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angelizs · 1 year

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[Club Activities - part 2]

Summary: Crowley keeps knocking at your door, quite literally, wanting to hear your club choice. You might as well get this over with.

Notes: gn!reader, humor, it's kinda long, reader is oblivious, mentions of minor injuries but in a funny way dw, it's the looong overdue pt2

Part: 1.0 / 2 (you're here!) / 2.5 (soon!)

"So, have you decided?"

Crowley stands by the doorway. He looks completely normal, a pleasant smile plastered on his lips. You blink, sluggish, resisting the urge to slam the door on his face.

"It's five a.m. on a sunday."

"Yes, that's correct, good to see you're keeping up with the passage of time."

You feel there's a jab aimed at you for taking your time on choosing a club. Or on answering the door. In your defense, Grim was sleeping on top of you and you didn't want to disturb his sleep. Nor yours. You were hoping the Headmaster would just give up and leave you alone, but instead he only knocked louder.

"Well?"

"Uh..." You take a bit to remember the first thing he said. "No, I still have some meetings to go to."

"Were the sports clubs not to your liking? I'm sure you'd do well in one, should you put your efforts on it."

"Nah, I'll pass."

"I see. Then, you'll tell me your decision by the end of the week, yes?"

"Since when did we agree on this." It was a question, but with your drowsy state it just fell flat.

"Since now, of course! I was very kind to let you take so much time to chose a club, but you must understand I'm under some pressure as well to make sure you'll have the best possible education here. We can't afford to lose too much time!"

You blink again, your brain still sleepy. "Oh. Alright."

Crowley claps his hands in an excited manner. "Wonderful! I'll be eagerly waiting for your decision, then!"

Only as you watch his retreating back getting farther away that it finally registers just what you agreed on. You groan, closing the door and leaning against it.

Well, nothing to do about it now. You should really get onto it, anyway. Still, your break will be missed.

Film Research Club (Vil, Ortho platonically)

You had finally left the sports clubs behind, time to try something new, like arts!

Since you've worked with Vil at the SDC, you were already used to his strict personality and thought you'd be able to handle yourself pretty well. You might not have that much experience with acting but you did know how to pretend everything was ok and your life wasn't falling apart, so you think you might have potential.

It was quite surprising to see Ortho there, but the sight of your friend's welcoming eyes and cheer made you feel relieved, relaxing amidst the Pomefiore students. They were intimidating, though in a different way the guys from the Spelldrive club were. The latter looked like they could easily beat you to a pulp, while the former looked like they'd give you a disgusted stare and call you a peasant in such a condescending tone you'd implode on spot. They were all very pretty as well, but you wouldn't let that make you self conscious since you knew no one could beat Vil anyway.

Speaking of, Vil himself comes to speak with you and explain about the club with a professional conduct as he says that Crowley had warned him of your special situation and that he'd let you help out, since they always needed extra hands on deck. You got hopeful at that, perhaps it was time for you to shine and discover a hiden talent of yours! These daydreams are soon crushed as Vil puts you on backstage duty and turns around, having something or other to talk about with the other members.

Well. That was... not what you were expecting. Ortho explains that in order to enter the club as an actor, you must audition beforehand and prove yourself worthy. That makes sense, you guess, so you accept it with grace. Backstage work might not be as exciting as being on the actual stage, but you had Ortho by your side to make sure things won't be too dull. And a side of you wants to make Vil proud of your work, so you suck it up and ask Ortho to lead the way.

Ortho shows you around the set you'll be working on for the day. It's one of Pomefiore's dorm ballrooms, and it's huge. You look in awe at everything, even though it's a bit plain in terms of furniture, it's quite detailed. In moments like this you remember Pomefiore's dorm is a castle, as you feel the royalty emanating from the ceiling, with it's luxurious chandeliers, to the walls, with it's intricate golden patterns, even at the floor, by it's quality.

He teaches you how to operate the lights and sound for a bit while the actors decide on what they'll film that day. You feel just the tiniest bit of jealousy at them, especially because Vil seems to be very focused on everything they say. Ortho must notice this (of course he would), and tries to cheer you up. After all, you're his friend! He doesn't want you to feel bored at the club when there are so many insteresting things to do!

You move from the more technical parts and go to the storage room, where they keep most of the props and extra accessories. You explore it, looking at everything but not touching, not wanting to get in trouble if you break anything on accident. As you're looking at an old mirror, Ortho picks up one of the pink cowboy hats and puts it on your head. It looks goofy, not matching with your uniform at all, and it makes you laugh.

You retaliate by putting a pirate hat full of colorful feathers that's way too big on him. It slides down and covers his eyes, making him look like a little kid trying on their sibling's clothes. Not to mention the feathers, that also clash with his body's design. You both laugh and go to different directions, trying to find more things to put on.

Ortho ends up with a vivid red sash wrapped around his waist and a wooden rod in hands, while you've got a pink feather scarf around your neck and a hollow steel rod in hands. You stare down at each other from your sides of the room, pretending you're on one of those western cowboy movies, even acting like it too. You drawl out something about the town not being big enough for the two of you. Ortho goes along, putting up the worst pirate accent with his robotic voice and telling you to prepared to be boarded.

Between giggles, the two of you meet at the middle, your rods clashing as if they were swords. You make exaggerated moviments that would be impratical in any fight while dropping the most cliche lines you can think of. Ortho dodges your attacks in slow motion and retributes with his own, making it seem more like some funny dance than a sword fight.

You were having so much fun you kind of forgot you were there to do a job. You're quickly reminded as the door suddenly opens and you, startled, let the steel rod slip from your hands mid attack and hit the wall with a loud clang. There stands Vil, hands on his hips as he stares at the two of you with one arched eyebrow, an unimpressed look on his face even after almost being hit right on it. You're not looking the most dignified, with your whole attire. Nor is Ortho, which helps you to not feel alone on the receiving end of Vil's judgment.

The three of you leave the props behind and return to the main area. More precisely, to the actors' dressing room part. It's not an actual separate room, but rather a space of the ballroom reserved for this. Most have put on their costumes and are adjusting the finer details, Vil instructs you to help them while he sets up the stage.

You try your best, but every actor sends you a glare as you approach them, making you turn on your heels and try another one. And another. And another. You're not feeling very helpful. How you wish you could just ignore it like Ortho does. The only thing you actually do is helping zip up some clothes when they can't reach their backs and do it themselves. You don't dare to touch their hair or you feel they'd explode you with their minds. There is one instance when you have to lace a guy into a corset, but you get a bit confused with all the laces. Maybe it's like tying a shoe? You pull on it with too much force at first, leading him to complain at you the entire time. In your defense, you've never done this before! You tie it up with a cute lace at the end to make up for it and scurry away before he could release more of his wrath upon you. You settle on following Ortho around like a lost puppy.

Finally, everyone finishes up and you move to the middle of the room, where the scene will be taking place. From what you gather, the movie they are making is about a royal family that's having their heir assume the throne, but there's a plot against him going behind the scenes. The main character seems to be corset guy, who still glares at you whenever you pass by his camp of vision, much to your (un)luck.

Ortho leads you to the first place he showed, since they'd start recording soon. You watch him work with the lights, turning them on dramatically as they start the scene and making it follow the main lead as he monologues about his woes of assuming such a big responsability and how he feels between the sea of people present. The actor does a good job, good enogh to appease Vil, who watches attentively near the camera. The thing is, he's trying to replicate a foreign accent and that, combined with his melodramatic lines, makes you have to stifle a laugh.

You try your best to stay quiet and pay attention to the story, but some of the lines and the way they dramatically deliver them sound so silly you can't help but giggle in your palm. Ortho looks at you inquisitively, tilting his head and trying to understand what you found so funny. You whisper an explanation to him, making him see the words in a different manner. As you laugh, he laughs along discretely, both of you having fun again.

Vil motions for you to keep your volume down, as to not disturb the actors and break their concentration, and you send him a thumbs up. Still, you keep on reacting, even mouthing their words with exaggerated facial expressions. Ortho seems much more interested in what you have to show than the lights, since he misses some of his cues and gets it later or sooner than intended. Which is also funny, since the confused looks on the background actors' faces are very entertaining.

It comes to a point in which you're holding in your laughter so much you're a bit out of air, and you end up bumping into one of the controls, making the background music change suddenly, from a calm waltz to an action scenesque one. Your startled eyes meet Ortho's, and in true friendship fashion you both burst out laughing. Vil cuts the filming and strides up on you two, reprimanding you once again, and you feel like a guilty puppy being scolded by their owner. You must look like that too, since he sighs like an overworked mother and takes pity on you, deciding on something else for you to do and leave Ortho to do his job without distractions.

Vil gives you the role of an extra to play, just for you to have an idle conversation with the protagonist that won't last even five minutes. He shows you exactly how the scene should go, taking hold of your hand to conduct a dance and dropping casual chatter with you, looking you in the eyes, with a conduct that's so charming you're sure you feel your heart skip a beat (too bad it's just acting though). You feel like you can do that as well, so you hurry to change into one of the formal outfits and repeat the line Vil told you over and over again in your head, heart beating way too fast.

There is just one thing you didn't count on: you apparently have a bad case of stage fright. Or perhaps it's happening especifically because you know Vil will be watching you like a hawk. As you position yourself amidst the other extras, you feel your heartbeat accelerating and your hands start to sweat. You try to relax your tense shoulders and clear your throat, looking at the floor to steady yourself.

As your cue approaches, you move closer to the corset guy, whose attention snaps at you as soon as you enter his vision field. Even if his face looks polite, like a prince, you can feel the glare he's still sending your way, just on a more subdued level this time. You can also feel the stares of the others on your back and your tongue seems to have been tied. Your head comes up with a blank when you try to remember what Vil told you to say. Oh, this is not good. Why did this have to be so nerve wracking?

Time passes slowly, seconds feels like hours as the protagonist waits expectantly for your words. Trying to not disappoint, you blurt out a joke improvisation line, like the ones you see on movies sometimes. Unfortunately, your sense of humor is vastly different from Pomefiore's students', and the joke falls so flat everyone has to take a moment to recover. You wish for the ground to swallow you as Vil yells a "Cut!" and the other actors look judgmentally in your way. Maybe if you close your eyes it will go away? You can still hear the other's whispering, and although you don't understand what exactly they're saying, you can only guess they're mocking you. Welp, guess it's time to become a hermit at ramshackle and never show your face at school ever again!

It takes only a minute, but as soon as Vil has recomposed himself he commands everyone to be quiet. You open your eyes again, gathering all your courage to see the disappointed look on his face, but you're surprised that's not what greets you. Instead, Vil's got a nasty glare that's sharp enough to cut a man, and it's not directed at you at all! Vil procceds to reprimand the rest of the cast for being so inelegant as to make fun of a begginer and even mocks their need to feel superior. You've never felt more grateful for him in your life, maybe you can still go to classes after that, since no one will dare to mess with you and risk his wrath.

As the others look ashamed for being yelled at by their leader, Vil pulls you aside and tells you that maybe it's better to try something else if your stage fright is going to affect your performance so much. He sounds strict as always, but he has an almost soft look in his eyes as he congratulates you for trying to overcome that fear and that you did well enough for someone with no experience. You feel a lot better after that and thank him sincerely, promising to give it your all at whatever other job you can do to help! He smiles at your enthusiasm and it's as if the clouds have parted ways for the sun to shine. (The other club members look amazed, as they've never seen such a soft smile on Vil's face before.)

He then asks you if you know how to work with a camera. If taking pics with Cater to post on Magicam counts then yes, you do have some experience with it. Vil says he's got the perfect job for you: being part of the camera crew and helping to film everything. You accept, after all, how hard can it be, really?

Apparently, a lot. Vil had just left out a little detail from this job: you'd be filming the aerial angle of this scene. Which meant using Kalim's magic carpet. As you recall, you're not the most adept at riding it, flashbacks from winter vacation entering in your mind. Still, you had promised Vil you'd help on this, and you weren't sure if he'd find you another thing to do or get your complaining the wrong way, so you decide to give it a try anyway.

You wobble on it, camera propped up on your shoulder and secured by a sling strap just in case you losen your hold on it. (Which is very likely). Surprisingly, you manage to get the carpet off the ground without many complications, so things are looking up (quite literally)! And then comes the part where you have to guide it and you're almost thrown out of a window with the force it makes a turn. Your grip on it tightens and you try to wrestle it into submission, with little success.

Things procced like this, you trying to learn how to drive the carpet while making turns on the air and holding on for your life. (And making sure the camera is safe. You don't want a repeat of the chandelier accident from the start of the year, so you're not taking any chances). Anything you might have tried to film is probably so shaky and blurry it isn't even usable, but you have more important matters to worry about.

That goes on until you make a particularly sharp turn, causing the carpet to lose control and go spiraling straight to the floor. Luckly, you manage to land on a convenientely placed couch (has that been there before?) and doesn't get much hurt. You're clutching the camera to your chest in a protective manner, so it isn't damaged either. At least, not much, but it isn't anything the Ignihyde guys can't fix.

Vil and Ortho are by your side in an instant, asking if you're alright. Vil extends his hand and pulls you up like a gentleman, fixing your hair softly. He's really close to your face and you can feel your heart beating faster, though you're not sure if it's due to that or the adrenaline of the fall. Ortho reassures you that not even him got the hang of piloting the carpet, as it seems to only actually obey Kalim, and that you did your best!

You really did try, so you can safely say you won't discover any hidden acting talent any time soon. Time to check out other clubs.

(Ortho tells you to drop by another time at practice and watch the recording with him, since he had a lot of fun! Vil tells you that should you wish and work hard for it, you may have potential and he'd be willing to help you reach it. You agree, since it was very nice to visit and, most of all, to get to see Vil on his element like this. There's an added bonus of you not having ended up at the infirmary as well, which is enough to put the club on a positive light in your books. It's a bit sad that's the standard, but oh well, nothing to do about it.)

Science Club (Trey, Rook)

Alright, art may not be for you, but maybe science is! Or... whatever it is that they do in this club.

It's a bit intimidating since there are way too many people there, more than you've seen in any other club. What could they possibly be doing to attract this many people?

Rook, as observant as ever, notices you before you've even set foot inside the lab, coming close to greet you and ask if you were going to join them for the day. You relutanctly agree, staying close to his side as he leads you deeper into the room, opening the path. You make sure to not bump into anyone and cause an accident.

Trey is at one of the work tables at the back, sharing it with Rook. He sends a calming smile your way and explains that it's a club with a vast variety of activities, as long as they're not of the physical sort. You sigh in relief, listening to him reciting things such as plant cultivation and chemistry experiments. You already have to do those things on your regular classes, so you're confident in your ability of succeding for once. Rook adds that this flexibility in activity has attracted many people, creating a beauté diversity of members. (Trey explains that there's a lot of odd people as he side eyes Rook).

You sit with them, since you don't know anyone else. Rook goes on about the experiment he'll be doing this time, something that will leave a beautiful impact and stay on the mind of anyone looking. It sounds a lot like what happens when you partner up with Ace and Deuce at alchemy class, that is, stuff is about to be blown up. You scoot closer to Trey.

Taking pity on you, Trey reminds Rook that there's an ingredient missing, since they had used all from the lab's storage on their last class, and offers to get it at the botanical garden for him, inviting you to come along. You jump at the opportunity, agreeing and getting up to follow him. Rook thanks his generosity and explains that there's no way a gentleman like him would leave all the hard work onto the two of you, so he follows along. Trey looks a bit annoyed, but you only wanted to get out of being roped into a crazy experiment so you don't mind much, as long as you keep Rook away from any potential explosive plants.

The fresh air from the gardens is much better than the stuffy feeling from the crowded lab, and you take a deep breath to appreciate it. Trey takes you to the temperate zone, the path filled with beautiful flowers of all colors and scents. The sound of the little river below you only adds to the pleasant atmosphere, the sun rays warming up your skin and soul. It's wonderful. You'd like it if your club classes were to take place there. It might be enough to convince you to join, the nature so full of life energizing your mood, a smile blooming on your face.

You pass by an area that has thicker vegetation and stands out from the whole, attracting your curiosity, so you ask Trey what could be there. He warns you to not wander to that side of the garden, as there were carnivorous plants being cultivated by the third years. You wave him off, saying you had those back in your world and they were pretty harmless. Trey looks at you in doubt, but decides to not question it, aceptting your answer and going back to his search for the missing ingredient.

Since you have no idea what you should be looking for, you leave the boys to it, deciding to observe the flowers instead. Distracted, you end up getting farther away from them, the flora enticing you and putting you under a spell, demanding your attention. It's not until you bump into a tall... something, that you realize how far you had gone. You lift up your head, wondering if you had bumped into a tree, only to find two open hinged lobes dripping with sap closing on your face.

A scream gets caught in your throat as you take in the gigantic carnivorous plant in front of you, that's only coming closer. You didn't know that when Trey had mentioned them, he didn't explain that they aren't like the one from your world at all. Not only were they huge, but also seemed ready to eat a human at any given chance.

You're pulled by someone behind you, falling into a secure chest and feeling strong arms embracing your waist as the plant's jaw's close into the air where you were just a second ago. The sigh you let out shakes your whole body and you let your weight be supported by your saviour. You find out his identity soon enough, as a familiar voice by your ear calls you chéri and asks if you were fine.

After thanking Rook, he guides you to the main area of the garden with a protective hand behind your back, making sure you wouldn't stumble into any more potential dangerous plants, as he goes on about how they were "the hunters of the natural world" and how "such danger has it's own alluring charm, non?" You don't catch the glint in his eyes as he asks the question, too busy trying to get your heart beat back into a normal rhythm.

Trey scolds you lightly for ignoring his advice, but he seems busier trying to equilibrate the plants he harvested in his arms and glaring at Rook, probably for leaving him alone to do all the work. Rook stays unbothered, putting his hands on your shoulders and staying close as he directs you to the exit, his usual smile stamped on his face.

As you put the fresh ingredients near the others that Rook had selected earlier, you notice some strawberries in the mix. You shot a questioning stare at Trey, making him laugh and explain he took the chance to harvest some of his hand grown special strawberries. He takes some from your hands, brushing your fingers together before lifting them up to inspect closely. The strawberries are a beautiful shade of red, making you salivate only by looking at them. Trey has a contemplative expression as he murmurs he should use them as soon as possible in order to make the best use of their ripeness.

You suggest him to make a strawberry tart with them and offers your help, on the light price of getting to eat it as well. He smiles and agrees to your proposal, telling you to follow him to the kitchens. You do, happily so as you carry some of the strawberries in your arms, leaving Rook to take care of the potions experiment. Really, you feel like you've killed two birds with one stone, so you pat yourself on the back for doing a good job.

Back at the first month of classes, you remember cooking with Trey, Ace, Deuce and Grim, and how much fun you had, despite the circumstances. With the group reduced to two, it might be more toilsome, but you were confident it would be worth it.

Trey finds an extra apron for you, tying it himself to make sure it would stay in place. He gently explains the steps to prepare the ingredients, helping you whenever you didn't understand something. It was quite nice, seeing Trey look so in his element, an unconscious soft expression on his face, as if he was enjoying himself. It's domestic, even, how you dance around each other in the kitchen, passing bowls and cutlery back and forth. He is good humored as he recalls stories from the club, making you laugh whenever he bemoans Rook's experiments.

The stories he tells are very captivating, so much so that you don't look at the recipe book, doing the steps on automatic. Once or twice you almost spill what you were mixing or use too much force to cut something, but it's salvageable every time, so you don't comment on it. You leave the crust on the oven for a bit too much, but it's only slightly charred, so you're pretty sure it's still edible. One of the flour bags slips from your hands and falls on the sink, covering your face in flour powder. Trey helps you clean up, but he's laughing at you and your now white hair. It comes to the point in which you're mixing the crème pâtissière and you get too close to the stove, making the ends of your sleeves to catch on fire. Trey quickly puts it out and runs your arm under cold water. The crème ends up a bit too lumpy, since neither of you were stirring it for a while, but it's not too bad.

Alright, maybe you're not the best at cooking. Still, arranging the strawberries in a circle on top of the tart was pretty fun. The last thing left to do is to let it cool. You lick your lips thinking about eating it once it's ready. You're about to help Trey clean the mess you've made in the kitchen when Rook bursts through the door, looking excited. He tells you there's no time to explain and takes you by the hand, dragging you back to the laboratory. You send Trey your best regards and wish him luck in cleaning everything alone. He sends you a pitying look back.

You should wish yourself some luck as well, since the motive for Rook to have brought you to the lab was for you to help him with the new formula he thought for his experiment. He explains that the one he was trying didn't have it's desired effects, as you could clearly see from the scorch marks on the table you were sitting before. He says that for the new formula, he'll need help to get the ingredients prepared and handed over, since he couldn't stop stirring it until everything was added in. You don't know how he came up with this solution, and honestly? You don't want to know.

Having no other choice, you agree to help him. He reminds you to put your gloves and safety googles on before starting, making a comment on how your cute apron would do as your lab coat. After getting into place, you follow all of Rook's instructions, preparing and handing over the ingredients he asks for. You have no idea what it is that he's going for, as your potions classes are still on a basic and more theorical level, but you decide to trust that he, as your upperclassman, knows what he's doing.

Dread pools on your gut as you watch the ingredients going into the cauldron. There's a hissing sound and bubbles emerge from the deep purple concotion. You have no time to react as Rook thows his arm in front of you just in time for the explosion to take place. You grip onto the table tightly and manage to stay upright, thanking the Sevens for your safety googles. If it were not for them, your entire face would be covered in a sparkling purple powder, some getting into your hair as well. Rook laughs and tells you that you shine bright like the sun. You look on unamused. Trey appears, having heard the explosion, and sighs, clearly being too used to this happening. He tells you and Rook to clean up as he starts to clean your mess, bless him.

Rook takes you to the nearest bathroom available, both of you trying to wash the explosion's results off. It has stuck like glue, and you have to splash your face with the cold water over and over for it to go away. You think there's still some of it on your hair, but can't bring yourself to care much. The apron wasn't enough to cover your body, so your clothes weren't spared either. Rook doesn't comment on it, but you can see him looking at you funny by the corner of your eye.

As you enter the lab, you see that the students that stayed after the first explosion had left. Rook wonders out loud on why they didn't like the innovation of his experiment, sighing as he goes on about the beauty of curiosity. You and Trey exchange glances as you clean everything together. You feel like you stayed way past the club's scheduled time and your arms hurt from moping the floor. At least you get to share your wonky strawberry tart. It doesn't taste as good as Trey's usual ones do, but you like it. You can't decide if it was worth all the trouble though.

Grim laughs at you once you get back to Ramshackle, your face is itching for the rest of the day, there's some sparkles in your hair for the rest of the week, your slightly burnt arm won't stop aching, you sent your clothes' laundry bill for Rook to pay. As much as you respect scientific advances, you feel that being involved in the research isn't for you (nor the cooking). Time to check out other clubs.

(Rook keeps approaching you at the halls to update you on how he's thought of possible changes to make the potion work. Trey comments he liked having company in the kitchen and help for cleaning up for once. They aren't very subtle. You don't even have to agree to visit the club again another time, as Rook has already volunteered you as his lab assistant and Trey has gifted you a recipe book with markings on which recipes you'll try to bake next. Guess you have no other choice but to go back now.)

Pop Music Club (Cater, Kalim, Lilia)

And back to the arts you go. But this time, instead of performing, how about playing some music? Joining the school band might be fun!

You're surprised to only find three people in the club. All the others had a bunch of people, but in this one, once you enter the classroom you're met with three of your friends hanging out in a couch. Why was there a couch in this classroom in the first place!?

It's not just three random people, either. It's the chillest and most extroverted people of the school, the ones that got along with everyone and were very popular. They whip their head so fast to the direction of the door once you enter you get a little worried for their necks. They seem elated to have a visitor, so you suppose this won't be so bad, even if you don't feel confident enough to play an instrument in front of other people.

Kalim jumps at you and envelops you in a big hug, a smile shining on his face as usual. Lilia pats you on the back, pushing you closer to the center of the room and welcoming you. Cater takes out his phone and takes a selfie with everyone, declaring it would go viral to have the cutest people of the school all together in one place and gushing over how many likes he'd get. They sure are a lively bunch.

Lilia plops you down on the couch, telling you to feel at home and winking. There's a center table with food containers in front of you, Kalim offers you a bite, explaining they made the snacks to bring to their club meetings, and Cater proposes to make it a culinary competition, in which you'd judge which one was the best. You were pretty sure you had left the cooking behind at the science club, what did it even had to do with music? Well, you weren't going to complain about getting free food!

Cater insists you try his first, a round tupperware with fried corn tortilla chips and guacamole in a dipping bowl at the center. It looks amazing, making your mouth water a bit. You take one of the chips, lightly lower it on the dip and take a bite. It's overall very good, the consistency and the crispness are wonderful, there's just one little problem: it's very spicy. Very spicy. Not the "oh no there's a tiny bit of spice in my otherwise bland food" type but the "my eyes are burning my thorat is burning my stomach is burning I'm going to burn from the inside out" type. And that's how you feel as you fan your face and drink the water Kalim brings you, though it only makes the burning worse, spreading it throughout your mouth and making your eyes water. Lilia appears upside down, hanging from the ceiling and scaring you, and offers you a glass of milk instead. You gratefully take it and chug it down as quick as you can.

Once you've calmed down, Lilia explains how he keeps milk around for Cater's food, that's way too spicy for his liking. Cater looks at you with puppy eyes, asking if you liked the chilli peppers he added to the recipe. You didn't, not really. It would be one thing to add some, sure, but it's like there's more pepper than anything else. You weakly smile at him and explain apologetically that it might not suit your tastes so much. Cater seems a bit down, but he only shrugs and jokingly says that not everyone can have good taste.

Kalim bounces up to you next, shoving his container in front of your face and telling you to try it. He proudly says he made it all without Jamil's help and that he hopes you'll like it. You look at the fried dumplings, remembering it's a sweet called awameh. It looks good as well, although a bit burnt, nothing that would stop you from eating it. You take one, getting surprised by how crunchy they ended up being, the sweetness exploding in your tongue. It would be very good, but you have the impression Kalim must have used the wrong measure of the ingredients. Yes, it was sweet, but it was way too sweet. Not only that, the sugar mixed with the cinnamon on the syrup also left you thirsty, as you downed another cup of water. It was like cinnamon was impregnated on your mouth, there was definetly too much.

While you accept your tongue will never be the same after the combo of strong flavours, Kalim reveals he tried to follow one of Jamil's mom's recipes for it, declaring it to be the best he's ever proved. He just got a bit confused when taking the measures for some ingredients, but he was proud of his work! You make a mental note to try to eat one of Jamil's awameh later, sure that it would taste delicious, and compliments Kalim on his efforts, suggesting gently to ask for help next time he has trouble with it.

The last one is Lilia, and you start dreading what might be hidden on his container. He seems preppy that someone will get to try his food, telling you that he's the one that cooks dinner at Diasomnia and how Silver and Sebek love his food. Cater and Kalim look at you with pity, shaking their heads. You've heard of Lilia's infamous cooking skills before, so you have to mentally prepare yourself before looking at what he prepared. It's... uh... something alright. Though it's unrecognizable, a dark glob that just looks sticky and burnt after the point. Your desperate look does nothing for Cater and Kalim to try to save you, as they look away furtively.

Aceppting your fate, you take one of the spoons Lilia brought and take the smallest bite possible while he stares at you attentively. It tastes foul, as expected, as if something had died in your mouth. You resist the urge to gag, trying to go for a smile and ending up with a grimace instead. It's horrible, there's no other way to describe it. All the rumors don't do it justice, it's way worse than what they say. You suspect you will get food poisoning later, as you down another glass of water. At least you're keeping yourself hydrated. Lilia seems to either not notice or pretend he didn't, as he keeps his cheery attitude and asks if you liked it. You nod weakly, hoping it would be enough for him to not force you to take another bite. He mercifully looks satisfied with the answer and you sigh with relief.

In the end you tell them you don't know which one was the best (you side eye Lilia's, thinking on how you knew which one was the worst at least). They don't look disappointed, content in having you prove their food as each munchs on their own snacks happily. You wonder how they manage to do it. Suddenly you miss Trey's baking and the wonky strawberry tart you've made.

As everyone sits together, Cater puts on some electropop song on the background that reminds you of the famous vocaloids from your world. You have an epiphany that Cater would listen to Hatsune Miku. You're not sure what to do with that information, staying quiet in shock as the other three talk between themselves. You remember him mentioning something like it when you went to do the SDC auditions, but you had other things to worry about and it must have slipped your mind. Once you've recomposed yourself, you ask what the food had to do with music, since the question had been burning in your mind for some time (not as much as your tongue burned tho).

They explain that the pop music club doen't really do much music, as the name suggests, they mostly just hang around to chat and chill. It has gotten them in a bit of trouble with the Headmaster, as they don't do anything that could actually be considered a club activity, causing him to have threatened to disband the club. Not to mention there's no new members for a while, no matter how much they try to attract more students. You consider joining this one just to spite Crowley. They clarify that they do play their instruments every once in a while to cover some song, but with their different music tastes they never reach an agreement on what to play most of the time.

You're curious on how they might sound as a band, sure it would be a chaotic but entertaining sight. You would ask to see this, if it was not for Cater excitedly declaring it's "gossiping time". They put on elevator music to play at the background and huddle close together, leaving a spot open for you to join their little circle, as if you were about to be in into the school's secrets. And that's exactly what happens, as the three of them seem to know about everyone and everything that goes on Night Raven College. There's so much drama you've never heard about, and you feel you know way too much about the lives of people you've never even met, but it's nice to create conspiracy theories about what would happen next in the soap opera that was other people's lives.

The topic changes to Magicam, since you were lowkey stalking the boy that had caused a ruckus in the cafeteria the past days. Cater likes his account's aesthetic, saying it passes the bad boy vibes he has, and whines about their club's magicam page. You weren't aware they even had one, so you ask to see it. It's... not what you were expecting. They might as well not have an account, since there are no photos other than their icon, which was the symbol of the club. Cater complains that they couldn't come to an agreement on how the page should look and were too lazy to try to work something out, so it has stayed like that for months.

Since you know how much he cares about this stuff, you offer your help! After all, it could be a lot of fun, and it'd feel as if you're the manager of the club. Cater lightens up with joy, throwing his arms around you and bringing you close to affectionately rub his cheeck on the top of your head, thanking you for being such a prestative underclassman. You enter your business mode, thinking on how you could go about this. It makes sense to promote the club doing something other than hanging out, so you tell them to pick up their instruments and pose.

You go around them and try many different angles. Kalim and Lilia have fun doing weird poses that makes very clear they aren't playing at all, but there's a charming genuine smile on their faces. Cater poses with his guitar like a professional, making captivating facial expressions that make even you swoon, only encouraging him to make different ones. He could be a model, you think, with how he knows all the right ways to smile at the camera and tilts his head just so to make him look cute and alluring at the same time, fingers skillfully positioned at the eletric guitar's chords, eyes lidded, hair messy deliberately, body facing forwards with confidence. He has everything to ace the rockstar persona, at least in looks.

You try taking some of them together as an unit, but none pleases you enough. There's something missing, but you can't quite put your finger on what. You give his cellphone back as you ponder about it. Cater looks through the photos, commenting how one looks "super cool~" and in the other he's "slaying". He decides it'd be a great moment to take advantage of his cuteness streak to take a photo with everyone together, yourself included. Cater drapes his arm around your shoulders and keeps you close to him, cheek coming to rest at your forehead. Kalim and Lilia make poses behind you two, laughing at how silly they look with all the filters Cater tries on.

He ends up telling you to decide which photo looked better, as he couldn't chose just one, something like: "any photo with you would look cute, of course I can't chose!" You look through all of them, but only one gets your eyes, the only without a filter. Everyone looks genuinely happy, making your heart warm. Cater's is not looking at the camera itself, but slightly to the side, where you are, with such a soft expression you can't help but be endeared by it. It's him, not a forced smile and exaggerated pose, just Cater, happy. That's what the other pictures were missing.

You show it to him, insisting it's the best and should be the first photo on the club's Magicam page. He pouts about the lack of filter, saying how the other ones look much cuter, but you explain that you like the real him much more than any filter, since nothing could ever come close to the real deal, no filter in the world could make him justice. You're very genuine with it too, since it's the truth. Cater stares at you, caught by surprise, and turns his face away from you, ears tinted pink, taking a minute to recompose himself, leaving you confused. Lilia looks on knowingly, smirking at him. You weren't alone in your confusion, as Kalim seemed to be just as clueless as you.

Your argument manages to convince him, though, as he soon comes up with an eye catching description and posts it, grumbling that you should be happy now. You are, actually, so you simply smile at him, giggling at his playful eye roll. Only after the picture was already posted and you entered on your own account that you notice your eyes were closed. You yelp and try to convince Cater to change it to another one, but he refuses, telling that you were the one that chose it so you should stick with it, sticking his tongue out at you in a childsh manner. You whine some more before giving up. Cater seemed really content with the choice, if the soft smile on his face as he glanced at it meant anything, so you let it be, resigning to your fate. You weren't even a member, so you hoped you wouldn't attract that much attention. (You really hoped Ace wouldn't find it, otherwise you'd never hear the end of it.)

He suddenly gets an idea to decorate the classroom to make it look more "magicamable", dragging Lilia with him to get the decorations. Lilia whispers something to him that makes him glance back at you with a red face, quickly scurrying away and leaving you and Kalim to look on in confusion. How weird, what had gotten into him?

At that moment, the playlist shuffles, coming up with a song that has a very upkeep beat. Kalim jumps in excitement, saying that was his favorite song and he couldn't not dance to it. You can't help jumping your leg and moving your head to the beat, swaying to the contagious rhthym. Kalim notices and extends his hands in your direction, inviting you to dance with him. You know you're nowhere near his skill level and you'd look clumsy compared to his fluid moviments, but his earnestness convinces you to give it a try. You were sure he wouldn't make fun of you, so why not have a good time too?

Hand in hand, the two of you move together, not completly in sync, but in a rhythm that feels right, that's only yours. It's nice, seeing his content expression up close, foreheads almost touching, feet following the other's steps, hips swaying together. You spin once, laughing, he spins once, grinning wildly. You're lost in the trance of the hypnotizing beat of Kalim's heart.

The song gradually comes to a stop, making both of you calm down too. Kalim has one hand on your waist, the other still holding yours. You hold onto his shoulder, your noses touch, breaths coming in puffs, his eyes crinkle and it's warm, he's warm. Your chest follows his in it's rise and fall, your stomach does pirouettes, to the point you're dizzy, your cheeks feel hot. You start worrying you might have really gotten food poisoning from Lilia's cooking.

Before either of you say anything else, the sound of Cater's giggle burst your bubble, bringing you back to the real world. You whip your head to the door, watching as Lilia and Cater giggle deviously, Cater's fingers working fast on his cellphone's keyboard. You separate from Kalim's burning touch, your hands suddenly feeling cold, and stride up to them, demanding to look at what they found so funny. Lilia shows you, on his own phone, a videoclip of you and Kalim dancing together, nearing the end of the song. Your focus is initially on Kalim, as he glows, movements showing years of expertise, it's... beautiful. Then your gaze averts to yourself, and how, like you suspected, you were looking goofy near him, not matching the tempo at all.

You whine up at Cater again, asking him to delete the stories he posted, but he refuses, saying it was way too precious to miss. You lightly hit his chest and look up your lashes at him, pouting. His teasing expression falters, as if you were on the brink of convincing him. Lilia pulls you away and explains it was only on close friends anyway, so you needn't worry about the whole school seeing it. Kalim agrees that the video is very nice, beaming as he watches you two having fun. You sigh and give up, not having the heart to be a killjoy.

Lilia and Cater's hands are empty of any decorations, so you question them about it. Cater frowns exaggeratedly, drowning on dramatically on how they couldn't find any and how it was such a pity. Lilia covers his hand to hide a giggle, only making the action more obvious. Cater glares at him subtly. Kalim notices how the club's reserved time is almost coming to an end, deciding that to make a grand finale you should play an instrument, after all they should at least pretend they did something club related for you to report back to the Headmaster. And it'd be a lot of fun for you to play with them!

Lilia claps his hands together, agreeing it would be a most gleeful experience. He insists on teaching you how to play the bass, not wanting to hear whether you already knew how to or not. He gives you the instrument and shows how to hold it in the right way, trying to teach a few chords. It's a bit difficult to understand the confusing terms he uses, so he sighs and comes behind you, taking your hands in his and doing the movements, pressing his chest against your back, his deep voice right by your ear as he explains. You can't pay attention to it all, for some reason. You kind of feel dizzy again. Perhaps it's the food poisoning for real this time?

His fingers guide yours along the strings, gently pressing on the right spots, strumming the chords at the bridge. He murmurs the instructions, voice ressonating like the low pitch of the instrument, hot breath tickling your skin. You let him do as he pleases, dazed. The simple notes ring in your ears, lulling you into calmness, eyes closing as you let your sensations take the wheel, the frequency making your heart vibrate in your chest, as if dancing along, your head floating in the clouds.

It's all good and well until Lilia starts singing along. Or whatever it is that he calls "singing". In reality, he starts screaming some punk-rock lyrics right by your ear. Your heart jumps so quickly you swear you almost had an arrhythmia, your soul leaving your body for a second. Your eyes snap open so fast the lights from the classroom blind you and make black spots appear in your vision. You elbow Lilia in your surprise, thankfully making him stop trying to burst your eardrums. You get away, taking off the strap of the bass and giving it back to him. You think that's enough practicing for now.

Later on the day you confirm your food poisoning suspicions to be true. You've gained a new found respect for Sebek for enduring the poison Lilia calls cooking everyday and still managing to keep that impressive disposition of his. At least you helped the pop music club get more followers on magicam and spread their word out there. A bunch of people sign up to know the club, so you're all really happy! You felt like you've done a good job. (In the next week, the people arrive and see no sight of you, only of the dynamic trio. They don't show up again, leaving the members number back to it's original three.)

It was pretty fun, all things considered. You didn't get hurt other than in your pride and your social image, so it's a win in your books. Still, you're not sure you could handle their energetic and chaotic personalities combined like this evey week and risk getting deaf or suffering stomach failure. Time to check out other clubs.

(Cater comments on how the photos you took together got the most likes, insisting you come over again for a photoshoot. Kalim says he's got new songs to dance with you and that he's asked Jamil to help him cook for the next club meeting. Lilia tells you that you still have to take some more bass lessons to get the hang of it. Well, you suppose you could pass by sometime to be in the know about what goes on at the school and to get to prove Jamil's cooking. And to enjoy your friend's company, of course!)

Masterlist

#twst x reader #vil schoenheit x reader #trey clover x reader #rook hunt x reader #cater diamond x reader #lilia vanrouge x reader #kalim al asim x reader #ortho shroud #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland #new tumblr user angelizs lore drop: I used to be part of the theater club back at school #I did two years of it. I miss acting sm #Ortho and MC are the besties ever #Rook and Trey act like rivals from a shoujo manga lmao #I was inspired by the culinary crucible and decided to make MC suffer the same thing they make the judges go through: Lilia's cooking #oh and also by Lilia's ceremonial robes vignette #I've been dying to prove some awameh it looks so yummy. I want it too !!!!!!!#now I have smth to confess. I've had this written since 9/3. but once I've reached the board games club I got into a writer's block #and I wanted to post all the other clubs at once so I tried to write it and couldn't come up with anything good #and that's why I took so long to post pt2. bc I don't have the board games club written yet to this day 🤡#I'll try to write smth I'm satisfied with for them! until then pls enjoy pt2!#wonderland wonder

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bidisasterevankinard · 6 days

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Definitely not seven sentence Sunday(But I don't care)

I want to end this fic as fast as I can as I really wanna post it before next episode, but bucktommy make it so long. it's already 9k and we still not near the wedding which was firstly the point of the fic. TO DANCE ON MADNEY WEDDING. Anyway here is bucktommy after they made love to each other in really long 2,5k words tender sex scene. They are showering and Buck makes Tommy wish his birthday would be tomorrow

I also edited moodboard a little

“I knew you chose me because of my ass,” Tommy says when Buck ends cleaning him, but not putting his hands from Tommy’s ass, just gripping him harder. Tommy just hugs his waist, not moving away from the touch, Buck kind of actually sure he even a little arches into it.

“Mmmm, no,” Buck kisses the cute nose scrunch Tommy does when he smiles so pretty, “I chose you because you changed my whole worldview with best kiss skills I’ve ever seen,” Buck winks at his boyfriend with the ego he had only during his Buck 1.0 times, but then loses all his breath from how beautiful his boyfriend when he laughs so open with his head tilt back.

Damn, he’s falling so hard for his man. And no one better even try to stop him.

“Well, I’m happy my ass is not the main reason you’re with me.”

“Trust me, baby, it’s definitely no more of the big reasons I chose you, than you choosing me because of my tits and long legs.”

Tommy groans, “I knew it was a bad idea to say it to you.”

“Mmm, I don’t think it was such a bad idea to tell me that,” Buck leans to Tommy’s ear. “How else I would know that my idea about surprising you on your birthday with lace lingerie and stockings is actually a good idea?”

Tommy swallows, with his hands tightening their hold on Buck.

“You're joking, right?” Tommy says it with the red and dumbstruck face which tells him his boyfriend definitely doesn’t want him to joke.

“I might joke, I might not,” Buck sings in the most bratty manner he can. “You just have to wait till your birthday next month and see,” with a wicked smirk and wink Buck stops the water and gets out, taking two towels from the dryer.

tagged by @spotsandsocks @wikiangela @tizniz @diazsdimples @theotherbuckley

tagging @watchyourbuck @ebdaydreamer @eddiebabygirldiaz @evanbi-ckley @evanbegins @rogerzsteven @thewolvesof1998 @transboybuckley @underwaterninja13 @usereddie @icecreampotluck @pirrusstuff @aspecbuddie @saybiwithme @devirnis @dangerpronebuddie @daffi-990 @fortheloveofbuddie @honestlydarkprincess @honestlyeddie-im-bi @hippolotamus @jesuisici33 @ladydorian05 @loserdiaz @cal-daisies-and-briars @bibuckbuckley @bigfootsmom @bi-buck-coded @bi-buckrights @bekkachaos @bewilderedbuckley @neverevan @monsterrae1 and anyone who wants to

#fic: I want to dance with you tonight (and for the rest of my life)#my wips #bucktommy #evan buckley #911 #evan buck buckley #911 abc #bcuktommy #tuck #tevan #kinkley #buck x tommy #they live the life I wish to have fr

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littlemissclandestine · 3 months

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Why I think Russell Adler is going to make a comeback in COD 2024

WARNING⚠️: Contains spoilers for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Disclaimer: This is all just speculation on my behalf of course. I've just tried piecing stuff together for fun because Russ is one of my fave BO characters even though he's a bitch but i need more Adler content stat. <33

Let's get into it peeps. HEAR ME OUT.

Buckle up. Gonna be one hell of a ride folks 🤪

We'll start off with some random/background info.

Russ was born on February 12th 1937 so that would make him 53/54 in the Gulf War era. This actually isn't that old because if you think about it, Woods was about to turn 51 in 1981 during the Cold War campaign. What's a few more years?

We last saw Adler in action post-campaign in Warzone 1.0 cinematics but we've been kept in the dark about Adler's whereabouts post-1984 (after being brainwashed and killing Stitch LOL).

This meanie in a beanie wasn't forgotten about, oh no. He appears in the new cinematic intros on startup for both MWII (2022) and MWIII (2023). See below:

He was also featured twice in the 20 year anniversary video for Call of Duty whereas COD Ghosts didn't even get an appearance (ouch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_w5HmxsPI

I personally believe Adler was a great addition to the Black Ops roster and is essentially the new Black Ops 'cover boy' now. Would be such a shame and a missed opportunity not to include a character like him in the upcoming COD. One who is morally grey, does whatever he deems necessary to get the job done - a bit like Cpt. Price in MW. Got the COD fans riled up about him brainwashing and pulling the trigger on Bell too - he's already got the spotlight in both a good and bad way.

Now, let's explore my main reasoning as to why I think Mr Shades 2.0 is most likely coming back in late 2024...

🎖️First up: Gulf War mission list 🔫

Here are some of the campaign missions that will be featured in Black Ops Gulf War. Obviously, this is subject to change, however, going off what we have, look closely...

Credit: @MWIIINTEL on Twitter/X

Safehouse guys...SAFEHOUSE. Takes you right back to Cold War, doesn't it? Ugh the potential.

🕵️ Next up: The campaign for COD 2024 will dive into the CIA's role/the Black Ops timeline 🕘

I took the following snippet from this official article.

From this, we know there will be a huge focus on the CIA and who's a CIA clandestine special officer? Mhm, you guessed it - Russell Adler.

Now, according to the events of BO2, it's evident which characters have the possibility of returning out of our original BO trio - Jason Hudson, Frank Woods and Alex Mason.

💫 Alex is presumed dead after Frank shot him so he's out the picture in '90/91 until 2025 when they canonically meet again.

🪵 Woods would be in his 60s during this time too so I'll let you decide whether that's too old for him to be in GW.

Edit: Woods got SPAS-12'd in the kneecaps on Dec 20th 1989 by Raul Menendez so uh...yeah

🧊 Hudson died on Dec 20th 1989 at the hands of Raul Menendez.

Feel free to check out this website (Call of Duty Wiki) for an outline of the events after CW to remind yourself. Here's a link to the Black Ops timeline from there.

➡️ Gulf War being a direct sequel to Cold War and what that could mean 💉

That brings me onto the rest of the safehouse crew. Since GW is a direct sequel to CW, it would make sense for some characters to carry over if possible:

We, as the player/Bell, get to choose whether Park or Lazar die (or both lovebirds) in 'End of the Line'. It's highly unlikely they'll return unless the devs make one decision canon maybe.

There could be a chance we see Sims again given his bond with Adler (Da Nang etc.), his age (late 40s in GW) and his status (alive).

That leaves the man himself, Russ. Everything from his age to the fact he's CIA and was the deuteragonist in COD 2020's campaign just makes sense for him to have at least a lil cameo or even a larger role, don't you think?

📱Finally: Hints from official posts 🔎

This post from Call of duty's official Instagram account kind of sealed the deal for me.

Oh lookie - they dropped syringe-lover's famous line in a zombies post. Why would COD just drop it so casually like that without a reason and years after since CW came out? They could've said absolutely anything else but no, this was purposeful.

And that's all for this episode guys and gals!

Thank you for reading!! 🫂

Do what you will with all this information but I have concluded in my silly little brain that scarface is coming back.

How he's only in one game is beyond me. Won't get a character like him ever again. Seems like a cliché war dude at first glance but dig a little deeper into the details of the CW campaign, peel back the layers and get into his psychology and WOWZERS.

Am I delusional? Most definitely.

But the possibility he might be returning...that little bit of hope is enough for me and i won't shut up about it.

This will age horribly if he isn't in GW. Forgive me for feeding your delusions too in that case. Please?

What are your thoughts? Feel free to share them! 😊

#this took forever rip #but you see where i'm coming from?#might do a part two if anything else gets leaked #Star's bottomless waffles ☆#call of duty #cod #black ops cold war #black ops 2 #alex mason #frank woods #russell adler #jason hudson #black ops gulf war #cod cw #cod cold war #call of duty black ops #call of duty cold war #cod 2024

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yowlthinks · 5 months

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A timeline of Aziraphale and Crowley's fear and belief in propaganda and what it tells us about their relationship and actions

OK, you guys liked my flowchart slides, let's see how much you like my graphs! I wanted to take a closer look at the levels of propaganda belief that we see Aziraphale and Crowley, as well as the levels of fear they have throughout history, both for themselves and each other. So I spent a bit of time giving them scores on each of these out of 10 and then plotted the charts, as you do. Please note that the timelines are not linear (otherwise we would have a lot of empty space in history and a lot of data points closer to the current time), but they still give a good idea of the evolution of their relationship.

So let's start with the overall view:

Crowley's situation is much more stable, while Aziraphale is on an emotional roller-coaster, which is interesting as Crowley is perceived as the more emotional of the two.

Now let us look separately at the fear:

From around the start of the Arrangement Aziraphale's fear of retribution to himself goes down, which is likely what makes the Arrangement possible. From then on the fear of retribution to Crowley mostly becomes his larger concern.

Crowley is generally convinced they both are safe until he gets punished by Hell.

Let's take a look at how their own perception of danger aligns to that of the other:

Aziraphale's perception of danger to Crowley and Crowley's own perception of danger to himself are not too far apart, they have the same curve. So Crowley is able to communicate the situation he is in pretty clearly, and what is more they both agree that the perceived danger from Hell is real.

Aziraphale seems to expect more danger to himself, while Crowley is certain he is ok, up until 2019 (and Crowley is right!)

Look at the comparative fear for each other timeline

Crowley is convinced that Aziraphale is a good angel and thus is not worried about him getting in trouble with Heaven. He only changes his mind once the Armageddon rolls around. But we can see him getting worried in S2 and it is clear that with everything he knows about the treatment of those who go against Heaven’s plans, he will be extremely worried about Aziraphale in S3.

Aziraphale is aware of the potential consequences for Crowley, but for the most part he has no reason to worry that much about him post Armageddon 1.0, until he meets Shax.

And now let us take a look at their beliefs in propaganda and especially zoom in into propaganda vs fear for Crowley's safety from Aziraphale's perspective

Now the compared belief in propaganda between Aziraphale and Crowley is not surprising (especially not for Crowley – you can really see the effect of the fall). What is interesting is that Aziraphale’s belief in it wanes at two critical points: once in 1967 where he can’t stand the thought of Crowley’s risk of destruction and again at Armageddon 1.0 when everything that he loves is at risk (Earth and Crowley).

So now we come to the key part: Aziraphale’s belief in propaganda vs his fear for Crowley’s well-being. To me this is the ultimate proof of Aziraphale choosing Crowley's wellbeing over heaven. The greater the perceived risk to Crowley, the lower the belief in Heaven's propaganda. Aziraphale will always choose his personal knowledge of Crowley as a good person and his love for him over any sort of "high principles" Heaven insists on. And it ties in nicely with my other meta on Aziraphale’s choice in the final 15.

#good omens #gos2 #crowley #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #good omens 2 #gos2 spoilers #good omens meta #gos3 #the final fifteen #Aziraphale's fears

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thegoldheartlocketandkey-blog · 11 months

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It’s been made pretty clear by the fandom, not just Buddie Shippers, that we aren’t really fans of who Buck and Eddie end up with in the finale.

The biggest issue I have with the pairings is that they weren’t worked up, they kind of just showed up and we have no reason to care about them.

If these women are supposed to be endgame, at least give us ample reason to support the choice.

Natalia: They really screwed up her character because there was so much potential in making her interesting and someone we would like to get to know. She’s a death dula and Buck died. Instead of having her tell Buck that it’s so “cool” that he died they could of had her play an active role in having him process his death. I mean they still have the opportunity to do that but after they gave us a cringe date, a recycled story line, but with less depth, they gave us too many reasons to dislike her as a character for me to even see that play out.

They made the same mistake they made with Lucy. Instead of having Natalia be a friend to Buck they force her to be a love interest which adds nothing new to bucks character.

But imagine Buck’s character development if Natalia was a friend. He would have gone from Buck 1.0 ( The guy who only does hook ups), to Buck 2.0 (the guy who just ends up in relationships) to Buck 3.0 (the guy who chooses himself and is able to be friends with a woman).

We can also address the fact that there is a lack of chemistry between Buck and Natalia. The kiss in the finale was awkward and not in a cute endearing way. I will say, I love that she doesn’t look like she could be related to Buck. I’m willing to see their relationship play out during season 7, but I just can’t see it being the end game.

Marisol: Where did she come from. What do you mean this is the girl that has Eddie acting like a middle schooler. She came out of nowhere and we know almost nothing about her, besides the fact that she fixes her brother’s mistakes.

I rewatched Season 6, Episode 5: Home Invasion, where we are first introduced to Marisol and after watching the episode, I believe the fan theory that her brother’s rescue was originally written as a boyfriend being rescued. But after the scenes where already filmed, the writers decided she’d be the love interest so they re-recorded the audio of the scene. I’m serious go back and watch her emergency, there is something off about it.

Marisol to me feels like another Ana. No substance, no reason for me to care about her. They both barely interacted, so their phone call makes less sense the more you think about it.

The same episode where Eddie is told he can’t look for love, he finds what he’s “been looking for”. This feels like Eddie is again only doing what he thinks he is supposed to do. Instead of processing his feelings of loneliness, he’s doing what he thinks the world expects him to do and date someone. He married Shannon because he felt like he had to. He stayed with Ana because he thought it was best for Christopher. And he’s settling for Marisol because he doesn’t want to be alone. None of those reasons are good reasons to pursue someone for a serious relationship.

It’s one thing to have Eddie date because he wants to be outside his comfort zone, meet people, and have fun. It’s a completely other thing to have him date because he feels like he needs to.

The only way to make Marisol a good character is by having her be a person that helps Eddie figure that out. She helps him realize that it’s not just about the end game, but his ability to just enjoy her company and not so worried about what the end result. She can just be someone he dates because she was fun to date. A relationship that shows him that you can have someone be an important part of your journey, but not your end game. Like a summer fling.

Given the fact that the actress who plays Marisol recently reposted a transphobic meme and couldn’t even attempt a sincere apology, I hope we don’t get to see her at all in season 7. She can be explained away by Eddie mentioning her once and just saying it felt promising but she just wasn’t the one. I have no interest in see their relationship play out.

Buddie: In my opinion, the best match for Buck and Eddie will always be each other. The writers have their relationship set up as the perfect slow burn, friends to lover scenario. And even though they screwed up the finale a bit, they can easily correct their wrongs. Buck and Eddie’s chemistry is undeniable and having them end up together would play into their individual story lines so perfectly.

I need this relationship that has developed organically to flourish in Season 7.

I will continue to manifest Buddie and let me use this moment to state couch theory is not dead. Buck will just need to get rid of another couch.

#911 fox #evan buck buckely #buddie #911 abc #eddie diaz #911 season 6 #buck x eddie #buckley diaz family #911 spoilers #911onfox #911 show #911 season finale #the gay firefighter show #couch theory

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vagabond-umlaut · 11 months

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ramé 4.0

love.

a word everyone spells as l-o-v-e, except one certain young sorcerer – to whom it appears h-a-p-p-y, to whom it appears h-a-v-o-c – to whom it appears the shape of the letters of your name.

you, on the other hand, forget how to spell when the same word is before you – a fact which, your admirer reckons, would have been a major problem were he not he – that is, were he not the one and only 'gojo satoru'.

and thus begins, the plan.

and thus begins, the six steps to catch one's crush's eye — by the six eyes.

|4| gather info from your crush.

[READ 1.0 HERE AND 2.0 HERE AND 3.0 HERE!]

▸ student!gojo satoru x student!reader; fem!reader; tooth-rotting fluff; pining!satoru [as usual]; however- the reader is kind of less oblivious here; gojo's so in love with ya... he loves teasing ya quite a lot though; mention of relationships, confessions, crushes & first love; just some nice fluff with humorous & romantic undertones & easter eggs

▸ this is what i was cooking for dinner, @afortoru 🥰🥰

▸ tsuki ga kirei desu ne = the moon is beautiful, isn't it? [poetic way of saying 'i love you' in japan]; anata mo utsukushii = so are you [a flirtatious (& slightly uncommon) reply to this way of confessing one's feelings]

▸ find other parts of 'ramé' and other [stand-alone] fics set in the same universe as this work here! anyways, image, divider & characters ain't mine. pls don't plagiarize, translate or repost this. enjoy reading! ❤️

"tsuki ga kirei desu ne."

"anata mo utsukushii."

a long minute passes between gojo and you, gazes fixed on the other person and only them, before you lick your chapped lips - the boy's attention instantly going to that hynotic motion of your tongue...

and you pinch his arm.

"ow shortie!!!! what the fuck was that for!?!?" the boy yells, massaging the sore spot on his arm, before out of nowhere, the red signal glows green and he has to shift his focus to the steering wheel.

you toss him a mad scowl from the passenger's seat, one he catches effortlessly, winking, when an observation crashes upon him and he coos. "aww, did my itty-bitty-shortie-baby just get flustered by me? aww, is she blushing? aww, she's so cute!!!"

"i asked you to help me learn how to confess, gojo," you grumble with a glare at him, "not make fun of me."

your co-passenger makes an affronted face at your words, although, internally, he is beside himself. and to be honest, how can he not?

you're in the same car as him, on a three hour long drive from tokyo to nikko, exchanging declarations of love with one another while the boy's (spare) shades slide down the bridge of your nose and he hums along to the songs you choose on the stereo... if a few facts are being ignored (like the one where this is your mission and the two of you are in your uniforms), the second-year can totally imagine the two of you going on a weekend getaway as a couple now.

a soft smile settles on his lips, as he sneaks a glance of you from the corner of his eyes. "i wasn't trying to make fun of ya, shortie," he says, "i was just responding to your statement."

"but that directly?" you ask, shock and embarrassment flooding your face. your friend stifles a chuckle. "i commented on the moon being beautiful. you should've said something like 'it is, isn't it?' - but no, you went and replied, 'so are you'. my admirer will never be so direct with me; why don't you try to understand that simple fact?"

there are a few days when gojo is really divided between wanting to flick your forehead hard and wanting to kiss you senseless.

today seems to be one such glorious day.

swerving the car onto a stop by the side of the road, he lets his head fall onto the steering wheel and lifts it to lock his eyes with yours.

"and what makes you think your admirer won't be a direct guy?"

"the fact the guy couldn't even show his face to me once, and did not even want to share his contact details with me, despite me pestering him via suguru and nanami, for ages now."

okay, ouch, that one's on him.

yet, never being the one to accept defeat, he throws back, "and what if he wants to build up some mystery before your first meet? you love mysteries, don't you? the guy likes you; he must be trying to use that knowledge to confess to you."

"i like only murder mysteries, 'toru," your deadpan response arrives in a beat, which then evolves into curiosity when you ask, "but how do you know so much about these things? how many relationships have you been in, 'toru?"

it's gojo's turn to grow embarrassed now. hand reaching out to fiddle with the bracelet on your wrist, he answers, "zero."

"hey, don't be embarrassed," he watches you shoot him a grin. a tiny smile is all he manages to return while you continue, "i too have never been in a relationship. anyone you ever confessed to?"

"isn't that evident from my previous answer?"

"nope! you might've gotten rejected; who knows~"

the grin on your lips widens; gojo looks at it for once before dropping his gaze. under the interplay of the light and shadow from the leaves of the tree, there appears to be something different about you - the sorcerer can't really pinpoint what it is but he knows there is, and he doesn't want to dwell on it - lest he loses his self-control.

"i have never confessed to anyone, and whatever confessions i have received, i've either ignored or rejected them all."

"ooh, same!" your excited voice ringing within the confines of the car, you lift his palm to meet yours in a hi-five. gojo lets you do so - before you place it between your two palms and clasp it, a sharp gasp drawn from him at the action. you shoot him a concerned look.

"your hand's freezing cold, 'toru? you okay?"

"yeah, yeah, i'm fine," the boy mumbles, moving his hand away from your comforting warmth - an action he doesn't want to do but has to, for the sake of propriety. something happening out of sheer impulse isn't how he wants to start his story with you - you don't deserve that.

"um, okay," you mutter, then inquire, timid and awkward, "i've one last question on your love life... can i ask that? you can totally ask me to stop though if you're feeling uncomfortable."

"ask away," the boy answers with a smile, he can see, is tense in the mirror as he restarts the car and returns it to the road. a long second passes before you ask, "have you ever liked anyone, 'toru?"

"yeah... there's one girl. i love her."

"oh."

the monosyllabic answer sends a torsion through his chest and gojo twists towards you - only to find a cryptic smile resting on your lips.

discarding your shoes, you fold your knees upto your chest and rest your head atop them, facing him. your senpai is really thankful a soft song comes onto the stereo next, for were it not so, he's certain your soft question would have gone unheard.

"how does your first love feel? beautiful, right? the way it's in books, songs and movies... isn't it?"

gojo takes a moment to mull over your query.

it is... yet it isn't.

the flutters in his heart when you skip past him in the corridors with a beam; the butterflies in his stomach when you plop on the chair next to him in the cafeteria; the dizziness in his head when your face is too close to his; the utterly-unplatonic thoughts of you plaguing him, day and night, dusk and dawn...

the fictional works sure have got this aspect of love right.

but they aren't right in so many other aspects of it.

falling in love with you isn't love-on-first-crash nor is it from a magical transformation in one of you nor is it after ages and ages of ignorance and denial and the final mind-numbing feeling that oh shit! you're the one for him; always have been; the girls with whom he's been till now are mere mirages of you; but it's too late now... you're moving abroad on a flight in two hours, with a boyfriend who's far better than him.

no.

the goggles-wearing sorcerer's catching feelings for you is way more realistic and easier to digest than that.

the two of you are friends, friends, friends - until the morning the two of you are munching on an ice cream tub, and with a casual glance at you, the boy muses what he feels for you is weird, not like his feelings for his other friends - and after a month's worth research, reaches the conclusion of him being in love with you.

quick. direct. smart.

just like the heir of the gojo clan himself.

a small smile lining his lips on this short trip down the memory lane, your senpai hums, "it's complicated. you'll understand when you have your first love."

a soft sigh is the only response you give and gojo reaches over to give a small knock to the side of your head. "don't overthink, shortie," the boy says in a fond tone, a feeling which expands within himself at the smile you offer him, "everything's gonna be okay; i'll personally make sure it is."

"oh, yeah?" a brow rises while your eyes crinkle in a cheeky grin. "and how exactly do you plan on doing that? you gonna have a serious talk with my admirer or something, before our first date?"

if talks in the mirror over the bathroom sink counts, the white-haired boy has had countless discussions so far - but he doesn't tell you that - choosing to return your question with a question of his own.

one which has been pestering him for a while now.

"but, shortie... why the hell are you practising-"

"to confess now?" stealing his words from the tip of his tongue, gojo watches you let out a long tired exhale, then slump back in your seat, a hint of a smile on your lips. flying strands of your hair, from the wind rushing in through the open window, form a halo around your head-

your friend thinks you are an angel descended from above, no matter how you look.

a titter breaks his enraptured gaze on you, and he blinks, finding you with a tiny curve of your lips. you continue, "i wanna stay prepared. if not for this date, then another. if not for this guy, then another. but the thing is, i wanna stay prepared. for love and for everything that comes with it - besides..." your smile grows bashful, an emotion gojo instantly realizes is impossible for him to get tired of seeing on you; you shrug.

"the heart does what it wants, does it not?"

really??

the young sorcerer looks away from you for a beat, letting his gaze travel over the rows of trees dotting the increasingly mountainous terrain, then looks back at you.

the two of you are awfully close to the destination of your trip.

removing a hand from the wheel and reaching it out to intertwine his fingers with yours, the boy asks, "wanna go visit that patisserie i was talking of the other day after this mission? i've heard the sweets there are worth dying for."

"but won't it be late evening by the time our job's done?" you ask back with a frown, "and we also have to return to the school... why don't-"

"it's a full moon tonight, shortie," gojo interjects you with a soft little smile. you stare befuddled at him for a while, before the bulb lights to life in your brain - an event bringing a semblance of relief to the boy - and you laugh.

"oh, oh, oh!" you exclaim, waggling your eyebrows, "i know exactly what you're going to do. you're gonna create a romantic atmosphere to teach me how to confess, aren't you? method teaching - eh, 'toru?"

a chuckle is what gojo decides to offer to your buzzing curiosity, until later this evening.

"i'll let my heart do what it wants to do."

▸ i like fairy cakes from the same universe as this, quite a lot, yk? 😇😇

▸ series: we're the summer to our winter rain

▸ masterlist

#gojo x reader #gojo x you #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru x you #satoru x reader #satoru x you #jjk x reader #jjk x you #gojo fluff #gojo angst #gojo fic #gojo satoru #jjk fluff #jjk angst #jjk fic #jjk fanfic #jjk #kit posts 📝

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swisccfinds · 4 months

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Realistic Life & Pregnancy Mod v.1.0 by PERSA

This mod add so many cool moodlets and actions to improve your realist gameplay.

Creator's notes-

Hello simmers,

As everyone loves this mod I wanted to add more features to it to make it more realistic and fun to play

First of all, I merged all the files in one package for more accessible download as a lot of you has problem extracting the files

+ Family interaction

- I added more "Discuss Adopting Pets" interaction moodlet (a few examples)

added more animals like rats, fish... and also insects for those who like to catch them.

I definitely had a sim who loved collecting insects and giving them names :D

Your sim might now automatically adopt a pet from the phone and many more in-game

- "Have you cleaned your room?" I added this one for when your teen or child has piles of clothes on the floor or ate in their room and left it there, the parent would nag about that and makes the child clean

- also added "Discuss Expanding the Family" making sims wanting the Test-Tube baby

If they are teens or young adults they will be having this moodlet (I added teen just in case you want to make a specific story)

and if they are adults to elder I made a special moodlet just for them (in case you want to make a story as if they grow older and it became hard for them to have a natural pregnancy)

- I added more to the "Ask If They Want A Sibling" interaction where the kid doesn't want a sibling they will get a gameplay trait that says rather be the only kid

in the "Discuss adoption" one, I added moodlets that let the sim choose the baby's age (if you want me to add more like infant gender let me know!)

- I added "Nag about Having kids" for every adult to an elder that their child (young adult) didn't have kids yet they will be wanting to ask them why and as usual different moodlets for every sim to create a more in-depth story.

+ Family Loss interaction

I made a new pie menu where your child could ask about their lost parent

- "Remember their Deceased Parent" is a great option for a parent, caregiver, or even grandparent to tell nice stories about an orphan's parent to give them more beautiful memories, just like real life.

- Last but certainly not least in this Family Category I added "Tell me more about my deceased parent" For children that lost a parent, they will be asking questions about their deceased parent and want to know more about them. It's natural for kids to ask such questions and is crucial. (questions could be asked to their parent or caregiver)

I personally had a child that lost his 2 parents and I cheated by adding his caregiver to the household so the child won't be adopted by another family, and I was like I want them to talk about his family so I added the option).

- I added a new interaction "Name Them as their Child's Guardian": This one your sim will only be able to ask families, such as an uncle, cousin, grandparent, divorced spouse, caregiver, or even sibling to make sure that their child is in the right hands after your sim's death.

Some will accept and receive a trait that will help them be a better guardian if your child's sim dies in-game and you have only the kid left, the kid can call the guardian and use the cheat code testingcheats on, click on shift then right-click on the desired sim and press add to the family, also if you have the Parenthood GP right click it and add the caregiver/dependent and there you have it. No need to leave you can continue your game.

Your sim (parent) should be at least in their 2nd level of parenting Your sim can only ask family, ex-spouse, or their good/best friend for this

If the sim refuses, you'll just need to choose someone else.

+ Morning Interaction

I only added 2 interactions for this one:

the "What if you take a day off?" was meant in case your sim wants to spend more time with their lover or bff to enjoy the day together

+ Mean interactions

"Nag About Laundry"

"Nag To Do Chores"

+ Kids interaction

(For Children)

- In here I added "Ask For A Gaming Pc " It performs exactly like the others with conditions or why not:

- Added "Ask for a Gaming Chair" and "Ask to help with bedroom decoration" for teens:

More teen interactions: "Ask for Camera Photo", and "Ask for a Workout Machine" This will make them decide if they want the weighing machine, the treadmill, or the punch bag

(For Teens)

Child one: "Ask to build a Treehouse"

"Ask for a Wellness Object" This one as well will let your sim choose between the Meditation Bench and a Yoga Mats

"Ask for a Sleeping Bag" Ask for a Soccer ball Ask for a Sleeping Bag

"Ask for a Better Bed" This is for your teen when they keep complaining about their back hurts because of the poor quality of the bed, so you can make them ask for a better bed and see the parent's reaction to making decisions

"Ask for a Snow Sports Object" will also let your sim decide between the climbing gear, the snowboard, or the skis

(an example and way more in-game)

every interaction has its own moodlet that differs every time

+ Pregnancy interaction

I added a new interaction to your pregnant sim where they "Worry about providing for the baby "

"Discuss baby's Tuition"

the partner moodlet:

I also added "Worry about providing for baby"

I also added a trait when your sim asks about the baby's gender the target sim will respond and receive a trait that says what gender they are more into (this one is basically just for more realism in case you want to have a baby shower or make a pregnancy experience more in-depth of every couple)

Once your pregnant teen feels that it's time to tell about their pregnancy to their parent/caregiver, they'll have a trait saying they got pregnant in their teenage time

Follow me on social media: (you'll find the latest news about my upcoming mods) Twitter Instagram Youtube Twitch DiscordTikTok

Lets show our love and support to the links above!

download

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sevensoulmates · 29 days

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I wanted to say something to address some other posts I've been seeing about why some people would be "disappointed" that Buck getting with another man (causally or seriously) before Eddie would be the same as him getting with "another woman" and therefore remaining "on the hamster wheel". (I fucking hate that phrase now).

Anyway, this is SPECULATION because Bucktommy having any sort of romantic relationship is not confirmed yet.

BUT if Buck were to get with Tommy in any capacity I, personally, do NOT see it as Buck backsliding or returning back to Buck 1.0 (if he and Tommy are casual) or "not choosing himself" (ie. choosing Eddie immediately as his one true love).

First I want to address if Bucktommy are casual and if Buck just has a casual sexual relationship with Tommy that doesn't evolve into a full on long-term relationship. I would not see this as Buck reverting back to his Buck 1.0 ways. Because you guys are forgetting that Buck 1.0 wasn't just sleeping around to sleep around because he couldn't go a day without getting his dick wet. That's part of the reason why I didn't like in 7x01 that they were calling Buck a playboy because it, unfortunately, did not hit the truth of WHY Buck was sleeping around so much. Buck was sleeping with any pretty consenting girl he came across because he thought that was the only way he could get them to love him because he inherently believed that who he was would never be enough for anyone and that the only thing he could offer people was sex.

But sleeping casually with a man has a whole different layer to it that's inherently different than sleeping with a woman at this point in Buck's character arc.

He learned a lot in his relationships with Abby, Ali, Taylor and Natalia. Why wouldn't the same come from a relationship (of any kind) with Tommy? And him discovering that he's attracted to men and actually ACTING ON IT???? That IS choosing himself!!!

It is, unfortunately, a common bisexual/queer experience that sometimes people will realize that they do have a same-sex or nb/trans attraction AND opposite-sex attraction and they will CHOOSE not to act on their queerness because unfortunately, it is easier and safer to stick with the heterosexually perceived choice. This doesn't even have to be a conscious choice either. That's where comphet lives and thrives.

If Tommy is actually the catalyst that FORCES Buck to realize he has a real attraction to men (because again, it seems to me like Buck is not CONSCIOUSLY aware of his attraction to men and therefore was NOT sleeping casually with men in his 1.0 days or previous) then him actually choosing to act on it is MONUMENTOUS. We don't know how far that will go, if they will end up sleeping together or developing a bit of a relationship, or if Buck will actually be depicted on screen coming out. I don't know!

But sleeping casually with a man this time does not inherently have to mean that he's making the same old mistakes. It's possible we could finally see Buck setting firm boundaries, or it's possible Tommy says hey this is causal to me and Buck (as the GROWN MATURE SERIOUS ADULT y'all so badly want him to be) is able to accept that without being insecure about himself. There's so much we don't know that could happen as part of this relationship.

In my opinion, Buck allowing himself to actually go the tough route of exploring his sexuality IS choosing himself, opening himself up to a world of future possibility. And if he manages to actually be open about it with his friends and team too? Oh my goodness.

The circumstances are already LEAGUES different from where he was in season 1. If Buck is able to accept that he's into men, able to act on it and be open about it too? That IS accepting himself which was always the issue he had for many years. If he believes in himself to be enough to be brave and open about queerness as he discovers it? That IS "getting off the hamster wheel". It is breaking the pattern of self-destruction, of self-harm, of self-denial.

As for the possibility of it being a long term relationship, we already saw that Tim doesn't currently have plans for Tommy to stick around too long so I'm not really worried about that.

I personally believe that both Buck and Eddie require baby steps before they can get together romantically. Sorry to the people that just want them to confess and boom. I don't think that's satisfactory for myself and for a lot of other people and I don't think the writers would be satisfied with it too. I think we all want to see the nitty-gritty process of both of them realizing their queerness, the growing pains that come along with it, and the eventual step-by-step active choosing of each other.

Buck being able to accept himself and his queerness with another man is the perfect step to him eventually discovering that the place where his deepest love lives is in Eddie. You have to understand that Buck and Eddie have been STAGNANT in their relationship since season 4. They NEED something to come in and show them that their relationship CAN and SHOULD evolve and in order to do that they NEED to be BRAVE and take LEAPS. Buck with Tommy could be the first big leap. After that, it's Eddie's turn.

#911 abc #evan buckley #buddie #bucktommy #buck x tommy #speculation #bi buck speculation #this is still very much a buddie endgame blog

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shuunnico · 7 months

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Unpopular Opinion: Cyberpunk 2077

People who think that we would've gotten Cyberpunk 2.0 at launch if CDPR had just delayed the game or better managed their time back in 2020 are wrong.

If CDPR had gotten an extra year or two, we would not have gotten the 2.0 version we got now. We would've just gotten a less buggy, more polished version of 1.0.

We probably would've gotten a wardrobe, a better police system, vehicle combat and better AI, yes. I severely doubt we'd have gotten the new talent, crafting, skill, armor and cyberware systems added in 2.0.

Why? Because when 1.0 imploded, several people stepped down or away from the Cyberpunk project. In this change up, the current head for all things Cyberpunk, Gabe Amatangelo, stepped up to lead the franchise.

It is very likely all the post 1.0 content was done at his direction. He's the one directing Phantom Liberty.

If 1.0 didn't crumble like it did, we would've never gotten 2.0 and the franchise would continued on with mediocre mechanics, like the talent and crafting systems.

Ironically, Cyberpunk 1.0's failure might have actually put the franchise in better hands overall. Cyberpunk 2 is already planned, which means we should look to 2.0 and Phantom Liberty to get an idea of what that might look like under Amatangelo's leadership.

The best way I could describe it is Cyberpunk was like the asteroid wiping out the dinosaurs. It completely upset the balance at CDPR and, in the wake of the fallout, something new was able to come out of it. Probably something better for the overall, long term health of the Cyberpunk franchise.

I'm not exactly happy 1.0 happened the way it did. But I think if I had a choice between 1.0 going off without a hitch or what we got now, I might still choose what we got now.

Maybe time will prove me wrong. But I think CDPR still wants to make good games. They spent 3 years getting Cyberpunk to be fun to play, so that gives me some optimism for the future of the Cyberpunk franchise.

#Cyberpunk 2077 #phantom liberty #video games #cdpr

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phoenixspencer · 2 months

Note

Hello! I love your gifs! How do you make yours so clear and high quality/What's your process? <3

Hi!! Thank you so much!! I've never really had to explain out my process to anyone and I don't know how much detail you need, but I'll try my best and try to be as thorough as possible just in case!!

For my D:BH gifs, the process starts out with recording my own game play. I have a gaming computer that already had the GeForce Experience app downloaded, so I use that to record my game play. It records at 1920 × 1080p, 60 frames per second, so the files can get... rather large 😅 The video of my playthrough of the Russian Roulette chapter (~11 minutes long) was just under 4 GB. So its not light...

From there, I figure out what in particular I want to gif (for the timestamp roulette series, I let a random number generator figure out whereabouts I'm looking). Once I know that, I open up VLC and use it to isolate that particular shot + a little more on either end.

After I have the shot(s) I want to gif isolated, I open up Photoshop. I use "File" > "Import" > "Video Frames to Layers" and choose the video I want. You can do this straight from the video of your playthough, but I find that the shorter the video is, the easier it is to work with in this step. I trim my video more, to about a click or two outside of the specific shot I want. Like so:

From there I delete any extraneous frames from the "timeline" section that comes up.

Then is cropping: my go-to crop uses the "W x H x Resolution" option - I put 540 px in the first box, 300 px in the second and leave the third blank.

After that, I have an action in Photoshop that does the next steps for me (to make things quicker), but what it does is sets the frame rate (which will have to be done again after saving the gif because Photoshop hates everyone apparently), converts all the layers into a single object, and sharpens the gif. I've only been gif-ing for about a year and a half, and before that I had exactly zero experience with Photoshop at all, so all the numbers from these steps are still the same as the numbers I pulled from the tutorial I used when trying to figure everything out. For those, you can look at this absolutely AMAZING tutorial, by hayaosmiyazaki, specifically steps 7. gif speed and 8. sharpening.

From there, I start adjusting the colors. From what I've noticed, I seem to do a good bit less color adjustment than some, or maybe even most, other gif makers. It's honestly all about personal preference, so play around with it and find what you like! I personally like to stick as close as possible to the original colors, while still brightening the image up enough to make it clearer and more legible. So, for a majority of my gifs, I only apply an "Exposure" layer, a "Brightness/Contrast" layer, and a "Hue/Saturation" layer (from the "Layer" > "New Adjustment Layer" menu.) The numbers here change dependent upon the lighting in the shot.

For example, here's a before and after of this shot I just did so I could type this out and make sure I got every step 😅 For this one, I did Exposure +1.0 (no change to Offset or Gamma Correction), Brightness +20, Contrast +10, and Saturation +5 (no change to Hue or Lightness).

Once I'm satisfied with my coloring, I go to "File" > "Export" > "Save for Web (Legacy)". I watch the gif there to make sure it looks how I want, maybe go back and do a few tweaks to the coloring if I'm not quite happy, check the file size and then save it!

Tumblr's maximum file size is 10MB so if your gif is over that, you won't be able to use it on tumblr - in order to fix that, you may have to delete a few more frames. Or you can crop it to so there's less pixels in the "Save for Web" pop-up by changing the numbers in the "Image Size" section

And now, once I have my gif named and saved. I go back to "File" > "Open" and open up that gif. From there, I go to the little three lines icon in the top right corner of my "Timeline" section, click "Select All Frames" and then click the three dots on one of the frames and change the frame delay. For my DBH gifs, I do 0.02 seconds cause it looks best to me. Depending on how many frames per second your recording software does/what you personally like speed wise, this may be different for you. This is also different for gifs from live action or other media (for those, I prefer 0.05 seconds - it looks the most realistic to me.)

Then, I just save again, overriding the file from before I changed the speed, and voila! That's my process!

I hope this helps; if you have any more questions, my ask box is always open!! And again, thank you so so much 🥰 I'm so glad you like my gifs!!

#so yeah that's the process #gif making #phoenixspencer gifs

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miwtual · 2 years

Photo

GIF COLORING TUTORIAL by kai @heroeddiemunson

hey y’all! many months ago, i made a giffing & coloring tutorial for photopea. while i still use photopea to gif, the way i make gifs has evolved greatly and i think it was time for myself to make a new tutorial to show y’all the new process! once again, it is very long, but i tried to go as in depth as possible and explain what i did in each step of this tutorial :)

what you need:

photopea (basically photoshop in your browser, completely free!)

basic giffing knowledge, because i won’t be covering it in depth in this tutorial

for me, when i make gifs, i use @ashleysolsen sai’s tutorial, which you can find here, for getting clips to gif, how to gif them, and how to crop/resize the gif. if you remember from my last tutorial, i used to use @benoitblanc arwen’s tutorial (here!), so feel free to use that one for your giffing if you’d like!

i also want to add that i recommend saving your progress throughout your giffing process, just in case something happens (your internet goes out, photopea crashes, etc), that way you don’t lose all your progress. to do this, go to file > save as psd, and choose to save your psd somewhere you can find it again. :)

but for now, lets move onto the fun stuff!

STEP 1: BRIGHTENING THE GIF & ADDING CONTRAST

so, after loading my gif into photopea, cropping it (this particular gif is cropped with a 9x8 ratio, which resizes to 540x480), and resizing it, this is what my photopea dashboard looks like. this will be our base!

from here, i go to layer > adjustment layer > brightening/contrast. from here, i change the blending mode to screen, which instantly brightens your gif. here’s the settings below, where i have highlighted in blue what you need to change:

now our gif looks like this:

from here, i want to add more contrast to my gif to add dimension to places of the gif (such as eddie’s face and the creases of his vest). to do this, i go to layer > adjustment layer > levels and make the following adjustments:

when i do this step, i always change that right number to 230 to help retain some of the brightening from the step before. the middle number varies from gif to gif, but since i wanted to deepen the contrast, i made it a lower number (under 1.0, the default); this layer is up to you and what you think looks good for your gif!

as of now, our gif looks like this.

now that our gif has been successfully brightened and we’ve added some nice contrast, we can move onto step 2, which is our base coloring!

STEP 2: BASE COLORING: CHANNEL MIXER & SELECTIVE COLOR

now, to me, this gif is very blue, and i know that in a step or so from now, eddie’s face will get washed out since it’s so pale at the moment. to fix these issues, i use the method outlined in this tutorial by @nobodynocrime with channel mixer.

going under layer > adjustment layer > channel mixer, i personally make the following changes to this particular gif in order to offset the blue of this gif as it is. this step will always change depending on your gif and what it looks like after step 1, so feel free to play around with the different parts of channel mixer and find what works best for you!

with these adjustments, our gif now looks like this:

and now the coloring of this gif is more even, and makes it wayyyy easier to color going forward!

now go to layer > adjusting layer > selective color, and make the following adjustments.

while these adjustments will sometimes vary depending on the gif you’re working on, i generally try to keep the white and black adjustments the same. the neutrals change the most often; since the last thing we did was work to remove the blue, i removed a bit of the cyan that remained after those adjustments, and also removed some neutrals to brighten the gif up a bit more.

after these steps, this is what our gif looks like now:

great work so far! now we can do some more base coloring that isn’t quite as boring :)

STEP 3: BASE COLORING: HUE/SATURATION & PHOTO FILTERS

so now that the very bare bones of this gif are figured out, this is where the tutorial gets a little less wordy and a little more show-y. these steps are consistent throughout my process, but vary wildly depending on what type of gifs im trying to make, so feel free to experiment from here on out!

now that we’re here, go to layer > adjustment layer > hue/saturation. here, i usually make sure that the master tab (which changes the saturation of all the colors of your gif) has +30 saturation and -2 lightness.

from here, go wild! while you can use the hue slider to make different colors in your gif to something else (like making the blues into purples, for example), i wouldn’t recommend doing that. i have a better way to do that, in my opinion, looks nicer and also doesn’t make your gif lose quality. for now, just keep your adjustments to the saturation and lightness sliders!

after messing around with my sliders, my gif now looks like this:

nice! we’re getting somewhere, and the gif’s colors don’t feel so flat anymore.

now, while i did want to warm up this gif from how we started out, i do think this gif has become a little too yellow in eddie’s face and parts of the background. this is why i use photo filters, which can help cool off or warm up parts of your gif pretty easily without affecting other bits too dramatically.

to do this, go to layer > adjustment layer > photo filter. if you would like to warm up your gif, keep the orange (#ec8a00) that the photo filter generates for you and simply turn the density to 10%. or, if you’re like me and you want to cool off your gif, insert blue (#0200fe) to the color of the photo filter and change the density to 10%. now, my gif looks like this:

and thats it for all of the base coloring, so we can move on to our more fun coloring!

STEP 4: COLORING WITH SELECTIVE COLOR

like the last step, feel free to experiment, since this varies wildly from gif to gif and what you’re trying to do. now, in my case, i want to make the blues in this gif purple, so let me show you how to do that using selective color.

remember how i said to not mess with the hues in hue/saturation? this is the step i mentioned where we play around with changing colors! go to layer > adjustment layer > selective color — instead of messing around with the whites, neutrals, and blacks, though, head to whatever color you’re trying to change. in my case, like i said, i want to change the blues, so i’m going to be in the cyans and blues tabs.

below are the ways that i make the blues into purples, but feel free to play around with these adjustments and the different tabs for different colors. maybe you want to turn the blues green, or the yellows red, or something else! go as wild as you’d like with your coloring; like i said, this is the fun coloring!

now that i have made those blues purple like i wanted, and i’ve adjusted some of my other layers to make the yellows/reds of eddie’s face stick out more, my gif looks like this:

the fun thing about the selective color portion of this tutorial is that you can add however many layers of selective color that you’d like! if your purples aren’t purple enough, or the greens aren’t green enough, or you just can’t get the coloring quite right on your gif with one selective color layer, feel free to add more to get your coloring how you want it!

for me, this purple isn’t the type of purple i was looking for, so i’ve added another layer to make it more of the purple i want it to be, and ended up with my gif looking like this:

so, at this point, if you’ve been messing with the blues like me, and you have a person’s face like i do, you may have noticed that the whites of their eyes have ever so slightly changed to the color you’ve changed the blue to.

if your gif has the person being relatively still or standing in the same place witihn your gif’s cropping, follow me into the next step to get rid of that weird color. if this isn’t a problem for you, or someone’s moving too much in your gif, then feel free to skip the next step and move to the one after!

STEP 4.5: FIXING THE WHITES OF PEOPLE’S EYES

so, when i find this problem happening with my gifs, i know that it’s more difficult to fix this problem on top of the selective color layers i’ve done. instead, click on the photo filter layer from step 3 to make sure your next steps happen between the photo filter layer and all your selective color layers.

from here, go to your toolbar on the left and click the lasso select tool. with the lasso select tool, circle the subject’s eyes and/or any other part of your gif that needs to be white. below is a visual tutorial of what i’ve done:

now that what needs to be white has been selected, go to layer > adjustment layer > hue/saturation. with this new layer, you should notice that everything except the section(s) you’ve lasso selected is black on the vector mask (white block beside all of your layers). mine looks like this:

this means that any changes we make to this specific layer will only affect the places that are in white, which is exactly what we want! from here, i go under the blue tab (because our problem happened when i changed the blues to purple, so now im going back and fixing the blues so that the problem isnt a problem anymore) and make the following changes. please note that these may change depending on what your gif looks like and what colors you need to change!

and with this adjustment, eddie’s eyes are now more white! it’s a very subtle change, but i feel as though you can see it when i put the gifs side by side as they are now:

while it was a subtle change in this gif, i have giffed scenes where this difference was more prevalent and really bothered me. if you have a case like that, now you know how to fix it! :)

STEP 5: CURVES LAYER

and we’re here at the home stretch! on top of all your selective color layers, go to layer > adjustment layer > curves. i always click the ‘auto’ button to give me a baseline of where to start, and then adjust my layers until i have my gif looking how i want it to. below are what i did to this particular gif’s curves layer:

and this is what the gif looks like now:

and woo, you’re done with coloring your gif!............... maybe.

see, if you’re like me, maybe you want to make everything in the background of this gif one specific color. if so, follow me into the next step; if not, feel free to skip ahead!

STEP 5.5: MORE COLORFUL BACKGROUND

so this step only works if your gif has minimal movement of your subject, much like this gif of eddie. as you can see, parts of the background of this gif aren’t purple, and i would like them to be. instead of playing around with more selective color layers and the lasso select tool, i’ve found the easier way to do this is to use fill layers and vector masks. (btw, in this section of the tutorial, i’ve put all of the above adjustment layers into a folder. if you’d like to do the same, click the first adjustment layer (brightening/contrast), and then scroll up and press shift while clicking the top adjustment layer (curves). with these layers selected, click the little folder button at the bottom of your layers panel).

to do this, go to layer > fill layer > color fill. outside of the color picker pop up that shows up, your mouse cursor would be a crosshair, meaning that if you click on any section within your gif, you can pick up whatever colors are there and use it for the fill layer! in my case, i’m going to be picking up the purple from eddie’s shirt. now my gif looks like this:

......which isn’t exactly what we want. what we wanna do is use a brush and cut out the parts of this gif that we don’t want this color (such as eddie’s face, in my case). how do we fix this?

first, on your left toolbar, click the brush tool. towards the top, you should have a circle with a number underneath it and an arrow pointing down; clicking this box should reveal a bunch of options, including a size and hardness slider. change these sliders to be 0% hardness and however large (or small) of a brush size you may need for your particular gif. finally, on your right with the fill layer that is now there, click the vector mask/white box linked to the fill layer. also make sure that the colors in the bottom left have black as the foreground/up front, and if you need to, change the opacity of the fill layer so you can see under it!

i know that was a lot of information, so feel free to look at this visual guide to help explain things better:

like with the lasso layer from step 4.5, using black on vector masks makes parts of the gif be unaffected by the layer the vector mask if linked to; thus, when you use black on this vector mask (which is white), you’re basically erasing from the vector mask so your gif underneath it may show through. feel free to use different brush sizes, or to use the color white if you erased something you didn’t mean to, to perfect your fill layer so you can get it how you want it to look.

this is how mine looks with nothing but the layer opacity changed so i could see what i was/wasn’t erasing:

which, while pretty, isn’t exactly what i’m looking for. instead, change the blending mode of your color fill layer to color, like so:

which now makes my gif look like this:

if, when you change the blending mode to color, you notice that maybe you missed something you meant/didn’t mean to color, feel free to go back into the vector mask and fix it.

again, while this is pretty, i’m extra when it comes to colorful gifs, so i’m not quite done. i duplicate my fill layer twice, and then make a couple changes. i keep the middle layer with its blending mode set to color and opacity at 100%. however, i change the bottom fill layer’s blending to multiply, and change the opacity to 30%. then, with the top fill layer, i change its blending to soft light, and change the opacity to 15%. my layers look like this:

which makes my gif look like this:

while it may not be necessary, i like the way it looks better than just with the one color fill layer, so that’s why i do it. :)

from here you can do things like add text, which i won’t go into detail with in this tutorial because it really is just playing around with the different buttons and fonts you may have loaded into photopea.

STEP 6: SHARPENING & EXPORTING YOUR GIF

and oh my god, finally, we are at the last steps before we can export this gif!

when i gif, i like to leave my sharpening until the end because, just in case my gif is too large when it’s being exported, i don’t have to lose a bunch of my work trying to make the gif a smaller file size if i need to adjust my sharpening.

so, to sharpen your gif, click your top frame of the gif, scroll down, and shift click the last frame of the gif. now that all of these frames are selected, any sharpening you changes will be applied to all of them!

this style of sharpening is new to me, and follows closely with @do-revenge este’s own tutorial, which you can find here. with all your frames selected, go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen. i personally keep the default numbers that photopea has on the popup that shows up, but you can feel free to change these numbers however you like. once you’re happy with whatever numbers you have, click “OK”.

now that your smart sharpening has been done, with all your frames still selected, go to filter > sharpen > unsharp mask. when the popup loads, it may look something like this:

if you like what this looks like with the unsharp mask, feel free to keep these numbers! i personally like to change these numbers so they aren’t quite as intense; i find that i like what my gifs look like with the amount changed to 135% and the radius changed to 3.5px, which makes my gif look like this:

once you’re happy with your unsharp mask, click “OK”, and boom! you’ve made a gif, congrats! now it’s time to export. to do so, go to file > export as > .GIF. you should get a pop up that lets you preview what your gif looks like, colored and sharpened in all its glory. make sure that when exporting, the number at the bottom stays under 10mb, because that’s tumblr’s size limit for gifs!

click “SAVE”, and viola, you’ve done it! you’ve made a gif! congrats, bestie! :) <3

this is, once again, just the way that i personally make gifs. feel free to use only parts of this tutorial if you’d like, or change parts of it with other tutorials you may like more than mine! play around with different layers and find what works best for you. have fun, and happy giffing! :) <3

#photopea tutorial #photopea gif tutorial #completeresources #allresources #userars #userzesty #tusersai #dailyresources #gif tutorial #photopea #mystuff #mytutorials #i spent like two hours making this tutorial i hope its helpful SJBFDKJL

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