#motion and rotational blurs are hard

[grady1285]

This somehow only took me five days to finish

This scene is actually important to the plot of my story lmao

[secret-smut-sideblog]

We The Drowned

Ascended Astarion x F! Tav

18+ fear, drugging, injury, fears of pregnancy, dubcon, longing, implied death, self sacrifice, just indulgent drama

Astarion long since ascended, Tav has made her mind up to escape his grasp at any cost...

-

Hands shaking, she laid awake. Plan already in motion. But Gods she was so afraid.

Tears sliding down cheeks she cursed herself.

It was what he wanted, what he begged her to help him achieve. Ascension. And Gods she had wanted the world for him. Wanted him to follow his own desires. Had trusted him. Trusted him to know what would be best for him.

She was wrong. So very wrong.

The man laying next to her was far from the man she fell in love with. Cruel. Cold. Vicious.

Oh how she had held on hope. Hope that he would come back to himself. To her. Staying by his side for so long. Years. The length of her hair, the state of her withering body, a witness to her despair, her devotion. Even searching in small moments, so desperate to see just a glimmer. But he was gone.

If she hadn't already known she did now. Pulling her into his bed chambers. Pushing her onto the sheets. Halfway through thrusting hard into her he had laughed, "My pet, I've made a discovery." Hand coming to wrap around her throat. "In this new perfect form I can do something novel. You can give me something precious, I know you want that."

Leaning into her ear, sharp fingernails digging into flesh. "You can sire me an heir."

Terror shook her body at the thought. She had refused being his spawn, that measure of control free from her. Much to his attempts at persuasion, then bitter anger. Knew it was only a matter of time before his precious little patience broke. That he would take her mortality by force.

But a child... his child.

No. No it had to be tonight. She had no choice. Before it was too late.

Held her breath in silent prayer. Felt a phantom twitch in her belly. If it wasnt already too late.

She had been working in secret on an escape plan for months. In the few moments when he would let her be alone she formed her route. Working out every angle, every flaw that she could. It was a great effort as he loathed to have her out of his sight, his reach. His consort.

His pet.

Now as he laid finally still next to her, drugged by the slow acting paralytic in her blood, she reached weakly against her numb limbs. Fighting the heavy pull.

Her handmaid rushed into the room. Right on time, Gods bless her.

"Here," She urged quietly, pouring the antidote into her slack mouth. "Good job, there you go." She encouraged sweetly as she shallowly swallowed, gaining strength.

Shakily she rose, adrenaline already throttling her spine. Gripping her beloved face in her hands. "He'll kill you. Oh Gods, Madeline I'm so sorry." Overcome in gratitude, in grief. Pressing a desperate kiss into her soft lips. Their last, she knew.

The memory of them holding hands in the garden, the overhang of the canopy shading them from the world. Leaning her head into the gentle curl of her shoulder. The tender way she had pushed her hair behind her ear. A love so brief, so bright. So little time shared.

"I know," Her beautiful savior whispered, pressing their foreheads together briefly. "Now go. You have to go."

Choking back a sob she took fast to feet, grabbing the supplies she had hidden under her side of the bed. Forced herself not to look back.

Running down the hallway she knew her time was limited. It was a potent paralytic but he was so much stronger now, would overcome it much faster than a mortal man.

Hidden door. Thirty paces. Turn. She ducked into the servants side door, the shortcut. The dark cramped hallway rushing past her. Twisting and ducking under pipes. Slats of light striking her face in a blur.

Steps. Remember the steps.

Bursting from the hidden door she rushed through the empty ballroom out onto the balcony. Empty of guards, the rotation switch.

The night air mockingly peaceful. She gulped it in. Eyes already zeroed in on her next hurdle.

Throwing her pack over the edge. Shuddering at the time it took to hear its distant thud against the ground.

Only room enough for one long length of rope in her pack, she had one option.

Downing a feather fall potion she looked over the edge of the castle wall, trying not to let the dizzy height consume her. Her fear too much, she turned her back, her heels kissing the edge.

She caught a pulse of light high above her from an ornate window. A crash. Out of time.

Closing her eyes she stepped back into oblivion.

Falling. Falling.

How she had fell from the nautiloid ship. Both an escape. But the time she had a guardian to catch her was far behind her.

Back meeting ground, the wind knocked brute out of her. Even with the potion the fall had been too great. Felt a crack in her ribs.

No time for pain. She had to go.

Scrambling to feet she slung her pack over her back. Planting her feet and taking off like a shot. Bare feet scratching and angry against the underbrush.

"Provolo! " She cried with precious little breath. Could feel her feet move lighter, the momentum coming easier. Haste, another precious advantage.

The sound of rising voices from the castle walls behind her.

Fly forth.

Ducking and weaving around trees, over logs, she felt a tenuous joy start to rise in her chest. Oh Gods she might make it.

Bursting out of the treeline to the magnificent sound of the sea crashing angry below. The tree she had chosen was still here, her anchor.

She ran the rope around its base. So many lengths tied together, long enough to let her drop somewhat unscathed. Tying the knot, the one she had been practicing for weeks, against its ridged skin.

"Please hold." She whispered. Whipping the remaining length out, invisible over the side of the cliff.

Tying her meager possessions into a small bag tight around her waist. Pulling her long braid out of the way, looping loose around her throat. She rushed to the edge, vertigo making her stomach turn. No more potions. If she fell this was it.

Taking the rope in hands she planted her feet, her toes gripping the loose soil.

Gave herself a single moment to close her eyes, take a steadying breath in, out. Okay.

One step backwards, two. Dangling out over the edge. So far to fall. Three steps, four. Dangling. Feet planted against vertical soil. Hands releasing, lowering. Five steps, six. Between worlds, suspended in air.

A violent pull upwards.

Her eyes flashed up, terror gripping her.

A pale hand, fist white knuckled.

Red eyes above.

Eyes full of... fear? No it couldn't be.

Her heart slammed against her sternum. The desperation on his face crumpling her will.

Memories pummeled her. His hand trailing soft in her hair. Eyes bright with mirth as they fell laughing over eachother by the campfire, a stupid in-joke. His voice whispering sweetness into her neck as he gripped her, hips falling into her shivering body.

The pet name she had given him, the one he he insisted he hated, hands on hips. The little smile he couldn't hide as she drawled it at him.

"Starlight?" She asked breathlessly, eyes swimming heavy with tears.

His so wide, so soft again. Her love.

But then he was gone.

"Where do you think you're going," Other hand coming to pull. "Darling?" He hissed at her. Another handful of distance lost.

She rapidly released her grip, white hot pain against the tender flesh of her palms as she broke her descent. Ground gained but not nearly enough.

The smuggled boat waiting for her under the overhang of stone, she only had to make it to the mouth of the cave.

But she knew it was over. His strength was too great, she couldn't descend fast enough.

She would not be kept, he couldnt have her. Only one option.

She looked up into his eyes.

"I love you." Bitter tears burning her face. "I still love you."

"Please let me go."

He laughed, wrenching another length of rope towards his body. "And give up everything? Every gift you've given me?"

Eyes cutting into her. "Every gift you can still give me? No..." Almost face to face now.

"No, I dont think I will."

She was deeply afraid, but more than that, she was angry. Bright fury ripping through her chest. One hand relaxing it's grip.

Angry at everything she had lost. Angry at him for tricking her into thinking he knew his own heart.

Spiteful at every single piece of the life she had wanted with him, that his ambition had stolen. The beautiful thing they could have shared.

In her heart she let it all go.

"Goodbye Astarion."

His hand almost at her wrist, slipping away. "No!" He bellowed, lunging fruitlessly.

She closed her eyes as it all fell away. His wild eyes, the rope, the edge of the earth.

Tumbling through the air she went limp. It was finally over. His pet no more.

The air singing through her whipping hair.

It was done.

She was ready.

Now she just had to meet the water.

-

-

-

"Unghh..."

Far away. What was that? Gods, someone stop it. That sound.

She was so tired, just let her rest.

"Mmfhhh..."

Closer. Wasnt the afterlife supposed to be peaceful?

Was she not owed some Godsdamned peace?

"Uaaghh! " Her gurgling voice came to her all at once. Eyes shooting open.

Coughing great heaves of sea water, she rocked back and forth in the sand. Pinpricks of light in her eyes. Limbs rubber.

How. How had she survived?

From the state of her body she surmised she barely had. Broken, bloody, bruised.

And free.

She laughed wildly. He must think her dead.

Free.

Only time would tell if she had a new problem. Hand to her hunched belly. Gods above and below, spare her one more time.

Coughing and wretching she sat back on her haunches, exhaustion bone deep.

"Shadowheart!" She gasped, the plan suddenly coming back to her.

Sending a single folded letter with a servant, prayed it would reach to the Selunite outpost. Got a small book slipped under her door in return, a pressed night orchid in its pages.

She would be much earlier than she had estimated in her letter, but she knew that wonderful cleric would be waiting for her already. Not one to stand idle.

Pushing back with trembling arms. Rising on legs dead heavy. Heart lifted on high.

She began her long journey back to her life.

~

Part 2

[hiwofumi]

𝚊 𝚞 𝚐 𝚞 𝚜 𝚝

Summer love with the Sano boys. Mikey’s ver.

For context, the Sanos own a beach house. It’s the same setting for each boy, but on different occasions.

18+ ⭒ MDNI ⭒ 1.4k words

starring ⭒ Manila Arc Mikey ⭒ AFAB Reader

tags ⭒ Smut ⭒ Reader is a bikini wearer ⭒ Whipped Mikey ⭒ Dirty talk ⭒ Public sex ⭒ He’s kinda rough ⭒ Standing doggy ⭒ Stand and carry

note ⭒ Entry #2 for @fueledbysano’s Sano Collab! Thank you for the warm reception of Shin’s version! ⭒ Just realizing now that I’m not posting in the right order of the lyrics ⭒ Robyn, it may not be a penthouse, but I think you get the gist :]

network ⭒ Meet me behind @tokyometronetwork

versions ⭒ Shinichiro’s ver.⠀Izana’s ver.

𝚂𝚊𝚕𝚝 𝚊𝚒𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚍𝚘𝚘𝚛

𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎

When Manjiro reaches the balcony entrance, he stares.

You stand out against the backdrop of the sea—he knows he’s biased, but he has no shame in admitting it: you’re more breathtaking than the view of the beach, even with just your back facing him. Your elbows rest on the railing; the ribbon of your bikini top adorns your back; your curves cascade downward to more curves, where supple skin peeks out of your tight bikini bottom.

He’s committed plenty of sins before. But he believes, at this moment, his biggest sin is choosing a nap over the opportunity to be in the presence of this.

His knees wobble with regret.

He saunters, and the harsh sound of rolling waves mutes his footsteps. You turn your head in surprise when a pair of arms lace around your stomach, a warm figure pressing against your back. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” his voice is soft and low.

You regard him from head to shoulder. He’s in his favorite black tank top; it matches his hair, which sways lightly from genial winds; it matches his eyes, which still carry remnants of sleep. You smile, and your arms fall over his own, unaware that every motion rattles his chest—your whole presence has this effect on him. “’Cause you’re a grump when you’re woken up.”

“I’m not,” he has the nerve to deny, and you almost retort when his lips crawl over the slope of your shoulder, blurring any comeback you had in mind. “Especially not when you’re wearing this.”

His lips trail up to your neck, then behind the shell of your ear. Your skin prickles in response, but you hold your ground, leaning only slightly against his body while your head remains turned in his direction. “Is that so? Maybe I’ll wear bikinis more often, then. That ought to keep you tamed.”

“I’d like that,” he admits almost too quickly, “maybe a little too much.” The words vibrate against your ear, raising more bumps on your skin. Under the breeze cooling your chest, your heart thumps.

You hum in return, “What do you mean by that?” though you’re just playing coy. You’re entertained by this, this mania he disguises under a mask of calm.

“I think you look good against this railing. That’s all I’m sayin’.” His kisses behind your ear are too enticing, too hard to ignore.

You inhale quietly, “And?”

His hand wanders, cupping your breast over slippery fabric. “And I know how to make you look even better.”

You saw it from a mile away: his other hand burrows between your thighs, rubbing over the cloth. Your own hand finds the railing, needing to clutch it as your thighs clench around his rotating fingers. “If I moan,” you exhale, “do you think someone will hear us?”

“Maybe,” his fingers slide under both pieces of your swimsuit, brushing over your erect nipple and pulsing clit. You burn even more. “Would you let ’em hear you? Would you let ’em know what I’m doing to you?”

Your breath falters, and you can no longer help it. “Yes,” you arch your bottom to meet his groin, where his bulge resides, “so fuck me all you want.”

Once you say it, he can’t be stopped.

Two fingers slide into your cunt and stretch you immediately. The whine you let out competes with the roaring waves, the squawking seagulls.

He pushes you over the railing with his other hand, and you feel him tug at the string holding your bikini top in place; it slackens from your chest, pointing to the floor, and he fondles your bare breasts while working into your swelling cunt. As you loosen around his fingers, he grinds his pelvis against your bottom, and you feel his hard-on pressing, setting you further from reason. Your moans come out as stuttered hums, as messy vowels.

“Spread for me,” he tells you, and you comply, parting your legs wider. You feel him leave your figure all at once—his hands and hips gone, only an air of his silhouette left. Then he tugs your lower bikini down, and he grabs your hips, sliding his cock into you without warning. Your view of the sea blurs, and your throat strains with every inch he buries into you. Amidst his groaning, he utters, “Tight. And so fucking pretty,” he lets out a breath of pleasure before he moves at a fair pace.

You inhale sharply, arching your back as you fold your arms on the railing, dipping your head in-between. He strokes your clit at a brisk pace, and you curse over the sensation you’re unsure how long your body can withstand. “Fuck, Manjiro,”

“I like that,” he grunts between his movements, and you wonder how he can still speak in this position, “go on, keep saying it. Tell me who you belong to.”

“Manjiro!” you cry as he shoves himself further, his tip meeting a point that flutters your stomach and weakens your knees. You feel the hard contact of his groin on your ass, the slap of his balls against your wet bottom. Then your mind blanks when he pulls out, leaving you stretched and pulsating eagerly, heaving breaths.

He gives you a mere second of rest before he turns you around, your softened figure facing his own. You take a look at his earnest face, then you look down to where his cock glides over your wet slit. You moan faintly and meet his eyes again; you can see, even in your teary vision, that they burn with the same intensity as his flushed skin. “You’re stunning.” He breathes out.

His words are accompanied by another teasing nudge of his cock. You breathe through your parted mouth, your back pressing against the railing for support. “Manjiro, my knees are giving out,” you tell him weakly.

He snickers arrogantly; he knows what you’re asking for, humored by the hint of your statement. “You just wanna get fucked deeper,”

You mentally applaud him for knowing better, flattered by how well he knows you. You submit when he lifts you by the underside of your thighs, buckles your legs around the small of his back, and allows a glimpse of his cock as it enters you again. He slides far into you, and you reward him with soft cries and the clench of your cunt, admiring the stress on his features with your cloudy vision.

There’s a pressure in being sandwiched between his cock and the railing, one that urges you to throw your arms around his neck and cling on for dear life. Your body jerks with his harsh thrusts, his tip brushing the very end of you, your mind tossing into the seemingly endless wave of pleasure. “Manjiro. Manjiro. Oh, fuck,”

“Hold on to me,” he pants. Your skin rubs against the hot metal behind you, and your body shakes as you dig your nails into his shoulders. You tug him close until your chests press, the orgasm threatening to spurt with every beating pulse. “Come all over me,” he urges.

With a cry, you reach the peak of your arousal, and his warm fluid flows into you with the last of his thrusts.

You pant together in that spot, his body giving in to exhaustion, but his arms still securing you. He leans on your body, his chin resting on your shoulder as you let relief wash over you like waves.

“Can you stand?” he asks, his chest beating hard against your own.

“Yes,” you answer, heaving back. “You can put me down.”

With his remaining strength, he pulls out, and your bare feet meet the wooden floor. His hands rest on either side of you while he lowers his head. You take a moment to fix yourself; you pull your bikini back on, tying your top loosely, then you help him wear his shorts, too. You push his hair back and cup his face, brushing your thumbs over the apples of his cheeks. “I wanted to swim,” you sulk jokingly.

He looks at you, resembling a puppy when he says, “Are you saying you rather wouldn’t’ve had sex?”

You linger in silence for a moment. “Sex is all right, too,” you feign nonchalance, but you’re unable to help the smile that grows on your face.

“All right? You were just all over me,”

You laugh, then you take his arm and drag him into the house. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s rest and go for a swim.”

[crowsandmurder]

❛ i was scared. i thought you had lost your way. ❜ - padme

@bchemianrhapscdy

Anakin had been gone for too many rotations, for his liking. It had been one after another, after another. How many was too many, at this point? He frequently found himself asking Obi-Wan, when they would be going back to Coruscant and he knew sometimes, that even Obi-Wan had to be wondering, why he missed the Jedi Temple so much. But, war was hard. It was hard when he and Padme had gotten married so fast and then other than brief times he was home, they had gotten little time together.

They made the most of the time they did get together, but, he wished they had more time. He longed for the time when they could just be together and not worry about any of it. Sometimes, he questioned, if this was all worth it.

The last few days were all a blur to him. He, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had no memory of their time on Mortis, but he was late getting back to Coruscant, having told Padme he would be back a few days before that.

Once they arrived, it was late and the Senate hallways were empty. He had decided to just go back to her penthouse, sure she would be asleep anyway. But when he got home, he quietly kicked his boots off, and crept into the bedroom, R2D2 behind him and he motioned for him to be quiet.

But the second he hit the bed, he felt her arms around him and his automatically went around her. "Shh, I'm right here. I can't explain it. We were on our way back and something happened, but I don't know what." He pulled back and caressed her cheek.

"I will always find my way back to you. Trust me."

[hemihr12005]

W2D2 fundies (software)

(more) photoshop tools:

layer 1 is transparent and background is solid

b = brush

e = eraser

option, delete = fill selection. (if nothing is selected it will fill the whole screen)

shift, command, delete = fill selection wth background colour

window, brushes, genera; brushes = brush options (main 2 are soft or hard brushes)

can get soft or hard erasers too

[ ] = shrink or enlarge brush stroke

command A = select all

delete = clear everything on that layer or selection

number keys = tool transparency:

1=10% 5=50% 9=90% 0=100%

option= colour picker

command D= deselect (so helpful!)

command z = undo

shift, command, z = redo

hold down v then option and copies selection

-in move tool photoshop will move whats under your pointer

command j = like paste in place

holding shift = add to your selection (shape).

holding option = subtract from your selection

holding space = reposition the selection segment.

masks:

new layer mask looks like black and white japan flag (beside layer adjustmentd)

white pixels means visible

black pixels mean clear

option click mask to see inside

when using mask and using black brush make sure you are on the mask part of ur layer and not on normal layer

command t = tranform gizmo

in adjustment layer properties pallet there a setting that effects only the layer you are on

p = pen

same as illustrator really.

arrow, direct selection tool (the one that looks like mouse) same as A on illustrator.

window, paths, command click = shows paths an make adjustments after clicking.

shift command i = inverse selection

messing around with pen tool on photoshop. we used brush (b), eraser (e), fill selection which s just what you have selected and then option - delete. we also used shift - command - delete which is fill selection with background colour. We also played around with brushes and found how to access all the different brushes that are available. I found a spotted one and played around with it. the square brackets means you can change brush larger or smaller quicker. command a was select all -which is different than illustrator that uses A for direct selection tool (on photoshop its on the tool panel). we also played around with transparency.

we also learnt taking cuts out of selections, like circles and overlay another circle a scissor tool shows up and allows you to cut the shape. when selecting while holding shift you could add to your selection (shape). holding option you could subtract from your selection. holding space allows you to reposition the selection segment.

we also learnt layer masks, which is a good tool to help edit in other images to photos seamlessly. in layer settings beside image adjustments there is a tool that looks like a little japan flag and you just select the layer you want a mask on and then click the layer mask button. you can then click into the mask by option - lick. then you just can use black pen in the mask selection to rub out part of the mask. so for the boats above i used black pen to rub out the water around the boat we added in so it looked more realistic. then we changed free transformed the boat to make it smaller. then made the boat lighter by turning down the opacity so the boat looked further away in the distance.

bird edited ready to go into new photo. turned background into layer one so there was a transparent background. used = image - image rotation - flip horizontally to flip bird. then used pen tool to make the wing cleaner so there wasn't any of the original grey background when the image is put into its new background. doing this with the pen tool did get rid of the grey colour but it made the lines very clean and removed the blur effect of the beating wings. so we went back in with blur tool and blurred the ends of the wing and tail so the bird looked in motion still.

some of the settings i used when i put the bird into the new backround. then we used curve adjustment to make the bird look like it had the same lighting as the background picture, which makes it look more realistic. i used the square box pointing down tool to make the curve settings only apply to the bird. for a little extra fun i created a small segment copy from the background and created a 2nd layer of some small flowers which i placed in front of the birds beak so it looked like it was getting food and actually at the plant. You can see this in my final image below.

really enjoyed this task it was fun. :)

[group11herts]

Final rendering

Minghan Wang

Today is the last day, and everyone is making the final preparations, today I adjusted the camera and animation and added the black hole, it can be said that today is a difficult day, everyone worked hard, and still worked in the evening, and we tried to render many times before, but the final effect is not very satisfactory, maybe we increased the difficulty. It makes the camera rotate and creates motion blur. But I think we still learned a lot, how to render generated sequences, and how to synthesize 360-degree VR video in ME. I think it's all a personal improvement but we still have a long way to go. Thanks for my team efforts.

[mi6011mez]

Phone Animation test

this test occurs in the merging of case study 3 and 6

so the first step was to create the TV, which I created in 3D using maya, I'm also using the colour scheme that the RSA uses on their website when talking about the SDA centenary, the reason I have the screen in green is because I'm going to green the TV screen so I can have different images appear on the screen such as the phone appearing

The next step was to model the phone, which I also made in 3D with a green screened screen so I could change the visuals on there too

Another thing I did was add In a little phone stand to lift the phone up slightly, this made the rotations of the phone feel a lot more natural

Next up I started to make all the UI elements that would go on the screens, first creating the promo art that advertises the return of spitting image, showing that it has moved into a new age

The most complicated part was the way the phone works, so the way I made it was to create different layers of the UI and edit them together so I could animate the movement of the apps changing

This includes the way that apps work on phones, when you open and close them you see an animation of it fading into the centre. When I combined all the layers into adobe premiere, I was able to then animate the different apps such as scrolling features on Instagram

I just made the UI in photoshop trying to match what an iPhone looked like in 2016

and then I did the same thing with the Instagram UI, making sure that it was accurate to Instagram's design in 2016, the Instagram layout was hard to make since I had to make a lot of different layers for the phone itself, the Instagram overlay and then ones for the posts, since I wanted the Instagram posts to scroll

I also created some art, that I used for the Instagram post, using pictures of what they look like

Another important thing I considered was using motion blur, this makes every clip flow smoothly together but it also does a great job at hiding the errors in movement when I do these zooming in shots. Since I've made everything layer by layer it worked great for movement in the apps but when I wanted to zoom in on the screen I noticed that my 3D frames with 2D images didn't line up perfectly when zooming in. So all I did to fix this was go frame by frame to adjust the scale and values to make sure it lined up perfectly

That left me with my finished animation test, I am very happy with how this turned out, my next steps are to finish off the promotional art for the Pluumo brand section

[gertlushgaming]

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin Review (PlayStation 5)

For this Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin Review, wage a campaign of brutal conquest in this realm-shattering real-time strategy game set in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar universe. Become a warlord and lead four unique factions to conquer the wild and savage Realm of Ghur's intense and tactical battles.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin Review Pros:

- Beautiful graphics. - 15.24GB download size. - Platinum trophy. - Own in-game achievements called awards. - You get the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 versions of the game. - Graphics settings - motion blur. - Accessibility options - color vision deficiency, subtitles, subtitle size, background opacity, speaker image for subtitles, speaker name, hide subtitles in fullscreen mode, easy read font, mute background noises during conversations, mono mode, tinnitus filtering, and ui scaling for - tutorial tips/subtitles/notifications/boss health/minimap/abilities/victory points/objectives/resources. - Three ways to play - Single-player, multiplayer, and conquest. - Controller settings - remap controls, Invert axis and sensitivity sliders, default movement mode, control mode, deadzone, and input curve sliders. - Create mode - map editor, publish workshop, army livery, and army load out, all can be saved, uploaded, and downloaded with the community. - Conquest mode is where you go through a mini-campaign and have unique modifiers and battles in play until the final Showdown. - Online multiplayer modes - ranked 1v1 quick game, casual 1v1 quick game, custom game, and leaderboards. - Single-player modes - main game, chapter select for all unlocked battles and Ai skirmish. - Powerful soundtrack. - Cross play - on/off. - Editor options - camera speed slider, orbit camera speed, game view speed, top-down camera speed, and measurement unit (meters/feet). - The minimal can be set to rotate on/off. - Four difficulties - lorekeeper, warrior, veteran, and champion. - Fast loading times. - In-game cutscenes with the option to skip them. - Excellent voice work. - Action RPG gameplay. - Direct move (can be turned on and off) is where you choose and place markers to chain your unit around, with this mode it's possible to walk past combat unless you lay down the marker. - A 3D world with full 360-degree camera control. - Tutorial pop-ups as you play. - Capture regions on the maps and locations. - Units can have special abilities that can be cast over the whole unit. - Good-looking fighting animations. - Command posts heal your troops when you are near them. - Quick button press to have your unit flee/retreat. You choose if they go to a set place or the nearest command HQ. - Sword-type units can charge at the enemy to deal additional damage. - The locations are really quite stunning. - Handy press the right stick to have pop-up text explaining what's on screen like the Hud, resources, etc. - They have done a good job of making the gameplay well with a controller. - Create your own group of units and assign them to the d-pad selection shortcut. - Save and load when you want. - Battletome in the menu is where tutorials are housed. - Combat works on a simple rock-paper-scissors-style mechanic. Sword beats shield, shield beats arrows and arrows beat swords. - In direct mode aiming and setting the distance of the movement reticle is governed by how hard you move the right stick. - Fog of war is in play. (the map and area uncover as you move) - Earn exp and level up to get rewards like player card backgrounds, avatar frames, etc. - End of chapter breakdown. - In each chapter, you have 3 optional bonus challenges. - Terrain affects movement and combat. - You need to capture regions and conduits to get resources. - The units will auto-attack when near an enemy unless told otherwise. - To summon/recruit new units, you need to use command points and population. - Realmstone is used to buy upgrades and higher-level units. - Play how you want at the level. - You can break down certain parts of the environment. - The campaign lets you have 3 save slots. - Full stats screen. - Customise options - avatar, avatar frame, banner, banner frame, banner background, and profile background. - The art for the player profile is really cool. - Very strong story. - Aside from 1v1 you can do 2v2 and mix it up with Ai and real people. - Map creation options - map size (standard/large), game mode (1v1 or 2v2), primary and secondary biome (Tundra/swamp/petrified swamp/sulfa), surrounding area (hills/mountains/island/canyon), asset pack (Kruleboyz sulfa/petrified swamp/temple/swamp/storm cast town/tundra/Kruleboyz swamp/Kruleboyz citadel/ghur/sulfa), and preset terrain (flat/enabled). - Map Creator is powerful with its terrain tools, to balance it out Creations have requirements and a budget. - You generate a landscape in the creator and then edit it. Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin Review Cons: - A lot to take in. - Mechanics and abilities are slow to learn. - Dealing with unit management is still a huge undertaking as to maximize it you really need to group up the right troops and it's just layer after layer. - Capturing conduits is slow and not always straightforward. - Getting used to all the troop speeds is annoying. - Cannot skip the in-game interactions. - Had actions continue when in serious cutscenes. - Performance issues like slowdown and pop-in. - Chapters take a huge time commitment. - I didn't find the campaign to have a huge replay draw to it. - You do have to link or create and link a Frontier account to use online and the online creation tools. - Cannot change the game speed. - No local multiplayer. - You need an online subscription to use the Frontier workshop where you download other players' Creations. Related Post: RoboCop: Rogue City Review (Xbox Series S) Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin: Official website. Developer: Frontier Publisher: Frontier Store Links - PlayStation Read the full article

[alexcaldownapier]

Film Project - Post-Production Colour

Colour grading seems to me to be a process of slowly uncovering everything wrong with how you shot a film. I’m still very positive about how the film looks, but I do think going through each shot made me painfully aware of how there were things I could have taken more time to perfect during the shoot. My main issue is with the colour of the lighting throughout the flat. It looked far too much like golden hour sunlight to be read as street lighting. I think one way to get around that (aside from my technique of making the light be more yellowy than orangey) is to be able to see the light source and the darkness around it through the window, something I would’ve only been able to do had we shot at night. But yeah, I tried to counteract this by bringing up the green in the shadows and slightly rotating the hue of the lights. I think it helps, but there is something about the lighting that doesn’t totally scan as street lights coming through the window. I think using more practicals in the scene would have definitely helped, but more on this in my critical reflection, right now, I’m talking process, colour-grading process.

The opening scene was a pleasure to grade - the simplicity of the lighting made it easy to match each shot and there was quite a bit of contrast in the lighting already so I didn’t have to work too hard to get what I wanted from the shot. I was trying to emphasise the contrast and the black and red colour palette - one technique I used for this was to desaturate the shadows, so they read as black instead of dark red. This, paired with the added grit and grain, makes for quite a nice, almost comic-booky look. The only issue I have with this scene is the amount of bounce I was getting off the opposite wall which kinda takes a bit out of the high-contrast intentions. 

Working with film-grain overlays was a lot of fun. As Ben and I had discussed from the start, we wanted a gritty image and being able to dial in the amount of texture we wanted was really helpful. After watching the final version, however, I kinda want to push it further, make it more noisy. Maybe something to revisit before we do anything else with it. Another post-production process for adding texture to the film was adding chromatic aberration to the shots on the 14mm lens. I was wanting to emulate the vintage lenses that had inspired the use of the lens in the first place so I added “prism blur” to the edges of the image. I really like the final effect and feel it adds to the dirty aesthetic and the idea of warping/distorting/deteriorating the world that the 14mm lens was used for. 

I think I took the time with the grade to make it work as best as it could. I was trying to pay attention to all the little details, like matching the streetlights in the exterior shots to the light coming into the interiors, and making the grain continue through the black at the start and end of the film. Ben was always present for notes and ideas throughout the grade which really helped to shape the style. One aspect of our planned visual style that we ended up mostly throwing out was the motion tracking. The only shot we kept the tracking on was in the opening where Alex is punching the bag.

This is the only shot that we had planned the motion-tracking for where the effect worked as intended. We wanted to emphasise the movement and violence of the character and this shot does that, we’re better able to feel her anger and force with the tracking. The other shots we had planned to use this effect on were the skating shot (which was shot to mirror this one) and the head-smash shot. The idea was to draw a thread through Alex’s neglect of her friend and tie that in to violence. In her rage she is neglecting the friendship, by racing off and leaving her she is ignoring Casca’s concerns and then we see the result of her actions when Casca is attacked due to them being underprepared for the fight. But with these shots, the tracking felt distracting and ugly so we took it out and I also think that that theme is still present in the film without it. 

We also pared back the flashback effect. While, the opening is still heavily affected, as the film progresses, we took layers of effects off so that the narrative beats were a little clearer. The final flashback has no effects on it at all as we felt that it was a scarier moment when you could totally see what was happening. It is also less than a second long, so yeah, narrative clarity had to come first. This was the main intention behind the look for the flashbacks as well - narrative clarity. We had to make clear that these shots are from the past as there is a lot of exposition happening in the opening minute of the film and this effect (while a little cliche) communicates that well, I think. I think it does need a little less in hindsight, so we can better see what is happening in the shots as, currently, it is pretty unclear.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with the grade and the final film. Hearing Rowen’s sound design with Bethany’s edit gave me chills and made me very happy. In another post, I’ll reflect on the crit, which I was also very happy with.

[bowtiesnmusicals]

Here is my recap of the Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) episode of the podcast.

Jenna did a Dory impression. It was funny.

They said Jayma is one of their favorite people. That she is the sweetest, funniest, and cutest.

Kevin said they learned a lot talking to Jayma.

There was a lot they didn’t know and they laughed a lot.

They learned about some people’s journeys to glee.

Jenna said Jayma was really funny and hopefully you peed before you listened to this episode.

Jayma was sick for weeks before Snixxmas. She’s fine now.

Jayma wanted to be on the podcast. They joked that she forced them to let her be on it.

She was doing press and she still gets asked about Glee. They asked if she was going to be on the podcast.

Jayma says she get her intel from the podcast.

Jayma met Matt before the show. They did another pilot together probably two years before Glee.

The pilot was called Nice Girls Don’t Get The Corner Office. They were sort of like love interests on the show.

Jayma thought they would never cast them together again. The pilot was never picked up.

Jayma auditioned for Glee. She was a newlywed in Canada. She thought the script was good. She flew back and auditioned.

She went into a room with a table to do her audition and had to sing. She thought it was a really bad audition.

Jayma sang Toucha Toucha Touch Me during her audition.

Jayma says she is not really a singer.

She had done Rocky Horror in Los Angeles.

I’m Not Getting Married in one of the hardest Broadway songs. Jayma thought she couldn’t do it. She thought it was impossible. It took a lot of recording. She kept getting stuck at the candlesticks part.

Jayma got to do some cool musical numbers.

You’re All The World To Me was memorable because of the rotating box they filmed in for that number. They had to take Dramamine because of the motion sickness from dancing in the box.

Jayma thought she was hallucinating because Baby Spice was on set during one of the rehearsals.

The box is called a gimble box.

Kevin was excited about the gimble box because he had seen it in a NYSNC music video.

He was also excited about meeting Baby Spice.

Baby Spice was on set because she was interviewing the cast for a special on Sky Tv for Glee.

Every time Jayma did a musical number it gave her clarity on what the rest of the cast was always doing and even more respect for them.

Kevin said that Jenna and him felt that way whenever they had more then two lines in a scene.

Kevin and Jayma had a contest at one point to see who was the most expensive extra for an episode.

Kevin said he laughed so hard when he got to work with Dot and Jayma. He said Jayma is one of the funniest and wittiest person he knows. He said Naya and Jayma have the quickest wit.

Jayma and her husband could have their own sitcom.

Jayma embarrassed her son for the first time. He didn’t want her to come to school.

Jayma said her son is funny. He tries to make his friends laugh. He likes physical comedy.

He watched Jayma in Disenchanted. He didn’t know if he was acted to watch his mom in a movie. He told her not to come home wearing her big blonde wig. At the end of the movie he said good job mom.

Working with Adam Shankman was fun. He is a ball of energy.

Adam directed the Rocky Horror episode.

Jayma said the funniest was Amber and Chord. She handed Mercedes a pamphlet that said your a hoe and Sam one that said so you are in love with a two timing hoe.

There are so many good ones.

Jayma likes character stuff. She said this was one of best jobs she had because it was all set up for that. They always had the perfect props. It felt like everyone from hair, makeup, and costuming was influencing her character in the best way possible.

Kevin texted Ryan to ask who came up with the pamphlets and it was Ian Brennan.

Emma had the best wardrobe of the entire show.

Emma wore a pencil skirt during her audition.

The costume was all Lou Eyrich and Ryan.

Jayma’s said at times Glee felt like a blur. She remembers the first 13 the most. They were special because they hadn’t aired yet and they were kind of in a bubble.

She was doing a lot of new things at the time. She was newly married and had just bought a house.

She knew this was really special and felt thankful to be a part of it.

Kevin’s all time favorite scene is Emma in the car singing All By Myself.

Jayma thought that moments where we see a different side to Emma were nice.

She loved when Emma calls Will a slut.

The pulled out al the stops for the All By Myself clip.

She loved sitting in the auditorium watching the cast sing.

Jayma didn’t know that John Stamos would be on the show. It was a funny little poke.

Working with John Stamos and Gwyneth Paltrow was memorable.

Jayma made a joke that they were trying to keep her away from anyone famous to keep her from drooling on them.

Jayma said it was very hard doing stuff with Jane.

Jane does not break.

Kevin doesn’t think Jayma broke during the show.

Jenna loved when Matt broke because he has a boisterous laugh.

Kevin said he was intimated to work with Jayma and Jane.

Everyone respected and admired each other.

Kevin brought his friends to see a movie that had Jayma and Tom Cruise in it.

Jenna’s favorite Emma lines right now have to do with Ken Tanaka. Kevin likes the line about not having a gag reflex.

Jayma loved all the innocent stuff about Emma.

She liked doing Afternoon Delight.

Everyone had the flu during Hello/Goodbye and they were all vomiting when they filmed this scene.

The did some of the greatest hits from Mattress.

Jayma thinks Ian Brenna wrote for Emma.

She has noticed more people are watching Glee again. It tends to be teenage kids coming up to her. She said its lovely that people are watching it and its found a new audience.

Jayma said the feeling glee left her with is happiness. It’s always been a special experience that she got to be a part of and it massively influenced her life in all he most wonderful ways. It’s been a life changer for her.

There were times early on that getting noticed in public was overwhelming to her.

Glee will be one of the most incredible things that she has ever been a part of and she is supremely grateful for it.

Jenna calls her daughter weird nicknames and realized she was using nicknames from Glee that Ken would call Emma.

[defensiveqi]

Alignment vs. Progressive Overload, a radical concept for yoga

Alignment is the trendy word for a seemingly more anatomy focused and safe yoga class. I have some concerns with that word and its usage. Many think that alignment is "the correct way to stand or perform a posture". My preference as someone who studies and works with the human body for a living?

Alignment is the way you are able to bring awareness, full attention, and focus to your body's position in space and connect with it.

Let's analyze tree pose for example. There is a yoga alignment myth in the community to avoid placing the foot directly on the side of the knee, which can be argued - is most people’s max range of motion.

Let’s break this down. The knee is a bicondylar joint, it functions to accommodate medial and lateral rotational forces in everyday motions, instead of entirely avoiding them. 

Telling someone to "avoid placing the foot on the knee" in tree pose reflects a misunderstanding and misrepresentation of how force affects the body. Holding your foot still on the knee exposes the knee to load. I’m not arguing that we should be jamming our feet into the sides of our knees with full force, but what if we could cultivate awareness and adapt our knee to the slight pressure of our feet while seeking balance and stability in tree pose?

This declaration of avoid placing the foot on the knee in tree pose subconsciously implies that force is dangerous and should be avoided. When in fact it cannot be avoided because we live on a planet that exposes us to force. Exposure to force comes with a reward! In return - we grow stronger.

Depending on the person, most of the time someone resting their foot on the knee is not enough force production to relate to injury. Lifters have known for ages that loading the body makes you stronger! So why do we avoid loaded stress in yoga and claim that our practice makes our bodies stronger?

Studying biomechanical forces blurs our understanding of doing a pose the right or wrong way. Biomechanics considers the benefits and risks of the forces involved in the position. Biomechanics considers what is happening in the pose on an individual level at that moment, rather than doing the pose the right way.

The body gets stronger through repetitions. Yoga is a beautiful practice, but the problem with postures from a strength perspective is that they are not progressive. “You do a pose with your body weight, it might be hard at first but then you get better at it the more you do it.” (Kathryn Bruni-Young, Mindful Strength Podcast) Once you’ve mastered the pose it doesn't go further than that. I will argue that progressive overload can be adapted into any yoga practice.

Progressive Overload is when you progressively add more weight (load) to what movement you are doing as time goes on. This is because you adapted to the weight you previously used, so now you increase the weight again to then stimulate more strength. You can also look at it as the weights you were doing got you stronger, so now you're going to increase the weight to challenge the body again and give it room to grow even stronger.

With loading, the variable is specific. That means your increments and progress can be tracked and measured. If you ever wonder why lifters carry a journal or spend time on their phone after every set, it’s because they are tracking the amount of weight they just did. It is simple, yet an efficient way to measure progress over time. 

Yoga? It is good, but alone, it is not that good for maintaining bone density as you age as flexibility training alone* may have no real impact on overall health. Adding an appropriate strength training regiment would be optimal and would strongly compliment your asana practice. written by lulu pajor lmt, ryt  originally posted on uplift wellness updated august, 2022

[yanderegrizzsworld]

(romantic) Yandere Knuckles x Reader please?

Yandere Knuckle the Echidna: Ballistic Flame (Romantic Scenario)

TW: Blood & bruises

The radiant glow of the prasine Master Emerald engulfed its warmth on Knuckle's back, the glow contrasting against the cool breeze hitting the echidna's face. Feeling the hard substance on his palms, the red echidna perks his head up at the sound of footsteps approaching. Knuckles stands up with arms close, ready to strike at any moment, "Woah! Hey Knuckles, it's just me" You lift your hands up to your head as your pace halts. You march towards the red guardian with cautious steps as to not spook him into an attack, the red echidna lowers his spiked hands as he sits himself down. "Sorry about that, I need to be alert at all times, you know, for the Maste Emerald"

With a nod of approval, you take a place next to the echidna taking in a deep breath. "How'd you get up here anyways? It's not easy get on Angel Island" Knuckles leans his head backwards, briefly glancing at the beaming sun before shutting his eyes, "You know, with the fact that Angel Island is up in the sky and all..." You glance at the Master Emerald before gazing at the red echidna, the warmth of the emerald gently striking your cheek as you fiddle with the edges of your outfit.

"Tails was kind enough to fly me up here" You glide your palm against the stone ground, feeling each bump & pebble roll with you fingertips, "He said that he needed a break from staring at his monitor for a while" You let out a mute wheeze, lifting yourself & treading towards the prasine emerald. "Hm...Sound like Tails, never knowing when to quit" Knuckles observes you walk up to the Master Emerald. He stands up & steps beside you as hues of green contrast with his ruby fur, you raise your hand faintly as if contemplating to have it rest upon the emerald.

You delicately lay your hand on the emerald, the cold iron of the emerald tingling through your palm. Knuckles hinders his steps next to you, cherry red entering your vision by the corner of your eye. "The Emerald is stunning" "...Thank you, of course" Knuckles steps away before returning to his spot at the stone stairs, closing his eyes. You retrieve your hand from the Emerald.

"Would you prefer being alone right now? I can leave you be if you want" By the time of uttered the last word, the echidna whipped his head around with wide eyes, "N-No, you don't have to leave!..." He gazes towards the foot of the stairs before slowly rotating his head. "I'd prefer if you'd stay" A smile forms on your face, eyes softening at Knuckles's shyness, "Of course" You glance at the Emerald feeling it make you tardily lean closer, enticed like under a siren spell.

The smooth surface ran cool against your cheek, gliding your hand across you feel slight bumps on your hand & the slight motion of your cheek feels like sandpaper. You close your eyes permitting it's coldness to rest on you as the other side of your face basm in the heat of the bright star away.

♡♡♡

Metal bounce against the stone ground with a series of clanks, you cough as you taste a salty & metallic tang enter your mouth. "Watch out!" You fumble attempting to back away as Knuckles dashes & lands a blow on the bot coming at you. Grunts utter from the echidna as exposed wires from the bot flicker & spark like a burning fire; You wipe your nose gently with your arm, your heart beating brutally like it's about to rip out of your ribcage at any moment.

Each time you attempt to breathe through your nose you whimper in agony feeling warm, wet blood ooze & dribble down before tasting it on your lips. Your surroundings blur with heavy eyes as ringing plagues your ears. Despite your vague vision you spot a certain doctor floating about like a bystander to your & Knuckles' misfortune. You drop your head as a cough rose, blood splattering & painting the stone below you.

The doctor's cackle resound in your ears as your head bangs harshly like a migraine. You feel your body tighten as a prickling cool & smooth metal provokes a hasty yelp. You no longer feel the ground below you, wires swirling behind you halt & resume as the whatever had you in a grip compresses, surely to leave marks. "What's wrong? Can't get out of a simple grip?" Mock in his voice accept with a roaring laugh, you slightly lower your head like a child humiliated.

You struggle to breathe, fearing the robotic grip will crack your ribs. "Y/N!" Head pounding harshly within your skull, you groan from the growing pain & blood loss. Knuckles tears throught the wires of a now demon bot focusing all his attention on you & the surrounding droids closing in on you, the echidna halts in his movements breath discordant tasting his own warm blood on his tongue. "If everything goes according to plan, I'll have the Master Emerald! I'm a genius!" Eggman leans back howling like a madman, thoughts of you robotized or experimented on swirl around in his skull like a carousel.

Eyes narrowing on your form, bloody & close to unconscious, his arms tremble with clenched fists. You attempt to say something but it comes out as a mumble, coughing with blood trickling on the bot gripping you tightly you hoist your head slightly, shrieking at the echidna. "Knuckles...! Help!" Knuckles lowers his head momentarily, eyes darkening as he lifts his head & bolts towards you.

The surrounding machines run towards him, one cherry bug-like robot leaps in an attempt to strike from above. Knuckles punctures it to the ground, smashing its exterior shell open & ripping out the wires inside. As another one tries to attack, Knuckles swiftly kicks it away & with brisk strikes, smashing the bot until all that remained were junk, wires & some of the outer shell. A grunt uttered from you snaps the echidna to glance at your direction & run to you once more, "Let them go!"

Any of the droids left that marched towards the guardian were altered to debris without mercy. Metal colliding with the stone below scattered around like toys in a playroom. Some off the remaining eggbots were hesitant to make a move viewing the ired echidna, that didn't hinder him however to pierce through them either, rage more palpable like a burning flame. Eggman groans at what's he's witnessing, pulling lightly on his mustache while bouncing his leg slightly, "Didnt anyone ever teach you not to leave messes?!"

You feel the frigid metal against your head, coughing harshly at the taste of your blood. You grunt when you feel getting pushed back until the grip loosened all of a sudden, closing your eyes awaiting the impact of the hard floor. Colliding with the floor, you groan & whimper seeing specks of blood drip between your palms, the rough pebbles oddly comforting from the suffocating grip prior. Looking back, your eyes widen watching Knuckles land hit after hit at the droid retaining you as if something inside him snapped like rope.

"Knuckles...Robotnik!" You seek to stand without buckling looking at the scientist getting close to the Master Emerald. Knuckles gazes at you momentarily before viewing Eggman & rushes towards the man. Launching & grasping at the egg shaped vehicle Robotnik was on, the guardian pierces at the iron while trying to climb it & reach Robotnik. His breathing harsh & eyes filled with ire, Eggman shakes the vehicle in a failed attempt to get the echidna off, "Don't you dare touch them! You hear me!" When meeting eye to eye with the scientist, Knuckles grunts in frustration before Eggman promptly kicks him off without thought.

Knuckles collapse near the Master Emerald rubbing his snout as his warm blood trickles out & down his nose. Flashing red screens with hushed alarms surround the doctor, who types away as an attempt to rid of the screens. "Dammit! First my robots, now this!?" Sighing, Eggman turns his vehicle around in defeat, sucking air through clenched teeth, "I'll get that damn Master Emerald one day! Just you wait" Knuckles paid the doctor no mind as he turned all his attention on you.

Purple & red marks patent on your arms. You delicately touch one of them resulting in you wincing , still fresh. "...I'm sorry" It was barely above a whisper. Gently taking your arms careful not to add on any more pain, his eyes narrow, hint of the doctor's end seen in his pupils, "I'll make him pay for what he did to you"

[milliedazzledust]

Even When It Hurts (Clark Kent imagine)

Request by @icyhollands​ : Clark comforting the reader after she got hurt by someone pretty badly, and him comforting her from a anxiety attack after she gets hurt

Words: 2009

A/N: I know a lot of you were waiting for this so I’m sorry it took so long to write - thank you for your patience and I hope you’ll like it :) 

“Clark, you need to come down, now!”

Flying across his enemies on the battlefield, he faintly heard the sound of a voice, even with the distance. As soon as Bruce had found the aliens associated with Darkseid, they had been quick to act and the whole team had made the trip to fight.

While the others were keeping most of their opponents on the ground, he had taken upon himself to divert their attention from the precious object they were trying to steal by attacking from the sky. Too focused on the task, he had missed Arthur and Y/N going after a bunch of them. When she had seen her friend in bad posture, she hadn’t hesitated to put herself between him and the alien, taking the full blast of his hit. Her body had flown across the field before landing on a large tree trunk, breaking it in half. Her vision had been blurred for a moment, too disoriented as her breath was knocked out of her by the hard impact. She hadn’t been fast enough to notice the monster running toward her until she had felt the pain. Arthur had come to her rescue and killed him, but it was too late. The damage was already done.

When she looked down, all she saw was the tip of the weapon he had used, the other half was deep in her side, buried between what she guessed was her ribs. 

“Y/N’s been hit!” Arthur yelled as he grabbed her when she fell on her knees. 

High above their heads, Clark looked down and quickly spotted the wounded woman. He wasted no time in making his way to her, sending some of the aliens flying with a flicker of his hand. When one of them launched at him, and conjuring up all his frustration and his anger, he punched him with a force that knocked him out instantly. 

His eyes remained on her, always. He felt his heart clenched when he saw pain twisting her features and instantly understood the gravity of her situation. She was holding onto Arthur, clutching her side, holding the weapon steady in her flesh. Fear is all he could feel when he landed on the ground, staring at the large gash of blood around her wound. He could even hear her heartbeat getting faster by the second. 

Furrowing his brows in concern, he kneeled in front of her and grabbed her face. For a second he just studied her, softly brushing a tear with his thumb, until his eyes landed on hers.

“How bad is it ?” She asked him, her voice a weak whisper.

“You’re gonna be fine” He assured her.

“You’re a terrible liar, Clark” She tried to smile but even that simple movement seemed too much in her state.

She knew if she didn’t feel a thing yet it was purely because of the adrenaline. Tiny little molecules running through her veins, urging her body to fight back, to survive and fix what the foreign object had torn. She could sense fluid pouring out of her injury, the hand clutching her side was already covered in red. She was waiting for the moment the hormone would stop working and she would feel like a bomb had exploded inside of her. 

She closed her eyes and a sob escaped her mouth. Her breathing was getting irregular and she was losing her grip. She was exhausted.

“Y/N, stay with me” The superhero tried to motivate her, slowly shaking her head. “Show me those pretty eyes” 

She was starting to lose consciousness, and that observation alone terrified him. He kissed her forehead in a sign of encouragement and laid his hand over hers so she wouldn’t let go. She cried out in pain and glanced down. It only took a couple seconds before he was covered in blood as well. He pursed his lips, forcing himself to keep his eyes on hers and not look at the wound. His face was betraying him and he wasn’t even aware of it. She could so easily see the reflection of his own fear in his gaze, the depiction of worry over his features that she lazily traced with her fingers. The shadow of a smile appeared on her lips knowing only she could read him like an open book. 

“It’s alright, baby” He comforted her. 

“You should work on your poker face” She tried to joke. She was glad it made him smirk.

He turned his head toward Arthur, still holding the woman’s body.

“We’re gonna lay her down” He told him.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea” Y/N warned him, grabbing his biceps to stop him. 

“Do you trust me ?” He muttered, stroking her cheek.

“You know I do”

“Then trust me” 

She faintly nodded and let the men handle her wounded body. Arthur was behind her, holding on her shoulders, and Clark was in front of her, one hand on her wound, the other behind her neck. As gently as they could, they started to rotate her. Clark never moved his gaze away from hers, not even when her hand gripped his shoulder in pain or when her tears flowed freely as the pain started to become unbearable. 

The moment her head touched the ground, she began to cough blood. Her eyes widened at the realization and her heartbeat hastily palpitated. 

“We’re alright” He reassured her.

“We’re alright” She repeated in a whisper. She could no longer focus on anything around her. Anxiety was creeping up and threatening to take over. She knew it would do no good but she couldn’t stop it. Her hand tightly clutched the fabric of her man’s costume and her chest started to rise more rapidly as bile rose in her throat. 

“Clark” She called for help in a single breath. 

“I’m here, baby. I’m not leaving your side” 

He wiped the blood on her mouth with his finger.

“You and I have a date tomorrow, remember ?” He spoke, smiling when she faintly nodded. “So you’re not allowed to fall asleep. I haven’t even introduce you to my terrible cooking yet”

Her laugh started a coughing fit, bringing more blood out of her mouth.

“I have to take it out, Y/N” He said more seriously, motioning to the weapon in her body. 

Her eyes widened in panic and she shook her head, ignoring the pain.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s alright, beautiful. I’ve got you” 

“A .. plan ?” She asked.

“Yes, I do have a plan” He understood her question. “But you’re not going to like it” 

“Tell me” She murmured.

“You’re hemorrhaging,” He explained. “If we let it in, you’re risking an infection”

“And if you take it out, I’ll bleed out” She weakly responded.

“Not if I cauterize the wound” 

“How ?” 

She understood the moment she saw his eyes flashing red. She gulped, mentally preparing herself for what was to come.

“I trust you” She repeated the words she had said already.

He nodded and gave her one last encouraging smile before motioning for Arthur to come closer. He explained his plan in a hurry before standing up, letting the King of Atlantis take his place. 

“Ready ?” He questioned the woman.

“Do it” She said, clenching her teeth. 

She averted her gaze toward Clark, mouthing one last ‘I love you’ before Arthur pulled out the weapon in a very fast movement and held her down. Superman’s eyes immediately started glowing and he directed his heat vision to the open wound. The moment the high temperature laser touched her skin, she screamed in agony. A horrible, searing pain suddenly invaded her body and she was convinced she was going to die right there. She felt the urge to get away from the source but Arthur had a good grip on her. She kept shouting, as if it would ease the burning sensation. Clark’s jaw tightened and a tear rolled down his cheek, hating to be the one causing her pain.

After only a couple of seconds, she could no longer handle the torture and lost consciousness. The superhero stopped his ministration when he was sure the wound was closed properly and no blood was leaking anymore. Ignoring the smell of burned skin, he silently picked her up in his arms, listening closely to her heartbeats to make sure she was alright.

“I’ve got her” He told Arthur before bolting in the air.

She woke up hours later in a bed, completely disoriented. It took her a solid minute to recognize Clark’s bedroom inside the Kent farmhouse. She felt a throbbing ache on her side and muffled a scream when she touched it. When she looked down, she realized Clark had taken off her suit and had replaced it with one of his shirts. She lifted it to inspect the damage but all there was left of her wound was a small scar made by the man she loved. She shuddered at the memory and swung her legs off the bed. The moment her feet touched the ground, her body crumbled and she lost her balance. A pair of strong arms caught her before she could injure herself.

“You’ve not healed yet” A voice scolded her.

She didn’t answer. Her eyes closed, she let her head fall on his chest and circled his waist, squeezing him in a tight embrace that she so desperately needed. He was her safe line when she was spiraling down, which was happening now that she remembered she had almost lost him.

“How are you feeling ?” He inquired, kissing her head

“Alive” She replied. “I got … I really got scared for a minute”

She brushed a tear and tried to stop the hurricane of negative thoughts hitting her. He felt it too when her body started shaking and ran a hand on her back to calm her down.

“I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you” He swore, holding back the anxiety creeping in. “And I hope you know I won’t let you out of my sight for at least a week” 

She knew it was his way of lightening the mood when he could feel her darkness hovering above both of their heads. He had a way of guessing when it was coming and always reacted quickly, diverting her attention to anything else but her mind playing games.

“Do I, at least, get to spend that week in your arms ?” She smirked, raising her head so only her chin was resting on his chest.

“I have conditions” He replied with a smile.

She rolled her eyes.

“Name it” 

She saw the change in his attitude and tilted her head in confusion when he took a step back. Cupping her face with both his hands, he stared deeply at her. She could see his quiet emotion through the way his eyes bore into hers, his fear and his devotion.

“Never say I love you like it’s the last time I’ll ever get to hear it” He told her, his lips quivering as a shaky breath escaped his mouth.

Instead of answering, she led him to the bed behind them and together they laid down. He pulled her close and she raised her head until her lips found his. She didn’t need words when she could condensed a million loving thoughts into this moment. The emotion of that kiss alone spoke volume. A simple gesture that meant ‘you’re my home and I won’t leave’

“I love you, Clark”

She repeated the words again and again, making him laugh with happiness. He tightened his hold around her waist until she was almost laying on his chest. Her ear against his heart, she listened with a smile and closed her eyes, soothed by the steady rhythm. 

“Thank you” She whispered after a while. 

“What for ?”

“Bringing my head and soul back home to you when they get lost” 

“Always” He promised.

Her face nuzzled in the crook of his neck, she kissed his cheek and peacefully fell asleep in his protective embrace. 

[sly-merlin]

Chewy peaches |• jung jaehyun

Characters : thief! Reader x stranger! Jaehyun

Words :2.1k (1.8k smut)( rest is drama)

Genre : erotica. Just filth. One night stand. No attachment between characters but a sweet surprise at the end.

Warning: dom! jaehyun, lip biting, slight choking(jaehyun’s throat), jae has a shoulder biting kink?, aftercare(it’s a warning yes), oral(female receiving), restraining her hands behind her back, unprotected sex(stunt not to be performed irl). Him being sweet and dubblabblabblah. he calls her chewy bcs of her bubble ass

Summary: you. Him. A bar and a room.

a/n: @lofied muafii meri jaan. Your soulmate is also a slowmate. Accept this birthday gift muah muah.~happy birthday to you~

As soon as you both entered the room, jaehyun had you caged in his arms against the door, lips fervently finding yours in a fiery yet soft kiss as if you both were some long lost lovers. Except you were not. You had found him or rather he had discovered you while you were busy messily executing your even messy dance moves against bodies of strangers. A look at him and you had decided you wanted him to shake your core up with the same intensity his gaze followed you with. A drink with him had transformed into five and now you couldn't wait to be under him, ready to forget about your life for a little while with the handsome stranger.

Cupping your chin with his three fingers, his tongue traced your luscious lower lip and your hands gripped his shirt a little too tightly.

"I don't like strawberries." He bit your lip, his crude fingertips running over the edge of your jaw.

"Yet here you are. Dying to devour me" looking at his demanding eyes, your tongue forced itself into his mouth and very gratefully, he let it in. His unsteady hands found your ass as your hungry tongues danced with each other without any tune. Throaty gasps resounded in the small room of the bar and reached your somewhat deaf ears.

He sounded like heaven and you wanted to hear more of him.

Slowly tracking your hand up his chest to the throat, your middle finger softly pressed itself there, earning a hiccupped gasp from him.

"Fuck.do it again."

Caging his throat in your hand, this time your thumb did the deed and he hiccupped again but whined when you removed your fingers completely to run them over his cheeks.

"Don't wanna kill you before you ruin me, pretty boy."

He chuckled against your detached lips and took the breathing time to focus on the curves of your ass but your tight dress didn’t give him the access he wanted. looping your arms around his neck, he ran his fingers on your inner thighs and in one swift motion, pulled your dress upto your waist, freeing your lower half of the restraining cloth. Your legs shivered at the sudden lack of coverage and your thighs hugged each other.

“I like your chewy butt.” He chuckled deeply, squeezing and releasing your ass cheeks multiple times, clearly enjoying himself too much.

“and can you sell me your lips?” biting his lip once, you managed to catch a strained whine from him. studying his eyes blazing with desire, you kissed him again minus the teasing.

“You are tasty,” he commented, pulling you closer. Your breasts were now enfolded under your dress, ready to pop out at any chance given. You moaned into his mouth when his fingers, ghosting over the string of your thong, jammed into the material to touch your wetness from behind. Your folds shuddered at the soft pats he fingers gave, your stomach and abdomen tightening to glorify his ministrations. Your lips buzzed at the foreign sensation breaching your insides and you tugged at his nape.

Humming, he croaked out, “jump”

With a push of your heels, your legs ended up encircling his belted waist but as he jerked his thumb towards your hole and as a result, your lips slipped from his due to the sensitiveness, head falling on his shoulder, breathlessly.

“you look so deprived” you felt his chest vibrating.

He moved you towards the bed, fingers still buried in your underwear. Tossing you on the single bed, his fingers left you throbbing and he didn’t waste any second in stripping away the useless material. Soon, your heels were discarded too.

“you are dripping woman.” he voiced his thought. “fingers or lips?” he breathed and you cursed loudly at him for giving you such a hard choice.

“I thought I already told you!” you snapped and he let out a harsh breath before settling himself between your legs, parting them ever so slightly. He lowered his head to blow at your clit and you felt yourself floating as your back arched itself, giving him more of you.

He spread his tongue over your heat to lick it in one go before sucking at your folds with his skilful lips. your breathy, needy gasps harmonising with his lips were sinuous enough to create knots in your stomach. You kept cursing and he heed none, instead inserted his two fingers into your cunt. His mouth and fingers synced together, turning your legs jelly and your lower body puddle under the pressure.

"Don't stop"

His fingers just brushed against your g-spot, not reaching it properly but it did it for you.

“I’m close jae” you whimpered his name that he had introduced himself with. by now, your short dress was feeling like an adhesive, clingy and annoyingly sticky.

He said nothing, just increased his pace and the very next second, you hips buckled and you coated his chin and hands with your cum, earning groans from him.

He panted, gazing at your fucked up body, mentally patting himself for what he had done to you.

"Relax" he mouthed.

With the back of your hand, you cleaned the sweat off your forehead before closing your legs to save yourself from the sudden cold.

“you did good.” He said and right when you thought he was leaving already, he started undressing himself in front of you. as your chest rose and fell with rapid breaths, you gawked at him, teething your lip once again.

His godly built was exposed to you as he unbuttoned his black shirt, unbuckled his belt and liberated his hips. You thought you heard a jingle and your mind automatically went to your bag which was probably lying on the floor near the door but when you saw his freed member being pumped in his hand, the haze returned to ground your eyes on him.

“you good?” he asked, hopping on the bed, hovering over your body again.

“want more.” Voice mirroring the mess you were, you tried to push your back, hand reaching for his cock but he laid you down again.

“I’m short on time, chewy. Maybe some other day.” Bobbing his head to the side, he chuckled before dropping his face to nibble on your ear. You giggled at the tickle.

“then stop playing.”

Hearing your serious tone, he straightened his back, eyes suddenly darkening.

Hurriedly ridding you of your dress and the bra, his hands moulded your breasts, eliciting nervous gasps from you.

“do you have any plans of fucking me or is your dick just for show?” you groaned. He threw his hands up in the air and clicked his tongue when you whined at the lack of attention.

He seemed like a silent lover, you wondered but before you could think any further, his hands on your hands turned your around, hoisting your ass up in the air. with your face squished down, you tried to create a balance with your elbows but he grabbed your hands to tuck them beside you.

“don’t move too much or it might hurt.” folding your wrists into his one palm, his knees drew your one thigh apart, inserting his full length into you without any further remark. Your jaw clenched feeling him plugging you from behind.

You couldn’t see him but the grunt he let out while adjusting himself made you lightheaded just by visualising his contorted face.

“tell me to stop whenever you want but I doubt your poor pussy would want that now.”

You roughly pushed yourself on his dick in answer and with a bursting ego, he started ramming with rubbishly fast pace.

“you like it rough?hmm?” driving his hips, he penetrated your hole in uncalculated rhythm. He kept grunting and rambling before he stopped but only to lean into your trembling body. Placing a quick kiss on your back, he moved further to bite on shoulder, receiving an ear piercing hiss from you.

“what the fuck are you doing dickhead?” breathing out of control, you choked out.

“leaving my mark.”

“don't eat my shoulder then!.” he chuckled at your frustrated tone and futile attempt at fucking yourself on his dick.

Ignoring your incoherent words that followed, he released your one arm to let you ease your pulsating cunt. Rubbing at your clit, you moaned louder than before but the pillow muffled some noises for you. Contrary to his crazy hips, his hand on the softness of your ass was warm and sweet.

“I'm close, princess.”

You heard him mumbling but your head wasn’t ready to form any words so you just whimpered some pleas.

“don’t stop. Right there. I think I’m gonna-

For the second time that night, your orgasm blurred your surroundings. He left your hand and grunted loudly before filling and warming you with his cum. Releasing your waist, he let you fall on the bed softly and your mouth instantly opened with relief. He pulled himself out and busied himself with admiring your glinting self.

“you are more insane in bed” he whispered, blowing kisses on your shoulders. You hummed again as his hands rotated you to face him. brushing your sweaty hair aside, he kept mumbling to you.

“we need to get up chewy. I don’t like this bed too much.” you tried to chuckle but a tired sigh betrayed you. He giggled before your sore arms got his attention and he began massaging them to soothe the ache. Your eyes fluttered shut at the gesture and it felt like eternity after which he got up.

you opened your eyes after a few minutes to find Jaehyun locking his belt in place.

“wait for me dickhead.”

“I ain't going anywhere without you chewy.” You grimaced at the ridiculous name.

Raising yourself up, you hooked your bra and were looking for your dress when a cotton cloth met with your face.

“you are all sweaty.” He laughed for the nth time at you and you couldn't understand why he found your existence so amusing. His considerate hands cleaned your face delicately, dressed you up and with the same hurry, pulled you to your feet, his actions getting weirder with each passing second.

“I’m not stopping you if you wanna go. Stop treating me like a doll,” he winced at you screech.

“no, you are coming with me.” Saying that , he placed his hand in his back pocket and everything that happened after had your jaw dropping on the floor, especially when he opened his mouth,

“y/n aka yves, you are under arrest for stealing the paintings last week.” Unfolding the cuffs, he forced your wrist into it. “Hello,I'm Officer Jung Jaehyun, a new transfer." grasping the adjoining cuff, he addressed your dumbfounded figure again, “you are going with me. To jail and if you don’t wanna flash yourself to all the officers there, I can get you a decent complementary pajama before that” The wink he shot and the way your code name had rolled off his tongue had your blood boiling and you tugged at your wrist harshly, protesting to this act.

“so you people now fuck your criminals before arresting them? and I don’t see a lady police officer here so you better open this before I start screaming.” Exasperated, you sternly said.

“so I guess you don’t want a change of clothes then. lemme call my colleague, she’ll be here in like 5 minutes.” He smiled menancily.

You threw your head back as the realisation dawned over you. There was no choice but to go!

“now a woman can’t even fuck without having to worry about being arrested!” you screamed at his face, stomping your foot on the floor.

“lets go chewy. Your new home is waiting for you.”

He let out a mirthless laugh before dragging you through the back door.

“we just arrested her like three hours ago! How can she run away so easily.” Sending the files to the ground, jaehyun raked his hands through his hair, crying out loud at his juniors.

“we do-don’t know sir. she also left a note in her cell.”

“HOW THE HELL SHE GOT A PAPER NOW?”

“like she got keys!” another officer spoke.

“What does the note say?”

As the officer read the words, Jaehyun felt heat rushing to his cheeks, in embarrassment and shame.

“get my dress dry cleaned before my next visit. Btw you have a nice dick. It’d be a shame if I don’t use it again. signed by dear yves”

And jaehyun knew he had to be more than just ready for your arrival.

[jaybird-redhood]

propinquity

wc: 2.2k

pairing: jason todd // gn reader

The first thing you think when you see him for the first time is that he has the cutest smile.

That’s a lie, the first thing you think it that he is so incredibly in shape, and it looks great on him, but the smile thing sounds better in your head.

He's moving into the apartment across from yours a month after you moved into yours. Weird, because the two people in your building closest to your age are 2 and 63, respectively.

You suppose that some wicked twist of fate must’ve brought this upon you for missing your cousin’s birthday party last week, because the guy standing across from you is crazy hot. And looking right at you. And you are in the huge neon Wonder Woman t-shirt that your best friend got for your birthday last year.

Yeah. Karma.

“Nice shirt,” the guy offers, holding in a grin. “You’re really making it work.”

“I-”

“See you around, neighbor.”

And with a shut of a door and an awfully charismatic smirk he’s gone.

The next time you see him is a week later, and this time- luckily, you think- you’re dressed somewhat put together. You run into him while unlocking your door.

"What's got you in a twist?" he asks.

"Um," you start, "I just. Ugh I have so much to do. Like 3 hours of homework, a lecture tomorrow that I cannot skip, and I'm completely out of bread and eggs and can't even you to the store until, like, Thursday at best."

Once you start rambling you can't seem to stop. You slouch against your door. You're not entirely sure why you're telling a stranger all this, but he seems to be listening, so you suppose that’s a good sign

"I get the feeling," he offers, and you look up at him. "I'm majoring in English Lit and my classes are kind of kicking my ass."

You give him a small smile, "Glad to know someone in this building is struggling as much as I am."

"Jason," he says, and he reaches his hand out to you. "My name."

You shake it and tell him yours.

As you both turn back into your respective apartments you think that he maybe isn't as intimidating as you thought.

~

The next day goes by with a really boring lecture and another 3 hours of work you need to do.

The ride home from uni isn't that long, but it's long enough for you to contemplate all the ways that your life went wrong after moving to Gotham. And, maybe as payback for thinking mean things about the city, rain that you think should belong to a category 3 hurricane starts to whip around your car 10 minutes into your drive.

Your clothes are dripping water in literal puddles by the time you get back to your apartment.

Groaning, you start fishing for your keys in your purse while walking up the last flight of stairs.

When you get to your door you stop. Right in front of it there’s a grocery bag. Picking it up and looking inside you see a loaf of bread and a small carton of milk.

You pick it up smiling.

“Jason?” you ask, knocking on his door.

No response.

You shrug and turn around. Remember to thank him the next time you run into each other; you think.

~

That next time doesn’t happen to be that long and thank goodness for you.

“You know, we really need to stop meeting like this,” he says to you.

You’re sitting on the floor outside of your door looking rather pathetic, and he’s giving you the most awful smirk you’ve ever seen. (Not that it looks bad on him though. You seem to think that nothing could really look that bad on him)

“I swear I’m usually more put together than this,” you sigh to him. “You moving here jinxed me!”

“Yeah yeah. You’re locked out, aren’t you?”

You give him your best withering I’m going to kill you stare, but it must not be working because he just laughs even harder at you.

“This is completely not my fault it’s just I lost my second set of keys like right when I moved in and then today when I got home, I accidentally left them in my car, but my second set of car keys is in my apartment so now I can’t get them out, stop laughing at me!”

“God you’re a mess,” Jason says- finally finished laughing at you and maybe taking a bit of pity on how disheveled you look. “You couldn’t call anyone to get you in?”

You shake your head.

“My friend is the only other person with a set, but they’re out of town, and our landlord is being a dick and telling me it’s my fault in the first place, so I need to deal with it. I’ve been sitting out here for like an hour.”

“All I’m hearing is that it is your fault and now you’re just moping about it feeling bad about yourself.”

You tilt your head against the door so hard that it makes you wince a bit.

“Ok fine,” he says crossing his arms.

“What?”

“Wait right here.”

He goes into his apartment and comes back out with a skinny metal thing you don’t recognize.

You look at him in confusion and he just motions for you to scoot out of the way as he sticks it in your locks and starts to pick it.

You sigh in relief.

“Thank you thank you thank you. For everything. I swear I will get my life together, so you don’t feel like you have to keep cleaning up my messes.

“I don’t mind,” he says with a small smile, “Take your time.”

And with that he opens the door to your apartment and turns back to his.

“By the way, you should really get better locks. That was way too easy.”

You make a note in your head to get that done sometime. As you’re lying on your couch that night, you’re AirDropped a photo on your phone. Saving it up you see it’s a piece of paper with neat handwriting on it: a phone number and a smiley face, Jason’s name at the bottom.

You smile too and add the number to your contacts.

~

Over the next few weeks, you and Jason start talking more, both over text and through the various times when you run into each other outside your doors.

Each interaction is better than the next, and you soon start to realize that Jason isn’t just some hot guy with no brains. He’s sweet and charismatic, has a whole wall full of bookshelves, could probably quote any classical novel by heart, has incredibly good taste in music, and best (or worst) of all, would make incredible friend material.

It’s just that as you become closer friends, you start to realize that that might not be all you want.

It’s a stupidly cold Friday morning when he texts you, and you’re covered in blankets and wrapped in sweatshirts in your bed. Movie at my place tonight?

You text back your approval and a quick be there at 6 before getting ready for classes.

The day goes by slower than you hoped.

It might be the anticipation of seeing Jason again, or more likely the hours of lectures you have to sit through, but you’re elated when your final class for the day gets let out.

The hours in between are a blur.

A blur which leads to the two of you sitting on his couch watching Romeo and Juliet together, a blanket thrown over your bodies.

You have the obligatory bowl of popcorn resting on your legs, and every few minutes Jason reaches across your lap to take a handful.

The way you’re laying half on top on him is completely deliberate, as to take as much of his body heat as possible. Your landlord had turned off heating 3 weeks prior to ‘save money’ or some other bullshit.

Jason’s not complaining though.

Once your popcorn bowl is finished and your head is in his lap, he runs his fingers through your hair absentmindedly. It might be the nicest feeling you’ve ever felt.

Throughout the movie you exchange snide comments about the plot back and forth. You start trying to say funny things whenever you can just to hear how sweet his laugh sounds to your ears.

By the end of the movie, you’re only slightly in tears, or so you tell yourself.

“Are you crying right now?” Jason asks incredulously, wearing a teasing smile.

“It’s not my fault,” you half say half moan, “Leonardo DiCaprio just has that effect on me.”

He just laughs and pulls you upright until you’re sitting on his lap.

His eyes are a shade of blue green that you’ve never seen before, although you could swear their getting greener by the second.

You watch his gaze drop down to your lips before staring you right in the eyes again.

“Can I kiss you?”

“God yes,” you tell him, and kiss him right back.

~

The next week is somewhat uneventful, even though you and Jason had been meeting each other almost every night, rotating apartments based on whose house was warmer each particular night.

Tonight is your night, and you’ve been waiting the whole day to show him the film you had rented to watch together.

The walk up to your door is easier than usual, and you have a bounce in your step that’s making you feel even more elated than normal taking out your keys to unlock your apartment.

You open your door and your bag drops. The keys clatter when they hit the hardwood, and the silence that follows is deafening.

“You’re bleeding on my carpet,” is the first thing that comes out of your mouth.

There Jason is, bleeding quite profusely, and using your kitchen counter to keep himself vertical. He’s wearing what looks to be a torn half of a domino mask and an extremely hot leather jacket.

(Not that this was the time for noticing his fashion choices, but you filed that thought away for later.)

What really catches your eye though is the huge red bat symbol on his chest, and the red helmet next to it sitting on your counter.

He shifts a little to the side before stumbling through saying, “Um, so, I know this isn’t ideal and I’m really sorry to put you in this situation, but I seriously do not feel like bleeding out tonight and-”

“Oh my god this is great,” you cut him off with. “I thought you were a hit-man!”

“Wait what.”

“Shit no that’s not what I meant- kind of, hang on we should probably stop you from dying before having this conversation.”

You walk over to him to get a better look at his wounds.

“God Jace, you look like death warmed over.”

He just stares at you.

“You have a bunch of stuff in your bathroom, right?”

At least this elicits a reaction. He grimaces in pain but gives you a nod of his head in conformation.

“Ok I’ll be right back, don’t move.”

He gives you a look that says seriously, where would I go.

3 minutes later you’re back with a needle and thread, and some sterilizing spray.

“This should be fine,” you tell him, “I took a first aid class last year with my friends and passed with flying colors according to the nurse.”

“Just try to keep them tight and neat. I trust you,” he says, and your heart pounds just a little harder.

You respond with a nervous laugh but take a deep breath and start working.

~

An hour and a half later you’re done.

The combination of pain meds, bandages, and a whole lot of stitches eventually led to you and Jason laying in your bed together, both completely exhausted.

He turns his head to face you.

“Could we maybe go back to the hit-man thing?”

“Oh uh. Well I saw a bunch of shirts covered in blood in your laundry in the bathroom, not to mention all the weirdly specific first-aid you had,” you tell him.

“And also the assorted guns and knives you have hidden all over. I guess I just assumed? But the whole Red Hood thing is so much better,” you reassure him.

“You found all my knives?”

You smile up at him.

“I love that that’s thing you chose to focus on.”

“And you’re really not mad that I didn’t tell you about the whole vigilante thing before?” he asks.

“Jay, I had already resigned myself to life forever with some shady hit-man that also happened to be incredibly good looking. Red Hood is ten times better than that. I’m not going to run away from you just because you’re incredibly intimidating and probably could kill me. I see that as an added bonus,” you say, with as much charm as you can muster without yawning.

“Just. Be careful, ok? I’d hate to make this a routine.”

He responds by pulling you closer to his body.

“I promise,” he whispers into your head. “You really to remember to get better locks by the way, breaking in was still way too easy.”

You let out a small laugh and finally you let yourself give into sleep.