#ive already worked in sales so i know that i can handle it

[serpentine-owl]

Said it before and I'll say it again: job hunting is the worst

[jjmaybanksbaby]

Where It Leads (Rafe Cameron)

Summer IV

Part 07: Crashing Down

series masterlist | previous part

summary: A jarring family emergency forces you to consider the future of your relationship with Rafe Cameron.

a/n: I'm a little bit emotional about this series ending because I've had so much fun writing it! Enjoy the last part and, as always, please come share your reactions with me in my inbox. Okay, that's all from me!

word count: 2.1k words

Rafe Cameron knew how to text. He was somehow witty, charming, and hilarious all in less characters than a single tweet. Texting with most boys was like talking to a brick wall: single-syllable answers, unironic uses of punctuation, asking “What are you wearing?” before even listening to how your day went. Though, to be fair, Rafe had asked that same question a few times, which always earned him a sarcastic answer in return. Well, except for that one time.

You’d been forced to spill the beans about your dreamy summer romance to Alice and Kensie after one of Rafe’s funnier texts almost made you pee yourself laughing at the lunch table.

“Oh, so he’s a stud muffin,” Alice announced, peering over Kenzie’s shoulder at the photo on your phone.

“Please god don’t call anyone a stud muffin ever again Al,” Kenzie replied.

“What? The 80s are like making a comeback.”

“Yeah, not that,” you countered and Alice huffed.

“He’s totally hot though,” Kenzie said, handing the phone back to you. “And I kinda hate you for not telling us about him.”

You looked down at the picture. Rafe was kissing your check while you grinned up at the camera, the golden hour lighting made the whole thing look rather enchanting. It was your favorite picture of you and him.

“Oh shit,” Kenzie said causing you to look up from the phone. “You’re like in love in love with him.”

“What? No,” you protested. Yes, your brain corrected.

Kenzie glanced over at Alice for backup.

“Besides, I wasn’t hiding him. I just didn’t know if there was anything there to...tell,” you finished.

“I wish I had a handsome summer fling with spectacular cheekbones,” Alice sighed.

“Don’t let your boyfriend hear you saying that.” Kenzie chucked a fry off her tray at Alice who dodged it expertly.

“Oh, please. Matty knows I would dump his ass for someone who looks like a young Chuck Bass any day of the week. Gimme your phone. I wanna see the photos again y/n.”

“I seriously don’t know how you and Matthew have been together for two years,” Kenzie replied.

“Are you kidding? They’re practically made for each other,” you added.

“The phone, please,” Alice interjected. “I wanna thirst over your mans while my boyfriend is sucking up to his English teacher so she doesn’t fail him. Of course, I told him he needed to actually read Wuthering Heights and not just sparknotes it. But did he listen? No. I picked a real winner y’all,” she finished, taking the phone from your outstretched hands. “You sure Rafe doesn’t have any brothers? Not even like a half-step brother?”

So yeah, going great. Against the odds of three thousand miles, the whole thing was somehow working. Long-distance friends with benefits? Check. Well, except for those moments when that nagging feeling in your stomach came back and you’d start overthinking everything. His texts would sit, unread in your phone for days or even a whole week, slowly sinking to the bottom of your messages.

Then came the call from the Kildare Country Hospital in the early hours of a foggy April morning. You should have gone to sleep hours ago but were still up, desperately trying to cram Maria’s lines into your brain while also texting Rafe. The Sound of Music opened in three weeks and your director had already chewed you out twice for not being off-book, something about being an upperclassman and the lead, and what kind of an example were you setting for the rest of the program. Big speeches were kind of your director's thing, you learned to just ride them out.

Around 1 a.m. your phone ran with an incoming FaceTime call from Rafe. You pressed the green acccept button, a smile spread across your face as Rafe’s own filled the screen.

“Hey Broadway Star.”

“Hi Rafe.” The dim lighting of his bedroom made his feature especially striking. “What are you still doing up?”

“Can’t sleep. Plus you’re up too so. How’s the memorizing going?”

“Shitty,” you replied, closing your binder with a sigh. “I’m too tired to do anymore of it tonight anyway.”

“You know, I was thinking I could come to Oregon for your opening night?”

“Really?” The possibility of Rafe sitting in the audience made your heart race.

“Yeah, why not? I’ll ask Ward if I can borrow the plane that weekend and I bet Sarah’ll want to come too. I wanna see my girl kill it. I miss you.”

“I miss you too, Rafe. You know my friends think you’re hot.”

“Oh, do they?” Rafe replied, rolling over onto his back in his bed.

“Don’t let it get to your head, Cameron.”

The home phone ran but you ignored it, much more invested in your conversation with Rafe. The second time the hospital left a message. Your Nonna’s heart had given out. The prognosis wasn’t good. She had barely any time left.

Your heart dropped as the words echoed over the speaker of the answering machine.

“Rafe,” you said, cutting him off momentarily. “I gotta go. I’ll call you back later. I gotta-” you ended the call before Rafe even had the chance to respond. You dropped your phone on the kitchen table, dashing up the stairs to your parents’ bedroom. Your father was booking a flight for your mother back to the Outer Banks minutes later.

The end had come so quickly, so unexpectedly. It was almost like that made it harder. There'd been just enough time for your mom and uncle to get to the Outer Banks, sitting on each side of your Nonna as her final breaths passed through her lungs. Now, everyone was there to say goodbye one last time. Uncle Austin and his fiancé. Your mom and dad. Both your siblings. The entire population of Figure Eight.

☼☼☼

Rain drizzled down from the dark, gray clouds looming overhead. It was as if Mother Nature was mourning your Nonna too, hiding the sunshine away.

Three baby ducks followed their mama into the man-made pond at the edge of the cemetery. You watched their tiny feet kick up small waves disturbing the peaceful water and the tears silently slipped down your face.

The cars were waiting to take you back to your Nonna's house for the wake. The same house with the for-sale sign now stuck in the front yard. The for-sale sign with Rose's patronizing grin that you were starting to really hate. Your dad had handled that. Listing the house. He'd handled most of the funeral arrangement's actually because your mother had been too sunken into her grief to make any decision. Sending out the invitations, picking out your Nonna's casket, choosing the flowers. Your mother clung to him during the entire funeral, weeping into his shoulder.

“Y/n?” Rafe's voice called out from behind you and you turned to see him walked toward you. He’d stood at the back of the church with his family during the funeral. You had longed for him to be sitting in the first pew next to you, to have had his hand to hold onto to ground you, but it hardly would have been appropriate. Your Nonna would have sooner risen from the dead than have had a Cameron front row at her funeral.

As soon as he was close enough, Rafe reached for you, pulling your body tight into him. Your head landed on his chest and the sobs came moments later. God, he always smelled the same. He just let you cry, holding you close, smoothing his hand over your hair.

“I know you’re selling your grandma’s house but I was thinking you could stay with me for the summer," he said as your tears began to slow. It was hard to imagine that you wouldn't return to the Outer Banks once school let out. It was the first week of May already and you could feel the tourist-attracting town waking up. But selling the house just made more sense. Your older sister was already living her life in New York, a real adult life. Next summer, you'd be moving out too, headed to college. The house would sit empty for eight months out of the year, your family couldn't keep it and your uncle certainly didn’t want it. Selling it just had to happen.

You stepped back, slipping out of his embrace. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Rafe.”

“Why not?”

“Cause we’re like Romeo and Juliet.”

“I copied Cleo’s notes for that unit," he joked, trying to lighten to damp mood. “Plus I was never a fan of Leo DiCaprio so I didn’t finish the movie either.”

“It means we’re not supposed to be together, you and me. And whenever we try, the universe rips us apart. We hurt each other.”

Rafe shifted awkwardly on his feet, clearly wanting to reach for you again but stopping himself from doing it. “But I can't lose you.”

You reached your hand out, brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. “Oh Rafe, don’t you get it? You never really had me.” You stood up onto your tiptoes to kiss him just like you had the first time three years ago. Rafe barely parted his lips, kissing you back gently. Your hand cupped his face, your thump stroking over his cheek. It was a goodbye. Both of you knew it. It was an ending and this was your closure. You pulled away, your hand falling away from his face.

You couldn’t bring yourself to say the actual words. Your eyes fell to the ground. You needed to walk away now. You side-stepped Rafe but he grabbed your waist, turning you back around to face him.

“So that’s it? You’re not even gonna try to fight for us?”

“What even is there to fight for, Rafe? I’ve been fighting for us for the past four years. If we were supposed to be together that car wouldn’t have crashed into ours, I wouldn’t have fallen for Evan when I did, we wouldn’t be having this conversation at my Nonna’s funeral. What? Are we supposed to do long distance for all of college? I hardly know who I am right now. I have no idea who I’ll be in the next four years. Our future selves might not even like each other. I’m not gonna wait around for you Rafe and I would never ask you to do that for me.” You twirled the small, star charm between your fingers, a nervous habit you'd developed over the past year. His eyes dropped down to your neck momentarily and his adam's apple visibly bobbing as he swallowed his next weeks.

“You were it for me, you know. I tried to give a fuck about anyone else but I couldn’t get your gorgeous, stupid face out of my mind. I only wanted you.” Rafe paused gauging your reaction “I was falling in love with you.”

Your eyes wandered over his stoic expression. “The feeling was mutual, Rafe Cameron.”

He dropped your wrist but you both stood, not moving or saying anything. “Do you wanna walk me back to the car?”

“Yeah.” He reached for your hand, interlocking your fingers. Your other hand held onto his bicep so you walked together through the graveyard back to the parking lot.

The moment felt precious and delicate, like the fragile china your Nonna used to collect. You wondered what would happen to all that china.

Rafe placed a chaste kiss on your lips before opening the door of the car.

“I’ll miss you,” you said, the words hanging in the air meaning so much.

“Me too,” Rafe agreed.

You wanted one more kiss, one more passionate declaration of how much this all had meant but that would make leaving Rafe so much more impossible.

You climbed into the car, dropping Rafe’s hand in the process.

“See you around Cameron.” You knew it wouldn’t happen but it felt better than a goodbye.

He smiled back. “Maybe so.”

Perhaps Rafe was right and you’d both end up at a small liberal arts college in California taking the same second-year Econ class with a professor who always smelled like weed. Perhaps the stars would align and two of you would realize the universe wasn’t trying to keep you apart. It was just waiting for the right moment to show you that the love you had for each other was the soulmates, forever and ever kind of love. Perhaps you would get married and Sarah would be your maid of honor, of course. You’d buy back your Nonna’s house to raise your troubling-making kids in. Perhaps, you would find your way back and wake up each day and choose each other again and again.

Or perhaps, he'd always be your right-person-wrong-time. And, in the end, the passing days will steal away your memories of the blue-eyed boy from the Outer Banks.

taglist! @oreoenthusiast13

[vanillann]

within the vision (bucky barnes x f.reader)

a/n: i’m going to be naming each chapter based on a sitcom from that time era, cause i can!! also i’m so glad everyone liked the prologue!!

warning: WANDAVISION SPOILERS, swearing, suggestive language, talks of past trauma, AU

word count: 1.9k

within the vision masterlist

Chapter 1: Born Yesterday 

“Do you remember everything we just went over?”

I rolled my eyes, snapping the silver bracelet on my wrist, the little charm would be normal to anyone else but Bucky and I knew the content.

“No, I forgot everything,” I turned to Tony, smiling sarcastically when he frowned.

“We should have given you up for adoption,” Tony titled his head, the tiniest smile on his lips and he played with the technology again.

The room felt packed with people, Tony and Bruce running around the technology, Bucky and I waiting beside two beds that were shoved beside Wanda’s, and Steve and Sam leaned against the wall trying to tell me to stop with this plan.

“We don’t know what could happen,” Steve repeated again, his arms crossed as Tony gave Bucky his bracelet, thicker than mine but still normal enough to not have anyone question it.

We had taken extra steps to ensure our safety as nobody knew exactly where we were going.

“You both need to get out as soon as the mission's over,” Bruce nodded, to both of us. His finger danced across the different screen, Tony and himself were the only ones who understood it.

“I was planning on going on a walk before I came back.” Bruce rolled his eyes, but gave me a hint of a smile. He understood my defense mechanism, one of the few people who never got mad when I couldn’t be completely serious. One plus for anger management classes.

“I regret doing this already,” Bucky spoke under his breath, looking up to Sam who gave a fake thumbs up.

“If it comes down to it, leave Bucky,” he responded, earning a thumbs up from me.

“I hate both of you.”

Bucky and I both laid in our own bed, our combat gear already on as we laid back slightly, Tony taking Bucky's side while Bruce came to mine.

“We’re going to first hook you to this machine to keep track of your vitals,” I said nothing, watching Bruce shove the IV in my arm and playing with the machine a bit to make sure everything was okay.

“Next, on the count of three you’ll press the button on the bracelet. Remember you need to keep your mind focused on Wanda for this to work,” Tony continues with his run on sentence, only stopping once Bucky and I both nodded once.

I felt the chill suddenly run up my body, suddenly nervous to just hind out in my best friend's mind. Especially since she had always been younger than me, I felt weirdly awkward now.

“Are you both sure about this?”

I saw Bucky nodded slightly from the bed beside me, suddenly all eyes on me. I felt myself shift in the bed, avoiding eye contact.

“(Y/N)?”

“I’m fine, I just need a second,” I spoke after Steve, smiling at his worried glares but said nothing else of it.

You were doing this for her own good, you were helping her. This wasn’t you reading her diary after teasing about her crush, this was her turning into herself not knowing we were waiting for her.

“I’m good,” I laid down on the bed, not looking at anyone as my other hand searched for the button. I wasn’t going to mess this up cause I couldn’t find a button.

“Okay, remember to stay safe and think about Wanda.”

I nodded lightly, trying my best to zone in on Wanda while Tony’s count down filled the room.

“One.”

I thought back to young Wanda and Pietro trying to hide my shoes before one of my first dates when I was 14.

“Two.”

Wanda giggling in my room at the compound when Steve went on a manhunt for me because I was late for practice.

“Three.”

I felt my finger smash the button, thinking of Wanda’s face as she held off Thanos with Vision life in her hand. I thought of her tearful face as she gave me one last glance before everything blew up before my body was smashed against the nearby tree.

The weird feeling around me gave me a stomach ache. The feeling of falling when you were about to sleep almost, but my eyes refused to open as the wind rushed past me. I wanted to panic, to pull myself from whatever I walked into, but I simply couldn’t.

I couldn't sense anyone around me, my body was all alone falling and I couldn’t stop it. I was a controlled person, I enjoyed control and suddenly that word didn’t even exist anymore.

Then it stopped, the falling was gone and my eyes were pushed open. My body was moved differently, pushed against something. When I slowly moved around I noticed the slight dusk of the sky.

“(Y/N)?” My name whispered filled the same space I sat in, I looked around trying to get my brain to focus on one thing. I felt something cold against my wrist cause me to jump, pushing harder into the rough back.

I looked down, Bucky's face laid under whatever I was sitting on. I looked up, noticing the windows and the steering wheel slightly ahead of me. I took in the leather under my fingers, seeing there wasn’t a door handle in the back and how low the roof was.

But that didn't worry me, what worried me was I couldn’t make out any other colors besides black, white, and grey. I looked to Bucky, hoping to see the light pale skin on his face but was met with white, almost like a white crayon that had been run in black dust lightly.

“Where the hell are we?”

“Wanda’s head, I thought this was your plan,” Bucky slowly sat up from the floor of the backseat, I had luckily ended up on the actual seat. I looked out, hoping to see the colors of the sky but I was met with the same grey color.

“Can you see color?”

“Can’t say I do,” Bucky rubbed his arm, slowly moving to sit in the same space I had made for him on the seat.

I finally looked around the rest of the area, noticing the row of houses and other such things. The trees and bushes reminded me of the old movie Steve would make us watch, looking like something out of a sitcom.

“What are you wearing?”

I frowned as I looked at Bucky, his eyes held confusion as he looked me up and down once. I looked down at myself, shocked to find myself in a dress, definitely not my combat gear. The material was dark, I couldn’t tell more, and a fake belt was sowed into the thick fabric.

“I haven’t seen one of those in awhile,” Bucky picked up a piece of the dress at the end, rubbing the material between his fingers when I slapped it from his wands. That when I heard it, laughing. Not like you told a funny joke laughing, like a sitcom laugh.

I pointed to Bucky, my eyes wide as I waited for who knew what. When I saw Bucky slowly look up at me from the place he looked at my dress I knew he heard it. That's when I noticed the suit he was wearing, specifically an older looking arm suit. I looked back around the car, spotting the matching hat to the suit on the dash of the car. I didn’t say anything, slowly reaching up to grab it when I saw a door open.

A lady with dark hair and bright smiles walked out, held a hand slightly in the air if she were to hold a cigarette but no smoke came out. She was talking to someone, whoever was in the house. Suddenly I watched the owner lean out slightly, my jaw going slack as I saw Wanda’s bright smile hides behind loopy curls.

“Doll-”

“Don’t call me that,” I spoke softly, doing my best to keep the facade up but I was so shocked, Wanda was lightly pushing the woman out the house, almost as if begging her to leave with a little laugh. She looked the same, only dressed up similar to me.

“You’re going to want to see this,” he tugged on my dress, my hand slapping it away again but he yanked hard. He sent me flying to the back seat of the car. my side pushed into his with a loud oof.

I heard that stupid sitcom laugh again, trying to push it to the make of my mind as I pushed away from Bucky. I hit him in the side with the hat I had managed to take back with me, my mouth wide open to yell but Bucky shoved something in my face.

I could spot the coke logo from miles away, only it wasn’t the saem logo I had always remembered. The bottles were glass and the writing looked much more vintage. That when I noticed Bucky tapping on a part of the label, my eyes reading over the information their.

Expiration date: July 6th, 1953

“1953?” I looked around the neighborhood again, suddenly realizing the vintage cars that were parked along the streets and the dress that hung off my frame.

“How?”

“I don't hear you asking how we ended up in the wrong decade,” My voice was stern as he spoke, watching the dark haired lady finally leave Wanda’s porch and go to her own house close by.

“Not the time,” Bucky finally sat up slightly, watching the lady walk in her house.

“When is the time then? Maybe the 70s or do you wanna wait til the 90s,” I snapped, looking over my shoulder with a pout. His face was so close to me, I finally noticed his once long hair was cut short.

He looked like he had in those photos of Steve and himself, back from the 40s.

“Well, what do we do know?” Bucky looked at me, his nose almost hitting mine when he turned but I had slightly moved back.

“I guess blend it?” I shrugged, hearing that stupid sitcom laugh that I wanted ro punch in the face.

“How do you suppose we do that?”

I looked around the neighborhood, smiling when I noticed the house across from Wanda’s had a large “FOR SALE” sign standing in the front yard.

“Break into that house and act like we belong here,” I smirked, ignoring Bucky as I slowly climbed into the front seat of the car. I heard Bucky yell out about me kicking him but I didn’t care as I made it to the driver seat, pushing open the door.

“For your information, I do belong here,” were the last words I heard from Bucky before I closed the door, smiling over at the house and trying to keep my voice low to not attract wandering eyes. I stood in the same place for a second, suddenly my view changed from house to concrete. I felt a little bump on my backside and frown when I heard Bucky laugh.

“Should’ve held the door,” I noticed his combat boots beside my face. Normally I would have bought him down with me but I decided it would bring too much attention and simply pushed myself from the ground.

“I hate you,” I frowned, slamming my foot into the road when I heard that stupid laugh sound around me again.

“Okay okay,” Bucky held out two arms from me, trying his best to calm me down but it wasn’t any use, I simply pointed to the sign, turning back to look at Bucky with a serious look in my eye.

“We are stealing that sign and moving to that house.”

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<prologue - chapter 2>

[taeyohonic]

Just a Taste – Chapter One

Summary: Being asked to take a blood test just to work at a merchandise booth should have been the first read flag for you. But you just gave them a sample of your blood in exchange for a very much needed paycheck and a summer job during BTS’ world tour. After the youngest member of the popular kpop band finds himself in a difficult situation, you come to realize that this wasn’t the last time you shed blood for your idols. or: You becomes the new donor for seven bloodthirsty idols, who seem to be way too interested in their new food source.

Pairing: OT7xfem!Reader

Genre: Fantasy, Smut, (Fluff)

Warnings: blood, they aren’t very nice to you...

Words: 2.7k

Chapters: Prologue, Chap. I, Chap. II, Chap. III, Chap. IV, Chap. V, Chap. VI, Chap. VII

“What do you mean ‘all the bags are gone’?”

Your supervisor does not look amused. The girl with an abnormal amount of glitter on her face does not look amused. Hell, even you don’t look amused. The stadium hasn’t even begun to let the fans in and your merch booth ran out of the official “speak yourself”-bag ten minutes ago.

This job is in the top three most gruesome things you had to do for money. But money was tight, and you didn’t want to survive another summer on ramen and cheap wine. The job ad was harmless at first glance. Just another sales job. But they promised good pay and international traveling, which was enough to let your eyes linger. There was no company mentioned, just a post box.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise when BigHit responded to your application a week later. With Bangtan’s rising popularity and the massive size of their tour, extra staff had to be hired. Still, the ARMY in you couldn’t contain her excitement. This was a big deal for you. Touring with one of your favorite kpop bands, traveling to Japan and getting first dips on all the merchandise? This was a no brainer. Hell, you would have even paid them to tag along. So you dressed to impress when you attended the interview, keeping your giddiness locked behind a professional smile.

“You want what?”, you ask – disbelieve coloring your voice.

“A blood test”, the interviewer repeats nonchalantly without looking up from her questionnaire.

Was this normal procedure? You had only ever worked in your aunt’s bookstore during senior year of high school and at a fast food place all through undergrad. Neither asked for your freaking bloodline.

“What? Do you discriminate certain blood types?”, you say in mock humor. A laugh disguised as a cough rings through the room, as the cute guy in the back of the room tries to hide his amusement. His eyes are locked on your features.

“We just want to make sure all our employees are healthy. You’ll be travelling to a foreign country, working long hours.”, the woman in front of you replies, ignoring your bad attempt at a joke. She continues: “You don’t have to – of course.”

“But then I won’t be asked back for a second interview, am I right?”

The woman looks you in the eyes for the first time since entering the room. She doesn’t look as evil as she sounds. “No”

So, you guess you’ll leave with a bit less body fluid than you anticipated.

There wasn’t a second interview. The test results came with a pre-signed contract.

***

“What the fuck is up with this boy today?”, Joo-Won swears as his eyes are glued to the screen in front of you. Your shift is officially over. Most of the merchandise is packed up, all the sold-out item IDs are sent to the head quarter and you already got a notification that the next delivery will be arriving first thing tomorrow morning. Now you’re sitting together with some crew members, a half-finished soju bottle in your hand and an empty carton of take-out on your lap. The guy at your job interview turned out to be quite fun.

Joo-Won introduced himself during the briefing on your first day in Japan. He is responsible for the ARMY Bomb stands, which seems to be a very big deal around here. This is his third tour with Bangtan and he seems to know nearly every henchmen in this operation. So it came to no surprise when a stage assistant invited you both to watch the concert from one of the twelve monitors backstage. Of course, you didn’t look too out of place with your name badge and the Love Yourself-hoodie you may or may not have purchased with your employee discount.

The stage assistant, whose name you can’t remember, is fuzzing with screen number five as you take another sip of your afterwork drink. You stare not really focusing on anything. Just blank nothingness.

“You did see this as well, right _______?”, Joo-Won asks breathlessly.

You can only nod. The Fake Love performance just ended. And even though all seven idols were on fire, the youngest was just out of control.

“What did we just see?”, the boy continues.

“Rudeness”, you answer and empty the bottle with a hefty swing. You knew Jungkook would lift his shirt. You were prepared as you had seen their comeback stage more times than you’d be comfortable to admit. This was not news to you. But the aggression in his stare, how dark he growled his verses, the hard edges on his mouth, not even hinting a friendly smile, was making you uncomfortable.

Before your new friend can respond his headset beeped. Joo-Won answer, his eyes still on the screen.

“Yeah?” After a beat his eyes flash to you. You squirm uncomfortably in your seat.

“_________ is with me”, he says and you need a second to register your role in the conversation.

Joo-Won’s stare lingers on your face – a silent question in his eyes.

“Sure, sir. I’ll bring her to you right away.” Then he ends the call sifting, so your knees are brushing against one another.

“Care to explain, why Bangtan’s prime management wants to speak with you, _______?”, your friend asks, no judgement in his voice. What?

***

“So, I have to sign another NDA?”, you ask the manager in front of you, trying to swallow your nervousness. This is the Sejin, Bangtan’s right hand advisor. Every fan knows him from countless Bangtan Bombs and can easily recognize the fathering care in his work.

“This one… is more specific”, he explains and moves the stack of papers to you. You try to calm your excited fingers as you grab at the legal document, flipping through it.

“And it’s time sensitive”, Sejin adds and searches your eyes for attention. You give it to him.

“Time sensitive?” The papers abandoned on the table. “Is something wrong with the boys?”

There will come a time and place when you reflect on the choice of calling these men “the boys” as if they were your closest friends. But it’s not today. Today you just see a glint in his eyes.

“Yes, it’s Jungkookie”, Sejin starts and your memories flash to their concert an hour prior. How Joo-Won and you both discussed how beastly the youngest looked – how aggressive.

“Wh-what?”, you answer in question. The manager���s hands move on top of yours.

“He is ill and … you might be able to help him. We can’t transport him. And we are not sure he’ll survive an ambulance ride.”

Your brain blanks as you stand up in a swift move. This is simple: One of your most cherished idols is ill and his trustworthy manager tells you that you’ll be able to help. This is a no brainer.

“Take me to him”, you order, not even caring that Sejin’s words are not making any sense. How can a twenty-four-year-old college dropout help the golden maknae? What even is his illness?

Sejin’s smile should have been another red flag. “Slow down, _________”, he sooths and moves around the table so he is standing in front of you. “This is important. You have to sign the documents. You’ll have to transfuse blood to him.” He is handling you a pen. “There are health risks. This isn’t … the most optimal environment for a blood donation.”

Jungkook needs your blood – memories of your job interview come back.

You sign the contract, not even reading all the small-printed clauses on the pages. Before the ink is even dry, Sejin is moving you through a long corridor. His hand rests on your neck – squeezing reassuringly. A glimmer travels across your body and you try to ground yourself. Of course you are nervous. This is reasonable. You’ll donate blood to one of your favorite idols. Maybe you’ll see him, when he gets better. Hell, maybe he’ll even thank you in person! Meeting Bangtan is the closest form to aspiration you have at the moment.

“When is the nurse coming?”, you question the logistics as you move towards the farthest door labeled “BTS”.

“Which nurse?” You look at Sejin in surprise – if not a nurse, who’ll take your blood?

“Then a doctor?”, you ask and Sejin shakes his head, a humorless chuckle escaping him while you both come to a halt in front of the door.

“There is… no time I’m afraid”, he answers – with remorse in his voice. There is a sinking feeling in your stomach, some of the fog lifted. How the hell should you give Jungkook your blood if there is not even a transfusion station here?

Sejin knocks at the door, ignoring your thumbing heartbeat and opens the door, softly pushing you into the room. “I’ll explain everything; I promise.”

***

The starving vampire smells your sweet blood as soon as the door opens – Sejin a mere decoration in his vision. Jungkook’s whole body turns towards you while your eyes nervously shift across the room. Time slows down as the maknae swiftly moves straight to you. His muscles ache and he cannot even recognize his swallow breathing. His stare is fixed on the nap of your neck – deliciously soft, milky. Not even the slightest imperfection in this human before him.

You do not even sense Namjoon’s and Seokjin’s presence as your eyes take in the predator advancing towards you. The older ones seem frozen as their youngest stops just a breath away from you. You look mouthwatering – clad in one of their merchandise hoodies, hair pinned in a mess at the top of your head, some bold eye make-up, but otherwise barefaced. You look… just right.

Before Jungkook’s grin spreads across his face, Jin takes action – trying to move between the sarved vampire and this … girl. What the hell was Sejin thinking just throwing her in here? Did he want this human dead so badly?

But the oldest is too late – Jungkook growls aggressively as he snatches you against his firm chest. All the air leaves your lungs – your breasts pressed painfully against solid muscle.

“Ahh”, you groan. As soon as the noise leaves your mouth, his lips descend against the white of your neck. The maknae hisses in pleasure; and then he is biting – hard.

Your scream misses the volume and you feel tears on your cheeks as you gaze into Seokjin’s overwhelmed eyes – hands outstretched.

Blood flows freely into Jungkook’s mouth and you hear a sickening slurping sound. The pain is blazing against your skin, every fiber of your body vehemently trying to get away from the maknae. But your fingers don’t push him away. No, the curl around his biceps – acting against every rational though inside your brain. You cling to the man sucking your blood as if he’s merely leaving a love bite.

The pain in your body slowly ebbs and you feel a bright bliss surrounding you. You’re not even sure if you are still standing at the door. There is no room – just lips against your neck and whimpers in your throat… and Namjoon’s voice far, far away.

“Jungkook stop now.”

“This is an order.”

“Jin, help me.”

“Let’s lay her down.”

“Is there a pulse?”

***

“How do you take your coffee?”, Yoongi asks while starring at you with such indifference in his eyes you’re not sure your answer even matters.

“Uhm- I” His sigh interrupts you as he makes his way from the couch across form you to the kitchenette. The whole room is dimmed in a soft light, the furniture a clean white. You feel your head spin as you try to recall what happened. Weren’t you backstage? Didn’t Jun-

“Jungkook”, your voice more of an accusation than a whisper. Yoongi’s back stiffens, but he continues to brew hot water over a ceramic filter and soon a soothing smell of coffee drifts towards you on the white leather.

“Jungkook sucked m-y – he su”

“-cked your blood. Damn girl, how hard did you hit your head when you fainted?”, your favorite rapper asks – his body finally turned towards you.

Slow, leisure steps are taken and then he sits in front of you, taking you all in. You must look like a mess; grease and sweat from your shift in the booth, plus the incident with the youngest vocalist in the band. All the blood. Your stomach turns around uncomfortably.

Yoongi is looking into your eyes and for a split second you see something other than complete boredom behind his stare, but as soon as you try to pinpoint the emotion, it vanishes.

“That’s what vampire do”, he continues and you heart reacts before the triggering word even registers in your brain. Vampire. No way.

“Go-ood one, Yoongi-ssi. This… this isn’t – some romance novel for teenagers”, you scoff, disbelieve in your voice while your heart beats hard against your chest. Without missing a beat, the idol is in your face – literally just millimeters away. The air is stuck in your lungs as you try to calm yourself.

“You know what I hate, dumb human?”

His fingers draw lines across your face – just a feathering touch, barely more than an illusion. You can only shake your head; afraid your voice will give out if you try to answer verbally.

His face moves down to your neck as his hands frame your face – no longer brushing but locking your head into place. Then his mouth dives into your neck, just resting against your pulse. You can feel the sinister smile against your skin as you shiver.

“Talking to dumb people”, his lips vibrate and you feel goosebumps traveling across your body.

“You have all the proof, but your silly little brain still doesn’t – connect the pieces”, Yoongi trails small kisses across your collarbone; a stark contrast to his insulting words.

“Do you really think our little maknae just has a blood kink?”

He moves to the other side of your neck, while titling your head forcefully to the left. You can’t move your body – muscles frozen into place. You’re just passively… enduring what your favorite idol does to you. Now his teeth are grazing your right earlobe, as his voice drops another octave into a threatening growl.

“That we just hire a college dropout because of her work ethics?”

His words hurt, but you’re more concerned with the information behind them. They know about you, must have read your file. Shame colors your cheeks and Yoongi’s nose inhales deeply against the red of your skin.

“You smell fucking delicious”, he moans and places an open mouth kiss against your rosé cheek. You can feel his saliva on your skin and a whimper of your own escapes your throat.

“You like that, dumb human? Knowing I’d love… nothing more than to bite in your flesh? Drain you dry?”, he slurs. You both know that this is nothing more than a rhetorical question – your heart, your breathing and the wetness between your tights enough evidence.

But before he can act on his words, a searing pain flashes through your brain.

“Argh”, you groan pressing your head against his cold hands with virgo. The dead skin of his fingertips sooths the throbbing in your brain temporarily. But he knows that your time is nearing its end.

“Human, listen to me”, he whispers, his previously threatening tone making place for urgent whisper.

“When you wake up” What? His hands still a vise to keep you grounded, while the pain in your head expands to your whole body. “Damn human, focus!”

He searches your eyes for recognition, but your stare moves around the room – now noticing how alien the light looks, how… clean the colors are. Is this? Are you still sleeping? How?

“When you wake up”, Yoongi’s voice nothing more than a vibrating hum in your ears, “Say no to Namjoon.”

Now he is shaking you. “Say no”

***

“Good morning, sleepyhead”, Namjoon says after you open your eyes – the morning sun blinding you momentarily.

“I made you coffee”, he adds as he pushes a steaming mug in your hands. The familiar smell takes you back to your dream, to Yoongi, his words, his plea – and you gape at the leader in front of you.

“I thought we could talk?”

_______________________

A/N: What do you guys think? I am so thankful for the feedback you guys sent me. It means a lot! I hope you like this chapter as much as i do! I’d love to hear from you again! love, dana

taglist: @m0chilattae @gali-005 @fangirls94 @dinopowa @toddsgirl27 @littlemanismoon @dkck99 @slutkoo @subtlepjiminie @coffeebeanismylife @iloverubberduckiez-blog @geminidrawsstuff @olivialovemason88

[savoies]

50 questions.

i was tagged by @cartrshart. thank you ash, ive been wanting to do this one. (:

1) what is the color of your hairbrush? - one is purple and one is white+pink. 2) name a food you never eat? -cow head or tongue. its popular in Mexican culture but its not for me.

3) are you typically too warm or too cold?

- my body is super warm always like always that my family cant even place their hand on my shoulder when its hot outside.

4) what were you doing 45 minutes ago?

- i was working on cast my mutuals on my main account. 5) what’s your favorite candy bar? kit kat. 6) have you ever been to a professional sports game? yes! i used to go to a lot as a kid cause my uncle used to get tickets. i went to many angels games, an indoor football game, and when i was seven i went to my first hockey game. but recently i went to a devils and leafs game(both against the ducks) in march. the devils game was the first game i went to after i started liking the nhl. 7) what is the last thing you said out loud? - ¨ merrimack keeps sending me emails even though they dont have my major.¨ telling my mom after reading my school emails. 8) what is your favorite ice cream? either cookies & cream or cookie dough. (wow ash exactly the same oop) 9) what was the last thing you had to drink? water. (: 10) do you like your wallet?

- yeah i have been wanting a smaller wallet for a while and i finally got it a while back.

11) what is the last thing you ate? Neapolitan ice cream. 12) did you buy any new clothes last weekend? actually i did! i bought a waterproof jacket, a Hawaiian shirt, a half zipper sweater, and a t-shirt. (: yard sale things oop. 13) what’s the last sporting event you watched? i believe it was game 2 with my mom. 14)what is your favorite flavor of popcorn? movie theater popcorn with movie theater butter jsjs. 15) who is the last person you sent a text message to? i rarely text anyone outside of tumblr. rori. @andreisvechnigod love you <3 

16) ever go camping? yes! we have an annual camping trip that we’ve gone on for about for more than five years.but it got canceled this year. :( 17) do you take vitamins? nope. 18) do you regularly attend a place of worship? yes ma’am. i grew up religious and then like i hated my church(cause the people were like hypocrites oop) but then my parents took us to another church and i like it there a lot. a lot of cute guys lol. the vibe is great. every sunday (: 19) do you have a tan? does a bad tan line count? 20) do you prefer Chinese or pizza? depends but usually Chinese.  21) do you drink your soda through a straw? if its from restaurants then yes but if its straight outta the can then no. 22) what color socks do you usually wear? black with a colored line and colored letters of the brand at the bottom. 23) do you ever drive above the speed limit? cant drive ahaha. 24) what terrifies you? all of the above, heights, bugs, public speaking, etc. 25) look to your left, what do you see? fan. 26) what chore do you hate most? deep cleaning the whole house. 27) what do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? g’day mate 28) what’s your favorite soda? dr. pepper 29) do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? drive thru all the way, my social anxiety cant handle going in. 30) what’s your favorite number? 11 cause of my birthday or 21. 31) last person you talked to?

my mom.

32) favorite cut of beef? idk? ahaha. 33)last song you listened to? driving to Hawaii by summer salt but im currently listening to she looks so perfect by 5sos. 34) last book you read? for school outliers but on my own a crime book and the last song by Nicholas sparks. 35) favorite day of the week?  Saturday. 36) can you say the alphabet backwards? no. 37)how do you like your coffee? more creamer than coffee, i know. :\ 38) favorite pair of shoes? my velcro vanz probs or the basic old school vanz or dark blue converse. 39) time you normally get up? 5:30am if i go on a hike if not 7:45 for school. weekends it depends anywhere from 10am to 2pm oop. sundays at 8 if i go to church. 40)what do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? sunsets but if you have the chance to see a sunrise they're pretty cool too. 41)how many blankets on your bed? 2 small throws. 42) describe your kitchen plates? black and the bigger ones are jade blue with a black border. 43) describe your kitchen at the moment? tidy messy oop. 44) do you have a favorite alcoholic drink? im a minor. (margaritas are chill though) non alcoholic of course. 45) do you play cards? we play different card games with my family sometimes. 46) what color is your car? dont have one. cant drive but both of my parents are a type of gray and id like a black one probs. 47) can you change a tire? with assistance maybe? my dad has shown us the basics once when we broke down in the freeway at 9pm.  48) your favorite state? i live in CA and its really all i know but i love utah and i really want to see Colorado and the east coast. 49) favorite job you’ve had? due to a personal reason i cant have a job rn. so none since ive never had one lol. 50) this one is long so ill understand if you skip it lol. @hartsyhart @seggy-seggs @andreisvechnigod @kncny @farabees @leeqianxiao @jmaybanks(also sorry if youve done it already.)

[sapphosclown]

Treat You Better - Tyrus AU

pt. IV: He’s Not Here Is He

part 1 / previous part

Cyrus and TJ have their first work session outside of school, it doesn’t go exactly as Cyrus plans.

i feel like the more parts of this i write the longer each part will get

ahaha

enjoy.

———

———

The Goodman house was filled with the scent of clorox wipes and lemon soap on this fine Sunday morning. Cyrus had been frantically running around trying to get his house under control, although, his house was rarely far from under control. But today he felt like it needed to be perfect.

Cyrus pulled out a candle from a cabinet and set it in the center of their dining table. He found a lighter in a drawer full of miscellaneous objects and papers. The aroma of cinnamon and apples began to overtake the scent of cleaning products when the doorbell rang. The sudden sound caused Cyrus to jump, but his brief fear was quickly replaced with a different sense of panic when he realized who was waiting on the other side of that door.

Cyrus looked out the peephole and sure enough TJ Kippen was standing there, wearing a green and black sweatshirt, the kind with a quarter-zipper at the top, paired with some jeans. Cyrus became suddenly very aware of the sweat beginning to coat his palms. He wiped them on his own jeans and grabbed the door handle with a deep breath.

When Cyrus opened the door, TJ had his hand halfway through his hair and was looking off at some of the other houses. However, he quickly turned his attention to Cyrus, his face lighting up and a smile spreading across his face. Cyrus let go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding and couldn’t help but smile back, a strange sense of relief running through him.

“Hey!” TJ beamed at him.

“Hey.”

He didn’t mean to stare at TJ, just something about the way TJ’s hair had been flopping freely recently had gotten the better of Cyrus. Or maybe it was his eyes, his eyes always ran his train of thought off their tracks, (which was not very much appreciated). Today especially for some reason, his green eyes were causing Cyrus to relax every muscle in his body. Something was so comforting about them that he just couldn’t describe.

“Can I,” TJ smiled as he pointed into Cyrus’s house.

“Oh, yeah, right. Sorry.” Cyrus stuttered as he moved himself and the door to the side, allowing TJ to enter.

As he stepped in his head slowly surveyed the interior of Cyrus’s house. It was a fairly large place, it had high celings with a very open floor plan, every room flowed into the other. Grey and blue walls complemented each other and were accompanied with Cyrus’s baby pictures as well as many family portraits. Cyrus couldn’t help but notice the slight awe on TJ’s face.

“What is it?”

“Huh? Oh nothing it’s just your house is,” TJ gesticulated randomly. “Bigger, than I expected, I guess.”

“Oh.” Cyrus hadn’t really thought much of it before. Both his parents had fairly large houses, what with the whole family in the medical field, he supposed they made a pretty decent living.

TJ’s eyes finally landed on Cyrus and he settled back to his casual demeanor.

“So, should we get started?”

***

The two boys had been sitting at Cyrus’s kitchen table for what was probably a little over an hour and had gotten a lot of their work done, granted, they still had plenty to go. TJ had been very helpful which had honestly suprised Cyrus. Maybe it’s just years worth of ingrained stereotyping having taken control on Cyrus but he just kind of assumed TJ was the kind of kid who slacked off and cheated on tests, but he seemed genuinely interested in the work. Well, for a while at least.

“I’m bored.” TJ suddenly announced. The break in silence startled Cyrus for a moment as he had also started to lose concentration.

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Let’s go do something.” TJ closed the notebook he had been taking notes in and stood up.

“What? We still have work to do.” Cyrus protested.

“We have weeks to do work. Come on, if we don’t give ourselves a break then our work is going to become sloppy, and we can’t have that can we?” TJ was wearing that mischievous smile again. He wore that smile a lot now that Cyrus thought about it, but he wasn’t complaining.

If he’s being honest, Cyrus agreed with him. He was beginning to think he was loosing brain cells rather than gaining them at this point and he could feel that he was getting antsy. But a part of him still wasn’t sure if it was the best idea.

“I don’t think Dylan would like that...” Cyrus said quietly, looking back down at his own notes. He had subconsciously started picking at the corner of his notebook, which was already rather run down from all the times he had done so previously.

TJ’s smile didn’t fade one bit, if anything, he looked more mischievous. He leaned a little bit closer to Cyrus from across the table.

“Dylan isn’t here, is he.”

Cyrus looked up at TJ and they locked eyes. TJ raised his eyebrows as if inviting him one more time. Cyrus felt himself start to smile and turned his head so he was now looking at the glass doors leading to his backyard.

“I can’t believe you.” He said shaking his head, smile still stuck on his face.

“That sounds like a yes to me.” TJ stood up straight again and walked around the table to wear Cyrus was sitting. He reached out a hand to which Cyrus just glared at, although whatever emotion he was attempting to convey hadn’t quite reached intensity.

“What’s life without a little adventure, right?” TJ teased.

Cyrus stood up from his seat, pointedly not accepting TJ’s hand. “Don’t push it.”

“Whatever you say.” The blonde raised his hands in surrender causing Cyrus to roll his eyes, despite of the smile that still refused to leave his face. He walked over to his front door, TJ close behind.

Once they were on the sidewalk Cyrus asked, “So, where are we headed.”

TJ shrugged.

“You don’t know?”

“Nope.”

“You didn’t come up with a plan before we left?”

He shook his head. “I like just going wherever the universe takes me.”

“That sounds incredibly stressful.”

“Only if you make it incredibly stressful.”

“Making things more stressful than they need to be is kind of my specialty.”

“Well, making things less stressful than they are is my specialty, so it balences out.”

Cyrus wasn’t sure why that made him smile so much. He liked the idea of having someone to balance him out. He thought that would’ve been Dylan but he kind of eclipses him entirely.

The two boys continued to walk aimlessly around Cyrus’s neighborhood. It was a rather beautiful day, small blue patches poked out from in between fluffy white clouds, it was slightly windy but there wasn’t any bite to it. There weren’t too many days like this anymore seeing as the end of fall was nearing, but it was nice. Cyrus was happy with their decision to leave the house.

They had made their way to the main part of town where all the local shops were set up. Personally, Cyrus loved it. He loved watching small business thrive and people greeting each other as they make their ways into stores. Everything just felt so connected.

As they looked through the store windows, TJ would make item-based puns about things for sale, and try as he might, Cyrus couldn’t help but laugh. There were few times he even gave in and made a few puns himself. Dylan thought puns were stupid so Cyrus stopped saying them, but TJ laughed like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard every time Cyrus made one. It was refreshing.

“Oh I love this place!” Cyrus stopped on the sidewalk outside of Nine Lives, the local thrift store. Most of his statement pieces were from there, but he hadn’t been going recently as Dylan had expressed his distaste for thrifting.

“Do you wanna go in?” TJ asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. Dylan says—”

“You know, you care a lot about the opinion of someone who isn’t here.” TJ pointed out. “If you want to go in let’s go in!”

Cyrus pauses for a moment and then smiled. “Yeah. let’s go in.”

The scent of the fabric was one that Cyrus didn’t know he had missed so much. There were various racks of clothes scattered about and shelves of knick knacks lining the walls. For a second, he forgot why he stopped coming.

But then he remembered and got sad. But it only lasted a second, less than a second, because he was there with TJ, not Dylan. He had been laughing all day with TJ, yet he couldn’t remember the last time he ever laughed around Dylan. Had he ever laughed around Dylan? Now that he thought about it, Dylan wouldn’t have done basically any of the things TJ had done all day. It got Cyrus thinking, maybe he should just break up with—

“Cyrus look!” TJ called from across the store as he somehow managed to balence 5 hats on his head at once, but as soon as Cyrus looked up at him they all flew to the ground, causing Cyrus to roll his eyes fondly.

“You’re a disaster.” He laughed.

TJ opened his mouth and covered his heart with mock offense. “I can’t imagine why you would say such a thing.” He bent over to pick up the hats which caused a bunch of shirts to fall off their rack. Even Cyrus couldn’t quite figure out how that happened, but it didn’t stop him from laughing.

***

“Are you sure you don’t want that shirt because I’ll pay for it it’s not a big deal—” TJ rambled as the two boys exited the store.

“Seriously, I’ll just come back another day with money it’s not a big deal.” Cyrus assured.

“Fine. But I’m hungry, can we stop for lunch somewhere?” TJ asked.

“Sure, the Spoon is right over there.”

The bell chimed as they opened the door to the diner. It was about as busy as one might imagine a diner to be at 2pm on a Sunday. Nonetheless, the two of them walked up to the counter and sat down on the last two stools.

“Ok, what do you want?” TJ asked while they waited for a someone to take their order.

“Huh?” Cyrus responded, confused.

“What do you want to eat?” TJ repeated.

“Oh I wasn’t gonna get anything since I don’t have money.” Cyrus stated simply.

“Don’t worry about it, what do you want?” TJ persisted.

“I’m really not that hungry, honestly.” Cyrus tried to dismiss the conversation again but TJ didn’t look convinced.

“When was the last time you ate?”

Cyrus opened his mouth to answer but quickly realized that he may have a point. Last he recalls, the last time he ate was the previous night at dinner. He was going to eat breakfast this morning but he had gotten so proccupied cleaning and then working and then they went on that walk, and now he was suddenly a lot hungrier than he thought he was.

“That’s what I thought.” TJ smirked. “Baby taters and a shake?”

Cyrus really wanted to try and protest again, but his stomach started rumbling at the sound of baby taters. He let out a defeated sigh.

“Chocolate?”

“You got it.”

When they finished their (reletively late) lunch, the two of them began their walk back to Cyrus’s house.

“Thanks again for lunch, I can pay you back though seriously,”

“Cyrus. It’s okay, you don’t have to pay me back. I don’t mind paying for stuff, and I’m getting paid this week too so really it’s not a big deal.” TJ cut him off.

“Getting paid? You have a job?” Cyrus asked, suddenly more interested in this new topic.

“Yeah, at the kids gym not too far away from the Spoon.”

“You work at a kids gym?” Cyrus repeated astonished.

“Yeah. Why? Are you suprised?” TJ laughed.

“Maybe a little bit. Why did I not know this?”

“Because you never asked.”

“Touché.”

The sun was setting at this point, thanks to daylight savings the sun was pretty much done after 5pm. The sky was still covered in a dusty pink with colorful clouds striping across it. Fall always had gorgeous sunsets, Cyrus liked watching them. He’d sit on his front porch and just watch the colors slowly fade into black as the sun fell. It was relaxing, no other thoughts crossed his mind, it was just him entranced by the sky.

In fact, he must have spaced out thinking about it because suddenly they were back at his house and reality was setting in again.

“What time do you need to be home?” Cyrus asked TJ, suddenly realizing he forgot to ask earlier.

“Probably no later than 6:30.”

“Do you need a ride? It’s going to be pitch black out pretty soon and probably not the best condition for walking.”

“Nah, I’ll just text my mom. She said she was out running errands anyways.”

“Ok, well should we try to do some more work until then?”

“I think we’re already significantly ahead of most other groups.” TJ chuckled.

“I know, but we spent the majority of today doing just about anything other than work.”

“That’s not entirely true, we worked for a good hour and a half, I say that’s pretty solid.”

“Right.” Cyrus said sarcastically as he unlocked his front door and swung it open. He moved off to the side, allowing for TJ to enter first.

“If you really want to do more work we can do more work.” TJ offered. Although, now that he was home, Cyrus felt a lot more tired than he expected to be at almost 6pm on a Sunday afternoon.

“You know, I think I’d rather just watch TV instead.” He said.

“I’m down for that too.” TJ smiled. Cyrus liked his smile, it made his eyes sparkle just a little bit more and softened his face ever so slightly. It was cute endeering.

“Cool.” Cyrus snapped himself out of his own thoughts and led the other boy into his living room where the TV was mounted on the wall. He kind of zoned out as he sat down and picked out a show. Well, correction, TJ picked the show, Cyrus just had the controller. They were sitting next to each other on the couch and TJ’s knee was touching Cyrus’s, making him realize they were sat rather close together considering the how large and empty the couch was. Cyrus moved his knee out from TJ’s contact but he still found him self feeling sad at the movement.

Today with TJ had been odd. Not in a bad way, it was actually a good day, a great one even, but that’s why it was so strange. Today Cyrus laughed harder than he had in a long time, his cheeks were still sore from smiling so wide. His legs were aching from all the walking and his skin felt cold to the touch, but he was warm inside. He was happy, and it was weird.

It was also weird because just about everything they had done that day was up to Cyrus. Sure, TJ had proposed all of the ideas, but he left them for Cyrus to act on. He didn’t pressure him into choosing one option or another, he didn’t try to get him to do anything he really didn’t want to do. TJ gave him options. Dylan never did that. Andi and Buffy sometimes did but he mostly went along with what they were doing. TJ seemed like he just wanted Cyrus to have a good time, and it was weird; he wasn’t used to being put first.

“Oh, my mom’s here.” TJ said suddenly whilst looking down at his phone.

“Oh, let me walk you out.”

TJ stood up first and walked over to where his stuff was still displayed on the kitchen table. He quickly gathered it all and stuffed it into his bag. Cyrus then led him to the front door even though he knew where it was at this point.

“Thanks for having me over.” TJ said as Cyrus opened the door for him. Just as Cyrus had predicted, it was pitch black out other than a few illuminating street lamps and his moms car lights reflecting off the Goodman house.

“Yeah, no problem.” Cyrus replied. He felt kind of sad. Why’d he feel sad?

“Are you free to meet up after school tomorrow to do some more work?” TJ asked, almost hopefully.

“I can’t tomorrow, but I think Wednesday should work.”

“Cool. I’ll look forward to it.” TJ smiled and walked onto Cyrus’ porch. Before he realized it, Cyrus heard himself calling after him. The blonde turned back to face him from the sidewalk that led from the door to the driveway.

“Um, I- Thank you, also.” Cyrus stuttered rather awkwardly.

TJ’s brows furrowed together but his smile remained in tact. “What for?”

“I don’t know, it just— I had fun... is all...” He continued, still not entirely sure why he was talking.

But TJ smiled fully again, and that smile was worth his stupid blabbering.

“Anytime.”

And with that TJ walked off and got into the car. Cyrus watched from his doorway as the lights slowly faded off into the distance. So many thoughts raced through his head, but he suddenly felt like he hadn’t slept in decades. He closed the door and made his way up to his room and flopped down onto the bed.

His thoughts can wait. Right now, he just needs a nap.

———

———

previous / next

tag list:

@miracufan @abg-blah @maybeldontwantheaven @thebisexualweirdo @randomsmilingpotatoes @teagaysmitten @ohnoitsamistake18 

[artisticestheticreads]

Summertime Magic (IV)

A/N: In this chapter, we get more moments from the Black Thick Reader and N’Jadaka and they go run errands and literally spend the rest of the day together... BUT they bump into a little bit of problems along the way. (Bold and Ictalized are links to click on)

FOR FACE CLAIM, CLICK HERE 

WARNING: Lots of fluffiness, weed and alcohol use and some angst.

Song Recommendation: Crush by Yuna ft. Usher

  Y/N was finishing up her last client when the AC blew cool air into the room. She was touching up his twenty two inch ombre dreads along with a tapered fade. He was one of the guys who followed N’Jadaka and saw what he posted about her work. This exact customer was the sixth one that day and she was up until six am, just doing hair back to back. Despite being exhausted, she was thankful because N’Jadaka promoted her so well. Once she was done with his hair and left, she counted all her money and smiled at how much she had made; eight hundred dollars even. She placed it all in her wallet when she got an interrupted call; she smiled at the name. “Hey, Daka.” 

    “Hey, Baby Girl. What you doing right now”, he asked and it sounded like the wind was around his speaker. “Nothing, I was about to go and deposit this money at this bank and hit Target. Some sales are going on and I wanna catch them”, she told him as she grabbed her house keys and fixed her golden yellow body con dress.  All of a sudden, she heard a honk on his end and outside of her door. When she peeked through the curtains, she saw N’Jadaka’s truck parked outside of her house. She still had the phone to her ear when she opened the door. “Seriously, Daka”, she asked and heard his deep chuckle. 

   She hung up making her way to the passenger side, leaning in the window. “You do know I have my own car right,” she asked him making him smile. “You know, I don’t care right”, he mocked her. “Now, get ya cute ass in the car so I can be a generous muthafucka”, he said. She rolled her eyes and got in; they were off. Her window was still down with her arm out making waves against the wind. When she looked at Daka, he was already watching her. “Why are you staring at me” is what came from her lips. “No reason. You just look good. I like that color on you”, he added. Y/N blushed as soon as she looked away. “Which bank we going to anyways?”

“Chase”, she said and he nodded, still looking ahead at the road. “So, how you sleep” she heard and she said “fine, how about you?” He shrugged and admitted, “barely. I have insomnia. I would only sleep for, like, an hour then wake up. Been like that for a while.” She looked over at him and saw how sad his demeanor had gotten. “Must be hard”, she asked with her arm rested beside his. N’Jadaka looked over at her with soft eyes then back to the road. “Becomes natural when you have dealt with it for as long as I did.”

“For how long?”

“Shiiii, since I was like ten....maybe. I think”, N’Jadaka thought out loud. Y/N watched as he drove and noticed his hand close to hers. When her hand inched closer to his, the car came to a stop and he looked at her. “You should be glad this is my bank too. I gotta go in anyways.” He hopped out and so did she but when she did, he looked her up and down. “What I do”, she asked as his arms folded. “Baby Girl, did you hop out the car without me opening the door for you?” She nodded as he walked over. “I don’t know what kind of niggas you hang out with but when you with me, you don’t get to touch doors. Got it?” She said, “yes, Daka.” She walked ahead of him and he opened the doors into the bank.

   The manager noticed them walking and walked over. “Ms. Y/L/N, good to see you again, young lady. How is your father doing?” They shook and Y/N stood back. “He’s getting there. Still a long process but he’s a fighter.” The woman nodded, agreeing. “Yes, well he is in my prayers.”

“Thank you. How are the twins by the way? I haven’t seen them since they were about to graduate.”

“Yes, yes. Thanks again for doing their hair. You did so well. Everyone loved it,” the manager gave a huge smile before asking “so, what brings you two in today.” Y/N looked back at N’Jadaka and said: “well, I’m depositing more money into my accounts.” The woman smiled and said, “that’s great and you have the deposit checkbook I gave you right.” Y/N held it up and said: “yes, ma’am.” N’Jadaka and Y/N stood in the long line when N’Jadaka asked “what wrong with ya pops?”

“He had arthritis in his back and knees. Had it for as long as I can remember.”

“Awe damn. I’m sorry, Baby Girl.”

“It’s okay. He a black man, he’s tough as hell.” N’Jadaka nodded and looked straight ahead. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. Why you do hair in your house again?” She looked back at him as his eyes waited for her answer. “Well, I can’t afford it right now. I’m saving it and I, at least, need like five g’s or more. There is this cute vacant spot in the Crenshaw Plaza by Baskin Robbins that I’ve been looking at. It’s perfect because no one else can afford it but not me. I’m almost there.” N’Jadaka noticed Y/N’s beaming smile when she continued to talk about her place. When she stopped, he said “you have some bomb ass idea. Real shit, you got it, Baby Girl.” 

"Thank you, Daka. That really means a lot. I can’t wait to have my own shop. Just not sure what to name it. Maybe something like ‘Naturals’ with for z’s at the end. My mom likes that name.”

“Does have a ring to it. It would catch my eye” he said as the line got shorter: it was now Y/N’s turn. She looked back at him while he looked around like a little kid. She went ahead and deposited her money to get out the way. Once they were done, they pulled into the Target parking lot; N’Jadaka opened her door. They walked in, grabbed a cart and began shopping as she red her shopping list on her phone. “Okay, so I need towels, shampoo, conditioner, more rubber bands, and clips, rubbing alcohol, witch hazel and some other shit.” N’Jadaka trailed behind her as she walked through aisles and all. 

  “Y/N after we done over here, I need to hit the food section for our movie night.”

“Movie Night? When did we talk about this?”

“Last night, woman. When I told you to keep the leftovers for me.”

   She stopped and his chest collided with her back after the unexpected pause. “Daka, you didn’t say anything about dinner AND the movie.” He placed his hands beside hers on the cart pushing it slowly, making her walk again. “Well, we can’t just sit there, staring at each other and eat. That would be weird as hell.” His broad chest was still flushed against hers. The heat that radiated from him must have transferred to her chore. His hands covered hers as they pushed together; she couldn’t help but smile at the moment. All of a sudden, she noticed he was reaching for the items she read off. His finger pointed to one shampoo and he asked: “Which one?” 

“The, uh, Pantene. The one with the gold markings on it. Can you get the conditioner too, with the pumps”, she said as he reached for the bottles while she watched. His smooth bicep was flexed under his short sleeve white tee. He placed them in the cart and they kept it pushing. Throughout the beauty aisle, he grabbed for the items when she told him which ones to get. He stayed as close as possible as strangers either awed, looked in confusion or in disgust. Y/N didn’t care for the unwanted attention but she didn’t mind being this to him. 

   They finally went to the grocery area and he looked over the options. “I’ve been cravings sweets like a muthafucka lately. What you like, Baby Girl”, he asked and she looked up at him. “Well, I like cupcakes and all. But I’m not sure. Do you wanna really ruin your physique?” He chuckled and told her “girl, these muscles ain’t going nowhere trust me” as he moved his pecs against her skin. He grabbed desserts such as brownies, those soft sugar cookies, and cupcakes. “Aight, little one. What you wanna drink? Lead the way”, he announced but his hands still on hers. They pushed the cart to the beverage section and she nodded towards the pineapple juice and Coke. 

  “Are you tryna drink, drink tonight? ‘Cause those are chasers”, he mentioned and she shrugged in response. “Shit, I’m down if you are but since we in this bougie ass Target they don't liquor in here. So, we can go by the liquor store we met at on our way back.” They grabbed some candy and popcorn, soon finished up and were in the self check out; her eyes stared at the total. “Holy fuck”, she said to herself as she pulled out her debit card but saw N’Jadaka pull out money. “What are you doing”, she asked. “Whatchu mean? It’s on me.”

“No, it’s not. I got it.”

“No, I do.”

“Daka?”

“Baby Girl?” 

   She stood with her hand on her hips and he folded his arms when an older black woman passed by. “Y’all are so cute. Reminds me of me and my husband.” Y/N giggled and spoke to the woman. “Oh, ma’am we-”

“Thank you, ma’am. My girl always wanna fight though”, he said and Y/N looked at him with a brow up. “She never wants me to pay for anything. I’m just tryna be a good man to my lady, dat’s all.” The lady looked over her glasses to Y/N and said “let him treat cha, baby. There is a lot of young men outchea that don’t even pay attention. Let him handle it”; with that, she walked away. Y/N still stood there when he poked her arm so she can move a little, paying the total and grabbing the bag before walking away. He looked back at her and yelled “you betta bring ya ass or you gotta catch that musty ass Metro”; she followed behind.

   They pulled into the parking lot as she looked to him. “You coming in with me or you staying here”, she asked and he looked over handing her $50. “You won’t be long. ima just chill here and wait. Stay outta trouble, young lady. Don’t make me have to kill a nigga”, he lectured her, wagging his finger; she laughed and hopped out. When she entered the store, the sound of the ding sound if it was going out. Y/N placed a hand cart on her arm as she looked up and down the aisles. She thought of making her amazing slushes for tonight since it was hotter more than usual. She switched slightly when she got to the alcohol section, grabbing rum and Jack Daniels. All of a sudden, she felt a strong arm wrap around her shoulders. 

 “Thought you was staying in the car” she taunted but she felt like something wasn’t right; this arm wasn’t like Daka’s at all. She turned to see a man she never wanted to see again. “What up, doll,” he said with a gapped smile. He had burnt umber skin, brown eyes with braids in a creative pattern across his scalp. He wore a Dodgers baseball jersey wide open to show his toned chest, dark denim jeans, and Vans. She looked around and pushed his arm off, walking the other way. “What you want Rodney”, she said flinging open the freezer door trying to keep him away as she looked closer at the drink section. “You lookin’ good, Y/N. I see you done lost a little weight”, he said as he watched her bend down, grabbing a small bag of ice.

  She took a deep breath and looked him up and down as she stood up. “I see ya head got fatter”, she threw at him as she walked down an aisle with him following behind. “I see you still got jokes. How you been”, he asked with hands in pockets. “Fine, now go away”, she said looking at random items to keep her eyes away from him. Rodney was her first boyfriend but what he did was unforgivable. Rodney continued to follow her, watching with a careful eye. “C’mon, girl. You not gonna say you miss me like I miss you.” She rolled her eyes and placed her right hand on her hip turning to him with a stern look. She had to admit he was a handsome son of a bitch but his attitude was the worse. 

   “Yeah, I know exactly why you miss me”, she mentioned with a rose brow. He chuckled with a step closer and leaned into her face with a smile. “Yeah, and why you think I miss yo cute ass?” She walked her fingers up his chest then pulled his head down. “Because whoever you with now, done fucked up ya shit”, she said before she pushed his head back and walking to the counter. He made his way over and pulled out his money. “I got ya, ma.”

“Too late. Already paid for”, she said grabbing her bag and making her way to the front door to notice N’Jadaka getting out and leaning against the front. She felt Rodney grab her hand and she yanked it looking back at him, disgusted. “Y/N, I do miss you. There I said it.” She looked out to see Daka looking inside with his hands folded in front of him. Rodney followed her glance and instantly felt heated but kept his cool. N’Jadaka watched Rodney through the glass in the same spot. Y/N started to walk and looked back at him, saying “keep missing me.”

  She finally walked out and N’Jadaka leaned against her door. “Who was that?” Rodney walked out, hands in pockets and eyes on them as he walked away. Y/N noticed N’Jadaka watching him and made him look at her. “A mistake.” N’Jadaka nodded before opening her door and heard something behind him. “He ain’t got shit on me, ma! Never have! Have never will! And don’t fa get that shit!!!” N’Jadaka noticed her trying to get out but he leaned against the door. “Wassup, cuh?! You talkin’ a lot of shit for yo punk ass to be walking away! Could have said that shit back here! Don’t get fucked up, ol’ bummy ass nigga!!!”

 “Daka, can we go,” Y/N asked and N’Jadaka looked back at her. “Say please”, he told her with a smirk. “Can we pleeeeease go”; he sighed and walked over to his side. Soon, he pulled into her driveway and looked at her before getting out and opening her door. “Go ahead in. I’ll bring all the shit in.” Before she could disagree, he looked at her and playful shooed her away. She went to open the door and slid out her sandals. She tossed her hair into a high ponytail, instantly feeling cool. Y/N made her into the kitchen, grabbed a tall glass and poured some iced tea, sipping from the cool glass with closed eyes. 

  “You not gonna pour me some”, she heard which made her jump. She turned to see N’Jadaka sitting her counter. “Wh-when did you come in here” fell from her lips in a timid voice. “Like a minute ago. You didn’t hear me”, he questioned her with a smirk on his lips. “Of course not, butt munch. You scared the shit outta me”, she explained to him as she grabbed another cup for him. She poured him some as he put the groceries up. She started to think about Rodney and what he had done to her. Humiliation? Torture? Heartbreak? Or all the above? “Baby Girl? Baby Girl?”

  She looked up at him as he stopped her from pouring the drink. It had got on the counter, dripping to the ground. He rung out a dish towel to clean up and got another to dry. “You aight? You just spacing out and shit”; his tone, as if he was concerned but she just nodded. “Yeah, I just need a drink,” she said before turning her back to get her blender and plugging it in. “What yo cute ass finna make”, he wondered out loud leaning on his hands, watching her. “I am making some adult icees. A little this and a little that.” She grabbed the ice, alcohol, and chasers. “You seem like a Jack and Coke guy.  So I’ll call this one..” She looked to him and back to the blender. “All Hail the King.” He nodded and folded his arms. “That shit is smooth. Teach me how to make it then.”

 “Aight. First, we need 3/4 of Jack Daniels then we get a cup of Coca Cola.” She began pouring then grabbed a cup of ice putting it in next. “Now, we just blend”, she announced while looking at him with a smirk. She grabbed two tall mason jars and grabbed the gummies she grabbed at the liquor store with a straw. “This is extra but I like this touch though. Now you can just throw them in or placed them neatly around.” She placed the Coke bottle-shaped gummies neatly for him to see and placed the straw in the middle of both glasses. She poured the drink inside and handed him the glass before sipping hers. 

  He placed his lips in the straw as Y/N watched. Once he tasted the drink, he smacked his lips to inquire about the taste. He side-eyed her round face and looked straight ahead. “It’s aight,” he said before sipping the drink again. He looked at Y/N pouted lips and said “I’m fucking with you. It’s fire as fuck. You know what would be good?”

“What?”

“Jack and Coke floats. Now, that shit would be A1 for real for real.”

  She agreed and placed her drink down. “Lemme get these leftovers out so I can warm this chicken up.” She grabbed the huge bag of food from the fridge. Sheila had packed a ton of food for them which was like a family dinner for the holidays. Containers were filled with mac and cheese, potato salad, fried chicken, greens and cornbread; her mouth was almost drooling. Y/N pulled out a baking dish and sprayed with cooking oil, place the chicken on top then setting it in the oven; N’Jadaka watched her in confusion. “Why not put it in the microwave?”

“Because if you put fried chicken the microwave, it’ll get all nasty and soggy but when you put in the oven, it gets all nice and crispy. You can thank me later”, she said standing up. She was getting self-conscious as it got hotter and decided to do the best. “I’m about to hop in the shower. The guest bathroom is down the hall on your left and feel free to anything. I’ll be back out in like ten minutes.”

“Bet” and with that, she walked to her bedroom’s bathroom to bathe. She slipped out her previous dress (along with underwear) and threw them in the basket before stepping into the warm water. She asked Alexa to play her mellow playlist and Yuna started to play. Y/N began exfoliating out of habit and bathed in her Shea Moisture Black Soap. Before she stepped out, she rubbed her body in baby oil. She stepped out to get dressed when she peeked her head through the door to check on Daka; he sat on the couch with his arms resting on the back of it. After closing the door back, she looked for a pair of boy shorts and her old hockey jersey her dad gave her back in high school. It was loose on her since her weight loss even though she still had a pouch and some fluffiness. 

   She slipped it on and put her locs in a neat bun on top of her head before walking out to the kitchen, checking the chicken. “How was your shower”, N’Jadaka asked walking to the island. “It was great. Looks like chicken is ready. You want everything, Daka”, she asked as she got an oven and pulled the tray out. “Yeah, I want everything”. She noticed his voice was deeper and sinful to her ears. Maybe it was just the alcohol, she thought. She turned to him and he was just watching her, sipping the rest of his drink. Soon, she was done warming up the food that needed to be and put their plates together. “So, what you wanna watch? I got Hulu and Netflix.”

“Nah, they just got the same shit. I noticed you got a nice DVD collection over in the corner.” They sat next to one another on the couch and she sipped from her cup as he watched; she noticed. “You okay”, she asked and he pouted, playfully, towards her drink. “Do you want me to make you another one?” He nodded as she giggled and got up. Once she was done with making the drink, she walked over with blender in hand and noticed something. “Daka?” No answer. “Daka? I know yo butt can hear me.”

“Wassup, baby girl.” He was in the corner looking at the DVDs again. “Daka, where is my drink?” He shrugged as she placed the blender down and turned him around; he was sipping the drink with one hand looking at her. “Daka?! That was minnnnneeeeee”, she pouted and folded her arms. He used his opposite hand to place on her back bringing her chest to chest. “Me sorry. It’s just so damn good. I couldn't help myself. Do you forgive me”, he asked but she still pouted with her brows pushed in. He kissed her forehead softly then both her cheeks. “Forgive me”, he asked again and she said “fine. Better be glad I made enough for both of us.” She walked over to the couch to pour the drinks as N’Jadaka grabbed a few DVDs. 

  “Chose something, yet?” He placed the disc in and Y/N smiled at the intro music. 

You can do it put your back into it I can do it put your ass into it You can do it put your back into it I can do it put your ass into it Put your back into it Put your ass into it.

  He bopped his shoulders, dancing side to side. She smiled shaking her head and slipping into the kitchen to rinse out the blender. All of a sudden, she felt him dancing against her back, pelvic thrusting her behind. She pushed her backside up against him that made him step back but he wrapped his arms around her waist as they went back to the couch. An hour or so into the movie, they were finished with their food and watching comfortable silence. “Ebony is one trifling bitch. Like she cute but she ain’t got shit on Diamond”, Y/N said and he agreed. “Don’t fa get about her nigga though. Grimy ass nigga. Like he could have fucked anyone else but her fuckin’ family. Nah that’s that bull shit I can’t fuck with.” 

“So, you never would cheat?”

“Never have. Never will.”

“So, lets say if we were together and Kesha had to stay here, you wouldn’t try and fuck her?”

  “Who dat?” She looked at him and said “the girl I was with when we first met.”  He laughed out loud and wiped his fake tear. “Nah, Baby Girl. She ain’t my type.”

  “Then what is your type?”; no answer. Y/N was leaning on her arm with her legs resting on the couch as he sat in his original position. He looked over at his hand and noticed it was close to her but he left it be. Then, the best part came on; the dressing room fight scene and N’Jadaka & Y/N sat closer but still apart. He hissed as Diamond landed the last punch. “Got that bitch good as fuck. Pretty and can hold it down”, he added with a single clap. The movie ended and they decided to make it an Ice Cube movie night. Next up was Friday and they sat closer but still in the same poses. “Aye, baby girl? Is it okay if I smoke in here?” She gave him the okay and he started rolling. His part was about to come in a few minutes when he looked over at her with hooded eyes. “Do you smoke”?

“Never had.”

  Right when the part came on, she heard the TV along with an echo and N’Jadaka passing her a blunt. “I know you don't smoke weed, I know this, but I'm gonna get you high today, 'cause it's Friday; you ain't got no job... and you ain't got shit to do.” She looked at him and took the blunt gently from his fingers. She sucked in then held it in her system like he told her to do. She held it in so it could get in her lungs and blew it throw her nose; impressing him. “Good. Good job, rookie.” Hours later and now watching Next Friday, they sat there talking and laughing; all the snacks and desserts he bought earlier with Jack and Coke floats made were on the table in front of them. Y/N’s favorite part came on and she giggled as she pretended along with the character. “Mister Nasty Time”, she giggled and heard N’Jadaka reciting the uncle’s part as well.

  N’Jadaka’s came on and he looked to Y/N who still looked at the screen. The part was about to play when N’Jadaka grabs her arm as they stood. Getting in character and he held his finger gun to her temple making her snickering with her hands up.

“Little mothafucka trying to rob me. I'mma show you how I do 'em.”

“I ain’t tryna rob you...”

  They kept this going until the fight scene and he tackled her onto the couch, making her giggling and surrender. Before you know it, they had smoked another blunt and the Jack was all gone. They were sitting just like before but knee to knee and his hand caressing her arm. Y/N can feel N’Jadaka’s arm pulling her in around her shoulder His other callused hand fell onto his lap. That’s when she heard it from his lips. “Put your leg on me so you can be more comfortable. Looks like your leg gonna fall asleep”; she did so and he was right. He wrapped his arm around her neck and she placed her head on top of his chest. As he rubbed her shoulder through her top, his fingertips made circles against her calf and up her knee, finally to her thigh. He kissed her forehead and she looked up to his eyes. They looked at each other with a grin, his fingers caressed her lips, lips inching closer to hers until...

  “Girl, I can’t believe this shit” they heard from the door and looked up, heads turned to the direction. It was Kesha who used her copy of the key, walking in unannounced. She was wearing a yellow tube top, bamboos and her box braids were in a low ponytail. She wore jean shorts with sandals and a grey flannel around her waist. She turned to see the couple on the couch and her eyes went to her best friend’s face. “My bad, best friend. I didn't know we had company.” N’Jadaka set back looking at her as Y/N said “we don’t. I do. Shay, yo ass don’t live here.”

“Then, why I got a key then?” 

“In case of emergencies”, she said as she leaned back. Shay rolled her eyes and sat in the armchair on Y/N’s other side. “So, what y’all doing up in here?”

“Shay, what are you doing up in here”, Y/N asked making Daka chuckle looking at the screen. “Never mind since you look all booed up shit. That can wait”, Shay told her as she folded her arms watching the screen. Y/N looked at him and said: “I’ll be back.”

“Don’t take too long, Baby Girl. Ima keep ya seat warm.”

 She got up and looked at her best friend, nodding to her bedroom door. When they got in, Shay looked at Y/N leaning against the door with low eyes. “Best friend, are you high?”

“What’s wrong, Shay?”

“I asked you first.”

“Bitch, don’t kill my vibe. Bitch, don’t kill my vibe”, Y/N sung then laughed and held her friend in place. “I’m kidding, geez. Aight, tell me wassup.” Shay sat on Y/N’s bed and rubbed her temples. “A bitch almost got jumped.” Y/N was still high but wanted to go off. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand vibe killed.” She sat next to Shay and leaned behind her with her arms. “By who?”

“Girl, that is a wholeee story, sis. So, I was at Ricky’s house and we getting it in. I mean, like, my knee caps are to my ear and he digging in my shit. Right when we about to set it off, he stops and runs in they bathroom. I’m laying there like ‘what the fuck’ then I hear a slam and shuffling outside the door. Sandra in that bitch,  rolling deeper that muthafucka. Looking like she brought the whole family. It was like a quinceanera in that bitch. I had to lock the bedroom door and hurry up and get dressing. I dead ass was finna hop out the window until I looked and there's more of them. I’m like ‘ell nah’ so I’m thinking fast. I peek through the keyhole to see they was going in they kitchen so I ran into the other bathroom. Right across the way. I see a bar of soap on the sink and hear the El Chapo Clan bust into the bedroom and Sandra was like ‘where that black bitch at, Ricky!?’ Then, I threw the soup at the kitchen window. I hear everyone running in and I made a run for it through the window and gunned it.”

  She looked at Y/N when didn’t hear a reaction; her arm was under her chin with a smirk on her face. “You should have known. This the same nigga that was fuckin’ bitches left and right gettin’ them pregnant and shit. Ricky ain’t good for not a damn thing and yo ass fall for it.” Shay leaned on her friend’s shoulder with a pout. “Can I stay in the extra bedroom? They might be looking for my ass.” 

“Sure. Ya clothes are still in there, too. You need a good bath and some sleep”, she hugged her best friend and kissed her cheek. “Now, lemme go finish watching this movie with my guest.” They left the room and Shay said “goodnight, y’all. Take care of my girl, brotha man.”

“She in good hands”, he said over his shoulder. He had another blunt in his hand half gone when Y/N sat back down. “Everything okay”, he asked her as she got back in the pose she was in before. “Yeah, just drama as usual. You good?” He passed her the blunt and nodded; she took a hit and passed back to him. “Nah, that’s all yours, Baby Girl.” She kissed his cheek and took another hit. “Friday After Next?”

“Sure is.” They sat there eating all the snacks and laughing at the movie, reciting lines and all.

  The next morning, Y/N had her back against the arm of the couch with her head resting on the back. She opened her eyes to the mess on the table and the screen now black. Her leg was wrapped around something as her hand rested in other that felt like soften wool. When she looked down, she saw a sleeping N’Jadaka. His head was on her chest, both arms wrapped her waist and long legs rested on the other armest. Her eyes were still half open and she noticed her hand was massaging his scalp the entire time their bodies intertwined together. She grinned and closed her eyes again before she heard him stop snoring. “You up, baby girl”, he asked in a raspy voice with still shut eyes and she answered “kinda”, eyes closed as well. He asked “breakfast?”

“Denny’s or iHop?”

“Nah, Roscoe’s.” Y/N moved a little still with eyes shut and said “okay, just give me a few more....”; they had drifted off to sleep and didn’t wake back up until three hours later.

~

And. I. OOp. Things are getting a little more interesting...ooooooo. So, I wanted to do a little more cute N’Jadaka with some angst but the next chapter is going to be too cute to handle. Also, I am doing three parts (five chapters each) so the next chapter will be the final for this part :(. But do not worry because I am making a separate master for this so be on the look out. I’m gonna got to working on the new ish and paint. Okay. Baaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiii.

~

𝒯𝒜𝒢𝒢𝐸𝒟 𝐿𝒪𝒱𝐸𝒮

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@raysunshine78

[silvermystification]

it’s my day off work and i still feel like i’m gonna cry

if you’ve come to read this you’re in for a long ride. i just need to rant/vent for some time. 

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i just. i’ve been working retail for 8 years. and i’m so sick of it i’m trying to get out of it. it’s just raised my anxiety too much. (the current situation not helping, but i wanted to get out before this) 

and i’m trying. i’m trying so hard. i just. i’m a writer. i’m currently working on a 4 book (maybe 5) series. 

and the first book is basically done. i got a good following started on twitter. all i need now is a beta reader or two and an editor. 

but my dumb-ass brain shut down. it doesn’t like twitter. but i need twitter to promote my book. cause the writing community exists there. and they all promote each other. and if im ever gonna fucking get out of retail i need that to make sales more then my friends. 

but i don’t trust these twitter people to beta read my books. no matter how willing they sound. but i don’t have any non-bias friends. as in friends that haven’t heard me babble on and on about the books in the first place. i’ve had this character since 2008. the main character. 

i haven’t touched twitter for months now, but i can’t get the nerve to go back. the dang professionalism fakeness i have to be i hate so much. 

i’m a writer and i still can’t express how much this frustrates me. 

because i want to publish these books cause they mean a lot to me. i’m already halfway through the 1st draft of the 2nd book of the series. i love these books. 

but my dang RSD ( Rejection sensitive dysphoria ) is blocking me at every step of the way. 

but i just wanna get out of retail. do you know how hard it is to deal with Karens daily when your own brain already tells you constantly that you’re doing things wrong. that you always have to be prefect. 

but i need money to make bills. but i don’t know what else to do. writing is my only talent. job hunting gives me so much anxiety (and sets off the RSD even more) and i have only one semester of collage outside of highschool. and even if i went back to school that still means working retail while i was in school. 

quarantine was the best thing ever. it was two months away from all this. yeah a bit of stress over money. but it still was freedom from dealing with work. with a job that i hate. a job that i’ve been trying to get the manager position in so i can be in a bit more control over my day. but it’s stupid cause i know it’ll glue me to the place more. 

it’s just so stupid. it’s so stupid that i can’t bring myself to go back to twitter. apologize for being gone for so long. and simply find an editor. because i can’t find myself to trust any of these stupid ass people. but i need to do it so i can be a step closer to publishing my book. 

i hate this. i hate this so much. i can’t even enjoy my day off of work cause i’m more anxious about having to go back to work tomorrow opposed to relaxed that i don’t have to be at work right now. 

i know my voice is all over the place. i just been upset for a long time and i think it’s bubbling over again. 

i still need to talk to the girl i wanted to commission for my book cover. but since i couldn’t get over the editor hurtle i didn’t wanna bother her. 

that and i’m so worried that my description of my character is gonna be so bad that she can’t figure out how to draw my oc. and she’ll send it back and be like, sorry can’t do this.

i just have so many negative things going on in my head, my rsd is having a party. and i can’t stop it. i just want it to stop.

my life has been stupid and crazy for so long. i just want to be happy and i can’t.

like i tried drowning it with watching Achievement Hunter. my friend was even nice enough to recommend me their discord. and it’s been truely a joy joining them. but it only distracts me so much. 

not to mention i’ve been barely eating because ive been having body issues lately. i’ve beeen lightheaded at work, but i’ve been blaming it on having to wear the dang mask for 8 hours straight. (or close enough) 

and yea i know it’s protecting me, and im even more pissed at people not wearing one lately. but it makes for a good excuse when im feeling lightheaded.

i hate my brain so much. but it’s been so loud lately. just screaming at me to get things right. 

i just want to move away from this stupid city i live in. i want to be happy, no longer working retail. and my dumb brain is stopping me by yelling at me cause i can’t handle twitter. cause i can’t handle them sounding fake. and me sounding fake. 

i can’t even tell if they like me. these people aren’t my friends. i need friends to help me. 

i think. i don’t even know anymore. i had a plan and now it’s all ruined cause i can’t handle twitter. but i can’t think of a better plan.

but i need to come up with a better plan before my brain starts to tell me i need to kill myself instead. 

[madokasoratsugu]

im new to shokugeki and i dont care about spoilers, why is it bad?

a no joke answer bc u deserve this:

tl;dr Shokugeki sucks because it lost its direction halfway through the story, and when Tsukada (the author) realised that he’d bitten off more than he could chew with such a huge cast of characters.

long answer:

here’s the thing. Shokugeki started out good. 

it mostly played off the usual shounen tropes: a challenger would appear, but then they quickly joined the friendship circle, rinse and repeat. but with such a wide cast of characters with differing goals and personalities plus the high stakes of only the top 10% graduating, it made it easy to bank on the character interactions and friendships, which is what the first half of Shokugeki did, heavily so. and it worked ! 

it was a simple set up (protag aims to beat his dad in a cook off, goes to cooking school, meets friends and foes ! a tournament arc ! fun and shenanigans ! yay!), but Shokugeki did it good. it didn’t subvert any expectations, just did according to what it set out to do. nothing felt exaggerated beyond the typical manga stuff, and everything achieved was earned with hard work. with the occasional fluff and friends thrown in, it became a comfy mix for a good shounen manga.

if anything, id say that half the success came from the character’s relationships themselves - the plot wasn’t anything special, but the genuinity that the characters and their friendships and goals (shared or not) were treated with were wholesome and fun.

which is why it was so fucking jarring when it derailed by throwing aside half of its cast and completely stagnating all character development for the remaining half.

(insert infamous Central Arc expulsion joke here)

if you’ve started/are intending to start, id say its the most obvious after the Moon Banquet Festival Arc/beginning of Central Arc. the writing started getting sloppy, as did the handling of the characters. ive mentioned this before, and ill stress this again: i honestly believe that Central Arc is when Tsukada realised what a big miss steak he did in creating such a huge cast, and in the face of Shokugeki’s then success, made some poor authorial choices to keep the hype going (both plot and character wise).

for characters: half the cast was rid of via expulsion, including very competent chefs (which had no proper in canon explanation on how the fuck that happened) who happened to be fan favourites. i mean, Hayama Akira ? fuck, Nakiri Alice, anyone ? plus any poor remaining characters got shafted in lieu of Souma, hard. this became more prominent as the Arcs slowly go on, the ones of which took the worst brunt of it being Takumi and Megumi.

(what do u think is worse. your fav never getting a cameo or your fav being part of the forefront team but constantly getting fucked over because Souma didn’t get the spotlight of the chapter yet. vote now in the replies.)

for plot: higher and higher stakes were introduced that again, just didn’t make sense !! in Central Arc, Souma was expected to win against Eishi, the best chef in his entire school. when two arcs prior he just lost a cooking contest to two of his peers (placed third), and one arc prior struggled to beat Kuga in ticket sales (even then he didn’t win because his cooking was better, so. wasnt even a win on the cooking front). there was no build up ! NOT EVEN A TRAINING ARC. he just went straight from the bottom rung of the ladder to the fucking ceiling. super different from the first half of the series when everything would be shown in careful detail (best example i can think of off the top of my head being the Shokugeki against Mimasaka in the Autumn Election Arc).

also: in the midst of introducing Erina’s character arc and backstory, Tsukada seemed to completely forget (or maybe just didnt know how to link back?) that he’d already established an overarching plotline: Souma’s quest to best Jouichirou. so when Souma began overthrowing these foes that are his seniors said to be leagues ahead of him, the suspension of disbelief was stretching waaay thin. but hey ! its a shounen manga ! we can forgive this much (sarcasm). 

then Tsukada introduces Asahi. mother fucking Asahi.��who is basically introduced by beating Jouichirou without breaking a sweat, but oh boy did he break the suspension of disbelief right then and there and completely toss the plot into the fucking fire. because there’s no end goal anymore ! the one thing that our main character has been working so hard for ? non existent. pointless. this no name (at that time) character has done it, pack your bags boys, let’s go home.

(might i note that at this point, Shokugeki was also uuhh nothing like the slice of life comedy it originally was. it became an action-psychological mix that just…doesnt work. and i mean. of course it wouldn’t. there was no foreshadowing, the villians can’t be taken seriously because 1) theyre also teenagers for fuck’s sake 2) Azami’s just a creep, plain and simple. he has no depth. no one cares about an antagonist who’s bad at just being bad.

the themes it began with was completely set aside for really badly written character backstories and angsty edgey bs that i still don’t understand why Tsukada thought would work in retaining hype. especially when considering how pure the premise was.

i honestly also think that its the Blue Arc + Dark Chefs Arc when Tsukada actually realised that his plot had gone haywire, since volume sales were dropping hard and fans clearly hated the direction the series had gone in. but instead of trying to reign it back in, he decided to just let it run buckwild because he just didn’t know how to fix it.)

to rub salt into the wound: so many promised resolutions are shoved into the background, done offscreen, or worse yet, forgotten ! scenes that fans have literally been waiting for. Souma VS Erina Shokugeki. Souma VS Takumi Shokugeki. Nakiri Alice coming back to the series and actually fucking cooking again.

(im sure that there’s more that lead to its downfall but like. shrugs. this is mainly to me why it sucks: it had A Lot going for it (im not ashamed to admit that at one point i actually genuinely believed it could be one of the next Big 3 on Shounen Jump), and it just didnt live up to any of it for no other reason other than Tsukada mixing elements of a story that didn’t work well together, tried to force them to work, and did nothing to fix it when it didn’t.)

so our plot is gone. so are our lovable characters. so is the slice of life comedy that drew most people in in the first place. the potential that it had is now dust. what does Shokugeki have left that makes it unique, that makes people love it ? here’s the answer !

nothing. 

that fact kicks you in the teeth every fucking time you remember how good the first half of the series was. 

then that fact dropkicks you when you realise that Shokugeki no Soma literally started on a 90degree drop into a dumpster fire when the series was at the apex of its popularity and plot buildup.

that’s why it sucks.

[thekingofwinterblog]

My hero academia 213 How to Destroy Potential

My hero academia Chapter 213 has to put it bluntely, been controversial to say the least. the only reason its not the most controversial part of this series, is due to the handling of endeavor.

some are okay with it, and thinks it’s got a lot of potential. others just see it as a blatant rethreading of the road that in the end destroyed Both Bleach and Naruto, two series that at their height was the cream of the crop of not only shonen, but the entire manga medium(at least if one goes by sales numbers), but as the story went on, completely fell in over themselves, and abandoned the things fans loved about the series. In the End fans of bleach got so fed up with the series, that it got canceled in the middle of its final fight. one does not get a more humiliating fall than that.

and now, MHA is seemingly going down the same road. that road of course, being powerscaling.

Powerscaling is a very tricky buisiness, as for any series with superpowers, you will at some point have to establish a hierarcy, of who is at the bottom, the middle, and easily the most important one, at the top.

How strong characters can be in a setting, is immensely important, because that one simple question, determines how strong/usefull any character not at the very top can be in the grand scheme of things.

it is also very important to put a ceiling on how strong a character can become, lest the need for characters to always get stronger and stronger, means that they will reach a point where the only thing that matters anymore is brute strength.

naruto at the end of its series, had essentially destroyed itself due to the fact that its main characters were now so powerfull, that literarly everyone else was worthless in comparison.

bleach went the opposite route, with a villain that was so broken and powerfull, that there was no way his defeat was EVER going to be satisfying, and in the end people didnt care anymore, once the end was reached, and it was killed before its time.

In MHA’s case, the road so many people think its going down, is the road, of Naruto, with its protagonist Izuku Midoriya, gaining 6 entierly new powers, which for Many, Many reasons, threatens to break this story across its knee.

Now i will not go into wheter these powers were well foreshadowed. ive seen both arguments, with many being frustrated they come out of nowhere, while some saying its been foreshadowed since chapter 2.

What i want to focus on, are the powers themselves, and the implications they have on Izuku, and the entire rest of the cast.

Izuku midoriya, at the start of the series, obtained the quirk One for All, a quirk passed on through the generations, which seemingly only granted immense superhuman strength, and all that comes with that(speed, power, and to some extent durability).

for the past 200 chapters, we have explored the drawbacks and powers of this quirk. its unmatched sheer power, but also that its a quirk that one needs to master over time, and if the new user isnt given time to adapt to it, it will destroy the users limbs.

and this was not a for show flaw either. over the course of this series, izuku, again and again used the quirk freely in order to overcome his obstacles, and in the end, he damaged his arms with permanent nerve damage, with the promise that if it happened once or twice more, he would suffer full use of his arms.

in order to compensate for this, he did something you almost never see in any series. he completely ditched his original style of fighting in favor of one that had nothing to do with his old one, but allowed him to use his legs instead of his now damaged arms in order to minimize risk of further damage.

izukus entire journey was about achieving control, over a power he already had achieved, and in the end he was forced to completely rework his powers to achieve success.

then, after we got a full sense of what izuku could do at 100% power, izuku would go on to try and fix one of his main weaknesses, his lack of a ranged attack.

and using his own newfound grasp over his powers, and a bit of tech help, izuku did so, developing a quite usefull ranged attack.

Izuku at this point had reached around 20%/30% of his full power potential, and was really starting to come into his own.

then a completely new power emerged, and izuku was told by one of the previous users of one for all, that in no uncertain terms he would develop 6 entierly new quirks, and that this was the real true potenital of One for All.

This reveal completely redefined the entire series, izukus journey, the potential of EVERYONE ELSE, and how things would be going foreward.

Uncertainty---

Now the first defence against those who like the reveal, and doesnt think this makes izuku overpowered, is that we dont know what any of the new quirks are, other than Izuku’s new Black Whip.

and they are right. we dont know what they are. and thats a big problem.

Now whenever Izuku is in a bad spot, there will always be a chance that the stress will kick in and activate a new quirk, and turn the tide of battle.

it doesnt matter if this never, ever happens. the problem is that its something that we now know COULD happen, and thus it decreases any tension out of any fight izuku will ever have between now and when the final quirk is revealed. Thusly, izuku having these quirks have now dealt a mortal blow against any tension his fight may have had.

Now, to be fair, i want to show a case of this kinda trope done right to compare it to. Naruto and ichigos, kyuubi and hollow transformations before either of them mastered their transformations.

the reason why both of these worked, is that while there was always the possibility that they would just go loose and fix whatever was happening(which is exactly what happened in several cases) we the audience had an advantage we do not have with Izuku’s quirks. we knew what both the hollow powers and the kyuubi could do. while there was the obvious question of just how strong either of these could become before the MC just lost all control, we knew and understood what both these forms could do, and what would lead them to emerge.

we do not have this with izuku’s quirks. we dont know what any of them except Black Whip can do. as my buddy Quirkquartz put it, izuku might have a healing quirk thats powerfull enough to fix his arms and all injury ever. thats probably not gonna be the case, but then again, it could be. We DONT know.

how strong izukus quirks end up being is immaterial. as long as we dont know what any of these quirks are, there is always the chance that they will turn out to be something that will completely fix whatever the issue is at the moment.

and all the way from now and until we learn what the final revealed quirk is, that will be a massive problem.

Replacing other now obsolete characters---

One of the most obvious and blatant problems with giving izuku more quirks, is that it makes other characters irrelevant. ill go over the full problems with powerscaling later, but lets focus on the most obvious and blatant problem, as its actually a problem already.

the fact that izukus quirks will probably end up flat out just be other characters powers, just better.

and unlike other concerns about this reveal, this one has actually happened already.

Izuku’s black whip, is essentially the quirk of his fellow classmate Sero, just better in every way. and what that means is that any chance sero ever had of being relevant and unique just died.

One of the biggest problems of powercreep is when the only thing that matters is brute power, and the only thing that matters is who is the most powerfull guy on the team.

that is a legitimate concern of where this might all head, but there is another problem with powercreep when it comes to developing new powers.

flat out making characters obsolete.

what is the point of sero, now that izuku can do what he can do, just better? the answer is that there isnt any. Sero might as well have died, given that any potential he had to be somewhat unique just got destroyed by izuku getting a power which is his, just better.

to illustrate the importance of uniqueness, ill give an example of a character who is the weakest of his entire group, yet has one nitche that only he can do.

Usopp from one piece, is the weakest fighter of the entire strawhat pirates, bar none. yet he is also the sniper of the crew, and when it comes to long range situations, there simply arent anyone in the crew who comes even close to doing what he can do at that range.

this has lead to him being instrumental several times in the manga, saving the day, when no one else could, because even though there are plenty of enemies he just cannot beat, he is still a worthwhile character who can do stuff no one else can do.

Now, with the introduction of Black Whip, we will never see a similar situation for Sero. he’s irrelevant, and to put it bluntly, obsolete.

and there is a genuine fear that this will happen again when other quirks are introduced. whats there to say the next one wont be an explosion power, which is probably more powerfull than bakugous?

Making previous development meaningless---

like the previous point, this one is also a problem thats already happened. namely that the introduction of Black Whip, just made izukus previous development of a ranged attack pointless. maybe once izuku really gets a massive grip of OFA, and his ranged air attack become ridiculously powerfull, it will be relevant again, but at that point, he could just punch like all might and get the same effect.

which brings up the question. if the next devlopment is to master black whip, then what the hell was the point of izuku devloping a ranged attack?

again, there isnt any. ranged wind attack is now flat out overshadowed for its intended purpose, and will now be a niche ability.

Unnecesary Powers and lack of creativity---

And now we get to delve into the subject of the concept of the OP character, and wheter izuku qualifies or not.

one argument ive seen leveled over and over, is that izuku was always going to be overpowered, so giving him extra quirks isnt a problem in the grand scheme of thing. after all, he’s gonna be overpowered either way right?

which raises a question. wheter izuku actually is going to become overpowered or not(a question ill dive into in the next section), did he need more powers? what was wrong with his established set? was simple superhuman strength a power which simply didnt work in the long run?

There is some legitimate critisism on the subject, in that izukus fights for a long time, tended to end the same, unless it was a curbstomp. izuku would simply get angry and hit them really really hard, and often break his body in the process.

and there is some genuine problems there. many pf izukus fights were indeed like that. i would argue however, that this was a problem on Koheis part, rather than an inherited problems with OFA itself.

After all, there are plenty of moments where izuku uses his strength in order to win in other ways than just hitting people directly. izukus first fight with bakugou was won like that, and him saving himself, tsuyu and mineta on the boat was a great combination attack.

The big problem is that kohei has relied on enemies with direct power against izuku far too often.

Overhaul was building up to be a direct counter to that. a physically normal man, with ridiculous powers, that was more than a match for izuku. then he became a punching bag in order to demonstrate how strong izuku is at 100%

Gentle was similar, then at the very end, La Brava revealed her quirk to be one which powered gentle up drasticly, turning their fight into yet another power struggle(though addmitingly one which izuku won withouth destroying himself).

The big problem is that when it comes to izukus fights, kohei has lately relied far too mutch on hard hitters to fight izuku, rather than letting fights like izukus vs gentle or overhaul to reach a logical conclusion. instead coming back to the age old power struggle.

Yet he has proven over the series that he can write better than that, and in my opinion, the big problem is that he simply hasnt when its come to izukus fights.

and, now, lets go over the big subject, the one that defines this debate.

Powerscaling in all its messy glory----

The big, big question that is asked again and again with this devlopment, is, doesnt this make izuku OP as fuck? and often those who like the idea to redirect the question with replies like, and so what? he was always going to be OP, this changes nothing. or the tried and true, lets wait and see how Kohei writes it.

lets begin with the biggest question, was Izuku always going to be OP?

the answer is both Yes and no. he was always going to be OP in that his brute force was never going to be matched, thats true enough, and the entire series has been built upon that premise. however, that doesnt mean that izuku would be able to solve every single problem he would face on his own, nor that he could beat every single enemy he ever faced.

if you actually look at 1-a’s powerset, there is an obvious collection of flat out combat quirks(which makes sense given the entrance exam) but there is also a large variety of powers.

Acid, explosions, fire/ice, lasers, electricity, shadow, sound. these are all direct combat quirks, yet none of them are usefull for direct physical combat.

of the direct physical combat(and nothing else) fighters there are 6; tsuyu, kirishima, ojirou, tenya, shoji and sato.

now, lets look at these in full and see how they compare in potential for one for all.

Tsuyu, has superhuman strenght and agilty and a incredibly long and strong toungue. also has camouflage powers, which OFA does not have anything resembling, and can also climb on walls.

Kirishima, is superhumanly durable to an insane degree. how this compares to OFA durability at both of their heights is unknown, but it could consievably be more durable than a OFA user after kirishima has hammered it as far as it could go.

ojirou, has a tail. OFA is and always will be better.

Tenya, has ridiculously high speed, and at this current stage is FAR faster than izuku, and could possibly grow even faster. how a possible max speed would compare to AFO is unknown, but its completely possible that tenya would be the flash to izukus superman.

Shoji, has transformation powers, which is often used for direct combat but can also be used for other things like scouting by sound, leave behind dropped off body parts for distractions or decoys and probably other usefull things.

and finally sato, who grows superhumanly strong when he consumes sugar. his max strenght seems to be far inferior to izuku already at this stage.

so, out of the entire class, only two members had nothing to bring to the table which OFA could not do better in every way, no question.

does this mean that all of the quirks had the potential to reach OFA’s level? of course not, but that didnt mean they had to be useless.

after all, characters like sero could fill their own niche. oh wait.

the big problem with giving izuku even one more quirk(much less 6) is that suddenly he can do stuff that other characters can do, just much better. and this isnt something we speculate on. its already happened. Black whip is better than seros quirk in every way. the moment izuku gets any grip on black whip, sero serves no point.

which leads to the next point.

one argument against this being a terrible idea for the story as a whole, is that its not likely that izuku will have mastered these quirks right out of the gate. and that is true. it will probably take izuku as long a time to truely master black whip as it took to master his original powers. but that doesnt really matter, in the grand scheme of things. because wheter it takes a week, a month or a year, the end result remains the same. Black Whip will have made sero a completely obsolete character. there simply isnt any way around that. 

izuku will make more and more characters obsolete everytime he unlocks another quirk. wheter the next is mineta, jirou, kirishima or even todoroki and bakugou, each time it happens someone will become the new yamcha.

which leads me to the next point. there is no point of any other characters training to be the next number one hero, as this devlopment will have killed any shot todoroki or bakugou ever had of matching up to izuku in any way.

the bakugou/izuku rivalry is effectively over, as there isnt any way bakugou could even hope to measure up to izuku now.

it was a tall order with izuku only having one for all, but idd argue that its impossible now, that he’s got more than OFA.

Hell, even with just black whip, izukus potential is now so wast that it dwarfs any other. BW pretty mcuh removes all the few drawbacks of a fully mastered OFA, namely its lack of range beyond moving wind currents and bursts. izuku could potentially have been left helpless in the air open to counterattacks, even after fully having mastered OFA. with BW, that “pesky”weakness has now been removed.

the simple fact of the matter is that One for ALL was such a powerfull quirk that giving it ANY boost beyond its already established powers, had the severe risk of completely undermining every single other characters. 6 entierly new and probably all very powerfull quirks on top of it?

i simply cannot see any way that will be done well and these powers will benefit the story, even by an author who has done no wrong. and kohei is not one such.

this development is not a sudden sign that kohei is becoming a terrible writer. he’s been fucking up for a while now. 

He wasted all the potential of the overhaul arc, which had so much potential, that was flushed down the toilet, and he completely failed to make me(and many, MANY others) feel anything in regards to Endeavors “redemption” arc.

Kohei is capable of writing great stuff still, the festival arc was great, this recent arc has been wonderfull up until pretty recently, and ive loved so much of what has happened over the last year.

But he isnt a writer who makes no mistakes. and quite frankly, im tired of the argument that we should wait and see. i waited and saw during the overhaul arc. it did not have a finale that i particularly loved. i waited and saw during the endeavor arc. and again, i didnt get anything i wanted out of that conclusion, neither endeavor losing an eye, a real confrontation between endeavor and dabi, nor endeavors potential death, which is what i expected and wanted out of that arc.

im tired of waiting and seeing. this is a terrible and quite possibly a point of no return for MHA quality and potential, and im gonna call it out as such.

[swayinghummingbirds]

i feel like i need to blog more stuff out of me to research my own thoughts ignore me or help me either is welcomed. 

so like i was diagnosed with mdd , panic/anxiety disorder so i know how it goes and how it feels and all that jazz. used to be on medication and not for almost two years. i can usually cope well since while i was on medication ifound many ways to do so. but now ive come across season affective disorder and i gotta say i am not a fucking fan. i cant bring myself to do the coping mechanisms because im fucking cold and there is no sun ever.  

this time last year i felt the exact same way and almost moved back to fl but didnt want to give up on tn yet. but im wondering is it maybe time to give up on it? i have no family here. and my family is expanding and growing without me. which makes it worse. 

ive been where i am for almost a year now and its been good. but there are no sidewalks like anywhere? im so tired of sharing walls. sure, its a townhouse and its pretty big and two floors and fire place but my neighbors are so annoying and for some reason in tennessee so many people think its absolutely okay to let their dogs out with leashes? 

knoxville is a really cool city and ive loved living here but idk if i can stand the winter. and its just a mild winter, idk how yall in the north handle it. i see now why when i moved abck to pa for 8 months my mom had it by the time march came around and we moved back to fl. 

a part of me feels like i might even just get bored with where i am after a certain amount of time considering how i was brought up. i have moved 17 times, which is wild for a child. probably why i have a hard time making friends too. 

tried leaving work yesterday after i got my list done (usually isnt a problem for my manager but the ass. manager always fights me with it). i told him three times i already had 2 1/2 hours of overtime and ill be leaving when im finished but bitch never listens to me and acts like he didnt hear me say it to his damn face.Usually i ask just to be polite and make sure but this time im telling him. kind of snapped on him because the day before i just cried all fucking day and had that feeling in my stomach and felt the same way when i woke up. old me would have called out, one because the position i was in was easily fillable but now im actually needed so i go to do my job and if i get done early that means im working my ass off and sweating like a pig to get done three hours early. (and the girl who does the work on the two days im off never gets the shit down or sets the room or anything up in order to have a good morning because the whole thing is very time sensitive and its very frustrating. also she called out like three times this week and made my week shittier than it needed to be.) like bitch no that doesnt mean i want to stay and help with other things after exerting so much energy that i dont even have in myself to begin with. so anyways i cried and then the manager came and talked to me and was understanding because he is aware of my mental health issues and i forgot steve- the ass manager (assistant manager , but also ass because he can be an ass) was not aware. so all in all i talked to my manager and told him and he was very supportive and then i went to apologize to steve and he reassured me i was valued and adored here which was nice. and i had to basically tell him if im trying to leave early it usually means because im feeling like a crazy bitch whos on the break of a mental breakdown so. quit fighting me. 

so anyways. 

even if i did move back fl ive finally gotten myself where i wanted to be in my job but i guess if it was meant to be the universe will take care of it just like it did when we moved here. 

a week before almost moving back to fl my grandparents came to visit and we were in crossville, which is the half way point from here to where we were living at the time and i was like hey lets try knoxville and the next day we went to look at apartments and as we were looking this place went up for rent almost as if the universe here, ask and you shall receive. because i was only looking at places that was in between the three stores that we could have possibly transferred to because i had no idea which one it was going to be i just new it was going to happen. and then when trying to transfer we my fiancees assistant manager knew the manager at this store here and said that he would take both of us and needed help in the area i wanted to be in and i was like wow amazing its all working out. and it did and it was great and then it got cold. and then holidays came. and birthdays came. and i ive learned so much about myself and i feel like yes i needed this part of my life. and now im not sure if istill need it. 

we have a vision of owning a little home a nice big plot of land near the mountains with a spring and creek on site with woods around. if we kept it up and really searched when the time came yeah im feel like we could find it. but what if i still feel this way when were there? then weve bought a home and it would be harder to get rid of. i have a vision of my own business with yoga. i find myself in capable of moving between the months of decemeber and march. then what. even when i get on to the mat i cant get into the flow. 

and what if we move back to fl. would he resent me for giving up on our dreams? will i be tired of people demanding my time and energy? will i bitch about the heat all the time and the fact that neighbros are every where? probably, yes, yes, and yes. 

but will i resent him for not moving back to spend our lives with our families? will i resent myself for not listening to the feeling in my stomach? or would i resent myself if i did listen to that feeling and gave up on the mountainous dreams. 

i know we would welcomed back with opened arms and i know not many would miss us here. 

the mountains are beautiful and so mystical when there. i wonder how it would be to live there. i always end up feeling so creeped out at some point of hikes because i feel like something is watching us, and i know there is, there is always is whether its and animal or a spirit. but sometimes those spirits, or beings, are just so strong of a force. what if we bought a property with one of those that wouldnt be able to make peace with us? i always imagined if we ended up with a property with strong entities then we would make peace and ring singing bowls and plant luscious plants for them. but what if they hate it all. and what if our neighbors down the street end up being cannabilistic cult people? what if some animal tried to maul my dog (which already happens frequently, shes a chihuahua everything is out to get her). what if something happens at oak ridge? i had no idea i was living next to a giant nuclear power plant thing. 

but then its like okay what if theres a giant hurricane that tears my house down (i had a tree fall on my house during matthew which is one reason why we left) or the storm sturge sweeps my house away. trey is scared of tsunamis, not that one has happened there probably ever, idk but it is a weird fear of his. surprisingly tornados do happen in tn too. 

and a day like today, where trey is working all day and i have the day off. there isnt much to do. its cold out so i cant sit on my patio for a few hours like i would in the summer. i dont like to go shopping. i dont have a friend to hang out with, which is my own fault people im really not a big people person. i have hung out with a couple a few tiems, and idk ij ust would rather not. but if i were in fl i could go hang out with my brother, or treys sister, or the few friends i have there. or go to the beach and sit on my own, because its not fucking weird to sit alone there and usually you dont have to worry about getting mugged. i cant go to the parks here on my own. i cant take my dog for walks around here because there are no side walks and people just look shady af everywhere. 

when i went to visit for my brothers wedding in october i realized how i did not appriciate the plant life naturally around all year round when i lived there for 11 years. i guess mostly because it wasnt until two years ago that i really got in to plants but omg i cant stop imagining what our yard would look like if we were in aplace where things could just be outside all year round. i would take cuttings of my plants andjust put them every where have my own little tropical paradise in my front and back yard. 

i know this all is really sounding one sided atm but this time last year i was having the exact same visions and the exact same thoughts. and i thought about how what if my brother has kids and im up here well hello here we are now and thats happening. i feel like i need to be there. theres even a house for sale on the same street as him and all i could was fantasize what i would do to the house and how i would baby sit for them and be able to see my dog that i left with him because ultimately she was is but we co owned her together and just to be there. and be with my mom. shes living in orland with her boyfriend and i feel like the fact shes goingt o be a grandmother might sway him into moving closer, she hates the city and i imagine shes just as depressed as i am to be away and to be in a city where you dont feel safe to go outside alone. we are creatures of nature and both pisces and very sensitive to everything. 

and what if trey and i have a baby at some point? we have no one here to help us. i was thinkg about how our wedding date is a year and like two months away and i have no one here to help me plan. and for a long itme i always imagined myself getting married at this place called sugar mill gardens, a botanical garden that i had always loved in my home town there. when trey and i got together we would pokemon go there and take clippings, and i still have those plants today. but then this new vision came where we would get married on our future property. i feel like we are still a long way away from buying a house here though. idk if we would be there in time. and since we went back in october all i can think about is getting married in sugar mill. he reproposed to me when we were there and that was so sweet and just made me want to be there instead for it. 

this is very long but these are my constant thoughts that all happen at once and it feels nice to get them out to piece them together and not feel so overwhelmed with all them at one time in layers upon layers of thoughts. sometimes my vision even goes out and i dissociate and just work blurred vision cross eyed for ten minutes, who knows maybe its an hour. im back there by myself for eight hours a day idk. 

[arabian-magic]

In the end, it’s all about experience

In a matter of two years, I’ve been rejected NINE TIMES for the same type of job.

I just want to be an equine vet tech (or even an assistant). I’ve applied to every single horse clinic within an hour of me for either a tech or an assistant position. Some places even more than once if another opportunity opened after.

I’m not yet licensed in New York. I’ve stated this plainly on my resume, that I was finishing up school and I’ve already taken and passed the VTNE. Essentially I’m 95% there. The only thing I’m waiting for now is the school to approve and finalize my graduation so I can send my transcript to the state. That is all.

But they clearly saw potential, why else would they have me come in for an interview?

I’ve worked for the past year as an assistant with extended duties. I have experience with being a tech via an internship. The problem is both are strictly small animal.

I’ve done an externship and volunteered at an equine hospital. About half of the jobs I’ve had in the past have been with horses. I’ve had three horses. I ride consistently. I am more comfortable with handling a horse a lot more than I will ever be with a cat or dog. And I grew up with both cats and dogs!

Yet somehow it just isn’t enough.

Nine different applications, nine different interviews, some working, some not, all with one rejection. The very last one was the only one considerate enough to tell me why they haven’t decided to hire me: lack of experience.

It stings. How am I supposed to get experience when they don’t take a chance and hire me?

It’s like I’m 17 years old again. The moment I got my driver’s license, I was applying to any job that I would qualify for with nothing to show for it. I remember beginning an online application for a sales associate position at K-Mart. The first question it asked was did I have any previous experience in retail. I answered no, and I was automatically rejected. For a simple sales associate position.

My friends tell me “Why not just find a job at a regular vet?” Well I’ve looked. I still look. 99% of the positions are asking for licensed vet techs with years worth of experience. 2, 3, 4, sometimes 5. I only have a years’ worth of experience as an assistant and 5 months worth of experience as a technician intern. I can’t compete with that.

The difference between the equine ads and the small animal ads? Most of the equine ads are asking for someone with horse experience. Not as a vet tech specializing in equine for x amount of years. Just a tech or assistant with previous horse experience. And even then? Most of the time it’s not even a REQUIREMENT, just a preference.

I’m so tired of it. I’m tired of my current job. My boss can’t afford to hire me full time because we don’t have enough doctors to support it. When I get licensed I was promised a raise, but without full time is it even worth it? I have no health insurance, and day by day that becomes more concerning. I was scratched and bitten yesterday at work, and I’m thankful neither caused enough damage to warrant a hospital visit. I feel like I can’t expand my skills either. My boss chooses to stick me in rooms all the time and just restraining patients. I’ve expressed interest in stepping in surgery and doing dental procedures (which I have experience with both due to the internship, and she knows this) but i’m still doing the same thing, talking to the same people every day and dealing with the same 50 Yorkies, Shih Tzus, Malteses and Poodles that show up on a daily basis.

I’m tired. I want a change. I need a change.

[sweetspylove-blog]

Digital Marketing for Working Professionals

Digital Marketing is a rapidly growing force in today’s marketing arena. It is first and foremost important for business owners as well as working professionals to understand that the world is rapidly shifting digital.It is almost replaced traditional methods of marketing.This means that for businesses to market their products and services effectively, they need to adopt digital marketing very fast. Business owners must ensure that they start training their members of staff in digital marketing in order for their businesses to remain competitive.

With the job landscape shifting dynamically, frequent layoffs and a shortage of jobs, it has become imperative for working professionals to upskill or cross-skill, or perhaps explore a different career altogether. Working professionals who want to move further up on the success ladder must know what’s trending in their industry and for that digital marketing, courses are best suited for them.

Digital Marketing alternatively called Online Marketing is one of the most sought after career options today because of several reasons, one of the reasons being its’ growth rate.

The role of Digital marketing in the world of advertising and promotion is playing a vital role in attracting customers and globalization is making it even more relevant. Majority of the companies are hiring the experts in online marketing and that makes it important for almost all the marketing experts to learn digital marketing. Working professionals who want to learn and earn more or who want to stay connected with the latest trend in profession should undoubtedly get associated with digital marketing.

The scope for professionals in this field is not just opening but also increasing almost every day. But it is advisable for the professionals to do thorough research and identify the area of specialization in order to get best out of it.It is necessary you upgrade your knowledge about digital marketing. You can stay connected to the latest digital marketing methodologies and trends which revolve more around your expertise. So, if you learn digital marketing, you have better job prospects in your industry.

GREAT FUTURE AHEAD     

Digital marketing professionals have a great future in the positions of leadership too like manager or director who oversees Online marketing campaigns from the management to the execution. They provide clear directions to other team members of the marketing department like copywriters, sales executives and web designers, etc.

Digital marketing would not remain just a choice but it would become the need of marketing industries because of the increasing competition and Globalization. There is a high demand for working professionals who are equipped with digital marketing skills in their kitty. That signifies that you are a keen learner and follow the latest job requirement trends closely.

        Almost all the companies are contesting to advertise their products digitally apart from the traditional way of marketing. This gives ample of opportunities to the working professionals to make career in digital marketing.

  SWITCH OVER OR UPGRADE

Working professionals who are not satisfied with their current job, work profile or salary, etc. may definitely utilize this new ocean of opportunities in the field of digital marketing. 

There are many institutes which offer online streaming and weekend classes on digital marketing for people who are already working and can’t take out time on the weekdays. Not only companies are utilizing the digital platform for advertisement but several other sectors like banks, education field, medical field, hospitality industry and now even Government sectors are channelizing the digital platform for marketing purpose. Hence, professionals who are already associated with either of these fields may gain advantage over their career by learning digital marketing.

CONTENT MARKETING

Professionals who want to earn extra income can work part time or as freelancer on weekends or in their spare time by writing contents or become an affiliate marketer for online stores.

Digital Marketing Industry is the only industry which is booming at 30% growth rate and has a high demand for people with right skills. Whether you are a fresher or working professional this is the right time for you. As demand is high and supply is low. Upgrade your skills and get the first mover advantage.Lack

 REASONS FOR SWITCH OVER TO DIGITAL MARKETING

Lack  of excitement in some jobs, the world of digital marketing is evolving and is susceptible to a vast change and this is the reason because of which it is filled with opportunities and challenges.

i) Number of working professionals don’t have job security. one has to acquire the required skill from professionals. This will save from losing a career and will help to reach a new position in your company. When you switch to digital marketing, you get to a wider role in marketing filed. The world of digital marketing is filled with opportunities, and one can even try his or her hand in entrepreneurship after the completion of Online Digital Marketing course.

ii) Age is also not a criteria in Digital Marketing.

iii) Digital marketing is a career field where you will have no limitation on the growth that you can achieve in your career.The more you will learn digital marketing and practice different strategies and handle projects the more experience you will gain, and you will become better and better with time.

iv)For Businessmen adopting digital marketing strategies for the business is more affordable than using traditional offline marketing strategies.The cost is very low compare to traditional ways of marketing especially Social Medias.

v) Digital Marketing is the perfect way to reach to your potential customers/audience.

vi) It is easy to track and monitor results while using digital marketing strategies. You can easily view customer response rates and measure the success of your marketing strategies in real-time. This will enable you to plan more effectively for your next marketing strategy.

vii)  For start-up and corporate business, the demand for qualified professionals is high. Thus, people who are updated and hold expertise in digital marketing will definitely find their place in the industry.

viii) A certificate course in digital marketing will be a welcome add-on to your resume.

  OVERSEAS OPPORTUNITIES

With ever-increasing demand, the prospects for working professionals with digital marketing skills are high. Digital marketing skills remain common across the world.

 After you are trained in digital marketing , making your career versatile, you can even think of changing over completely to this field or plan to take a job overseas.You can become a consultant,freelancer or an entrepreneur.This means that you have access to even international job opportunities!

JOIN BEST DIGITAL MARKETING COURSE IN THE INDUSTRY

Zoffer Learning Institute is one of the Best Digital Marketing Institute in India which provides 24 Modules in Digital Marketing headed by highly qualified, experienced professionalsin the Industry.Zoffer is having Online Streaming Classes in Digital Marketing worldwide. There are weekend batches for working professionals in Mumbai and Pune.  

[recentanimenews]

10 Western Media That Would Make Great Anime

When we anime fans tire of lamenting for the adaptation of manga after manga, or light novel after light novel, we tend to turn our imaginations away from Japan. After all, anime is no stranger to adapting western media. Many books, shows and movies have been adapted from western media into anime form, including Deltora Quest, Spider Riders, Witchblade, Howl’s Moving Castle, Highlander, and Supernatural just to name a few.

This got me thinking of my own wishlist of western media that would make great anime. Here are 10 shows, books, and movies that would make awesome anime adaptations.

  Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve Book Series - Dream Studio: Production I.G. - Dream Format: TV Anime

If you’ve never heard of Mortal Engines, no sweat. It’ll be your new favorite thing in no time. This YA quartet from British author Philip Reeve follows Tom, an apprentice historian atop the city of London. When he’s thrown out of the city, he sides with Hester Shaw, an assassin with the resistance after the life of his master, Thaddeus Valentine, who she blames for the death of her mother.

Sounds pretty run of the mill YA right? My bad. I forgot to mention all of the cities run on tractor wheels. Oh, and the cities eat other cities for resources. Oh, and there’s this huge conspiracy surrounding the city-eating cities, and this huge plot to destroy them. It’s cool that Peter Jackson’s directing a film adaptation of the series, which is due out this December, but just imagine this as an anime...

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling Book Series - Dream Studio: A-1 Pictures - Dream Format: TV Anime

Does Harry Potter really need an introduction? I feel like we all know about the boy who lived and his battle with he-who-shall-not-be-named. The cliffnotes version of Harry Potter is that an abused orphan turns out to have an incredible magical gift required to stop some of the wizarding world’s most malevolent forces. In addition to his studies, he must juggle fighting the dark forces, and maintaining the friendships he makes at Hogwarts.

  Harry Potter is essentially fantasy shonen in book format. It has the magical boarding school. It has the perfect shonen protagonist and sidekicks. The duels would be incredible to see animated. Hagrid would be moe AF. The mythical creatures would be a sight for sore eyes. But most importantly? QUIDDITCH EPISODES!

Railsea by China Miéville Novel - Dream Studio: Madhouse - Dream Format: Movie

China Mieville’s Railsea is an interesting reimagining of Moby Dick. Except instead of a sea, it’s a giant desert covered in endless, winding train tracks – the titular railsea. And there’s no whales. Only giant moles. The story follows Sham Yes ap Soorap, a young assistant doctor on a train that hunts giant moles for meat (think whaling but with moles). Her journey among the pirates, monsters, and salvagers alike kicks off when she comes across a series of photographs aboard a trainwreck that hint at the impossible existing.

The history behind the now-derelict world of Railsea, coupled with the mixture of gripping drama and havoc reminiscent of kaiju films, would make for a solid animated feature, the visuals of which I’d only trust to Madhouse.

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin Book Series - Dream Studio: MAPPA - Dream Format: Movies

Okay, so it’s Game of Thrones, but all the characters are moe idols. That’s it. That’s the show.

More seriously though, A Song of Ice and Fire would make a downright wicked fantasy anime. This large-scale fantasy epic has such an incredible assortment of characters, rich history, and gratuitous violence that would be a treat to see in anime form. It’s tough to really pinpoint the plot, since so much is going on, but A Song of Ice and Fire centers on a number of noble families – such as the Starks or Lannisters – vying to claim the throne of Westeros.

If there’s one studio out there that could handle A Song of Ice and Fire, it would be MAPPA. MAPPA’s history with dark fantasy anime series such as Rage of Bahamut or Garo only strengthens my confidence in their ability to breathe some animated life into the franchise.

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick Novel - Dream Studio: SHAFT - Dream Format: TV Anime

You may know A Scanner Darkly from that weird rotoscoped movie where Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., and Woody Harrelson play a rag-tag group of friendly drug addicts. The movie itself was based on the Philip K. Dick book of the same name. It follows Bob Arctor, who lives parallel lives as both a drug addict and undercover police agent. Undercover agents report to their superiors in scramble suits, which scramble their identities. The kicker here is that Bob Arctor’s undercover gig? Spy on Bob Arctor.

The drug-addled, paranoia-fueled philosophy behind the day-to-day of drug addicts living in a world where the war on drugs was lost makes for an interesting dynamic, especially with the sci-fi enhanced police work behind it. The only studio I’d trust visually with this would be Shaft, if only to see drug-addict head tilts.

  Peep Show British Comedy Series - Dream Studio: Kyoto Animation - Dream Format: TV Anime

I know this sounds like a weird one, but stick with me. Peep Show is a British sitcom that follows mismatched flatmates Mark and Jeremy – Mark being the uptight 9-5er and Jeremy being the easy-going partier. They don’t always see eye to eye, but sometimes friendships need that. Sometimes Mark needs to loosen up a little. Sometimes Jeremy needs to grow up a bit. As long as they have each other, nothing bad can really go wrong, right? Well, as human nature would have it, things tend to go wrong – quite often, rather quickly.

KyoAni’s bread and butter tends to be slow-paced slice-of-life shows, so if any anime studio would revel in adapting a sitcom, it’d be them. The gimmick of Peep Show is that the camera angles don’t tend to be traditional, and often are shot from the direct view of Mark or Jeremy. It would be interesting to see how that worked in anime form.

Kitchen Nightmares Reality TV Series - Dream Studio: David Production - Dream Format: TV Anime

If Kitchen Nightmares were adapted into an anime, I think it’d probably be a lot like Food Wars!, but Gordon Ramsay yells at Soma every 5 minutes. More realistically, it would follow a rather manly Gordon Ramsay on his trek across Japan in search of crestfallen restaurants in desperate need of an upgrade. Now throw in some Jojo-styled manliness – the likes of which only David Production could replicate – and we have ourselves a recipe for the perfect anime.

The translation of Ramsay’s infamous potty mouth would be a peculiar one, but seeing a muscle-clad Gordon Ramsay faffing about a kitchen screaming oi, teme at the sous chefs would be a treat we could all sink our teeth into.

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham Novel - Dream Studio: Wit Studio - Dream Format: Movie

There’s always room for more horror and suspense anime, ones about sentient walking plants doubly so. The book follows Bill Masen, a scientist who specializes in the care, study, and cultivation of triffids – towering venomous carnivores cultivated for their oils. After waking up from temporary blindness following a triffid strike, he finds everyone is now blind from green flashes brought on by comets the night prior. Now Bill must make his way through the streets of London in search of safety.

  While horticulture itself usually isn’t scary, there’s something eerily unsettling about the fact that poisonous man-eating plants walk the streets. Wit Studio would probably be the only studio which could replicate that suspense and terror, having done it perfectly in Attack on Titan and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress.

  Star Wars Sci-Fi Media Franchise - Dream Studio: Ufotable - Dream Format: TV Anime

With Ufotable’s success at adapting large scale media franchises such as Fate, this sci-fi space opera could be in no better hands. Anime is no stranger to the world’s 2nd largest media franchise either. There are loads of references to the movies in various anime and manga, including Daicon IV, Berserk, Gintama, Doraemon, and Princess Jellyfish, just to name a few. Some fans have gone as far as to draw parallels between the Jedi of Star Wars and Newtypes of Gundam (whether that’s intentional or a coincidence being how close the two were to releasing).

  The coming-of-age rebellion story, coupled with the gratuitous tie-fighter dogfights and lightsaber battles, would make for one show you’d be on the edge of your seat for week after week. I think each trilogy could probably be adapted in one cour, but at this point, I’d even take seeing Clone Wars reanimated in its entirety as long as Ufotable got their hands on it.

  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Book Series - Dream Studio: Bones - Dream Format: Movies

From spaceship-stealing presidents to poetry-loving aliens, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a special charm that boys, girls, and little green people across the universe can love. It follows the incredibly British Arthur Dent, who in attempting to stop the demolition of his house, learns from his best friend Ford Prefect that the Earth is about to be demolished. After a few pints at the pub, the two hitch a ride on a ship and proceed on a journey through the stars in search of answers to life, the universe, and everything.

Anime has the unique marketability to sell just about anything. Look at Dr. Pepper sales after the first series of Steins;Gate aired back in 2011 after all. If the Japanese towel industry ever finds itself in a slump, anime studios know just what British science fiction series to adapt.

BONUS: King of the Hill Animated TV Series - Dream Studio: P.A. Works - Dream Format: TV Anime

You got that right: we’re doing a meme entry! King of the Hill has already claimed some notoriety in anime fandom as being one of the greatest anime of all time (if only second to Cory in the House).

King of the Hill follows the Hank Hill, his family, and their dysfunctional band of friends and neighbors as they navigate the challenges of daily life, propane, diminished glutes, lawnmowers, and more. Sometimes Hank’s modest sensibilities are challenged, but as a man of his word and a man of character, he never stands down.

While the closest we’ll probably ever get to a King of the Hill anime was the 1-hour episode where they went to Japan, we can only hope that one day, you’ll get a Crunchyroll notification that says “Release: King of the Hill - Episode 1”.

What about you folks? Got a favorite book, comic, TV series, or movie you want to see in anime form? Sound off in the comments below!

  ---

  Zach Godin writes about the manga he reads and collects over at his website, Rusted Culture. Feel free to say hi on Twitter: @zachjgodin

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[fuck-customers]

This is going to be a bit lengthy, and even though it was a small purchase and only a few bucks, I caught a scammer and im proud of myself. Plus the whole thing was insanely extra and annoying so I’m just gonna share it with you.

So onto the story…

Last night I was working a closing shift. Around 8 (2 hours before closing), a woman and her son come up to my register to check out. At this point there are no other customers. She has 12 red mangoes, and that’s all.

I go to ring them up but halfway through me typing the produce code for them, she asks, “these are the ones that are $3 for $1, right?” So I pause mid-code type, change it to a price inquiry, type it in, and inform her, “errr, no, they'e 88 cents a piece.”

Sooo… here’s where it gets good. We’ll refer to my coworker in produce by the name “Richard”. It is extremely important to note that Richard always wears a black company hat while on the clock. Next to no one else does this.

She tells me, “well Richard over there in produce said they were 3 for $1.”

Okay… at the time I wasn’t really thinking about it, but looking back I think my subconsious kicked in and smelled something fishy. Here in good old Colorado, and at my store, mangoes are never 3 for $1 unless we’re having one of our special 3 day sales… in the summer. They haven’t been that cheap in I don’t know how long, and my 2 year anniversary is in February, so I’ve been there long enough to know about that. Additionally, There’s been no other customers coming up with complaints about the price, which if it’s wrong, mangoes are popular, so I would have heard about it by now. And it was the last day of our weekly ad cycle so, what even?

So as a recap - at this point, I have a woman and her son at my register, claiming the mangoes are 3 for $1, and she’s specifically using an employee’s name to convince me she’s right, but I am doubtful. Already the beginning of a good scam story, right?

Well, here’s where it gets even better. Let me tell you how our conversation went.

Her: Richard in produce said I could have them for 3 for 1.

Me: err, okay well let me call and see.

Richard (over the phone): hello?

Me: hey, man, so what’s going on with the mangoes? Like, What price are they back there?

Richard: um… 88 cents. Wait… let me double check and look at organics too hold on.

Me: okay. *puts down phone and turns to woman* well, he’s saying they’re 88 cents a piece as well but he’s double checking.

Her: well I just talked to Richard back there a minute ago! Richard told me that I could have them 3 for $1. He was wearing a hat! Richard told me that was the price!

Richard (calling me back on the phone): yeah the regular ones are 88 cents. Organic 98.

Me: and there’s no sign anywhere that says 3 for 1? I have a woman up here saying that you said she could have them at 3 for a dollar. 

Richard: ..no? They'e 88 cents.

Her: Richard back in produce told me!

Me, knowing I was speaking to Richard but asks anyway: right uh.. is this Richard?

Richard: yeah..?

Me: well there’s a woman up here claiming that YOU told her that the mangoes were 3 for a dollar.

Richard, annoyed: is it (brief description of woman at my register)?

Me: yes.

Richard: I saw her in my department but she didn’t speak to me. I haven’t talked to anyone. I’ve been on lunch for the last half hour.

Me: okay, thank you. *sets phone back down, turns, faces woman, and looks her right in her eyes*

So I just got off of the phone with Richard, and he says that he didn’t tell you that, and that he’s been on lunch for the last half hour.

— so at this point she seems to understand that her scam isn’t working, but refuses to back down. At this point in getting a line but I’m INVESTED in this at this point, and there’s nothing I can really do at this point anyways because she won’t back down, so i am stuck there while she changes her scam from “Richard in produce told me” to now we are at -

Her: *turning towards the store and looking around* well it must have been somebody else then!! Who was it? I know he had a hat…

Me: …right well, Richard is our produce manager, sooooo….

She begins scanning the store for employees to pin this on, but hilariously, since she picked 8pm on a Tuesday night, the store is practically a ghost town void of both customers AND employees. Literally the only other employee that she can see besides me and Richard is a guy working in the meat department back room behind a glass wall.

Now, the thing is, is that the meat guys basically never leave their area, and they don’t rove the floor either as right next to the meat counter there are double doors leading to the back room. While they do face produce, they’re not exactly close to it. They have a coffin case in between them, and the doors for the back room that produce uses are literally on the opposite side of the store that meat counter is.

To her credit, I think the woman knew that trying to pin it on the meat guy, Who actually conveniently was wearing the same color and type of hat as Richard was, was ridiculous and wouldn’t have made any sense because she didn’t try to blame him for this. So not as stupid as you’d think, but still pretty questionable.

Anyways, I feel like at this point ive done all I can do, and she STILL won’t leave or accept me all but calling her a liar (all over wanting to pay $4 for almost $11 worth of mangoes, like really lady if you'e gonna pull a scam do it for something that’s WORTH IT), so i call the manager on duty.

However, I was trying to get to the MOD before this woman did, because in MY EXPERIENCE scammers and liars will absolutely talk and walk all over you as soon as a manager shows up and lie to their face - and unfortunately managers always believe the lies and get away with it. I knew if I was able to explain the situation first, it would be different - given that my current manager WILL bend rules, but is also known to stick up for us cashiers.

Luckily, I spot her pushing a cart down an action alley towards us, so I book it over and explain everything as fast as I can. At the end i say, “but you know, She’s…” my manager tries to finish, “She’s being rude?” But I reply, “She’s lying is what she’s doing. She’s lying.” And my manager says “oh, okay. Call (supervisor) up here to deal with the lines.” So I do, as at this point we had accumulated a long one.

So she walks up and asks this woman what’s going on, and in the SNOTTIEST, RUDEST tone she says, “Who are you?” It kind of surprised me because at this point while the scammer was being mind numbingly annoying, she had been reasonably polite, so for her to get so hostile over a manager kind of surprised me, but at this point, thank god, said manager was in charge and dealing with it now.

I took care of a few other customers while they were talking, and as soon as my line was done i excused myself and hung out by my supervisors register, which happened to be close enough to listen but far away enough to not be involved.

And I can hear what they'e saying - my manager having been informed of the scam, is holding firm on the 88 cent price, and the woman, for some unfathomable reason, is still insistent on the price. I think at this point she knew she was caught and was trying to leave gracefully by making it seem like a mistake, but it was really annoying.

Her: it must have been in the online ad.. unless the online ad is wrong.

Manager: they haven’t been that price for a while, MAYBE it was like that 2 weeks ago… (so not in any recent ad she might have “gotten confused” about.)

Even better was that… now, I didn’t find this out until afterwards as my supervisor started to ask me what was going on and since I was explaing it I didn’t hear this part of the drama… but my manager came up to me afterwards after she was done talking to the woman, that apparently the woman switched tactic again, never mentioned Richard, and instead said that she had called the store and asked about the price and whoever was on the phone, was now the magical entity that told her the mythical price of 3 for $1

Absolutely fucking hilariously, said manager said that she had gotten a call like that, answered it herself, and knew for a fact that she did not tell this woman they were 3 for a dollar.

Fucking OH MY GOD WOMAN, you got caught! It’s been obvious for the past 10 minutes that you'e not fleecing any of us! You can save yourself the most dignity by just… FUCKING OFF!

The whole thing was super obnoxious, but handle-able and im proud of myself for sticking to my guns and glad that my manager backed me up and stood firm, as orginally, before i said that the woman was lying, she started telling me to just give them to her for that price. So it was nice that she took me seriously and stood her (our) ground.

The only frustrating thing is that since I have borderline personality disorder… I’m not afraid of confrontation by any means (obviously) but sometimes my body overreacts to my emotion as well. So while I was keeping a cool and level head on the outside (believe it or not) my body was giving me away… my face was flushing, my voice was uneven, my body became stiff and weird and gangly, on top of shaking… too much adrenaline. But other than that I’m happy on how it worked out. Luckily I think my supervisor saw I was a bit jittery and sent me on my break to cool off.

And may I also say, that there’s few other customers that I hate as much as ones who name drop when the person they’re naming didn’t do what they claim they did. Richard seemed mad but cool and collected.. I know if someone did that to me like she did to him I would be stomping over and being like “she said WHAT now? No I did NOT!!!!!!” Back tf up. But that’s just another reason I don’t wear my name tag… can’t use my name if it’s not broadcasted!

But anyways kids, just keep in mind that name dropping is actually a really common way of scamming, it gives the illusion that they really did talk to someone when they didn’t. So it never hurts to double check with that person.

[justanothermarco]

a conversation with me could go anywhere along the lines of

"so i was playing league the other day and that reminds me i need to login and check what the new skins on sale are, anyway-actually while i check league i should check steam in case theres any sales on games i want right now-ugh i game i really want to play is *insert any multiplayer game thats on my steam wishlist or that i already own* but nobody else owns it or their computer cant handle it and ive tried joining discords or subreddits where other people play that game but it never ends up going well cause im not good at holding a conversation with people i dont know that well-" and probably somehow end up talking about league again even though i dont have it opened up or im not even at my computer

or if we're watching a show or movie or something and you dont mind me interrupting i start talking about the camera work or whether the cgi is good or not or if the quality of the camera is good i gush about that and how much that camera might cost and if you dont like me talking during a movie i say all this stuff in my head, especially if ive seen the movie before or if its been a hot second since ive watched the movie

it can go many ways depending on what we're doing while we're talking or anything really