#man this site gets uglier and uglier every time i come on with my laptop i hope j.oshua can purge the ugliness or smth

[jennerarts]

[ddagent]

I know we just got it, but is there a chance of a follow-up to Brienne being able to read people's minds? It's sooooo good.

I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the response to telepathic!Brienne, and I truly hope you enjoy this follow-up! Thank you to @resthefuture​ for this AMAZING moodboard! 

Part One, “Noise” can be read here.

Brienne’s elbow jerked, and a nearby coffee cup tipped to the side; brown liquid spilling across the conference room table. Her colleagues scrambled to clear away the papers littering the surface; a flurry of thoughts bombarding Brienne as she suddenly became the focal point of the meeting. 

What a klutz. 

You’d think someone with arms that long would have better control over them. 

What is Tarth even doing here? She hasn’t worked on a proper case in months. 

Fuck; thanks a lot, Tarth! Why don’t you go back to the bridge you crawled out from?

She shouldn’t be here. She probably has a concussion. 

Brienne looked up at that last thought; Jaime Lannister’s voice cutting clear across the din. Despite the concern in every syllable, the senior partner sat in his chair, scrolling through his phone with disinterest. He seemed utterly oblivious to her mishap at the other end of the table. And, yet, Brienne was sure it was him. Sure it was his voice, filled with longing, that had called out for her to look at him for once. And, yet—

“Are you finished, Ms Tarth?” Brienne opened her mouth to respond, but Lannister didn’t allow her the opportunity. “Good. Stone: update on the Greyjoy case.” 

As one of her fellow associates launched into the latest legal battle between the brothers warring over their father’s will, Brienne dropped to her seat; cheeks flushed. On a normal day, knocking over a coffee cup and drawing the ire of a senior partner would rank amongst one of her worst. But her newfound...ability pushed it to the very top. Her colleagues barely tolerated her. Renly Baratheon used her. And Jaime Lannister— Well, Brienne wasn’t entirely sure what to make of him just yet. 

The meeting finally drew to a close, and her colleagues filed out one-by-one. Renly was the first to leave; he had an appointment with an intern at the advertising agency on five for some illicit fun in the men’s bathroom. Her colleagues had casework, calls to make, games to play. Brienne was the last to rise, and almost the last to leave. Jaime Lannister remained sitting; his manicured fingertips tracing the grain in the wood. 

“We don’t do injury claims here, Ms Tarth.” 

Her forehead furrowed. “I’m–I’m sorry?” 

He pointed at her face. “The bump on your head. This is a serious firm, taking on serious cases. You won’t find anyone here to take your case if you decide to sue.” A lawsuit is too good for whatever animal did that to you, anyway. A broken jaw would be better. 

“I—” Brienne was tired of half-finishing her sentences; so overwhelmed was she that words were far beyond her grasp. So she swallowed, straightened, and said: “I don’t intend to sue, Mister Lannister, but I do intend to press charges when the gold cloaks catch whoever was responsible.”

If she hadn’t heard his soft, aching thoughts, Brienne would have missed the taut line of his shoulders; the tightening of his grasp around the table. “You were attacked?” A broken jaw is far too good. I’ll call Tyrion; he knows people. We’ll have him buried by day’s end. 

“No!” Brienne blurted; Lannister’s eyes widening at her sudden outburst. Fuck. “I mean, I was attacked, but only because I was trying to save someone else from being mugged.” 

“Well, aren’t you the gallant knight.” Like Ser Blue. Tall, strong; I bet you could pin me–no, Jaime, not in the workplace. “We have an excellent healthcare policy, Ms Tarth; we here at Lannister, Baratheon, and Targaryen pride ourselves on it, in fact. I suggest you use it.” Please go home, Brienne. Get some rest. 

“Thank you, but I’m fine.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself. But this was me covering my own arse; if you decide to sue us later for breach of care or...whatever, your case won’t hold water. I’d get some ice for your head, though. That bruise makes you look even uglier than usual.” 

Lannister rose from his seat and made his departure from the conference room. He looked like the Warrior as he departed: expensive suit, well-cut mane, golden grin. But Brienne could hear his thoughts, and they betrayed a different kind of man. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why did you say that, you idiot? Now she’s going to think you think she’s ugly, and judging from last night’s— Brienne was grateful when Lannister disappeared from her eye-line, and she could no longer hear him. If she had any doubts that his thoughts were about her, they had evaporated some ago. Jaime Lannister, the most eligible bachelor in King’s Landing and a disgrace to the legal profession, liked her. 

Too many thoughts. Too many questions. Too loud. Too much noise. 

Brienne retreated to her office, adjusted the blinds and shut the door. She logged onto her company laptop and pulled up a search engine, deciding to start at the beginning. Hearing people’s thoughts brought up more than a few results about mental illness. Telepathy was a more prosperous search, although Brienne was led to more than one site promising to teach people how to read thoughts for a monthly fee. Her search came up with nothing as to how to control or stop it; the most useful advice she saw was not telling a maester she could hear other people’s thoughts. 

After a while, Brienne opened a new window and typed in Jaime Lannister. 

As expected, there was the firm’s website; a series of tabloid articles detailing his well-publicised affair with his step-sister. The images tab revealed numerous photoshoots for various magazines, including a charity calendar of various attorneys in the city. Renly’s month had been in Brienne’s kitchen all year round. The news tab made mention of cases he’d won – and the Aerys Targaryen debacle. He’d wrecked Targaryen’s defence on purpose; had almost been disbarred had his father not come to his aid. Jaime Lannister was deplorable. And he liked her. 

Before Brienne could fall down a rabbit hole about what that said about her, there were two knocks at the door. Renly didn’t even wait to be invited in before he came inside, throwing her that winning smile. “Hey, you.”

She quickly pulled down the lid of her laptop before he could see the pictures of Jaime and jump to the wrong conclusion. “Hello yourself.”

“So, earlier, I mentioned that very special job for you?” 

“Right.”

“Shall we head to my office? We can talk about the case, one-on-one.” Come on, you never miss the opportunity for some alone time with me, Brienne. Take my special job, so I can get some jobs of my own down at the Club. “I’ll get the tea – no coffee.” 

“I–I can’t.” Are you serious? Brienne was serious. She was better than this; a better lawyer than this. Now she knew the truth, she would not let herself be used in such fashion. “I’m afraid I’m working on another case already.”

Renly chuckled. “Well, as a senior partner, I’m sure we can move a few people around.” Are you really trying to play hard to get, Brienne?

“The case I’m working on is for a senior partner. Mister Lannister asked for my help.” 

Oh, fuck off he did. He can’t stand you. “He did?” At that exact moment, as if the Gods wished to test Brienne further, Lannister walked by her office. “Jaime, can I bother you for a minute?”

“Why stop at a minute?” Why couldn’t you have run the Storm’s End office? Your brother is a bore, but at least you know where you stand with him. “What’s wrong, Renly?”

“Brienne here says you’ve asked for her help on a case? I was rather hoping she could help with mine.” 

Lannister’s head swivelled towards her; one eyebrow raised, intrigued. “She did, hmm?” Don’t tell me you’ve finally wised up to this arse, Tarth. She had. And if it came down to it, she’d rather listen to his thoughts than Renly’s. What a sorry state her life had become. “Well, she is. Working with me on a case.”

Renly spluttered. “But–but Brienne and I have a special working relationship.”

Oh, I know all about your relationship. She does all the work while you galavant around town. “Well, this case requires Ms Tarth’s special skillset. Sorry, Renly. Guess she’s mine now.”

Brienne was about to voice an objection over being treated like property when she heard Jaime’s inaudible sigh. If only. 

[burdenofheroes]

Peter Parker Imagine #5

“I’m heading over to Peter’s!” You yell into the living room as you take a seat on the bottom step of the stairway to tie your laces. “You guys want anything?”

“Yes,” Your brother’s voice boomed as he leaned across the sofa, a copper glass bottle in hand. “I would like one large pepperoni pizza, extra cheese and extra sauce.”

You stuck your tongue out at him in response to which he winked and laughed.

“Do you have to go?” Your mother asked, walking into the little hallway, drying her wet hands on a small towel.

“Yes.” You bit out, keeping your eyes lowered so that she couldn’t see the edginess to them.

“What is it this time?” She asked, crossing her arms. “Another assignment?” She raised her brow. “You know, I’m honestly finding it hard to believe that you are paired with him for every single project in all your classes.”

Rolling your eyes, you pull up your hood and grab your bag. “I don’t care what you think.” You stated firmly. “I’m going there because I want to.” Tilting your head to speak directly to your brother, you informed, “I’ll let you know if I need a ride.” He gave you a thumbs up, his way of letting you know that he has your back and would deal with mom.

As you make your way out of the house, you happily welcome the cool air that was hitting your face. You always could rely on good ol’ mother nature to keep you calm and steady after a blow out with your mom. You weren’t entirely sure as to why she was being so hard on your friendship with Peter. It’s not like Peter was a bad kid. Heck, if you had to group Peter with one of the cliques, he would 10/10 be placed with the nerds. And he would wear a proud badge saying so. It was because of kids like Peter and Ned and Liz and Michelle, that being a nerd was actually considered being cool. Since when being intelligent was considered a bad thing, you weren’t entirely sure but as long as you got to hang out with your best buds, you were happy.

Still, it didn’t quite explain why your mom was being so hard on you. You wished she would ease up a little.

You knocked on the door and smiled as you were greeted by May.

“You know I think I might just have to buy you your own key.” She said, running over to the kitchen so that she can quickly flip over the grilled cheese sandwich on the pan.

You locked the door behind you, trapping the sizzle of the melting cheese in the room.

“Why not just give me Peter’s? It’s not like he uses it.” You teased. May simply pointed at you, telepathically communicating her agreement with you. “Is Peter in?” You asked. It wouldn’t be the first time that you were invited to his home only to find him gone for hours at end.

“He better be! If not, he’s going to be eating this for an entire week.” She said, flipping the sandwich over once more. “Here, wanna take this in for me?” She asked, placing the hot meal on a chipped blue plate.

“Sure.” Accepting the plate and the cold glass of milk, you made your way to Peter’s room. “Knock, knock.” You greeted, walking in just in time to see Peter quickly shut his laptop and put it away. “Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all. What were you doing?”

“Oh, nothing.” He lied, smiling so hard that his cheeks scrunched up like a chipmunk.

You decided to let it go, handing over the glass and plate to him. Taking a bite out of the sandwich, he scooted over so that there was an ample amount of room for you.

“Did you think of an essay topic yet?” You asked as you took your history notebook out of your bag.

“Nope.” He answered, with a pop. Inspecting his sandwich as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world, he continued. “Don’t worry about it. We can wing it.”

“You can wing it. I can’t.” You corrected. “I don’t know how you even manage to do that man. I mean writing one page is one thing but writing 2, 000 words, that too the night before?” You shook your head in disbelief.

“What can I say. I’m a pro at procrastination.” He answered smugly as if it was a proud title to hold. “Forget that,” He interrupted, throwing your notebook and pencil at the other end of the bed, “You have to watch this.” He chomped down the rest of his sandwich in two hurried bites, and opened his laptop. Logging in, he gulped down his milk to wash down the last remains of his sandwich, giving you enough time to see what he had been so secretive about earlier.

Elizabeth Allan.

You weren’t entirely sure why your smile had dropped or why your mood had all of a sudden become so sour. But the one thing you knew for sure was that the longer you looked at her, the uglier you felt. So you turned to look at Peter instead but the blushing boy had become busy in shutting the site, and directing your attention to what he had really wanted to show you.

“Pretend you didn’t see that.” He requested underneath his breath as he waited for the site to load.

“See what?” You asked, wanting Peter to elaborate on just what he was so embarrassed about. You wanted to give him the chance to dispel your thoughts and make you realize that there truly was nothing to worry about, if there was any reason to do so in the first place.

He released a deep breath and said, “Thank you,” genuinely relieved that you were willing to drop the subject so quickly.

You were quite disappointed but decided not to push it. There was no point in making him talk about things he didn’t want to yet. When the time came, he would bring it up himself.

“So what did you want to show me?” You asked, directing your attention to the laptop once more.

Of course, you should have known that it would be Star Wars related. “The new trailer just dropped!” He shouted excitedly, pulling the video up to full screen and making himself comfortable by stretching out his legs and placing the laptop on top of them.

Although you weren’t that deep into the Star Wars universe as Peter and Ned were, you had to admit the effects used were pretty cool. That being said, you wouldn’t dare say a word about your indifference to the boy sitting in front of you. Knowing him, he would gape at you with his mouth wide open before launching into a hysterical rant over how cool all the characters are, and before you know it you will end up munching on popcorn as you, Peter and Ned find yourself embarking upon a movie marathon.

So instead, you ask him about what he thinks will be happening next in the future films. It’s a nice diversion as you get to hear him ramble for what seems to be about fifteen minutes. But you don’t mind even if it is about something that you’re not that particularly interested in. There was just something about his voice that you found soothing, and sweet. The various inflections reflecting his excitement, the slight cracks in the words he chooses, the high speed rambling been accentuated by his hand gestures - you found it all to be quite endearing.

“Wow, I’ve been talking a lot. Please tell me I didn’t bore you.” He asked, slightly squinting his eyes.

“Oh no, I was just…” You paused, stretching out your own legs as you thought of a believable excuse to say, “I was thinking about Leia, you know. It can’t be easy knowing that your own son killed the love of your life.” It was a good point to bring up even though it hadn’t really been the one on your mind.

“Hmm.” Peter hummed in agreement, as he laid down in bed. “I can’t even imagine what’s that like. Losing someone you love, by someone you’re supposed to love.”

“Conditional versus the unconditional.” You added in a whisper as you thought about the dichotomy between a romantic love and a familial love. You weren’t quite sure as to why the notion of unconditional love has been attributed to familial love when sometimes it’s your own family members who become your greatest enemies. They’re the ones who create restrictions and suffocating environments while it’s complete strangers who accept you for who you are with no questions asked. They take whatever version of yourself that you say you are and they can’t say otherwise.

“You okay?” Peter asked bumping his knee with yours. “You’re being awfully quiet.”

“Yeah, I’m good. Just thinking about home.” You admitted.

“Did your mom say something again?” He asked quietly and with a tinge of guilt. He knew your mom wasn’t entirely forthcoming of you visiting him so often.

“Just the same old. What I’m going for, why do I have to go there all the time. That sort of stuff.” You picked at a loose thread that was hanging from Peter’s bedsheets. “It’s nothing new.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What for? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know, it’s just… you get in trouble every time you come over. I don’t like it.” He stared intently at you but you refused to meet his eyes.

“It’s fine. Nothing I can’t handle. Besides what’s the worst that she can do? Ground me?” You scoffed. “Even if she does it’s not like she can make me stop from seeing you at school.”

“Let’s not test her okay? I would hate to see how far her powers go.” Laughing, you laid down beside him. “I would hate to lose you as a friend.” You turned your head to face him. Compared to your calm stance, he was rigid. Wound up so tight that given one snap, he just might break. “You’ve just become so important to me. Not having you around is like not having Ned to introduce me to Star Wars you know? If that one moment hadn’t happened, my life would have been so different.” He commented, his eyes glazing over as if he was remembering a distant memory.

“You can stop exaggerating Peter.” You joked but Peter was in no joking mood.

“I’m not joking, I’m serious. You’ve done so much for me even if you don’t know about it. You’re so smart, and brave and are never one to give up. You just keep on trying and would break through a rock with your bare hands if it means you would get results.”

Wincing, you replied, “I don’t think I will go that far.”

“Okay, that bit might be too much, but the sentiment still stands. You’re absolutely amazing.” You blinked a few times and then looked away, being unable to handle the intensity of his words and eyes. “You give me so much courage. In fact,” He sat up abruptly, “I’m going to do something right now.”

Your heart hammering, you too sat up. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to ask Liz out.” He answered, smiling wide and being slightly out of breath.

Your threat seized up and you felt as if your heart was being squeezed tightly for the purpose of squirting out every last drop of blood it could manage. You thought back to the picture of Liz on his laptop, the way he had shut it so quickly twice, and why he had been blushing so hard. It had been fairly obvious but some part of your mind had hoped you were wrong. That Peter didn’t like Liz that way. It was a silly idea anyways and now that you think about it, you weren’t sure why Peter said all those nice things about you when they clearly applied to Liz more than you.

“I should get going.” You place your notebook and pencil in your bag as Peter busies himself in texting Liz.

“Hmm? How come?” He asked, sounding quite distracted as he eyed his phone.

“I have to pick up dinner.” You supplied, sending a silent thanks to your brother for you didn’t have to lie to your friend.

“Oh, okay. See you later then.” Peter said, not bothering to look up as he typed up his response.

Sighing, you left the room and clicking the door closed, you wondered if this is the direction your friendship was heading. You being sidelined and pushed to the side while someone else, someone whom he considers to be far better than you, takes up most of his time.

“Leaving so soon?” May asked looking up from the notes she was making.

“Uh, yeah. I have to go pick up dinner.” You spoke with a tight smile.

“You better have someone come pick you up. It’s raining pretty heavily out there.” She cautioned, pointing behind her at the rain beaten windows.

“Uh, yeah. Of course.” You answered, pulling up your phone and sending your brother a quick text.

The last thing you wanted was to be around your brother right now. He could pick up on your mood swings faster than a fly is able to find its sugar sap. Nonetheless, he was coming around to get you and there wasn’t much that you could do about it.

Just like you couldn’t do much about Peter’s feelings for Liz. They were simply there and you had to deal with them the best that you can. If it meant decreasing the amount of time you spent with him, then so be it. At least your heart won’t be broken.

[palettetowngame]

Update (25.1.17)

Hello again!

I return with good news. I’ve managed to get my copies of SAI and Photoshop to work on my new laptop, so Palette Town progress shall resume as per usual. Himawari’s final SP design shall be done soon, followed by Palette Town’s logo design.

Soon, I’ll start working on HTML codes for Palette Town’s potential website. I don’t have much experience with HTML (only very, very basic knowledge), but I’m not afraid to try it, either. Along with this, once I have a fair amount of item designs finalised, I’ll look into designing a flash game to simulate a scenario similar to using your closet on Palette Town. This will be uploaded on deviantArt if all goes well, so if anyone’s interested, you can play around with some potential and future items on an SP doll. However, since I’ve only got very little done (and drawing items takes a lot of time, haha), and using flash is something I have no experience in, it will probably be a month or more before that surfaces.

Fear not! I’ll do my best. It’s difficult being a one-man army at the moment, but I know I just need to stick it out through the initial stages. 

I’ve gone into further thought about how everything will work, and so I’ll explain some of my ideas and goals for the future under the cut, for those who are interested in seeing me ramble.

If you’re not interested, though, I’ll say goodbye here. Until next time!

I’ve started being better organised and writing out my plans on Google Docs for PT. I should’ve started this earlier, but I guess, until now, I didn’t have enough to write down.

At this stage most of the notes are regarding my ‘to do list’ with what designs I’ll be doing next. Here it is -

To Do List:

- Himawari. Specifically, finishing her SP design. This may not be her final design; probably in the future, towards the game online release or during alpha/beta stages, I’ll revise her design. So if you think it’s ugly right now, it’s not permanent however it may just grow uglier. 

- Palette Town logo. All websites need a logo, if that makes sense. This will appear most likely in the corner of the PT webpages, serving as a redirect to home/the main page. Yes, I’ve sketched out the design - it’s just a matter of drawing it up digitally and playing around with its layout in Photoshop. Once that’s finalised, I’ll pop that online too. 

- Palette Town map design. Yes, a map. Why a map? Well, it’s not related to pirates or treasure, unfortunately. It’s sort of similar to the town map on Club Penguin - though I haven’t actually played that game in like many, many years, so I don’t know if you know what I’m talking about, hahaha. But yes, the ‘map’ will appear on PT’s home slash main page, so it’ll be the first thing you see upon logging in. The map will basically serve as a menu, for the player to select what part of the website they’d like to be redirected to (so, for example, on the map there might be Home, Town, and Arcade. If you want to play a game, you would click on the Arcade link, and it would take you to a page with all actions that fall under the Arcade category, including games). Really, the map just serves as ~aesthetic~. But depending on the level of complication to get the map to work, it may not be available if or when PT goes online. 

- Starter Self-Portrait designs. Oh boy! Are you thinking what I’m thinking, B2? So, of course when you first sign up to PT, your avatar is not naked and faceless and looking like some mannequin from a horror movie. Players will be able to select three different pre-made avatar designs - labelled Masculine, Feminine and Androgynous - which will already have an outfit, face item and hair item. No, you won’t be forced to choose a SP based on what gender you are; it’s free choice, and you can choose whatever of the three appeal most to you. The Self-Portrait base is also androgynous, meaning that you can dress your SP to whatever gender you want, without being restricted to a gender-assigned base. Does that make sense? I hope it does. Basically, you can dress your SP as female, male, both, neither, etc., regardless of what SP you chose when signing up. While you may be stuck with one outfit and hairstyle upon signing up, you’ll be able to customise skin colour, eye colour and hair colour. 

- Starter items. When you first sign up, your closet is going to be looking pretty empty. And yes, you’ll be stuck with whatever eyes and hair colour you chose, and whatever items your chosen SP was wearing. I believe people would grow sick of the design within two seconds of signing up, so new users will get the opportunity to earn some free items to customise your SP further. There will be a ‘Daily Free Gacha’ available to all users, and new users will get 10 free spins upon signing up. After the 10 free spins are used up, the gacha will return to its normal use: 1 free spin daily, and for any extra spins it’ll cost a small amount of the website’s free currency (which you can earn pretty easily and will have a lot of when you first sign up). The items in this gacha will change every few months or so, just in case some people go crazy and earn all the items obtainable, haha. I’ve already started sketching up the ideas for what this gacha will contain, so stay tuned for more info! 

- Pre-registration items & specials. Okay, so, there’s a likely chance the site will be up before all functions will be available, for the sake of bug testing and all that technical hoo-ha. Pre-registration for the game’s development stages (such as alpha and beta and whatever else may be necessary in the coming future) will open to all users, so I’ve decided to implement some special gifts for those who pre-register. I won’t go into detail about the gifts, because then I’ll have to talk about currencies and secrets and arcade games, and that stuff is reserved for another post, another day. But the basic idea is, upon hitting certain milestones during the pre-registration period, pre-registered users will receive celebratory gifts. And who doesn’t like gifts? Free stuff, my dudes. Free stuff!

Well, I think I’ll wrap up this extremely long and possibly tedious update here. This isn’t the whole to do list, there are about 7 or more other things on it; however this post will become novella-sized, and I think I should keep the leaks to a minimum for now. 

At least, with what I’ve talked about here, I’ve created a better idea of what’s to come in the near future, as well as plans for palette town. Expect more lengthy updates soon.

See you in the next post!

- Kay (25.1.17)