#its helped me a lot honestly to sketch with no thought for polish and instead just going for emotion and clarity of character

[lethesbeastie]

Back in classes so haven't had much time for polished stuff, so please enjoy these absolutely incomprehensible rough thumbnails for several shitposts I want to illustrate

[dam-those-words]

15 Questions Tag Game!

I was (kinda) tagged by @georgiacambrielwritblr!

Rules: Pick a character (or two in my case) from your WIP and have them answer these 15 questions, then tag 15 people!

(Also, I already had this post done but when I tried to post it Tumblr went Thud appearently and deleted it instead, so I had to start over. Sorry for the long wait Georgia lol)

1. What is your full name?

" I'm Aniol Kaminski," The dirty-blonde male on the interviewer's right ruffles his red and gold wings. It takes most of the interviewer's willpower to not stare at them while shaking his hand; of course they've seen wings before, but never like these.

"Mattea Sarai," Says the platinum blonde on the interviewer's left. She completely disregards the interviewers outstretched hand and instead sits back in her wooden chair and crosses her arms.

2. What does it mean?

"Mine means something like, 'Stone Angel,' in Polish, so that's pretty cool." Aniol's voice is a growly-type deep, and paired with his thick accent, it takes the interviewer a second the realize what he said.

"You're so lucky. [Throwback to when his name was actually Lucky lmao] My name means some bullshit like, 'Princess,' or 'God's Gift,' or something. Makes me wanna barf just thinking about it." Mattea says, making a puking gesture.

"Woah there, young lady. Who taught you to cuss?" Aniol grins at her, but the way he flashes it makes it seem more like baring his teeth.

Mattea raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'Who taught you to cuss?' Have you heard yourself?" She leans forward in her wooden chair, putting her elbows on her knees.

Aniol leans forward, copying Mattea. He whispers-- well more like growls-- something too quiet for the interviewer to hear, but makes the rage in Mattea's eyes simmer.

The tension in the room makes the interviewer realize that the wooden table in between them would do nothing if the got into a fight as bad as they'd been rumored to. The interviewer clears their throat and asks the next question.

3. Do you two have any nicknames or other names?

"I don't really have any, but this little devil does call me Bird Boy more often than she calls me Aniol," Aniol nodded towards the girl across the wooden table.

Mattea had snatched a peanut butter cookie from the gold-lined plate in the middle of the table, and now had a mouthful of cookie. She somehow still managed to say, "Are you forgetting about Jexi calling you Ann? Like, Ann of Green Gables?"

Aniol simply rolls his eyes, replying, "I'm not forgetting, I'm just ignoring the fact that you've appearently eavesdropped. And don't talk while eating,"

"Its not like I try to listen to everything that happens in your guys' rooms, especially at night when you guys--"

"Anyway, why don't you tell them what your nickname is?" His cheeks are a bright red as he talks.

Mattea smiles, relaxing a little and shrugging. "I don't really have any, either. Oh, well, Mayson calls me Matt sometimes. But other than that, none."

4. What's your gender?

"Male, obviously," Aniol says, the pink already fading.

"Female," Mattea answers.

"God, we're so boring. I wish we had Dani so they could spice it up," There's a tinge of sadness in his voice. He frowns down at his hands where he holds a small paperclip he had been figiting with, his short and jagged hair falling into his eyes.

Mattea's eyebrows scrunch for a split second before a mask of arrogance passes over he features, and she says, "Speak for yourself, amigo. I'm the most interesting out of the entire Assassin's."

Aniol's returning look is so full of an emotion that the interviewer can't place, but still makes them look away and clear their throat yet again.

5. What is your sexuality?

"I'm pansexual," Aniol says quickly, sitting back in his chair and grabbing a cookie.

The confusion must have shown on the interviewer's face, since Aniol adds on, in a matter-of-fact tone, "It means that I can like anyone, regardless of their gender."

The interviewer nods and turns towards Mattea for an answer.

She had become a completely different person than she was about five seconds ago: she had somehow scrunched in on herself, grabbing her arms as if she were cold. Her lips were pursed.

"I--uh, I don't... I think--" Mattea is interrupted again by Aniol, but this time her expression changes to relief instead of amusement.

"We've talked about it before, and Mattea would like to not answer that question. If we could move on, that'd be great." He says in the same matter-of-fact tone as earlier.

6. Where are you from?

"Poland, though you can probably tell," Aniol says, his accent somehow becoming thicker than before.

Mattea clears her throat, the tension slowly leaving her body. "I'm from here. Akida."

7. How old are you?

"I'm 25. I was born on October 2nd, 2005." Aniol says.

"I'm only two years younger than him, and yet he somehow thinks that he's sooo--" Mattea does jazz hands as she speaks. "--much smarter and wiser than me, even though I obviously am the smarter one."

Aniol rolls his eyes, throwing the last bit of his cookie at her. He hits her directly in the forehead. His eyes go wide.

There's a moment of silence before they both burst out laughing. It fills the small room, and the interviewer can't help but join them.

8. Any special talents?

"Not really. I mean, I'm pretty good at baseball, but my wings get in the way for any sport." Aniol ruffles his wings again in emphasis. The interviewer silently thanks themselves again for remembering to get a special chair to accommodate his wings.

"I'm good at using most weapons, besides those stupid miscellaneous ones. I'm also good at braiding my own hair, which is something even Jexi can't do." Mattea figits with her hair tie, throwing Aniol an arrogant grin.

"Hey, you should put all that on your future resumes. I'm great at weapons, also known as murder, I can tie my hair back like any normal human, and I can be incredibly stupid! I'm the whole package!" Aniol mocks, making his deep voice extremely high.

The interviewer tenses, but is pleasantly surprised when all Mattea does is laugh and look expectantly for the next question.

9. Any kids?

Mattea bark-laughs again, shaking her head vigorously.

Aniol only shrugs his shoulders and says, "In the future, if my partner wants them. But none right now,"

10. What's your aesthetic?

Mattea interrupts Aniol before he has a chance to open his mouth, ticking the subjects off on her fingers as she talks, "Water fountains, pale roses, lip balm, pastel colors, stationary--"

It's Aniol's turn to cut her off, asking what an aesthetic is.

"It's like... your vibes. Like, for you it would be something like... maybe lots of grey and orange things." Mattea explains.

"That sounds stupid, but whatever. I guess mine is cobblestone, rain... uh, bright orange feathers and pumpkins. I don't know what it means, don't laugh at me!" He adds when Mattea tries to cover her laugh up with a cough.

11. Who's your best friend?

"Jexi,"

"Are you sure it's only best friend? Nothing else?" Mattea prods at Aniol's answer.

"Oh shut up. What about you and Mayson, huh?" He snaps back. Her cheeks turn as red as Aniol's cheeks earlier.

"That's not important,"

"Mhm," Though their words suggest tension, their eyes are full of amusement.

12. Would you ever get piercings or tattoos?

"I already have a tattoo," Aniol says, pulling up his grey sleeve to show a black and white tattoo of an arrow on his bicep.

"Wait, when did you get that?" Mattea asks, leaning forward to see it better.

"Jexi gave it to me when we were nineteen,"

Mattea's eyebrows rise. "Jexi did? And you still refuse to acknowledge the fact that she's--"

"Did I not make myself clear, Matt?" Aniol snarls, letting his sleeve fall down.

Mattea snarls right back.

The interviewer hastily asks the next question, hoping to change their focus onto them.

13. When are you happiest?

Aniol throws Mattea one last death glare before ruffling his wings yet again. "When I'm flying,"

"With a certain someone," Mattea tries to whisper but the interviewer hears her anyway, smirking.

"Do you have a death wish or what, Matt?"

"Name a time when I didn't,"

Aniol starts to respond but is cut off by the interviewer, still desperately hoping to get through this interview without a fight. The interviewer asks Mattea the question again.

"If I'm honest, I really like sketching. And archery. And I do like to banter with this idiot," She smiles again, but it's (thankfully) filled with much less venom than before.

That quickly, the tension leaves the room. The interviewer was amazed at their ability to start and end an argument in less than a minute. No wonder these two were always in trouble.

14. What's your biggest secret?

"Oooh, that's a good one. Why don't you go first, Aniol?" Mattea claps her hands, threading them together and putting them on her now crossed legs.

"Oh, uh. I guess... I'm terrified of spiders. Like, I hate then with my whole being,"

Mattea seemingly can't help but laugh at that, trying again and failing at turning it into a cough.

"Hey, you're scared of them, too! Don't you remember when you made Noah switch sleeping bags with you because you thought there was a spider in yours?" Aniol hastily defends himself.

"Yeah, but," Mattea is laughing so hard she can barely talk.

It takes longer than the interviewer would have liked for Mattea to finally calm down, and to ask the question again.

"I think my biggest secret is how I got this necklace and why." Mattea answers, holding out a silver chain with a half-cresent moon dangling on it.

When she doesn't continue, the interviewer decides to move on and get this interview over with.

15. Last question: What's the first thing you notice about people?

"Hmm. I think I notice how they move firstly. That alone tells you a lot about them," Mattea answers, nodding at her own answer.

A grin creeps onto Aniol's face at her, but he only says, "I notice their eye or lips first. I don't really know why, and I honestly should notice their movement first, but," He shrugs.

-

Oh jeez, I'm sorry for the long post lmao!

And idk about 15 people, since tumblr might decide to not actually tag them, but I'll try as many as I can think of!

@supersockosis @toboldlywrite @quillwritten @quilloftheclouds @fruzsiwrites @reeseweston @writeness @bartlebyboys @pens-swords-stuff @msmeaghanrey

As always, you dont have to do this is you dont want to (or already did it), and if I didnt tag you feel free to do it anyway and say I tagged you!

[buchanannn]

Sleepless (Steve Rogers X Reader)

Summary: Steve can’t sleep, and you’re more than happy to help tire him out

Word Count: 3454

Warnings: SMUT, wee bit of angst, unprotected sex (why do I write it when I don’t support it, oral, lots of of, rough-ish sex, bit of ahem LANGUAGE from cap and u, naughty

A/N: this is like, one of the dirtier things I’ve written, I’m almost ashamed to post it but also like, why wouldn’t I? Y’know. Also I find that I make Steve super rough a lot idk why since he’s like a thicc string bean that probably only enjoys missionary lmao anyway nobody knows what it means but it’s provocative and it gets the people going hehe

When you first became an Avenger, you thought it would be fun to live in the compound. Like a massive sleepover with all of your best friends eating breakfast everyday, training together, watching movies together, making dinner. It was only when you actually moved in that you started to notice all the annoying things about living with a bunch of superheroes. Like Nat's tendencies to creep up on you when you had a hot coffee in your hand, or Tony's midnight explosions in the lab when he was tinkering in the early mornings. Your least favourite, however was Steve. Your quarters just so happened to share a wall with the gym, which had been fine in the beginning; you could sleep in and get to training in literally two seconds instead of the five minute walks that it took some of the others, you always had access to weights on your sleepless nights, the scent that the AI system constantly pumped the room with to get rid of the superhero sweat was absolutely delicious and constantly sept through the walls to your bedroom. Everything seemed like a plus side. And then Steve came along. You couldn't pinpoint when or why it happened, but one day he suddenly decided that he liked working out at night. Probably because the schedule was difficult and he loved having the place to himself. For the first week or so it was okay, you could deal with the quiet grunts and tiny shifts of the weights, that was fine. But then cardio came and the loud footsteps and the constant sound of his fist on a punching bag and suddenly, you couldn't take it.

You hadn't slept well in about two weeks, which wasn't fair in the slightest considering you'd had a total of zero missions. It was your rest time and Steve was ruining it. You had enough. You threw your covers off you, the rhythmic slap of his fist on the punching bag getting to be all to much. Padding across your living space to the apartments door, you swung it open with anger, stalking towards the gym door. You scanned your fingerprint on the scanner and frowned as you waited for your access to be granted. Steve didn't even notice you enter, his pace kept up without a missing beat as you stomped over to him. Once you were close enough to talk to him without it being too loud, you reached out to grab his shoulder. He jumped, his pace faltering as he swung around quickly.

"Christ, Y/N, you scared me." "Dude, I can't fucking sleep. I will literally give you my gym time if you stop fucking working out at night." You seethed. You didn't want to, you had the best work out time for you, when you were motivated in the morning, but you'd be more than willing to give it up if it meant a good nights rest. He looked from your face to the gym's wall and then his eyes widened. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about that- " You immediately felt guilty. Why did you need to yell at him when you could've simply spoken to him over breakfast or something? God you were such an asshole. Your face softened. "No, it's okay. I just haven't been able to sleep."

"Me neither. Hence," he motioned toward the gym equipment. You furrowed your brows. "Why can't you sleep?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I've been having nightmares."

You looked down at the polished concrete floors with a feeling of shame in your stomach. It couldn't have been easy for him, he'd lost so much. Been through hell and back. When you looked back up your eyes trailed his body. He was wearing only grey sweatpants, dog tags hanging around his neck and swinging across his sweaty torso. His hair fell messily in his face and dark bags hung under his eyes. You were too busy thinking about yourself that you hadn't noticed him.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I'm really sorry. Do, I dunno, do you wanna come and sit with me? So you're not alone." You suggested. It was the least you could do.

"No, no, it's fine. I don't wanna intrude." He Bega to unwrap the bandages from around his fists. "I've kept you up enough." Without more than a goodnight, he began out of the gym. You were left standing in the cold concrete room, feeling like shit.

The next night, there was no sound in the gym. If it weren't for the twisting of your stomach, you could've slept. But now you were kept up for a whole different reason. You chewed your lip, running a hand through your hair as you slid out of bed. This time, instead of the gym, you were going to talk to Steve somewhere else.

You knocked softly on his apartment door, the sliver of yellow light shining into the hallways from his room hinting to his state. He pulled open the door, wearing a similar ensemble from the night before minus the sweat. "Oh, hey." He smiled. He looked tired.

"I feel really bad about last night." You began. "It was super insensitive and like selfish. I didn't take into account what you were going through and I'm really sorry. You can work out whenever it's fine, really." He smiled softly, letting out a chuckle. "It's okay, Y/N. Seriously." "No, I was a dick." You dropped your eyes. "I mean, a little," he laughed. Your eyes snapped back to his defensively. "But you can make it up by coming to hang out with me?" You rolled your eyes with a wide smile. "Of course." He held the door for you, closing it softly after you were inside. His apartment was a bit of a mess, clothes strewn across the couch, random dumbbells placed across the floor and several sketch books open on the coffee table. "Yeah, sorry," he noticed your eyes. "Honestly, it's cleaner than my place." You laughed. He shook his head in disbelief. "I doubt that." You looked up at him, his slouched shoulders and sunken face barely recognisable. Without thinking, you reach up and press the pad of your thump to the crease between his furrowed brows, gently straightening out the wrinkles. His eyes glanced at you.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Steve." You pushed. You knew it was hard to open up, you'd been through years of trauma that you never wanted to speak about. But you also knew that talking helped. He shook his head as you dropped your hand.

"C'mon. You can trust me." You insisted.

He looked over quickly, scanning the features of your face. He let out a heavy, shaky sigh.

He shook his head as he spoke, as if he couldn't believe he was telling you. "I just, I can't forget these things. These dark, dark things. And I want to." You slipped an arm around his bare waist and lead him to the bed to sit. "What dark things?" "I don't dream anymore." He whispered. "I just remember. I saw my best friend die. And then I watched him try to kill me. I watched a man get sucked into space. I watched Tony sacrifice himself and then fall back to earth. I've killed people. People who were only doing their job. They didn't have any other choice and I killed them." "Hey," you hooked a finger under his chin forcing him to look at you. His eyes were glassy, filling with tears. "You're the good guy. You're Captain America." He broke his gaze from yours, closing his eyes as if he was ashamed. "We can't always be entirely good."

"But we try. You're the noblest person I know, Steve. And I've met a lot of people in my travels." You hesitated, his eyes moving back to yours. "I've killed people too. Good people. But we can't change that now. All we can do is be better. Repent. Grow. Save lives." Your words seemed to provide at least a little comfort. He even smiled, before his mind pulled him back into its darkest parts. "Saving lives doesn't give them back." "But it can balance out the good and bad. That's life. It's a balance. And no, we can't take back what we've done. But we can help restore the balance so evil doesn't triumph." You place a hand over his, offering a warm smile. "You're probably right." He nodded. You know he's not completely convinced and that's okay. It takes more than a pep talk to fix someone. All you can do is be present and support him. "I'm always right." You muttered. He laughed, a quick exhale from his nose. He looked down at your hand covering his and smiled distantly. He turned it over, palm up, and threaded his fingers with yours. He then looked up, blue eyes scanning your face.

"I know this may sound crazy, but can I kiss you?"

Your eyebrows shot upward mouth falling slightly ajar. You waited for the 'Just kidding' or the second thoughts, but his expectant stare didn't let up. "Y-yeah. Of course." That was all he needed. He leant toward you, kissing you softly, at first, and then deepening it as his hands moved to hold your face. You melted into him, his warm hands comforting you as you let yourself lean into him. It had never really crossed your mind, you and Steve, mostly because you never saw yourself as a desirable person, but also because he was your coworker and you were pretty sure that broke some bylaws. But his lips felt right in a way you hadn't felt before. Your hands skimmed down his chest and landed on his waist, his hands disappeared into your hair, twisting into it as he pulled your head closer to his. He used his grip on your hair to pull it slightly, causing your head to fall backward and expose your neck to him. He pressed light kisses down your jaw and to your collarbones, right hand keeping pressure of your hair as he moved. You hummed in appreciation as he moved to the neckline of your shirt. He removed his hands from your head to the hem of your t-shirt, he paused, his eyes returning to yours as if to ask if that was okay. You have him a slight nod and he made quick work of discarding the fabric.

He continued downward, your hands resting at the nape of his neck as he moved below your bellybutton. His hands shoved you back and the aggression was sudden, stirring something inside of you. When he locked eyes with you again you feel the intensity of the stare right down in your stomach. "Is this okay?" His words were sweet despite the hunger in his eyes. "Definitely." You affirmed. Not needing anymore, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of your shorts and began tugging them down, the shifting of his position making his member very clear against the thin fabric of his sweatpants. You felt a stirring near your core as he tossed away your shorts so only your underwear were left. He appreciated the lacy black pieces you were wearing and you suddenly thanked god that it was laundry day and you'd chosen those over your period pantries. That would've really dampened the mood. You reached up to the waistband of his pants to pull them down but he pushed himself further away so he was out of your grip. Frowning, you watched as he dipped his head between your thighs and nipped at the material. He pressed his palm flat against your wetness and you let out a small moan of appreciation. His eyes flicked up to your face watching as your eyes fluttered shut. Using his middle finger, he nudged the material aside and dipped the tip into your folds. You tried to thrust up into him but his other hand on your waist kept you from moving. "Jesus," he mumbled. "You're fucking soaked."

You're cheeks flushed a bright pink at his words, embarrassed and shocked to hear something that filthy coming out of his mouth. You watched as he lifted his fingers to his mouth and lay them flat against his tongue, making a point of tasting you. He hummed, low, in appreciation and your cheeks flushed even darker. Your heart raced as his eyes peered into yours. Painfully slow, he moved his hand back to your core, pressing his first two fingers inside of your and beginning to circle his thumb around your clit. You let your head fall back against the mattress with a sigh, chest rising and falling heavily as he began to pump his fingers inside of you. He lowered his head, flattening his tongue against you as his fingers worked, the added attention to your over sensitive spot making you shudder. Your hands tangled in his hair and pulled him down closer to you as an instinct.

"Fuck, Steve," you choked out, his name feeling good on your tongue. He seemed to agree, letting out a quiet moan at the sound of it.

He pulled away, all too soon, and sat back on his heels. He peered down at you with a heaving chest, his gaze dark.

"Touch yourself." He instructed.

"What?" You didn't see the purpose of that when he was doing a perfectly fine job just two seconds ago.

He nodded, running a hand through his hair. You knew he wanted a show, but there was something hesitant in you, something that felt wrong about it. But it was what he wanted, so you did it. You moved your hands to your core, circling your fingers over you clit a few times before plunging your first finger inside yourself. You couldn't meet his eye, so instead you closed them and focused on what you were feeling. Your left hand balled up the sheets as your right hand went to town on yourself. You alternate between pumping your fingers inside yourself and stroking your clit until you were close to you orgasm, your chest heaved and your heart raced, small moans escaping your lips as you neared.

"Stop." He ordered, and although you'd never been one for authority, you did as you were told.

"Look at me." His voice was low. You opened your eyes to do as he ordered and found his head tilted slightly.

"Come here."

You sat up, quickly, crawling across the bed to him. He took ahold of your chin forcing you to keep eye contact.

His voice was low and husky as he spoke, the exhilaration and the waiting making him impatient. "I'm going to fuck you now. And it's going to be rough. If you want me to stop tell me. But otherwise, I'm going to hurt you. And you're going to like it."

Your heart rate picked up at his words. You had no idea he had this in him and you were intrigued. This sort of thing had never been your style but with Steve on the other end you wondered how it ever could have not been.

You nodded.

"Speak to me." He growled.

"Yes."

"Yes, captain." He seethed.

Your eyes widened and your face broke into a smile. So that's how he liked it?

"Yes , Captain." You bit down on your lower lip, trying to hide your smirk.

"Hands and knees." He instructed. He shifted as you abided, peeling his sweat pants from his legs and positioning himself behind you. Without further warning, he slammed into you, causing you to squeak a little. He gave you second to adjust to his size before he began slamming into you. The whole thing felt wrong, but so, so right. The sound of his skin slapping yours, his grunts, your long drawn out moans as the head of his cock his your g-spot at certain angles.

He picked up the pace, his hands gripping your hips hard enough to leave bruises, as he slammed your waist back into him. You whimpered, choking out his name as he continuously slammed into your g-spot.

He took a hand from your waist and wrapped it around your throat, pulling you upward so your back was flush against your chest.

He craned his neck to kiss you, hard and dirty, not faltering his pace once as he pulled you closer to him. He massages the side of your throat with his fingers, cutting off some of your air supply but not enough to be dangerous. Suddenly, he grabbed your waist and flipped you like a rag doll. He took your left leg and stretched it above his shoulder, as once again, he slammed into you without warning.

"Oh my god, Steve. Ugh, fuck. Jesus. Oh god." You reached up to grab his bicep as if it would anchor you. You could barely breathe, the pleasure causing your body to shake. You could feel yourself nearing your orgasm, you breath hitching. All of a sudden he stopped thrusting, pulling out of you upon hearing the change in your breathing. Your hand moved to your clit to keep going in his absence but he ceased your wrist roughly.

"Did I say you could do that?" He growled, ceasing your other arm and pinning it above your head.

"I was about to cum." You sighed, frustrated.

"And did I say you could do that?" He moved his face closer to your ear.

"No, captain."

"Blow me."

You met his eyes as he pulled back, frustrated that he wouldn't let you finish but was happy to finish himself. But you complied, somewhat happily, moving onto your elbows and knees to take his length into your mouth. You took your time, licking long stripe up the shaft, but Steve was too impatient. He gathered your hair into his fist and pulled you off of him with a yank. He bucked his hips up into your mouth, causing you to gag slightly. He let out a low hum of appreciation at the sight and you smirked. This man was full of surprises. You took him in your mouth again, this time making an effort to swallow every inch of him. His body tensed as you swallowed around his throbbing head, bucking up into your throat and moaning long and low. You pulled off of him, only to push yourself down again and allow him you take control of your mouth. You expected him to finish there, but he didn't, his breathing hitched and he pulled you off of him, his fist pumping over his cock several times to finish himself off. He spilled himself over your face, his cum landing in stripes over your jawline and chin, a couple drops on your lips. You darted your tongue out to taste him, his moan affirming your actions wordlessly.

"Your turn." He grinned, moving his head down to your core and plugging his tongue in. Your over sensitive, orgasm denied cunt was dripping as he worked his mouth over you. You whimpered as he moved his mouth across your folds and your clit, pulling you closer and closer to your finish.

"Oh my god, Steve. Fuck yes. Like that."

You balled the sheets beneath you, spilling over into his mouth. He continued to pleasure you, drawing out your orgasm until you finally choked out your last moan. Your body shook and total euphoria took over your mind for a moment. You wondered if you blacked out. You wondered why you'd never had an orgasm like that before. You had an itching feeling that it was one that only Steve could deliver.

He moved his mouth up to kiss you and you tasted yourself on his tongue. His own cum smeared across his chin but you could tell he didn't care he just wanted to kiss you. He pulled away suddenly, vacating the room and entering the small door that led to the bathroom. You heard the shower a few moments later and before you could even stand, Steve was back and scooping you up. He only set you down once the two of you were stood under the stream of the shower. You washed off the sweat and cum and filth from your body and leant into his chest. His hands were gentle and sweet on you now and it was hand to believe he was the same man from five minutes ago.

“That,” He whispered, barely loud enough over the streaming water. “Was so much better than a work out.”

You chuckled lightly, brushing back his wet hair from his forehead. “Agreed. Same time tomorrow night?”

[miyoron]

Miyo’s Anime of Various Notes 2017 Edition

This year was a good year for anime. I liked a lot of shows this year and I thought I would write up another one of these! Again, they're in no order really!

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Dragon Maid

Dragon Maid as a series has definite problems. There's some kind of gross fan service and some really unhealthy feeling fetish stuff, especially from what I've heard and seen from manga snippets. However, despite all that, Kyoani was able to polish this show up into a nice little story about a dragon and her love for the woman who saved her life..and drank with her a lot out in the boonies one night. It's a really nice story though of a lonely person slowly getting a new lease on life with new friends who happen to be dragons. There's lots of good little character moments and it's nice that all of the characters grow as time go on really, even when one just plays MMOs all day and writes curse doujinshi. Also I can't listen to the opening theme without getting butterflies in my stomach from cute lovey doveyness.

Girls' Last Tour Girls' Last Tour takes place in the shell of a world that is on its last legs. There are crumbling buildings, technology long since in use and even the occasional grave site. Really, the world itself is kind of bleak, but the story of Chito and Yuuri is not an overtly sad one. It's the story of how as long as you have each other, you've got all you need in life. Seriously though, there are some good heart warming moments in here. The girl's have weirdly cute wide Hidamari Sketch style heads against the bleak background but it works really well. It has some really nice music too:  the rain drops song in patricular is super duper chill and is just a joy to listen to.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie It's nice to see an anime about people my age, that might be why this one interested me at first. On top of that though, it's a show where one can find a lot of familiar stories, especially if you've touched an MMO at any point in time. First and foremost though, Recovery of an MMO Junkie is a story about relationships though and how helpful they can be. These don't pertain to just romantic ones of course. Friends are super helpful when you're having a bad time, and as the show goes on, you can see just how much the friends Moriko is making along the way mean to her. It's a cute little story with some very cute moments and character designs. Morimori-chan is one of my favorite characters this year and I support her in every way. Sakurai is also a very good boy of course.

Love Live Sunshine Season 2 Last year I had season 1 on my list and the trend continued this year. The girls in Aqours just seem so much more realistic in their struggles than Muse ever did in the original show. They don't always get what they want; life does not just throw out miracles like Chika wants it to. But they don't let it stop them, and the girls keep going because, to quote the opening "we got dream." Seriously though, I am consistently pleased with this show and it helps that my favorite girl got her own episode early on. Also the studio has FINALLY figured out how to make the CGI look good compared to the previous series' attempts. Good music, good girls, good show. It still has 2 more eps but I'm confident with placing it here in my shows of the year of note.

Little Witch Academia Little Witch Academia has been bouncing around through various OVAs for the past couple years, so it was nice to finally get to see this show...be an actual show. It has a few ups and downs, which mainly are wishing a few characters got more screen time, and one specifically LESS screen time, but it's a very nice show. It's got a fun doofy protagonist who is doing her best even though she is terrible at magic. It has a haughty rival, even though only Akko sees her as on the same level, a cute nerd pal who reads anime Twilight and a mushroom obsessed creepo who got vored by a slime monster. I really do not know what else you need me to say. It's by Trigger so it's beautiful to watch? It has a Moomin reference? You can see the dumb guy from Pawn Stars but anime? It's a really good show. Real good.

Restaurant to Another World This show is a guilty pleasure honestly. It's fun to see the weird fantasy creatures ordering, mostly Japanese, cuisine in an interplanetary restaurant, yes. The main draw though is seeing the wonderfully animated and drawn food though. Every week watching this just made me hungry and it was hard not to drool a lot of the time. The characters are all really fun, even if they're essentially all interspersed between episodes. Almost all of them get their own little spotlight episodes in conjunction with their favorite particular dish. Most of all, I'll never forget Restaurant to Another World for giving me so many furry vore retweets from a random image I got from an episode. It's a fun show you can watch in the background and just admire the tastiness. Just, you know, maybe eat dinner first.

Interviews with Monster Girls Interviews with Monster Girls is not Monster Musume, that's the thing I can stress the most about this. It's about a world where there are just...monster girls! Join our way-too-into-them sensei as he...tries to honestly just learn about the differences between the folklore surrounding various monsters and how it ties into how they actually live in society. Also root on for a succubus as she tries to just let her mature woman side fly. It's very rough being a succubus in a super packed society did you know? Seriously though, it's a nice little show that oddly has more continuity than you'd think since it's not just an episodic 4koma style show. It's also got a dumb vampire with a shirt that has a cape design on the back, it's great.

Kira Kira Precure a la Mode This was the first Precure I've watched as it was on-going so it's been a fun ride. It has a bunch of magical girls who are also animals but ALSO are desserts. It also has some of most fun looking CGI I've seen in anime before, but that seems to be what Precures are good at so it's not that surprising for series veteran watchers I'm sure. Either way, it's a good story about friends and fairies and sweets. It's made me want to bake dumb anime cookies for an upcoming con and fill them with kira*kiraru. It has a really fun ending theme too...well both of them really. I'll look forward to see what the Precures are up to next in the coming series, but I'll never forget these girls.

Umaruchan R I liked the original Umaru season well enough, but the second season has really been going all in on the fun. On top of that, a lot of the characters have gotten more screen time and more character development even. We learn more about Sylphin, Kirie and Ebina, and  Umaru and Taihei's sibling relationship is shown to be a lot nicer too. It's not like before where she was always just a terrible brat trash girl, now she's just that SOME of the time. You can tell they really love each other though, and not in a gross way that other anime like to do with siblings. Also it's shown just how being friends has helped the other girls, and even Umaru herself really. It's a good show and I'm glad that it managed to get better on its second at bat.

Big Gold Star Show

Kemono Friends Kemono Friends is...well It's not really a good show. It has a hilariously low budget and even worse CGI. It's a lot like a picture drawn by your 5 year old where it's not fine tuned yet but it makes you feel kind of good anyway. It has some really cute character designs of this bunch of doofy animals that are just living their lives. Whether it's going to battle every day against their long time rival, wandering ruins looking for coins or just singing to their hearts content, there is something about the Friends that just makes you root for them. It's not a show you need to watch, but you might just like it if you do. Sugoooooi~

Old Anime of the Year

These are shows that I watched that didn't necessarily come out this year but that's when I watched them. It's pretty simple!

Osomatsu-san Sheeeh! I watched this one on the recommendation of a buddy. A remake of a series from the 1960's about sextuplet brothers modernized into terrible dirtbag NEETs. This show is full of weird, often gross, things, but there's something about its manic humor that just speaks to me. The brothers are terrible terrible terrrrrible boys but you can find good points about them too. I've been watching season 2 as well this season so this will probably carry over into next year as an old anime of the year. Sooo...let's just say Osomatsu-san is an Old Anime of the Year 2016-2018. Ok? Cool!

Yuri on Ice I had this on last year's list of shows to look into and I'm very glad I continued it. It tells a really good story about gaining confidence and learning to feel good about yourself. Yuuri's journey along the way is wonderful. Because of that, this is another series I'm looking forward to the second season of to see where it goes. My only complaint was that it was a little repetitive but that's probably how sports anime go huh? I liked watching the routines and listening to the songs. It also has a great cast of side characters like Chris with the great butt, the weird vampire guy and Phichit, your best friend. There's also J.J. who is full of himself, sure, but there's just something fun about him still. Here's to more ice boys!

Konosuba Konosuba is a series full of lovable dummies. Like...execeptionally dumb. Like..super..SUPER dumb. But that's really what's so fun about them. I had some Ah! My Goddess vibes with the series' set up except Aqua is a much much much more flawed goddess than Belldandy ever was. Seriously though, this series takes the isekai/reborn in another world from our world genre and takes it in a direction that's actually fun instead of retreading the same old stories. It's got explosion mages, it's got really awkward paladins and it has a very put on dullahan who just wants to have his evil schemes go the way he planned. I need to watch season 2 still, and if it's more of the same, I'm in for sure.

Heart Catch Precure This show was actually my first Precure several years ago, but my buddy and I didn't finish it before. Since we had been watching the new show, we decided to double up and watch both of them at the same time. Heart Catch is honestly a delight and has some of the things I like most in a magical girl show. It has fun heroes, it has really doofy villains and it has a whole lot of heart. It's episodic sure, but it has a really great art style that just makes it even more endearing to me. Also, episodic magical girls with dumb monsters is why I loved the original Sailor Moon anime. I also enjoy that the Precures just punch and dropkick things as their first course of action. You just can't step to a magical girl that's gonna just pop you in the jaw.

Ugh show?

Gabriel Drop Out I don't know whether to call this show an UGH show or just an ultimately lame one. I know it definitely is a 1 or 1.5 character show though. The best character is sweet dumb demon Satania who the show seems completely content to just dump on whenever it has the chance. I do not appreciate that anime. I don't at all. Please do not bully this sweet evil girl because she does not deserve it. This show was not as heinous as last year's Kuma Miko, but one of the characters is for sure a bad bad ugh one.

Anime to Check Out

I have a few shows I've had on my list to look at, mostly on my Crunchy Roll queue that I haven't gotten on due to a crazy good Fall season/laziness. Here they are!

Alice to Zoroku I watched the first episode of this back in the summer and I didn't take the time to finish it up. I plan to fix that in the coming year since I like the premise and I really liked the old man especially. I look forward to learning more about them in the future!

The Ancient Magus' Bride This one I've mostly seen interesting looking pics of so I'm curious. I like cool skeleton wizard looking things and anime. This seems reasonable enough to me.

One Punch Man This is still happening right? Yea, definitely gonna watch that.

[fenixeyedesign-blog]

My Twelve Month Journey to Mastery.

Month 1 - Mastery and Personal Development 

At the beginning of my Mastery Journey I had an unclear idea of what Mastery actually meant. I assumed it meant just learning everything there was to know about a topic and then moving on to the next great accomplishment. Though that is part of it, it is not the whole meaning. Throughout this course we were tasked with taking a “Grit test” and “Ambition Scale”, which opened my mind up to understanding just how extraordinarily tough Mastering anything truly is, it takes disciple and tough skin and grit. You have to  be overwhelmingly ambitious and you have to want it so bad that you are willing to make personal and social sacrifices to be the absolute best at what you do. This course helped me align myself with just how difficult getting my Masters Degree would actually be. I have grown personally as well as expanding myself professionally as a media designer because I have stuck to my guns and made many personal and social sacrifices to accomplish my goal of graduating and obtaining my Masters Degree. 

Month 2 - Defining Clients Needs

In order to be a successful professional in general, you need to be able to effectively communicate with your clients and understand their needs and wants. For this course we were tasked with creating a brand identity and image for specific a City. My chosen City was Reykjavik, ICELAND. The process consisted of a lot of research of not only the City but of travel brands just like it. I would learn to understand and convey what set this city apart from the others and effectively express my clients qualities and uniqueness. This process would be spread across several courses as it was broken into segments. This month I focused on the creation of logos and how to best represent the ideals and traditions of the City of Reykjavik. This course helped me improve and polish how I think when sketching the beginning stages of a logo. Instead of just jumping right in I took my time and implemented the research I gathered, which helped me see a clearer picture in my minds eye of where I wanted to go creatively. Improving my ability to think strategically and implement innovation. 

Month 3 - Brand Development 

This course was a continuation of what was started in month 2. As I expanded upon and refined my logo based on peer and instructor feedback I  dove deeper into the essence of the brands and began the second stage of the process by creating computer generated versions of my logo. By vectorizing my logo and exploring color swatches that best matched and represented the brand, I was able to see what worked for the city and or what would clash with other brands that were similar. This helped me to better understand just how much of an important role color theory really is when it comes to developing a brand. As the course came to and end I was tasked with creating a “Tool Box” which would include the finalized logo, the chosen color of the brand and would express a “Sense of the City”, “Sense of the Tradition” and “Sense of the Environment.” These assets would help to effectively communicate the voice and tone of the overall brand of Reykjavik. This is a new skillset to add to my professional toolbox, as breaking the brand down into these three segments helped me understand how to best convey the voice of an entire city. 

Month 4 - Effective Copywriting 

This course I was tasked with developing and creating stimulating ads for a non-profit organization that would speak to their consumer base as well as reach outside viewers. I honestly had no clue how much thought and detail went into creating short and eye catching headlines. Again I assumed it was just something that was thought of on a whim, no real work or research put into. This course showed me and helped me learn just how important and impactful copy writing is to the every day life of a designer. As a result of this course I am now able to use my word to effectively convey to consumers as peers by using copy writing. I now have an elevated understanding of the basic overall structure that goes in to headlines and body copy and will continue to use these skills throughout my professional career. 

Month 5 - Design Research 

Strategic, analytical and innovative thinking. This course honed in on teaching me how to use analytical and strategic design practices based on thorough research to improve upon and refine the City project we started in course 3. For this course I learned how to properly implement a grid system to design a more appealing layout as I created a refined vision board that would best exemplify the strategic and innovation of the design concept for my final project of the course. Layouts were always something I had a little difficulty with, however the course material such as the books and tutorials coupled with the insight gained through feedback help elevate my understanding of how  the grid system works.

Month 6 - Organizational Structures 

I am naturally an introvert so this course tested me when it came to sharing my personal design journal as part of a discussion. I tend to keep these ideas and thoughts to myself until I’ve had time to refine them to a more coherent stage. This course helped me open up a little bit as well as show me its okay to share wild and wacky thoughts, doodles and ideas. This was by far the most creatively driven and rewarding course, it was a nice break from research papers. Just being able to create was a welcomed change. This course consisted of creating a short 30 second clip using motion that would effectively convey the City brand we created in course 2 and 3. I absolutely love motion graphics and using PremierPro. Visual story telling is something I am passionate about so I enjoyed making a story board and then working to actively make it come to life. This course brought me great satisfaction creatively and professionally because the project I created as a result of this course was a welcomed addition to my portfolio site.  

Month 7 - Design strategies and motivation 

This month I again had to step out of my confront zone. The assignment for this course called for taking a deeper look at our current hometowns and finding a problem that only design could solve. This also included conducting interviews with the local community and getting a general feel for how the community felt as whole about the town. This project would also be split into segments across the next few courses. When figuring out the problem that only design could solve, I needed to formulate a problem statement that best explained the root of the problem. I then needed to create a solution statement and explain in great detail exactly how design would solve this problem effectively. A video pitch was created for the final assignment that would encompass the problem statement and how my given design solution would greatly improve the town based on information and research gathered from the interviews. As a result of this course I have learned how to properly conduct a group interview and asking the right questions to get the proper amount of useful information for my research. 

Month 8 - Design Integration 

As a continuation of the previous course I was tasked with creating a design brief which would encompass and effectively present all of our findings in a manner that would be useful for the client. Any design professional that is working on a project for a client will use a design brief to present their design solutions and concepts as professional practice. Design briefs are extremely help as they show the client what the overall style and look will be as well as an Empathy Map, SWOT Analysis, Personas and  what the voice and tone of the brand is. This will help the client have a better understanding of how to better navigate their consumer audience. Before this course I had never created a Design Brief, this is a welcomed asset to my skillset as a designer. Creating the brief was an experience in it own that helped me grow as a professional media designer. 

Month 9 - Multiplatform Delivery 

Now that we have created our style guides and presented our concepts, it is time to create and implement our assets. This course focuses on researching and establishing the best way to execute the designs. Finding the most effective mediums that would convey the message of the brand. This course helped me establish what assets would and wouldn’t work for my brand concept. I decided that creating assets such as a Pole Banner, Welcome Sign, Car Decal , T-Shirts, Coffee Mugs and Tote Bags, would be the most effective way to reach and expand consumer base. This course helped me understand that you can’t just slap a logo on a bag or T-Shirt and think it’s going to work. You need to understand your demographic and the area you are in, in order for the concept to truly be effective. Everything boils down to research and overall just understand and listening to the consumer. 

Month 10 - Measuring Design Effectiveness

This course consisted of learning several ways to measure design effectiveness and success of the design solutions I created. Understanding that a multitude of different points of views and opinions are going to view and judge my concepts and learning and understanding that’s the mindset i need to be in when designing. For the main assignment of this course, I was tasked with creating a survey that would essentially measure how effective my design solutions from month 9 would pan out in a real world setting. The overall response was very positive which showed that my research of the town and its community was effectively implemented into the concept. I generally had fun creating the survey as it was a new experience learning which questions to ask and how to properly phrase them so that i got as much feedback as possible. As a result i will be utilizing the power of surveys more often to measure my concepts going forward professionally. 

Month 11 - Presentation of Design solutions 

This by far was the most trying course for me. In this class I was tasked with designing and building a website that would host my thesis submission in the form of a clickable site. This consisted of breaking down each segment of my branding concept in great detail.  Explaining the problem of my chosen town. Explaining my design solution with the research to support why it would be the most effective course of action. Then breaking down and explaining the process of creating the logo and why i made the choices I made for the design. I would then have to compare my concepts to neighboring towns and prove why my design was more innovative then theirs. This course took a lot of out of mentally and creatively because it was rushed and I didn’t feel there was enough time given to the students, to fully dive deep enough into explaining their choices effectively. We weren’t given much direction as it was part of the assignment that we wouldn’t have much help from the professor which made things a lot more confusing because the feedback given was very cryptic and almost felt like it needed to be decoded. As a result of this course I learned that whether its personal or professional there are going to situations in which you are going to have swim blind and you're going to have to bite the bullet, grit your teeth and take it with a grain of salt. 

Month 12 - Professional Practice 

Above depicts my twelve month journey visually, I am represent by the figure on the surfboard. The design expresses how I have felt as I made this difficult Journey. There were times where I felt completely lost at sea which is kind of ironic being the name of the school is "Full Sail" which is essential where I got the idea. The shark represents failure and how close I felt and came to it several times. Though I came upon road blocks I continued to push through even when I wanted to give up. The high and low waves express my emotions and exactly how I was feeling at the time very clearly, up until the very end. This has been an extreme test of my will to push through and fight to not only obtain my Masters Degree, but to master my craft as well. I am happy to have reached the end and I am very proud of myself and thankful for the positivity received from my peers and instructors. I am grateful for the experiences and life lessons Full Sail University has given me. I am now proud to say these lessons will stay will me forever. Thank you.