has to adapt and improvise. It's an important skill to learn, especially when one is a reporter who is still in school and can't skip out to film all of the akuma battles without getting grounded. So Alya gets creative and starts using old security camera footage of akuma attacks. It keeps the Ladyblog active and maybe, just maybe, she'll finally get her scoop of a lifetime.

links in the reblog

Initially, setting up the Ladyblog and getting a devoted userbase had been a bit of an uphill battle. Even though Alya had gotten noticed right away with her footage from the first fight, that didn't guarantee her a permanent position as the best-known blog on Paris's superheroes. Not covering a few fights would mean that someone else could sneak in and steal her spot, so that meant that even if she missed a little school here and there (or had to drag her sisters along during a fight), it was worth it. She had to stay on top of all things Ladybug and right then, that meant getting the best coverage of as many fights as she could physically manage and writing up good, thought-provoking articles for when there was a slow day or two.

(Of course, there were other problems that she had to deal with as well. Alya had to put together a functioning site that was user-friendly, could handle the traffic that she was getting, and offered everything that anyone could possibly want from an official superhero blog, because there was no. way. Alya was going to lose traffic just because some other blog had one option or another that she didn't have or because her blog went down from traffic overload at a critical moment. There were some places that she drew the line- she didn't accept fanfiction of the superheroes, because they were real people and therefore it would be weird, and only appropriate art was allowed- but she had to add all sorts of options so that people who visited the Ladyblog would come back over and over again. It was a lot of work and all had to be done fairly quickly, which meant that her homework sometimes got pushed off until later than it should have.)

Alya didn't consider setting up the blog itself to be that big of a problem, though. Software could usually be battered into submission if she worked on it for long enough, and as long as she didn't try any system updates to the Ladyblog when a lot of people were using it, short outages were usually not a big deal. It was the content that was more of a problem, especially now that her parents (and teachers) were on her back about not skipping school just to film attacks.

She just had to get creative.

Originally, Alya had considered trying to use her fame from being the sole moderator of the Ladyblog to see if she could get a get-out-of-class-free card during the attacks. Her teachers could just check her blog to make sure that she wasn't abusing the pass, she figured, and it wasn't as though most of her classes would be that hard to make up. But it didn't take long before Alya realized that that was just a pipe dream. No teacher would just let her go whenever just so she could keep up a blog when there were professional reporters out there as well that could film the attacks just as well (though Alya would argue with that). Besides, she sometimes had to bike across town to try to get footage, and there were times when it took so long that Ladybug and Chat Noir were already done when she got there. Without any footage, it was a waste of her time.

She had to play it smart. She couldn't just take footage from news channels, but what if there was other footage out there, unseen by most of the public? The Ladyblog already used fan submissions. People took pictures and videos of the superheroes all the time, and most didn't have any interest in starting their own superhero blog but were willing enough to share their superhero content online. Alya always spent a chunk of time every day sorting through the submissions and organizing them by akuma for easy reference.

Still, that wasn't quite enough. Alya had to go above and beyond if she didn't want to be replaceable.

Asking Mr. Kubdel about getting security camera footage from the Louvre partway through the year was a stroke of pure genius on her part. Getting it was a combination of luck, her fame as the Ladyblogger, and the fact that she knew Alix.

"They don't have the best angles in the world," Alya told Nino three days after Mr. Kubdel agreed to her request. She had just gotten the footage from all of the security cameras for the time frames of the last few akuma attacks that had gone through the museum, and digging through the video to find clips of the actual fight was taking a while. Some parts she could just fast-forward through, since the superheroes didn't go into that particular room, but she couldn't go too fast or she could miss the superheroes flashing by. "But I can't really complain. No one has any video of any of these fights yet, so this is incredible."

"It was super-nice of Mr. Kubdel to agree to it," Nino said as he watched the video over her shoulder. "Are you- whoop, there goes Chat Noir."

"Am I what?" Alya asked as she marked down the time Chat Noir entered and when he exited. "Ooh, look, that's a cool akuma!"

"It is a pretty cool design," Nino agreed. "Are you going to ask other places if you can get security camera videos from them, too? Like, there's some places that seem to have a lot of akuma fights go through them. School, the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Paris-"

Alya's eyes lit up at the mention of the last place. "Ooh! D'you think I could wrangle some footage of Chloe as Antibug? I kind of want to see some footage of her getting her ass handed to her by Ladybug and Chat Noir."

Nino cringed slightly. "...yeah, I wouldn't phrase it like that when you ask Mr. Bourgeois about it if I were you. He might say no just because of it." He considered that for a second, then added, "Actually, come to think of it, a lot of the akuma that pop up at his hotel tend to be after Chloe, right? So maybe he would say no if most of the footage you get is of Chloe being tormented, no matter how funny you find it. And he's not going to have anything from inside of the guest rooms, just the hallways and dining areas and whatnot."

Alya sniffed. "I'd be professional and include as much of the fight as I could find. Any compilations of Chloe being pursued by angry akumas would be completely unofficial and only posted to an anonymous YouTube account. Which I would then share with you guys, of course."

Nino laughed.

"I think I could persuade him to help, though," Alya decided, going back to the Louvre videos. "He's nice enough when Chloe isn't pushing him around. I'd just have to ask when Chloe isn't there. Maybe I could ask Sabrina's father for help to get footage from other places." She squinted at the screen, then stopped the video for a moment. Nino looked over and saw that it had gone all blurry and pixilated.

He frowned. "Uh, what happened to it? Is the file corrupted?"

"I don't know. It's happened a couple times before on other files, once near the start of this fight and twice again near the end of the first fight I looked at. I don't know what causes it." Alya rewound a little so she could get the last good frame of the superheroes and record the time so she could cut it there. "And... I know I kind of gave up on exposing Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities on the Ladyblog, but I kind of thought that I might catch them detransforming on the security cams. I wasn't going to post that part online, of course, but still..."

"Maybe they're just really good at moving out of the area first," Nino suggested. "That's gotta be tough, actually. I never thought about it. But there's so many cameras in buildings like that nowadays that they have to be super-careful so they don't get seen by others or by cameras!"

"They're bound to slip up sometime," Alya grumbled, opening another file and starting to fast-forward through it. "I really hope I don't miss an attack when I'm working on this. Like, it's gonna be great for my blog to have this footage and all, but it's the live stuff that people like the most."

  The first of the spliced-together security camera footage hit the Ladyblog almost a week after Alya got the first batch of raw video. There was an immediate spike of interest, though, as Alya complained to Nino as they waited for Adrien and Marinette to arrive to work on their group project, some people were whining about favoritism getting her the tapes.

"It was just because I asked first," Alya grumbled, scrolling through the comments. "Because I thought of it first. And- oh! I forgot to tell you! Mr. Bourgeois said yes, I just have to figure out the dates and times of old attacks myself and give them to his security people. And I talked to the principal too, and to Sabrina's father. Mr. Damocles said yes, and Sabrina's father said that he would ask his supervisor and also people at Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower about the security cameras at their individual sites." She was grinning now, momentary irritation gone. "It's gonna be a beast going through everything and getting my homework done, but it'll be worth it."

Nino frowned. "Are all of them gonna give you footage from past attacks? Some might discard video once a certain amount of time passes, or they might think that it's too much work to go back that far to get you the files."

Alya shrugged, face dropping slightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, going through the past stuff I do get plus new stuff is gonna be hard. At least spring break is coming up soon. Ish. Kinda. And then I can really plow through stuff once it's summer."

"You're gonna vanish into your room and never come out again," Nino joked. "You'll get all pale from lack of sun."

"I still gotta go out for livestreaming attacks," Alya reminded him. "And once I don't have homework to do, I don't think it'll take that long to mark and edit stuff. I can get through one per day for sure, maybe more. I can do it while I babysit my sisters, as long as they don't want to go anywhere."

Nino snorted. "Right, and the chances that they won't want to go out to the park or on a walk?" He shook his head at her. "But I can help with the timing stuff, so you can just focus on the splicing things together."

Alya grinned and leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. "That would be great, Nino! Thank you so much!"

"You'll have to tell me how you want it done sometime before I start, but it really shouldn't be a problem," Nino assured her, grinning as he returned the kiss. "Though maybe we'll have time for you to show me before Adrien and Marinette arrive. Where are they, anyway?"

Alya just shrugged. "Who knows. I texted Marinette ten minutes ago to remind her we would be meeting, but no response yet. She might be in the middle of a project, and if she is, I don't wanna startle her. Last time I called her when she was busy sewing, she got started by her phone ringing and stabbed herself with a pin."

Nino cringed. "Ow. Yeah, I texted Adrien too, but no dice. No idea what he might be doing- oh, wait, here they come. Finally."

"And from the same direction too, hmm? Interesting!" Alya slid her laptop back into her bag and stood up, grinning as she watched Adrien and Marinette approach. "And neither of their houses are in that direction, either."

"We're here to study, not interrogate them," Nino reminded her. "Midterms, remember?"

"Oh, but come on-"

"You can interrogate them after, once we've gotten our studying done," Nino pointed out, grinning. "But I actually want to pass my classes, thank you very much."

  There were times when Alya almost regretted starting to post the security camera footage. It was a lot to handle and process, and it ended up cutting into her article-writing time, which, well, she really liked writing those articles. It was one of the things that set the Ladyblog apart. But the old footage was popular, particularly when there was no good news coverage of the fight, and she could always prioritize which fights to edit together and which could maybe be set aside until she had more time.

It was after Alya was first tapped to become Rena Rouge when she realized how great of an idea it had been to start including the security footage from attacks on the Ladyblog. She couldn't cover her own fights- well, not that she was called for many of the akuma attacks, really- but she could still provide that footage, and it wasn't as though she had only started with that kind of footage after she became a superhero, so it wasn't going to raise any suspicion.

Well. Much suspicion, at least. There might be a few people who wondered why she could never cover Rena Rouge's fights, but there had been few enough of them so far that the pattern wouldn't be apparent. And if it continued- which, well, she hoped that it would- then she could always use her much improved video editing skills to "interview" Rena Rouge in person.

She was sure that Ladybug would let her borrow the Miraculous for a little extra time if she mentioned the need to throw people off of her trail. After all, Ladybug was very big on secrecy.

Most of the time, though, Alya loved her stroke of brilliance. It had been worth the security checks to make sure that she could be trusted with the security footage, and she had managed to shore up her views again. Future employers would see that she was focused and willing to put in the work, and well, she had gotten herself a fabulous reputation at the Louvre after she had spotted a shoplifter on the footage and let them know about it right away. It made her feel like a detective of sorts, discovering things that she wouldn't have otherwise.

And, well, summer was coming. Soon, she could get all caught up, and then Alya was sure that it wouldn't be quite so overwhelming.

  "I figured it out!"

Nino glanced up at Alya as she slid into the empty spot at the table he was sitting at. From the other side of the table, Adrien and Marinette looked over at the reporter as well.

"What did you figure out?" Marinette asked, gaze immediately going to the tablet Alya was holding. She looked interested and inched closer. "Is it something to do with the Ladyblog?"

"It is!" Alya held up her tablet. "So you know how I've been putting together footage of the akuma fights from security cameras?"

Nino nodded. Both Adrien and Marinette looked puzzled. Alya groaned at them.

"Seriously? Have neither of you looked at the Ladyblog in weeks?! It's my big new thing!"

"I've been busy," they both claimed at once, before shooting each other startled looks. Alya narrowed her eyes at them both.

"Too busy to even glance at the Ladyblog once in a while, even now that school is almost out? Really?"

"I've glanced, but not looked into the archives at all," Marinette corrected herself. Then she frowned. "Wait, what do you mean, security camera footage?"

"Huh, I guess I must not have mentioned it to you before, either," Alya said, looking thoughtful. "Hm. Anyway, I've been contacting people at the Louvre and at the Eiffel Tower and Chloe's dad and Sabrina's dad and the principal to ask if I can get the raw security camera footage from the akuma fights that go through there, and they all said yes! So I've been going through that and splicing together stuff from different cameras to try to get as much of the fight covered as possible."

Now Adrien was frowning, too. "Really? They just happen to know which cameras Ladybug and Chat Noir have gone past?"

Now Nino snorted. "Of course not. They just basically give Alya all the footage from the cameras for the duration of the fight and she- well, we, I've been helping- have to go through and find which cameras Ladybug and Chat Noir went past and when."

For some reason, both Adrien and Marinette now looked deeply alarmed.

"Anyway, we've been noticing some weirdness on some of the clips," Alya told them. "It get corrupted for a bit, mostly near the start of the fight before the superheroes show up or after the akuma's been defeated but sometimes in the middle, too. I've been puzzling over it for the longest time, and I think I've finally figured it out!"

"Really?" Nino asked, interested and finally distracted from his strangely pale friends. "How?"

Alya grinned. "It was some comments on the Ladyblog that finally got me to notice the pattern. The corruption is either before Ladybug and Chat Noir show up or right after they vanish- or, in the middle of the fight, if one of them has to go recharge, then it happens then, too."

Nino blinked, then caught on. "So you're saying that somehow their magic is interfering with the cameras and protecting their secret identities?"

Alya pointed at him. "Exactly! I thought when I started all this that I might accidentally catch them transforming or see someone where they weren't meant to be, but their magic just means that they can't be caught on camera. It kind of makes me wonder if they always have that effect on cameras when they aren't transformed, or if it only pops up when they're about to transform or just detransformed."

Nino was so caught up in thinking about it that he completely missed Adrien and Marinette's identical sighs of relief as they both slumped in their seats. "It's gotta be the latter. Otherwise how would you explain people never getting a good picture of you, if it happened all the time?"

"Maybe Juleka is Ladybug, then," Marinette offered, giggling a little. "Remember, she was convinced that she had some sort of photo curse?"

"And now she's figured out how to manipulate the magic so that she can get normal photos again," Alya joked, sounding serious for a moment before she laughed. "Nah, she can't be, she was akumatized and fought Ladybug and Chat Noir. Remember that?"

Nino shuddered. "How could I forget? I was stuck in a skirt and high heels for ages!"

"I rocked the platforms," Adrien bragged. He grinned at Nino's raised eyebrow. "What? Sure, they were hard at first, but with a little practice..."

Nino just shook his head and groaned. "You would, dude. You must have been hidden, though. I couldn't find you after Reflecta left."

"Yeah, the outfit and the makeup would do that, probably," Adrien pointed out with a laugh. "I mostly decided to stay out of the way. And that fight didn't last that long. Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated her within an hour."

"Okay, fair."

"What would you do if you found something that told you who Ladybug or Chat Noir are?" Marinette asked, pulling the conversation back on track. "I mean, you can't see them transforming or detransforming, but if..."

Alya waved a hand. "Oh, I would destroy the footage as fast as possible. Hopefully I wouldn't recognize them-" though she wasn't certain about the probability of that, considering that Nino had been picked as a temporary superhero, too. What were the chances of that happening if Ladybug at least didn't know them to some extent? Unless of course it was a coincidence since she was the well-known Ladyblogger and Nino had already been out in the middle of the fight before Ladybug grabbed him- "and so it wouldn't matter if I saw them for two seconds."

Adrien looked astonished. "Really? I thought that was your dream, to figure out who they are! Not that I don't support the deleting thing," he added quickly. "That's probably safer for them. But what made you decide to change your mind?"

Well, she had become a superhero herself, for one. She had realized that she didn't really want the city to know her identity, because what if the akumas targeted her family and friends? And then Nino was a superhero, too, and what if people knew that and she became a target? She had figured that if she didn't want the city knowing her secret identity, she should probably extend the same courtesy to Ladybug and Chat Noir. And Heroes Day had proved that even superheroes knowing the secret identity of other superheroes wasn't necessarily safe. But instead of saying any of that, Alya just said "Well, I realized that it wouldn't be safe for them. And I figured that we should probably respect our superheroes' wishes since they've done so much for the city."

Adrien grinned. "That's very mature of you, Alya."

Alya just shrugged. Really, there had been so much more to it than she had let on. He was probably giving her too much credit, considering it had taken her being in the superheroes' shoes to realize what she had. "Yeah, well. I'll get a big scoop someday. I just refuse to have it at the superheroes' expense."

  With the start of summer came more free time, and Alya attacked her backlog of footage with gusto. It was slowly shrinking as she and Nino dug into it with occasional help from Adrien or Marinette, deleting the superhero-less footage out and discarding it. It had become a bit of an obsession now that she had plenty of free time, and Alya had finally- finally!- figured out how to have several streams going at once on her screen and how to pause the others and switch to just one when there was footage that she wanted to watch more closely.

It made things go a lot faster, that was for sure. She was getting through a couple akuma attacks per day, and she finally had to start queuing things up so that the Ladyblog wouldn't get overwhelmed. One per day would be good, maybe two if they were short fights. Alya prioritized newer fights, too, knowing that the old ones were interesting but also old news. The newer fights generated more views and more interest, but it wouldn't be long before the next wave of akumas took over public interest.

Still, Alya loved having that old footage. She loved watching Ladybug and Chat Noir facing up against the akuma, and she loved seeing Ladybug's creativity when faced with a strange Lucky Charm. Their teamwork was so strong, and the way that they absorbed the occasional extra teammate and worked in those powers- yeah, it was pretty obvious why they had been chosen to be the city's main superheroes.

She was digging through her folders of akuma fight footage when she spotted a particularly large one. Alya frowned, puzzled- what, had the entire city been involved in the fight?- when she noticed the date. It was from Heroes Day.

"Oh yeah," Alya said eagerly, grinning as she clicked on the folder. This had been one of the battles that she really wanted footage for. All five superheroes at once in the boss battle? Yes please. All of the existing footage of the fight had been filled by possessed people, so it would be great to get literally anything else.

It was going to be difficult to piece together all of the bits of footage that were bound to be all over the city, but hey, it was summer and Alya could probably rope her friends into helping. And hey, if she could get Adrien roped in, he had several computer monitors. He could use all of them at once and have a ridiculous number of feeds going all at once. But Alya was impatient and wanted to get another look at the fight, so she flipped through the camera files until she found a set on the Eiffel Tower. They opened right before a fox-themed supervillain got there- and ugh, Alya immediately found herself annoyed. Another Volpina? Why were there so many people in Paris who seemed to have some sort of design on the Fox Miraculous?

Ugh. She was going to scour the footage to see if she could get a glance at this new Volpina's unakumatized identity. One Fox villain before Rena Rouge had showed up was one thing, but again? Nuh-uh.

Alya watched as once again, chaos descended on Paris. Volpina detransformed- uh, could Hawkmoth recall akumas? Then why had the baby akuma actually happened at all?- and revealed- uh, was that Lila? What was Lila doing in Paris? She had told the class that she was out of the country and wasn't going to be returning yet!

Okay, something was definitely up there. Maybe Marinette was on to something when she said that she didn't trust Lila. Especially when- they had talked to Lila on Heroes' Day, hadn't they? They had video chatted with her as a class. She had said that she was abroad, and it had looked like she was, too.

Strange. Alya was going to have to do some digging there for sure.

On-screen, the red butterflies descended on Paris. Alya winced as she remembered the terror that had reigned. They had been tricked by Volpina's illusions- and wait wait wait. Alya rewound the footage to when Lila detransformed and- oh, she looked disappointed when she was detransformed, as though she knew what she had been doing and had wanted to continue.

Even stranger. Also really, really concerning. Alya was going to put a hold on making any plans with Lila until she figured out what was going on there.

Alya continued watching. Red akumas found their mark, and Hawkmoth emerged, watching over the panic. Red bubbles bloomed into oversized akumas, and then... well, more chaos. There was screaming in the streets as people were turned into akumas and everyone else fled- well, there looked like there was screaming in the streets, at least. The cameras didn't pick up sound, which did take away from the experience, just a bit, but she could imagine what it would have sounded like.

The sheer amount of footage that Alya was getting from just the Eiffel Tower was astounding. She could only imagine how much she was going to get across the city, though the ice appearing now from the re-akumatized Frozer probably took at least a few of the feeds out. If she just played it all one camera at a time, it would be an insanely long video.

She might have to learn how to play several streams at once in a split screen. Hawkmoth would have to be shown at all times, Alya thought, and then she could do flashes of different akumas and also show the superheroes. They would fill the screen when they were doing an intense fight, maybe and-

Oh, Alya had so many ideas for the video already and she had only watched part of four streams so far. The number of akumas and the civilian resistance- which, by the way, amazing- meant that she could really play with angles and video cuts and oh, it was gonna be great.

It was also going to be a whole lot of work. Alya was probably going to spend the entire week picking out clips and then deciding which ones she wanted to use, and then it was going to be another few days of editing.

Hopefully her friends would be willing to help her out. They could blast through mostly-boring feeds in no time and get stuff trimmed down for her to review. Maybe she could even get Max to help her with the split-screen editing stuff, since he understood all of that technical talk.

Smiling widely, Alya turned back to her computer. Most of the footage at the moment was just Hawkmoth standing up on the Eiffel Tower with his two singers- and boy was Alya going to rake him over the coals for that, it was ridiculous- and so she had to wait for Ladybug and Chat Noir to head up like she knew they had. Thankfully the camera on that level wasn't iced over at all, like the ones on the lower levels were. This time, she had a front-row seat (abet at a bad angle) as she saw Lila get akumatized again (and boy was it interesting that Lila didn't look at all alarmed about the butterfly approaching her- she looked eager) and Volpina conjured up a second Hawkmoth while the real one hid.

And boy, was that ever an anxiety-inducing experience, watching Ladybug and Chat Noir approach the decoy while the real Hawkmoth hid down below, ready to surprise them from behind. Somehow Ladybug noticed him creeping up on them- and how, Alya had no idea how, she and Chat Noir seemed a bit distracted by trying to get Hawkmoth to do the right thing by turning over his Miraculous- and then they were fighting. Hawkmoth's cane-sword went down, but he didn't go down with it.

Alya sat up and watched as the three secondary users re-joined the fight just in time. She wondered where they had gone wrong, where they might have messed up and could have done better. The next bit was also the only example they had so far of the mysterious Peacock user's powers, and they needed to know what to expect in case they came into play again.

It wasn't that the Peacock's powers seemed that dangerous, at least not from what they had seen so far. Their team had just been taken off guard, and that gave Hawkmoth enough of a distraction to run off like the coward he was. Alya watched the giant moth vanish after Ladybug hit it, and she wondered if it would have vanished so easily if Ladybug had hit it when Hawkmoth was still there. Had the Peacock backed off as soon as Hawkmoth had retreated?

On one of the streams, the superheroes glanced around, trying to figure out where Hawkmoth had gone. Meanwhile, a Hawkmoth-shaped blob limped- had he been injured? They should have looked for him!- past one of the iced-over cameras, and then slumped down against a wall. Alya leaned forward, eager, as Hawkmoth sat there for a few seconds, likely shaken by the whole run-in.

Was he going to detransform? Had they really caught Hawkmoth on camera, after nearly a year of attacks? The ice on the camera would make it hard to see exactly who it was, but Ladybug's Miraculous Cure was bound to come zipping past any moment now. Was this her big scoop-?

"Ugh, and there's that distortion," Alya complained, flopping back in her chair as the already-fuzzy footage got even worse as a burst of purple lit up the screen. "C'mon, really? Can't his kwami not provide magical protection for him? The dude doesn't deserve it."

Alya sulked at the screen as a rush of red went by, clearing off the ice but doing nothing for the magical distortion. She could make out a bit of a shape on the screen, and colors- red and white- but no details, and static regularly cut across the already blurry picture. The static stayed there for longer than normal, and then the blurry, pixilated shape of civilian Hawkmoth finally got up, heading for the stairs. It was only once he had fully exited the frame that the picture finally snapped back into focus, one last bit of static cutting across the screen before the picture stabilized for good.

"Oh, come on," Alya groaned, flopping back on her bed. "That's so unfair that we were so close, and this freaking arse just- just waltzes out of there? Just walks away down the stairs and off of the tower and- and- ugh!" She slapped her fist down on the bed next to her- and then she froze. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. He walked off of the Eiffel Tower. There have to be more cameras on the staircase and at the bottom. If he didn't detransform in front of those, would they have gone out, too?"

She didn't know. She had never really tracked other cameras from the area after the fights ended, so she didn't know if they had caught the civilian Ladybug and Chat Noir or not and she wasn't going to go back and look, not now that she knew now how dangerous it could be to have other people knowing a superhero's secret identity.

But now? There was absolutely no downside to finding out Hawkmoth's secret identity. It would be the biggest break of Alya's journalistic career.

Re-energized and laser-focused, Alya clicked back to her files, looking for the other cameras. It took a few tries for her to find the footage from the stair cameras and then she fast-forwarded to close to the end. There was a minute of anxious waiting, where Alya scanned the entire screen in case Hawkmoth had tried climbing down the side of the stairs or something ridiculous like that, and then a pair of feet appeared, headed slowly and almost unsteadily down the stairs. Before the feet could go down any further, though, the footage came to an end.

Alya let out a frustrated snarl and rewound the video a few seconds, pausing it right before it came to an end. Only a pair of perfectly white shoes and the hem of bright red pants came into view.

Those... those pants looked really familiar. Alya frowned as she stared at them. She couldn't quite place them, but maybe Marinette could, if Alya brought the footage over the next time that she went to Marinette's house. But that was stupid, Alya decided after a moment of mulling it over. Maybe they knew someone with pants like that, but there were several million people living in Paris. There was no guarantee that there weren't other people making the same (awful) fashion choices.

"So close," Alya complained aloud, glaring at her screen. If only Mr. Raincomprix had sent footage that was a few seconds longer! Except- oh, that was it! All she had to do was email him and ask for the footage from the lower-level cameras running from maybe a minute before the end of the fight to several minutes after the current end time. That would be sure to get her lots of footage of Hawkmoth, and surely he would be recognizable in some of it.

She had to hope that the footage still existed and it hadn't been written over at all. It would be close- it had been over two months since that battle- but Alya knew that she had gotten older footage from the Eiffel Tower before.

Hopefully that stuff hadn't just been saved for longer because of the akuma attack.

Excited, Alya turned back to her computer. If she was going to file a request for more footage and hoped to get it in a reasonable amount of time, she needed to have all of the information possible- what the camera IDS were, the exact date and times that she wanted were, everything. Just to be sure, Alya checked her other files to see which cameras would be focused on either the place where Hawkmoth detransformed or the stairs that he had gone down, writing the code for every last one down. Once she had that, she folded up the list and stuffed it in her pocket as she raced for the door.

"Alya, remember that you're going to be babysitting the twins in two hours," he mom called out as Alya raced past. "You'll be back by then, right?"

Alya had to bite down the frustrated noise that nearly escaped because even though this was critical, this was huge, it wasn't as though she couldn't wait a little longer to review the footage. And she could review the footage while sitting out at the kitchen counter with her sisters watching a movie in the living room, it would just be harder. "Yeah, I'll be back!"

And hopefully, she would come back with the footage that would change everything.

  Officer Raincomprix was all too willing to bring Alya over to the Eiffel Tower to get more of the footage, all without her having to explain anything. He showed her to the people she needed to talk to and then trotted off to deal with a littering teenager while Alya was ushered inside of the office. The staff were all helpful, and soon Alya was leaving with everything she needed, with no questions asked.

She supposed that it was good that all of the adults were so busy, because she didn't exactly want to explain. Really, Ladybug and Chat Noir should be the first ones to know about Hawkmoth's identity.

Alya jogged back towards her family's apartment, memory stick clutched tightly in her hand. On it, she hoped, would be evidence that would show her Hawkmoth's identity. She was nearly back to her building when she ran smack-dab into a very familiar figure.

"Yo, I was just looking for you!" Nino exclaimed, pulling Alya up. He bent back over to grab the memory stick that she had dropped before the passing pedestrians could kick it away and handed it back to her. "I was trying to text you earlier, but I didn't get any response."

Alya winced. "I'm so sorry! I just got really distracted by my video editing. I opened up the folder for Heroes' Day and I got really distracted."

"Oh, that was a crazy fight. I bet there was a ton of footage. Well, until everything got all icy, at least." Nino glanced down at her as they continued down the sidewalk. "So can I ask why you were out? You look out of breath."

"Not out here," Alya warned immediately. She didn't want a passerby overhearing and trying to grab the memory stick to grab the discovery for themselves. "Come inside with me. I can tell you there, and at any rate I have to be back in-" she checked her phone- "fifteen minutes anyway to babysit my sisters."

Nino followed without question, looking interested.

"So did you find something interesting in the footage?" Nino asked curiously. "You must have. Or was there footage missing, was that why you were out?"

"Not quite," Alya told him, grinning. "I needed more footage, yeah, but it wasn't during the middle of the fight. It was at the end, because I almost had Hawkmoth's civilian self on tape."

"You- what?" Nino asked, freezing for a few seconds before jogging up the stairs alongside her again. "You think you have Hawkmoth on tape? I thought that the magic messed with the cameras!"

Alya grinned. "It does. But where he detransformed- he had to go down the stairs, and there's another camera there. Before, I could see his shoes and the hems of his pants, but now I have an extended clip of the video! It should show him coming down the stairs into sight."

Nino looked impressed. "Oh, that is amazing. But what if it's not someone you know? I mean, there's a lot of people in Paris."

"Well, I'll turn the video over to Ladybug and Chat Noir. They can decide if they want to get the police involved. They might recognize the guy, too." Alya was assuming that she wouldn't recognize Hawkmoth, but she supposed that it was a possibility. "Or we could help by asking Max if he can run some sort of face recognition thing, so that they don't have to go to the police. I'm worried that the police might try to take over themselves and end up getting really hurt by underestimating him."

"Yeah, they might try to do that. Freaking adults, thinking that they know better than the actual experts." Nino shook his head, disgusted. "But do you think Max can do that? I mean, I know he's good at computers, but face recognition- that sounds like he would have to tap into files from, like, ID cards or something."

Alya shrugged. She supposed that was true, but Max was crazy smart and also had Markov. She was sure that if she asked, he would try to see what he could do for her.

"So are you gonna look at the footage now?" Nino asked as they reached her floor. "I thought you said that you have babysitting to do."

"I do, but I wanna at least look at the footage first, if I can." Alya pulled out her keys to open the apartment door. "And I was planning on just putting on a movie and some snacks for my sisters so that they stay out of trouble while I work. They should stay out of trouble that way."

Nino gave her a supremely dubious look. "Your sisters, staying out of trouble?"

"I'd still be in the room! And it's not like I would have headphones in or anything."

"...would you like me to stay there while you do your video stuff?"

"That would be amazing," Alya told Nino, leading him into the apartment. She waved to her mom as they headed down the hallway. "But I still have time to get this done before my mom has to leave!"

Nino glanced at the clock on the wall. "Uh, babe, you only have ten minutes."

"Do you really think I can't get this done in ten minutes?" Alya led the way into her room and wriggled her mouse, waking her laptop up. "You know me better than that. I know exactly where to look in the footage."

"And you really think you'll be able to focus on looking after kids once you've seen Hawkmoth's face?"

...Alya had to admit that that was a very good point.

"I can show you the footage leading up to the end while the computer recognizes my memory stick," Alya told Nino as she plugged the new flash drive in. She rewound the footage. "See, here's Hawkmoth escaping- but he didn't go far!"

"That ice on the cameras is annoying," Nino commented as the footage played. "Is all of it like that?"

"A few cameras were spared, I think," Alya told him. "Including the one on the main level, thank goodness. I mean, there's a few blurry spots from where the ice extended onto the lens a little bit, but it's mostly clear."

"Oh, and now it's worse," Nino added. "He detransformed right in front of the camera, holy cow."

"Yeah, I was really hoping that the distortion would go away since he seemed to be hanging around, but no such luck." Alya watched as on-screen, the ice cleared away and Hawkmoth finally got up, heading for the stairs. "So watch here- there's no one besides him and the superheroes on the Tower, right? Well, them and Lila, but that's beside the point. It got evacuated pretty fast, and anyone who didn't get off got akumatized or hit by Dark Cupid. So he's headed for those stairs."

"So whoever comes down is Hawkmoth, right," Nino agreed. Then he paused. "Wait, you said Lila? But she was abroad!"

"Apparently she lied." Alya stopped the tapes right where Hawkmoth's feet appeared on the stairs. "Okay, so the stuff that I got should start about thirty seconds before the end of these, so there's some overlap."

A tension rose in the room as Alya got the new files set up to play. She kept glancing at the clock while things loaded, watching as the time for her to move into the living room ticked closer and closer.

She wouldn't be able to stand it if she had to stop at this point. Even if it was only for a short break while she said good-bye to her mom and got the twins set up with their movie and their snacks, she couldn't. She was so, so close.

This had to work.

"Loaded," Alya announced as soon as the program was ready. "And here we go!"

She and Nino leaned forward as they watched the feed from the stairs on the screen. There were thirty seconds of anxious waiting, and then Hawkmoth's shoes appeared on the stairs. They headed down unevenly, revealing the red pants cuffs once again.

"Oh, he's shaken," Nino murmured, a grin evident in his voice. "Super shaken. Serves the asshole right."

Another step, more of the pants were revealed. They watched in anxious silence as the red pants gave way to a very familiar ivory jacket, then a striped necktie, and then Hawkmoth took one more step down the stairs, head hanging down as he made his way down the Eiffel Tower.

And much to Alya's surprise, she recognized the face that went with those atrocious fashion choices, even at this angle. And from Nino's sharp inhale, she knew that he had, too.

"Well," Nino managed after a minute of trying to find his words. "This is bad."

And with that, Alya could only agree.

[words-writ-in-starlight]

what's the die thing that you mentioned in the tags of that d&d post?

I know you said to disregard this ask because you checked back through my tag, but I am…reading the rules set for the DIE RPG and I am…expiring with glee, so I’m going to actually subpoena this ask as a chance to grandstand about my current favorite comic.

DIE, the current comic coming from the excellent Kieron Gillen, is basically what would happen if DnD and Jumanji had an extremely goth baby, ft the artistic stylings of Stephanie Hans.  If any of those words in any configuration made sense/interest you, this is my usual plea to trust me and buy the trade paperback that just came out, Fantasy Heartbreaker, rather than reading the rest of my hollering.

Anyway, on to the hollering.

DIE focuses on six friends who played a game when they were teenagers.  That game went great!  Right up until it sucked them all inside, trapped them there as their characters as they fought to escape, and kept their game master–permanently.

Now the five that are left are in their forties and have never told a single living soul what happened when they went missing for two months and came back short one person (and, in the case of Angela, short one arm).  When it becomes obvious that someone is trying to remind them of The Game That Shall Not Be Named, they get together again to try and figure it out, and…

Well, they end up right back where they started, courtesy of their long-lost friend and game master, Sol, who’s been sure to keep the world of Die in perfect condition just for them.  If they want to go back, Sol either needs to agree to leave with them, or he needs to die.

Roll the title card.

The characters are:

Dominic Ash, star of the show: Dom is a chronically depressed man in his forties in the real world, who tragically lost his best friend in a mysterious accident and has drifted from his friends ever since.  In the game, she’s Ash, the ethereally beautiful Dictator, who can make you do anything, feel anything, with a word and a smile.  The Dictator archetype is basically a bard, if bards were fucking eldritch horrors of emotional mind-control, and Ash is…terrifying, mostly because when she’s feeling desperate, everyone is fair game.  I’d die for my monstrous wife.  Also I firmly believe Ash is a trans woman accidentally living her truth in a nightmare world, and neither God nor Kieron Gillen can stop me.  In fact I think Kieron Gillen may agree with me.

Angela: Ash/Dom’s little sister, who lost an arm in Die the first time and now is absolutely ruthlessly determined to escape in time for the custody hearing for her kids.  She’s the Neo, which is half rogue, half cyberpunk warrior, and all addict–where most adventurers steal gold for the sake of the gold, the Neo’s powers are all dependent on being able to pay.  If you can pay, you can hack reality, full on Matrix-style.  If you can’t pay…well, I guess you have a knife, huh?

Chuck: the Fool, and the only one who was willing to face the idea of a fantasy novel after their first trip to Die.  In fact, he made a killing as a famous author of fantasy novels, all while working around Ash’s geas against speaking of their misadventure.  As the Fool, he can do anything, fight anything, survive anything, as long as he’s cocky and careless and grinning.  He’s unkillable as long as he doesn’t give a damn.  Whether or not his friends survive is…less certain.

Matt: a loving father who has long since gotten a handle on his teenage depression, which makes it inconvenient that he’s the Grief Knight.  Emotion Knights are unstoppable tanks, able to take anything anyone throws at them and dish it out twice as hard–but only as long as they’re immersed in their Emotion.  Matt’s their fighter, the one they depend on to save their asses when everything goes to hell, but it’s been a long time since he grieved hard enough to kill a dragon.

Isabelle: a brilliant and beautiful bilingual bitch, their Godbinder.  The Godbinder is half demonologist, half mafia godfather–Isabelle does favors, and she reaps the rewards.  I feel like all you need to know about Isabelle as a person is that the first time she summons a deity, he tries to get uppity with her and she snarls “You’re just a god, now do it.”  God she’s…so sexy.  I had other stuff to say about her but…listen…the power.  She’s so hot.  I love everyone in this bar but especially Isabelle and Ash.

Sol: Die is a game and Sol is the Master.  Reality is what he says.  And he says that he wants his friends to pay for leaving him.

The first arc, now compiled into Fantasy Heartbreaker, is INCREDIBLE and I’m going to tell you absolutely nothing else about it because it’s so good.  PLEASE read this incredibly fucked up DnD-as-horror-movie Jumanji comic.

[emissary-of-stuff]

League of Villains - What I think about them

I really like the League of Villains in BNHA because they’re all outcasts, and also I like villains in general. But all of them are well written, have good reasons to be villains (not sure why Compress is one). All of them experienced backlash or hate from the hero society due to who they are or their quirks.

      Honestly, I wanted to make this so I could compile some of my favorite screenshots of the League members and talk about them such as why I like them and other things. Warning, this will contain spoilers for the bnha manga, up to the current chapter. Do not read if you are not caught up on the manga, that being chapter 227 as of this day.

Shigaraki Tomura also known as Simura Tenko!  His quirk, decay. It can be used for bad and good. I mean, he uses it to hurt people, but if he were a hero it would be very useful in search and rescue. His quirk could destroy obstacles blocking or crushing civilians. He uses his quirk very methodically when he wants to, such as dissolving the skin and tissue of Aizawa’s elbow and having the decay creep up Overhauls arms. I find this to be very cool, as his quirk also has different rates of decay. Some objects he touches decay rapidly while others act very slowly. I don’t know if it’s because he wills it to, or if the quirk is acting off of his emotions. An example of that being if Shigaraki is calm, the decay would take longer to spread. 

     Also, his personality. Yeah, Shigaraki acted like a brat in the beginning but he has grown. Plus I love his use of video game references such as “game over” “final boss” and such. Shigaraki now is more mature, he looks after his team. He cares about their input and wants them to be happy and I really like that. Plus, he has shown to trust them by taking them to wherever he lived, this being after AFO was defeated, and even opening up to them about his past. Hell, when Magne got killed by Overhaul, Shigaraki rushed to kill him. He massively cares about his team as they are no longer like pawns, but like a family to him.    Another reason I like him is that he honestly can be redeemed in a sense. From an early age, his family was killed, his memories of them were suppressed, and All for One basically groomed him into becoming a villain. He never really got the chance to know that what he is doing is wrong.

 Himiko Toga.  First of all, I am honestly a big fan of characters who are somewhat unhinged. And holy crap does Himiko fit that. Also, I find her design very appealing and cute. The pointed teeth, messy hair buns, gleaming eyes, I find those to be really cool! And her quirk, honestly I find it to be fascinating. The fact that she can become someone by drinking their blood and how much depends on how long the transformation lasts. That is truly amazing. Up until the current chapter, we have seen Himiko Toga use her quirk three or maybe four times.       The reason I say maybe three or four is because in the sports festival she was disguised as Ochako but then that disguise slipped off to reveal Camie, another disguise.  She also used the only container of Izuku’s blood that she had to help the heroes in the Overhaul Arc by leading Ochako and Tsuyu to where the battle was. And honestly, I find that to be very kind of her. Izuku is a person she absolutely admires and wants to be, so having his blood is like having something priceless and invaluable. And she used it. She used it to help Izuku, to get help.   And currently in the manga’s arc she transformed into Ochako and somehow actually used Ochako’s quirk. I honestly believed Doctor Tsubasa somehow boosted their quirks. But I’m getting off track here.  Himiko admires and normalises knives and blood with her quirk, and I honestly like that. As mentioned by Curios-san in the recent manga arc, blood and admiration don’t go well together.  Also we found out that Himiko is the eldest of her family, and that she has siblings. I found this to be very interesting as her parents treated her and her quirk as something abnormal, meaning their quirks are not like hers. It’s possible someone in the family tree had a quirk involving blood and Himiko got the genetics of that, but we’re not sure since this is all speculation. But I really want to know what her siblings' quirks are.   And as I mentioned earlier, I find her quirk to be fascinating. She can copy the appearance, but can’t use the quirk. She only targets people with quirks that she can fake or get by without using, such as Camie and Ochako, thus why she picked Camie out in the sports festival. Regarding her quirk, she could transform into Sero but just wouldn’t be able to use the tape since Sero’s quirk is an emitter and his elbows just help with that and are not a mutant quirk.  I’m probably going to post a separate thing about me ranting and discussing about characters quirks since this portion is getting long.

Compress aka Atsuhiro Sako!  So, he has a passion for theatrics which I absolutely love. His outfit, his speech, this guy has a thing for showbizz and magic.     I honestly love his outfit, even though some may call it a disaster, but like. The dude has this long trenchcoat, top hat, and 6 or so masks. Yes, I’ve tried counting how many masks this guy has. His outfit is as extravagant and over the top as he is and I honestly like that a lot. Heck, the Leagues outfits say a lot about their characters.  So when Magne was killed and Shigaraki down, Compress wasted no time in trying to apprehend Overhaul which led to the loss of his arm. Compress cares about his team, that much is shown. Also he gives advice to Toga about the yakuza and criminal underworld.  His age is unknown but he does call himself “old man” when giving Toga the advice mentioned above. When I read that I felt bad for him because, c’mon man, you’re cool!   His quirk is honestly really amazing as he can just stash something into a marble, be it a truck or a person. I don’t know if there is a size limit to what his quirk can hold, or how he even gets the marbles for it, but I find it to be pretty cool. Heck, he freaking blasted Overhaul’s arm off using his quirk! That was epic. Also, I think he killed Snatch, not Dabi. Yes, Dabi caused the fire but Compress put him in a marble. At least, that’s what it seemed like since there was something in the marble. 

Dabi Oh boy, so I might go one a lot with this. Not sure if it will be as long as Himiko’s but let’s find out.   Ok, so I like Dabi for a multitude of reasons. His quirk, his real identity, his motives, and all the potential.  But as much as I like him as a character, he’s done some bad shit. I mean, the guy burned criminals alive in an alleyway, tried to kill/injure Aizawa and Vlad, even though he knew he would lose. Also a good thing he did was like, the guy didn’t attack Aoyama when he saw him. He left him alone. Something else I like is his boldness and seemingly uncaring attitude. I mean, the dude took some Noumu to fight Endeavor, knew he didn’t stand a chance, but still tried anyways.  And like, what is he even thinking by recruiting the number 2 hero? I mean, Dabi isn’t that oblivious. Most likely he knows Hawks is a spy or something.   Also his scars are pretty cool, not to mention that the dude wears what looks to be a leather jacket. 

Twice aka Jin Bubigawara!!  Ok, I abosolutely love Twice’s character. The guy reminds me of Deadpool with his costume, antics and such. His internal struggle within himself that is the two contradictory personalities. He’ll say something is fine, then say it’s horrible. And while we treat this as funny, in my eyes, it’s honestly sad.   Seeing Jin in his apartment argueing with the voice, struggling to get his mask on. It makes me sad. Jin is a victim to his own quirk. Not to mention he saw clones of himself kill eachother, which has got to be traumatic. Heck, he doesn’t even know if he’s the original and I find that to be so sad.  Not even knowing if you’re even...you.  And Twice is honestly a pretty supportive person, he yells at Overhaul for getting Magne’s gender wrong, expresses concern over Toga, hangs out with them. I just, I really like Twice you guys.  And then there’s the whole thing going down in the current arc, with that Liberation Army guy using their quirk to make Twice see clones of himself all around him.  Like, the guy just saw Toga bleeding and cold, is extremely concerned and worried for his friend, and now he’s practically going into a tramumatic episode. Heck, when he saw the clones his mind flashed to that day. Just, I want to help him. He doesn’t deserve this.

SPINNER! Ok, so I really like Spinner you guys. His character, his design, his motives, his backstory.  He stopped Magne from attacking Izuku because Stain deemed Izuku worthy. This guy practically cosplays Stain. Heck, his weapon is a bunch of swords and blades chained together.  I like to think upon him finding out Stain uses blades, he didn’t know which kind so he just got literally all of them. This guy is a dork. Heck, one of my favorite panels is him swerving the van and yelling “GRAND THEFT AUTO!!”  Spinner questions the Leagues motives, wondering if attacking police is really going to change the society he lives in. Say what you want, but I honestly think he can be redeemed.   Also, his compassion. The dude’s face when he heard Shigaraki’s past. His eyes were full of shock, concern, and just, he looked worried.  And in the short battle against the Mutant Exclusionist people, I forget what they were exactly called, he reveals he’s been bullied due to his appearance and the fact that he’s a mutant.  And honestly, I can relate, albeit only a tiny bit. Being bullied over something you can’t control, it sucks. It makes you despise yourself, start to wonder if something is wrong with you, and no one should have to go through that. Sorry for the super long post, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out. If anyone even bothered to read this, thank you. Because that means a lot to me. To know that some of you out here like or enjoy my little discussions and thoughts, it makes me happy.  So, thank you.   

[advancingretail]

Social Media: The neglected customer service department

Guest blog by Charlie Luck, Display and Instagram Marketer at Cisco

In today’s perpetually connected world it is more natural to contact a brand via social media than the traditional phone call. The instant nature of all social media platforms beats email and sometimes even phone calls. No customer enjoys being put on hold!

Knowing that they can tweet a query or complaint and receive a reply or resolution a few minutes later will give customers plenty of peace of mind.

1. Address the Complaints Quickly!

When a customer complains about you on social media, it’s important that you respond, and respond promptly. Even if you can’t immediately fix the issue, it’s great to acknowledge the customer and their problem. A simple “thanks for the feedback, we will work to resolve this issue as soon as possible” can go a long way with a disappointed client.

Customers love to feel seen and heard. There is nothing worse than waiting forever for a response from a company when you have a problem with a product that you bought from them. People get angry when they feel that they have wasted their hard-earned money. If you respond quickly and positively to complaints on social media, you may be able to turn a disgruntled customer into a loyal and raving one with just a minute of your time.

A customer willing to take their time to bash a company through social media also has great potential to gush about that very same company if their experience is turned into a positive one. Turning a sour customer situation around is easy when a company is regularly active in responding to their customers’ complaints on social media. The company also can showcase their superb customer service skills to the rest of the world when quickly addressing customer complaints.

2. Entertain or Inform!

Social media should be eye-catching, and overall, fun. Scrolling mindlessly down the timeline is a difficult reflex to break for most social media users. You need to arrest that mindless, endless scrolling of the Instagram or Twitter feed with interesting, challenging or even controversial content. The more creative you are with advertising, the better.

Funny pictures, interesting quotes, even relevant video links can capture attention from your potential customers. Posting unique messages on social media will set your brand apart from other companies that offer similar products.

A customer will remember a funny picture advertisement that made them laugh for far longer than they would a boring sales slogan. Don’t forget the power of the share. They will also be more likely to spread that funny ad and tag their friends in it--creating, even more, potential customers.

For instance, “going live” is a newer social media feature that many companies can utilize to engage their customer audience. This feature could be used to show sales in real time, to introduce members of a store team, or to showcase an event and create buzz.

Using creative hashtags or employing instagram influencers on social media to start contests can also be an effective way of getting an audience’s attention. Involving customers and starting a conversation with them online generates more views which lead to more business. Companies need to be ahead of their competition by displaying an online presence that makes their product or service more exciting and engaging.

3. Use Social Media to Educate

Using social media as an educational tool and not just for advertising can bring you more customers while also answering questions that many potential customers might have about your product before they decide to purchase it.

Businesses can creatively post facts about their company as well as answers to frequently asked questions on their social media accounts. By using this strategy, you are proactively providing customer service before a customer might individually come seeking help.

Social media helps to reach a wider audience in less time than one-on-one customer service may take. Lens.com created a customer knowledge database which compiled answers to a plethora of common questions that many customers had. This proactive educational step brought them a significant increase in customer satisfaction ratings. Giving the customer more information right up front could also lead to an increase in sales (knowledge is power, after all).

4. Take Customer Suggestions

While customer complaints might seem discouraging, they are a great tool for businesses to build on. A complaint is feedback that you can use to better your product. No one can improve unless they know what it is that they are doing wrong in the first place. The only way to grow as a business is to listen to what the consumer wants, and to then give them what they asked for.

When a customer posts on social media that the ice cream shop was out of their favorite flavor, the owner of that shop can apologize, and now knows to keep more of that particular flavor in stock since it’s obviously become more popular than he/she knew. Social media provides the opportunity to connect with the consumer in an immediate and convenient way.  

There is hardly anyone left in the world that doesn’t own a smartphone or tablet, and everyone checks their devices on a daily basis. Checking into social media several (and sometimes hundreds) of times a day has become the normal routine for more than 50%  of the human population. By building an eye-catching and substantial social media presence, you can make your brand indispensable to the daily lives of customers in a friendly, memorable, and non-invading way that they will appreciate.

Today, most social media platforms are interactive with one another, so it is best for businesses to keep all of their social media accounts linked. Some customers may prefer Instagram to Facebook, and if a business’s posts are shared among multiple social media platforms, they will have a higher chance of reaching a larger customer base. If brands fail to recognize the marketing tool that social media has become, they will miss out on the most impactful (and often, the most cost efficient) form of advertising and customer service that is available in this day and age.

Charlie Luck   Facebook   Twitter 

Three decades in sales and experiential marketing led me to my passion for digital marketing. My scope of work currently focuses on display and Instagram marketing. I am constantly in search of the next ad or video idea that could go viral and the psychology behind it. I am Charlie Luck and I am all about marketing. Charlie can be reached at glucktucharlier@gmail.com

[allenmendezsr]

Candle Making 4 You ~ Best Converter!

New Post has been published on https://autotraffixpro.app/allenmendezsr/candle-making-4-you-best-converter/

Candle Making 4 You ~ Best Converter!

 Buy Now

    “How to Become a Master Candle Maker For Fun or Profit…”

   Soon, you’ll finally learn how to make wonderful smelling candles that put those expensive candles sold in stores to shame. It’s easy, fun and very rewarding!

Dear Candlemaker,

If you’ve ever had a deep desire to make beautiful, scent-filled candles that make any room welcoming and maybe given as special gifts…

Or better yet, if you want to create a full-time income from your candles, then this is the most important information you’ll ever read.

But first, let me ask you:  

They come to craft shows with a basket filled with unique, colorful, and wonderfully smelling candles. The type of candles that make those expensive candles that you bought for your mother’s birthday look amateurish!

They display their crafts in perfect arrangements, as a mile-long line forms around their table.

Then, when you catch another glimpse of the table cloth, the array of sweet-smelling gifts vanishes as fast as it had collected above the table cloth. The crafter folds her table cloth, closes her money bank, and then quickly walks out the door early.

This is the same person who, when you visit her house, you are hypnotized by the welcoming aura as soon as you step on her front walkway.

You can’t help but think, “How could anyone resist taking a few steps toward her door?.”

If you knew me, you’d be surprised to know that a friend of mine told me that the very situation above was how she felt about me.

What she doesn’t know is that I wasn’t born with natural talents in candle making. My craft actually started as a hobby.

My interest in being the best candle maker I could be, lead me to take many classes to learn how to perfect my art. I also read books and researched everything I could. I discovered that while there was tons of information available, only a tiny bit of it was actually useful.

I was also fortunate to have the help of many candle makers from whom I learned how to be a master at candle making and how to impress everyone with my great smelling candles.

After seeing many others struggle to make great candles, I have now decided to create a step-by-step system in which I divulge all my knowledge and secrets.

But first, let me assure you that you don’t need:

Candle Making 4 You™ will take you from the very basics to the most advanced techniques that are utilized by Master Candle Makers.

It doesn’t matter if you’re completely new to candle making, practice it as a hobby, want to start a candle making business or simply want to make some expensive-looking candles to give as gifts for a special occasion.

Candle Making 4 You™ will turn you into a candle-making professional!

In “Candle Making 4 You™” you’ll discover:

And if you are interested in opening a candle making business…

“Candle Making 4 You™” will guide you on:

The next question you may be asking is…

“Are you sure that a total novice can manage to make and sell candles?”

Before answering your question, let’s take a look at some important statistics taken directly from the National Candle Association:

Now those are huge numbers!

Candle Making is such a huge industry that there’s always plenty of space for small businesses that can give that personal touch to the candles they make.

In fact, most customers prefer to buy ‘home-made’ candles than factory-produced ones – and are also willing to pay much more for these!

I would also like to remind you that you will save a lot of money by creating your own inexpensive, yet wonderfully-smelling candles to use for yourself or to give as gifts.

Or you can earn thousands of dollars per year if you decide to start selling your little masterpieces made of wax.

Anyhow, the “Candle Making 4 You™” System consists of:

Candle Making 4 You™ will teach you how to make candles cheaply at home. It doesn’t matter if you have no idea from where to start because you will be guided from the very basics to the most advanced and latest candle making techniques.

You will learn step-by-step how to make the most popular candle types as well as several others beautiful exotic candles that currently sell like crazy.

Candle Making 4 You™ was created with YOU in mind and will leave no stone unturned; we will cover everything known to man about making great candles.

Doesn’t it seem that making great-smelling candles is damn hard? All you want is a candle that looks nice and smells incredible…but it seems to be a really difficult task!

Imagine knowing how to apply the exact scents to make your candles proven winners… fragrances that are true to life, super strong and perform great in any wax. Now imagine that once your candles are lit, they will fill the entire room with fragrance and everyone will wonder from where the beautiful smell is coming!

Making your own candles puts you in control of the scent, color, shape and size of your candles. Shaping a candle requires a mold, which is often bought from candle supply shops.

But what if you could make your own custom molds for that unique personal feel? Sure you can! This guide will take you step by step on the many different types of molds and how to make your own pretty easily and cheaply.

Soon your will make truly personalized candles that no one else has – only your imagination is the limit!

Candles are used for several purposes like decoration & gifts. They add elegance to our homes, act as a gracious centre-piece for the dinner tables, add vibrancy at wedding receptions, and appeal for all occasions with varied colors and scents. These are hence an excellent craft to sell.

Those who love this art might choose to turn it into a profit-making venture. This might sound like a feat, but like all other businesses, this field also has its dynamics and tricks that will guarantee success. Prior to embarking in this extremely rewarding venture, you need to get your hands on this guide – which will show you the nuts and bolts of making a business out of candle making.

Every candle maker needs suppliers, but not just any supplies. Great quality yet cheap supplies are a must for the serious candle maker – especially those who wish to start selling their candles for profit.

After years making candles I compiled my own personal list of the best quality wholesalers for candle supplies. But don’t get me wrong, this is not just a list of suppliers; these are the best suppliers of candle materials and equipment in the world.

If you Order Candle Making 4 You™ NOW, you will also get these incredible bonuses Absolutely FREE:

Welcome to the world of Income Opportunities!

Most people don’t realize the power of eBay, but there’s serious money to be made on this marketplace.

Those who’ve been bitten by the eBay bug know how addictive it is watching the bids flow in. The pounds can quickly add up, especially as you’re profiting from the candles that you made yourself.

How much cash you make depends greatly on how you market your candles – making great candles is just part of the story. This detailed guide will take you through the whole process and show you all the tricks of the trade.

Selling your Candles at Crafts Fairs is a great opportunity to monetize your new-found candle making skills. It doesn’t have to be just a dream. With this guide, you will turn your dream into reality.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime to learn the secrets of selling your candles at Craft Fairs effortlessly with little-know tricks and techniques.

Incense making is a way of exercising our creativity in a joyful and meditative manner. You can make your own hand made incense in your favorite perfumes! Make incense to match your candles, soaps and bath & body products for great gift sets!

This step-by-step guide will guide you through easy to follow instructions on how to make your own Hand Dipped Incense Sticks & Cones

How to Make Soap is an excellent resource about the art of making handmade soaps. With this guide you will learn how to make wonderful gifts, enjoy the homemade soaps yourself, or start your own home-based or small business of soap-making!

YOU Can Finally Smell Irresistible and Save Yourself a Ton of Money…All With a Simple and Fun New Hobby: Making Perfumes!

Would you like to express yourself with a unique fragrance that no one else can claim? Maybe you just wanted a new hobby to express your creativity? Perhaps you’ve been looking for a way to make a few dollars in your spare time? Then you definitely need to get your hands on this exclusive Perfume Making guide. How To Make Your OWN Perfume

You have probably heard the term Aromatherapy and wondered what exactly that funny word, ‘aromatherapy’ actually means. Well, it is the use of plant oils in their most essential form to promote both mental and physical well-being.

The use of the word aroma implies the process of inhaling the scents from these oils into your lungs for therapeutic benefit. Essential oils that are inhaled into the lungs offer both psychological and physical benefits.

Candle Making 4 You™ also carries an unconditional, no questions asked money back guarantee! You really have nothing to lose.

Take Advantage of this Special Offer Now and Get the “Candle Making 4 You™” System as well as the Bonuses for an Unbelievable low price!

Order Candle Making 4 You™ Now!

With Candle Making 4 You™ you will learn everything their is to know about Candle Making in the comfort of your own Home!

You will get instant access even if it’s 3 in the morning.

This System also comes with a 60 Day, 100% Money Back Guarantee – because I am sure that you will not regret your decision.

NOTE: Candle Making 4 You™ is a digital product. You will receive access to the entire system immediately after you order – even if it’s 2am!

Happy Candle-Making!

P.S.: Remember, Candle Making 4 You™ comes with a 100% Money Guarantee. This means that by ordering you will be discovering how to make your own perfect candles at absolutely no risk! Click Here to Order Now!

P.P.S.: You’ll also have a home that welcomes neighbors from miles away. You’ll never have to worry about what to buy someone as a gift. And, you’ll always have an income source – because nice candles sell like hot cakes!

Home

Testimonials  

  Terms & Disclaimer

Privacy Policy

Report SPAM

Affiliates

Contact Us

Copyright 2021 CandleMaking4You.com, All Rights Reserved

[captainred-handedjill]

30 Questions, 20 Blogs

Rules: answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you would like to get to know better.

I was tagged by the lovely @yohoyohoadisneylifeforme

Thanks for tagging me!! :D

Nickname(s): I’ve actually never been given one that I’m called regularly 😂 Maybe as an inside joke or as a term of endearment from my family like mi niña (my girl) or mi vida (my life) something along those lines (these terms are said very casually and lovingly amongst fam particularly matriarchs to other young females)

Gender: Female

Sign: Capricorn

Height: 5’3”

Time: 11:45 pm

Fav band(s): Maroon 5, Queen and Jackson 5 are ones I can always jam to but honestly don’t have fav bands. Mostly it’s Broadway and Disney lol

Fav solo artist(s): I guess Darren Criss, Jeremy Jordan, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Tori Kelly, Rihanna, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz, but I just really appreciate anyone who has a good voice tbh

Song stuck in my head: Thinking Out Loud (for some reason just popped into my head lol 😂 my mind is never ending, constantly changing radio station)

Last movie I saw: Pacific Rim Uprising (a friend of mine had a press pass and she took me as her plus one so yay!! 😆)

Last show I watched: I think Riverdale just to see what that mess of a show was up to lol 😂

When did I create my blog: I think June of last year? I deleted my old blog because it was too disorganized and it bothered me lol

What do I post: primarily fandom stuff like Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc., Christian posts that I agree with and I think would be good vibes for anyone to see regardless of your beliefs, things that make me smile and laugh like dogs, cats, other animals, vine compilations, memes, etc. ☺️

Last thing I Googled: technically the tumblr website on my laptop lol

Do I have any other blogs: yep yep don’t wanna spam people with all the fandom trash I enjoy lol especially Broadway

Do I get asks: very rarely

Why did I chose my URL: I was always obsessed with the live action version of Peter Pan with Jeremy Sumpter and Wendy said that would be her pirate name so I just added the captain in front and boom there it is 😂

Following: Over 300

Followed by: Over 100

Average hours of Sleep: depends on the time of year; nowadays maybe 6-7 hours? Hopefully 😂 I may be too sleep deprived to really calculate math well anymore lol

Lucky number: Don’t really believe in that. My fav number is 7 though 😄

Instruments: piano, ukulele, and my voice? Maybe? Idk if I sound that good but eh whatever I’ll make that count to sound interesting lmao

What I am wearing: my pjs

Dream job: Maybe someday working in theater or being the CFO of Disney or both lol who knows what the future holds? God willing I’ll do something that makes me happy and can help others ☺️

Dream trip: going to Cuba when it is finally free and standing on Varadero Beach so I can understand what my mom and grandmother always rave about whenever they reminisce about the past (My fam is legally here btw/they’re all US citizens/don’t come for me Trump 😂)

Fav food: Italian and Cuban bread with anything that tastes good like cream cheese, butter, nutella, croquetas, it’s all fire 🙏🙏🙏

Nationality: Cuban-American 😄

Fav song: That’s too hard; I love music too much to pick a favorite

Last book I read: I’ve started reading An Ember in the Ashes and it’s really good so far! 😍

Top 3 fictional universes I wanna join: The Wizarding World, Any Disney Film realm (maybe Atlantica or Atlantis the most) and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

I’m going to tag: @yohoyohoadisneylifeforme you don't have to do again obvi but I really would like to get to know you, you seem very sweet, @always-completely-forever @the-blue-fairie @wildebelle @poppypng @ladytharen @pozolegirl @damsnacks @makana-obie @disneylover24 @percyyoulittleshit @broadwayreprise @bigherosixed @lipsredasroses @geek-fashionista @fangirling @africant @queenelinor @ohmytheon @joker-ace

[becky8300-blog]

3/28

Hello all! Sorry that I’ve really been slacking on blogging lately. I believe the last time I wrote I was in the middle of our stay in Batoufam, the small village in the West region of the country. I really enjoyed the rest of my stay there- which is a good thing, as I’ve made the decision to go back and live there for four weeks. Essentially, our academic program over the last two months has been leading up to the culminating point of my experience: a four-week independent research project/internship. Each student gets to choose a topic of interest and gets to choose where they want to carry out this interest. This means that, for these four weeks, I won’t be living in close proximity with all of the other students and with the SIT staff. I won’t be attending classes, either- instead, I’ll be organizing and carrying out a research project part time while taking part in an internship part time. The research part looks like conducting online research, carrying out interviews and handing out surveys, compiling and analyzing all of this data, and finally writing a 40-50-page paper explaining our findings. For the internship, I’ll be working at the chefferie, probably helping them translate documents into English and applying for international funding for projects they’re working on. Thus, this part of the program offers us the most independent experience we’ve had thus far. I’m honestly a bit nervous about how I’ll handle this degree of independence, knowing that the SIT staff who has thus far been instrumental in taking care of us and the other students who have become an incredibly important support network in my life will be 5 hours away in Yaoundé or in other towns where they’ll be conducting their research. Luckily, one of the students I’ve grown closest with will also be doing her research in Batoufam, so I’ll have that to look forward to.

The research topic I’ve chosen is to examine how the traditional system of justice used in Batoufam is reflective of the values of the Batoufam community. I’m not sure if I’ve already described it or not, but essentially the traditional system of justice here entails a large public community-wide meeting in which anyone involved in the conflict or anyone who has something to say about the conflict gets to say whatever they want to say. The chief hears out both sides, does a lot of consulting with other community members and with the notables, and then makes a decision. What makes this process, in my opinion, so different from the formal legal system we use in the US is its a) inclusivity and b) sense of community that it fosters. In terms of inclusivity, this traditional system of justice allows anyone who wants to contribute do so, including the offender, victim, and people who are not directly involved in the dispute. In contrast, the US’s legal system is dominated by lawyers who speak on behalf of their clients and outsiders are not allowed to share unless called upon by these lawyers. The second unique aspect is how this system of justice fosters a sense of community because its end goal is reconciliation, not punishment or blame. The decision made by the chief reflects this as it most often entails the offender making reparations to the victim and the community rather than imposing sanctions or punishments on the offender. This is all preliminary information I’ve gathered from internet research and from speaking with the chief and some notables during my week in Batoufam- I’m pumped to learn more over the course of a month! If you’re interested in reading my final paper, let me know and I can send you a copy. Fair warning- it will be written in French ;)

But, anyway: during my time in Batoufam I’ll most likely be living with the same host family, which I’m very excited for. They were so overwhelmingly welcoming when I lived there for just a week- I can’t wait to see how truly a part of their family I’ll be by the end of the month! One experience with them solidified this feeling- my departure. When we left at the end of our week in Batoufam, I hadn’t yet confirmed that I’d be coming back for a month. We weren’t sure, therefore, if it was goodbye for now or goodbye for a long time/forever. The morning of my departure, my mama cooked me a big special breakfast, and we spent 20-30 minutes as a family talking and laughing and taking tons of pictures together. Then, my papa called me into his house and gave me a talk about how they had genuinely enjoyed welcoming me as a new daughter and how happy he was that I had been engaging and seemed authentically learning about the culture in Batoufam instead of imposing my own western assumptions on them. He told me that I was always welcome back and gave me his contact information, instructing me to stay in touch. On the other side of the paper on which he wrote his contact information was written a quote he said often to me during the week: “un enfant qui voyage beaucoup devient sage et intelligent,” or “a child who travels often becomes wise and intelligent.” He then told me to wait a minute, went into his house, and came back out with five wooden bracelets. Four were matching, skinny, intricately made by braiding together strips of soft wood. The fifth was a wider, heavier bracelet with a pattern carved into it. My papa held up his wrist to show me that he was wearing two of the smaller braided bracelets, himself. He explained that these bracelets were only worn by the notables of Batoufam and were passed down from one generation to another to show that a family was honored and trustworthy. Usually they are worn by men, he explained, unless a man gives two to a woman to wear. A woman seen wearing these bracelets in Batoufam is then known as a strong, “grande femme,” he explained, someone who had earned the respect of a notable. He then presented me with the bracelets, telling me to keep the larger one and two of the smaller ones, and to present two of the smaller bracelets to a “grande femme” in my life. I have an idea of who I’d like to give them to ;) After, my mama joined us and presented me with a large bag full of bananas and avocados (the two fruits I had told her were my favorites when I first arrived) to share with the other students for the ride home. My mama and I were both definitely tearing up as I drove away. This experience has touched me and stayed with me in a way that I cannot adequately describe. Never before have I been so quickly and genuinely welcomed into a community, a community who asks nothing of me and yet is so willing to share what they have with me. I am sure that I have stumbled into a very unique little village here, someplace I could see myself someday calling my second home. Just writing this is making me so excited to head back in two weeks!!

I am writing this blog on our flight back to Yaoundé from Paris. We’ve spent the past week here, and it has honestly felt like a vacation (hence the reason why I’ve been slacking on writing blog posts). For years, this week of the program was originally spent in Bamenda, the largest city in the Anglophone region of Cameroon. Due to recent unrest in that region, however, the program substituted it with a week in Paris. Our academic reason for being in Paris was to study the Cameroonian diaspora, examining the economic, social, and political links between expats and their communities back home. To this end, we had two lectures from a well-known Cameroonian academic who researches immigration patterns of central and west Africans. Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of immigration that central and west Africans partake in stays within other African countries. Due to extremely strict (and high-key racist) immigration policies by many European countries, it’s extremely difficult for African immigrants to obtain visas. The pattern of immigration to France, more specifically, occurred in waves after the Cold War when unskilled laborers from former French colonies were allowed to bring their families with them to work in France. Since then, funds sent back to communities in Cameroon and other central-African countries from expats living in France have been an important source of income. Many expats also continue to be very involved in the politics and social life of their original hometowns. For example, on Sunday we spent the afternoon with Cameroonian immigrant families living in Paris. My host papa was a notable in the village of Batoufam, and my host mama was the head of a Batoufam women’s organization which organizes to raise money for various issues in Batoufam (e.g. they’ve furnished hospitals, sent computers to schools in Batoufam, etc.) Both of my host parents had been living in Paris for 30 or 40+ years, but despite this were still important presences in their home community. On the other hand, they also spoke of how living in Paris has changed their relationship with their traditions. I think a good analogy for this is the dinner they served us: rice, vegetables, and plantains (Cameroonian staples) with a side of French cheeses and French wine. Some of these changes, according to my papa, have been beneficial. They greatly appreciate the status of infrastructure in France, the universal healthcare system, and the access to education for their children. On the other hand, they have some regrets about not making more of an effort to hold onto their culture: their now-grown children have visited Batoufam only a handful of times and do not speak the language. While my host parents definitely identified strongly with being Cameroonian, their children identified more strongly with their French nationality. Overall, we were able to spend this week learning about and thinking critically about Cameroonian/central-African immigration to France/Europe: both how it can be beneficial and how it can be harmful.

I think that this week was specifically organized so that we’d have less hours in the classroom, giving us time to explore Paris as tourists. It was our equivalent of a spring break because there isn’t one technically scheduled into the program. This was my first time in France! (As a matter of fact, it was my first time in Europe, if you don’t include the layover I once had in the Brussels airport). We did lots of touristy things: ate crepes in cafés, took pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, climbed the steps of Sacre Coeur, visited some great museums (except the Louvre- my friend and I spent 30 minutes walking/taking the metro to get there one day only to discover that it’s closed on Tuesdays. Oh, well- it’s a good excuse to have to come back!) I walked more than I’ve walked this entire semester- one day I walked over 11 miles! I also impulsively got a new tattoo while two of my friends got their noses pierced ;) By far, one of the best parts of the experience was the food: we tried everything from vegan food to Chinese to Moroccan to Italian to French, etc. Luckily, many of the students on the trip are just as adventurous in trying new food as I am, and just as enthusiastic about it, so it made for a fun time. It goes without saying that the wine was incredible, too. Overall, the week has left me feeling very tired and very satisfied, taking a guilty pleasure in being a tourist for a week.

It’s crazy to think of how quickly the program is going to fly by once we return from Paris. We have 1.5 weeks left with our homestays in Yaoundé to finish up classes, 4 weeks in Batoufam or wherever else people are doing their independent research projects, and then 1 final week in Kribi and Yaoundé doing our final presentations and saying goodbye. And then we fly home! One very exciting thing that I have to look forward to over the next 1.5 weeks is that my Yaoundé host mama is due any day now! I feel so honored that I’ll get to meet my new little sister or brother :)

[legendary-js-world]

Recommended Reading: 2017 the Year of Yuri

*originally posted to Blogger on December 12, 2017*

For those of you unaware I am a fan of the yuri genre which is a subsection of the romance genre that primarily focus on a romantic relationship between two or more female characters. Why bring this up? Well it just so happens that this year there are many series coming out as well as multiple on going series that are getting updated and one series that I have been waiting seven years for it get a physical release. With so much coming out I figured that I might as well give my opinions. So without further delay here are my recommended reads based off everything I have read. Also I am a firm believer that the 'journey' is just as important as the 'ending' and since a lot of these stories are mainly about how the characters interact with each other I will do my best to avoid spoilers.

The Kase-san and series:

I have a particular fondness for slice of life type shows/ manga. what can I say I am sucker for likable characters and character interaction. It is written and drawn by Hiromi Takashima and published by Seven Seas Entertainment ( the publisher is a pretty big name in yuri fandom). The Kase-san series basically a compilation of one-shot chapters revolving around the characters Kase and Yuma. Yuma is a member of the Greenery Committee while Kase is the star of the schools track team. As stated before each volume is a compilation of one-shots as such there is nothing I can really say about this as the main meat of the story is their interactions with each other in each chapter.

Overall I really like the interactions between the two and the comedy mainly revolves events in life such as days at the beach and picnics. The two are very likable. The art work is nice and the exaggerated style really helps to complement the happy and goofy nature of some of the chapters. This is a series that helps me feel and an makes me smile.

As of the time of this post there are three volumes of this series and I think a few OVA's as well.

Secret of the Princess:

This was quite possibly the most surprising story I have read this year (with the exception of a series that I will talk about later.) This story is both written and drawn by Milk Morinaga ( Girl Friends; Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink; and a ton of other works that I can't possibly list due to the sheer number of them.) and published by Seven Seas Entertainment. Interesting fact: this was the first writer I followed when I got into reading yuri manga and I do enjoy a majority of her works.

The story follows Miu, an average high school student who from a young age was raised to always look her best in case she meets her 'prince'. After witnessing Fujiwara, the captain of the volleyball team, accidentally break one of the principles most prized possessions she agrees to keep it a secret... On the condition that Fujiwara go out with her so that she can get some experience dating. Throughout the story Miu starts to feel bad for blackmailing Fujiwara and starts to develop actual feelings for her.

Overall this story is alright. It's pretty much par for the course with most of  the authors work though it stands out as for the most part both parties are open about what they want and don't try to hide their feelings for each other. Once she realizes her feelings Mui tries to pursue these feelings while Fujiwara is fully accepting of them and trying to make the arrangement a pleasant experience for Miu. The art work is alright, its standard fare for Morinaga as its fairly consistent with her other work except for her early stuff. If you can find this for a cheap price its worth a look and if you have never read/ seen yuri before you could do worse.

Sweet Blue Flowers:

Just look at the water colors on this cover. It's gorgeous.

This is the series mentioned at the start, the one I have been waiting seven years for it to be released. Now before I go any further I will admit right now that I am biased towards this book because I am a fan of the anime that spawned from it. The anime itself never got finished. This is a series for which not only did I buy the anime on DVD but I went out of my way to avoid scanlations and spoilers. That's right I was willing to wait years for this to get an official English release so that I could support it to find out the ending. As such I was hyped as hell for this series because I finally get to see the ending.

Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana) is written and drawn by Takako Shimura (Wandering Son) and Published by Viz Media. It follows a girl named Akira Okudaira who is a high school student starting her first year at Fujigaya Woman's Academy. While one the way to school she meets a childhood friend, Fumi Manjome, who she wasn't seen in years  and the two start to rekindle their friendship. Though technically the story starts off with Akira the first volume is more about Fumi then anyone else. At the start of the story it is made clear that Fumi is going through some issues. Basically she is dealing with her sexuality and the fact that not only was her first love another woman but said woman is also getting married. As such a majority of the first volume is her trying to overcome these issues and live her life while Akira tries to help her cope as best she can. I know this one is vague but I don't want to spoil this for anyone as I recommend others read this story.

Overall I do like this story, Fumi is a very sympathetic character and her plight really helps the reader connect with her. Akira is likable enough though as stated this volume is mostly about Fumi. Be warned though if you have seen the eleven episode Aoi Hana anime then you basically know what will happen in this volume.

As of this post only the first volume is out though volume too will be out soon and the third and final volume will be available in March of 2018.

This story and another , After Hours (which I will talk about later), mark Viz Media's entry into the yuri genre and if these are an indication of the work they are planning on releasing, they are coming out strong.

Sunstone:

Ok I know this is technically cheating as this is neither a manga nor did this come out in 2017. That being said the reason that it is on here is because I didn't find out this series existed until the beginning of this year ( saw it on one of Linkara's unboxing videos and decided to give the series a shot.) and it also is getting re-released in two hard cover volumes this year so technically it counts.

Sunstone is a lesbian romance comic created, written, and drawn by Stjepan Sejic and published by Image Comics and Top Cow Productions. The story follows Lisa and Ally, two women who meet on a BDSM forum. Lisa is a submissive who is an aspiring writer trying to make ends meat being a waitress and writing smut fiction. Ally is a dom who, when not planing out scenarios, is a programmer with a penchant for spending tons of money on fetish gear and related products. The two find each other through the forum and bond over Lisa's stories and eventually decide to meet up in person to help each other "scratch" their respective itches so to speak. As the two spend time together they proceed to learn more about each other and develop deeper feelings for one another.

As someone who mainly reads stories about young love and first time romance this story was a nice change of pace. Most of the yuri genre revolves around first time love and usually involves young adults as such the genre has certain tropes that when seen over and over can get a little grating. One of the tropes for instance is when one character will hide their feelings for the other. Though that happens to some extent in this story for the most part they are quite open with each other about what they want and it feels kind of like watching two friends hangout. Both Lisa and Ally compliment each other very well and the romance itself feels very genuine. The two have great chemistry and the interactions with each other are both amusing and adorable. The artwork is just gorgeous (see image above). One of the things I like about this book is that while sex and sexuality is considered a major part of their relationship in the story for the most part the sex is pushed to the background and a lot of emphasis is given to their interactions between each other and their group of friends. Given the subject matter there are many instances of nudity throughout the book but nothing too graphic and they are tasteful.

Overall I personally liked this series and I highly recommend it as it's probably the best story I have read this year. Though series itself has already finished there are plans for a few sequel series focusing on some of the side characters and I think as of this post part of the first sequel series is up on Stjepan Sejic's deviant art account.With all that being said, due to the amount of nudity and the mature content/ subject matter I feel I have to issue the following statement: DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU ARE OVER 18 YEARS OF AGE!

So yeah, that's my recommended reading list/ personal favorites that came out this year. Its not everything as there are some updates to on-going series, some stuff I haven't read, and some stuff I have read but didn't care for.

Also an honorable mention to the comic Wayward. The story was created by Jim Zub and Steve Cummings and published by Image Comics. I have no idea if the main female leads are going to end up getting together but given some of the stuff that happened in volume 4 I have a hunch they will. And even if it's not yuri check it out anyway it's damn good.

The story follows Rori Lane a girl of Japanese- Irish decent who moves to Tokyo to live with her mother. After arriving and meeting with her mother she decides to got out and explore her new home. While exploring the city she finds herself in a back ally and is attacked by Kappa disguised as humans. With the help of a mysterious girl named Ayane she is able to hold them off and escape. As the story continues she learns of the existence of yokai and that she is connected to something called the 'Weave of Fate', something that the yoaki have been using to control the world from the shadows.

One of the things I like is that at the end of each volume there is a compendium of the yokai that are  shown in the volume. It lists what each monster is, some of their lore and origins, and some history associated with them. Overall as a fan of Japanese lore and history, I recommend you check out this series.