#its a process but its working! i got the first batch done

[zepkan]

another batch of refs for artfight!!! these 2 are moirails

[nahoney22]

Hi! i love your writing and was wondering if you could do the tbb (or just tech if you dont wanna do all of them) reaction to their gender neutral S/O pulling out their old instrument or color guard equipment from their marching band days and practicing what they remember (i dont even know if star wars has an equivalent to marching band/color guard lol but i picked an old practice flag up for the first time since high school earlier and the thought popped into my head for this request..) feel free to disregard this if it’s not something you wanna write, keep up the amazing work!!

Colour Guard Memories

The Bad Batch Boys X GN!Reader

How The Bad Batch react to you pulling out your old instrument or colour guard equipment.

warnings: none, gender neutral reader, can be read as platonic or romantic, Batchers admiring/encouraging reader.

authors note: this is a really cute idea and sorry it has took so long to do anon. In the UK we don’t really have marching bands/ colour guards aside from royal parades from what I know so I’ve relied on Google to help me out 😅 enjoy!

Echo

"Think we've got everything?" Echo asks, sealing the final box of your belongings.

As you survey the sea of packed boxes, you're struck by the realisation of just how many possessions you've gathered over the years. It's only now, in the process of moving out of your family home, that the extent of it hits you. After what feels like an eternity of packing and stacking, you're finally done and you couldn’t be any more grateful for Echo's helping hand.

"I hope so," you reply, wiping your brow and straightening up, hands on your hips. "Now, all that's left is to get it onto the ship." The prospect of lugging boxes onto the ship isn't exactly thrilling, but you're itching to kick back and relax.

Echo chuckles and reaches for one of the sealed boxes, but disaster strikes as the bottom gives way, sending its contents tumbling to the floor. "Well, that's just great," he says wryly.

Letting out a sigh, you join him in gathering up the scattered items. Amidst the chaos, something catches your eye: an old, familiar object. "No way!"

Startled by your sudden excitement, Echo turns to you. "What is it?"

"It's my Sabre!" you exclaim, holding up the cherished item for him to see.

He blinks in surprise. "Uh, your lightsaber?"

You playfully roll your eyes at Echo, a mischievous glint in your eyes, as you take the equipment into your hands and wave it at him. "You've known me long enough to know I'm not a Jedi, Echo," you tease, giving the Sabre a quick twirl. "It's from when I used to be be a colour guard for a marching band."

Echo chuckles, shaking his head in amusement. "I didn't know you did that."

"Yeah! I loved it. Want to see what I can still do?" you ask, a hint of excitement in your voice.

"The floor's all yours," he says, stepping back to give you space.

You take a moment to steady yourself, feeling the weight of the stainless steel Sabre in your hands. With a deep breath, you begin your routine, the familiar movements flooding back to you. As you twirl the Sabre with practiced precision, you can't help but feel a surge of nostalgia. However, in the midst of your performance, disaster strikes as the Sabre slips from your grip, narrowly missing a nearby window.

"Okay, okay, I'm a little rusty. Give me a second," you laugh sheepishly, quickly retrieving the saber and regaining your composure but Echo was still smiling and impressed throughout.

Determined to redeem yourself, you focus on each movement, executing smooth transitions and intricate spins. With each flourish, you feel a sense of satisfaction, the familiar rhythm of the routine bringing back fond memories. As you finally come to a graceful finish, you can't help but feel a sense of pride wash over you.

Echo applauds, a smile playing on his lips. "That was really impressive. You should've told me you could do that before."

"We all have our hidden talents," you grin, a twinkle in your eye as you admire the old memory in your hand before carefully tucking it back into the box. "Anyway, we should probably get going before I get distracted again."

“Well,” he says, resting a hand on your shoulder, “you should perform for me again sometime. If you want to that is.”

There’s a shine in his eyes, genuinely in awe of you and your talent. “I’ll definitely think about it.”

Hunter

Low on credits and desperate for some food to fill your stomachs, you and Hunter venture into a bustling market on a remote planet, hoping to find some opportunity to earn a bit of cash.

"See anything?" Hunter asks, strolling alongside you as you take in the sights and sounds of the market.

"Not really," you reply with a frown. The market is dimly lit, offering little in the way of useful materials, and the locals don't seem particularly welcoming. It's no wonder Hunter insisted on accompanying you.

But then, something does catch your eye. "Hey, that looks like one of my old flags," you remark, pointing to a colorful flag tucked away at the back of a small pop-up stall.

Hunter stops beside you, his interest piqued. "You used to spin those, didn't you?"

You chuckle at his phrasing, yet surprised that he remembers since it was just something you mentioned in passing once. "Yeah, I did. Not sure if I still have the touch, though."

A smirk spreads across Hunter's face as he holds up a finger, indicating for you to wait a moment. A bit embarrassed, you watch as he approaches the seller and strikes up a conversation. After a brief exchange, Hunter returns, flag in hand. "Let's put that theory to the test, shall we?" he suggests with a grin.

"Hunter! Did you just pay for that?" you exclaim incredulously as he shoves the pole into your hand.

"No," he says with a mischievous grin, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "But they said if you can impress them, you can keep it."

You narrow your eyes at him, a mixture of amusement and disbelief dancing in your gaze. "Fine. But I'm warning you," you declare, stepping into a clearing and scanning the area to ensure there's enough space before attempting to recreate a routine you haven't performed in years. "I'm not as good as I used to be."

Taking a deep breath, you grip the pole firmly and let muscle memory take over as you start spinning the flag with practiced precision. The fabric unfurls in vibrant arcs, catching the sunlight and casting colorful patterns across the ground. With each twirl and flourish, you feel a surge of nostalgia as memories of your days in the colour guard come flooding back.

As you continue your impromptu performance, you can't help but lose yourself in the rhythm of the routine, the flag becoming an extension of your body as you spin and swirl with grace.

Hunter is watching you silently and appears to be actually enamoured by your performance. His eyes are wide in surprise.

When you finally come to a graceful finish, you turn to Hunter with a triumphant smile, the flag held aloft in your hand. "How's that for impressing them?" you ask, a hint of pride in your voice.

“That was… wow.” Is all he says, a proud smile on his face. He takes one look to the seller who just gives a brief nod. “And the flag is yours it seems.”

Hunter comes up beside you once more but you feel a tug on your top, turning to face a young child who was holding out credits to you. Bashfully, you accept and the credits swiftly came flooding in.

“Heh, seems like you still got it.” He nudges your side playfully.

This could be a pretty safe way to earn some extra credits it seems.

Wrecker

"Wrecker, come look at this!" you call out excitedly, beckoning your companion over.

With Wrecker's assistance in tidying up the Marauder and transferring some items to the Remora, you stumble upon an unexpected treasure: an old snare drum tucked away amidst the clutter.

"Woah, what's tha’?" Wrecker asks, intrigued, as he joins you on the floor, his eyes fixed on the instrument in your hands.

"I used to play it in a marching band. Forgot I even had it," you reply with a wistful smile, the memories of your band days flooding back, tinged with nostalgia and a touch of sadness for times gone by.

Wrecker notices the flicker of emotion on your face and decides to lift your spirits. "Well, go on then. Give us a beat," he encourages, nudging the drum closer to you and offering a drumstick.

You smile gratefully, feeling a rush of anticipation as you accept the drumstick from his outstretched hand and pick up the matching one from the ground. "Just so you know," you say with a playful glint in your eye, "it sounds much better in a chorus rather than individually."

With a deep breath, you position the drumsticks in your hands, feeling the familiar weight and texture of the material. Closing your eyes, you let muscle memory guide your movements as you begin to play. The rhythmic tapping of the drum reverberates through the air.

As you lose yourself in the music, your fingers move effortlessly across the drum's surface, producing a lively beat that echoes off the walls of the ship. With each stroke, super fast and then skilfully slow, you feel a sense of liberation.

Wrecker watches in awe, a grin spreading cross his face as he listens to the infectious rhythm you create. For a moment, all worries and cares fade away, replaced by the joy of listening to you play. Flourishing a finish, your cheeks warm to Wrecker applauding enthusiastically.

"Tha’ was amazing!" he exclaims, his voice filled with genuine admiration. "You've still got it."

You grin, feeling a surge of pride at his words. "Thanks, Wrecker," you reply, a sense of contentment washing over you. "Maybe we should start our own band."

“Definitely!”

Tech

"Is this yours?" Omega's voice interrupts your thoughts, drawing your attention to the slim case she's holding. As you approach, a wave of nostalgia washes over you at the sight of the familiar case.

"I haven't seen this for a long time," you smile warmly, taking the case into your hands. Kneeling down, you blow the dust off and flip open the lid, revealing your old clarinet nestled inside.

Omega's eyes widen with curiosity as she peers at the instrument. "Wow, that's cool! Did you play it?"

You nod, a fond smile on your face. "Yeah, I used to. In a colour guard and in parades."

"Can you play something now?" she asks eagerly.

Before you can respond, Omega suddenly calls out, "TECH! COME HERE!"

Tech, engrossed in his data pad, looks up in surprise and heads your way. "What is the nature of my presence this time, Omega?"

Omega launches into an exaggerated explanation of your discovery and her request. "Listen to them play."

Tech adjusts his goggles and looks down at you with curious eyes. "I was not aware you could play any instrument."

"I haven't in a long time," you admit sheepishly, wiping the mouthpiece and adjusting the bridge keys. "But I can give it a try."

With a deep breath, you bring the clarinet to your lips and begin to play a soft, melancholic tune. The notes fill the air, weaving a gentle melody that seems to resonate with the quiet stillness of the surroundings. It was a gentle tune, a stark difference to the ones you played in parades.

As you play, you notice Tech glancing up from his data pad, his expression softening as he listens intently to the music. It's a rare sight to see him so engrossed in something other than his work, and you can't help but feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that your music has captured his attention.

By the time you finish the piece, Tech is still watching you, a thoughtful look on his face.

Omega bursts into a loud applause meanwhile Tech smiled at you. “I would not mind you playing that whilst I do some repairs... it’s rather relaxing.”

Crosshair

“What are you doing?” Crosshair's voice breaks your concentration mid-performance, and you freeze as your arms flail, causing the wooden rifle to slip from your grasp and clatter onto the grass.

You spin to face the clone, feeling a flush of embarrassment creeping up your neck. "I found my old rifle from when I used to perform," you explain quickly, bending down to retrieve the prop. With a flick of your foot, you send it spinning into the air, catching it effortlessly as it falls back down. "Want to see?"

Crosshair eyes the rifle with a hint of intrigue, his skepticism giving way to mild interest. "Perform? Rifles are for shooting. Not messing around with.”

“It’s wood, idiot.” You knock on the equipment before you then shrug, a sheepish grin tugging at your lips. "Anyway, it’s called rifle spinning. I used to do it as part of a routine in a performance group. It's more about coordination and showmanship than anything else. Wanna see?” You ask again.

Crosshair nods slowly, his gaze lingering on the rifle as you twirl it expertly in your hands. He stands back as you shows off your moves and he couldn’t hide the small impressed smirk forming on his lips. "You’re quite impressive I’ll give you that. But don't let it distract you from our mission." The compliment was rare but not one you were going to refuse as you give him a smile of thanks. But, he was right. There were more pressing matters at large.

You chuckle, nodding in agreement as you secure the rifle back in its holster. "Of course not. Just a little trip down memory lane."

Masterlist

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[alltoomaples]

life in film - LN

pairing: fem!uni student x lando norris

synopsis: after a year-long of hard work, the day was finally here where you present your portfolio project. you're family and friend circle has joined but will lando be able to reach there on time?

type: writing + picture portfolio

a/n: here's the much-awaited and most polled-in for the write-up! part 2 of love.jpg is here! ngl i feel this can be read alone as well as part but you readers can decide whichever way you wish to read i don't and won't mind <33 (linked down below). a bit of reference was used from the film 'five feet apart' as on the previous day, i binge-watched it (yes i do bing watch this movie for unhealthy times) and the monologue kinda gave an inspiration to write for this part. i must say the writing got way longer than i anticipated hence i had to skip the insta au part. although i think the end is quite an unexpected surprise in my opinion? lemme know what you folks think? now, i'll be working on our poll winner 2 and i'd be happy to take in any requests if you have :))

until next one, happy reading <;33

pre-part: love.jpg

. . . .

You were pacing around the backstage, feeling all anxious and panicky as the day you were looking for was finally here!

Your project portfolio presentation.

A year full of waiting now feels like a moment gone by and yet, you were very grateful of the journey that you had. Your family, friends, Lan, and professors have helped and guided you throughout the process, keeping you sane.

"Y/N, the show's about to start! get down to the staging area please" the lady annouced as you nodded to her.

You turned around the room to see whether Lando could make it as it was his last race of the triple race weekender and although you said it's totally fine if he couldn't make it yet Lando being Lando, he promised you he'd be there. quoting his own words, "i wouldn't miss it for the world and i will be there, bubba"

You get to the side staging area and tries to sneak at the couple front rows. You see that your and Lando's family was seated with a couple of your friends and the quadrant squad. you smiled at them, even waved back at baby Mila when she saw you and squealed. and yet, a deep sigh leaves your lips as you see the empty seat beside Max.

He still hasn't reached here. yet?

You fiddled with the ring on your hand and quickly took your phone when it beeped. it was a message from Max.

from Maxy: he's on his way y/n/n. don't worry about it! ps: if he doesn't, then we'll kick his ass fr. your word will be my command, your highness😤

Silent laughter resulted once you read his texts as you looked at him and shook your head.

You heard people's whispers, and as you turned around, the anchor of the event walks up behind you and enters the stage, meaning the show was about to begin.

"Welcome to one and all present here today! it's an honor and privilege to showcase the works done by our talented students of the graduating batch 2022-23" a round of applause echos the auditorium.

. . . .

Few presentations later, the anchor of the event walks up behind me, about to leave for the stage entrance, indicating its your turn.

You quickly opened your phone and texted Lando.

to Lan <3: hey bubba! im about to go on stage now. and before you say anything bad about yourself, its totally fine and don't blame yourself for it bubs. and maybe, I'll give you a private presentation? anywhoo, wish me luck xx

"You're up in a few mins y/l/n. you ready?" the lady approaches to you. You took a deep breath on and nodded.

"And here's our final student who has set her portfolio with an outstanding theme and work of art and graded first rank of her batch, Ms. y/n y/m/n y/l/n"

As the mic was handed over to you, your phone went off. It was a text from Lando.

from Lan <3: you don't need luck cause your lucky charm is here xx

You were slightly confused and before you could register what he meant, you're now walking onto the stage, and the audience applauds, your fam corner goes a bit wild, hyping you up.

You set your speech papers in front of you. And took another deep breath as the audience went silent.

"Greetings to esteem team and faculty members, my colleagues and everyone gathered here today. I am y/n l/n, a very proud graduate in photography and graphic design. And today is not just any ordinary day but it's much more special ordinary day that I've been waiting for a whole year" you say, with smile on your face as you look to the crowd.

And just like that, there he stood. At the entrance gate, very much like in movies.

Now, it made sense. Your lucky charm is finally here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here i present my portfolio, 'Life in film'" you say proudly, as the projector starts showing your cover page on the big screen.

As soon as the picture is shown on screen, a loud applause echoes, making your head turn in the direction of sound. Lando was the one who made the whole audience clap once again. A smile crippled on your way as you nudged your nose. Lando walked over to his seat quickly, keeping one of his hands over his heart as he nudged his nose back at you.

it was a sign that the two of you made, similar to eskimos' kiss (long distant version).

"Life on film. The name is very simple, minimal, and a daily basis terminology in our lives. So what's the purpose of this theme? You might think what makes such a simple concept of life an extraordinary one?" you say, as you look down at the paper you had in front of you, but then you looked at the ring on your finger. And then looked towards your squad. You show your hand at the big screen and the next slides play along, showing a couple of pictures you shot.

"Well, we humans tend to overlook life. We've stopped taking time and appreciate what we have. The bright sunny sky we rarely see in the UK, a string of laughter from a little baby, flowers blossoming in spring, an old couple walking hand in hand. A moment of stillness amongst the chaos, a moment of laughter, contentment, and love," you say, looking at your loved ones.

The looks on everyone's faces were the best reward you could ever receive! Even Lando's expressions spoke volumes of how much he was amused and in awe by your works. You were getting a bit overwhelmed with joy by seeing this and felt like your heart would burst out of so much happiness. Then, you decided to speak from what your heart says as you folded your speech sheet.

"Life could give some tough times, but it's during these times we remember what our purpose is. That even the sour lemons could be made into lemonade. You just have to find the sweetness, your lucky charms," you say, looking at Lando. You saw everyone around him cooing at him, making him blush.

"From being a small girl who'd roam around with her dad's camera, dreaming her life revolve around films and polaroid, and here's she is! chasing her dreams with her lucky charm, " you say, showing the ring on your finger. People in the audience said, 'aww', as were from your squad side.

"A second turn into a minute, into an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade, and so does it goes. Yet how crazy it is to be able to live life to its fullest, and not just for those successful moments, but for small, big, and everything in between moments! Cause life's too short to waste a second" you say, as the final picture is being shown.

A picture of you and Lando on the day he proposed you, 4 months back.

"And that's life on film! thank you, everybody, for being here! and special shoutout to my parents and Lan's for all the guidance and love, siblings and quadrant squad for all the support" you say, looking at them and then, looking at the person who's your everything.

"And to the most important person with whom i don't think i could have achieved this without him. my project partner, the boyfriend at the start to now, my fiancé, Lando, " you say, getting a bit teary-eyed as you look at him.

"Thank you for choosing me as your partner cause i can't think of anyone else with whom i would have done this!" You say, voice getting a bit crackling. And as soon as you turned the mic off and took a bow, the lights of the room turned on, and the whole room stood up, applauding and cheers of hoots erupting the room.

Lando didn't think twice as he stood and ran up towards the stage and engulfed you in a tight hug as he picked and spun the two of you around.

"You made it very on time, Mr. Norris" you said, tugging by his coat as he put you to the ground, arms still around your waist.

"I promised you I'd be here. And you did an outstanding and amazing..." he starts rambling, making you laugh as a tear slipped out your eye. before you get it, Lando holds your face in his hands, wiping the tears off while he still continues his ramble of appreciation for you.

"... and gorgeous and adorable work of masterpiece!! I'm soo proud and lucky to be your partner, my future Mrs. Norris" he says, tugging you an inch closer to him.

"Your future Mrs. Norris?? I love how that sounds" you whisper to him, with a smug expression on your face.

"I bet our lives would be a sweet sweet lemonade of lucky charms" Lando says, making the two of laugh before you two pull in for a kiss. You two pull back with a smile and look at the crowd. Lando takes a step back as he raises both his hands and takes a bow at you, making you feel so special, and then photographers capture it as well.

get yourself a goofy gentleman who treats you like a queen and makes you laugh out loud, ladies!

. . . .

Then the two of you lead your way to you squad where both the families hugged you, congratulate, and said that they were so proud of you today. the sibling and quadrant squad did the same as well as asked for copies of your portfolio.

And as you were on your way to the exit, Lando pulled you behind carefully as you had baby Mila in your arms.

"I wanted to ask about that private presentation you texted me earlier" He whispers into your ear, and then proceeds to cover Mila's ears with his hands.

"Is the offer still open??" Lando says, sending shivers down your spine.

"Lando Norris! there's a baby between us" you whisper shout at him.

"Henceforth, covered her ears" he says, a bit frustrated with the lack of answer. You shrug his hands off the baby's ears and walks ahead, Lando following you.

"C'mon baby mils, let's leave your uncle Norris behind and get you on a nap" you say, say you nudge your nose into her belly making her giggle faintly as you saw she was getting sleepy.

"I guess, Uncle Norris gets his presentation later tonight then?" he asks, a tad bit of hope in his tone. You get to the car seat and buckle Mila up.

"You are all good to go baby Mi! You say. once you're all set with Mila, you turn around to meet with Lando, standing close by.

"and I'll see what i could do for you, Mr. Norris" You smoothen his collar of the coat as you leaned in and whispered, with a smile.

"How did i ever got so lucky?" He whispers, pulling you close before you walked by. You squish his cheeks with one hand.

"I guess it's the lucky charms?" you say, with thinking face, making Lando laugh.

"Thank god for that lemonade season" He says, making both you reminisce the day where it all began for the two.

. . . . memory unfolds

"Lemons are soo bitty. So would the lemonade be bitty too, mama and mama norri" the 3-year-old you asked as you stood in the kitchen, watching the two besties, your mom and Cisca make lemonade.

"Sweetheart, even the sour lemons can be made into lemonade. You just gotta add sweetness" your mom says, Cisca carrying the jar of sugar.

"Oohhh i hear lemonade" yells the 4-year-old Lando as he ran into the kitchen and sat next to you. The dads entering the room as they had came back from Lando's go-kart practice.

As the glass contained only lemon juice, you stopped him from drinking it.

"That's sour lemon landoo!" you say, grabbing the glass from him and leads his along with your glass towards Cisca to add sugar.

"Sour lemons can be made into lemonade by adding sweetness, the lucky charms" you say to lando. you and lando had a phase of saying sugar as lucky charms as it was sweet as the cerals luck charms.

Cisca handed back to you the two glass you had and then you mixed it well before handing it to Lando and yourself.

Seeing this scene unfold, your parents were in awe and felt like they're witnessing something special with their kids. And without any further request, your dad picks his camera and shot a picture.

A picture with an embark of new journey. A picture that both set of parents had it framed in their house as well as their hearts.

. . . . back to present

"Yoo lovebirds, come over and have your lemonade drinks" Oliver calls over the two of you.

You two walk over to where everyone was seated and handed a now sleepy Mils to Oliver. Flo hands the drinks for the two as well as your lucky-charm sugar sachets. Once you kept the drinks down, Lando grabbed it to drink it and before he could, you grabbed his hand, stopping him to take a sip.

"That's sour lemon, landooo!" you say as you shake your head at his carelessness. You then tear the sugar sachets and add to both of your lemonades.

"How do i always forget the lucky cha- i mean sugar" Lan mumbles, enough sound for you to hear as you let out a small laugh.

As the two of you have your lemonade drinks, the parents watch the two of you as they did 20 years back. Your dad takes a picture with your camera, that you had given him to hold it for you.

And i guess, the lemonade story have captured your lives in film roll.

. . . .

am i wanting a part 3 for this, just to wrap it?? you guys let me knw ;))

check out my works: until i found you masterlist | other works

[denis-local]

YALL, ITS YA BOI, GR4Y, AND I AM *BACK* WITH SOME *QUESTIONS*!! *insert fleshcousin yay sfx*

1. how many people buy the 💖yassified💖 fafa (i'd eat it tbh)

2. where'd boots get the 💖yassified💖 boots!? gawhdamn those are long

3. did cashier open the icecream freezer yet, i wanna buy some. (bonus, is there a 💖yassified💖 icecream flavor?)

4. Does Yassi-Spray exist?? Possibly under a different product name than Yassi-Spray? (bear spray, but for fending off the 💖yassified💖)

5. why in the FUCK is denis' tail getting stretched to oblivion in the 💖yassify💖 spectrum comic, i need to know (on the last few panels)

6. what new things can williamplayz (willyslayz) do now that he's 💖yassified💖

7. can pest sing (if so, which lady gaga song since he likes lady gaga)

8. has kasper ever tried to kill/execute (un)pleasant

9. can the 💖yass-virus💖 transfer through particles and what not

10. to add onto the last question, does kasper sneeze '💖yassify-particles💖' or something

11. oh dear dont tell me the 💖yassified💖 know how to do marketing and advertising, business, even...

12. how the FUCK did MR ring the doorbell (in the comic) when he has no hands

13. is kasper necessarily 'mad' at drretro for how she treats him (LIKE A LAB RAT. unacceptable smh)

14. does bive do blogs on the internet or something how that they're 💖yassified💖, instead of being a detective? OR DO THEY DO BOTH NOW

15. where does spud get his nails done

16. is split edible. strawberry.

17. what was the cocoon process like for pilby, how tf would it even work (since they're humanoid n stuff)

18. if bive gave reddy the 💖yass-virus💖, how the fuck did she do it?? some sorta malware program?

19. is lampert still a germophobe now that he's 💖yassified💖

20. did wallter and mark get back together perhaps (probably not)

21. what stuff DOES pest shoplift

22. what type of music does poob play at the parties

23. okay so yknow how fleshcousin has a big hole in the middle of their head? was that changed during the 💖yassification💖 process?

24. if pest bakes pie, he should start a bakery.

25. last but not least question: did kasper change their gamertag when they got 💖yassified💖.

shitton of questions i get it, but hey, thats me. (cringe too i think idk you tell me)

Another batch of questions hehehe >:D

(Another necessary cut off bdhsfqh)

1. I'd guess a lot, they are rather tasty tho also hallucinogenic

2. They probably found them in the back of the koby somewhere also they'd probably be one of the first mannequins to be infected lol

3. Never, he's hogging it all </3 (yes, mainly being sold at Crem's shop and Enphoso's store)

4. Just normal spray will do tbh, it's why Sarah carries it around ever since the outbreak started lmfao

5. My tail got infected *sobs* but dw Denis neva dies

6. More princess dresses with full faces of makeup much to Jermey's joy

7. Idk, but even if they could they would never do it haha

8. Kasper def has experimented some ways (Probably same as canon)

9. At first it was purely through bites so technically you could still smooch your yassified partner and not get infected, but as of late it seems to be getting more and more contagious. To the point it may be airborne now. Luckily Enphoso's store already has special air conditioners!

10. No, thankfully they cannot spread it through their germs. Not at all actually.

11. They absolutely do know how to do marketing and advertising </3 Enphoso is NOT helping

12. He found a way hehe

13. At first definitely, but he seems to have already forgotten about it! So he kinda forgives her!

14. Still does blogs, but it seems her new advertisements for the blog seem to be luring more people in. More people to spread the truth to!

15. Ya mama (jk, they were done by MrManeuver has a side business and for good prices!!)

16. No!!! Don't eat her cries

17. They probably got super tired and hungry at first, then made themself a cocoon, slept in it for a few days, and came out elegant as hell

18. Someway somehow a bite was enough. Even creatures made of materials that are not flesh don't seem to be safe either.

19. Yes absolutely, they probably have that clean girl aesthetic now

20. I think they're working on it (polite and fun don't mix well either I guess ah)

21. Still mainly coins, but will snatch a few lipstick tubes here and there. Now he can get away qith it more easily haha

22. Licky by Larry Tee and Princess Superstar (listen with headphones y'all)

23. Nah it's still there unless it mimics someone then they will just do the usual haha

24. He should! Maybe then he'll stop stealing coins haha

25. She would have, but he doesn't have enough robux </3

[hollowbeanz235]

Deep Dark (The Park)

No one's POV

As ink and error held up their weapons, getting ready to fight this "thing" it grew bigger, consuming the light around them." Ink why is there somthing like THIS in undertone?!?!" Error started Wisper screaming as he started the first attack dogging the bite that was threw his way.

Both of them started working together, although let's say it wasn't working the best. Inks paint only got ingulfed, looking like it was making this monster stronger." I don't really *huff* know, but it hits like a truck *huff huff*"

Ink started losing his breath( once again how?) They fought for a long time, throwing everything they got at it.

And FINALLY error made a decision he should of made a while ago. He spawned a portal under this beast, and left it to die in the underworld aka OG gasters layer. It was trying its best to stay in the world it was in, clawing at the portal and the strings that were pulling it in.

After a couple of minutes of struggle, it finally got dragged into the portal, although not all of it was in. Error closed it quickly, catching its hand in the process.

*SMACK* it's hand was chopped of, a clean cut too. It moved around for a couple of seconds before finally becoming limp." WHAT WAS THAT THING?!?!"Ink screamed running over to error, picking up certain items that had been dropped in the heat of the moment."I-Idon't know, but whatever it was it had a kick like a mule."

Error picked up his scarf and put it back on, another item that had fallen off." Well I'd say...so what do we do now?" Ink said picking up a stick and poking at the hand with it.

Error looked at him in confusion, and maybe some slight anger. "I'm sorry we just fought lord only knows what that was, and your asking me what we do now?!?!" Error bent down to inks level, staring at him with an annoyed look on his face.

"You wanna do stuff with me, check aus, draw, other things." Ink looked at him with excitement. Bouncing a little, "after the experience I just had, he'll no. I'm going to the void, bye squid." Error said as he teleported away.

Ink sighed and teleported to the doodle sphere.

Inks pov

Man I really wanted to show him some of the drawings I made, I think he'd like them, and that's saying a lot for error, the destroyer of aus. But meh, I'll go check on aus by myself, per usual.

Time skip, ink is getting to the end of checking aus

This should be the last batch I have to do today...that's odd, it's not there. I started looking around checking for the trio I left in this specific area, "where are they?!?!" I started freaking out, what if I misplaced them. What if they were destroyed.

"AHA...wait, that's only 2" I stared at the 2 papers thinking of what else I could of possibly done with the third.

I can't find it, this is a problem I really liked that au, and if I don't know where they are they could have a virus or be infected or many others things I'm currently not going to think about, because if I do, I will hyperventilate." Let's draw, that usually helps."

I started with a circle, a sad circle, but it was a circle. Drawing line after line, it started to calm my nerves(HOW?!?!)

Drawing helps quite a lot when my thoughts get too scrambled for my mind to understand it. Which is quite nice, and...done.

I got that drawing done pretty damn quick...well not like I have anything else to do today, I could go bother error again, although I don't know how much he would enjoy that...MMMEH ITS FINE, HELL BE FINE. I teleported to the anti-void..." too empty" I said to myself not trying to look around that much.

"Error! You still here?" I started screaming to find him, the anti-void is practically a labrith if you don't know the place well, and white...too white, "Error" I looked towards the (sky?!?!) Seeing errors signature blue strings.

No one's pov

"Heya squid, what are you doing here?" Ink felt strings around his body, bringing him up to errors canopy "oh, hey error!" Ink seemed happy, then again it's easy to fake a smile when you've been doing it for a while.

"Hey error, so I've been thinking. Your not doing anything, we could go do something!" Ink twirled around in the strings.

"Why? I could just sit here and enjoy the silence." Error untied him and brought him down back to ground level." Well, we could do fun things instead of you just sitting here all day." Ink seemed optimistic to do this, to have fun with error. "What would we do, if I said yes?" Inks heart lit up.

His mind started racing,"we could eat, go to a restraunt, or play bored games, or watch a movie, or go to a concert or-"error stopped him.

Holding up his hand " only, if Iget to pick the restraunt." Error looked at him seriously, dead eyed stare."oh well sure! I don't see why not." Inks face lit up, showing pure excitement to actually be doing things.

______________________________________

Alright, I'm gonna end this chapter here, a stunning 929 biggest chaper I think I've ever made. Hope your enjoying this book.

[clone-whore-99]

Troublemaker

Chapter 12: Heavy Rain Weights the Mind

The Bad Batch x f!Reader

Warnings: Soooo much angst, descriptions of panic attacks, descriptions of low self-esteem and self blame, the boys being themselves, Crosshair being soft, some slight slut shaming if you squint real hard, heavy topics, remember when I said Reader got all of the issues? I meant it LMK if I missed any

Authors Note: Remember when I said I could fit so much angst into this chapter? Well, here it is. There was going to be more, but I felt like it was dragging out too long. I hope you like it ❤

If you like it, please do let me know by liking and commenting and maybe even reblogging, it would mean a lot to me 🥺👉👈 Oh, and if you want to, you can show some support by buying me a coffee ❤

Arriving at Kamino

Work, Armor and... Clones?

Let it out

You shouldn't have done that

Talk about it

The 20 Questions Game

Crosshair 🌶

Echoes of the Past

The Fight

A Nice Change of Air

Sore Muscles 🌶

-

Waste of Time

The door hissed open and a tall, slender figure dressed in black armor stepped inside. His eyes instantly darted to you, still sitting in Techs bunk and pushing around some food on a tray.

"Why are you still in bed?" He scowled, his dark eyes fixating on you, like a predator watching its prey, making you want nothing more than to disappear. Suddenly remembering his enhanced eyesight, made you more aware about your previous act with Tech and what evidence it could possibly have left behind.

"I'm... still sore from yesterdays fighting session. Don't really feel like moving too much because of it." Well, it was technically the truth.

The sniper hummed in response, then placed his helmet and rifle in their usual spot on the crates by his bed and put his signature toothpick between his lips. "I thought Tech was going to help with that."

"I did," Tech replied, not looking up from the device he was working on. "But it isn't guaranteed that it will make the soreness completely go away, especially when it's muscles that isn't regularly used, like it is with Y/N."

"Hey!" You weren't actually sure if you were supposed to be offended by that statement, but it felt like an insult.

Acting as though you weren't even present in the room, Tech continued: "Though I am certain it's sped up the recovery process. She should feel minimal to no pain tomorrow - if not later tonight."

Crosshair didn't reply. Instead, he began his usual ritual of cleaning his rifle.

After a few moments of silence, you determined it was save to look in Crosshairs direction. His gaze instantly went from the rifle to meet yours. His usual teasing, cocky smile appeared. "See something you like, dollface?"

For once, you were actually prepared for his teasing and knew just what to reply. "Yea, your rifle. Next time you take me to the shooting range, can I try it?"

"Hmph, sure. Once Mustafar freezes over." He replied snarkily, but then his look softened just a tiny bit. "I thought you didn't like it the last time. Made you feel pretty unwell, remember?"

You nodded. "Yea, I remember. But I think it was because we overdid it. I'm not used to focusing my eyes like that for so long, so I think that's why I ended up feeling so bad. But I still really enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun and I suppose you aren't entirely half-bad at teaching.."

Crosshair chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind next time I'm heading to the range. Or you could just ask when you're in the mood, whatever comes first."

Another moment of silence passed, before you carefully asked: "How come you didn't ask me to come along today?"

"Tech was in the way and you seemed like you needed your beauty sleep. Unlike you, I don't feel like interrupting others sleep, unless neccessary."

You let out a loud, tired huff of air. "I already apologized for that. I overstepped a boundary, I know and I'm sorry about it. It won't happen again, I swear."

With that said, you went back to focusing on pushing food around on your plate. Would it really hurt anyone to make the food here a bit more interesting?

"Because you'll be sleeping in Techs bunk from now on?" You weren't sure, but Crosshair almost sounded... sad? Disappointed?

You shrugged, still not feeling like looking at anything else but your food. "No... Yes? I mean, I don't know... I really don't care where I sleep, to be honest. One of your bunks, the couch, hell even the floor would be fine, as long as you're okay with me being here."

"And if we stop being okay with it?"

Your heart sank. "Then I'll go back to my dads apartment... I guess I gotta face him eventually anyways." That's when an idea that had been itching in the back of your mind suddenly came to full light. Looking hopeful at the two clones, you began, "Unless ofcourse, next time you get drafted, I could -"

"You're not coming with us." They both replied in unison, shooting down the idea before it could even land.

A deep gutted laughter - your laughter - filled the room. Not because you actually thought it was funny, but the way they both jumped the gun so quickly, at the exact same time, was nothing but humorous to you.

While still deep in laughter, the door to the room swooshed open again and the three remaining clones of the squad entered.

"What's up with her?" The clone/droid hybrid named Echo asked. Both Tech and Crosshair just shrugged in confusion, struggling to see what about their response was so funny to you.

“So, how was your physical?” You asked Echo, after finally having managed to calm down and catch your breath again.

Echo shrugged. “Pretty much the same as last time - gotta regain some weight and muscle. The shockwave I received on Trench’s dreadnought caused some damage to my ear canal. Hence why my balance has been off lately - so, I guess Techs theory was right.”

“As usual,” Tech gloated, causing an audible groan from you and several other members of the squad.

You looked hopeful at the men. “Does that mean you have to stay here even longer?”

Now it was Hunters turn to shrug. “Maybe. I’m not sure…” Suddenly, his eyes got really dark and serious, boring into your soul and causing a feel of unease to come over you. “I won’t get my hopes up too much, if I were you, mesh’la. We aren’t exactly made to stay put this long and probably sooner rather than later we have to join the fight again.”

Wrecker let out a booming laughter while punching his fist into the palm of his other hand. “Yea! I’m itching to blow up some clankers!”

A soundless chuckle and a small nod, you returned the look in Hunters eyes. “I know,” you sighed, with a hint of sadness. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy as much of the time we have together here.”

“‘course not.”

“Oh ad’ika, that reminds me!” Wrecker rushed across the room and sat on the end of the table closest to Techs bunk. “When is it my turn to have a day with you?”

Confused, you tilted your head to the side. “What do you mean, big guy?”

“Well, so far Crosshair, Tech and Hunter has had a day alone with you. When can it be my turn?”

“Wrecker, you do realize I’m not some toy you guys gotta share between one another. It’s not like, just because I spend one hour with Tech, I also need to spend an hour with you.”

The large clone nodded, a look of shame was written all over his face. “Right, yea, I-I know. I’m sorry I asked.”

You finally got out of bed and moved over to sit next to the big guy, wrapping your arms around his arm. “Don’t be sorry. I’m sorry if you felt like I rather wanted to spend time with your brothers than you, since that’s really not the case. So,” you clapped your hand over his in a supportive manner. “If you really wanna spend time alone with me, then I’m sure we can figure something out. But don’t do it just because your brothers did, do it because you want to.”

“And be careful not to break her.” Crosshair snickered.

Everybody turned to look at the sniper. 

“What do you mean by that?” Wrecker asked, his voice loud and cracked with the offense taken.

Your eyes narrowed angrily. “Yea, what exactly do you mean by that?”

Crosshair was only looking at you. “You know what I mean.” That was all he said, before deciding the conversation was over and returned to clean his rifle. 

You weren’t done though. You let go of Wrecker and closed the distance between you and Crosshair, till you stood in front of him with your hands on your hips. “Is there something we gotta talk about, Cross?”

“Depends on your definition of ‘talk’, dollface.”

You scoffed. Loudly. Everytime you thought you had figured him out, everytime you thought he couldn’t do anything else to surprise you, he proved you wrong. 

Not wanting to be ignored, you reached for the oily rag in his hands. As usual, he was faster than you and pulled it out of your reach. Your eyes searched his stone cold expression for any hint of the sudden hostility, before going to his brothers for help.

“Don’t take it personal, mesh’la.” Tech said, his eyes still focused on Echos head thingy. “Crosshair is just like that sometimes. Echo come here and try this on,” holding out the piece of tech he had been working on, it was now Techs turn to decide he was done with the conversation.

At first you tried to go back to Wrecker, but quickly realized you needed to be alone at that moment. Wrecker, who despite his large stature, managed to have a heart even bigger than that, tried to cheer you up in his own way. “It’s okay, ad’ika. I don’t like it either when my brothers think I’d break everything I touch.” He said, which only made you feel worse. Sweet thing thought that was what had upset you.

No. The thing that upset you was that you knew exactly what Crosshair meant, when he told Wrecker not to break you. Somehow he knew what had taken place between you and Tech. Who else knew? All of them? Was that why they were so nice to you? Why they let you stay in their barracks? Because they thought you’d let them have their way with you? Well, you hadn’t exactly proven them wrong…

There it was again. That anger building up in you, making it impossible to sit still, to think, to breathe.

Why was it so hard for you to breathe? 

“Miss? Miss Y/N, are you alright?” You hadn’t even heard the small service droid enter your room, but there it was with glowing eyes and ear-like antennas laid against its back in worry.

You tried to answer, but with the air getting rapidly harder to breathe, nothing but desperate gasps and tears came out. 

You stumbled to your knees, your vision already getting blurry from tears and lack of air. Lazie shrieked, then it must’ve run off in panic, based on the hurried sound of metal clanging against the floor slowly getting farther and farther away from you.

Ofcourse. Ofcourse it ran away. Why wouldn’t it. If you couldn’t be used, there was no reason to be around you. It was all your fault. That’s why dad couldn’t stand to be around you, that’s why mom -

“Y/N? Sweetheart!” Your dads voice rang through your thoughts and abruptly stopped them before they could get too bad. His large hands grabbed onto your shoulders, as he tried to pull you out of whatever hell you were in.

Once he had managed to somewhat straighten you up from your crouched over position, your dad grabbed your face in his hands and caressed your cheeks. “It’s okay sweetheart, it’s okay, daddy’s here, nothing’s gonna hurt you, I promise.”

Though he was right in front of you, his voice sounded so distant. Everything seemed so distant, everything but the walls, which were spinning faster than a podracer and quickly closing in on you.

“It’s okay, nothing’s gonna happen, I know this is hard, sweetcheeks but I know you can do it… I need you to take a deep breath all the way down to your stomach, okay? It’s all - oh mudcrutch, I’m getting dirt all over your face, I’m so sorry.”

That seemed to break the spiraling spell - your dad swearing over getting you dirty, while simultaneously trying to calm you down. It was such a typical dad thing, it caused a small chuckle to break the gasping for air.

Your dad let out a small, relieved chuckle as well. “It’s been so long since I last heard you laugh. It still makes me as happy as the first time I heard it…”

Before you could get back into your frantic state, he pulled you in for a hug and held you close. With one hand on the top of your head and the other on your shoulder, he rested his lips by your temple and rocked you back and forth like when you were a child. “It’s okay fruitcakes, you’re okay…”

The shrill sound of a comlink beeping interrupted the comfortable silence the two of you had been sitting in.

You sighed defeatedly and moved out of the safety of your dads arms. “I’m sorry, Y/N, it’s just…”

“I know,” you replied with all the snark of a teenager. “It’s probably super important and can’t possibly wait any longer and yadda yadda. Just leave, it’s what you do best.”

“That’s not fair, you know -” The comlink beeped again, this time even faster than last, meaning it was urgent. With a heavy sigh and loud groan, your dad got up from his sitting position on the ground. “I’m sorry, I gotta go. I’ll ask one of the boys to come keep -”

“I don’t need them.” You interrupted. “I just want to be alone, so just leave already.” You curled up on the floor, leaning against the angle between your bed and the wall.

For a moment, it was just silence. Your dad didn’t move and didn’t say anything, until the comlink began beeping for the third time. “I don’t want you to be alone when you’re like this. I’ll figure something out, okay?” 

“Just leave before they send a search squad after you.”

And just like that, you were all alone in your room again. Why did you ever expect anything different from him?

After having spent enough time wallowing in self pity, you decided it was probably best for you to wash your face. Well, a shower would be best, but you didn’t have the energy and really couldn’t be bothered.

Your dad wasn't kidding, when he said he’d gotten you all dirty. His hands had been covered in cinder and oil from work, which was now smeared all over your face like warpaint.

It had dried in with your tears, which made it take forever to finally get off. But after having scrubbed till your face was sore and your clothes were drenched in splashed water, that probably would’ve been easier if you had just taken a shower, you finally managed to get all the dirt off.

You stared at yourself in the mirror. At your tired eyes, swollen from having cried. At your puffy nose, that you still couldn’t really breathe through. At any signs that could possibly give away what Tech and you were doing. Or, lack there of.

You had a nearly healed bitemark on your shoulder from Crosshair, but that was it. Tech hadn’t left any signs on you whatsoever. How the hell did Crosshair then find out? 

With a loud groan, you threw your now soaked shirt at the laundry basket and headed towards your room to get a new one.

“Oh, you’re alive. I almost thought you had somehow managed to drown yourself in the sink.” 

You shrieked and quickly moved your arms to cover your upper body, while turning to see the source of the voice. “Crosshair!” 

He rolled his eyes. “Oh please, it’s not like it’s anything I haven’t already seen.”

“It’s called privacy and basic decency!” You scolded, really not in the mood for whatever reason he was there. “Something you clearly never learned about!”

Crosshair pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and began slowly walking towards you. This caused you to rush across the hall to the bedroom and hit the door panel as fast as possible, in the hopes of somehow keeping him out. Because that has worked amazing so far.

Ofcourse it didn’t work. Right before the door closed, his slender fingers grabbed onto it and pushed it open again. He leaned against the doorframe, his eyes - as usual - fixated on you.

You screamed - actually screamed - in frustration. It was too much. You began picking up whatever you could grab and threw it at him, as he was lazily making his way towards you. “Get out! Leave me alone!”

Crosshair didn’t respond. He barely even acknowledged the stuff you threw at him. No. He kept walking until you were cornered and when you tried to run past him, he grabbed you and held you close, with both of your arms pushed against your chest, so you couldn’t fight.

That didn’t stop you from trying. You pushed yourself against him, then pulled in hopes he would loosen his grip. You tried to stump on his foot, but the armored boots made it hurt you more than him. You tried basically anything you could think of to get free, before finally breaking down crying.

“Calm down,” Was all Crosshair said, his voice cold and void of emotions. 

“No! Let me go!” You shouted.

“I’ll let you go, once you’ve calmed down.”

“Why are you like this?” You cried, finally giving up on your escape from his grasp. “You’re such a jerk.”

“I know,” Crosshair sounded almost proud at that statement. Like being a jerk was a high badge of honor to him. He loosened his grip on you, letting you fall out of his arms. All except one arm, which he continued to hold tightly onto. “And I’m like this because I can. Now c’mon, I got something for you.”

One day you might realize there was no chance for you to overpower him, nor escape his grip. This was not that day. You pulled away, trying to free your arm from his grasp, while he stood still, waiting for you to give up.

“I’m not going with you!” You loudly declared, sounding more confident than you felt. “Out of all the people I don’t want to be around, you’re at the very top. You’re a kriffing nerve burner and I am tired of putting up with it. So please just leave me alone!”

Crosshair stood still, his facial expression and body language giving no indication what he was thinking. After a minute or so, he finally released your arm, only to cross his own over his chest and lean on one leg. “You know I can just pick you up and carry you.”

You let out a loud, frustrated groan at this statement, then let it fade into a defeated sigh. “At least let me put on a new shirt first, so I don’t have to walk around in just my chest bindings.”

“If you insist,” he shrugged and headed back to lean against the doorframe. Such an annoyance. 

After having put on an old baggy shirt, you pushed past the clone. “So, where are we heading?”

“The living room.” The humor in his voice was so evident, even a deaf person could hear it.

You shot him your best you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look.

There it was. That usual cocky smirk, just asking for you to try and hit him. Challenging you. You already knew how that was going to end.

Instead you rolled your eyes and began heading towards the living room. 

It seems like Crosshair had expected you to try and hit him, since as you turned away from him, the clone hurried past you and grabbed your arm to better guide you.

With a shake of your head, you sighed. “I know the way to the living room. You don’t have to guide me like a droid, you know.”

“I know.”

Right by the large window overtaking almost the entire wall, a small nook was created from blankets and pillows from the couch. You shot Crosshair a questioning look, who just shrugged in response.

“Wrecker made it. Said I had to make up to you or something.”

Crosshair pulled you towards the window and only let go when he himself sat down in the heart of the nook, with his legs spread and the side towards you open. When you didn’t immediately lean in to his invitation, he grabbed your arm again and pulled you into the snug corner.

With an instant he locked his legs around you, keeping you from escaping.

“Ow!” You exclaimed, pushing yourself as far from him as possible - which wasn’t a lot. “Your armor hurts, y’know. Not exactly ideal for this.”

With an exaggerated sigh, Crosshair rolled his eyes and began taking off his shoulder pads and chest plate. “Never satisfied, are you?”

You scoffed. “Or maybe I just don’t like how you pull and toss me around like some toy!”

A mischievous glint in his eyes and a smirk to match it, showed that Crosshair found something amusing about your statement. Leaning back after stripping his arms of the armor, the sniper gave you another chance to get comfortable.

Not wanting to be pulled again, you leaned your back against his chest and his arms went around you. “What is the point of this?” You asked.

“Don’t know.”

“Then why are we doing this?”

Crosshair didn’t reply. But he didn’t loosen his hold on you either. You should be used to it by now, but it was still annoying how he always decided and controlled everything, and how you had no chance of winning when it came to him. It was like he enjoyed watching you struggle.

“You really are a huge jerk sometimes, you know.”

“I know, you don’t have to repeat it.”

“Have you ever considered being nicer?”

“No…” Crosshair rested his chin on top of your head. “I wasn’t made to be nice or so people would like me, dollface. I was made to shoot and luckily, I’m damn good at it.”

There it was again. These men being talked about as if they were a product and not actual people. It was heartbreaking.

Snuggling in closer to the sniper, you hugged one of his arms and decided to finally voice your feelings. “Doesn’t it bother you? How your entire existence is based on war and military and fighting? How you’ve never gotten to have a say in it or get to live a normal life?”

“Not really.” Crosshairs voice was as nonchalant as ever.

“Well, it bothers me!”

Crosshair made a soundless chuckle. “Why? You can’t change it or do anything about it, so it’s just a waste of energy.”

“Just because there’s nothing I can do about it, doesn’t mean I have to accept it. It’s wrong and against everything the republic stands for and it feels like not enough people acknowledges that!”

“Morals are a luxury that can’t be afforded in war.” 

Your voice became really quiet. “Then what can be afforded?”

“Your life.” Crosshair replied, his tone pretty much matching yours.

Silence.

Comfortable silence.

Silence filled only by the tapping of rain water on the window.

That you needed to break with your aching question.

“How did you know?”

“Hmm?” Based on Crosshairs reaction, your question had taken him by surprise.

You began playing with his fingers, just to have something to do. “About me and Tech… How did you know? Tech said there was no evidence left.”

“Your lips,” Crosshairs free hand began caressing up and down your arm. “Both of your lips were swollen and it didn’t take a genius to figure out it wasn’t because you’ve been fighting.”

Reaching up to feel your lips, you felt more than you heard Crosshair laughter. “The swelling is gone. If it weren’t because of my vision, I probably wouldn’t have noticed either.”

His fingers curled up under your chin and pushed it upwards, tilting your head to make you look him in the eyes. “How come you don’t want us to know? About neither Tech or I?”

Your breath was caught in your throat. He was so close, this was so intimate, so… You turned to the side, watching the rain splatter on the window and obscure the view of the ocean. 

“I don’t want you to think less of me…” You admitted in a whisper, hugging Crosshairs arm real close.

“Why would we think less of you?”

“It’s just…” You had to pause to think. Why would they? Nothing so far had given you the impression that’s what they thought, but you were so used to it being the mindset, you kinda thought it was the default all across the galaxy. “I don’t know. I guess, it’s just… Some people think less of you, the more intimate partners you’ve had. I don’t want you guys to think that’s all I’m good for and start treating me like… Like…”

Tears started to swell in your eyes, your lips began quivering and your voice became shaky. Your grip on his arm tightened and you hid your face against his chest, using the slow heart beat and body heat to calm yourself.

Crosshair let out a long, slow exhale. “Stars forbid if I ever catch the person who made you feel that way.”

Dividers by: @eloquentmoon and @djarrex

Taglist: @zoeykallus @rain-on-kamino @thebadbatchscyare @thebahdbitch @salaminus @mybigfatspoonielife @tararosebloodthorn @chxpsi @coffeeandclaws @timothyshousefire @tazmbc1 @nunanuggets @rexandechosandwich @the-good-shittt @showerthoughtsonly @ashotofspotchka @alwayssnivellus @maulsrightleg @lo0nylexi @tech-aficionado @ttzamara @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond

Please let me know if you want to be added to the taglist (and if you want to be added to only this series or all my fics) ❤

[clonemedickix]

New Chapter for the saga!

Rating: Adult themes

Archive Warning: | Graphic Depiction of child birth | Medical procedures | Angst | Under 18 DNI

Category: F/M

Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types | Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon) | Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types | Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types | Game of Thrones (TV)The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types

Relationship: CT-7567 | Rex/Original Female Character(s)

Characters: CT-7567 | Rex | CC-2224 | Cody | CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo | CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | FivesClone Troopers (Star Wars) | Clone Force 99 | Gregor

EXCERPT:

Rex got to Volte’s hut, which wasn’t terribly far away from Lara’s, and he thumped on the lintel hard, calling the medic’s name to be heard but not to wake the whole village. Rex heard the low murmur of a female voice repeating Volte’s name, and within a couple of minutes, the skin whipped back and Volte appeared, his eyes looking at Rex with sleepy confusion. “Rex?” The medic’s eyes took in the rather wild look in Rex’s face and started to wake up a bit more. “Are you okay? Is Lara okay? Is it the baby?!” The man snapped fully alert as the thought progressed.

“Yes, to all of that. Come on. She said she didn’t have much time.” Rex turned and basically danced in place, his body wanting to sprint back to his hut, but a bit lost in the moment on the direction it should go. Rex wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do; he felt like he was being called to battle without a plan, forced to improvise.

Volte had reached back into his hut for a bag of supplies, explaining to his companion he’d be back after a while, and when he walked back out the door, he could see Rex’s fluster and hesitation. He grabbed the Captain by the arm and dragged him along with him, purposefully moving towards their hut. Internally he laughed a bit at Rex’s inability to focus at this particular moment; Volte’s own excitement was rising, knowing it was finally time for this long awaited baby to make its appearance. The two men walked into the large hut and found Lara hobbling around the room, her hands braced on her lower back, working to take steady breaths in between contractions. She looked up at them irritably and demanded “Could you have been any slower? Where did you come from - freaking BFE???” Volte heard her irate tone and couldn’t help but laugh a little. He’d delivered enough babies by now to realize this was all just part of the process, and he snorted a little in amusement, smiling back at the cranky goddess.

Volte looked at Rex and considered him, wondering whether the man was going to be of any help in this situation. Rex was staring at Lara with a slightly panicked expression, a bit frozen in place at her pacing and cursing. Because she was cursing - quite a lot in fact - every time a contraction hit. For a tiny second Volte chuckled internally at the humor of this moment, watching the famously calm and collected Captain Rex stare at his wife, the mighty and powerful goddess, as she swore like a sailor and growled in between epithets with pain. And that Rex had put her here - if she hadn’t reminded him of that fact yet, Volte felt completely certain she would, before this was over. “Rex.” Volte called his name, seeing the Captain didn’t acknowledge him at first. “Captain… REX! Hey, Rex.” Rex finally looked over at him and focused, after Volte shoved him a little. “You’re gonna help me with this, right?” He saw a flash of terror cross the Captain’s face.

“Help you… what?” Rex asked cautiously.

“Disassemble a bomb… (Volte rolled his eyes)… bring that baby of yours into the world! What did you think I meant?” Volte said with slight exasperation. “Lara knows what she’s doing, but she’ll need a little help and support.” Rex’s eyebrows scrunched a little at hearing Volte call her ‘Lara’ - to his knowledge he’d never done that before. Volte kept moving, unloading his bag, placing items neatly on Lara’s dresser. “General, you doing this standing or in the bed?”

Her reply was full of aggravation. “How the hell am I supposed to know that Volte?! I can’t very well sit down this second!” She snapped out the last bit, and her eyes flashed even more angrily seeing the amused grin on his face.

“Well, General, are you going to tell me how far along we are in this process, then, or am I supposed to guess? Because, I can’t check you, with you pacing…” Volte pointed this out, standing on his back foot a bit with one arm crossed over his chest and his hand out in a ‘duh’ gesture.

Lara stopped, stood straight and pursed her lips so tightly her mouth was a straight line, her blue eyes blazing at him with silent curses. In a huff she raised her chin and said “Throw me some towels and that plastic sheeting.” Her eyes glazed over a bit as another wave of pain hit, and she involuntarily bent a bit at the waist, holding her abdomen, gritting her teeth against a loud growl of agony. The two men saw her brow break out in a sheen of sweat, and she actually started to fall to her knees.

Rex darted to her side, seeing her go down, and Volte said primly, “So it’ll be the floor then. Excellent.” He pulled the towels and sheet of plastic out of the bag and walked over to the General and Rex, helping get the layers of fabric under her butt; she’d already discarded her lower garments when Rex ran to get Volte. Lara was leaning forward on her hands, and she gasped and moaned in something of a prolonged cry as the contraction tore through her body; Rex moved to touch her and she shook her head, rocking herself a little on all fours. She felt incredibly alone in her pain and misery, but in a way that was her burden to bear, and no one else. Her eyes were wide with a slight panic, the feel of the dream coming back to her suddenly, and her gaze focused on Volte. He reached out to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “General, you’ve got this.” He nodded to her encouragingly. “We’ve got this. If we need help, Echo and Primer are right outside and they can do whatever is needed.” He’d heard the two men arrive, seen Echo peek inside out of concern and then withdraw quickly. They weren’t going to intrude, but they couldn’t deny the urgency they felt in their connection to her, or the pain they felt coming from her. “Are you ready for me to check you, see where we are?” Volte asked gently, knowing he was about to rob her of a lot of her dignity.

Lara met his eyes steadily for a moment, hesitation plain on her face. Literally no woman ever wanted a man who was not their lover to root around in their lady parts. Except maybe in this one case. But still, Volte was her friend, her subordinate… it was awkward. She thought she’d been prepared for this day, and of course now that they’d arrived at this inevitable place, she was back pedaling as best she could.

Lara heard Rex speak next to her. “Cyar’ika, Volte is trying to help you…” And right then, Volte saw it coming. The comment he’d been waiting for, the reply heard round the universe from any wife stuck in this position, the clearly obvious, deadpan observation that was as unavoidable as the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening.

Lara turned her luminous blue eyes full of pain and rage to her husband, her brows scrunched tightly together, and hissed “YOU DID THIS TO ME!”, and was nearly bowed flat by another crushing contraction as it ripped along her midsection, working to push the baby from her womb. She let out a low howl of agony and reached up to grab her hair in her hands, pulling at it to distract from the torment of this process, while she made multiple threats to Rex’s person, anatomy and life. Rex looked at her helplessly, then up at Volte, whose eyes were laughing, a grin on his face from ear to ear. Lara suddenly sat up and repositioned herself between contractions, getting her butt under her and her knees up. “Get this thing out of me Volte!” Rex looked completely scandalized at that point, having been accused of causing Lara’s misery, threatened with death and dismemberment, and hearing her call their child a ‘thing’. In that moment he, like many millions of husbands before him, stared helplessly at this freight train bearing down on him.

“How can you be so amused by all of this?” He asked Volte a little reproachfully.

“She doesn’t mean it, Rex, she’s just in pain and a little crazy at the moment while her body takes over. She’s not going to actually do anything to you,” Volte assured him while he worked to assess Lara’s station. Like an angry tigress, Lara snapped back that she just might remove some body parts from him after this, to prevent it ever happening again! Volte chuckled softly and asked, “But I thought you offered to give Rex his own basketball team?”, as he reached for the baby’s head. She was very close - he could feel the baby’s soft scalp and Lara was close to crowning. Rex was watching with a look of slightly fascinated horror in his eyes while Volte put his hand on, and inside, his wife. So much for the sanctity of things… “Lara, you can push with the next contraction.” There was little need for honorifics and titles at this point, while he was sitting between her legs and looking at her privates.

“Volte, you can eat a bag of dicks!,” Lara rasped out, then took a gasping breath and bore down, feeling some movement of the baby, some progress. She immediately panted for air after, trying to steady herself before the next contraction. She felt slightly dizzy, on top of all the general misery of this whole affair. In between pants, she said “Rex…get behind me. Help me… stay sitting up.” Rex shifted his position to do as he was told, unfolding his legs beside hers and pulling himself up close to her so that she was snug in his lap, he able to get his hands on either side of her to support her. Another contraction hit, and he felt her muscles tense like she was pushing the weight of the world in front of her. He heard Lara’s drawn out grunt that became something of a growl and then a bit of a roar, as she pushed against the contraction.

“Good, we’re doing good, Lara. Another good push and the head will be out.” Volte was working from below, helping to support the baby’s head and stretch the tissues surrounding it, hoping to prevent any tearing. There was some blood, and a little amniotic fluid escaped, but so far the color was clear. He felt Lara gasping for air, trying to marshal her strength in between pushes. Lara bore down again, and the baby’s head surged forward, popping free of Lara’s body. Volte supported the head, seeing the infant’s scrunched and very angry face in his hand. He reached with his other to make sure the shoulder would pass freely. “Lara, you’re almost there. Two more good pushes should do it.” He looked up to her eyes and smiled at her, excited that they were almost done, and saw Lara nod quickly, taking another breath and blowing it out through pursed lips. Rex was watching from behind her shoulder, completely silent with awe at what he was seeing, his eyes wide and staring.

Lara felt another contraction hit, and bore down hard, the effort forcing a roar from her again as she worked to push this baby from her body. She felt something give, and saw Volte nodding to himself. He told her one more push. Just one. Lara gasped, working to get air, trying to catch her breath. Really, she’d almost rather be back on the field of Kaller, feeling their damn blaster fire tear her open than this. This fucking sucks!, she thought quickly. She fought for a couple more breaths and then felt another contraction hit - please god the last one - and pushed hard, feeling the baby slip from her finally, seeing Volte catch the little body in a soft clean towel, and place it on the floor between her legs.

Volte grabbed another towel and a suction bulb when the baby was safely on the ground and after suctioning the mouth, then the nose, he started to rub and clean the body vigorously, working to stimulate the little child, waiting to hear a protest from it as his touch and the cool air hit her skin for the first time. The newborn suddenly let out a loud, healthy squall, and he felt his heart surge a little, seeing the little girl he’d delivered of his beloved General. The Child of Promise. Volte sighed a little as he wrapped the baby up in a clean, fluffy towel and handed her to Lara. “General, may I be the first to introduce you to… your baby girl?” He watched solemnly, as he saw Lara reach up with her hands hesitantly, still out of breath, shaky from her exertions and the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She took the little bundle from her chief medical officer, meeting his eyes in thanks, and respect, and gave him the tiniest nod, pulling the baby in close and staring down at her pink face. Rex peered over Lara’s shoulder, his breath catching as he looked on his daughter’s face for the first time, and felt his heart stop in wonder and love. He shifted his weight a little so he was still supporting Lara, but reached up around her arms so he could touch the baby with the tips of his fingers, as if afraid she wasn’t real. The combat medic, turned community doctor, quickly placed ties tightly on the umbilical cord, and looked up to Rex. “Captain, would you like the honor of cutting the cord?” He offered Rex a pair of sterile scissors, and showed him where to cut. Rex’s face was a picture of reverence, as he reached forward to free his baby girl from the physical bonds of Lara’s womb, making the infant a separate and complete entity.

Volte smiled, watching the couple stare into the face of the perfect little child, long awaited. “Welcome to the world…did you two choose a name?”, he asked suddenly.

Lara looked up at him suddenly with a little flash of a smile and then to Rex. He smiled back and nodded. “Daniella Elbereth, though we thought we would call her ‘Danny’”, she whispered softly, her finger pulling back the edge of the blanket carefully to see all of the infant’s face.

“Well then, welcome to the world, Daniella Elbereth, Daughter of Rex, Most High Princess of the Balance,”, Volte said very formally, clasping his fisted right hand over his heart solemnly and bowing slightly. “I am deeply honored by her arrival.” Volte stood with a little sigh of weariness, after kneeling for so long, and all the anxiety of the birth behind him. Volte saw Lara shift her weight a little to sit more comfortably, and he turned to walk outside for a breather, leaving the two new parents alone. His work was done for a moment, and he needed to stretch his legs after being on his knees, on the floor with Lara for so long. He was immediately accosted by Echo and Primer, who’d gotten wind of what was happening and come to wait with them.

“Well? Is she okay?!” Echo demanded immediately. Volte noted it wasn’t a question about the baby, or whether it was okay - Echo’s care was for the General, always.

“The General is fine, Echo. Her baby is too.” The men looked at him expectantly, their eyes full of anticipation, wondering why he wasn’t forking over the information more quickly.

“Quit holding out Volte, what is it?” Primer asked the medic, his voice full of annoyance.

“It’s a girl.” Volte let that sink in for a minute, as all three men absorbed the news, Volte for a second time. He saw Primer look up at the skin over the door of the hut, as if he could see through it, and he exhaled slowly. A girl. The Child of Promise had come. Lara hadn’t been exaggerating, that these were the end days for her long, epic life. Volte watched the men shuffle their weight in anxiety and the need to do something, like two thoroughbreds waiting to load in the starting gate.

“Can we see her?” Echo asked, his pale face exhibiting a need to lay eyes on his General, to know she was really okay.

“Not yet. She’s not completely done yet; I’ll have to go back in in a few minutes. I was just giving them a little time to themselves.” Volte gave the two men a little encouraging smile, but saw that Echo was about to buck and enter anyway. “Just… hang on a second, Echo. Let me ask first.” He calmly put his hand on Echo’s chest to restrain him, gave him a very emphatic look of ‘CHILL!’, and turned to go back in to check on Lara. He assessed her quickly, to make sure there was no bleeding, and told her, “Your knights in shining armor out there are chomping at the bit, General.” Volte took a clean blanket and spread it over her to cover her; she would let him know when the contractions started again.

Lara smiled at Volte, some exhaustion in her face, and glanced back to Rex, who nodded. She said “Tell them they can come in. I’ve got a little time. Might as well meet her before the screaming and demanding infant in her shows up.” Volte nodded and got up to relay her orders. Echo about knocked him over to get in the hut and Volte laughed with a little exasperation.

Volte leaned against the wall of the hut and took a few deep breaths, then ventured a short way off to stand in the cool night air, listening to the wash of the waves on the shore. He would never forget this night, he knew. A beautiful night, the gray shades of dawn already creeping into the sky, casting very light shadows from the rocks and trees. A distant cry on the wind got his attention, and looking up, searching the sky, he saw the silhouette far up and a long ways off of the great dragon. He, too, knew of the birth of the Child of Promise, and had come himself to honor her arrival. Flying closer, a herald of the news, the dragon roared, soaring over the town; the sound of his leathery wings flapping slowly as he streaked overhead were an ominous rustle of the great power descending on them. The men of the Dragon Company knew that sound well, and knew that Baiulus would only have returned to them for one reason, bringing smiles and toasts from all those still awake. The morning would break with the joyous news of the arrival of little Danny, their new princess. Volte smiled to himself, looking off to the lightening sky. The new hope for the universe had finally arrived, as a new sun rose. Auspicious beginnings.

[arc-77]

The Great Purge of Mandalore

“Liar! Killer! Demon!”

Ever since the event was first hinted at in season one of The Mandalorian and we saw that the Darksaber had changed hands, I’ve been obsessed with the idea that Fordo was intimately involved and wielding the saber for a bit. There’s something very potent about the concept that a clone trooper, the near identical copy of a former Mand’alor, raised by the best of their culture, would be the one to help bring their homeworld its greatest defeat in history.

Fordo’s personal relationship with Mandalorian culture is complicated. The circumstances of Kamino meant he did not get a traditional upbringing from Jango Fett and his training sergeants, one with such an intrinsic focus on family and tribe. The clones were warriors, first and foremost, dying for the Republic and not some clan. Regardless, he became fluent in the language and studied the customs and history even beyond what he was directly taught. And not just history from their perspective, but from their foes, too.

While the Alpha-class were a close-knit and often insular batch, the closest thing he ever had to a clan, a fierce sense of independence ran in their blood. If left to their own devices, they could be very detached individuals, and Fordo was one of them. Though grateful to Jango and the Cuy’val Dar for all they had taught him, representing that Mandalorian heritage was never a priority for him — all that knowledge served him more as a tool. He used bits and pieces here and there, when it suited him. He held neither love nor hate for it. His duty was to the Republic, but his ultimate loyalty was to himself.

During the Imperial era, Fordo gradually honed his already Mandalorian-inspired equipment and combat style to perfection. As he began to hopelessly outmatch every opponent he faced, the last to put up any sort of challenge were the Mandalorians themselves. Craving these fights, Fordo would go out of his way to find them, hunting any who dared oppose the Empire, sometimes even working with Mando turncoats like Viceroy Gar Saxon simply for the chance to experience skirmishes against his favorite, circumstantial foes. Saxon may have been their leader, but Fordo was in practice the super commando to surpass all super commandos. And he would have his chance to prove that.

When the Mandalorian Resistance was united under Bo-katan Kryze in 1BBY and word came down that Mandalore would be crushed, Fordo quickly ingrained himself in the planning process. Mandalorian history was rife with legendary battles between scores of enemies, the last of which occurred long before his time. When it looked as though this may be the last great battle Mandalore would ever fight, Fordo knew he had to be part of it. He had to experience that glory in person, to firmly establish himself as the warrior, the dar’manda that surpassed all Mandalorians. He had to be the one that brought Mandalore’s leadership to its knees.

And so he did.

Now given we know so little about the great purge (including when exactly it even takes place) and it’s all subject to change, here’s the outline.

1. Command wants to just base-delta-zero the planet and be done with it, but (soon to be) Moff Gideon and Fordo argue that crushing the Mandalorians properly means crushing their spirit, and defeating them in combat + taking the darksaber is the way to accomplish this. Limited invasion plans are approved. 

2. Fordo leads a contingent of Imperial Forces into the the capital city and fights his way through the palace. Confronts Bo-katan, backhands the shit out of her, takes the Darksaber, but leaves her alive. So they can fight again later. More humiliating that way?

3. Fordo fights his way back out of the palace wielding the Darksaber, which he trained for in advance, cutting down dozens more Mandalorians in a hallway fight. Really this is the important part, I just think it’s a cool visual. “Oh shit he’s got the sword!!! What happened to Bo-katan?? Game over man, game over!!”

4. Rest of the planet is bombed once news of Bo-katan’s defeat spreads. Fordo returns to Gideon and reluctantly hands over the Darksaber, ending his short term as The dar’Mandalore.

5. That black armored demon with the red right hand is whispered about in hushed tones and reviled in songs by Mandalorians for the rest of memory. A few may figure out his identity and seek revenge.

Despite taking part in these atrocities, Fordo holds no genuine hate for the Mandalorians. It all came from a place of apathy and personal ambition. He admires their tenacity and expects them to bounce back eventually, as they had so many times in the past. Were it up to him, the planet would not have been as severely bombed and far less genocide inflicted... because what good is a recreational hunter that kills off all his favored prey.

[tailsinadress]

sorry i never did the xbox thing

it toiok me way longer to do than i though t but then i never ended up posting anyway evenr though i have been extremely happy with my boy for a long time.

So. What i was trying to do was upgrade my xbosx hard drive. usually its about 8gb, although 2.5 of those are reserved for cache it keeps to load various things faster and another .5 for the base operating system and all that. So you really have a tad under 5gb to work with. some games can fit in this space very handsomely (morrowind for example, ive had it installed for a very long time) but many games (kotor for example) are pushing an even 5gb, which cant be contained. and even if it was a little smaller i would have delete all my uncles old save games :(

this is my third xbox actually. my first was my stepdads and it just kinda broke after a while cause it was from actually 2001 im pretty sure cause ms employee store (his brother worked tehre), then we get a second one.. the disc drive stopped working so well, i later learned u just have to replace a LITTLE TINY RUBBER BAND its perfect again, i am worried for how many xboxes met the trash due to this simple mistake, and how much waste there is in general, i admire the cuban ethos of having a car u keep forever cause you repair it and care, no excess, but even for capiatalism there is more people can do, keep beautiful little machines alive, anyway this is my third. it was my uncles, it came with oddworld strangers wrath but my mom took it because a guy said piss one time and then it got lost in my stepdads hoard, very sad. this one has been very fine and very reliable ^_^

you need a special fancy screwdriver to open this up which took me a while to find, was VERY excited once i did... most of the height and weight of the xbox is the massive dvd drive on the left and hard drive on the right. sadly you need hardmod to play w/o dvd drive, something i will have no use for after my surgery

one thing i also did was remove a capacitor, its the one that keeps the clock battery alive a few hrs after its unplugged, however its very leaky and its corrosion can fuck up many a motherboard. in general xbox capacitors are terrible and need to be replaced but this one you can just rip off yourself and the console works fine without it. i needed to clean the bits it corroded, there is some but none of it seeped anywhere. its probably so minimal bc this thing was in storage for so long, unpowered

lets talk about the actual process of this now. so the usual recommended way to upgrade a hard drive is thru something called chimp. what ur supposed to do is hotswap your dvd drive with your other hard drive, and then chimp will send signals to the "dvd drive" (actually hd) to copy ofver all your data. xbox is an old console and uses IDE hard drive technology, and in IDE the hdd is master and dvd is slave and it has to be like this for some reason. SATA is a newer tech that is better in evey way prettymuch and my new drive is SATA so i need an adapter, and this adapter cant go into IDE slave mode, so, chimp would not work for me. the second recommended way is thru xboxhdm, which purports to build an xbox hard drive from scratch, it can set up all the partitions, install, etc. its supposed to be a little bootable linux thing that you go into and you set up the drive through your computers IDE port but none of my computers have that so its fruitless. maybe i could have just done it over sata? but not sure the way the software works can accomodate. Anyway. the third wayis xboxhdm USB, which is like that except the linux is inside a little virtual machine and its expecting to read the ide and sata stuff over usb. this is obviously far more convenient. howeve,r all the batch scripts and programs are made for modern windows, which i dont have, so i needed to download a linux shell script version of it i found and also a version of smartctl that has xbox drive support

SMARTCTL... okay so. as part of the xboxs security the hard drives are locked with keys that are unique to every system, adn to access the drive you need to know and unlock the key. the key is generated from some math done between the machine's serial number key and the drive's serial number key. with softmods, you can make the drive's key set to all 0's, which will make it so that any locking/unlocking done with the console's eeprom info will work on any drive that goes into this individual console (the way that xboxhdm handles locking is by using this smartctl utility with eeprom data u rip from ur system to lock things properly.) locking is a massive headache and its very scary because sometimes you dont know how to open it and if you lock it and cant get it unlocked you will lose everything forever

im ont this server for xbox hacking and i just see tons of kids who like brick their systems/drives because they forget this step or some other part of locking or sometimes the usb adapters dont work with the drives properly. but anyway back to this linux script. for some reason when id built partitions on my drive i would get a bunch of "invalid file name" stuff, not *in* the linux virtual machine but in my terminal. and i would plug the drive into my xbox and it wouldnt boot. even though i made sure it had all the necessary dashboard info.

the fourth and most obscure way, but literally the best and safest and most reliable possible one that still no one ever talks about FOR SOME REASON, is to just use dd or hddrawcopy or ddrescue, or some program that does sector by sector copying of drives, and use *this* for cloning, and then just use xboxhdm's smartctl scripts for locking/unlocking as needed. when i did this it worked perfectly on my very first try. there was one forum post about a guy doing it and being like yeah it works perfect and other guys are like yeah it sure does but every single one of these tutortials NEVER recommend it. theyre all about these other programs that are like a million times more complicated its fucking insane that its like this

anyway heres the drive hooked up. its a 700gb mac laptop drive, i thoguht it was funny that i have a mac hard drive in an xbox system that i set up with linux. because im a nerd and stuff. i needed to get an special IDE cable to hook it up and its like honestly way too short and whenever i bump the system something loosens and the console crashes and i have to open it up again and plug things back in but after that its fine the main way to get files onto xbox is over ftp because usb support beyond 1.0 is impossible adn it only accepts drives that are under 4gb and even then its picky. it was so hard finding a usb device to do the softmod in the frist place LOL but apparently the most consistent ways to do it are with a psp???? like if u put that in usb mode the xbox just recognizes it perfectly, as long as u have the right program on the psp. i wish i had done that sobad its hilarious. anyway ftp is usually fine but getting files from the xbox to the computer can be extremely finnicky and unpredictable sometimes. i only have one wired internet connection so i have to have myphone over usb tether and then the xbox has the wire, and i drop connection all the time and have to reset the xbox cause it maxes out users, itll fail too much and i cant transfer over big like media files and stuff. so im waiting to get another ethernet wired so i can do stuff better it turns out the xbox as a media player is like way superior to the wii, and people have done so much with optimizing and shit that like, xbmc become kodi and became a real actual legitimate media player that people use outside of xbox which is hilarious. they try really hard to not make microsoft mad but its like an abuse thing where you have to not be obsessed anymore and embrace the darkness

im still trying to figure out what settings are gonna be best for different kinds of video files. h264 is nice but it takes fucking forever to convert and isnt worth the time. ive watched like half of half of a really long movie on it last night its wonderful. also some my little pony. i downloaded digimon last night ill do that too.

i understand the like nostalgia fetish thing better now casue i grew up with this thing and now it can do ANYTHING and i just get addicted and want to play racing games all day. its unhealthy, but i do love this system, and i went so far and tried so hard and in the end it mattered a lot

[pookha]

Dream With Me: Chapter 18

June 1999

Luna and Hermione finish their joint potions project and turn it in to Professor Slughorn. Dennis Creevey comes to talk to Hermione in the Hospital Wing. Harry gives Hermione the paperwork from the barrister that tells Xenophilius to Cease and Desist. There is a leaving ceremony for Hogwarts with academic awards.

Their potions project was done. They met Professor Slughorn during their shared one hour special session with him. He picked up the small vial on his desk and looked it over, first with his naked eye, then with an enchanted magnifying glass. He swirled it gently and silver sparkles spun slowly in its oily depths.

“Hynogogia Morpheum ?” he asked and they both nodded.

“No student has ever made this before,” he said.

“It was quite difficult, sir,” Luna said and he nodded.

“I’ve never made it before. The time and care commitment is enormous. I see now why you wanted to do this jointly.” He smiled at them.

“Yes, sir. Neither of us could have done it on our own.” Hermione met Luna’s eyes and Luna took her hand.

“Tell me about the process,” he said and Hermione knew it was a quiz.

They told him how they harvested the ingredients they couldn’t source from the stores. They told him how they made a strict rota and schedule for everything that needed to be done. Hermione described how she’d used Luna’s edited recipe and Luna said that she’d talked to Professor Snape’s portrait about it. Professor Slughorn nodded. When they were done, he was about to say something, but Luna kept talking.

“As you know, this recipe makes more. I gave the other vial to Madame Pomfrey. She’s awaiting your approval before she puts it in…her private stores.” Luna smiled.

Professor Slughorn’s smile faltered.

“What?” he asked.

Hermione answered, “The potions are from the same batch and if you each take them together, then sip from the other’s vial, you’ll share each other’s dreams. The secret ingredient that the manual doesn’t say is love.”

Professor Slughorn’s smile came back.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” He winked hugely at Hermione and Luna giggled.

“No sir, of course not.” Hermione smiled.

“What made you think of this?” he asked, but then saw it in their met gazes.

“Oneiromancy?” he whispered and they both nodded.

“Don’t tell anyone else. They’ll want to study you and you two should…” he faltered.

“Study each other, sir. We know,” Hermione said.

His face flushed slightly pink. “You’re dismissed. Full marks if it works.”

“Yes, sir. You’ll want to test it at your first opportunity. I’m watching the Hospital wing tonight. Madame Pomfrey has entrusted me with it.”

“Has she?” Professor Slughorn asked.

“You’re dismissed,” he said.

They lingered in the hallway after they closed the door and Professor Slughorn came out behind them a minute later. He saw them standing in the hallway and shooed them away with a laugh, but didn’t hide it as he made for the Hospital wing.

“You got more revision tonight?” Luna asked.

Hermione shook her head.

“I do have to watch the Hospital wing, though, like I said and I won’t be back until 6ish tomorrow morning.” She took Luna’s hand and dragged her toward their room.

“I don’t have anything scheduled to do in the next two hours,” Luna said.

“I think you do. I’m scheduled for you to do in that block of time,” Hermione said and Luna laughed.

“Yes, you are.”

Poppy left the Hospital wing humming to herself. Hermione saw the vial in her hand and Poppy looked down at it and blushed. Hermione laughed.

“Nice to see that you can blush no matter what age,” Hermione said and Poppy hugged her.

“You’ve been one of the best student helpers I’ve ever had and this…” She held up the vial.

“This is a princely gift. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. We got quite good marks for that.”

Poppy laughed. As she left, Hermione called after her. “Pleasant dreams!”

The night in the Hospital wing dragged. She only had to put a plaster on a crying first year and explain to a mortified fourth year how to make a birth control potion. The girl relaxed when Hermione explained that she’d been brewing it herself for years. She was studying for her Defence practical, practising attacks and blocks when Dennis came in. She put her wand down and sat behind the desk.

“I wanted to say thank you,” he said. He refused her offer of a seat.

“You’re welcome. I wish I had more ways to help,” she said.

“You did what you could and you brought people here who could help more. I appreciate it. I still haven’t made up my mind, but when I do, I know it’ll be because I’ve made it up and not had it made up for me by others or by…trauma, I guess.”

He turned to leave and she called to him like she had to Poppy earlier.

“If you need me after I leave Hogwarts, I’ll be at St Mungo’s training to be a Healer.”

“Yes, miss,” he said as he left.

When she left at six the next morning, Harry was outside the door waiting for her. He handed her a thick envelope and she took the sheaf of papers from inside it and looked them over. She’d never seen the word ‘defamatory’ used so many times in one letter.

“Thank you,” she said and hugged Harry tightly.

“My barrister says the ball’s in Xenophilius’s court now. He’ll comply or we’ll see him in court and they don’t think he’ll want to be in court against war heroes, one of whom is his own daughter. My barrister implied to him that the Prophet would love messy drama with one of its rivals. I made sure to name drop Rita Skeeter, too.”

Hermione made a face at that, but then grinned.

“I’ve got to tell Luna,” she said and turned to go.

“Tell Luna what?” Luna’s voice came from behind her. She held an envelope identical to the one Hermione held and Hermione knew Harry had talked to her first.

“That I love her,” Hermione said quickly. The corners of Luna’s mouth quirked up.

“You love her?” Luna asked and stepped into Hermione’s arms. This kiss lasted until Harry said, “Welp, I gotta go.”

They broke apart laughing, then when Harry turned the corner, they fell into each other's arms again and only stopped when they heard the ‘ahem’ of Professor Slughorn behind them.

“Full marks,” he said, then walked away whistling.

They laughed. Hermione took Luna’s hand and they went back to their rooms until breakfast.

NEWTs weren’t as difficult as Hermione had feared and she knew she’d done well in them. She didn’t think she’d get an ‘O’ in Ancient Runes, but now she didn’t care as much. There was one more week of school, but no classes. Her Head Girl duties didn’t take much time out of her day and she and Luna spent a lot of time walking the Hogwarts grounds hand in hand.

“Newt says he expects us in two weeks,” Luna said.

“Molly says she’ll put us up until then.” Hermione traced lines on Luna’s neck with a finger as they lay on a blanket near the Black Lake.

“Nice of her,” Luna said, then ‘ooohed’ as Hermione’s finger rolled over a sensitive spot.

“I start my training one week later.” She leaned over and kissed the spot on Luna’s neck that had caused the ‘ooh’ and Luna gasped.

“I’m so glad I came back. Glad I was Head Girl with you. Glad I fell in love with you. Glad we share dreams.” Every time Hermione said ‘glad’ she kissed Luna’s neck and Luna ‘oohed’ again.

Luna spun as Hermione said ‘glad’ the last time and kissed her. She pulled Hermione down more onto the blanket and the kiss got more frantic until Hermione pulled away.

“We’re in public,” she whispered to Luna who nodded.

“Want to go back to our rooms?” Luna asked.

“In a bit. I want to enjoy the sun first and the air, then I want to go back to our rooms and make love to you.”

“Not me,” Luna said and Hermione pulled back and looked her in her eyes.

Luna leaned forward and whispered directly into Hermione’s ear. “I want to enjoy the sun and air with you, but when we get back to our rooms, I want to fuck you until you scream my name.”

“I’ve changed my mind about what I want, then,” Hermione said, laughing. “I’ll take that instead.”

Two days before the end of term, there was a leaving ceremony for the seventh and ‘eighth’ years. The Great Hall seemed huge with so few students in it. Hermione sat at a table with Luna, Harry, Ginny, Neville and Jameson. When they reached the academic awards, Harry leaned over and whispered to Hermione, “Ready to win them all?”

Harry was startled when he was the first to be called and he was presented with the plaque for Defence against the Dark Arts and another for Special Service to the school. Luna won the awards for Care for Magical Creatures and Potions, and Hermione hugged her tightly when she sat back down. Hermione was presented with the awards for Charms and Transfiguration. To no one’s surprise Neville was presented with a large pot plant and the award for Herbology. Blaise took a couple of plaques and so did Jameson.

When the awards were done, goblets and a variety of bottles appeared on the tables. Professor McGonagall poured some white wine in a goblet and raised it.

“To our alumni, may you do well wherever you go. To the lost, you will be remembered. Cheers.”

The students poured drinks then raised their goblets.

“Cheers.”

Professor McGonagall ended the ceremony soon after with a small speech that sounded like something she’d said or heard before, but then added.

“These last few years have been some of the most trying in Hogwarts history and your class will be remembered as the one who saw the war through. All of you should know that there’s always a home at Hogwarts for those who need it and there’s always help here also. If you need help, please reach out; don’t keep it in. I love each and everyone of you and I will miss you greatly.”

She raised her goblet one more time and whispered something.

Luna leaned over and whispered in Hermione’s ear.

“She said, ‘I did it, Albus’”

[animehouse-moe]

September Art Book Haul

Yeah, a veritable mountain of art books in this haul. It's part of why it's taken me so long to make a post for it, because where do I really begin? Well, the best that I could come up with was to just sorta dive into a few of the "most interesting" entries specifically, while still detailing just what it is that I've got here. So, I'll try me best to grab the most interesting stuff and explain that with this post.

Well, in image number one we've got some cool stuff, two pairs of key animation books for their respective series. Shockingly, the Haruhi set was cheaper than the Yuru Camp, though the latter was also still sealed/brand new and is marginally thicker than the Haruhi ones. I wouldn't say there's anything really "special" with them so I'll skip towards the next image.

A bit more going on here, as each book is from a different series. The Uchouten Kazoku setting material book is massive, filled to the brim with all sorts of stuff. Definitely makes me want to get the key animation collections and other art books. Also, finally got the first season board/keyframe collection for UBW (and at a good price!). Been searching for a set for absolutely forever, and only in July of this year was a friend of mine able to find the second season one for me for cheap (they were in Japan on vacation). Then there's the little Love Lab board collection, nothing special. I think the most interesting is the Ground Control To Psychoelectric Girl art book. When I first got it I was worried I'd somehow accidentally purchased a Blu-Ray for the series, but it's just the packaging. The disc shaped thing is pretty cool though, it unfolds to show a bunch of different keyframes/Layouts, a nice touch for sure.

Anyways, moving on we've got another hodgepodge of stuff. We've got another Love Lab art book, an Umaru art book (a shame they only did one for the second season), a Lycoris Recoil setting material collection (despite my issues with the story, the visual work done is solid), and a Kanon art book. No, it's not for the anime, I couldn't find one, but I did find one for the visual novel. It exists on the rarer side of KyoAni's works that are adapted, and one of the three visual novels that they've adapted (all of which were very early on in KyoAni's life). Anyways, I suppose you could say it's... rather different, which is interesting. I always find it intriguing how visual novel adaptations go, in terms of timelines, choosing routes, removing and adding content, and stripping the mature scenes. For that last reason, I'm not going to show any of the art here.

Onto the next batch! This one is very cool, lots of interesting stuff in here. The Madogatari 40th anniversary exhibition art book might just be my favorite in all of the haul. So much art and content from the history of Shaft that you won't find anywhere else. Finally getting to see production material for And Yet The Town Moves is lovely. Similarly, Kaneko Yuuji's art book is incredibly interesting because it shows their process for some of the super awesome concept art for Godzilla Singular Point. While I don't believe the remaining two to be super important in regards to pictures, they're both still very impressive art books. It's been a while since I last watched Log Horizon, but the environment art displayed in its collection is incredibly beautiful, and I mean Fate/Zero, need I say more?

Alright, even more Fate! I've got a lot of art books for the anime, so when I saw a good deal on the box set for the VN art, I knew I had to grab it. It's a shame the box set was only vols 1-3 (plus the character art book), so vols 4 and 5 are sold separately. An incredible treasure trove of content in regards to the series in all kinds of instances and approaches (and of course a fair share of horny). Alongside it, I'm finally making a dent in my Garden of Sinners keyframe collections again. I've know got 3 out of the 8 or 9 volumes available, so at best I'm only a third of the way there. Such a pain to find, but they're surprisingly reasonable in terms of pricing when you do find them.

And last but not least, Shirobako. Even though I got 4 volumes, and even though it was dirt cheap (something like 35CAD for all of them), it's still a drop in the bucket to the amount remaining out there. Anyways, in the image there's the: setting material collection (bottom right), the two keyframe collections for the first season (top and bottom left), and the second mini fan book (top right). A load of content for sure, and lots of great details and whatnot.

All in all, it's an art book haul that fills a lot of gaps in my collection, in more than a few ways. Getting sets for series that I'm a fan of, rounding out collections for certain studios or series. It gets a lot done, and without entirely breaking the bank (I chose seamail to save a solid chunk on shipping). In the coming days/weeks I'd really like to take a deeper dive into some of the more interesting art books to show what they're all about (for example, Kaneko Yuuji did environment art for Eve Music Videos!), so I'll try to keep my promise on that and show some more interesting stuff.

[harrybushelldesignblog]

Week 8 Capstone DES302

We are officially over halfway! As scary as a thought that is, I think my project and myself are both in good places. I have a clear vision for what I want to achieve, my prototypes are going well, and clear improvements are being made with each iteration. My report is also coming along as my project progresses, with the content presenting itself as it grows. Week 8 placed its focus on further iterating and prototyping, as well as the development of marketing tools and strategy. Due to being away for part of this week and the start of week 9, I knew that I had to get some physical prototypes done early in the week, as being away with hockey meant I wouldn’t have access to the tools available at the FabLab and home. With this in mind, planning and efficiency were crucial this week as I looked to shift my focus onto stuff I could do remotely, like marketing and research or working on the report. Knowing I was going away and planning accordingly to ensure I could still get work done has worked out surprisingly well, and although productivity has dropped a little bit, I still think I’ve got a solid amount of work done!

This week's reflection should be shorter than the novel I wrote last week. CARL is back once again to provide a needed reflection structure. Context-wise, I feel like I summed up a lot of it in the introduction. This week was split into two halves, with the first context focusing on further iterating and prototyping, while the other was focused on remote work - creating logos, research and planning. 

Again I’m going to mix the actions and results part of CARL together as they are very similar for this week. For the first half of the week, the actions focused heavily on creating further prototypes. To start with, I created a new seedshell mix. Using the same base materials as the previous mix, I increased the compost clay ratio from 5:1 to 3:1, hopefully increasing the durability of the mix when in contact with soil and moisture. I then followed the same method as mix one, by slicing up the clay into smaller pieces and mixing it in with the seeds and compost by hand. This process was repeated until I had a solid ball of materials that could be used with my stud mold. I then followed the same process as before, using a small flat tool from the multitool to compact parts of the mixture into the mold. My mold had a solid hold on the aluminium cores at the bottom, allowing me to stuff in the mixture around the core and ensure that the mix is nice and compact in order for the clay to do its thing and hold solid. Once I was satisfied that no more mixture could fit in the mold, I flattened down the top of the mold as much as possible and removed any excess mixture for later use. The finished prototypes look much the same as the first batch. However, I'm hoping that by increasing the compost-clay ratio that they will last longer when tested. I will also allow for a longer drying period to see if that accommodates greater results. One thing I have noticed is on some of the prototypes, the clay compost split is visible, and this could be a contributing factor to the low durability. If this is the case after testing, the next batch will have to use finer pieces of clay, meaning I'll probably end up cutting them into much smaller pieces in order to negate the obvious separation between the materials and create what is hopefully a stronger mixture. The testing for this new mix will begin as soon as I am home, and hopefully, within the next couple of weeks, I will have a mixture that performs the way I want it to. Along with this, I was able to 3D print my 4th 3D model of the mechanical stud idea. 3D model 4 was printed at a 1.5x scale rather than the 3x scale used in the previous print. This was done for three reasons: firstly, to test if the parts would be strong enough at a much smaller size, secondly to decrease the printing time, and thirdly to reduce the materials used. The model assembles well, although the fit is still quite tight, so the threaded part of the model will still need further refinement. The spiral piece fits much closer to the core, reducing the gap issues around the tip of the previous model. Unfortunately, due to time restraints, I couldn’t test this model during the week, but like with the organic model, I will be testing as soon as I’m home. 

The second half of the week focused on stuff that can be done remotely. I began market research and drafting some logos, as well as adding a lot of content to my DES302 documentation report, re-organising and amplifying my Miro board. This is probably my weakest point in design, I’ve never really had a knack for art or making things look pretty, so while I understand marketing, I’m not great at creating attractive graphics. I think it’s good that I’m aware of my difficulties with this, and that I don’t get to hard on myself when I struggle to create aesthetic work like some of my peers. Regardless of this, I still enjoy it, and hope that my logo generation is up to standard for this assignment. After feedback from my course director, I reorganised my Miro to be more easily navigated. Along with this, I began to structure and build the visual summary deliverable as well as highlight and document the example pitches I want to talk about, plus a few urban spaces (although I will need to identify more this coming week). By identifying these example pitches, I have base models to work with where I can identify points of strength and points of improvement to hopefully visually communicate to the footballing community on how they could improve their preexisting infrastructure to benefit their local species. I’ve chosen 8 example pitches to work with, with all of them having a personal link to me throughout my playing years. This provides me with primary experience and evidence for each location, hopefully allowing deeper insight into their improvement. 

Learning wise for the week, the importance of planning continues to be hammered home, and the benefits of knowing my limits and restrictions only furthered the importance of good time management and setting achievable goals. Outside of planning, I learnt the importance of surrounding yourself with productive people, as despite it being a “break”, there was a lot of work to be done, and by always being around my mates who were also working hard it almost forced me to be working as well! This benefitted me massively as I feel like if I were on my own, I would’ve got a lot less work done.

Here are some photos of my draft logo’ and new prototype models :)

[readthisspace]

Midjourney: Text-to-image AI art generator that is making waves around the world.

How Midjourney's AI Technology is Changing the Game.

(This is NOT a Sponsored Post)

As we usher in the new year, it's clear that AI technology is here to stay. And with the increasing popularity of tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT, people are beginning to see the potential of AI beyond its initial applications. But today, we're going to focus on something even more exciting - the world of AI-generated art. So sit back, relax, and get ready to discover the magic of Midjourney.

Midjourney is an independent research lab exploring new mediums of thought and expanding the imaginative powers of the human species.

We are a small self-funded team focused on design, human infrastructure, and AI. We have 11 full-time staff and an incredible set of advisors.

-midjourney.com

The Quest for the Perfect Image: A Marketer's Struggle

As a marketer, my job often involves scouring the depths of the internet in search of the perfect image to complement my content. Sure, there are plenty of royalty-free stock image sites out there, like Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay (these are the sites I currently rely on for image hunting), but sometimes those just don't cut it. And let's face it, no one wants to fork over their entire budget for a single image from multiple paid sites like Shutterstock or Getty Images (unless you're secretly a millionaire or your company has a huge marketing budget every year). It's a never-ending quest for that elusive, magical image that perfectly captures the essence of your message.

Okay, the image above is somewhat unrelated to the content but doesn’t the unicorn look so cute?

Midjourney Saves the Day

For years I have been struggling to find the perfect image to match my content, until recently my friend (Thanks David!) recommended me Midjourney. This nifty little tool is an AI art generator that can bring your text prompts to life with stunning, realistic images. I was blown away by the results - in fact, all the images in my previous post, were generated by Midjourney. It's as easy as typing in your command and letting the AI bot work its magic. Trust me, it's a game-changer.

Here are a couple of examples of images that I’ve created using Midjouney, along with the text prompts that I used:

Even a wizard finds it difficult to define what branding is (cues previous post).

How to Generate Your Own Art Using Midjourney

Midjourney is currently in Open Beta and runs on Discord. So, you will need to create a Discord account first (signing up is free). As a quick side note, what is Discord?

It is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform where users can communicate via voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media, and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers." -Wikipedia

First things first, create a Discord account if you haven't already. Don't worry if you're not a tech whiz, we've got you covered! Check out the handy guide here.

Once you're all signed up, head over to Midjourney's website and hit the 'Join the Beta' button to hop on the Discord server.

Now, it's time to get creative! Look for the Newbies Channel on the left sidebar and get ready to command the bot to create your images.

To summon the Midjourney bot, type the command /imagine followed by a description of the image you want to create in the 'prompt' field. Hit enter to send your message.

Be patient - it takes a minute or two for Midjourney to process your request. Once it's done, you'll see a grid of 2x2 images, each a unique variation of your original prompt.

From here, you have the power to upscale your image, generate similar variations, or re-roll for a fresh batch of images. When you're happy with your creation, simply open it up to full size and save it to your device.

And voila! You've just unleashed your inner artist with the help of Midjourney. You don’t have to be a tech whiz to complete the steps above (no coding skills required!)

You are now a superhero armed with the power to save the day and create stunning artistic masterpieces.

A Small Price to Pay for Big Results

If you've fallen head over heels for the stunning images generated by Midjourney Bot, you might want to consider subscribing to their plan for a measly USD 10/month (or a more reasonable USD 8/month if you pay annually). After all, you only get about 25 free jobs with the Free Trial. But let's be real, that's still cheaper than your Netflix subscription, right?

Sure, binge-watching Kdramas and blockbuster movies is entertaining and can be a form of de-stressing (guilty as charged), but the whole point of this newsletter is to inspire action towards more productive endeavours. So invest in yourself, start building your brand, and let Midjourney take care of the visuals.

Try it out and don't forget to tag ReadThis.Space on social media.

https://www.instagram.com/readthis.space/

https://twitter.com/ReadThisSpace

Last but not the least, have fun and enjoy the process!

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[twilight-resonance]

Echoes, Inside and Out

Going to do some writing again, as promised. I’m not sure if I promised here or not. But I definitely promised in my head, at least. As ever, it’s the grounding thing, so.

Doing my best to decompress after this week. This week has been insanely busy - seriously, working straight from waking up at 6AM ‘til going to sleep at nearly midnight. One of those was the first day of my new job, and thus the long commute and such; but the rest of it has been the crazy amount of prep I’ve needed to do for it, both beforehand and afterwards. Making character creation charts for FalJL, updating the rulebook so that I can get it printed, updating my website for the new season (and restructuring it to work for the new job), answering a billion emails - I’ll get to that one in a second - all-day meetings with my assistant, another build sleepover to make more equipment, driving out to get then trailer repaired, picking up more bins and materials, etc etc etc... It’s been just absolute crazy town. So I’m a bit wrecked from it in a working sense. Need to take some time to myself to just be myself and have my own thoughts and process, which is what this is. I’m reaching the point where working is going to happen significantly less efficiently if I don’t, so...

The emails, though. That was a day. One, I don’t know how the world managed the timing on this one, but every single day that I was busy driving and in meetings all day was without fail the day that I would get a bunch of emails all at once. So I couldn’t respond to them, and they’d pile up, etc. Two, the day that I got around to responding to the second batch of them - which also happened to be the day after the first event - was just. They were coming in faster than I could respond to them. I’d reply to one, and three more would appear in my inbox. And it was like that for five hours before it finally tapered down. On the one hand, I could feel myself leveling up in emails and general communication, so to speak - slowing down and remembering small lessons here and there, about boundaries and about communicating with students’ parents specifically and so on and so forth, and practicing applying those - on the other hand, auuuuuuuuuuuuugh. It meant that I couldn’t get any planning done that day, which fucked the rest of my week up a bit. I’ve been patiently un-fucking it, and this is the last piece of that process I think, just. Ugh. 

So anyway. That’s why we’re here, and talking, and processing a bit. Had a nice morning with Hearthsnail - been our first easy morning in a week or two, and it was nice. Had breakfast out in the garden, and got to watch lots of hummingbirds going about their various business. As well as some clear-winged pollinator insect that was illuminated by the sun shining through its wings and was just absolutely glowing the way that the sun glows when you look right at it. As in, don’t, because it hurts. Super neat, though.

There was somewhere I was going with this, and I don’t remember anymore. It’s bugging me a bit. There are lots of other things I could ramble on real quick, but they don’t feel like the right call. But there was something. Hate that. 

Well, I guess I could write about how day one went. It was good. A half day, I suppose - it was just the afterschool portion rather than the class - but I headed down at the normal time anyway so that we could take some time to plan beforehand. I walked - I’ll need a name for her - let’s go with Ladyknight for now I guess - through the new equipment and the roster, and we planned out the first semester’s worth of major story beats for this location. We’ll need to do the same for the second at some point, but it was a good time. Then there was driving over, and all the school logistics and meeting folks, then unpacking and desperately trying to re-sort equipment into the new bins before players started showing up. It was a bit chaotic all told, but it went smoothly enough. So far all the kids seem interested in the new setting and world, which is a huge burden lifted from my back. There are some adjustments I’ll need to make to day flow routines for this group specifically, but I know that now and we’ll do ‘em next time. My main worry at this point is that we only got through maybe ten kids’ characters for character creation, which means we have about twice that many to get through next week. Which is... fine, but it puts us back in the story further than I’d like. It’ll be fine though. 

Definitely made the right call with asking Ladyknight to assist. There’s a lot of things she understands intuitively that make it all flow much easier. It’s funny having worked with or trained enough assistants at this point to be able to pick out a particular style and mindset very quickly. Got to start thinking about what I'll want to do about FalJL this year, if [another name I need] can’t do it; Ladyknight’s the go-to choice after that, but two weekly leagues may be plenty to put on her plate for now. After that... I don’t know. There’s someone who’s expressed interested in GMing for FalAL but wouldn’t want to do FalJL, there’s someone who has expressed interested in GMing FalJL but might not be around the whole year, there’s someone I’ve been after as a GM for FalJL right now but hasn’t been around in a long time... There aren’t any clear stand-out next choices. Things to think on. Puzzles to solve, really, is how it feels - so it’s a good thing. 

I dunno. I like people puzzles. I like working with the soft, uneven edges of people and quality rather than the hard, defined edges of quantity; and figuring out how to stack up all the qualities in the right way for them to operate at their best. The one that stands out to me (mostly as the moment I realized I enjoy that) was organizing a group of ten people such that we survived a night mission with the important things we were carrying intact. But I like doing that in other contexts, too. It’s infinitely more interesting when there isn’t one right answer, but many possible ones - a bit like trying to hit a target that’s in motion rather than stationary. Anyway. So that’s part of the interest and appeal for me.

Ah, what else. Had a fun night with my writing group the other night - don't remember if I wrote about that. Was just a happy hour after the usual writing session, but it was a good one that went on for a few hours. I know I've said it before, but it’s really nice hanging out with other writers. In the sense that, it’s people who understand how that particular creative process works and the underlying supports and mechanisms that need to go in with it; and as such who have some similar creative roots. I don’t know quite how to describe it, at least not in a way that’s short; but it’s incredibly helpful. It’s part of that being understood thing, I think. We are all sapient beings with so much depth, and we all want to be understood; and that can be hard when we have sometimes had such vastly different backgrounds and life experiences. But the experience of writing is shared, and thus so is some of the understanding. It’s good. <3

Oh! I remembered what I meant to talk about, like, four or five paragraphs up now! More new things. Dude, making friends as an adult is weird. One of Hearthsnail’s co-workers invited me to her birthday hangout with a bunch of other people from the department, and it was just that moment of realization, like. Oh. We’re friends, then. I get it now. It’s so much less clear-cut as you get older, in a lot of ways. I’m looking forward to it, though. The idea is to all do a spa day together, which is something I’d been curious about anyway, and it’ll be a fun group of people to do it with. She said no gifts, so I’m considering conspiring to get her something small and silly anyway, or at least make her a card... We’ll see. Anyway, I’m looking forward to it, in ways that are (once again) harder to express. Has to do with the way things mean - not what, but the way. Has to do with that process of reflecting on how the world comes in, and reflecting the world back out, and  then it reflecting that in turn... Something about how people become people? Again, hard to explain. Hard to describe. At least in a way that’s short. It’s the echoes of the vast distance between the inner world and the outer and how the two become melody and harmony across the years of your life. 

I was about to say - hokay, Mitholos, slow it down - but no. That’s urge is one of those reflections that come lancing back - the one that is conscious of the way you might be perceived, but isn’t always necessary. It isn’t. That was genuine, and I’m going to stand by it. That’s what I mean, when I say the self reflecting the world reflecting the self reflecting the world - it’s that process. 

It’s also to do with the way that connections flow between other people. There was a ramble I had, as some point - did I have it here? I’m not sure -about how part of what a connection between two people is, is the process of building a shared lexicon through which we understand each other better. It’s the way that any person can say “oh, it’s going” in response to “how’s it going?” - but it doesn’t always mean “I’m having a bad time”. Sometimes it means “I’ve been busy”, and sometimes it means “things are normal and steady and I don’t have anything in particular to talk about”, and sometimes it means “I’ve been very bored and unfulfilled”, and how a person is most likely to mean it is part of that shared lexicon. Again, it came to me in talking with my aunt and uncle, and realizing that we kept glancing off to the side of one another’s meanings when one person or the other would say a particular thing; because we don’t yet quite have that shared lexicon. And building that is part of becoming friends. There are other things that build too - shared experience of one another, for one - and that’s one of the other things I’m looking forward to. Being with people in a context in many ways wholly unlike what is normal, and seeing some of those other pieces of a person that don’t always come to light in a given place or time. 

So you know. That’s where I am right now, I guess. I’m enjoying my writer’s self being back again, because these kinds of thoughts come from there. It’s been a few years of looking at the world and seeing it flat in ways that I knew were false - sure, what I wrote above is just called “making friends with someone”, but there’s so much interesting and intricate nuance that gets lost in putting it like that. Though, it is more concise. But I think there’s so much worthiness and meaning in those layers and interconnections and concepts that build to the whole, and it’s worth exploring them. The world is richer, that way. 

Let’s take another turn to another current. One of the other things that has kept me busy the last few days was preparing snack for Hearthsnail’s department (it was our turn on weekly Friday snack). I thought a teatime theme would be cute, so I made some tea sandwiches and petit-fours... foolishly thinking that all the complaining that people do about making petit-fours was akin to the complaining people do about pie crusts, where it’s actually not really that bad, just at tiny bit of a pain. What an absolute fool I was. I did not know any better, but I know now. I was up until 2AM making those damned things, and I even cheated by doing store-bought sponge cake! Good lord. It was certainly something new, but never again - not without better tools, anyway. With tools meant for the job, it would be significantly less insufferable. Sounds like people appreciated/enjoyed them, at least (I actually didn't like them very much, but then again, I’m not a huge fan of fondant), but it was. Very busy. Also very challenging to do in a small kitchen that was also incredibly messy. I’m chipping away on cleaning up after it today, here and there; so it’s a start. But it was a lot.

Also validating is having people ask for recipes! People asked for tea sandwich recipes too, but I was actually thinking about players after the build sleepover. One asked for my tikka masala recipe, and the other for my wild rice soup recipe. It’s validating picking the right dishes for a group (both in terms of quantity and taste), and having them like it enough to want to make it themselves. That said, it helps that I think almost everyone we had over likes to cook - everyone volunteered right away to help with cooking, so I had to have them take shifts. It was good though.

That reminds me in turn that I’ll need to figure out what to cook for setting day... Once I decide when setting day is... Once I decide where FalAL is going to be next year... Which is its own other slough of decisions and factors. To say nothing of, I still have an event to run this weekend. Which I should be planning for. But, am doing this instead, because my brain is full-on not going to cooperate with me if I don’t do this first. Turns out processing is important, and so is taking some time for yourself. 

I think I would like to go get some lunch, though, and maybe some tea. So I’ll go ahead and do that now, I think, and stop this for the moment. Maybe we’ll go do some work, maybe we’ll decompress a little first; either way, we've got D&D in a couple hours, so we’ll need to be ready for that. It’s times. Anyway - 

[purplealmonds]

ACON3D reached out to me for a collaboration, and I used it as an excuse to draw my and @eggdrawsthings​‘ Star Wars OCs! I’ve been chipping away at this for the better part of a month, and despite the struggles, I’m pretty happy with how it came out! ^_^

Having used SketchUp for both my professional and personal work, I’m a HUGE advocate of using 3D to streamline my workflow. Utilizing pre-made models instead of making them from scratch is a game-changer! 

Extensive notes on my process below the cut.

Default 3D Model:

For this collab, I was to use one of the many 3D model resources sold by ACON3D to create an illustration. I chose the Joseon Dynasty - Thatched House by Team Truffle. The render below is just a fragment of the lovingly crafted set design - I recommend searching it up! (I’d provide a link, but Tumblr’s external link policy might nuke this post from search results if I do)

Customizing the Model:

Modified and added some props to make the scene more thematically Star Wars. 

From top left to right:

Building Column - Altered the shape and added motifs inspired by Mandalorian architecture. Mythosaur skull mounted on top is also modeled from scratch!

Uj Cake - Surprisingly few images of this snack despite it being mentioned in many fanworks - I think I used a photo off of Wookiepedia as reference for this.

Cutting Board - Pretty straightforward - a cutting board for the cake to sit on top of. It’s not visible in the final render, but I leveraged the kar’ta motif as a fancy inlaid pattern.

Vibroblade - Basically a replica of Din Djarin’s, though much of its design isn’t visible in the final render.

Buy’ce - This was my first time modeling a helmet in SketchUp, much less a buy’ce. Geometry is a hot mess, but it got the job done.

Xing’s Beskad - Referencing my Mando OC’s weapon of choice. Overall design’s taken straight from the beskad’s blade shape, guard, and grip – though I tried to give it more of a katana-like aesthetic.

Tooka - Or rather, a limb-less and tail-less tooka. By far the most primitive of the models, but I just needed it as a placeholder which I would draw details on top of.

Voorpak - This space chinchilla was...hmm. There were discrepancies between the creature’s original concept in The Wildlife of Star Wars: A field guide (small and 8-legged) and its first appearance in The Bad Batch (dog-sized and 6-legged). Needless to say, I was a tad irritated to find out I modeled and posed two extra legs before realizing they were extraneous.

Phong’s Saber Staff - Probably one of the more complex props in this spread, but Jamie’s detailed reference sheet sped up the modeling process considerably.

Vent Covers - Replacing some of the floor boards in the foreground to give this set a more sci-fi vibe.

Door - Once again, customized the screen design and panel patterning after Mandalorian motifs. This and the column will be the two biggest alterations to the set, so I took extra care to get the designs just right.

And this is what the props look like on set. Colors turned off so the lighting (which I later scrapped) is clearly defined.

Sketch:

Now’s the bit that I finally add the characters and creatures into the composition! For this one, I did have a vague idea of what I wanted out of it story-wise – some kind of low key scene with Phong and Xing hanging out at the latter’s dwelling. To help sell the casual vibes, I had Xing dressed only in his cuirass and blacks. Definitely not because I was struggling to draw his armor. Perish the thought!

Ink:

Ah yes, the cleanup stage. Arguably the most crucial, time-consuming, boring, yet satisfying part of this process.  While much of this work is retracing what’s already been drawn, the concise line art eliminates much guesswork in the next steps. The goal here is to have a clean blueprint, so I don’t have dedicate bandwidth to fixing errors in anatomy, prop position, etc. 

I try to keep element of this comp well organized. For instance, Phong’s face alone has layers for their eyelash, iris, bottom eyelid, eyebrow, nose, mouth, bangs, braid, ponytail, hair ties, ear, and face - all clustered into a group, which is then clustered within a bigger group containing the remaining parts of their body. Definitely overkill, but I like running a tight ship for pieces I can take my time with!

Color Flats:

Full disclosure: the color flats shown here are a lie. I didn’t land on these colors on my first try; it took innumerable rounds of trial and error. Color palette iterations ran the full gamut from monotonously drab to eye-searingly vibrant then back again. Lighting changed from high noon to overcast to night time in quick succession. Certain elements were individually altered to pop out more, then on second viewing, dialed back because they popped out too much. The colors you see below a grudging compromise of all the directions which it was pulled: 

This GIF below is a more honest depiction of the utter chaos which was the evolution of this illustration’s identity crisis:

Shading:

I suppose after that GIF showing these next steps is bit of a moot point, but here we are anyways! I used Brightness/Contrast adjustment layers to start lighting the color flats. I start out with the polygonal lasso tool to block out the big shadow shapes, then go back with a textured brush to soften edges where necessary.

At this point, my layer count was going upwards of 900+ and file size at over 1GB. If I so much as turned off a layer, my computer threatens to have a meltdown. So consolidated these lighting layers by making them universal - one layer for darks, another for contact shadows, etc. 

Final Render:

I guess this is where the magic happens? Textures, material renders, secondary & tertiary lights, atmosphere, etc. all kind of just happen at once. It’s a lot of stuff to describe in blow-by-blow accounts, and I’ve rewritten this several times already because Tumblr keeps prematurely closing out my unsaved drafts, so I’m gonna leave it at that!

[todoscript]

sweetest delight

SYNOPSIS: While Shouto’s out hunting down villains on Valentine’s Day, you try your hand at making some sweets to celebrate the occasion, and in doing so, find your efforts rewarded in more ways than one.

pairing: pro hero!todoroki shouto x fem!reader

genre: smut. fluff. pro hero au.

word count: 7.3k+

warnings: 18+. characters are aged up. dominant!shouto. apron kink. praising. oral (both receiving). face-sitting. 69. cum-eating.

author’s note: god, this is long overdue, but i finally got this thing out after all this time. and of course, it ended up getting out of hand again

“Fuck, fuck, fuck–”

A range of curses spewed from your mouth as the unpleasant smell of your burnt confections permeated the space of your kitchen, threatening to notify the fire alarm overhead of your latest baking mishap. Luckily, you entered the kitchen just in time to dissipate the smoke before it can do so, fanning your towel while navigating to the oven to find your crisp, blackened sweets already ruined inside. The corners of your lips slipped into a scowl at another failed batch of mini chocolate cupcakes at your hand. You slid on a pair of oven mitts to transfer the set off the rack and onto the kitchen counter.

A flicker of optimism in your head presented the thought that they didn’t seem that bad at first glance, going so far as to believe they might’ve tasted relatively fine and that the burnt parts simply added a bitter flavor that would balance the overall sweetness of the decadent chocolate cupcakes. But upon closer inspection, you knew you were lying to yourself.

Flipping the miniature cakes out of the molds, you discovered the sweets were encased in a dreary black outer shell, a sight which made you grimace, wondering how you screwed up so badly to have concocted such a dismal image. You definitely had no right feeding these to Shouto, let alone offer them to him as a Valentine’s Day gift.

As everyone knew, the fourteenth day of February marked Valentine’s Day, the day where couples expressed their love to one another by giving gifts, spending quality time through dates, and displaying many other forms of affection. This year, however, Shouto was called in at his agency to investigate a case of villains whose plan was to wreak havoc on this special occasion.

Now, any person would find it normal to be peeved over these circumstances—having their lover’s free time eaten up by work when they could be celebrating together with a nicely lit dinner or a casual, romantic night at home, and perhaps cap off a wonderful evening with a smooth transition into the bedroom. Much better than spending a day at home alone, pitifully watching couples intertwine their hands together in envy as they walked along the sidewalk beneath your apartment complex, right?

Well, you, on the other hand, were a different case. Rather than sulk around as you waited for Shouto to arrive home later, you decided this would be the perfect chance to whisk up some sweets to surprise him. After all, what’s Valentine’s Day without some chocolate delights on the side, made with vanilla, sugar, cocoa butter, and lots of love and effort. A perfect way to welcome Shouto home from his mission while honoring the festivities, you’d say.

Besides, you understood the situation well enough to recognize that the citizens’ well-being came first before any date of yours. Your boyfriend was a hero, after all, and a Pro at that. It’s not as if you and Shouto hadn’t celebrated Valentine’s Day together before. So long as he came home—intact—prior to the clock ticking to midnight, one day didn’t bother you.

Though… after witnessing the aftermath of several failed attempts at baking thus far, you started to wonder if it would’ve done you better not to get so involved, only to waste resources and pervade your kitchen with an acrid smell.

Still, despite the trials and tribulations, you were determined to come out on top. You tapped your index finger repeatedly against the surface of the marbled counter. “Did I mix up the baking times? Maybe I undermined the portion sizes so the cupcakes started cooking faster?” you speculated out loud, wondering how to troubleshoot the minor errors to come out successful in your next attempt.

After some thought, you decided not to dawdle on your overthinking for too long and shrugged off the idea of redoing another batch of cupcakes. “It’s fine, I’ll just move onto the chocolates then. They’re the star of Valentine’s Day so better to focus on those,” you told yourself. A grin found its way on your face as you rolled the sleeves of your blouse up your forearms. “Alright, let’s get to it then!”

You retrieved a recipe sheet from across the counter, scanning through the contents while overlooking the ingredients lying in front of you. Compared to baking cupcakes, chocolates should be easier to tackle since you weren’t entirely making them from scratch. All you had to do is temper the chocolate melts in a bowl over a heat source, pour them into silicone molds, and refrigerate until hardened and shaped to the perfect, bite-sized delight. Seemed simple enough.

.

.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t quite as simple as you thought.

Or rather, you chose to make the whole process more complicated than it needed to be, not realizing the ambitious turn your take on these chocolates was moving toward until you drove yourself into another mess.

Your first trial of bonbons was sprawled out over parchment paper, waiting for your verdict. Eyes roaming the array of sweets tentatively, you absorbed the mixture of pink and white hues with an unsure look on your face. Somehow during the process, you opted to forgo the customary milk chocolates for white and strawberry, which was the closest you could get to matching Shouto’s signature hair colors.

You’d thought it’d be cute for the treats to have a slight resemblance to him as a simple yet sweet reminder that he was on your mind throughout your progress. But staring down at the final product, you wished you guessed ahead of time that the vision you sparked in your head was not going to be as bright and pretty in comparison to what came out.

You frowned at the batch with narrowed brows before begrudgingly scooping a piece and tossing it into your mouth. The sweetness of the strawberry and white chocolates coexisted together to form a smooth texture that left behind a creamy, floral undertone on your tongue. What was incredibly lacking, however, laid in the looks department. The visuals left… more to be desired, to say the least.

With the idea of wanting to use two different flavors of chocolate, you also played on the notion of incorporating a theme. That theme being half-and-half. And half-and-half being splitting the colors on the chocolates right down the middle.

Though not a complicated plan for an adept baker, it was the exact opposite for a newbie like you who had came up with the idea on the spot. With your chocolates appearing in odd shapes and sizes, not one seemed to resemble another, which was the result of both your lack of patience and miscalculations. You had to allow one of the flavors to harden in the mold before adding the other to not prematurely mix the colors, but judging by the swirls of pink and white surrounding the chocolates, that didn’t seem to go so well. Add on to the fact you had some trouble inverting them out of the silicon molds—the edges of the chocolates ending up smooshed or torn off entirely—and you were left with another failed attempt at a Valentine’s present.

“Guess making sweets isn’t really my thing, huh?” You sighed, body slumping forward against the kitchen counter in defeat. Your eyes wandered from your sad chocolates to the hefty amount of dirty dishes piled in the sink. All this, and you weren’t able to make anything worth giving to Shouto. What exactly were you going to tell him when he came home, bearing witness to this entire mess? No, Shouto was probably under enough stress and fatigue as it was after working all day. Plus, his anticipation for a gift would only be amplified if he saw the number of baking supplies you’ve wasted today. At this point, you had to turn in the towel.

“Oh well… I better clean everything up before Sho comes home and start on din–”

Your words were interrupted by the sharp sound of the front door opening.

“I’m home!” an all too familiar voice announced, one that you were more than aware belonged to a particular fire and ice hero.

Surprised, you glanced over at the clock to check the time, which read a bold 6:00 PM—sooner than you expected your boyfriend to arrive home from his duties that day. So soon, in fact, that you weren’t able to even begin erasing any of the evidence littered around the kitchen.

“Y/n?” you heard him call. Freezing in place, you picked up Shouto breathing in a quick whiff. “What’s that smell?” he asked but didn’t wait for a response, traveling through the enormous apartment to find that answer for himself. Hearing his feet shuffling across the hardwood floor, you moved quickly.

“The kitchen smells sweet but also... bitter.”

Sweet and bitter..? you repeated but soon realized what he meant—those damn burnt chocolate cupcakes you left out. While in your rush with making the chocolates, you had forgotten to dispose of them beforehand. Though the bitter smell was not as prominent as when the cupcakes first came out of the oven, it still didn’t evade Shouto’s keen senses.

After shoving the burnt mini cupcakes in a trash bin, you scrambled to the entrance to the kitchen, thankfully cutting Shouto’s path off just in time as you met him there. “Oh hey, Sho, why didn't expect you to come home so early!” you greeted, a cheerful lilt in your tone as you leaned an arm on the side of the doorway, hoping to come off ordinarily chill to avoid any questioning looks. It seemed you achieved that much at least by how Shouto smiled warmly at your appearance.

“You should’ve shot me a quick text or something.”

“Sorry, we managed to track down the group of villains right away and finished the mission smoothly without any casualties,” he explained. “I guess I was in such a hurry to come home and celebrate Valentine’s Day with you that I must’ve forgotten.” The soft look on Shouto’s handsome features had you in a daze for a second; you nearly missed him descending his head to your level so his lips could find yours. Eventually, you broke from your stupor and swiftly turned your head so he planted a peck on your cheek instead.

You were never one to purposely avoid a kiss on the lips like that from him—far from it actually—but you didn’t want him to find any residual sweetness on your lips from the confections you taste-tested that day and have him bring up if you made anything for him. One thing you surely couldn’t avoid, however, was his puzzled face at your uncharacteristic actions. Still, Shouto wasn’t one to overthink the details. Instead, he decided to look at the bigger picture, such as the dirty yet cute, pink and brown frilly apron tied around your body.

“Your apron’s a mess,” he chuckled lightly. The comment caught you off-guard, eyes slowly traveling down to the flour and chocolate stains on your Valentine’s-themed apron. “Have you been cooking?” he asked. You fumbled with your answer.

“O-Oh yeah..! In fact, I’m… still cooking, actually!” you quickly added, making up for your lack of words. “C’mon, it’s probably been a long day for you. You should go freshen up in the shower while I get everything done and cleaned!” You tried shoo-ing Shouto from the kitchen’s vicinity, but he didn’t budge.

“I can help out if you like. I wouldn’t want you to fix everything up by yourself, especially since we’re supposed to spend the rest of Valentine’s Day together,” he said, and as much as you liked to take him up on his kind and thoughtful offer, you had to object.

Firmly shaking your head, you continued your attempts at pushing Shouto to retreat to the shower and scrub off the troubles of his day. “No, you’ve probably done enough work today as it is! Just let me handle the rest, ‘kay?” you insisted, straining a smile. However, your hurried shoving felt almost too persistent than what Shouto found normal.

“Well, what are you making then–” As he tilted his head up to sneak a peek, you followed his movements, elevating yourself onto your tiptoes to block his vision in time.

“S-Soba noodles..! Cold! Just how you like them,” you answered after partially interrupting him. Quirking a brow at your fidgety gestures, Shouto stared at the smile etched on your lips which screamed of suspicion. Now he was sure something was up.

“Love,” he said, his voice a tone lower than usual that made goosebumps appear on your skin, staring at his turquoise and gray eyes warily, “are you hiding something from me?”

“What? Psh, no,” you feigned innocence, shrugging, “Why would you think that?”

Shouto gave you a look, silently telling you that you should more than know the reason why, but you chose to remain ignorant. No point in questioning it any further then. He would have to pry the answer out himself.

Aware that you had no intention of letting him pass voluntarily, Shouto began putting his hero training to use. He side-stepped in a single motion, quickly pivoting on the balls of his feet to slip through your defenses. You didn’t have time to ask yourself what happened before you turned around to watch his reaction to what you left for him on the kitchen counter.

Upon entering the kitchen, Shouto’s heterochromatic eyes were immediately drawn to the marbled white-and-pink sweets sprawled across the parchment paper. His interest piqued, he walked straight to the chocolates with you trailing behind. You could feel the heat in your cheeks slowly rise from the embarrassment at seeing Shouto inspect your sorry excuse of chocolates.

“Hm, no soba noodles, but I may have found something even better,” he said, and you wondered if you heard correctly or that maybe he saw something you didn’t. You rapidly blinked about four times, letting your vision adjust, and yet your chocolates remained.

“You’re kidding… right?”

Shouto lifted a brow at your hesitance. “No, why would I be kidding?” he replied thoughtfully. He took one of the chocolates off the parchment paper, raising it in the air between his thumb and index finger. “You made these for me, didn’t you?”

“I mean, yeah, they were supposed to be a Valentine’s Day gift, but…”

“But..?” A frown settled on his lips, watching you nervously twiddle your thumbs while you held your hands against your apron. “Y/n, you can tell me.” Not liking how you weren’t meeting his eyes, his finger drew your chin up so he could get a better glimpse of your face.

“But they don’t look the part. They’re hideous,” you quietly admitted, your words mellowing into a whisper the more they departed your lips. The way he treated your creations as if they belonged on a pedestal didn’t sit right in your eyes. “So I... didn’t want you to see them, or any of this actually. I thought if you saw what I was doing, you’d get your hopes up for something special, only to be disappointed.” You tried avoiding his gaze again, but Shouto wouldn’t allow it, following your eyes as his hand pried yours apart to take one in his own.

His focus shifted from the pink and white chocolate held in front of him to the uncertainty clouding your expression. “I’m not sure what you mean. They look fine to me.”

“Sho, you don’t have to lie to me just so you don’t end up hurting my feelings. Anyone can see how uneven they look,” you said, pointing at the rest of the batch still sitting on the counter behind him. There was a low chuckle coming from the male’s lips, one that you guessed was out of amusement, but you were too caught in your troubled feelings to be sure.

“Well, I have to admit, they don’t exactly resemble the perfect, visual representation of the chocolates you’d find at the store or anything,” he acknowledged with you mumbling an ‘I told you so’ in response before he continued, “but that’s the reason why I like them. That means you made them for me and there isn’t any chocolate like it. They’re one of a kind.”

His genuine words took you aback, eyes glimmering and cheeks flushed. You were too wrapped up in your need for perfection that you didn’t realize you could consider your efforts that way.

“Besides,” he threw the little bonbon in his mouth, “they taste great,” he said as the strawberry and white cream melted on his tongue with its rich sweetness.

Despite his praise, you thought he had only said that because you knew for a fact that the chocolates did at least pass in the taste department. “But what if they had tasted bad too? What would you have said then?” You were bold enough to question, though half-worried about his answer in the back of your head—worried that he would have to take back those sweet words of his.

“I still would have eaten them, regardless. I’d never waste anything you’ve made for me, you should know that. To me, these chocolates are the sweetest delight not because they’re the best looking or tasting, but because they came from you,” he answered earnestly, bending down to tuck a hair away from your stunned yet grateful appearance which looked as if you were nearly about to sigh out loud in relief. You brought your body into his chest, tucking your head beneath his chin, and he wrapped his arms around you, lips pressed against your hair.

Shouto didn’t grant you much time to bask in your solace however, before beckoning you over to the kitchen counter. He wasn’t done teasing you just yet.

“Normally couples give each other milk chocolates on Valentine’s day. Any reason you decided on white and strawberry then?” Shouto noted, a grin on his lips as you seemed reluctant to reveal your reasoning—lips pursed and fingers playing with the hem of your apron.

“Well, they’re supposed to be your…” You finished by motioning at the crown of your head before pointing to his red and white locks.

Heh... Cute. The grin that was persistent on his features widened, and your response earned you a kiss on the cheek. “Thinking about me, huh?” he teased. You were more than aware of your intentions throughout your chocolate-making process, but it didn’t make the whole situation any less embarrassing when your motives came to light out of Shouto’s own mouth.

You pouted profusely, turning your face in the other direction as you nudged his arm. “Aren’t you going to eat the rest then?” you asked despite your demure demeanor. You couldn’t see it, but you were positive he was aiming that amused expression in your direction, leaning his head on his palm while his elbow was leveled on the counter.

“You made a lot of chocolates today, love. You don’t expect me to finish them all by myself, do you?” You heard the rustle of the parchment liner unsticking to something behind you. Then a finger poked your cheek, and out of curiosity, you followed where the disturbance came from, only to have a swirl of pink and white pushed past your lips.

“Mm..” you hummed surprisingly in delight at the harmonious strawberry and cream flavors coating your tastebuds.

“Tastes good, doesn’t it?” he asked.

“Yeah, I got to taste them before you arrived home.” You rubbed the back of your head. “And um, I didn’t exactly make these from scratch...” You went about divulging your methods to him, explaining your usage of chocolate melts, which all in all saved you a lot of time, considering your earlier mishaps with the brownies—a misfortune you also confessed to as you side-eyed the trash bin.

The dual-haired male laughed with mirth at the disasters you tangled yourself into today. “Seemed like you had an eventful Valentine’s Day at home without me.”

He scanned over your outfit, consisting of a simple buttoned blouse and a pair of jeans. What caught his eye the most was the frilly, laced brown and pink apron tied around your body. You must have bought this specifically to get in the spirit of Valentine’s Day because this was the first he’s seen you in this. Normally you’d wear those plain cotton aprons while you were cooking. Not something so charming and—dare he say—refreshing.

As you were continuing the conversation—going on about how vanquishing criminal organizations was more productive than whatever you were concocting at home—your words faded into the background. Shouto found it hard to focus on what you were saying, while your animated gestures seemed to enhance the shape of the apron against your body, emphasizing your physique.

Recalling the story you just mentioned, he imagined what the scene of you frantically dashing around the kitchen would look like as you wore this cute thing. Was it weird of him to hold fantasies of arriving home, being greeted by your endearing self donning this garment, dolled in its intricacies with a smile gracing the lips he oh so wanted to kiss every day?

Shouto would think so. He’s never heard of any anecdotes of this kind of behavior before. Perhaps it was how dainty and frilly the material appeared against your figure that stemmed such a risqué thought from him. If that was the case, then this apron was no different than lingerie. Or more specifically, those delicate lace babydolls you’d wear for him on those special occasions, in which you displayed the zenith of lust and vulnerability that rendered him a man ensnared by his need to utterly ravage you–

Fuck. Letting those imaginations cross his mind was a dangerous move. He felt himself getting hard, body exercising the willpower not to pounce and concede to his fantasies. Then again, no one could really blame him for thinking of his girlfriend this way on Valentine’s Day. Especially when you looked so damn cute right now that he could just eat you up.

“Shouto?” Your voice diverted his attention from the growing problem in his pants, though only for a moment. When his focus returned to you, all those lascivious thoughts buried in the back of his head made their way to the forefront again. Damn, did he have it bad.

“Is something wrong? You were zoning out for a bit.”

He shook his head, dispelling your concern. However, it was going to take more than that to sweep away the lust consuming his mind. “It’s nothing. More importantly, why don’t we continue tasting these chocolates?” Pulling up a stool, he took a seat next to the kitchen counter.

Just as you were going to mention that you needed to start on dinner soon, Shouto suddenly drew your body in between his parted legs. Thrown slightly off-balance, you instinctively held onto his shoulders to keep yourself steady.

You couldn’t help but notice the hand traveling up your legs as it situated itself on the back of your thigh, but the detail was abandoned as soon as it was manifested. The proximity between you two was too much not to overlook now. Shouto peered up at you with what you made out to be smoldering intensity, and the sight reduced you to shying away from his eyes again.

Of course, Shouto didn’t take a liking to that. With you so close, he didn’t want anything hindering his front seat viewing of your candid reactions. “Baby, look here,” he called to you. You followed his command, turning back to face the grin reaching his lips. “There’s my pretty girl.”

You attempted to open your mouth to reply but found another ball of marbled chocolate placed where words should’ve been.

Soft lips wrapped around him, Shouto had to fight back the urge to groan, feeling your tongue graze the pad of his thumb as he fed you the candy. His other hand, formerly occupied with rubbing subtle circles on your clothed flesh, wandered to the satin ribbon of your apron fashioned behind you.

It wasn’t long until you discerned the game he was playing through the fiery looks and frisky touching.

Well, enter player two.

You brought a hand to his wrist, keeping him there as your tongue made work at licking away the residual chocolate melted on his finger. You moved from his thumb to his index finger, noting not to miss anything with every flick as you confidently returned the heady expression with batted eyelashes.

Shouto breathed in silently through his nose, gritting his teeth, your sultry actions having an innate effect on him, to which you smirked at. There was a slight tug on the ribbon wrapped behind you. It wasn’t firm enough to where the knot came undone, but enough that you noticed his fixation on the material. If he was making an effort to exert some self-control, it was futile at this point. No doubt, he was going to take you before Valentine’s Day was over.

“Hmm, you’re right, these chocolates are pretty tasty. But it’s probably because you’re the one feeding them to me that they taste just soooo good,” you mused, adding a sensual tonality to your voice as you concluded your words with one last kitten lick.

The man before you bit the inside of his cheek, your voice alone making blood rush south. You little minx. He was going to make doubly sure you understood just what you were doing to him.

Finally releasing his hand, you reached over beside you to grab a chocolate off the parchment paper. “For you~” You giggled as you led the confection to Shouto’s mouth. He readily accepted your gift, lips wrapping around the tips of your fingers as the mellow flavors soothed his taste buds. He made a point of re-enacting your little show, tongue languidly lapping your fingers while he maintained steady eye contact. You shuddered at the wet warmth abiding your skin, the suffocating sexual tension in the air causing you to press your thighs together. The action was not overlooked by Shouto, who smiled amidst cleaning your fingers with every brush of his tongue.

“What’s wrong, love? You were so bold and talkative earlier. Cat got your tongue or something?” he teased. A smirk ran across the curl of his lips as his licks turned to kisses he planted on the back of your hand.

After finishing his task of lapping up every essence of sweetness off your skin, he lifted himself from the stool. Doing so made him stand tall over you, and he easily cornered you to where your back met the edge of the counter. Your wrist captured in one of his hands, he wove an arm around you, pulling your body into him.

“You know, there’s something I want to eat right now other than chocolates,” he confessed, forehead pressed to yours and glinted heterochromatic eyes latent with an insatiable hunger. The baritone of his voice sent shivers through your body and a throb aching in your core.

You innocently tilted your head at him. “Oh, is that so? And what would that be?”

He chuckled darkly at your redundant question.

“Why you of course, my love.”

The moment the words reached your ears, he lunged forward to seize your lips. You quickly followed in the sensual movements of his soft lips against yours like it was a practiced routine, not resisting his tongue prying its way into your mouth and submitting to the dance that made pleasure course through your veins.

A single tap on your thigh was your cue to hop into Shouto’s waiting grasp and wrap your arms around his neck. You pulled your bodies closer to where the few layers of clothing you both possessed did nothing to hide your enthusiasm for each other. You could feel your nipples under your bra stiffen at your arousal, growing more sensitive as you pressed your chest to him. Meanwhile, his hard erection shamelessly poked the inside of your thigh to which his grip was poised on remaining firm, grinding your lower half against him.

You expected this was where he intended to have you—right then and there in the middle of the kitchen—but to your surprise, Shouto had other plans. He navigated you two to the dining table as you continued feverishly making out with your legs wrapped around his waist. Never breaking the hot mingle of your lips, he carefully placed you on the edge. His hands were free to roam the expanse of your body, palming at places that elicited airy moans from you as he inscribed the niceties of your bonny apron into his memory. Though he cursed the unnecessary layers that obscured your beautiful flesh from him.

Finding the clothes still on you equally unbearable in the heat of your movements, you were on the same wavelength as him. You sought out the satin ribbon tied behind your back that kept the apron on your form, but before your fingertips could even reach the material to tug the knot loose, Shouto seized your wrists and led your hands away. Your face was scrunched with bewilderment by how sudden his actions were.

Shouto didn’t think he could have a fetish over something as ordinary and domestic as a decorative garment tied around your waist, but this Valentine’s Day was proving him otherwise. He was not about to pass an opportunity to absolutely ruin you in this pretty thing.

“Keep it on,” he ordered, voice deep and commanding.

“H-Huh? What about my clothes?” you stuttered, confused at first. You wanted to ask what spurred him to give such a demand, but you were too caught in the moment to think of objecting to his request (not that you had much choice anyway).

“Let me.” That was all he said before his hands sought after the waistband of your jeans and the buttons of your top. He pulled and undid the apparel until you were left in only your panties and that lovely apron. Your bra was quickly disposed of to the pile next to his feet thanks to the clip being located at the front this time, and he was eternally grateful for the convenience. You didn’t even have to mention anything for his own clothes to float above yours on the floor, sitting back on the table to admire his toned physique, now free for you to ogle in just his briefs.

His hooded, icy eyes concentrated on every aspect of your appearance. He didn’t dare miss a single detail in front of him—from your bare, flushed skin glowing beneath the light fixture to your aroused nipples shaped through the thin fabric. You were a sight Shouto would gladly worship for the rest of his life.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes, my love, and I’m going to enjoy ravaging you until all you know is my name.”

His words alone were enough to send a tingle of anticipation to your cunt. You did not shrink at his assertiveness, instead embracing both yours and Shouto’s desires with open arms.

“You have me, Sho. I’m all yours.”

The man released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding before inhaling and diving in. Your lips reencountered each other, continuing from where you left off with his tongue chasing after you. You laced your fingers in his soft hair to press him deeper to you as Shouto navigated down your neck. He sucked and licked at your skin; every tug he felt on his scalp compelled him to lay marks as he inched closer and closer to your breasts.

“Ahh.. Sho…” you mewled, feeling his hands grope one of your mounds and tease your slit through your panties. With no intention of letting this apron off your body, Shouto pushed the fabric concealing your chest inward to reveal a perky nipple, seeming excited to be covered by his mouth. Well, who was he to deny such exuberance, especially when he himself was hungry to taste?

Lips enclosing the stiffened nub, Shouto sucked and prodded with fervor. As you squirmed and squealed beneath him, your fingers pulled harder at his strands which he hummed in content at. The tip of his tongue circled your areola, making the slick clinging to your panties damper at the stimulation. The hand occupied between your thighs stroked you against the fabric before pulling it to the side to touch you directly.

“Oh fuck!” you cursed at the contact as Shouto did not hesitate to start pumping a finger into your pussy.

“Damn, you’re so wet down here. Did my kisses and teasing do all this?”

You were too distracted by the precise movements of his fingers working through you to answer, words superseded by your wanton moans. “Keep making those pretty sounds, love. I want you to cry out as I’m ruining you.”

Your noises hit a crescendo when his fingers began curling inside you, stretching into places that lit stars behind your eyes. His thumb rubbed your clit to intensify the fire building in your abdomen. Your back arched on the table as you grabbed onto Shouto’s free hand for dear life, already feeling that flame ready to ignite.

“Sho– Wait, I’m gonna–”

“Don’t hesitate, sweetheart. Coat my fingers with your cum,” he told you, increasing the speed of his thumb against your bundle of nerves as he continually hit that euphoric soft spot.

At his words, your pussy clenched hard around him, practically sucking him in. You threw your head back against the table, releasing a loud cry of his name as your orgasm engulfed your whole body with electrifying pleasure. Chest heaving up and down, your breaths sounded ragged as your vision went white before slowly adjusting to the light.

Shouto slid his fingers out of you and brought them to his mouth, licking at the layer of gloss. He observed your fucked-out state from above and admired his handiwork—your lips swollen, eyes glassy, and sweaty skin adorned with his marks.

“You taste absolutely delicious, you know,” he said almost too sweetly, like he had immediately gotten drunk off drinking the remnants of your orgasm. And, of course, he had to let you know how delectable you were. Shouto provided you a sample by pressing his fingers to your lips. You obediently parted them, welcoming your essence on your tongue.

“Don’t you think so?”

You hummed and nodded in agreement. Shouto grinned, bending down to mix your flavor in each other’s mouths. He finally removed your ruined panties and slid them down your legs. But to no one’s surprise, the apron stayed on your person.

When you parted, Shouto gestured for you to get up from the table. In doing so, you had anticipated this would be the time to head straight to the bedroom, but the night continued to prove you wrong. Shouto was still famished.

“Stand up for a second, baby. I want to lay down as I have my meal.” You didn’t need to guess to know just what he wanted to satiate his appetite tonight.

Shouto laid himself flat across the table, the majority of his legs dangling off the edge. You, on the other hand, were apprehensive at his approach, cautiously wondering if your modest dining table could handle the rampant motions of two adult bodies on top of it at once. Should the legs give way and the table collapses, the gravity of your descent would put all your weight onto him. What if you hurt him as a result?

“Love, what’s the holdup?” your boyfriend called, breaking your train of thought, “Come, your throne awaits.” He patted his chest—a rather peculiar place to sit but your cunt pulsed at the image of you riding that gorgeous face of his.

“O-Okay, I’m just afraid of hurting you, is all,” you said, pulling at the hem of your apron for security.

He raised his upper body halfway to see the hesitance painted on your features. “Y/n, there’s no need to worry, I wouldn’t have thought of doing this if I couldn’t handle it,” he assured, his hand reaching out for you. “Trust me. I won’t let anything happen to us.”

You stared at the hand hovering in front of you and then at Shouto’s eyes glimmering with faith, and you knew you could trust his word. So you take his hand, climbing onto the table and over his body where you straddled his chest.

“Dining tables are meant to be eaten on, right? Well, I intend to devour you until your legs are shaking beside me, sweetheart,” he promised. He stroked up and down your thighs tauntingly. Your breaths hitched as he maneuvered you above his face, moving the flap of your apron so you could feel his cold breath against your lower lips.

“As much as I appreciate all those confections you made for me, they all pale in comparison to the sweetest delight here–” He uttered praises to your core while rubbing the soft flesh of your thighs. “This pretty, soft, and dripping pussy.”

Warmth spread across your cheeks at his lewd words and how close in proximity he was to your twitching center. The one thing you detested about this apron at this moment was the fact it blocked you from what Shouto was doing, the bottom half lying right above his face. To him, however, it made everything all the more entertaining.

Despite being the one trapped under you, it must have felt like you were more in the dark than he was. After all, he was the one asserting dominance in this situation, and with a layer of fabric hiding his face, you had no idea how or when he was going to eat you out. His deafening silence was not offering you one bit of reassurance either. If he truly intended to devour you atop this table, he should just do it already.

“...Sho? Are you—Ah!” Upon questioning him, your words were choked by your surprised squeal, feeling him delicately kiss your folds with chilly lips attached to your warm pussy. You opened your mouth to speak again, yet you struggled to search for words as Shouto’s tongue flattened against you, licking a long strip before latching onto your sensitive pearl. The more he relentlessly sucked and teased, the more you sang out with waves of pleasure quivering through your body.

Hearing your beautiful noises, he chuckled, tongue vibrating on your clit. Every sound you produced made his cock stutter, still leaking and begging for attention beneath his briefs.

Not liking how inactive you were—simply sitting on his face and waiting for yourself to come undone on his tongue—you reached behind yourself to trail your hand down his abdomen. His body tensed, abs immediately flexing at your soft touch. You noticed his ministrations falter in their rhythm.

“B-Baby, what are you doing?” he questioned, pulling himself off of you to concentrate on your hand running along the waistband of his briefs. His fingers dug into your flesh as you found his length, tentatively giving it a pump that gave birth to a strained noise below the flap of your apron.

“You’ve been doing all the work so far, Sho. I just want you to enjoy yourself,” you said. His eyebrows were scrunched, hissing through his teeth at your thumb grazing his slit, mixing his precum around the tip.

“I am enjoying myself—this is all I could ever ask for,” he replied honestly. He lifted the frilly material off his face so you could discover your slick running down his lips and neck, the blush spread across his fair cheeks an more than sufficient indication that he derived nothing but delight from being in this position. He looked like an absolute mess, yet the debauched sight made both your heart and pussy flutter.

“But if you want to join in, I won’t stop you.”

At that, Shouto detached himself from your sweetness for just a second to quickly reposition you above him. You were adjusted to where you were practically on all fours on the table now, facing the prominent bulge raised on his briefs while your fluttering cunt was somehow even more obscenely split in front of him. You were thankful the piece of furniture stayed intact throughout the motions, pleasantly astounded by its strength. However, you couldn’t pause to be impressed by this detail for long. Not when Shouto’s aching erection pleaded for you to continue touching it.

Your hand returned to its original place—wrapped around his heavy length that wept with precum coating the surface of its mushroom top. As you stroked it up and down in a consistent rhythm, you altered your grip to tighten more around him.

“Ooh yeah, that’s it, baby. Just like that… Ahhhh, fuckkkk—” You were rewarded by his praises and groans at the splendid pressure surrounding his dick. It encouraged you to keep up your pace and add another hand to the fray to increase the tension.

“You’re doing so well, making me feel so fucking good, love. Can you add your mouth for me now?” he requested, and you happily complied. Your tongue flattened against his cock, noting every vein and twitch running across your wet muscle that reduced Shouto to muttering obscenities behind you. Reaching the top, you swirled your tongue along the tip before taking the entire head into your warm cavern. Shouto’s thighs flexed, body almost trembling at how heavenly you made him feel. He couldn’t be outdone.

You let out a whine on his cock, feeling his mouth working against you again. This time you felt the effects stronger than before as Shouto spread your pussy lips to grant him better access to tongue fuck you. He stimulated every sensitive area with practiced ease, making sure to flick your clit with extra vigor to achieve the best results. You delivered in your reactions—legs shaking and knees slowly and deliberately being reduced to jelly.

Even ensnared in ecstasy, you did your best to adapt to his intensity, engulfing him more into your mouth. Your hands worked together to maximize the most pleasure you could give him, fondling his balls and gripping the base of his cock.

The lewdest of sounds filled the room in an unrelenting symphony. From your muffled whimpers to your pussy squelching in the presence of Shouto’s mouth purring against you, there was no shortage of bliss evident in the atmosphere. Hearing yourselves in the throes of rapture as you devoured each other’s whole beings like starved animals, you two were simultaneously climbing toward your highs.

“Shit, keep doing just that baby, and I’m going to paint that pretty mouth of yours white,” he warned half-heartedly. You purred, the enthusiasm laced your tone informing Shouto you wanted him to do just that. He was pleased by your response.

“You want it, don’t you, you slutty girl? Well, I expect you to drown me in your honey while I cover your throat with my cum then.” Those were the last words he spared you before proceeding to manifest them into reality. His hands dug themselves in the flesh below your ass cheeks, exposing your pussy to his appendage that swiped away at your clit until shockwaves made you tremble above him.

You were the first to come undone, juices running down your thighs and boyfriend’s chin. Your cries were muffled amidst Shouto’s dick caught down your throat, tightening around his length, which surged with spurts of white all over your mouth. You swallowed every single drop of his seed, wiping at the excess on your lips as you released the hero’s cock with a loud pop.

After taking a moment to catch your breaths, you carefully moved off of each other. Shouto steadied you on his lap, letting you straddle him as he sat on the edge of the table. He intertwined your fingers through his and brought them to his lips to place a tender kiss on the back of your hand.

“I love you, sweetheart.”

“I love you too, Shouto. Happy Valentine’s Day.”