#it is going through the motions. it is I am a tool to be used please use me so I don’t have to think

[wavetapper]

final inane rhythm game post, ive been playing bms with ran+ on a lot recently just to get used to scracth/key patterns and like. it sucks ass. but its helping

[impossible-rat-babies]

I’ve been thinking about eyrie and lyse something bad lately omg

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Harmony || CL16

Summary: Being a musician isn't the easiest way to make ends meet. Aside from being in the local orchestra, you balance being a tutor and a tuner - one Charles hires to tune his piano. Warnings: none, fluffy WC: 1.2k F1 Masterlist

Of course the city would be busy when you were running late. As much as you might have tried to run, or at least power walk, you didn’t want to damage the precious cargo you were carrying. You managed to make up some time at the sacrifice of your lungs and you were still recovering when you reached the address of your last appointment.

“Sorry I’m late, Mr Leclerc, my violin lesson ran over.”

“That’s okay, and it’s just Charles,” he corrected as he opened his door wider for you to enter his home. It was easy to see where you were going to be working so you headed straight to the upright piano in the light and airy living room. After placing your violin case on the floor beside his coffee table you shrugged off your backpack and opened your tool kit.

“May I?” you asked as you reached for the memorabilia balanced on the top you needed access to.

“Oh, right, sorry.” He rolled his eyes at himself for not preparing the piano for your arrival and helped you clear it off. “Is there anything else you need?”

“No, thank you, Mr- I mean Charles.” You opened the top lid before removing the front panel and sat down on the bench. First you tested the keys and pedals to see if any were sticky but they were in good condition, and you listened to each key to determine how much work was needed. 

“How long have you been learning to play the violin?”

You looked away from the keys as Charles took a seat on the sofa near your instrument. “Oh, no, I teach it. Well, I suppose I am still learning, because there is always room to improve, but my lesson was with a student.”

“So violin tutor and piano tuner,” he said with an impressed nod. “That is quite the niche market.”

“Not as niche as yours,” you pointed out as you pulled a tuning fork out of your tool kit. “There are certainly more than 20 of us in the world.”

The racer cracked a smile that was quite disarming and you had to return to your work as your cheeks warned. “When was she last tuned?”

He chuckled nervously and you winced before he even answered. “When I bought it, two and a half years ago.”

You suppressed the sigh that built and grabbed the adjuster to start moving all the keys up in pitch. “Without regular tuning, you’ll likely find she needs fine tuning again in a few weeks.”

Charles smiled sheepishly and nodded. A comfortable silence fell as you continued your work, moving with confidence through the motions until you were satisfied the piano sounded perfect. Replacing the front panel and closing the top, you took a seat again for the final test. There was already a page of sheet music on the stand so you placed your tablet next to it and opened the app that picked up notes and confirmed if they were in tune or not.

Your eyes scanned the sheet and you heard the melody in your head before you let it flow into your fingers that started their graceful dance across the keys. One page was more than enough to check your work was done but you were a little disappointed that you weren’t able to hear the remainder of the song as you closed the lid.

“I haven’t heard this before,” you said as you picked up the sheet but it had no markings on it. “Who is the artist?”

Charles rose from the sofa and took the page with pink cheeks. “I, uh, I wrote it.”

“It’s beautiful, and sad.” He frowned at the strange compliment and looked away before you placed your hand on his shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with sad music. It is meant to be a way of expressing oneself so it doesn’t fester inside. I tell my students it is a good thing.”

His frown softened and his grip on the paper eased before he reached past you to place it back on the stand. “I wanted to add some other instruments once I recorded it, but I wasn’t sure which ones.”

You nodded to yourself as you replayed the sonata in your head, your fingers drawing invisible notes that could accompany the melody. “Hmm, I think I can help…if you want?”

“Please,” he said as he watched you grab your violin case and unlock it. The lid opened with a creak and his eyes widened as he saw the logo for the Monegasque Royal Orchestra in the velvet lining. “You play for the orchestra?”

“Second chair,” you hummed with a proud smile. “We are playing for Prince Albert’s birthday this weekend.”

“I guess I will see you there.”

Of course he would have an invitation to the Prince’s birthday, all the important people in the principality would be there. “That’s one way to make me nervous. I’ll try not to mess up for you.”

“I think you’ll be great,” he said with a grin as he sat at the edge of the bench and watched you raise the delicate violin to your neck.

“Do you want to play and I will join you?”

“Uh, sure.” He was the one who seemed nervous now and he cleared his throat as he turned on the bench seat, his toes hovering over the pedals. “Here we go, I guess.”

His long fingers were elegant and his wrists remained loose as he began to play. You let the first eight bars open before you closed your eyes and drew your bow across the strings in harmony to him. Charles stumbled over the key as the higher octave caught him by surprise but he recovered with a quiet apology and soon the piece rose into an emotive crescendo that had your chest aching before the last note died out.

You let your arm relax and the warmth from the rosewood rest cooled on your skin as you lowered the bow and violin to your sides.

“That was…incredible,” he said as he turned in his seat.

“You are a very talented man, Mr Leclerc,” you said as you carefully laid the violin back into the bracket and locked it up. “A lot of people can play the piano but very few have the creativity to write their own music.”

His blush spread from his cheeks to his neck and he fidgeted with the ring on his finger. “Thank you, for tuning my piano and playing with me.”

“It was a pleasure.” You packed up your tools and shoved them into your backpack before picking up the violin case and looking at the door. “I hope you enjoy the concert.”

“I’m sure I will,” he said with a genuine smile as he walked with you to the entrance way. “Maybe we can have a drink together afterwards?”

You clutched the handle of the case tighter and tried to control your excitement with a small nod, but your smile was uncontrollable and bright. “I would like that.”

“I’ll see you Saturday.”

[oviraptoridae]

research & development is ongoing

since using jukebox for sampling material on albedo, i've been increasingly interested in ethically using ai as a tool to incorporate more into my own artwork. recently i've been experimenting with "commoncanvas", a stable diffusion model trained entirely on works in the creative commons. though i do not believe legality and ethics are equivalent, this provides me peace of mind that all of the training data was used consensually through the terms of the creative commons license. here's the paper on it for those who are curious! shoutout to @reachartwork for the inspiration & her informative posts about her process!

part 1: overview

i usually post finished works, so today i want to go more in depth & document the process of experimentation with a new medium. this is going to be a long and image-heavy post, most of it will be under the cut & i'll do my best to keep all the image descriptions concise.

for a point of reference, here is a digital collage i made a few weeks ago for the album i just released (shameless self promo), using photos from wikimedia commons and a render of a 3d model i made in blender:

and here are two images i made with the help of common canvas (though i did a lot of editing and post-processing, more on that process in a future post):

more about my process & findings under the cut, so this post doesn't get too long:

quick note for my setup: i am running this model locally on my own machine (rtx 3060, ubuntu 23.10), using the automatic1111 web ui. if you are on the same version of ubuntu as i am, note that you will probably have to build python 3.10.6 yourself (and be sure to use 'make altinstall' instead of 'make install' and change the line in the webui to use 'python3.10' instead of 'python3'. just mentioning this here because nobody else i could find had this exact problem and i had to figure it out myself)

part 2: initial exploration

all the images i'll be showing here are the raw outputs of the prompts given, with no retouching/regenerating/etc.

so: commoncanvas has 2 different types of models, the "C" and "NC" models, trained on their database of works under the CC Commercial and Non-Commercial licenses, respectively (i think the NC dataset also includes the commercial license works, but i may be wrong). the NC model is larger, but both have their unique strengths:

"a cat on the computer", "C" model

"a cat on the computer", "NC" model

they both take the same amount of time to generate (17 seconds for four 512x512 images on my 3060). if you're really looking for that early ai jank, go for the commercial model. one thing i really like about commoncanvas is that it's really good at reproducing the styles of photography i find most artistically compelling: photos taken by scientists and amateurs. (the following images will be described in the captions to avoid redundancy):

"grainy deep-sea rover photo of an octopus", "NC" model. note the motion blur on the marine snow, greenish lighting and harsh shadows here, like you see in photos taken by those rover submarines that scientists use to take photos of deep sea creatures (and less like ocean photography done for purely artistic reasons, which usually has better lighting and looks cleaner). the anatomy sucks, but the lighting and environment is perfect.

"beige computer on messy desk", "NC" model. the reflection of the flash on the screen, the reddish-brown wood, and the awkward angle and framing are all reminiscent of a photo taken by a forum user with a cheap digital camera in 2007.

so the noncommercial model is great for vernacular and scientific photography. what's the commercial model good for?

"blue dragon sitting on a stone by a river", "C" model. it's good for bad CGI dragons. whenever i request dragons of the commercial model, i either get things that look like photographs of toys/statues, or i get gamecube type CGI, and i love it.

here are two little green freaks i got while trying to refine a prompt to generate my fursona. (i never succeeded, and i forget the exact prompt i used). these look like spore creations and the background looks like a bryce render. i really don't know why there's so much bad cgi in the datasets and why the model loves going for cgi specifically for dragons, but it got me thinking...

"hollow tree in a magical forest, video game screenshot", "C" model

"knights in a dungeon, video game screenshot", "C" model

i love the dreamlike video game environments and strange CGI characters it produces-- it hits that specific era of video games that i grew up with super well.

part 3: use cases

if you've seen any of the visual art i've done to accompany my music projects, you know that i love making digital collages of surreal landscapes:

(this post is getting image heavy so i'll wrap up soon)

i'm interested in using this technology more, not as a replacement for my digital collage art, but along with it as just another tool in my toolbox. and of course...

... this isn't out of lack of skill to imagine or draw scifi/fantasy landscapes.

thank you for reading such a long post! i hope you got something out of this post; i think it's a good look into the "experimentation phase" of getting into a new medium. i'm not going into my post-processing / GIMP stuff in this post because it's already so long, but let me know if you want another post going into that!

good-faith discussion and questions are encouraged but i will disable comments if you don't behave yourselves. be kind to each other and keep it P.L.U.R.

[cameronspecial]

can i request rafe x fwb reader where reader finds out hes dating sofia and she goes to confront him that he didnt even have the decency to let her know their arrangement was over and he says "who said it was over?''

The Lies You Tell The Other Woman

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of Sex

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 0.6K

Y/N never thought she would be the type of girl to engage in sexual relations with Rafe Cameron, but at last, she found herself in need of some sexual release one day and he just so happened to need some too. It had led to either of them just saying a word and the other would come over to help satisfy the need. It’s not that guys don’t find interest in Y/N; it’s just that every guy interested was about as smart as a brick. The more intellectual guys were either taken, intimidated by her or too caught up in their work to ask her out. Rafe may not have been smart in the way that she wanted, but he was resourceful, always thinking ahead and pretty. It really was the best of both worlds. She thought she and Rafe had an agreement. They both wouldn’t see other people, but they weren’t dating. Not having strings attached to their sex meant that she could focus on school, yet still have mind-blowing sex. She was surprised when she learned that she was actually the other girl instead of the only girl. 

“Did you hear that Rafe is dating Sofia from the club?” a random Kook whispers to her girlfriend. The other girl nods, “Yes! I saw them together at his party last week. They disappeared together a few minutes in.” Upon overhearing the conversation between the couple, Y/N’s blood boiled. She couldn’t believe he lied about only having sex with her but also about his relationship status. He made her a tool for his infidelity, which she despised because cheating was the cause of her parents' divorce. 

——

Her arrival at Tannyhill came not long after her eavesdropping. Rafe opens the door with a smirk on his face, thinking he is about to get lucky. “You never told me you were dating Sofia,” she states in a calm but annoyed tone as she enters the house. Rafe closes the door and chases after her, “So what if I am?” She spins around to face him with fury in her eyes. “So what if you are? I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t be seeing other people let alone dating,” she argues.

“Darling, it’s not my fault you made those assumptions.” 

“It’s not my fault that you didn’t tell me. Not only did you lead me to believe you weren’t sleeping with anyone else but you made me think you were single.”

“What I do with you has nothing to do with Sofia.”

This time he steps closer to the girl with a longing look in his eyes that he tries to mask with lust. Truth is Rafe doesn’t know why he started dating Sofia when all he wanted was Y/N. Maybe because it hurt him when Y/N left the first time they had sex, saying it would be great if they could continue this with no strings attached, so he found a way to hurt her. Maybe it was because he wanted to be something more than just a sexual release for the girl he had been pining for since freshman year of high school. Y/N shakes her head, “This has everything to do with Sofia. You made me the other woman, Rafe. My parents got a divorce because my dad cheated. I know how Sofia would feel if she found out about us. So this is over.” At the last sentence, Y/N motioned between her and Rafe. 

A dark look crosses his eyes at the possibility of losing the one person he wants most in the world and his panic is trying to creep through. He pushes those fears aside, stepping closer to her so she can feel his breath on her face as she looks up at him. All he is thinking about is how he is going to keep what is his. His chest presses against hers as he looks down at her. “Who said it is over? It’s only over when I say it is.” 

[forecast0ctopus]

Any advice on drawing McCoy? I’m not used to drawing ancient wrinkley bastards (affectionate) and it’s surprisingly tough v-v

FOR SURE lmao i made. a diagram. just a warning that i am going to be irritating and long winded because u just hit a topic i really like sorry lmao

so first off i did some traces just to show whats there vs redraws to show my interpretation

ive said this on other asks but again jsyk, tracing isnt bad!! its a tool. theres some stuff with intellectual property and whatnot but using tracing to study shapes and forms is a really valuable practice.

also just taking some time to learn facial structures and anatomy is super useful, reading what bones and muscles are where and how they interact with one another. taking this info and staring in the mirror and moving your face around and thinking about it. just really furthers understanding of how the face works. trying to sound normal about this but i love anatomy and motion and physics and whatever

anyways im going to go through all the numbered points so there's no confusion. 1. forehead lines - self explanatory. more prominent when brows are raised 2. crows feet - at the outer corners of the eyes, more prominent when smiling or squinting 3. nasolabial folds - the folds that go from the corners of the nose to the corners of the mouth. more prominent when the mouth is wide, like smiling 4. brow furrow - self explanatory, most prominent when brows are furrowed. mccoy tends to have two right next to his eyebrows, kirk has one in the middle. everyones face works different lmao 5. chin crease - caused by how the chin and lower lip interact. 6. nasojugal groove - start from the inner corners of the eye and can extent over the cheeks. everyone has these and idk why people dont like them i think theyre really cool!!!! but Society. i guess. :/ 7. eye bags - caused by the skin sagging beneath the eyes. mccoy isnt even that old in tos i think hes meant to be mid 40s by the end of the 5 year mission, hes just got really prominent eye bags lmao 8. idk what the name is for these, but when the mouth is wide and pushes the skin to the sides, these folds sometimes form outside of the nasolabial folds 9. philtrum - the groove above the upper lip. i dont usually draw this but mccoy's struck me as prominent enough that i usually draw it on him 10. masseter - the muscle that moves the jaw up and down. its a pretty rugged muscle and while i wouldnt say mccoy's is especially prominent, it kind of extends that nasojugal groove from certain angles/positions 11. orbicularis oris - mouth muscle, usually easier to see when lips are pursed or frowns are pulled. mccoy's is pretty prominent from 3/4ths or side, his mouth tends to protrude in profile 12. this isnt a muscle but more of a line defining the planes of the face, but since i drew it i felt i should explain lmao

a few points:

im an animator i tend to exaggerate and emphasize certain things so i usually make him more square.

i like to combine eyebags and crows feet for brevity/flow, same with nasojugal grooves, eyebags, and masseter lines. my approach is always subject to change based on pose, expression, reference image, etc.

i take out details that i deem redundant or cluttering and keep what details i need to make things feel Right

all this info is applicable to any character of any age, its just in how you apply it and facial proportions that willl change how old a character is perceived to be

there's a lot more with drawing a Character rather than an Actor, just because the features are there doesnt necessarily mean things will feel correct? its very much in the mannerisms and poses and expressions

i only went over my approach to his likeness but not really body type or posing or anything idk if u want that i could always try to answer that later haha

_______________

anyways all that info kind of exists nebulously in my brain while i draw its not like im sitting there thinking Must Draw. Nasolabial Fold...... i jsut do what feels right with the visual info i have. also i love specificity in faces.... i dont like to be a hater but when every character is drawn the same it pisses me off a little lmao. so

also dont take my word as The Only Way to do anything i just draw how i like to draw and no one should feel like these are things that Must be done to be a good artist or anything do whatever the hell u wanna do

[jae-bummer]

Am I Too Much?

Request: hi hi i hope ur having a great day! can i possibly request a #5 with svt seungkwan or a #6 with svt jeonghan? thank u!

Prompt:

6) "If you do that one more time, I don't think I'll be able to control myself."

Prompt list can be found HERE.

Pairing: Svt Jeonghan x Reader

Genre: Fluff/Steamy

.

The morning shone grey through the large windows bordering the bulk of the living room you had crashed in last night. You had woken with a start, immediately grabbing your phone and checking the time. 4 AM, perfect, just what you were aiming for.

Sitting up and yawning, you wrapped a blanket around your shoulders and began to trudge toward the kitchen. Your sole purpose this morning was to make a cake for Vernon and DK. The boys had been so busy over the past month that no one had even been able to stop for a breath and do a proper celebration. Granted, today likely wouldn't be a proper celebration either seeing as how everyone had early schedules, but you were determined to do something. They were both incredibly special and caring friends, and you wanted to recognize that.

Flipping up the light switch, you let out a small squeak. Sitting on the island in the kitchen was a steaming, hot cup of coffee. It was even in the mug you tended to favorite but thought no one had noticed.

"What?" you muttered, walking farther into the room. After really looking around, you observed that not only was there a cup of coffee prepared, but all of the ingredients/tools you would need were set out as well.

Had a kitchen fairy come in the night to assist you with your noble task?

Sidling up to the counter, you picked up the mug and relished the feeling of having something warm between your fingers. You closed your eyes before sniffing the blend and sighing.

"I used the Brazilian beans we picked up on tour," a sleepy voice croaked from the hallway.

Spinning slowly, careful not to spill your coffee, you locked eyes with a thoroughly sleep deprived Jeonghan.

"Why are you awake?" you asked, furrowing your brow. You knew Jeonghan, and you knew he valued his sleep above most things.

"When I was coming in last night, I heard you talking to Coups about your plans for this morning," he said calmly. You now noticed he held a cup in between his palms as well. "I thought about how happy it would make the members, but it made me sad to think about you up so early doing things all alone."

"Jeonghan," you pouted. Motioning to the stool pulled up to the counter, you draped the blanket that was on your shoulders on its seat. "Please sit."

"I said it made me sad, I didn't say it made me want to stay," he said, a smirk quirking at the corner of his lips.

"Alright, welp. Just go back to sleep then."

"Well, I'm awake now," he said, rolling his eyes and moving toward the stool you had just offered.

"Like that's stopped you before?" you asked, situating yourself in front of the ingredients. You set your cup down and began cracking eggs. "I don't want to put you out."

Picking up on your sarcasm, Jeonghan narrowed his eyes. "Being your assistant sounds like a charitable compromise."

"A charitable compromise," you scoffed. "How kind!"

"I thought so," he sighed, evidently pleased with himself.

"Even though you're a brat." You began to dump the mix into the bowl. "I really do appreciate you getting up and doing this."

"Do you though?" he mused. "Because calling someone who helped you a brat doesn't quite hold the sentiment you're going for."

"Yoon Jeonghan," you said, trying to school your features. "You are the ray of sun on this grey morning. Thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

"I suppose that'll do," he smiled, taking a long sip of what you thought was tea. "But would a little more sincerity kill you?"

"I am going to kill you if you do not stop harassing me," you grumbled, pointing the mixing spoon in his direction.

"Harassment is such a strong word, Y/N," he hummed. "In this house, we call it constructive criticism."

You let out an unexpected laugh. "Has anyone ever told you that you're too much?"

"What do you mean? I'm a joy," he grinned. "Now tell me, what exactly are you making?"

"Just a chocolate box mix," you sighed. "I don't really have time to go all Great British Bakeoff this morning."

Now that all the ingredients were added, all that was left was to stir. You did so quietly for a few minutes before realizing that Jeonghan had stopped talking. Assuming he may have started to nap on the counter instead, you looked up, surprised to find him watching what you were doing.

Looking back down, you ran a finger along the edge of the batter before popping it into your mouth. It had been ages since you had cake of any kind, let alone batter. Pulling your hand away, you let out a small sigh before closing your eyes and smiling.

"If you do that one more time, I don't think I'll be able to control myself."

Opening your eyes instantly, they darted in alarm to Jeonghan. Sure, Jeonghan had always playfully flirted with you, but that was just your relationship. He had never made a comment like that before.

He looked smug as you searched his face. It was hard to gauge how serious he was and what exactly he meant by the statement.

"I-uh," you stumbled, attempting to come up with a suitable response.

Before any words managed to escape, Jeonghan slid from his chair and began slowly sauntering over to you. Maintaining eye contact the entire time, he walked to the side of the counter, cementing you to the spot.

Ever so slowly he looked down, sticking his finger into the bowl too, and pulling it out, now covered in batter.

"I'm trying to cut out sugar," he whispered, putting his finger into his mouth.

Your heart dropped to your toes. He was fucking with you.

"Jeonghan," you groaned, reaching up and rubbing your forehead.

He pulled his digit from his mouth with a pop and grinned. "Yes?"

You just shook your head, grabbing a hold of the mixing spoon and placing it in your mouth as you reached for the cake pans. Moving them in front of you, you pulled out the wooden spoon and tossed it into the sink. You looked casually over to Jeonghan who had put all of his attention suddenly on your mouth.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You've...you've got," he hummed, furrowing his brows.

Chocolate. Right.

Reaching up self-consciously, you swiped at either corner of your mouth. "Did I get it?"

"Stay still," he directed, walking over to where you were standing. Turning your back to the counter, you watched as Jeonghan positioned himself in front of you. "Right there."

Reaching up with his thumb, you felt his soft finger brush against the edge of your mouth, an area certain you had wiped before.

Your lips popped open in a combination of horror and arousal. You felt like you were in a drama as Jeonghan noted the chocolate now transferred to his finger before placing it in his mouth. Afterwards, he leaned forward, setting his palms against the counter on either side of you. "Am I still "too much"?"

"Yes," you muttered, feeling your face turn hot.

"Why?" he asked, tilting his head, his eyes dancing with mischief.

"Because you're being ridiculous," you said, your words barely a whisper.

"Ridiculously attractive?" he hummed. "Ridiculously charming? Please, finish your sentence."

"It is far too early in the morning for this," you groaned, closing your eyes. When you opened them again, you immediately attempted to move backwards but were halted by the counter. Jeonghan had moved his face only a hair's breadth away from yours.

"I don't think so," he whispered, placing a soft, ghost of a kiss on your lips. Leaning back slightly, he waited to see your reaction.

You reached up, moving your fingertips along your bottom lip, unsure of what had just occurred. Heat flooded your body as you realized, whatever it was, you liked it.

Seeing the recognition on your face made Jeonghan smile. This time when he moved forward, you weren't taken aback.

Throwing most of his body weight against you as he enclosed you against the island, his lips were quick to find yours again. Pressing into the kiss, you felt surrounded by all things Jeonghan. His scent, his taste; your senses were overloaded in the best way. His kisses were lazy, lacking any urgency or need. He knew he already had you and you weren't going anywhere.

Moving your hand to his jaw, you faltered for a moment, pressing gently on his face to push him away. "Jeonghan," you said softly against his lips. It took another try before your words caught his full focus.

"Hm?" he whimpered, moving from your mouth and to the tiny spot underneath your ear.

"The cake," you said regretfully. "We have to finish the cake."

"You can finish the cake," he hummed, taking your hips and spinning you around. His mouth was on your neck again. "I can assist from behind."

"Jeonghan!" you giggled.

"Alright," he muttered moving his face away from your body, but still holding tight to your hips. "How long does it need to bake for?"

"I dunno, like twenty-five minutes?" you guessed, having already thrown the box away.

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" he said, amusement tinting his words. "Hurry and put the cakes in the oven so I can have a full twenty-five minutes of your lips."

You laughed. "And after that?"

"They'll still eat it if it burns a little."

[mrsnegan]

Hi, are u still open for request? Cause I need season 11 Negan x reader story, well maybe some smut too 😬

[Hiii! I'm so, so sorry I haven't written sooner for your request. But here it is, set somewhere between season 10 and 11. I hope you like it.]

Summary: Negan helps out Y/N to get rid of an unwanted admirer. Surprisingly for both of them, things take an interesting turn.

Warnings: smut, dirty talk, unprotected sex

"Ugh, not him again", she whispered to herself while walking the streets of Alexandria. Most people were busy repairing all the recent damages, building new homes, so she figured she would find somewhere to help. But with Robert just a few feet away from her, she wanted to disappear somewhere. Robert was fairly new to the community, he joined Alexandria a few months ago. He seemed to be a nice guy, Y/N thought at first, though he had tried several times to hit on her unsuccessfully and seemed to not accept a simple no. She was frustrated to say the least. He hadn't harassed her in any other way, although he was persistent to ask her out and she wasn't in the mood to test his patience, so she avoided him as best as she could.

But now her luck seemed to thin out. With no other option nearby, she made quick steps towards the little shack where all the tools were stored. Just as she closed the door behind her, Y/N registered she wasn't alone.

"Well, well, hello Y/N."

Negan's deep voice shook her to the core, she wasn't expecting him to be in here.

"Hi", she stammered, half-whispering.

"Are you hiding or something?" Negan asked amused.

"Matter-of-factly I am. Now could you please lower your voice?", she whispered back.

Negan smiled at her, carefully putting down the hammer onto the shelf next to him. With his arms crossed in front of his body, he looked at her.

"So, whom are we hiding from?" he whispered back.

Even if Negan wasn't a favorite among the Alexandrian people, she kind of liked him. He was hard-working and despite his past, he was friendly towards her, so she figured she could tell him. "Robert, the new one. He asked me out a couple of times, I'm not interested and he knows. Though he always keeps on pressuring me into spending time with him. I just don't want to see him", Y/N explained in a low voice, leaning against the work bench behind her, a few steps opposite from Negan.

His face turned serious for a brief second, then they could hear footsteps in front of the shack, coming nearer. With no windows - luckily or not - Negan took a look through one of the gaps between the wooden boards of the shack.

"It's him, isn't it? Fuck, he saw me", Y/N breathed.

Negan nodded, but smiled at her. "I have a plan. Do you trust me?"

Y/N just stared at him, calcuating her response. When she nodded curtly, Negan shamelessly began to moan in front of her - with that damn grin of his reaching from ear to ear. He wasn't even blinking when he upped his game with some dirty talk. "Baby, you feel so good around my dick."

He motioned for her with his fingers to take part in their little play pretend to make it more believable. Y/N gulped visibly, embarrassed to moan in front of Negan. That plan of his was insane.

"Don't go all shy on me now, Y/N, you weren't when you sucked my dick like a damn pro."

The footsteps seemed to have stopped a few feet away, at least none of them could hear them anymore.

She looked at him with big eyes, mouth agape. The balls he had to just do that with no shame made her body tingle. Just for one moment she imagined what it would feel to actually have him buried deep inside of her. This thought alone made her press her thighs together.

"I want to hear you", he added as another invitation for her to join the game, voice raspy.

"Negan", she finally breathed, testing the feel of his name on her tongue. She liked it - a lot. With hot cheeks she moaned lighty, followed by a richer one, her eyes drifting to the floor.

"That's it, show me how fucking good I make you feel. I don't care who hears us, let them all know you are mine."

Negan didn't sound so far away anymore and as his boots came into her view, she knew why.

Her eyes darted upwards, lips parted. She could smell him at this distance, a mix of hard work and his own unique scent.

She moaned again, this time because her body betrayed her, his presence too intoxicating to not indulge.

His gaze was fixed on her lips and as they continued their little play, the air between them shifted.

His knuckles lightly grazed her cheek before he looked from her lips up to her eyes, silently asking for permission.

There wasn't any second thought for Y/N, she nodded instantly and was greeted by his lips crashing onto hers. His body drove her farther into the work bench, his hands grasping her face to deepen the kiss.

Her hands clawed at his blue shirt while his kisses made her go insane with lust.

Without wasting anymore time, Negan's hands undid the button and fly of her jeans, hastily pulling it down together with her underwear. Y/N let out a shriek when he grasped her hips with both hands and positioned her on the bench. He then opened his own trousers to pull out his solid length.

"Haven't done this in a while, excuse the lack of foreplay, but I can't fucking wait to feel you", he explained while he traced his length through her folds.

"Damn baby, you're so wet for me. Did my dirty talk turn you on?"

"What do you think?" she quipped back, as impatient as Negan.

"That mouth on you." Negan laughed while he slowly sank into her.

Hungry kisses drowned their shared moaning at the feel of each other. Y/N hadn't done this lately either, she felt like being pulled up to heaven by the feel of his dick inside of her.

"Fuuuck me, you do feel so good around me", he complimented her while he moved in and out of her at a moderate pace.

"Is he still out there?" Y/N tried to make out the footsteps they heard before but the only thing she could hear was Negan's heavy breathing against her neck.

"The fuck do you care?" Negan hissed, not silencing the moans spilling out of his mouth. "They could all watch, we would give them a show they would never forget."

His boldness made her laugh nervously which bled into a rich moan with the first deeper thrust he delivered.

"Shit, Negan", she moaned in earnest now, clawing at his back while his thrusts got harder.

"There she fucking is", he exclaimed with a shit-eating grin. "That's how you should sound while being fucked."

One of his hands went into her hair at the nape of her neck while the finger of his other hand dug into her hip, so he could drive himself over and over again into her.

Forehead pressed against forehead, they groaned with every forceful push and pull. The work bench squeaked with their movements, everyone walking by would definitely know about what happened inside.

"Negan, I'm close..."

"Don't worry baby, I got ya", he moaned while he let go of her hip to draw tight circles on her clit.

The added pressure together with the insanely fucking he gifted her with drove her into unknown heights. She nearly screamed his name as she came, brain foggy with pleasure.

"Goddammit, Y/N", Negan groaned out loud before he pulled out and spilled onto her thighs.

They both tried to catch their breaths and laughed heartily at what they had just done.

Negan whiped her clean with a spare shirt he kept in his backpack near the door.

"Thank you", Y/N smiled at him.

"You're very welcome, baby. Here, let me help you down."

"I never want to come down from this high", she laughed, pulling her underwear up again, then her jeans.

"Well, then let me cook for you, make up for the lack of conversation and foreplay we had."

With an amused shake of her head she watched him also getting dressed again. "You can cook?"

"Of fucking course I can cook. I make a hell of a good pasta sauce. When we're not as short of supplies as we are now, I will make the most delicious dinner for you."

Y/N went on her tiptoes to kiss Negan. "Helping me out, making me come and also cooking for me? Who would've thought you're this talented?"

"Don't you ever underestimate me, baby. It's true what they say out there, I'm not a good man. But I'm very good with my hands."

With a hearty laugh, Y/N took Negan's hands into hers, inspecting them intently.

"I do believe you, I like your hands. And I would love for you to cook for me."

"Can't fucking wait." Negan kissed her knuckles, shouldered his backpack and, with a wink, went outside first.

His signature grin was plastered all over his face and he hoped he would see Robert just to rub the truth right into his face. And the faces of everyone else in Alexandria that despised him.

---

Taglist: @iluvneganandjamie @murphslass @negans-attagirl @you-a-southpaw-doll

[the-dye-stained-socialite]

Elias has been causing problems for the Captivating Princess, so she hires someone to deal with that. Things don't go quite how she would have hoped, though the job does get done.

featuring @thedeafprophet's charming serial killer Rory!!

Word Count: 1,247.

Major death, and violence! Stalking, stabbing, killing, and more to come!

Relationships: Elias Leroux/ Aurora 'Rory' Winn, Aurora 'Rory' Winn/The Captivating Princess (sort of. she's trying.)

“I never would have expected such an unsavory individual to be dressed so well.”

“ ‘S not all that uncommon.”

The Captivating Princess crinkled her nose in distaste. An upper-class accent lurked beneath the working-class slang. Which meant that the disrespect, and lack of manners, was intentional. Still, the Malignant Assassin was the best tool that money could buy, or so the rumors went. She wouldn’t be putting up with this otherwise.

Unfortunately, she needs to put up with it. “You weren’t the easiest to find. There were quite a few difficulties arranging this on my end. It would have been easier if you had come to the Palace in the first place.”

They snorted, but offered no reply. 

The Princess studied their eyes, drew their glowing green gaze towards her. Still, nothing. Normally people would be falling over themselves to appease and apologize to her by this point. Yet she seemed to have little such affect on them. Peculiar. Or perhaps her effect was that they were co-operating at all.

Well, if they weren’t going to talk, then that gave her an opportunity. “I’m certain you know who I am, and there’s not a soul in London who doesn’t know my family,” she begins. Really, the words themselves are meaningless, but talking gives her the ability to persuade the other person, and influence them before she even brings up what is it that she wants. Manipulation is an intricate and slow waltz. 

More importantly however, it gave her time to evaluate the situation, without it being made obvious that she was doing so.

The room was dimly lit, with only a few scant candles. The darkness of it made the Assassin’s eyes stand out all the more. She could see the red glow of her own eyes reflected in them, which perplexed her all the more that they were still so defiant. 

They do not sit on the chair, rather they lounge across it. The improper posture clashes with their formal outfit. They even wore gloves, though their hands fiddled with a knife. They ran a thumb over the flat of the blade, or occasionally twirl it back and forth. She even watched as they cycled through a few practiced motions which she was certain they’ve used on past jobs. Twisting and twirling the knife with more grace than expected.

She focused more on the physical characteristics. Their hair was long, blond, and looked closer to unkempt than not. It wasn’t kept in any sort of up-do whatsoever, merely brushed out of their face, a few stands tied back. It further cemented in her mind the Assassin’s distaste for anything found in proper society. She noticed they tended to keep their hair from tangling around their ears at least. It showed off their jewelry, though this is not what caught her attention. No, what caught her attention was the elongated length, and pointed shape. Ears like that nearly always indicated a dangerous individual indeed.

Yet, despite these details, the Assassin commanded no audience. They sat there, twirling their knife, and looking very bored indeed.. They simply joined in to the background hum, except for those glowing eyes.

“So I-”

“You want me to kill someone,” they interrupted. “It’s the only reason someone contacts me.”

The Princess was at a loss for words for one precious moment. If persuasion was a slow waltz, then the band came to a dead halt. It was not merely that they were bad at dancing, simply that they refused, then stuck their foot out when she tried to make them join in. She continued anyways, refusing them the pleasure of seeing her stumble. “Yes, I have a job for your specific expertise.”

“Could’a said that ten minutes ago,” they grumbled.

She pretended she didn’t hear that, and continued anyway. “Just one teensy tiny little problem I need you to resolve for me.”

“And if it’s such a ‘teeny tiny little problem’ why can’t you ‘resolve’ it? ‘Fraid to get your hands dirty, your Highness?” Sarcasm dripped from every word.

Her smile tightened. “The very nature of the situation requires things cannot be traced back to me. Hence them requiring your skills.” She paused, and studied their face. A thought occurred. “Are you truly that keen to miss out on payment?”

Their eyes flicker with interest. Ah, so that’s the language they speak. She’s found the steps to this particular waltz at last, and they’re quite simple ones at that. Her face relaxers once more. Yes, she knows what to do now.

“Are you willing t’ pay my services? I ain’t cheap.” She smirks. That was the tone she liked to hear. The Princess reached down and grabbed a small bag from the floor. The contents were muffled by the thick velvet, but the Assassin’s ears still twitched. They watched her intently, as she reached in and withdrew a large and fabulous diamond. She twisted it in her hands, allowing it to catch the candlelight. “If you

agree, I’ll pay you this one now, as a show of… good faith. You’ll receive a dozen more, all of similar value, when the deed has been done.”

Their eyes widen slightly, though their face remains neutral. “Awful lot for one job,” they mumble. Then, in a louder voice, “I’ll need a name and your conditions, Princess.”

“They’ve been a persistent little problem. Elias Leroux, do you know them?”

She watched as they considered the name for a minute, then shook their head. “Heard the name once or twice, never met ‘em.”

Despite that being what she had hoped for, the Princess was still a bit shocked. It was harder to find someone who didn’t know them, than it was to find someone who did. Still, this was very good news indeed. This Assassin was one of the rare people in London the little usurper hadn’t won over. “They wear very messy clothes. I expect they’ll be easy for you to find.”

“And the conditions?”

“Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, This needs to be done in such a way that it cannot be traced back to me. No messy loose threads, no one to see it happen, nor to discover it too soon, none of that. Isolation would be ideal, I should think. I want this done cleanly.” She paused, waiting for interjection. When none came, she continued. “Secondly, and far more importantly, I need them to miss an event. This event occurs on the first Thursday of each month, Which month you choose to do so is up to you, so long as you do it. I want them gone the whole night. If you have to keep killing them, do so, and I will pay you the money to make up for it, but they must be gone the entire night. Those are my conditions.”

The Assassin considered it for a moment as they twirled their blade. After a brief moment of thought, they seemed to come to a conclusion. They thrust an open palm in her direction. She pressed the diamond into their glove with a smile. 

The Assassin flashed a sharp smirk, and narrowed their eyes. They retracted their hand quickly, twisting the diamond around now. “Alright, I’ll do it. But what’s t’ stop me from telling everyone their beloved Princess is goin’ around hiring ‘unsavory individuals’ t’ bloody their hands for her?”

She flashed her own smile. “Oh, you can try dear, but no one will believe your word over mine.”

[yeondollie]

ʙɪᴍʙᴏ ᴅᴏʟʟ .ᐟ ♡ ^_^

. . bimbo! reader x tutor! beomgyu smut ౨ৎ

. . warnings ! NSFW, MDNI .ᐟ, bratty sub! beomgyu, sweetheart dom! fem reader, cockwarming, pet names (mommy, baby, my love, and sweetheart), unprotected sex, bulge kink, oral (m. rec), breast play, beomgyu is kind of mean, size kink, beomgyu has glasses, thats it i think hehehe ;)

. . words ! 1.7k ⟡

a/n ; this is my first post yayy :o !! huge sucker for sub! beomie :( im sosososo sorry if anything is bad, please leave any concerns/comments you may have please and thank you babies ! ఌ︎.

“____ come here please.” you hear your professor call out as you return from your bathroom trip. you didn’t really need to use the bathroom, you just went to reapply your lipgloss and fix your hair like always.

“yes sir? is something wrong?” you say, smiling through your glossy pink lips. “you do know you're failing my class right? a 'd-' is failing as far as i know." your professor says quietly as to not alert the rest of the class of your failing status.

your dumb smile falls as your professor tells you of your grade. the bell rung before you could get a word out to defend yourself. your defense was; you're just a girl, you couldn't do all of this work alone :< !

"listen, you have to get your grade up if you want to pass my class at least to a 'c' okay?" as soon as your professor says this, choi beomgyu catches his attention. "beomgyu, come here please."

"yes?" the tall boy says, catching your attention. he was tall, standing at about 6 foot and he was.. so handsome. you always knew him as the smart kid in class and would often ask him for help, as you were always lost but you've only noticed till now how handsome he was.

"____ here needs some help in my class, could you lend her a hand? maybe on the weekends get together, we're trying to raise her grade." your professor asks of beomgyu nicely. beomgyu didn't look to pleased to have to now spend his weekends tutoring some random girl from his physics class but he couldn't say no to his professor.

"i can do that, i'm free right now actually." beomgyu says in monotone voice, then turning to you. you were kind of spaced out, spaced out looking at beomgyus pretty eyes. "hello? are you free right now?" beomgyu repeats, waving his big hand in your face.

"y-yeah.. i'm free!" you say, overly joyful about spending your evening with this handsome man from your class. on the other hand, he didn't look too joyful. he had to spend his entire evening probably repeating himself over and over again for this dumb girl to understand the easiest concept in the world? kill him. "we can go to my dorm r-right now if you want." you smile through your pretty teeth.

beomgyu nodded his head and began following you to your dorm which wasn't too far away. the walk was.. awkward to say the least but beomgyu started to notice things about you that he hadn't before. the way your heels clicked and clacked as you walked, your perfectly done nails which were pink of course, your perfectly curled hair, you skimpy but prettypretty pink skirt, and your intoxicating scent.

you weren't the sharpest tool in the shed but you were for sure the prettiest and beomgyu knew this. he started to get nervous as the two of you approached your dorm room. you took out your keys, which had a kuromi keychain beside it and struggled trying to open the door. "need a hand?" beomgyu says, smirk on his pretty face. you nod and allow him to take over, opening the door in one swift motion.

you allowed beomgyu to get comfortable, both of you taking a seat on your pretty pink couch ready for him to tutor you. "so what are you not understanding? i assume everything." beomgyu says, chuckling while adjusting his glasses. you felt a bit hurt by this comment, pouting your pretty lips at him but it was true. you truly did not understand anything your professor was teaching in that stupid physics class!

"i'm not as dumb as you think i am.." you whisper softly at beomgyu, looking away from him shyly. he scoffs at this knowing he truly thought you were an idiot. "i'm not! stop laughing at me.." you say in a whiny voice.

"____ you're failing the easiest class on planet earth cmon.. you're pretty fucking stupid." he says, upright laughing straight in your face. you were taken aback from his sudden sassiness, you didn't expect this out of him.

"i have talents.." you say, looking his his eyes and pouting your lips. these 'talents' you were talking about had nothing to do with your brains, in fact it had everything to do with your body. "i can show you."

beomgyus eyes widen, in shock but also curiosity. "we need t-to focus on your studies." he says, pushing up his glasses once more but you could clearly see the bulge in his pants. you giggled and started palming him, looking into his pretty eyes.

"want me to stop?" you say, smiling with those full n pretty lips of yours. beomgyu nodded furiously, moans and whimpers slipping out of his mouth. god you loved that sound, whimpering men !! :D

"d-dont stop baby.. god." he said, head falling back onto your couch. oh you had him hooked, he really wasn't sexually active. like at all, the last time he could think of was.. his mind was blank. sure he would jerk off to whatever nasty porn video he could find on twitter but he hadn't felt the touch of a women in a while, you liked that.

"i haven't even touched your dick yet.." you chuckled, unzipping his pants and freeing his cock from his boxers. you let out an unexpected gasp, never did you think he'd be this.. big. holy shit. "d-dont look at it like that.." he buried his face in embarrassment.

you give his tip little licks while looking up into this eyes, god you would pay for this to be photographed. he looked so pretty, this fucked out already. "d-don't tease me.. please." he begs, finally breaking that sassy attitude he once had.

you abide, being too sweet to turn down his request so you take his whole member in your mouth. his moans and whimpers suddenly become even louder, having you place a hand over his mouth so you wont get another complaint from the neighbors; yes, another. who said you weren't active? ;D

"you like that? what happened to me being 'fucking stupid' honey?" further teasing him, your hands still working on his hard member. he whines and whines, its like music to your pretty ears. "n-no.. no y-you're not.. fuckkkuggh.. m-mommys not dumb no.. i-im sososo sorry.. please u-use your.. shit.. your mouth again." he protests, getting more vocal by the second.

mommy..?

"aww.. my babys needy. dont worry, i've got you okay?" he nods at your reassurance and he started playing with your hair, making a makeshift pony tail for you and continuing to lower you on his cock. making you gag, spit and his precum all over those pretty lips of yours. god he was going insane, he never thought bimbo you would be gagging on his dick. "f-fuck.. c-cumming.. can i-i come mommy?"

you were getting wetter and wetter by the second, his words had such an affect on you it was crazy. you were feeling kind but more like you could already feel beomgyus dick twitching in your mouth so you were going to let him cum. "cum my love, its okay." smiling with your pretty teeth. before you could say another word, he was pulling your head closer spilling his liquid down your throat.

"can we try something?"

you suddenly suggest an idea, and idea had popped into your mind but sucking on him. his moans and whimpers sounded so pretty, why not hear that while having him inside you? "y-yeah.. just.. fuck.. give me a second." he's panting and trying to catch his breath, it was evident he wasn't very active.

you crawl on top of him sliding off your pink lacey panties but keeping your pretty pink skirt on. "wait w-" he was cut off from the feeling of your wet pussy wrapping around his sensitive cock. "fuck!" he moans loudly. he bottoms out inside you, he was stretching out your tight pussy beyond what you thought was possible. "mhmmfggg.." you whimper.

he was waiting for you to move, for you to start riding him but.. nothing. you sat there with his twitching and sensitive dick inside of you, he was getting impatient. he started rutting up inside of you like a needy puppy but no, you couldn't let him. you just wanted to have him inside you, such an intimate moment. "no beom.. no not yet okay my love?" you caress his cheek and place a kiss on it, leaving a pink glossy stain on his cheek.

"please m-mommy.. i need you to move.. now."

you couldn't say no to him, no not at all could you say no. you could feel him breath hitch as you began bouncing yourself up and down on his cock. "babys cock is so b-big.. huh?" chuckling while continuing to bounce on his big dick. "s-stop.. im gonna.. shit.. im gonna c-cum again mommy.." he whimpers out.

"come on.. you can do this.. right? cum in me my love." you manage to moan out as you continue to ride him, now becoming more sloppy as you can feel your high coming. his big cock was hitting your g-spot continuously, making you moan out his name. "b-beomie.."

you could feel his hands slipping under your shirt, under your bra, and starting to play with with your tits causing you to moan again and again in such pleasure. even without much experience, he knew how to please a women. "fuck! you like m-mommys tiddies? mhm?"

"y-yes f-fuck sorry.. sorryy i-im cumming!" beomgyu says through his whimpers and before you can say anything back, you could feel his cum spilling inside of you. you continued to ride on his sensitive cock, chasing your own high in the process. "cum on my dick.. please, please, please."

after releasing on his cock, you pull of of him and feel his hot cum run down your leg. you giggled and pulled up your pretty pin lacey panties back up and fixed your hair once more, being the pretty bimbo you are.

"i think i'm going to need more tutoring session.. right?" the fucked out boy just nodded, not muttering a word to you. he couldn't even maintain eye contact with you now. he was first calling you stupid and now, he couldn't even talk for himself without stuttering to you.

"y-yeah.. more s-sessions."

a/n ; i love sub! beomie with mommy kink urhrhrgrgygyrgygrygrygrygry :( 𖹭

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 49 Burnt Cereal with Milk Posting

Alright, dear void. It's time. I put on my powerscaler hat and turned on the stove.

Never ever let me cook again though- apparently I'm just as shitty at it online as I am IRL. We are going to Eye Scars at the temple next. Well, "we" meaning Hakuri, Uruha, and some fodder since the train fight DIDN'T HAPPEN. Yet. Is it too delusional to think that we could get the super cool stuff with Uruha fighting off the mooks somehow? Because damn, I was really looking forward to more than what we got...

It's alright though. I can cope with the power of even stronger delusions.

Wasn't there LITERALLY any better way to do this than pulling on Uruha's hair, Hakuri?!

Still enjoying the fact that Chihiro can yell out a random word and Hakuri will instantly understand his full intent. They don't have to plan shit- they just figure it out and it works.

Yeah, they both would know that "Centipede" is referring to Kyora's usage of Magatsumi's ability, but Chihiro improvising the move on the spot and Hakuri adjusting perfectly is awesome. Sad they're separated for now, but hopefully we get more of this stuff through the whole series. They're so busted when they work together because soulmate coding.

But this new Kuro technique is probably why John keeps pressing the assault and forcing Chihiro to act: he adapts and improves at an incredible rate when he's under pressure. Still don't know why John needs him to be extremely powerful and full of hatred for his plans, but maybe Hiruhiko will spill the beans. He's a chatty bastard who gets his jollies from extreme methods after all.

Fuck these guys.

Hiruhiko is the king of "it's just a prank bro, don't get so upset brooooooooooo" assholes everywhere. His origami powers are pretty neat though, I gotta admit. The editor's note for this week was something along the lines of "Uruha's will is also carried on [Chihiro's] blade"... I want that pretty face to get bloodied and beaten, man. I actually detest flippant long-haired guys as an entire character archetype so please let him have an agonizing death. I want to look forward to it no matter how long it takes.

Speaking of the Hishaku, do they have the world's freakiest training camp for new members or something? Ch. 32

Ch. 49

Literal bloodbath of a series.

This is the second time Chihiro's been blinded with blood in a fight. It's a cool and intelligent tactic but like, why? Use the wrong person's blood and Chihiro will die to some horrible infection or disease before those seeds of hatred can mature, my dudes. But I kinda wonder... Chs. 32 & 49 again:

Hiruhiko proceeds to taunt Chihiro like nothing happened after being violently stabbed out of a moving train.

There's something freaky about how the marked Hishaku members are totally OK with being skewered and losing limbs. Even Chihiro winces in pain when he's hit hard enough to lose his arm, y'know? Is it just because this is an ultra-violent action series and the villains need to stay threatening?

No insights, just pure glazing. This panel absolutely stunning... I can clearly see the motion and imagine exactly how it's happening. I held my breath in anticipation while reading this and was not at all disappointed by the gorgeous spread on the next page. God I love the fights in Kagurabachi.

Yet another "Hakuri needs time to recover" reminder. It's been constant since the arc started in Chapter 45... just for the dramatic tension, probably. I've already said my piece about relying on this particular tool too much, so let's move on.

As this site's #1 Hakuri Agendaposter, I think he's gonna be okay in the short term. We don't know if the Hishaku have accounted for him or not, but the focus right now is on the Bearers. He'll be fine. Surely. I can see him going too far to be "useful" and knocking himself out to transport Kumeyuri and possibly Eye Scar's blade- or maybe Hiyuki to their current location if Hokazono-sensei's feeling funny-, but no torture or suffering flags have been raised. Yet. He's just going to be running on fumes for a while...

Official Tier List Drop

Chihiro corrected Hakuri's "nonsense" estimations for all the powerscalers out there, how kind of him. I kind of went on a fuckhuge tangent here but I can't be assed to retake all the screenshots to post separately. So suffer (or skip if you're sane)!

But who could beat Goku?!?!?!/1/1 Obviously, equipped nuke bearers and Hiyuki are in a class of their own. A step down are uniquely strong fighters like Azami, Shiba, Hiruhiko, and John. Then there's the endless Datenseki fodder who are only scary when they're in a group and not exploded yet.

I don't give a flying fuck about who would win against Ultra SSJ Gigaturbo Pepsimaxx'd Goku. However, I do like it when there are clearly established tiers of power. NOT the graded tiers style where things are neatly ranked from coughing baby to hydrogen bomb, mind you. That is the laziest way to explain a universe's relative power dynamic. It also lets me know that the protagonist is going to single-handedly wreck the balance via powercreep not even halfway through the series (unless it's HxH, which only applies to one series: HxH).

I much prefer Kagurabachi's fuzzy approach. The stakes are clearly established: the Enchanted Blades and Hiyuki's Enkotsu are a Big Fucking Deal. They are incredibly strong and all the characters treat them as such. So Chihiro, Hiyuki, and armed Bearers are at the top.

Yet even within that small selection there's a notable differential in power between those who have mastered the weapon and those who haven't. Chihiro is hella strong, but Shiba let us know early on that he's still got a long way to go before he's truly formidable. We've seen Chihiro get bodied by Sojo, a genius who only had Kuregumo for a few weeks; he's in tune with Enten, but he's got a hell of a lot to learn about fighting strong opponents still. He's probably closer in strength to an Elite Sorcerer than a veteran Bearer like Uruha. (The whole thing about hardly ever fighting fully healed and rested up is also a sticking point, but not gonna digress on that.)

Beneath that tier are strong Elite sorcerers. Azami was noted by Uruha as being as "reassuring" as Hiyuki in terms of his abilities, and Chihiro put Shiba, John, and Hiruhiko on par with him. So I think it's reasonable to infer that the strength of their sorcery and their experience as fighters would put them so close to the Bearers in terms of power. The elite Kamunabi guards and task force, by comparison, make up for their shortcomings by working together as a team. They'd be at the bottom of this category -possibly another step below- individually, but their teamwork and experience put them much closer to a Bearer's strength. The Sazanami Tou would be in this category too despite mostly being off-screened by Shiba (he's just that good).

And then there are run-of-the-mill guys like the Trauma, Mud Clone, and regular Sazanami sorcerers. They're very strong compared to an average person but need those Datenseki shards to compete with the elites. This is the true "miminum strength" floor in Kaugrabachi. If you can't hold your own against a rando sorcerer hireling, you have no business being involved in the fights. Of course the Hiruhikos and Shibas of the world will outclass you horribly, but that's the risk you take when being unnamed fodder in Kagurabachi.

This high of a power floor is why I'm glad we don't see regular people like Hinao anywhere near the skirmishes- a sorcerer can easily manhandle them, and the fights Chihiro gets involved in are far more lethal than they can safely stand around to provide commentary for. This means all the insightful remarks come from the fighters themselves and only rarely an omniscient narrator, which is so much more interesting than listening to a non-combatant give a play-by-play. It's refreshing to see the fighting left to the warriors while the regular folks actually run away to safety for once, you know?

That's a key component of why the fights in Kagurabachi feel so different from other shounen so far. I don't need someone who's never thrown hands telling me how amazing Chihiro looks and explaining what he's doing: the author is showing me while Chihiro himself tells me what he's thinking. And when we do get third-party commentary, it's limited to providing vital context. We aren't wasting panels to glaze the fighters and explain everything in excruciating detail. We just see it play out and understand that yes, this is absolutely awesome and it works because of the quality of the composition. And because we don't need a door stopper of a novel to explain what each ability does (this is JJK shade, come at me).

OK, tangent within a tangent aside... where does that leave outliers like Hakuri, Tafuku, Ice Lady, and unarmed bearers?

Tafuku's sorcery has insane utility, but it looks like he himself doesn't get any direct combat boost. So he really needs a partner like Hiyuki to make the most of it.

I'd say he's probably in the Elite tier considering he has no issues dealing with the rank-and-file sorcerers and guards at the auction. He's plenty used to defending himself while Hiyuki wreaks havoc at least. So the combination of skill, utility, and experience make up for the lack of raw power.

So far it seems as though folks like Char and Ice Lady aren't much better off than non-sorcerers. In fact, we've only seen these traits cause a great deal of suffering at the hands of people who want to exploit them...

Their natural traits seem to provide passive benefits that can negate sorcery side-effects in specific situations (like the nausea caused by Shiba's teleportation in Char's case), but so far there's no evidence that they provide any advantages against actual techniques. They're below the minimum power threshold but a smidge above average civilians for now. This could change if we get more information and examples, though.

So Chihiro said, but...

Dude's still looking mighty fine to me.

If all the former bearers are on the same level as Uruha, then they're not truly "defenseless". However, they definitely do need help when facing Elites and many average sorcerers. They're probably in the middle of the "ordinary" sorcerer tier without their blades- competent against the minimum, but at risk against anything tougher.

So yeah. Uruha's not gonna get shanked by a regular non-magical enemy- he's just defenseless compared to most of the relevant combatants in this universe right now. And as soon as he gets Kumeyuri back, he'll be at the apex. He should be able to handle the trash still on the train just fine until then.

Potential Man incarnate

Hakuri's in a weird spot.

He's the first genius in his clan's 200-year history since the OG patriarch and has a huge amount of potential. Even in the wider world he's quite exceptional for having two sorcery abilities available to him. But the actual mechanics of how he allocates his sorcery and trains it are big unknowns right now. Hakuri's basically got infinite potential, maybe enough to put him in the same tier as the Bearers and Hiyuki. But will he have the time and narrative attention to get there? We don't know. He can't even use his powers without knocking himself out at the moment, so it'll be a while before we see any movement on that too.

He's off to the side with a big question mark over his head for now. I need more information and screen time of him fighting while rested to place him. Which reminds me, actually... Kazane's in the same position. He was supposed to be the trump card in the Sojo fight but lost his arm and most of his comrades before he got to do anything. So he and Hakuri can chill on the sidelines until it's time to see them in action once more.

Thanks for tuning in to the worst cooking show on Tumblr, dear void. Next up: Eye Scars, maybe! Chihiro fighting through the streets to get vengeance on Uruha's behalf! Uruha and Hakuri possibly also making an appearance! Stay fresh, bachibros.

[meanbossart]

Some art-advice asks I've been meaning to reply to!

I use Clip Studio Paint Pro, though I'm not sure what tips I could give just in general. Just experiment with new things often, draw as much as your lifestyle allows, watch how other people do their work but try to avoid "Dont do THIS thing ever" type lessons and tutorials. Use as much reference as you'd like and take your time! To this day a simple sketch can still take me several hours to do depending on what it is.

Thank you so much!!! I didn't do any kind of formal art schooling but I've always been inclined towards arts and crafts, and started taking drawing semi seriously when I was about 17 (I'm 27 now). I draw a lot of inspiration from western comics and my favorite artists are jason shawn alexander and sean murphy.

Oh I'm so flattered to hear my stuff's inspired you to take up drawing again, I have a bunch of little crafty hobbies but art is by far the most fulfilling one to me - largely because you're constantly learning and improving.

You're definitely onto something already, I am constantly looking at other people's art (even If it isn't a style I would want to emulate) and analyzing how the pieces come together to create the final product. In my opinion this is pretty much the best way you can go about learning besides real-life reference drawing. You can even take something into your software of choice/print it out and trace it (just to yourself, of course) to get a sense of hand-motion and line use.

As a beginner I think there's no shame at all in taking heavy inspiration from your favorite artists, as long as you aren't straight up copying things and calling them your own. Your personal style Is likely to come out naturally, with time. That's very much how I started myself!

Also, just be patient with yourself, try to have realistic goals for your skill level while simultaneously being proud of everything you do. Even if you absolutely despise a drawing, you still drew something! And even if it doesn't feel that way you most definitely learned from it. Use learning tools and tutorials to whatever point you feel comfortable with but don't get stuck on people's arbitrary rules - unless we're talking about something tangible like real-life application of traditional art tools, things like anatomy, perspective and light are to be referenced from - but It's not the goal to emulate them 100% unless you ARE going for hyperrealism. As someone who uses a ton of reference these days, I can tell you first-hand that I often find myself straying from it on purpose to make a piece look more interesting.

Lastly, draw things you enjoy! Don't let anyone else dictate what you SHOULD be doing and don't fall into the trappings of wanting to stick to one specific style, process, or subject matter.

Good luck!!!

LOL thank you so much for your very evocative compliments! I haven't ever done a timelapse, not that I remember at least. I'm not sure how they work but I do so much of "I'm gonna try this thing 5 different ways and then decide what I like" that I'm not sure how comprehensive that would be LOL

I could put together a process showcase or something though, I feel like that might be better even, since I get to explain a little of what I'm doing through text and display how I use reference. Something to consider!

[theonevoice]

Rumination n. 5 - What if Aziraphale can make a difference? On choosing each other, for real

There is a scene in s2 that I keep thinking about, and I don't see it discussed almost at all: it's the first conversation between Michael and Uriel after Gabriel's disappearance.

This is a power struggle. Very human, not celestial at all, fight for power. It's not even hidden or coded.

Now - and this could just be my brain getting smooth over this show that is devouring my soul - the more I think about this moment, the more I am convinced that this very human moment (and its various subsequent reprises) is signaling us that Heaven has, so to speak, "margin for improvement." And probably so does Hell.

I feel that we have been oversimplifying Heaven and Hell because they "look" simple and monolytical, especially when compared to the nuanced worldview that Aziraphale and Crowley developed over their 6000 years of experience on Earth. But there are some heavy "shades of grey" in Heaven. They are ruthless, for a start (see the Fall and, well, most of what happens in the Bible). They are proud and arrogant (see how they behave with Aziraphale and "37th order scrivener, but, you know, noone" Muriel). They are power-angry (which, in the context of an existence that doesn't need money or power, its just a symptom of vanity, in my opinion). They have far more human-like qualities than they should, we just don't give much attention to them because our focus is squarely on their stiff adherence to the "Heavenly code" and their role as antagonists/enemies of the protagonists.

Same goes for Hell, with opposite sign: Hastur was shocked by the destruction of Ligur, Shax and Furfur appear to have some form of camaraderie or loyalty towards each other, the demon Josh notices that Beelzebub is acting weird and asks them if they're feeling alright, and Beelzebub, well, is a Grand Duke of Hell capable of falling in love.

So, what if, given this margin, Aziraphale can make a difference?

Until now, if I am not mistaken, the most common take on what expects Aziraphale as Supreme Archangel is "he's going to realize that Heaven cannot be fixed and he will have to finally drop his idealized delusion and fight his way back to Crowley." Which I personally love as a scenario (but, to be honest, I am loving almost any GO scenario that floats in my direction: the creativity of this fandom is unbelievable and so respectful of the characters that every speculation feels like it could be Neil Gaiman's work), but it could undermine the weight of his choice.

Because choice is a theme in this show: not choice as in "choosing sides," but choice as in "making up one's mind and taking a serious, conscious, thought-through decision." And if Heaven is just a lost cause, unable to change and irredimable, then it's not much of a choice for Aziraphale to go back to Crowley. But if Heaven does react to change, if the human-like qualities that other archangels have displayed become a bridge, and Aziraphale, with his warmth and kindness and softness, actually manages to bring Michael and Uriel and others on more reasonable positions - then his choice becomes a real choice that he has to make.

Not the "easy" choice between reality and delusion but a hard choice between Crowley and the real opportunity to be the one who makes a difference.

(I am still slightly infatuated with the possibility that, just before the Fall, it was an already damned Crowley who asked him to "be a good angel" and "make a difference" because he could see how genuinely good Aziraphale was, compared to the "institutional goodness" of the others, but I have already blabbered about this in another rumination)

Also, I read a brilliant post a couple of weeks back (I will edit as soon as I find it again) about how, despite their appearance and demeanour, Crowley is basically an engineer, "armed" with a tool for creating cosmic machinery and putting it in motion, while Aziraphale is a fighter, armed with an actual sword. And this got me thinking again: in Christian iconography, Michael is the belligerant archangel, the one who is recognizable by his sword. Now, Neil Gaiman does not let pre-existing traditions dictate what he writes, obviously. But still, we could witness an unforseen connection between Aziraphale and, against all odds, the other sword-wielding entity, Michael: and it could led to some unexpected coalition, possibly even against the Metatron and the plans regarding the Second Coming.

After all, in a way, Michael has already displayed many human and very shades-of-gray traits: let's not forget that, already in s1, it was Michael the one communicating on the "grapevine that obviously doesn't exist" with Hell (I believe behind Gabriel's back: the more I rewatch it, the more I think that he honestly didn't know about it) and still is in s2. It was Michael the one bringing Holy Water downstairs. It is Michael the one that has first-hand experience of what it means to "collaborate with the enemy" in order to get things done.

I don't know how likely this is but it seems to me that it would be interesting if Aziraphale, instead of just leaving Heaven in disgust after some failed attempt at "fixing it," will have to make the hard choice between a Heaven that was starting, for real, to show signs of improvement and his old life on Earth with Crowley.

And something similar could happen on the other side, should Crowley go back to Hell (either out of rage and desperation or because something comes up that forces him to do so). Maybe he could find for the first time ever a sense of "demonic brotherhood" with his "colleagues" (maybe Shax and Furfur themselves). Something that he had never imagined during the six millennia he has spent believing to be alone in the universe if not for Aziraphale.

Maybe their reunion will be about having an alternative to their life together and choosing it anyway. If you think about it, one thing that they never had to do was deciding to be together instead of being somewhere else, doing something else, with somebody else. Being the two of them has always been their only reality - dangerous and hidden, of course, but undisputed, in a way: together since the early days in the Garden, noone else around to compete with that, no other supernatural person-shaped entity to serve as a potential alternative. Their respective head offices are two opposite voids, two negative spaces that have literally nothing that could attract them. Of course, they are in love with each other and they would probably be in love with each other in any possible alternative universe, but it's not like they have chosen to be with each other, they were just the only two person-shaped entities around, pulled together by the gravity of their respective loneliness and fears, doubts and little joys.

But if in s3 we see them acquire "alternatives", something else of value that exists outside their group of the two of them, then they will have to choose their life together for real, this time.

[macgyvermedical]

Hi! I saw your post about the NCCC. Can you tell me a little bit more about what it was like? And maybe some certifications or skils I might want to have before applying that would help me be a shoe in? In a year or two I'd like to leave where I am and travel, and then maybe settle down somewhere else after, and this seems like a good way to go about that and simultaneously chase my interests and find things I enjoy. Basically- I've got time to build skills before I want to apply, and I think it'd be a great fit for me, so I'm just curious about any and all information that would help me be more informed and prepared.

What it's like: (note that I served in 2018, so some of this may be outdated information)

Once you're accepted, they place you at one of 4 campuses throughout the USA. You get a duffel bag mailed to you (anything you bring with you has to fit in this duffel) and a plane or train ticket emailed to you. You have to take that plane or train to the campus, because they pick you up in a bus or van from the airport or station.

Once you get to campus, you go through "in-processing" where you get your uniforms, gear, and PPE, get assigned a room and/or bunk, and meet your instructors for training. If you're a Corps Member, you are also assigned a team and meet your Team Leader at this time (though some campuses do this later in training).

Training lasts about 2 months for Team Leaders and about 1 month for Corps Members. You are with the same cohort (called a "Class") for your whole service term, including training. Training includes how to get along as a team, physical training to ensure you're physically capable of the work demanded of you, and specific training on things like how to drive the van, how to use certain tools and PPE, and how to do any tasks associated with your particular role on the team.

Towards the end of training you go on a 1-2 day mini project, where you go through all the motions of a real project (called a "spike"), except that it's really near by campus and it's pretty much for practice.

Then you go on your first real spike. Depending on where it is and what time of year it is, you might live in a tent, in a dorm, in a half-built house, or any remotely suitable housing supplied by the hosting organization. We lived in a conference room once, and once in an old nursing home wing that wasn't being used.

Food is handled by giving a lump sum of money on a card to the team, and you have to figure out grocery shopping and cooking as a team. This is a challenge, but one that usually works out.

For transportation, the team has one 15-passenger van. Gas is paid for by NCCC. If you have a project that requires a lot of tools, you may have a pickup truck too, but this is rare, and you're not allowed to use it for anything other than project reasons. You keep a log of every time you use the van or truck, for any reason, and there is a 25-mile radius from housing that you're allowed to go.

Spikes are between 3-8 weeks long and you do 4-7 of them during a service term. In between you have "transition" where you go back to campus, debrief from your previous project, brief and train for your next project, and catch up with everyone else. At the end of the service term, you have a final debrief, have a life after americorps meeting, learn job skills like writing a resume, etc... and get your plane ticket home.

What you should do to get prepared:

You don't need certifications. If you need to know something for a project they will train you. If you want something I'd say get First Aid or Wilderness First Aid. Getting a little job experience and a lot of volunteer experience will help you a lot more.

[love-kurdt]

Swooping, Sloping, Cursive Letters: 21

word count: 966

PLEASE READ THIS IS ME TRYING FIRST, AS THIS STORY RELIES HEAVILY UPON THE CONTEXT OF TIMT

May 17, 1989

Dear Will,

Today started out pretty rough, since one of my tires on my bike popped when I was halfway to your house. And given how quickly Hawkins has become a fucking sauna over the past few weeks (thanks, rural midwest), it was not a blast to push my bike the rest of the way on foot. Again, I could have taken my car to begin with, but I think in some way shape or form, we crave that element of our childhoods, riding bikes through the neighborhood like old times. Plus, Lucas and I are the only ones who have cars right now, so majority rules. Anyway, I still wound up at your house about half an hour early, and we spent that time trying to figure out how to patch up and refill my tire. No dice, unfortunately. But our hands brushed a few times, so it wasn’t too inconvenient.

Jonathan ended up coming into the garage at one point to grab a few tools (he’s been helping Hop out with some home projects, like a new shelving unit for your living room and a deck out back— but you already know that, why am I going on about this?) and suggested I just share your bike with you. You laughed so loudly that I thought I was gonna puke. I forced my anxiety back down and reminded Jon of how tall I am (last time I went to the doctor they said I was 6’3”– no, I’m not kidding), and he insisted that I, “just try and sit on the handlebars, or something.” I thought the idea was insane, but you seemed to be pretty entertained by it, so I shook my head with slight embarrassment before I motioned for you to mount the bike.

You swung your leg over the bar and rested your feet on either side, a huge grin on your face. “Do your worst, Wheeler,” you told me. I was so tempted to dramatically fling myself over the handlebars like a ragdoll, but then again, I didn’t feel like throwing out my back at the ripe age of eighteen. I turned so my back faced you, reached behind me to grip the handlebars, and hoisted myself up as best as I could, while you reached a hand out to hold my side and keep me steady. I must’ve looked like a fucking praying mantis or some shit, with my knees almost hitting my chin because of how I was balancing my toes on the front fender, but I didn’t care, because your reaction was fucking priceless. You were hysterically laughing, and I couldn’t help but begin to laugh as well.

Before I knew what was happening, Jonathan had disappeared and come back within record speed, and a bright flash hit my eyes as he clicked the button on his camera. I glanced back at you, and thankfully, you didn’t look fazed at all. In fact, you said to Jonathan, “please tell me I’ll get a copy of that,” while catching your breath from laughing so hard.

After that whole debacle, we actually tried riding the bike with me in front, but you couldn’t really see on account of the top of your head barely reaching my shoulders. So we eventually gave up on trying and just walked to Dustin’s to meet the rest of the Party, since his house isn’t too far away from yours, and Jon was still busy with his project and couldn’t drive us. Which I was totally fine with, because… duh, time alone with you is time well spent. We played D&D, and I kind of got a little too invested in your campaign. I think I just love seeing you so happy. I don’t think I could ever get tired of watching you in your element.

Once the session ended, Lucas gave us a ride home (I love how I just referred to your house as my home, I might’ve gotten a little emotional just now while writing it). We walked into your living room and saw Jonathan sitting on the couch with a bunch of photos spread out across the surface of the coffee table. Apparently, he’d gone and processed all of his films at Melvald’s while we were at Dustin’s; there were two copies of the photo he’d taken earlier.

He gave me one before asking if I wanted to stay for dinner. As much as I would’ve loved to, I actually did need to take care of Holly tonight, since our parents are in Ohio right now at some conference for my dad’s job. You offered to drive me back to my house, and I tried not to look too excited as I said yes.

Once we arrived in my driveway, I leaned over the center console and hugged you, telling you I had a great time with you today. You hugged me back (you hadn’t for the first few seconds and I nearly had a panic attack) and said you had a great time with me too. I went inside, holding the freshly printed photo of us in my hand.

So… I might have framed it. I know, it’s weird and frankly kind of stalker-y, but… deal with it. You’ll never actually know about this anyway. Not unless I leave the frame sitting in plain sight when you come into my room, or if I recklessly forget to hide these letters detailing where exactly my copy of the photo went, as well as the countless times I’ve talked about wanting to kiss you. For now, I’m keeping it under my pillow. 

Okay, I’m gonna stop writing now in order to stop myself from sounding like even more of a creep than I already am.

Love,

Mike

-

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[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Freedom, for a price.

( Please come see me on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord Every bit helps)   *Sound of a door opening*

*Multiple footsteps entering before creaking door shut*

*scuff of a chair being dragged against rock floor before someone sits down*

Human: I was wondering if you would accept my invitation.

Nivo: Ga’tek sha von tout.

Human: Forgive me, my translator must be offset.

Human: *Slaps translator*

Human: There we go; can you repeat your last statement?

Nivo: Why should I not kill you?

*Sounds of alien weapons being pulled out and charged*

Human: Is such unwarranted aggression needed?

Nivo: You somehow located our stronghold, snuck past all of my men, and left a calling card in my war room.

Nivo: The only reason you are still alive now is that I would know how this was done.

Human: Let us not focus on the past and instead look to our future.

Nivo: You have no future if you do not answer my question.

Human: Where as you have none should you not hear what I have to offer.

Nivo: *Silence*

Nivo: *Motions for guns to be lowered*

Human: Tell me general, how goes your civil war?

Nivo: We shall soon overthrow the corrupt council and restore order to our world and our people.

Human: Oh?

Human: Then I must congratulate you!

Human: As my information says you will lose in six months if things do not change.

Nivo: LIES! *Smashes fists against table*

Human: There is no need for the acting and bravado with me, general.

Human: I am not one of your soldiers who need their spirits lifted by your defiant speeches.

Nivo: We shall not be defeated by those vile snakes!

Nivo: Our cause is just and noble; we will never surrender!

Human: A rather moot rationality, considering your enemy is not excepting surrender at this time.

Nivo: This discussion is quickly becoming less amusing by the moment, so speak quickly.

Human: *Sighs, puts out cigarette*

Human: Let it not be said that you and your followers are not dedicated and courageous warriors.

Human: The ruling council of yours has long since abused your people and it was only a matter of time until a breaking point was crossed.

Human: But what you lack are the tools to break the chains they have wrapped your people in.

Human: *Taps table*

*Two humans approach out of darkness and set a crate down on the table before retreating*

Nivo: What is this?

Human: *Stands up and pops lid off crate*

Human: The tools of your freedom.

*Reaches into box and pulls out energy assault rifle*

Human: What I have here is the Mark VII Continental.

Human:  Carries a sixty round energy capacity with on the fly recharge, each round capable of piercing through an energy barrier of 1.5 frequency or a solid six feet of reinforced concrete.

Human: *Tosses it to Nivo who catches it midair in one hand*

Human: These babies make your current arsenal look like children’s toys.

Nvio: *Angry grunts but inspects the weapon nonetheless.*

*After a few moments passes it behind him to one of his waiting men*

Human: Don’t be shy, plenty to go around.

*flips over crate and several more rifles spill out across the table*

Nivo: This is what you brought me here for?

Nivo: A crate of weapons?

Human: No.

Human: A sample of what is to come.

Human: *Reaches into coat and removes data pad, sliding it over to Nivo*

Human: My associates are willing to supply you, your men, and anyone else you deem worthy; with the weapons and necessities needed to win this righteous war.

Nivo: *Takes up data pad and scrolls through items*

Nivo: Impressive.

Nivo: But if we truly are losing, why sell to us?

Nivo: As you said we are on the verge of falling and have little in means to pay you.

Human: *Chuckles* We know this, but fortunately for you my associates are not looking for monetary compensation for these items.

Nivo: Then what?

Human: There is an island in your southern hemisphere; rather desolate place isolated by miles of ocean in every direction.

Nivo: What of it?

Human: When you achieve victory we want you to cede that island to our control to manage and govern as we see fit.

Nivo: What use would it be for you?

Human: That is not your concern.

Nivo: You ask me to sell sovereign lands of my people and think I am desperate enough not to ask why?

Human: *Pauses, paces away from table before turning around*

Human: The truth then?

Nivo: The truth.

Human: We have little care for you or your war.

Human: You can grind yourself into dust and be scattered to the winds by your enemies and we would not lift a finger in contempt.

Human: But what we do care about are your neighbors.

Nivo: Neighbors?

Human: The Talayan Empire and the Rembar Republic.

Human: You see they we are concerned about and are very much interested in keeping an eye on.

Human: They’ve made some rather inciting remarks that have made my associates nervous.

Nivo: What does that have to do with my people?

Human: Your council refused our previous offer to establish a listening post on the island; going so far as to ban us from your space entirely.

Nivo: So your truth is made clear.

Nivo: You seek only your own betterment by supporting my cause.

Human: Is that so wrong?

Human: You obtain your freedom and we get our small island; everyone wins.

Nivo: And what is to stop me from simply denying you your prize after we win?

Human: *Chuckles* We both know you are a warrior of honor and would never break your word.

Human: Likewise you are a being of common sense and realize the folly of such a betrayal.

Nivo: *looks confused at remark*

Human: If my associates have access to this type of hardware and are willing to dispense it so freely to help a potential ally, what do you think they would do to a hated enemy?

Nvio: *silent*

Human: There is no need to dwell on distasteful possibilities.

Human: For the price of one island you can have the better future you have dreamed of for you and your people.

Human: *holds out hand* Do we have a deal?

Nivo: *Turns to see his men holding weapons, the look of despair gone from their eyes replaced with the flickering flame of hope*

Nivo: *Turns around and takes humans hand*

Nivo: We have a deal, Mr.?

Human: Yuri.

Yuri: You may call me Yuri.